Heaven, I'm glad you like that, the gist of it comes from a Walt Whitman quote that I love ...
~ "Re-examine all you have been told... Dismiss what insults your Soul."
t
For those who do not believe in the Bible: Why don't you?
by Chemical Emotions 47 Replies latest jw friends
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zoiks
For you Metalocalypse fans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaCgrRVW1Gs
Skwisgaar: This is dildos, doesn't he know there's no such things as religion?
Nathan: You mean you don't believe in God; there is such thing as religion.
Skwisgaar: Oh then proves it! Show me a, miracles, that religion exists.
Nathan: Well, um, you know, there's the bible right there.
Skwisgaar: ..Weeellll.... maybe, I re-evaluates my life...
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clarity
I used to believe that the BIBLE was all truth!
Fast forward => ... I don't now!
I now realize why it was drummed into my jw-addled brain that reading books, other than wbts books, would mis lead you. They were right!!
I am reading them...and they are leading me to a different point of view.
Boy, talk about 'new light'!!!!
Right now the "Religion Virus" is sure ringing some bells.
Little excerpt from 1st pg ..........."Abraham, as well as all of his descendants down to Moses time and beyond, were polytheists, that is, ...pagans."
"The loving, omnipotent, fatherly God we learn about today is the result of the longest and best "marketing makeover"in history - four thousand changes and improvements to Yahweh's image, from Abraham's time to today.
Yahweh has evolved into the Almighty God. The God of everything, the loving, forgiving God, the only God. The Yahweh makeover is so complete that we just call him "God" now, with a capital "G".
>
Page 14 ......"I don't know how I would survive without God"
Those words were a prison for my Grandpa.
He used an imaginary reward in heaven to help him accept his misery. Instead of making his life better, he did what men and women have been taught to do for thousands of years: Accept your fate, don't complain, don't question your life, because ....... your reward comes later.
I am not done with the digging yet .... I can hardly wait till the dust finally settles!
clarity
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ProdigalSon
There's little chance that a book inspired by God could be so incoherent that it could give rise to 40,000 different Christian denominations who all "hate each other", according to Barron's Encyclopedia.
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tec
What do you mean by 'believe in the bible'?
If you mean that it -as a whole- is the inerrant Word of God, then my answer is no. Christ is the Word of God, and it is to him whom we should go for truth and answers and guidance.
I do believe that the bible is a complilation of Jewish myths/moral lessons, history, prophecy, laws... also witness accounts to Christ, letters attempting to address specific congregations and problems/questions. It can teach us some about Christ and about the history of the Jewish race. But it is also limited by the scribal errors, the translation errors, mishandling/misunderstanding by men. So it is the Spirit who teaches and leads us into all truth.
Anyway, I started with Christ and the testimonies that witness to Him. If there is anything that contradicts with what He taught - by word or eksample - then I put my faith in Him, first and foremost.
Of course, I was never taught or believed that the bible is inerrant - that is a claim made by men that doesn't even have the bible to back it up. So perhaps it is easier for me to disregard that false teaching in the first place.
Peace,
Tammy
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TheSilence
What do you mean by 'believe in the bible'?
That is a very valid question. I believe the bible exists, I have seen it myself. I also believe Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See exists as there is a copy of it sitting on my desk as I type. The wording of your question leaves a great deal open to interperetation, much like the Bible, itself, does.
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punkofnice
The bit that ALWAYS confued me was how parts of the Bible may or may not be cannonical. I.E. John 8.
If the Bible is the inerrant word of god why might parts of this this be an error? How come god didn't make sure that we got the whole bundle without doubt if we are to believe bits of it or not?
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NewChapter
Science, history, common sense, slavery, rape, murder, skewed sense of judgement, coherence. If the bible is such a golden and perfect book, why don't all believers in it agree?? If this god is so wonderful and wise, such a great COMMUNICATOR---THE WORD--why can't he communicate a simple message that all can understand?
Oracles of old prophesied with ambiguous language. There is a war--well a kingdom will fall! Er, which one? Believers will look for evidence that suppports their beliefs and dismiss evidence that does not. I used to do this. I have seen the light.
NC
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Rydor
A few reasons:
1.) God exhibits a very troubling personality, especially in the old testament. Examples: Psychological torture of Saul (1 Sam 16:14), executing David and Bath-sheba's baby for the sin of their parents (2 Sam 12:15), mind controlling Pharaoh and forcing him to be stubborn to give Yahweh grounds for bringing the ten plagues (Exodus 7:1-4 and many other places), commanding the Israelites to go into battle and then abandoning them...twice. (Judges chapter 20:18-24)
2.) The Bible's anti-homosexual stance. I've gotten to know a few gay men and women and I've come to realize that homosexuality is not some casual lifestyle choice. The people I've met have all said they've felt attracted to the same sex since puberty. I refuse to believe an all-loving God would condemn a person to a life of loneliness simply because they are born different. I'm especially angered by Romans 1:26, which when read in context appears to suggest that homosexual urges are the result of abandonment by God, "giving [people] over to shameful lusts." It's almost as though God throws up his hands in frustration saying, "Well if you want to be immoral go ahead; you'll turn out gay eventually." An almighty God would thoroughly understand human sexual behavior and I can't imagine such a God inspiring that nonsense.
3.) Contradictions. You could write an entire book on the subject but for me three stand out:
In Matthew 27:10 the author says that the purchase of the Potter's field was in fulfillment of the word of Jeremiah. Yet the quotation is nowhere to be found in Jeremiah. Instead it comes from Zechariah. Many Bibles with references even point out this fact. Apologetic counter-arguments are laughable. ("The prophecy really was spoken by Jeremiah, it was just never written down in the Bible.")
The three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) all say that Jesus ate the passover meal and then executed the following day. The gospel of John however, says that he died on the "day of preparation for the passover" (John 19:14)
In 1 Samuel 16 David meets Saul and becomes his armor bearer and court musician. Yet in the very next chapter (17) after slaying Goliath, Saul has no idea who David is (1 Sam 17:55-58). When was the first meeting? You can't meet someone for the first time on two separate occasions.
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