Posts by venus

113

No Bible = No God?

by menrov in

some doubt about the bible completely, some partially.

what if the bible turns out to be a product of humans, nothing divine.

would you still believe in a creator?.

Before asking for proof, think about this. A seed can feel it is finished as it has been buried—it doesn’t know it has only been planted to continue living! There is no need to show the proof that there is life after its seeming burial. Even if God is willing to provide proof, are we able to see Him, hear Him, feel Him … Our physical eyes are able to see only those objects that lie within the visible range. It means there are several objects that our eyes cannot perceive, though such objects tangibly exist, merely because their frequency lies beyond the visible range. The light we see with human eyes consists of photons with energies in the range 2 to 3 electron volts. What if God’s is more than that (as in the case of the gamma-rays which the Fermi Gamma-Ray Telescope detects which are of billions of times more energetic, from 20 million to more than 300 billion electron volts, powerful bullets of energy, from cosmic phenomena such as supermassive black holes and hypernova explosions0.

I know my mind and other minds exist. Other minds would include lesser minds, superior mind and even a Supreme Mind. If minds that are very much here cannot be subjected to scientific equipments, the same applies to the Supreme Mind. If we say God doesn’t exist just because He doesn’t come subjected to tools humans have invented it would be like me saying nothing exists beyond what I can understand.

113

No Bible = No God?

by menrov in

some doubt about the bible completely, some partially.

what if the bible turns out to be a product of humans, nothing divine.

would you still believe in a creator?.

venus

Perry,

If Jesus really lived, then problems are more because it would mean the subject of what is called redemption by the death of the Son of God originated from God. Without any conditioning, anyone would revolt at the recollection of what he reads in the Bible that it was making God Almighty act like a passionate man who killed his son when he could not revenge himself in any other way. I am sure a man who did such a thing would be hanged.

God is too good to do such an action, and also too almighty to be under any necessity of doing it. Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system. But the Biblical concept of God the Father putting his son to death, or employing/permitting people to do it, cannot be told by a parent to a child with conviction; and to tell him that it was done to make mankind better is making the story still worse—as if something greater would be achieved through the murder of the innocent [a logic today’s terrorists resort to]; and to tell our children that all this is a mystery is only making an excuse for the incredibility of it.

Account of Adam and Eve is contradictory to the original creation account given in Genesis 1 where we find God creating mankind, not just a couple. Even if first couple sinned their sin would not be passed on to their children: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.” (Deuteronomy 24:16)

Hence if at all Jesus did come, that might not have been to perform miracles or to perform sacrifice "to take away the sins of the world." He might have lived like a great prophet, preached very elevated teaching such as Mathew 5:44-48 and disappeared only to appear as a mighty teacher again somewhere on earth as prophet Elijah reappeared as John the Baptist. (Mathew 11:14)

113

No Bible = No God?

by menrov in

some doubt about the bible completely, some partially.

what if the bible turns out to be a product of humans, nothing divine.

would you still believe in a creator?.

venus

Perry,

Any advertisement serves its purpose when it is published just before the arrival of the product, not centuries in advance. If it was God’s plan to advertise Kingdom through the preaching and miracles using Jesus He would have done it in our time when everything Jesus speaks and does could be live-telecast to the whole world. This would have spared all confusions, doubts and debates of over 2000 years, and all people of the earth would have accepted Jesus as the Messiah.

10

Inconsistency involving Lot and Abraham

by Ireneus in

when god informed of his intention of destroying the wicked inhabitants of sodom and gomorrah abraham made extensive questioning, cross-questioning and bargaining with god till he gets satisfied.

(genesis 18:16-33) however, when god informed of his intention of murdering abraham’s own only-begotten, innocent son, he simply obeys without any questionings [which he should naturally have done more intensely than he did in the case of unrelated wicked people].. god too acted strangely!

no introduction of the subject with sufficient reasons.

venus

Sacrifices are dictates of the priests who are the only beneficiary. Jesus knew sacrifices has no value at all (Luke 6:38). God who knew very well everything belong to Him would never ask anything to be sacrificed to Him. In the case of Abraham, it is self-ridiculing on the part of God to ask Issac to be sacrificed to Him because it is God who miraculously provided Issac. If God had miraculously given Issac, Abraham would feel no pain in sacrificing Issac because He knew God's promise of great nation through him, hence God would have some arrangement to keep His own word.

