The bible has lost its validity...

by ADJUSTMENTS 14 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Village Idiot

  “I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.”

   

  "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

  ...

   

  “EVERY national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.

   

  “Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God was given by God to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that their Word of God came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that their Word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of those churches accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them all.”

   

  Thomas Paine The Age of Reason, The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume IV. Pages 22-23.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Did someone say "memes"?
  

  
  

  
  
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  Crazyguy

  What killed the belief in the bible for me was finding out that the god of the bible was found in 1929 buried in a city,

  large parts of the bible were stolen from other cultures.

  Over 100 contradictions,

  mathematical errors,

  prophecies that either were not prophecies or did not come true.

  Stories about Christ that were different then the story told in another gospel

  and the fact that the original idea of a resurrection and life on a paradise earth was not a biblical idea or even a Hebrew idea but Egyptian.
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  CharlieSmith1975

  Actually, it is a bit more complex than that. Jewish propaganda influences what archaeology claims and so a lot of the anti-Biblical references are distortions. For instance, it is not difficult at all to link the Exodus with Akhenaten who converted to monotheism after the 10 plagues. A passage in the Bible confirms that Egypt would begin to worship Yahweh and that a new temple would be built for Yahweh in the middle of Egypt, which is precisely what Akhenaten did. So ultimately, the sudden monotheism of Akhenaten PROVES the Exodus and the 10 plagues really happened. But Jewish scholars set to destroy Christianity don't want Christians to focus in on that confirmation since it would expose so many other lies they are telling, so Akhenaten's chronology and link to the Exodus is suppressed. then people think in general that archaeology and the Bible are at odds, when they are not.

  Then you have misguided idiots like the witnesses dating the Exodus to some totally ridiculous time (1513 BC) per archaeology and so it makes it look like archaeology and the Bible are in disagreement. But the Bible actually dates the Exodus right at the time of Akhenaten, so if you have the right Bible dating and you compare that with archaeology, then you get great confirmation of a lot of things that are in the Bible.

  The key is to take the Bible's own references to chronology. Separate the biased archaeologists from the actual archaeology evidence and make your direct comparison, keeping in mind that archaeologists don't always understand the Bible or the Bible's history or chronology. The academic process is simply to become an unbiased observer, take everybody's views and concepts into consideration and compare those to the actual evidence. When it is all said and done, The Bible fares quite well archaeologically.

  Archaeologists have their own agenda like the WTS. You have to get past that to find the truth.
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  CharlieSmith1975

  The Bible has lost its validity for people who don't actually KNOW or believe the Bible in the first place. People who are incompetent biblically find lots of errors based on their own misunderstanding of things.

  Let me give you a good example. The MESHA STELE. In that document it speaks of Mesha rebelling against the "king of Israel" in the middle of the king of Israel's reign. Idiot archaeologists and Bible scholars who don't know the Bible, including the WTS, don't realize that when there was a co-rulership, the son had the same title as "king" as did the father. So during a co-rulership, there were two kings.

  Now on casual reference, it looks like there's a discrepancy with the Bible because the Bible says that Mesha rebelled after Ahab died. So it looks like the Mesha Stele is saying he rebelled in the middle of Ahab's rule rather than at the end of Ahab's rule. Then people who don't know any better start to say, "See. The Bible and archaeology don't agree." But in fact, Ahab's son, Jehoram, was co-ruler with Ahab. He has two "kingship" dates. One date is in the 18th of Jehoshaphat and a second one in the second of Jehoram of Judah. But Jehoram of Judah "became king" in the 5th year of Jehoram of Israel. Meaning? Meaning that Jehoram of Israel became sole ruler over Israel in his own 6th year. That means that Ahab died in the 6th year of Jehoram of Israel. So the reference in the Mesha stele was not to Ahab the king of Israel, but to Jehoram, his son. Guess what? Guess how many years Jehoram ruled? He ruled for 12 years! So if Ahab died in the 6th year of Jehoram, that is halfway into his rule. That is, the 6th year is the middle of his rule. So the Mesha Stele is reflecting EXACTLY what the Bible is. That Ahab died in the middle of the rule of Jehoram.

  So you have this WONDERFUL specific reference from a secular source reflecting precisely what the Bible says, and these stupid archaeologists and alleged Bible "scholars" don't have a clue about what is really going on.

  So one of the biggest challenges when it comes to the Bible and archaeology is actually understanding precisely what the Bible is talking about. And that group is a rare group. Most misinterpret the Bible or have a loose but inaccurate understanding of the Bible and then they compare that to what is found by archaeology and seeming a discrepancy, they think the Bible is inaccurate and lost some of its credibility, when in fact, just the opposite is the case.

  Now at the end of the day you still might claim the Bible just doesn't make a credible book. Fine. But a whole lot of the criticism is 100% due to bias and incompetence of those in the field. Just because someone is an expert archaeologist doesn't mean they are an expert in understanding the Bible. Thus you need the archaeologists to do their job and provide their findings, and then an expert Biblical historian to make comparisons. The problem is that archaeologists think they are competent Biblical historians and thus can make their own comparisons but they make so many mistakes it's a joke. Thus some amazing things, like the Mesha Stele, that shows the Moabites knew about the 12-year rule of Jehoram, directly supporting the Bible, is lost and in a way used to contradict the Bible.

  So in the case of "archaaeology vs. the Bible" you always have to subtract the incompetence and bias of commenting archaeologists who don't know WTF they are talking about most of the time when it comes to what the Bible is actually saying. The Mesha Stele is just a fascinating example of how bad it gets.