Bible Group in Boston (page 2)

EndofMysteries

Hope it works out for you. When I first got out I attended one as well then I moved. It was nice, had a potluck meal, and good conversation every other week.

Heaven

Agape.Love said: I've come to learn that Jesus Christ IS the "Word of God".

Without the Bible, can you please explain how you have been able to come to this conclusion?

Agape.Love

I'm not saying the bible has no place in Christianity.

However, remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees of his day John 5:39-41New International Version (NIV)

39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

You can read the bible inside and out. Even the JWs do that. However the message of the Bible is Jesus Christ. He is The Word, The Life and the Truth. Not the Book of the Bible.

The Bible is not infallible. It was written by men and translated by men.

A Christian does not become a Christian by reading the Bible. he/she does so by Holy Spirit testifying to their spirits they are Sons of God. Romans 8:16.

While the Bible may introduce you to Jesus Christ, you need to accept him, and allow him through Holy Spirit to reside in you.

Hope this makes sense.

sir82

Isn't that how Chuck Russell & his gang got started?

Just sayin'.

Half banana

Agape, if you want to study the Bible texts, unlike the Watchtower you must think about why the particular piece was written, who wrote it, where, when and for what purpose? Just one example:

Why was the early Christ sect discussing the problems of feeding the followers from which later readers interpret a faithful and discreet slave as being a ”class” by divine appointment? By looking at what religions did at that time it is found that they supplied meals for the members, who would contribute money for the common pool if they could, to fund such activities. The presbyteroi (elders) who might have collected the money and given it to the episcopoi (bishops) would have been troubled by those who just came for a free lunch... and the church then was predominantly for the poor. The poor, being canny, would go to any and every cult providing meals so the episcopoi would have asked the rhetorical question “Who is the faithful and discreet slave which his master gave over all his belongings” to get the attendees to imagine that the poser of the question belonged to the ones chosen by God. Cult loyalty was everything.

The Greek scriptures are about the struggles of the Pauline-Jesus religion jockeying for market dominance. They have no prophetic meaning at all but the language and talk is “cultic” and apocalyptic which is why the WTBTS still use that old discussion to further their own influence and membership numbers today.

Most of the Bible is borrowed from paganism... around eighty three per cent is neither original text nor original story. Jesus is not original. The story of a fictional character exactly fulfilling the role ascribed to Jesus began many centuries if not millennia before the start of our calendar.

One of the best ways to determine historical truth is to see what people were doing, saying and believing at the time period in question, the science of this aspect of history is sociology.

Someone who took this (sociological) viewpoint and the end of the nineteenth century was JM Robertson and one of his books which should be read by all Bible students is A Short History of Christianity. Another relevant book, of which there are many titles on the same theme is Christianity Before Christ by John G Jackson (ISBN: 9870910309202) AAPress.

I wish you well with your Bible studies.

Half banana

oops dubblepost

Viviane

While the Bible may introduce you to Jesus Christ, you need to accept him, and allow him through Holy Spirit to reside in you.
Hope this makes sense.

No, it makes none. Without the Bible, the bloody, genocidal, rape, theft and murder filled OT you don't get Jesus. The Bible is the basis for your belief in Jesus and somehow some Christians decide to chuck it.

Why?

Also, what is this holy spirit? Where in you does it live? Can it be found on an MRI? What is it made of?

jhine

Bit far for me to come , from the centre of England ! But I hope that you get all the places filled .

Jan

Agape.Love

thank you all for your comments.

For those who don't believe in the Bible or Jesus, then obviously a Bible Study would not be right for you.

Half Banana,

Good food for thought. I will look up that book you suggested.

Half banana

Agape.love, although you rightly say some people don’t believe in Jesus. (I don’t feel in need of being saved from anything) I have good evidence that I am going to die and as yet nobody has found a practical working cure for death. Therefore Jesus has no significant meaning for me.

On the other matter, one can hardly ignore the Bible since it is the most influential and widely printed books in the world. It is fascinating as a testament to human aspiration, a paradigm of religious propaganda, a mine of pointed psychological situations and also a literary masterpiece; polished and refined to the point where its origins are completely lost by surface reading of the contents.

So I genuinely wish your study group well but suggest the caveat of “surface” reading.

Bible Group in Boston

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