Is the Bible Just B.S.?

by shamus 125 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  XQsThaiPoes

  Justice is often pronounced JustUs for a reason.
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  gumby

  Gumbutt
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  Phil

  As far as I know, ALL religions are man made and there is plenty of proof out there. They are part of the belief systems out there that have permeated the world over the centuries. Trying to prove all the items related to the existance of a religion is a waste of time. The final answer always returns to "God" did it or it is inspired by God. That is considered proof. Of course the most ridiculus conclusion is that the Governing body of the Jehovah's Witnesses and/or the Watch Tower are the sole source of the truth as communicated to them from God beats them all.

  God has nothing to do with our everyday life. Praying to God for help is a total waste of time from a practical point of view. Belief systems do not mix with the practical things of life. If you are a believer in the powerof prayer, by all means, pray your head off if it gives you some satisfaction. For me it must make sense and I must see the fruits of my prayer to God.
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  El blanko

  Abbadon (sorry if I got your name wrong):

  I do try to be a literalist, but at the same time I have read too many accounts across the internet and also through other reading to be absolutely certain in all areas. For sure, it would be nice to be able to walk by faith alone and dismiss arguments put forth, yet for me over the past two years that has not been possible due to my enquiring mind.

  I personally would never place Santa and Jesus Christ side by side. I understand where you are leading my mind with that line of argument, but know that the texts refering to Christ as outlined within the pages of the Bible, help describe a whole being and one who taught fine and understandable qualities for our combined benefit. Other characters plucked out of history may well do this in their own way, but Christs claim to be the "Son of God" makes him unique and worthy of special attention (if only to falsify his claims).

  Mormons & Islam. Strange choice being as both have a relationship with old Bible law. I get your point though and accept that not everybody on this planet shares my own vision of reality.

  Thanks for taking the time to read my words.
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  El blanko

  God has nothing to do with our everyday life. Praying to God for help is a total waste of time from a practical point of view. Belief systems do not mix with the practical things of life. If you are a believer in the powerof prayer, by all means, pray your head off if it gives you some satisfaction. For me it must make sense and I must see the fruits of my prayer to God.

  Phil:

  I feel the same way at times and get quite despairing inside. I do pray everyday and believe that at times I have been uplifted during my prayers. I have faith that there is a God who loves us when we reach out with an open heart and I believe through my faith within that moment, that we can be uplifted and strengthened.

  My belief system when in full flow is not oppressive towards others, is more considerate and loving and hopefully of some benefit. When I am in that zone of behaviour, I believe I tackle the practical everyday more soundly as a result of my faith.

  Most do not even know the struggle I have inwardly with faith and I prefer it that way. I know that miracles rarely happen and accept that God is distant from us all at present.

  I can only wish you well and hope that you regain faith through your life.
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  frankiespeakin

  Phil,

  Drop all concepts of god,,, and then you have god..,,,Without concept,,,you have god,,, with concept,,,, you can not have god. For god by nature has to transcend nature,,so god is not natural,,,for there is no natural,,, only "concepts" of natural.
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  blacksheep

  I approach the bible (very seldom, I might add), as a book of mythology. It's a loose "historical" account of a group of people, their beliefs, their relationship with their god (OT). OF course they are the chosen people, THEY have the true god, yada, yada, yada. The truely "inspriring" books if you can call them that, are Proverbs, a bit of Psalms (Like Psalms 23), basically those pithy proverbs that apply to all human kind and all human experience.

  Regarding the NT, I do think the teachings of Jesus as recorded in a bible OTHER than the NWT, like KJames, etc., is worth reading. I do think Jesus had a message, although with my screwed up JW upbrining, I'm still struggling to be objective about it. I don't think he would have expected his message to materialize into JWs, Jerry Falwells, Pat Robersons.

  I think a person owes it to him/herself to become at least a little familiar with the bible, as it has had immense influence on western culture. But, approach it as LITERATURE. Not the inspired word of God.
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  shamus

  Megatron Wrote:
  
  

  I continue to believe that Christianity and Judaism are the product of an intervention by some superior intelligence(s).
  
