books to explain the bible

by zen nudist 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  zen nudist

  if the bible is really the word of God, and complete...

  it seems to me that any organization, whether it be WT or Christian Research Institute or a host of others....

  by making books to ëxplain" the bible to anyone, is basically saying that the all wise, all knowing God, the creator of all,

  really didn't write his book correctly, needs their help, is basically out of touch with humanity and wrote a book in code that

  needs human intervention to interpret....

  the book itself claims to be complete and the only things necessary, and further claims that the spirit of God would be given to

  any believer to help them understand...

  so I would conclude that any organization that believes they need to explain things to believers outside the bible must be false....no?
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  Leolaia

  The Bible was written in languages other than English. At the very minimum, one would need to explain the unfamiliar Semitic and Greek turns of phrase and idioms, as well as technical terms. That would be the case no matter what the language the "revelation" was given in. Maybe if those langages were kept alive in the religious community (as Sanskrit was in the case of the Vedas and as Classical Arabic was in the case of the Quran), it wouldn't be necessary.
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  truthseeker1

  Good point. I remember my ex-daddy in law (elder) explain that the WT pubs are a magnifining glass to closely examine the bible. Sort of like a microscope examines things at closer detail. you can see it well enough with normal vision, but to see the fine details, you need a tool made by man to get a better view.

  All hog-wash. Their publications are just a way to slant what was already written.
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  truthseeker1

  Also,

  Its easier and more acceptable to write your own Bible Aids to tell you what the bible says, rather than write a new holy book
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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  Zen,

  CRI's claim to fame (under Dr. Walter Martin) was to provide answers to Christians confronted be the cults and aberant Christian doctrine. What CRI is now, I couldn't tell you since Hank Hannegraff has turned it into either a place to promote his personal vendetta against the "faith movement" and to peddle his books.

  As far as commentaries, and scholarly works go, I don't view them as "inspired". I do hold them in high regard since I don't have a working knowledge of Hebrew. I rely on commentators like Kiel & Deiltizch to explain what a word means in its cultural and scriptural context in order for me to get the best meaning of the text in question. The same would apply to Greek, though I am somewhat more familiar with that language, I use commentaries to check how I translated the Greek, and second to make sure that my intrepetation is not something "new". I hold the second view based on Jude 3. Also to avoid the errors of C.T. Russell, Joseph Smith, and the rest of their ilk.

  That's my view, I would love to discus this further.

  LABD

  Edited to add: Any one that attempts to explain the Bible, automatically raises a red flag in my mind
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  Markfromcali

  The simple fact that the bible is a book, which is of course written in a language makes it a watered down truth, and strictly speaking not the truth. Even people who believe in the bible considers the word of God something more than the written text itself don't they? To get caught up in ideas about the ideas in the bible is just one more step removed. Its sort of like the truth about the truth isn't it?

  I remember my ex-daddy in law (elder) explain that the WT pubs are a magnifining glass to closely examine the bible.

  Yes, and like a magnifying glass it can blow certain things out of proportion.
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  zen nudist

  to clarify a bit--- or to confuse (^_^)

  words have no meaning hiding within them... They are symbols which apparently trigger experiences within us.

  the only experiences they can trigger are the ones we already have, unless there is some magical intervention which the bible believers seem to claim to be the case calling it the holy spirit....

  so no matter what language it was originally written in should not matter if such a thing as holy spirit were real....but manifestly there is either no such thing...or...those who have it are not very obvious the me, as I find no religion out there which speaks with one voice...

  there seems to be some evidence from the bible itself that this BS [belief system] was manifestly false back then...but excuses were being made to cover for it.

  books are mirrors of the soul-- no monkey looking in will find a god staring out [robert A wilson]
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  Fed Up

  Oh, I happen to agree and have always maintained that for my own religious beliefs, the bible is the only book I need to read.

  So that's what I do.

  Funny, but I don't find it in the least bit confusing and have no need for anyone to clarify anything in it for me.

  It stands alone on it's own just fine.