by sinis 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
After reflecting on the article I have come to the conclusion of the author as well, in that the Bible is not the word of Almighty God. Perhaps some tribal demi-god but not God Almighty. Good read:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/emmett_fields/word_of_god_debate.html
wow, well argued
There are some sobering points in those articles. Kudos to the author.
And thank you sinis for bringing this to our attention!
INQ
Saved it to my favorites list. When I have time I must read it.
Good article, sinis.
j
Wow great site!
I like these!
Is the Christian Bible "The inspired word of God"? Let us think carefully what that claim must mean. With that claim comes the obvious conclusion that the Bible must be "God perfect." That is to say the Bible must be far more perfect than any mere human minds could possibly have made it. Any mistake in that book, any error or contradiction, in fact or form, would prove that book could not be "God's inspired word."
Not only would the Bible be perfect in itself, but it would be equally plain and understandable to every human mind, and every person would understand it exactly the same.
Personally, I believe it is asking too much of us to believe that God would write, or inspire, a book that mankind could not agree upon. A book that has caused endless wars, persecutions, torture, bigotry and hatred. A book that is so unintelligible that not only do "non-believers" reject it, but those who believe it to be the true word of God cannot agree upon its interpretation. There are hundreds of different Christian sects in the United States alone, and that does not include the countless thousands of private individuals who have their own, personal, interpretations of the Bible.The very fact of this debate, or any debate about the Bible, is irrefutable proof that the Bible cannot be "the word of God."
It is often claimed by theologians that the original scriptures were perfect, but that the Bible has lost is perfection through copy errors and by being translated through several languages. Impossible! There could not be an imperfect copy or translation of a perfect book that was perfectly understood by the translator. God would not permit it!
Now I know that is not what the Bible says to you who believe it to be "the word of God." But to me, it seems to say: "Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father." To me that story is pure filth, but others say there is no filth, and no immorality, in the Bible, so I do not know what that story says to others, but to me it is pure filth. And, to me, filth cannot be a part of "the word of God."
Good! Now we will have a chance to see God's justice in action. How did God punish David for those most awful crimes? How do you think such a terrible man should be punished? Well, God's punishment for David's crimes can be read in the second book of Samuel, chapter 11: verse 15, it reads: "And the Lord struck the child, that Unah's wife bore unto David, and it was very sick." and verse 18 reads: "And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died." Believe it or not; God's idea of justice for the murder of Bathsheba's husband, was for God himself to murder Bathsheba's innocent baby. That is God's justice according to the Christian Bible.
God's Commandment in Exodus 21:2 reads "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go free for nothing." Exodus 21:4 reads "If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's and he shall go out by himself." Remember, these are God's Commandments, and God's justice, according to the Bible. Exodus 21:5-6 reads "And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children: I will not go out free: (6) Then the master shall bring him unto the judges . . . and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever." (What a royal jackass that 'god' is!)
I'll stop there..LOL...or else I would be copying the whole thing!
BTTT
The book Jehovah Unmasked does a far more thorough job in a much more interesting manner. Completely dismantles Bible-God.
Wow!
I am surprised to find that this makes total sense....and Wow, again!
I never realised those facts about the dead sea scrolls or that Jesus died in 88 BCE. Though I did know there were hidden dead sea scrolls and that Jesus was not actually the Messiah.
Wow again!
"We now know that the Jesus myth of the New Testament was taken from the story of the founder of the Essene cult. The founder of the Essenes was named Jesus, he was crucified in 88 B.C.E. and everything good that Jesus of Nazareth is said to have said was written almost a hundred years before Jesus of Nazareth is said to have lived.
From the Essenian cult of the old Jewish religion, has evolved a new God, a new myth, a new religion and a New Testament.
But the good work of the religious philosophers who created the New Testament God has been corrupted by organized religion. The Jesus myth of the New Testament no longer resembles the kind and just leader of the Essenes who lived, suffered and died just a little over two thousand years ago."I'm no fundamentalist, nor even a "Bible believer" but this author is full of she-ite. I'm passably widely read concerning the Essenes, the Qumran Community, the Dead Sea Scrolls, etc, and there is zero evidence that a Yeshua/Joshua/Jesus established the Essenes, and certainly NONE that Jesus was crucified in 88 BCE. This writer gives no source because there is none! He is simply repeating someone told him, someone whom he apparently trusted to tell him the truth. That's a big mistake no matter who you are or what your stance on anything.
The founder of the Qumran Community was Zadok, which is why the community referred to itself as the Sons of Zadok. Some confusion arises in people's minds because of some specultaion that the "Teacher of Righteousness" in the Dead Sea Scrolls was Jesus. This is a fascinating theory, but it's just a theory. There is no proof that the Qumran Community is identical to the Essenes either. Notice the careful wording of that sentence. Thank you. Here is a Google search for this topic, Founder Of The Essenes:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22founder+of+the+essenes%22&btnG=Google+Search
This writer is also a bit of an ass lumping all religons together as the worship of or search for an externalized personal God. There is no God in Buddhism, outward trappings to the contrary. The "gods" in Buddhism are Archetypes in the Jungian sense, products of the collective human unconscious mind. The supreme reality in Buddhism is Nibbana/Nirvana, which is not a God or gods, nor even "the Ground of Being" or "Source."
He is also a bit of a backwater hick in his pedestrian ideas that science, which deals with empirical data, has proven there is no God. I'm not surprised science has not proven there is a God, for the entire question is outside the realm of science! One finds God "within" so to speak, not in a telescope, microscope, spectrometer, etc. What sort of pompous ass does a superficial reading of religion and spews forth such unctuous bufoonery?
Individuals who have undertaken the arduous inner task of searching for the Divine have been rewarded with that Knowing. It isn't easy, and it's far more involved that a Google search or some Bible reading, or whatever other superficial methods this fellow has employed.
If one objects to this by saying that such experiences are "subjective" I point out to you the glaring obvious fact that ALL EXPERIENCES ARE SUBJECTIVE. Also, the mytsical experience of the Divine Within can be reproduced by anyone willing to perform the experiment. The experiment, howver, is arduous and takes years. Drive-by critics such as this fellow certainly aren't going to take the time ro make the effort. Few ever do, contenting themselves with the head knowledge of religion instead.
No, thr Bible is NOT the Word of God, it's manifestly silly. However, why does this fellow swallow the oddball notion that "God" is to be found in a book? He asks for evidence of a God. Is he blind, or simply stupid? The universe is both beautiful and ugly, giving birth and bringing destruction, pleasure and agony. What does this say about the Creator of this cosmos? Certainly it does not bode well for we creatures that the creation is such a mixed bag. The God who spawned this cosmos is exactly as depicted in the Bible. The cosmos displays love and hate, violence and peace, creation and destruction, pleasure and pain, health and disease, and all manner of beauty and horror. Is there a "God beyond God"? Many, such as myself are convinced there is based on our own mystical Knowing. The god of this cosmos is not the Final Reality.
I will be posting more on this and related matters asap.
Namaste,
MM
