I'm of the opinion that a book witten by a supposedly perfect superior being, should be, easy to understand and not be filled with so many inconsistancies, half truths and falsehoods. The bible does not fit this category, therefore the bible is not the inspired word of god.
Is the Bible Really the inspired word of God?
by Shirlgirl 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Reborn2002
kes152-
May you have peace!
Are you by any chance related to AGuest?
Regarding if the Bible is inspired by God.. IMHO, the Bible is a book of fairy tales composed by men with a desire to control others by fear and empty promises of everlasting life and gifts in heaven. Mind you, there is no proof for this reward or judgment, you just have to take someone's word for it with a little thing called faith, or the unseen expectation of things hoped for or believed in.
Talking serpents, talking asses, water turned to wine, one loaf of bread feeding 3,000 people, miracles raising the dead, celestial chariots...
Of course these miracles happened thousands of years ago and none have happened since then but you are supposed to just take the writers word for it. Use logic people!
Let us use common sense for a few moments if that is possible. Consider the following examples:
If an imperfect man is capable of composing a coherent instruction manual for a piece of machinery such as a car or electrical device... why is an omnipotent being incapable of delivering a coherent, specific, and absolutely easy-to-understand book for all to agree on when the very subject matter would be life and death itself? Instead we have different religious factions all asserting that they alone have the true religion and understanding of God. Christianity teaching that Christ alone is salvation, Muslims screaming jihad and that any who oppose Allah and Muhammad are the enemies in a holy war, the list goes on and on. Or what about the common thread of similarities in storyline when one compares the alleged lives of Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, Vishnu, etc.? One need only study all of these religious cultures and realize that you could almost substitute one name for the other and have the same ludicrous story.
Little innocent children are sexually assaulted, beaten, and are murdered every day. If a God does exist who is capable of intervening but instead sits by idly and allows it to happen, he is an evil asshole with less compassion than an imperfect person who would put themselves in harm's way to act. If God is incapable of intervening, then he is not omnipotent, and therefore is not God.
Let us imagine you have a toddler age son. You are cooking in the kitchen and tell your son not to touch the stove because he will burn his hand. He disobeys and touches the stove anyway and subsequently burns his hand. As a parent, are you going to punish his children, his grandchildren, and every generation after that because of his actions, when they were not present and did not have the chance to choose for themselves? Would that be righteous? Apparently God has no problem condemning to death and suffering thousands of generations and billions of people for the actions of Adam. A stupid story if I ever heard one.
More people have been slaughtered in the name of God than for any other reason in the history of mankind. The Holy Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, Muslim Jihad, the Palestinian intifadeh even more recently... or how about in every major war or conflict in history the soldiers and citizens are preached to and told that God is on their side?
Why do you think fundamentalist religious zealots today are so adamant against scientific research (stem-cell and cloning included) which could potentially restore lame body parts, restore sight, hearing, cure diseases, and even create life? Is it for ethical reasons? Possibly. But it is also because if it is shown that MAN is capable of these things in science and without God, then all of a sudden a reliance upon God and religion is not needed. Then the power and money that churches can wield is significantly reduced. So they are acting in their own self-interest.
The Bible, Koran, Torah, etc.. are ALL fairy tales, and God (be it Jehovah, Allah, Jesus, whatever) are a JOKE.
I am an atheist. Present facts which can be proven and verified and not pipe dreams based on things hoped for and unproven.
Edited by - Reborn2002 on 22 January 2003 12:43:52
-
yard dog
I have faith that it is. That's what God asks me to do. I believe men have distorted and twisted the scriptures and used the powers of human reasoning and intellectual intimidation to glorify and place themselves in position of authority which in turns leads to a distorted and twisted opinion of God. To me the bible is a very small window into Gods world. He promises someday the big picture will be revealed as I would like to ask many of the same questions often asked on this forum. I try to take what I do understand and apply it to my life and this approach has seemed to work for me. If I'm wrong and there is no God or the bible is just a book of fairy tales then I still feel I've lived my life on solid principles. I guess then the bible is the inspired word of God only if you believe it is.
-
Introspection
Beliefs and thoughts are just stuff that's going on in your head, whether it kind of describes something that's real is another matter. Most people don't seem to see the difference. Words are in the same category, no matter what it's describing. The question is not how well you recognize a good picture of reality, but rather whether you recognize reality over a description of it.
So what illusory word do you want that will satisfy you?
-Nisargadatta