With the Christian Greek Scriptures, the "New Testament," the situation is different. Manuscripts of the book of Revelation (the last book of the Bible) have God's name in its abbreviated form, "Jah," (in the word "Hallelujah"). But apart from that, no ancient Greek manuscript that we possess today of the books from Matthew to Revelation contains God's name in full. Does that mean that the name should not be there? That would be surprising in view of the fact that Jesus' followers recognized the importance of God's name, and Jesus taught us to pray for God's name to be sanctified. So what happened?
What happened was the wtbts's translators, under instruction to do so where necessary, added to the scriptures. Pretty plain. Instead of following up on how Jesus really taught his followers to pray to 'our Heavenly Father', they went down another path away from what's truly stated in scripture.
Oompa, dear, dear man -
I feel your angst, your pain, your need for reality and truth. I've been there and just now finally seeing a light at the tunnel's end.
We don't need religion of any sort to come to know God. Take a step back and see how the Big Picture reveals religion's representatives have historically been an excellent anti-witness for Him and for Jesus Christ. The most heinous atrocities you could never think up are under the cloak of religion and 'in God's Name'. Something's up when so many religionists claim to use the same Instruction Manual and have such fanatically diverse doctrines and traditions. I've wrestled with this too, and the OT examples of unimaginable events attributed to Almighty God. A KKK-er preaches Arianism, Baptists preach hellfire, Catholics teach Mary and saint worship, Protestants preach trinity, Jews disprove Jesus' merit, Mormons & JW' s teach a whole other gospel, and they ALL pound on their own versions of the Holy Word of God! That can't be right!
I momentarily doubted my faith in God at all, but upon deep reflection, to me, that evidence is conclusive. So how to justify, or even dignify every bit of the Bible as we know it today? I can't - some of it just can't be right - I won't. So, it seems to me that it must have to do with the writers' personalities being displayed, and their viewpoints - times they obviously wrote from their own perspectives and not God's. Perhaps all the writers were inspired by God to write certain things down for posterity, but not ALL of what they wrote was directly inspired by Him. Some of it has to be their own viewpoint of history as they saw it. Everything that happened, whether by by man's cunning or natural devise, they saw as coming directly from YHWH. There is, imho, much Bible lore that is just that - stories, myths and legends. But some of it is true, verifiable, provable. As you're seeking to know God you learn to discern accordingly. If we look for a mistake we'll find it; if we want to find the Breath of God, we'll find it. Does it sound like it comes from a God Who 'is love'? If not, it probably doesn't.
It's tough to let go of what we took pride in knowing for the sake of Knowing, but that's what this 'awakening' is all about Oompa! What IS truth? I can only testify to my own experience, but if you seek Him you'll find Him.
I doubt I could admit this anywhere but JWD : Once you reach at certain point of maturity, I don't think you need the Bible. I got that idea from the Bible(is that an an enigma?) where it says 'He will write His laws upon hearts and not tablets of stone'. It makes sense to me. Say you get a new camera - you read the instruction book and figure out how to work it. As a novice you might have to refer back to the book a time or 2 for specifics, but you don't have to read it again everytime you pick up the camera. You don't forget! So what is it that we need to be told over and over about just being a good person? Do we need to learn Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek to get the meaning? Do we need to dissect every syllable to understand the basic message? I think we should reach a point of not having to be constantly reminded, after we've first learned the basics. Which as xjw's we have to re-learn those basic tenants of Chritianity that we were never taught in the first place. It was a long hard study to displace WT theology. I'm not studying anymore, I graduated. How many former students continuously pour over their old course books to make sure they've really 'got it'? Properly trained, they would be sharing their knowledge, putting it into action and having some success. Being a Christian is the same - read, learn, do. If we have to keep referring back to the instructions, have we really learned it yet? It simply cannot be that complicated!
Religion and religionists divide humanity. They over-complicate YHWH and give Him a bad name in the process. It breaks my heart.
I truly love you, Oompa - I see myself in you so much.(or maybe it's your avatar - it really tugs at my heartstrings. I love Marty's "Eye-gore'! )
a friend, watkins
