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?.

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?

22

A pet peeve

by punkofnice in

a pet peeve of mine is that there are numerous christian denominations (other faiths with their 'holy' books too), all claim that their interpretation of their 'holy' book is the correct interpretation.

my conclusion is that either their god is a very poor communicator or simply doesn't exist.. i used to believe all this stuff when i was a jobo and later a church going christian.

i simply cannot, in all honesty subscribe to it all any more.

venus

Genesis chapter 23 is all about the bargain Abraham conducts with locals for buying a burial land for his wife, too much information about woman’s menstruation … yet too little information about the creation of whole mankind—just one verse 1:26

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

All verses that imply you can get things done through prayer are human intervention because Jesus has categorically declared: "with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38)

7

John the Baptist has no heavenly hope?

by Ireneus in

jws teach that john the baptist would not inherit kingdom of heaven.

however, there are problems with this teaching.. john’s mother elizabeth was both barren and too old to conceive.

(luke 1:7) birth of john was an act of “holy spirit.” (luke 1:15) then we find jesus saying: “among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than john the baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven [“kingdom of god,” luke 7:28] is greater than he.” (mathew 11:11; luke 7:28).

venus

John, The Baptist, is more qualified than any other anointed ones because he is the only one who acknowledged Jesus even before his birth which he indicated by ‘leaping in his mother’s womb’ when Mary visited Elizabeth. (Luke 1:41-44) Contrast this with Apostle Thomas who doubted Jesus even after receiving years of training from him which prompted Jesus to say: “The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed.” (John 20:29)

76

In one sentence, can you pinpoint a single event that woke you up?

by Brian J in

my turning point: serving on a child abuse judicial case.

.

venus

The fact that belief in God exerts no power over their attitude which expresses itself in keeping the GB filled the white until Kofi Atta Annan was elected as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1996 [JWs were too late to appoint one GB member from the black community (Samuel F. Herd) in the year 1999]

7

Joshua 10:13

by UnshackleTheChains in

who's right....man or god?.

think about it!.

venus

Sun can never be stopped which means sun did not stop. If part of Joshua's account is never took place, then it may apply to rest of his accounts too.

6

Animals Have Soul

by glenster in

awwrr see the video at the next link:https://www.facebook.com/animalshavesoul/videos/158795278097284/.

venus

Interesting video!

Original command was to lovingly take care of animals (Genesis 1:29, 30) That part of the history is described as “very good” (Genesis 1:31) Life span of people were longer—as symbolized by Methuselah who lived for 969 years (need not be literal, it only means he lived longer). Looking at his vibrant health, observers would doubt: ‘when he will die?’ That is what his very name, Methuselah, literally meant.

When humans turned egoistic, they began to see flesh as an object of enjoyment and began hunting (which was later copied by some animals too). To legitimize this change in habit, some invented the story of Noah’s flood whose very basis is irony. God supposedly wanted to protect Noah’s family and “two of all living creatures, male and female” (Gen 6:19) and to destroy the rest. After the flood, God says ‘now you can eat the animals.’ (Gen 9:3)

Immediately after the conclusion of such a great colossal event of Global Deluge which destroyed all species except “two of all living creatures”, God would naturally have made a long speech with specific details to avoid such a global catastrophe again. Instead, God is too brief saying: “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you” which is in conflict with His own earlier command (Gen 1:29) as though He had to destroy the world because people went wrong on their diet.