113

No Bible = No God?

by menrov in

some doubt about the bible completely, some partially.

what if the bible turns out to be a product of humans, nothing divine.

would you still believe in a creator?.

venus

Perry,

Scriptures often do disservice to God. For example, Isaac’s wife, Rebekka, was barren. Hence he prayed to God. Rebekka became pregnant. Twins in her womb began jostling each other. When Rebekka inquired of God: “The Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."” (Genesis 25:21-23) Writers bring dishonor to God projecting Him as the originator of slavery. Jesus is also depicted as glorifying slavery (Mathew 24:45)

God is projected as initiating suffering in the case of Job. (Job 1:8-12)

53

Is Satan Real ?

by jdash in

i've been pondering on this question for awhile now, and i'm starting to think this malevolent spirit creature isn't real.

.

do you guys believe satan is real?

venus

Existence of God Almighty and existence of Satan are not reconcilable. Religious leaders invented Satan for their own benefit.

113

No Bible = No God?

by menrov in

some doubt about the bible completely, some partially.

what if the bible turns out to be a product of humans, nothing divine.

would you still believe in a creator?.

venus

Everyone knows what action of others makes them happy or unhappy which means everyone knows how to act towards others, which means there is no need for Scriptures--a fact God knows--hence did not authorize writing of any scriptures in the world.

If we take the other option that God would use scriptures, there there is greater problem: We have an ocean of scriptures with all their interpretations. Among them, which is the right one? If Bible is chosen after sufficient debates, there is still problem. Among the 66 books that make the Bible, which one is true as most of them contradict each other? So are the case with verses. In one place it would say: "You are dust; unto dust you would return" which is flatly contradicted in other parts (Ecclesiastes 3:5; 12:7). Question about God is even worse--over 2000 years of debate among Christians have not yet finalized who is the God of the Bible!

9

Eden's snake

by Doug Mason in

in my study into the israelite and judahite salvations, i provided sources which tell us that the writers of the creation story at genesis 2 and 3 employed symbols associated with the goddess asherah, namely: eve, snake, and tree.. at present, i am researching satan and i came across the following from “the birth of satan” by t.j. wray and gregory mobley (pages 68-69 70).

doug.

even casual readers of the bible have heard about the story of the garden of eden (genesis 2-3).

venus

Doug Mason,

It is ok to say that a book of human origin should be studied from its context. But a book that claims written by God's Holy Spirit should not limit itself to Mediterranean context. It should not even unwittingly reveal erroneous belief such as earth is a flat disc.

I enjoy my Bible reading because I look for the real motive of the writer. Just like every crime betrays something of the personality of the criminal committing it, writer would unwittingly leave out something that hints at the real intention of the writer.

17

Does praying really matter? Where is the evidence?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

matthew 7:7 jesus says: ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

for every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

venus

JWs have been praying to God to give them steady increase and prosperity. But now they are experiencing the opposite!

9

Eden's snake

by Doug Mason in

in my study into the israelite and judahite salvations, i provided sources which tell us that the writers of the creation story at genesis 2 and 3 employed symbols associated with the goddess asherah, namely: eve, snake, and tree.. at present, i am researching satan and i came across the following from “the birth of satan” by t.j. wray and gregory mobley (pages 68-69 70).

doug.

even casual readers of the bible have heard about the story of the garden of eden (genesis 2-3).

venus

1) Temptation account is not real. If real, it would mean that Satan and Jesus believed that shape of earth is flat so that both can see "all the kingdoms of the earth" if viewed from the mountain top.

2) Genesis account of Satan is borrowed from pagans, hence not worthy of analysis. Even if it is original, details does not befit the kind of Satan he should be. If Satan is so smart as to scheme against God and his children, he would definitely choose some smart method, not a sub-standard temptation as in this case. It is too obvious that Adam and Eve who had already experienced God as their unlimited benefactor would never believe God as withholding something good from them, nor He is a liar, especially when such a malicious suggestion originated from a stranger—with a strange phenomenon—a snake with speaking ability! Also Satan contradicted only the effects of their disobedience, which of course further weakens his position, because prima facie, it is the Law-giver that knows the effects of disobedience, not the spectators who have never seen a violation before.

3) “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil” planted by God too backfires because account says “when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.” Sense of good or bad would have arisen in Eve only after eating the fruit of that tree, but here she got that sense even before eating it. Hence the question arises: Was it a literal tree?