Why was corruption of scriptures not prevented?

by anointed1 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • anointed1
    anointed1

    Many bracketed portions in the scriptures, influence of foreign myths and unscientific teachings … etc show that scriptures have been corrupted. Even when they are not corrupted, religious teachings have often no effect even on direct disciples (when Jesus was teaching, his immediate disciples were thinking about who was going to be first in the organization—something that happened in all religions which led into their infighting and divisions)

    At the same time there are many good people among materialists, why? Because they are led by an uncorruptible teaching available everywhere:

    1) The incomprehensibly vast size of the universe teaches how insignificant our earth and all its inhabitants are (gives no basis for anyone to feel self-important)

    2) The way planets and stars act too teaches us humility! They move around keeping to their orbits just like vehicles follow lane-discipline on a busy express highway (as though submitting themselves to some unseen authority).

    3) Plants produce fragrant and beautiful flowers and trees produce fruits for others to enjoy (not for themselves). They too are living lessons of humility.

    4) All the stories and histories written show that those who pursued self-importance reaped misery in the end.

    Thus humans are soaked in the information that ego means trouble (conversely, going egoless means peace and prosperity)

  • careful
    careful

    I'm not sure how your post stays on the topic of your title—you seem to wander off quite a bit as the post goes along(?)—but as for your title, it is important that believers recognize the human element in the writing of scripture, something the WTS and other religious conservatives do not really do. Even if one wishes to view the content of the Bible as divine, the books themselves were written and preserved down through time by very fallible human beings. That is a weighty factor in the corruption you bring up in your title.

    Your other points seem a bit "corrupt" themselves: when the meteor that crashed into what is now rural Arizona many years ago and destroyed the lives of countless pretty, fragrant plants, innocent "nice" animals, and perhaps humans, was that an example of that object of space "keeping to their orbits just like vehicles follow lane-discipline on a busy express highway (as though submitting themselves to some unseen authority)"? Examples of other natural phenomena behaving in unpleasant ways (lions brutally tearing apart deer or other "nice" prey, poisons of certain reptiles and insects slowly tormenting those infected with their toxins to death, erupting volcanos scorching all beings in their paths, naturally occurring toxic gases choking animals and humans, and so on) can also be cited. The natural world is full of such things. What sort of "unseen authority" do these things demonstrate?

    BTW, I am a theist/believer, a deeply thinking one.

  • anointed1
    anointed1
    careful

    I am also aware of such exceptions like meteor. However that does not belittle the glory of billions of planets and stars keeping to their orbit. I take lesson from the whole-sale lesson universe teaches us.

    Regarding carnivorous animals, I do not have any explanation. Here too all animals are not carnivorous, and from this I take my lesson.

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    The whole damnation book is corruption. They simply took pagan rituals, corrupted them, and put them in this damnation book. Of course, it was corrupted so no one could advance beyond slavehood. Of note, both torah and quran are also corrupted.

    Joke-hova did this to enslave the whole human race. Real spiritual knowledge was lost, and the corrupted version was put into this book so psychic power could be channeled into those who are seeking to enslave the whole human race, and their angels and joke-hova itself. Fear was also put into this book to prevent anyone from being willing to leave, along with the commandment to spread the cancer into the nations.

  • scratchme1010
    scratchme1010

    Ok, so I am sticking to the topic title:

    Why was corruption of scriptures not prevented?

    It was never meant to be considered holy, nor the word of god, simply because, well, it isn't.

    Many bracketed portions in the scriptures, influence of foreign myths and unscientific teachings … etc show that scriptures have been corrupted. Even when they are not corrupted, religious teachings have often no effect even on direct disciples (when Jesus was teaching, his immediate disciples were thinking about who was going to be first in the organization—something that happened in all religions which led into their infighting and divisions)

    Even if the "scriptures" were never corrupted, there are a few thinks I think are very important to consider:

    • Today, any tweet is 1,000 times more reliable and clear than anything written in the bible. Yet, people claim that the bible has such an important message, and it's from no more and no less from the being that it's supposed to know everything, including the future, including what has happened to the original writings of the bible.
    • Why the idea of leaving a book written for thousands of years? Why writing it in languages that were so limited? Why writing it in visions, prophesies, parables, and symbolisms? That doesn't sound to me like such an important message that is meant to save as much people as possible.

    The rest of your post, IMO, is just unrelated.

  • Half banana
    Half banana

    Mr or is it Ms anointed person? Whichever, I can see where you are coming from because I know where you have been.

    You have been living on planet Watchtower and have had all your foundational facts and values grossly distorted by their "spiritual truths". For example you imagine that God made the Bible whereas the Bible, written by human thinking, is drawn from astrology, pre-literate sagas, pagan folk belief and borrowed stories from foreign courtly writings. The key to its success was in certain texts being sanctified as the inerrant word of God by the Roman Church in the fourth century.

    The Bible evolved, there was no moment when it was pure, it was always a mongrel anthology.