  They saw a hopeless bunch of violent barbarians and decided to inject a 'mind virus' that would gradually change things

  That is an incredible way to put the bible and judaism to say the least; one that is very possible, IMO. I just can't see how the bible is "real". I mean, have you actually read in the "Old Testament" how people were treated? Stoned to death for next to nothing; being called "unclean" for sleeping in the same sheets that your wife slept in whilst she was menstrating (er I mean bed)... just complete weirdness! It goes on and on and makes no sense whatsoever from a logical standpoint.

  There was this website that had "lego" biblical characters. They built lego, and put it to bible verses, took a picture and put it on the internet. It was a joke, but it really got me thinking; the bible, particularly the old testament is just plain stupid. It makes NO SENSE, the flood could not have happened, and that's that! How in the hell could the whole earth be completely flooded with water??? It makes no dammed sense!

  I live by the highest peak in the canadian rockies; 4000 metres. Now the Himilayas are over 8000 metres... that's the height that a jet flies for god;s sake. How in the hell can even mountaintops be covered? It's impossible!!!

  Sorry I can't respond to everyone's comments. I did read them all, but megatrons comment really got me thinking here.
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  Abaddon

  metatron

  Current problems in the Arab world are an excellent example of how difficult it is to uplift people ethically and get them to build a just, prosperous society. Give them money, they buy weapons and waste it on extravagance. Take away their dictators and watch chaos ensue. Encourage democracy and watch them elect ayatollahs - and so it goes.

  I agree; cultural evolution is slow. You can take a tribesman whose grandfather lived in exactly the same way as his great-great-great-great-great-grand father, give him Nike Air Jordan's, a mobile phone and a Mercedes. It doesn't mean he's suddenly developed concepts of egalitarianism, equality and justice that took Western society centuries to develop (and that we still dont get right all the time).

  I continue to believe that Christianity and Judaism are the product of an intervention by some superior intelligence(s). They saw a hopeless bunch of violent barbarians and decided to inject a 'mind virus' that would gradually change things on earth.

  A nice idea. I think if they'd gone to the trouble of actually providing a book that really really was impossible to explain as the product of human intelligence (say one where the creation account was simultaneously ftting for a bronze age culture but, given the perspective of modern science, was a crystal clear description of the process of evoltuion we see evidence for), then the term 'superior intelligence' would be justified.

  El blanko

  I do try to be a literalist, but at the same time I have read too many accounts across the internet and also through other reading to be absolutely certain in all areas. For sure, it would be nice to be able to walk by faith alone and dismiss arguments put forth, yet for me over the past two years that has not been possible due to my enquiring mind.

  That's good to hear. Faith is a delicate and deformable flower. The brain chemistry and neural pathways that make people believe they are god when they are disordered or diseased are the ones that make groups of sane people believe diametrically opposed things to other groups of people with equivalent fervour. If one walks by faith alone, one can end up, through the nature of our material bodies, walking down a path that exists only in our mind, or the mind of someone who long ago put words onto paper that can capture and entrance the mind. Using one's enquiring mind to interrogate and inform ones faith is a wise course.

  I personally would never place Santa and Jesus Christ side by side. I understand where you are leading my mind with that line of argument,

  That's all that was intended. There's an awful lot of shades of grey and very little black and white; our background makes our views tend towards the monchromoatic.

  Mormons & Islam. Strange choice being as both have a relationship with old Bible law. I get your point though and accept that not everybody on this planet shares my own vision of reality.

  Thanks for taking the time to read my words.

  A pleasure. They key is not so much that 'not everybody on this planet shares my own vision of reality', but that the validity of your reality is indistinguisable in an objective study from other realities whose inhabitants make similar claims to you.
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  LittleToe

  TrueNorth:I believe that the bible writers felt inspired to write about their experiences, and this can easily be extended to apocryphal works, too.
  Divining between what actually happend and what is symbolism and literature, is another matter.

  Take Song of Solomon, for an example.
  Was there really a lassie who fell for the charms of a young shepherd, forsaking Solomon, and getting beaten up for missing curfew?
  Maybe, but it's much more likely symbolic.

  To ignore the mistakes of history (even when portrayed in a ficticious manner) is to repeat them...