All Scripture Inspired?

by Carmel 17 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Hyghlandyr
    Hyghlandyr

    Well on this point the Mormons are on the same page at least. Scriptures are not just the new and
    old testament, nor just their book of mormon. Those in the know are also taught to read the writings
    of the early church fathers, among other things. I could have even accepted old Irish testimonies
    outside of the church, prechurch, if I had wanted to I was told. Though the book of mormon and the
    bible has a higher place among them. Muslims are similar. They call some non-muslims "People
    of the Book." That is people whose religion includes a set of scriptures. I am simplifying, but for
    instance christians are perfected in islam, as would Jews be. But they also accept others as being
    from god...to degrees. Of course it might be pointed out the condemnations of such groups in the
    Holy Quran. Be that as it may, the Quran, like the bible, contradicts itself, despite Muslim claims
    to the contrary.

    If all scripture was dictated by a higher power and just transcribed by the authors then you'd really have something ironclad. Inspired sounds, to me, like it leaves room for some error, bias and just plain "wiggle-room." It sounds good but isn't 100% perfect.

    Actually inspired means dictated in the manner you are speaking. The JWs are correct when
    they say that it means "God Breathed." What they neglect to tell you is that the ancient belief
    was that when a prophet spoke, or a poet, a singer, a painter worked, a sculpter, an orator, or
    others, they were being worked through directly by the deities. Even if reading something that
    had been written before, the goddess was directly speaking through the mouth of the person.
    This explained to them the feelings the audience would feel when listening to someone speak,
    read, sing or so forth. The breath of the god flowed out of the poet's mouth and into the bodies,
    hearts, minds, and souls of the audience, thus affecting their emotions.

  • myownsaviorthankyoumuch
    myownsaviorthankyoumuch

    the Rosicruscians have an interesting take on what things jesus had exposed himself to in various lands during the missing years that the NT doesnt account for, there is a book titled, THE MYSTICAL LIFE OF JESUS which ironically enough has nothing to do with anything mystical, in fact it focuses mostly on the human side of jesus which is usually not really discussed . . . . . . .btw thanks for the link leolala, interesting reading on that page

  • Larry
    Larry

    Just a few 'inspired' thoughts -

    In reading history, especially the history of the popes and the religious dictators, I find it very difficult to accept anything they had a hand in. They were the ones who decided what bible books to include in the canon. In my opinion, these men were more ghastly and sinister than Hitler, and we are suppose to accept what they chose is best for mankind, let alone accept that it was inspired? If they killed thousands of innocent people, for hundreds of years to further their agenda, what makes them qualified to select what's holy and what's not. It doesn't take a political genius to see that what's in the bible today was inserted by evil men to promote and exploit their political agenda. Did god use these macabre men to further his message, just to test our faith? I don't think so.

    Also, as the original post says, other religions and holy books (

    Zoroaster, Chrisna, Buddha, Zenda, Vesta, the Bagavigita, the Upanishads) were around during Jesus time, and even pre-dated Jesus by thousands of years. If you were to read these older holy books you would see that mostly everything Jesus uttered was borrowed from these older prophets and holy men. Just about nothing Jesus said was original, although the scripture says 'no one ever spoke like him.' There were many other 'saviors' with the same story as Jesus (virgin birth, redeemer, resurrected, wise men, lamb, son of god, etc.) thousands of years before the bible was written.

    Yes, all scripture is inspired - inspired by whatever men happened to be in power in a particular region of the world at a particular time. Inspired doesn't mean that it is true or authentic, it just means that the folks in control said it was.

    Peace - Larry :)

  • LittleToe
    LittleToe

    Larry:

    although the scripture says 'no one ever spoke like him.'

    Was that not in connection with the way he spoke with authority, rather than the actual content of his message?

  • Larry
    Larry

    LT - Good point. It could be, I don't really remember the content of that text. But the point I'm trying to make is that we (I) was lead to believe that Jesus was unique in his sayings, when in fact, he wasn't.

    Speaking of which, I was also lead to believe that the Mosaic law code (over 600 laws?) was a perfect law code, when in fact, it was not perfect at all. Again, borrowed laws from other civilizations that was portrayed to be original and just.

    When I traveled to Egypt and saw the many ruins, hieroglyphics, temples, etc. it was an eye opener! Besides the fact that the Greeks learned most things from the Egyptians, the Levites (Book of Leviticus) got their temple set up or arrangements (High Priest, Priest, Alter, Most Holy, Incense, Basins, Rituals, Blood, Sacrifices, etc). from the Egyptians - I even walked in the Egyptian Most Holy chamber (very dark). When you think about it, it makes sense b/c Moses wrote that book (so they say) and he was raised in Egypt having access to the sacred rituals, so his point of reference may have been an Egyptian one.

    Moses was 'inspired' by his Egyptian way of life.

  • LittleToe
    LittleToe

    Maybe there truly is "nothing new under the sun"

    I remember reading about the Hammurabi law code, whilst still a JW and being fascinated.
    I guess that some laws are universal.

  • Carmel
    Carmel

    Larry,

    Your observations are similar to mine. For decades I was want to believe that the teachings of Jesus were "borrowed', if you wil. Certainly the texts that I used in my original post are replete with moral teachings that are identical to those that Jesus iterated. However, is this proof that He plagarized? Is that the only conclusion that could be drawn? To conclude that would basically debunk the whole notion that Jesus represented anything but a common human with access to information that was not necessarily available to His peers and that He was a gifted orator capable of making old ideas sound new. In an age of growing pessimism, not unwarrented I might add, I think it is easy to fall into thinking that we are without any connection to "God" and that the history of humanities inhumanity we loose site of the possibility that the moral teachings of all the great spiritual leaders were similar or identical for good reason.

    carmel

  • Larry
    Larry

    These books showed me plenty of proof:

    Christianity Before Christ by John G. Jackson

    Anacalypsis or the Origin of Languages, Nations, & Religions: An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis by Godfrey Higgins

    The Historical Jesus and the Mythical Christ: Separating Fact from Fiction by Gerald Massey

    The Quest of the Historical Jesus by Albert Schweitzer

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