NewChapter, Jesus is not the WTBTS. It sounds like you are taking your anger towards them and other fundamentalists and laying it at Jesus' feet. Maybe that's helpful to you. If it is, then I guess some good will come from it. I hear a lot of former witnesses say they cannot shake what the wt writers drilled into their heads about other churches and faiths, that they all are surely evil. That is sad and unfortunate because a lot of profound good is being done in other churches and faiths. Humans can take anything and fill it with evil. That is the fault of humans, not God. It is not the fault of Jesus if people twist his words or misquote him. People are pretty mixed up creatures. People are capable of beautiful, wonderous things and they are capable of ugly, dark and evil things.
Morality based on the bible is immoral.
by cyberjesus 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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FlyingHighNow
Along with the thread subject, the morality in the Bible: a lot of the morality in the Bible is obviously man made and very injurious. The church I attend teaches that the Bible is thought of as a history of some ancient peoples and the way they looked at God and life during their times. It may contain some truths in it, but to take the whole book and tear it apart as if it is the gospel truth from God seems a waste of time. I didn't grow up going to the Kingdom Hall. I grew up in the Episcopal Church. I attended all kinds of churches and I read about eastern religions and philosophies as a teenager. I knew that people twisted the Bible and added to it when I was a child. I didn't have to study hebrew or greek to know that. I knew when I heard some crazy thing like hell or the violence in the OT that it could not have been God. It was very clear to me that people made up the stuff. I knew love and I knew where it originated. And I knew love could not ever author something like hell or murder or stoning children to death. I knew love was not behind murder in the name of God. I knew God never told the crusaders or anyone to go and kill in his name.
I was in a very vulnerable place when the JWs entered my life. I was 17, had been forced to leave home too early and then I lost my brother to a car accident. I ended up with my sister who was studying with the jws. They worked on me for months. And they played on my love for the song Imagine by John Lennon. I had always felt a lot like the words of Imagine, and I longed for such a world. I was baptized at 20 and by the time I was in mid 20's, the wt way was making me literally ill because it was so against what I knew inside to be love. I always knew if apostate literature ended up in my mail box that I would have to read it. And by the time I was 30, I was making meetings very irregularly. I stopped at 31 completely. Thank God for the internet. The resources on the internet have helped set me free. Thankfully, the evil org did not take my faith in God from me like it does many former JW's.
If you haven't read Jehovah Unmasked, I recommend reading it. It's fascinating and it helps after you have read Crisis of Conscience and such books.
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NewChapter
Just to set the record straight, my opinions are not motivated by anger for Jesus. Also, I studied the bible long before I was a JW. I was exposed to fundamentalism, but many other strains of Christianity also. I am very capable of separating the anger I feel toward fundamentalism from my feelings toward moderates and Christ. My conclusions are not based in hurt or anger, but a logical break down of the bible, humans and life.
Yes some morality is destructive, and that morality is man made. But some morality is helpful and effective, and that was also man made.
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ShadesofGrey
We will continue to view this differently. The reason I'm no longer a JW is because I was doing some research, and I read the bible very closely. My goal was to gain a better understanding, my heart was open to what it had to say. No one is more surprised than me that it all fell apart upon deep consideration. And when it did, it wasn't just my religion that fell apart, but the bible and god. With the best intentions I asked one question too many, and there is no going back. If I had been looking to discredit it, we could argue that bias was the cause of this change. But it never even occured to me that studying deeper and deeper would drum me straight into disbelief.
I don't understand why things work the way they do... in the order that they do. I received the Spirit of Christ and there was no going back. Now if the Bible seems contradictory it bothers me, but not enough to lose my faith, because the Spirit has done so much good for me. I will worship Christ for that, and in addition the Spirit filters the scriptures for me, explaining things as I read... Now what if things happened in a different order and I researched the OT deeply before receiving the Spirit? It seems that would definitely cause disbelief for me. I do have faith that God is all wise and His justice is perfect and He continues to be in control.
Love to you and yours, SOG