Rcuruso,
"...the mistake of using a book for a brain." Priceless! I'm going to use this one.
Is the Bible REALLY the "Word of God"?
by nicolaou 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Rapunzel
According to the nearly universally accepted Documentary Hypothesis, the book of Genesis consists actually of a combination three distinct source documents woven together - the "J" [or Yahwist] document; the "E" [or Elohist]; the "P" [or Priestly] document.
Both the "J" and "E" documents were written at a very early stage in the development of Israelite religion, while the "P" document was written much later. It reflects the latest stage of Israelite religion, the stage of priestly religion, based on priests, sacrifices, rituals, and law.
A lot can be learned by considering what the writer of the "P" document minimizes or totally omits from his stories. He cuts the stories of Genesis down to a crucial minimum. The writer of the "P" source rejects the angels, dreams, talking animals, and anthropomorphisms found in the "J" and "E" sources. He omits the story of Adam and Eve and the talking snake. He omits the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. And he omits the story of Jacob wrestling with God face to face at Penuel.
The main point is that many stories found in Genesis are a primitive form of mytho-poetic narratives. They cannot hold up to a rational or logical critique. They were not written with this intent in mind. I find it interesting to note the writer of the "P" source - an ancient Israelite himself - rejected and omited much of the material found in the earlier "J" and "E" sources.
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Bring_the_Light
Bring the light,
It was only the tree of the knowledge of good and bad that was forbidden to eat. The tree of life was not forbidden. Because they ate from the forbidden tree, they were not allowed to eat from the tree of life. There was only one tree forbidden, not two.
I don't believe in the Bible, but there is that point of the story.
I see. I will eat from the "tree of researching one's rants so as not to look like a moron" in the future. The conspiracy stands. God said Man could become like him (God) and had to cut off the life to prevent it. And surely man will not die from eating of the tree, man dies from God giving man the shaft. "Surely you shall die" is "surely I shall kill you".
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Bring_the_Light
Hmm, and Adam and Eve apparently weren't "perfect" naturally living forever, apparently they were as mortal as we were, but were sustained by this "tree of life". No eating tree of life, die.
This is idea that they were "perfect" and we are "imperfect" leading to our dying, doesn't seem heavily supported. It sounds like regularly eating from this tree of life is the trick.
I'll start eating an apple a day to keep the doctor away, and see how things come out.
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Gadget
but that doesn't mean I don't envy the comfort that the people who do beleive it can find from reading it.
False comfort.
I've given up the security blanket mate and I no longer envy those who have it. Just a few months ago my cousin died (inactive JW) and I could see how much comfort his believing relatives drew from the resurrection hope. I was genuinely happy for them that they had what they needed. Even so, I don't want it.
Reality may be cold and hard sometimes but it is the real life, the only life there is after all.
I view the bible as more of a self-help book. Some bits are way over the top, but it also holds some good advice for life too. What most people class as living a good christian life is just good citizenship, nothing to do with religion or the bible. But viewing it as something to live EVERY aspect of your life by makes as much sense to me as somebody in 2000yrs time finding a copy of 'men are from mars, women are from venus', or such like, and deciding to live their lives by its rules even though their culture is totally different. You say the comfort believers get is false comfort, but were the people actually comforted or just pretending to be? It doesn't work for you, does that mean its not possible for it to work for them? I'm basically an agnostic with a strong belief in the religions of Psychology and Science. Until I find evidence to the contrary, I too think this life is all we've got. Given a choice, I'd rather spend my time chilling, enjoying myself and having a happy life without any hassles rather than the mental struggles I have trying to work out what I believe in debating in threads like this one. That what I mean when I say I envy the comfort of people who believe, because they can just get on with enjoying their lives and have a crutch to help them get back to enjoying things when it all goes wrong. Paul
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MOG
A fav passage of mine...
2 Peter 1:20-21 (Amplified Bible)
Amplified Bible (AMP)20[Yet] first [you must] understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is [a matter] of any personal or private or special interpretation (loosening, solving).
21For no prophecy ever originated because some man willed it [to do so--it never came by human impulse], but men spoke from God who were borne along (moved and impelled) by the Holy Spirit. -
VoidEater
Thats because the word is alive.
That's because imagination is active.
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lnunya
It all depends on what's inspiring the reader.
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nicolaou
Good comments Paul, we really are on the same page.
I'm basically an agnostic with a strong belief in the religions of Psychology and Science.
I strongly suggest you get a copy of Straight and Crooked Thinking by Prof' R.H Thouless. If you like I'd be happy to mail you my old reading copy, I'm sure you'd love it.
MOG, are you familiar with the concept of circular reasoning?
