The Bible - God's Word or Man's? - What Convinces You? (page 4)

Brother Apostate

I am of the school of thought that believes the entire Bible canon of 66 books is "God-breathed".

I see no contradiction throughout the Bible as to God's nature.

I also see clearly that many of the things that non-believers attribute to God are not attributed to God in the Bible.

Many unbelievers and "believers", as pointed out previously in this thread, have taken things out of context, or choose to ignore entire portions of the Bible.

That is more than just a slippery slope. As has been pointed out, that approach allows one to pick their "favorite" parts and discard the rest.

The folks who say: "I don't agree with Paul's writings", "I don't believe the Genesis account", etc.

Those ones ought to simply admit they are making up their own God, and their own way to serve him.

So, what makes me, and other ex-jw's and other Christians I study with believe the entire Bible is "God-breathed"?

It starts with Faith, then daily prayer for His Holy Spirit, then daily Bible study.

The faith may start out tiny, like a mustard grain, but as one studies God's word under direction of His Holy Spirit, one begins to understand it's truth, it's reliability, what it doesn't and does teach. One discovers that it is indeed useful for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, that it is one of the primary ways God communicates to us personally. That in turn helps our Faith to grow. As Faith grows in God and His teachings, our eyes and mind continue to open, and we learn many new things everytime we read the Bible and apply it in our lives.

BA- True believer.

5go

I am of the school of thought that believes the entire Bible canon of 66 books is "God-breathed".
I see no contradiction throughout the Bible as to God's nature.
I also see clearly that many of the things that non-believers attribute to God are not attributed to God in the Bible.
Many unbelievers and "believers", as pointed out previously in this thread, have taken things out of context, or choose to ignore entire portions of the Bible.
That is more than just a slippery slope. As has been pointed out, that approach allows one to pick their "favorite" parts and discard the rest.
The folks who say: "I don't agree with Paul's writings", "I don't believe the Genesis account", etc.
Those ones ought to simply admit they are making up their own God, and their own way to serve him.
So, what makes me, and other ex-jw's and other Christians I study with believe the entire Bible is "God-breathed"?
It starts with Faith, then daily prayer for His Holy Spirit, then daily Bible study.
The faith may start out tiny, like a mustard grain, but as one studies God's word under direction of His Holy Spirit, one begins to understand it's truth, it's reliability, what it doesn't and does teach. One discovers that it is indeed useful for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, that it is one of the primary ways God communicates to us personally. That in turn helps our Faith to grow. As Faith grows in God and His teachings, our eyes and mind continue to open, and we learn many new things everytime we read the Bible and apply it in our lives.
BA- True believer.

This statement from a man the makes Jehovah's Witnesses look like bible highly intellectual skeptical scholars. Also whose ad hoc attacks make anything the Watchtower says look like smart and to the point. I say if Jesus was alive to day assuming he ever existed would slap him accross the face while saying "You stumbler of my sheep get away from me you pharisee! Go back to your church or what ever you call those things now! I want faith not idiocy!".

pseudoxristos

Brother Apostate,

Couldn't the same thing be said and believed about any other religious book?

pseudo

nvrgnbk

Brother Apostate ,
Couldn't the same thing be said and believed about any other religious book?
pseudo

You mean like this...

I am of the school of thought that believes the entire Qur'an is "God-breathed".
I see no contradiction throughout the Qur'an as to God's nature.
I also see clearly that many of the things that non-believers attribute to Allah are not attributed to Allah in the Qur'an.
Many unbelievers and "believers", as pointed out previously in this thread, have taken things out of context, or choose to ignore entire portions of the Qur'an.
That is more than just a slippery slope. As has been pointed out, that approach allows one to pick their "favorite" parts and discard the rest.
The folks who say: "I don't agree with the parts of the Qur'an that advocate violence or the abuse of women", etc.
Those ones ought to simply admit they are making up their own God, and their own way to serve him.
So, what makes me, and other Muslims I study with believe the entire Qur'an is "God-breathed"?
It starts with Faith, then daily prayer towards Mecca, then daily Qur'an study.
The faith may start out tiny, like a mustard grain, but as one studies God's word under Allah's direction, one begins to understand it's truth, it's reliability, what it doesn't and does teach. One discovers that it is indeed useful for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, that it is one of the primary ways God communicates to us personally. That in turn helps our Faith to grow. As Faith grows in Allah and His teachings, our eyes and mind continue to open, and we learn many new things everytime we read the Qur'an and apply it in our lives.
Salman Hussein- True believer.

pseudoxristos

nvr,

LOL, I started to do that but was to lazy to finish it.

pseudo

tula

It starts with Faith, then daily prayer for His Holy Spirit, then daily Bible study.

Daily prayer to ask for understanding of what you read and wisdom to know how to use it. That's key.

When you pray, the Holy Spirit will lead you to the scriptures you need and thus you will find "food at the proper time."

It does not come from some governing board or committee, but true spiritual food is given directly by the Holy Spirit to those seekers who sincerely pray for guidance. The condition of heart must be humble and open to receiving instruction rather than being contentious and challenging.

nvrgnbk

nvr,
LOL, I started to do that but was to lazy to finish it.
pseudo

It was quite fun, and as you alluded to in your original post, sadly way too easy.

Awakened07

Brother Apostate: ten, fifteen years ago I would have agreed with you and - had I read this thread at the time - would have cheered you on - as an active JW.

Several groups study and believe the entire Bible as you do, but come to vastly different conclusions than your group does. They too believe they are right, and - believe it or not - they believe it just as strongly as you do. An honest, open and searching person would have to spend half a lifetime diving into each of these group's teachings in order to be able to make an informed decision of which group to follow. And as any other religious group of any other religion is just as deeply convinced that they have the Truth from their scriptures, the same honest, open and searching individual would have to spend half a lifetime diving deep into their teachings, in order to make an informed decision. That adds up to a whole lot of lifetimes in the end.

llbh

Hi nvr and ba and all the others,

Interesting discussion, I am of the persuasion once burnt twice shied. IE I have burnt once - my choice, so therefore I am very reluctant to trust them again, I would like to believe but see lots of problems and contradiction's everywhere.

I enjoy your reasoning BA but can not agree.

There you go Sweet Pea that was a lot of help.

llbh

White Dove

Man's word because of all the hate, bloodlust, genital obsession, baby/senior citizen killing, ethnocentric, and judgemental attitudes found within. That is just what God did. Jesus did none of that. Now, if you want to talk about all of the things that God's followers did, just restate the above. It's amazing that after Jesus came to earth, God took a back seat and all of the devine killing and mutilating stopped. God and his followers hurt others. Jesus and his followers helped others. Amazing how that worked, isn't it?

False God Jehovah

True prophet of sorts Jesus (I don't believe he was devine, but he sure did make a good impression!)

Bible false

The Bible - God's Word or Man's? - What Convinces You?

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