Misquoting Jesus by, Bart D. Ehrman
Just finished reading this book.
It should be required reading for every bible thumper.
Infallibility of Scripture
by drew sagan 75 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
Terry
-
Shining One
Hey Drew,
I see what you're saying here. When you have a personal relationship with a person it makes the belief so much easier. The idea of salvation is hinged on the belief that the One in charge is still alive and answers prayer. "Thus saith the Lord". Would it not be reasonable to assume that God keeps His story consistent for the benefit of the (potential) believer?
Rex -
Shining One
>or is it telling us something much more simple?
The gospel message IS simple, "1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time." 1 Cor. 15:1-8
There are people that have never read a scripture that believe. There are millions in China that have no personal copy. They have to memorize it en masse to recite in their home churches. Explorers have found people groups that were isolated from the rest of humanity that had been praying for someone to come along and tell them more of this God. The message is so simple that it is an offense or a godsend!
Rex -
Shining One
Hey Terry,
The 'shore' that you are swimming to is one that leads to a meaningless existence now, then an eternity separated from your Creator. The 'priesthood of the believers' is a plural reference, not an individual one. A believer is guided and taught by the Holy Spirit. That is affected by the believer's own relationship (or non-relationship) with Jesus Christ. If your understanding does not line up with scripture, in context, then your understanding is mistaken. The vast majority of protestant churches have the same basic, orthodox beliefs. These must be held to or the religion is then declared a cult. The grey areas are non-essential to salvation and answer the question: why are there so many denominations and churches? The Catholic church rules in authority over all of it's churches, just like the Watchtower.
Rex -
Terry
I see what you're saying here. When you have a personal relationship with a person it makes the belief so much easier. The idea of salvation is hinged on the belief that the One in charge is still alive and answers prayer. "Thus saith the Lord". Would it not be reasonable to assume that God keeps His story consistent for the benefit of the (potential) believer?
1.When you have a personal relationship with a person you don't deal with invisibility, distance, supernatural beingness, etc. You actually have give and take in the objective and external everyday world. This is hardly analogous with subjectively convincing yourself whenever you talk to the guy in the sky you are heard.
2. Ask yourself what the origin of Salvation is. You are being told you will be killed by God (yep, the fella you need to have the relationship with) if you don't do as you are told. How is that different from being on the business end of a revolver in the hands of a gang member? Salvation is appeasing the sky god who is pissed off at humanity because their great-great-great-great grandparents ate some of his fruit! Holy Mackeral!! Talk about holding a grudge!!
3.You ask about "reasonable"??? What is reasonable about any of this??
4.Weak, sinful, imperfect, mortal minds is what we are told we have and yet--it is with these very minds we are supposed to find the salvation belief offer and detect the validity of it. It is like offering a blind persona a written contract and telling him to sign on the dotted line after he reads it.
-
Shining One
Hey Nark,
The problem with your opinion is the actual textual variance is somewhat less than a half-percent where one ignores simple errors in punctuation or in copying. We KNOW this from comparison of texts and you fail to recognize that little mistake in your own view of the matter....
Scripture is remarkably reliable when one compares the older and newer versions. In fact, we are much more certain of what the early texts said now then ever in history.
http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6068
Rex