by Mikado 23 Replies latest jw experiences
has anyone ever met any members of this group?
i met a lovely lady who was telling me all about it.. apparently everything in the bible is literal, and it rather disconcerted me just how much I rememberd if it all.
everytime I asked do you mean that everything is literally true, apparently it is so....
She is a genuineky sincere, well meaning lady, and had a lovely time telling me all about it!
Literal should be the mindset when reading the bible.
Someone once said: "If the plain sense makes sense, do try to change it because you might end up with non-sense"
Why should literal be the mindset when reading the Bible? Literal readings shatter belief. It is a gross book in many ways. The books contradict each other. The canonization process was as much a political process as a religious one. Read the holy books of other religions. Does Jesus not care about Asians?
I meant to read and understand the Bible in a plain or straightforward manner, as opposed to "spiritualizing" like the WT does. After reading the bible for years through a WT lens, it was refreshing to read it in a straight forward manner.
What books have you found contradictory?
I remember the atheist who kept all the commands of the Bible for a year. The best part was when an old man told him that he used to cheat on his late wife and the guy started tossing pebbles at him so that he could keep the commandment to stone the adulterer. Everyone around thought he was crazy.
so Perry, I am glad to have discovered this...
so you
never eat shellfish, or pork
never wear clothes of mixed fibres
expect women to be in subjugation to men (I can see trouble there for you)
honour the sabbath, and more importantly, stone those who do not.
consider one men's testimony to be equal to two womens
have no issue with owning slaves
stone blasphemers??
now, as the bible is to be taken literally, I would love to know how you go about this in your daily life. it must be cumbersome.
There is a literal reading of the bible but few think it practical or that it makes sense. Most people who say they follow the Bible mean it contains some meaning that helps them through life.
God isn't literally 'a rock', Jesus isn't literally 'a gate'. Did a human literally live inside a fish for three days. Did a literal Eve really eat a piece of fruit and displease god, did a snake talk to her.
Mikado,
Here are two websites that I have found to answer much of pop-cultures' criticism of God and the bible.
The bible will never make sense unless a few things are established:
1. We are born enemies of God, in a state of condemnation (John 3:18), being children of Adam
2. God owes his enemies nothing (except judgment). He is not in our debt, but we are in his the moment we are born. Our good works create more debt, not leniency. (Romans 4:4)
3. God has chosen to deal with the problem of evil, not by the immediate elimination of it - but through the agency of Judgment (either your own judgement, or vicarious judgment through faith ....ultimately in Jesus' substitutionary death in your place)
but you just finished saying that you should literally follow the bible. apparently now this is not the case. you can't have it both ways. personally, I prefer to think for myself rather than following ancient goat herders myths,
the bible will never make sense, unless you realize it is nothing more than a collection of morality tales and fairy tales, nothing more nothing less.
