Bible is God's word?

by Moxy 53 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  peacefulpete

  Now we are getting somewhere. For me and many others the real questions began after the spell of "belief" was broken. How do I protect myself from rushing to erroneous conclusions once again. What do I believe? How do I fill my life with meaning again? I read the personal philosophies of non-believing persons and found that they lead fullfilling and contented lives so I knew my life was not doomed to despair and vice as is so often feared. I just needed a new code to live by. Years of mental retreat had dulled my critical thinking skills.My involvement with the Skeptic Society has helped in this greatly. Skeptic does not mean cynic. Skepticism is an approach to learning that most would endorse but few practice. It is the application of reason to any and all ideas, the vigorous use of scientific method to test claims. This new philosophy coupled with a renewed interest in human welare through peaceful political means has made my mission in life more clear. The most reprehenible aspect of the JW thelogy is it's cultivated apathy tward human suffering. I say cultivated because while we may have momentary feelings of pity we detatch ourselves and justify our uninvolvement through the mental device of a future divine cure.

  Good things come to those who read. But reading the conservative first equips us to analyse the more radical.On the topic of "god" this applies. ASK SELF:How do nonbelievers logically dismiss the "evidence" that I find persuasive? Is there more to their understanding of the world than I know? Are my gut feelings adaquate to answer life's important questions? A couple good books, The Moral Animal, Why We Are the Way We Are by Robert Wright (1995). And an eye opening book:Religion Explained, The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer (2001). The latter book is a bit technical but readable if motivated. I think the second book shoud be read after the first as it is related but a finer application of the methods introduced in the first book. You will not see life the same. It is bit disappointing to demystify some things but ultimately it benefits us and the world if we understand human nature better.
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  Moxy

  im really baffled here. and i didnt mean to accuse anyone of 'derailing' the discussion. i know what this board is like. its just that i regularly read from lots of intelligent ex-jw posters here about bible topics that imply continued belief in it as gods word. i would like to know why. some of the responses have dealt with faith in god and this is not what i was asking. i understand that it may be very difficult to divorce the bible completely from faith in god after having vested so much sacred meaning into it for so long, but it should be possible with some effort. it is a matter of science. it may not be as hard a science as physics, but literary analysis, archeology and history are all empirical fields of study. the source of the bible should be open to the same types of inquiry as the nature of the atom, regardless of ones faith in god.

  it puzzles me now that the WT produces so little information on the subject. the notion is always assumed that the bible is the base point. is almost seems as everything starts from that and there is nothing before it. the require brochure does not even attempt to. no wonder there is so little conversion among cultures that had no prior exposure to the bible, especially those cultures that had their own sacred texts. is this really the case then, that these people have simply assumed it and never given it more than cursory thought? put yourself in the shoes of a member one of these non-biblical cultures, eg muslim, who never really knew anything about the bible before. how would they become convinced of its truth? would you follow more or less the same lines of reasoning you did when you were faced with this very situation in service?

  for those of you who believe the bible is gods word, you still share this important aspect with the WT. perhaps you do not feel the need to proselytize on the matter, but i would assume you are still able to present a reasoned defense for this foundation belief. would the freeminds people, for example, still find the WT 'God's Word or Man's' book to be an excellent reference on the matter, except where it delves into WT doctrine? since people like this have claimed to have discovered all kinds of meaning in the bible that were hidden to them as witnesses, perhaps they have a very different view on the reliability of scripture, using different lines of evidence than those typical of WT literature: prophecy; candor; harmony; scientific accuracy; beneficial power. i dont know. could anyone tell me?

  mox
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  Pathofthorns

  Hey moxy...good to see you.

  You always write lost of crazy good stuff when you come here! Anyway, stop by for a beer sometime or we can meet up if you want. Hope all is going well for u.

  Path
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  Skeptic

  P.S. The Bible is without a doubt God's word only fools try to discredit it.

  Do understand that questioning things is a good trait. If the Bible is truly God's Word, it can survive any amount of scrutiny. Also, objective data will not contradict the Bible if the Bible is completely infallible.

  It is good to question everything from time to time.

  Richard
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  gumby

  Moxy,

  since people like this have claimed to have discovered all kinds of meaning in the bible that were hidden to them as witnesses, perhaps they have a very different view on the reliability of scripture, using different lines of evidence than those typical of WT literature: prophecy; candor; harmony; scientific accuracy; beneficial power. i dont know. could anyone tell me?

  They are NOT interested in looking at anything negative about God or the bible.....they read what they WANT to.Some have no intrest in knowing if the bible is to be questioned, or their Lord.
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  crownboy

  That's a very truthful observation you made about JW publications, Moxy.

  The magazine writers always write from the perspective that all the stuff in the bible is indeed true. I'm kind of amuzed myself by this whole notion. In fact, in the Mankinds Search for God book, one of the proofs that the writers used to establish the veracity of the bible was quoting 2Tim. 3:16 ("all scriptures is inspired...")! They quoted from the bible to establish the bible's authenticity; that reasoning is so circular, my head is spinning just thinking about it . I suspect a Muslim could do the same with the Quaran, or any religionist with his or her holy book.

  The book The Bible, God's Word or Man's? also attempts to establish the bible's authencity, but they use several very weak arguments, as would be expected. At one point, they say we should believe the bible is correct in all things because it is so in some things, so therefore when there is an inconsisentency, we should give the bible the benefit of the doubt.

  However, in most publications, they won't even bother trying to establish anything like the above.
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  peacefulpete

  sorry all, I was having a "deep thoughts" moment. I'm better now.How about those Packers aye?
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  Navigator

  PeacefulPete

  Don't apologize! I would like to hear more.
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  Gumby said:
  

  there is not ONE writer other than CHRISTIAN writers that wrote about Jesus....other than Josephus who mentioned little about him and his writing is believed to be forged as it does't rhyme with the writing style he had. Why? With the many who wrote back then wouldn't you think someone would have written about a man who turned water to wine, walked on water, raised the dead, healed the terminally ill???? None!

  I disagree on this and I will post more info soon.
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  Skeptic (Richard) said:
  

  Do understand that questioning things is a good trait. If the Bible is truly God's Word, it can survive any amount of scrutiny. Also, objective data will not contradict the Bible if the Bible is completely infallible.

  It is good to question everything from time to time.

  Absolutely TRUE!

  Just for the record, I am a Christian, and I agree 100% with what you said Richard.

  We should all be like the "Noble-Minded Beroeans" from the Book of Acts who questioned the Apostle Paul.