did any of you read the entire bible once...?

Richie

Just wanted to know if any of you have read the entire bible? - I remember that it was mentioned in the congregation many times that this would be a requirement that we were to read the bible in its totality at least once and especially as elders!
I myself never had the time (or energy) to read the scriptures from cover to cover. I know of several witnesses who claimed to have read it - some more than once, yet somehow I felt that some of them may not have been truthful even though they said they read it all.
There is a paradox in all of this: true, it's good to read the entire bible, but then if you study the bible on its own merits exclusively, you may be in for a surprise where the WT may have a different interpretation or viewpoint which could be altered at any time. Yet the scriptures are unchanged, truthful and not to be deviated from - if you happen to cling to a particular bible teaching which would be different from WT teaching, you must adhere to the organization rather than the word of God (until the time comes when the Society receives the "light") and if you do not follow the WT-directives you will be shunned sooner or later!
How devious.....!

:*) Richie

Julie

Hi Richie,

After much discussion and reading many arguments *about* the bible, yes, I finally decided to just read it and make my own decisions regarding it.

Reading it was even more horrible than the atrocities I witnessed/experienced growing up in a home with an abusive, lunatic mother. I knew then there was nothing divine or inspired in there and haven't looked back since.

Thanks for asking.

Julie

josephus

tried a hundred times.

managed new testament.

failed old testament allways around numbers.

quite like james and proverbs though.

josephus

alliwannadoislive

why would anyone wanna just read through endless lists of names ? just to say they had read it all ?

josephus

i went to another church once,

the greater church of divine yellow pages.

now reading that was a bitch.

josephus

Ranchette

Richie,
I am glad you asked this question. I agree with what you are saying and here’s why;
All my life as a witness I had been overwhelmed with all the burdens WT heaped on me and I felt I could never live up!
I had never read the entire Bible and felt bad for that on top of everything else.
The summer before last was a breaking point for me. The District Assembly was very depressing.
We were told we weren’t doing enough, that 80 to 90 percent of the Israelites (Gods chosen people) didn’t make it to the promised land and we could expect something similar with making it to the new order, then they proceeded to read in a very thunderous voice and in graphic detail how those who don’t make it will have their guts spilled out and eaten by birds!

I couldn’t continue like this any more. They had been encouraging us to read the Bible for the last couple of years but I just didn’t feel I could fit it in to my already unbelievable schedule.
I did some thinking and realized that for all these years I had put mans word ahead of what I believed was Gods so I decided to read the Bible and I would never feel guilty for being behind on WT literature again!

Well as you can imagine that was the beginning of the end for me.
Much of what they teach does not harmonize with the Bible when you read it in context.
I was shocked like you said.

Ranchette