    If on the other hand you were able to get an education and study real things, it would soon become apparent that nothing from a spiritual source has any concrete value whatsoever in the world of science and education.

    Spirits are purely the product of the human imagination. I have evidence for this. . . do you have evidence for spirits?

  • careful
    careful

    For a theist, I do not see how meteors crashing into planets belittle anything about the Creator. Phenomena like meteors, black holes in space, erupting volcanoes, vicious and/or poisonous animals, destructive storms/tornadoes, and so on, are all part of the Creator's handiwork, correct? Ignoring such common phenomena or downplaying them is precisely the sort of thing that has historically turned off thinking people to belief in God. Before using such reasoning as the order in the natural world to argue for the existence (or even the benevolence) of God, should you not prepare an answer for the contrary data as well?

    At least one person above has assumed you were once a Witness who left, like so many (though not all) here. I do not know your personal history, but if that assumption is so, and if you found out how corrupt the WT organization is, then why would you want to imitate the shallow reasoning that they display in arguing for divinity by some supposedly positive facets of creation while ignoring other facets of nature that do not fit in their/your model?

  • David_Jay
    David_Jay

    Part of the reason the whole "corruptions of Scriptures" argument doesn't always work is that for the "corruption" to mean anything, the Scriptures have to be "the" ultimate form of revelation and religious enlightenment for those who use them.

    A common mistake we often make upon leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses is never to update our understanding of what those in the religious world outside of the Watchtower actually believe. The idea that the Scriptures have been shaped by outside "corrupting" influences is not news to the majority of those who use them religiously. It only causes a problem for those who have a mindset like the Jehovah's Witnesses.

    Jehovah's Witnesses view the Scriptures as the "ultimate authority" on religion and theology. For them everything has to be based on what the Bible says. But for Christians like Catholics, the Orthodox, and most of mainstream Protestantism, the Bible takes second place to Jesus, the apostolic college, and in many cases the teaching experience of the Church body as a whole.

    And as for Judaism, the Scriptures are a product of their religion. The religion of the Hebrews functioned for millennia without the Jewish Bible, and in fact it was not until the end of the Babylonian exile that any of its books became finalized into the forms we now have them in. It would not be until the time of the Masoretes (between the 6th and 8th century CE) that anything resembling a formal "canon" of Jewish texts would be settled.

    But for Jehovah's Witnesses, the Bible is like the Book of Mormon is to Latter-day Saints. They treat it as if it was the only link to "salvific knowledge" from Heaven. As such it is taught to be the ultimate source of revelation from God, a source greater than the Christian Church that wrote it, the apostolic college that taught its truths before these were placed on parchment, even a greater witness of God than Jesus Christ (for Christians). Unless it is written in its pages in a translation approved by the Witnesses, there is no greater source of authority and truth anywhere else.

    So for them the Bible has to be without interpolation from outside sources. When a person who has been a Witness discovers this for the first time they often mistakenly project this "new discovery" upon all religious people who use Scripture, thinking that all other religious traditions view the Bible as the ultimate form of revelation and basis for all "true" religion.

    The opposite is true. Jews have known since they developed the Scriptures that many of the ideas they assembled into it required updating. The "Document Theory" (adopted by most in Judaism and Christianity) suggests that the Torah or Pentateuch was written by a series of writers over many centuries. This methodological analysis identifies countless areas where one can easyily see redactions made as the books came into final form over different eras. There are anachronisms in much of the redactions that some interpolations were added to some sections, such as in much of the "P" or priestly material which suggests redaction during the time of the Temple. The Document Theory is totally rejected by the Jehovah's Witnesses because it makes their view of the Bible impossible.

    In the end, it is like Half Banana explains: the religious world outside the Watchtower is very much aware that the Bible evolved over time to become the book they canonized. When a religion like, Catholicism for instance, says that the Bible was "inspired," they include the redaction or editorial/interpolation process by various writers and scribes as part of the inspiration process. Since unlike the Witness, Jews and Christians see the Bible as only the "written" part of revelation from God, it's words don't have to be exact truth or pure since the written part of revelation is a product of the experience of revelation that, in most cases, was also an evolutionary process. One doesn't have to accept the Bible as it is, but one shouldn't reject the Bible just on the misrepresentation made by groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses. They aren't right about most things, but that's no reason to dismiss most things.

  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy

    The Bible is a Roman creation. Christianity was just another pagon religion until Constantine made it the state religion. Then the work began to make a religion for the state.

  • anointed1
    anointed1

    My premise is simple:

    1) If scriptures were God’s word, He would not have permitted it to be corrupted.

    2) Even if it is not corrupted, still it does not serve the purpose. For example, disciples who were directly taught by Jesus understood Jesus as “servant of God.” (Acts 3:13) Yet, Christianity understands him to be as God Himself. Jesus taught good people of OT will also go to heaven. (Mathew 8:11), yet JWs understand heaven as earth.

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