Still Interested
Still read
Still study
Interested in
Myths
Legends
as well
Many interrelationships
Believe???
(rolls eyes and shrugged)
Did the WTS with all it's lies take away your interest in the Bible?
by RULES & REGULATIONS 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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LockedChaos
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megaflower
Iam totally burned out on religion. I have been out of the cult for 15 months now and have a stronger distain for religion . I do not know if I will ever be able to pick up the bible and read it again. The JW's with all the twisting and raming it down your throat with all the meetings has left a sour taste in my mouth. Iam content to do Nothing at all. In fact, I totally enjoy my evenings and Sundays off.
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Leolaia
"Do you still read or have any interest in the Bible?"
Of course, it's never ends to fascinate....I always find something new to discover. I love learning how it fits into the culture, history, literature, and social movements of its time(s). That's one positive thing I got from the JWs.
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yknot
No, it has made me feel a bit stupid and there at times is fear approaching scripture again without the familar handholding of a WT pub but I pray for holy spirit and clarity beyond JW brainwashing.
Many times it is one small baby step at a time.
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stillajwexelder
GOD AND ANY HOLY BOOK - YES
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Black Sheep
I became a Born Again Christian until I got to the bit where Jesus vandalised the fig tree.
It was very nice being a Born Again Christian.
I really enjoyed reading the bible through my new set of eyes.
But.......
I had never seen any explanation for Jesus' vandalism of the fig tree.
It seemed so wrong on so many levels.
I have never seen any reasonable explanation for why Jesus' heavenly father woudn't have given him a damned good boot up the arse for such a childish display of power.
If he had waved his magic wand and made fruit appear the next day I might have cosidered it a miracle, but..... what excuse is there for outright vandalism?
It is not just the WT that makes me think that the Bible is just a collection of pagan fables.
Cheers
Chris
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WTWizard
I still read it, but so I can help expose the Washtowel lies and fables. Funny thing, the more I read Jesus' accounts and compare them to Genesis Chapter 3, the more I see similarities between Jesus and Satan, and that the God of the Old Testament is nothing more than an Almighty Lowlife Scumbag.
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Witness 007
I agree "blacksheep" he murdered that fig tree and for what.....what sin could that tree have comitted to deserve that? That's enough reason to give up the bible for me anyway.
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inkling
Did the WTS with all it's lies take away your interest in the Bible?
More like the Bible and all it's lies took away all interest in the WTS.
[inkling]
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Leolaia
I had never seen any explanation for Jesus' vandalism of the fig tree.
It seemed so wrong on so many levels.
The fig tree story is actually a fascinating example of the complex literary interrelationships in the Bible (with multiple layers of meaning) that show how writers composed new stories out of older material.
The story has at least two layers of meaning. At the surface layer, the story is meant as a dramatization of the power of faith, such that it could move mountains (Mark 11:23); the Lukan version of this logion has the image of a sycamore tree being rooted up and thrown into the sea (Luke 17:5-6), which is probably the inspiration of story with the moral on faith. But there is a deeper eschatological meaning in the original version of the story in Mark, as it sandwiches the pericope on the cleansing of the Temple in Mark 11:15-19 (with the fig tree story occurring at v. 12-14 and 20-25). It is generally thought that the story is meant to imply that Jerusalem and its Temple, like the fig tree, has not borne fruits and shall be destroyed. This connects the story with logia about trees not bearing fruits in Matthew 3:10, 7:19, Luke 3:9 ("Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire," Matthew 7:19), as well as to the logion about the budding fig tree indicating the nearness of the time the Temple is to be destroyed (Mark 13:28; in Mark the parousia is not distinguished from the destruction of the Temple, cf. 13:1-4 and compare with parallels in Matthew and Luke).
The direct sources of the story seems to be the Parable of the Fig Tree as preserved in Luke 14:6-9 (and separately in the Apocalypse of Peter) and the book of Jonah. The similarities between the parable and the miracle narrative (it should be noted that certain miracle stories seem to be based on parables, especially those containing hyperbole, cf. the Miracle of the Abundant Harvest in the Infancy Gospel of James 12:1-2 and the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:2-9, or the Resurrection of Lazarus in John 11 and the Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus and the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:16-21, 16:19-31) can easily be seen in this comparison:
Parable: "A man had a fig tree (sukén) planted in his vineyard; and he came (élthen) seeking fruit (karpon) on it (en auté) and found none (ouk heuren). And he said to the vinedresser, 'Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none (ouk heuriskó). Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, 'Leave it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down' " (Luke 13:6-9).
Miracle Story: "Seeing in the distance a fig tree (sukén) in leaf, he came (élthen) to see if he could find anything on it (en auté). When he came to it, he found nothing (ouden heuren) but leaves, for it was not the season for figs [NOTE: the same season mentioned in Mark 13:28: "From the fig tree learn its lesson, as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near"]. And he said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit (karpon) from you again. And his disciples heard it....As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, 'Master, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered' " (Mark 11:12-14, 20-22).
It is worth noting that ch. 2 of the Apocalypse of Peter directly applies the Parable of the Fig Tree to the destruction of Jerusalem, as it interprets the "fig tree" as a symbol for "the House of Israel" (on the basis of the OT curse on Israel in Jeremiah 8:13; cf. Micah 4:4, Haggai 2:19, Habakkuk 3:17). The miracle narrative however borrows a number of motifs from the book of Jonah. After giving the disillusioned prophet a castor-oil plant for shade, "at dawn the next day (eothiné té epaurion) God arranged that a worm would attack the castor-oil plant and it withered (exéranthé)" (Jonah 4:6 LXX). Similarly, the fig tree in Mark is discovered "early" (prói) the next day, and it "has been withered (exérantai) to the roots (ek rhizón)" (Mark 11:20-21). Jonah thus supplies the withering motif and the split of the story across two days, with the second half occurring at dawn the next day (whereas the version in Matthew 21:18-22 combines the two and has the miracle occurring in a single moment). The detail about the tree being withered "to the roots" (ek rhizón) curiously links the miracle narrative to the logion in Luke 17:5-6 which is directly parallel to the fig tree story with its theme of faith: "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, 'Be uprooted (ekrizothéti), and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you". Moreover, both the logion in Luke 17:5-6 and the logion in the fig tree story in Mark 11:23 refer to objects (whether trees or mountains) being "cast into the sea" (bléthéti eis tén thalassan). This explains why the author thought of Jonah as a source of detail about the fig tree, as this story specifically concerns someone who was himself cast into the sea: "And they took Jonah and they cast him into the sea (exebalon auton eis tén thalassan)" (Jonah 1:15 LXX).