Did leaving the WT build greater appreciation for or kill your reading of the Bible?

by lepermessiah 64 Replies latest jw friends

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  Ding

  Boyzone,

  Try reading the NT without the Watchtower.

  I'd recommend studying Romans and then Galatians.

  You'll be surprised how different it is than what the WT claims it to be.
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  Mad Sweeney

  Did leaving the WT build greater appreciation for or kill your reading of the Bible?

  I read the Bible differently than I did before. I take it for what it is rather than for what religious leaders (JDub or otherwise) say it is.

  Good point, Ding. Taking Romans and Galatians at face value, rather than following Borg party line, has gotten people disfellowshipped. They mean NOTHING like what the WT says they mean.
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  straightshooter

  My reading of the Bible has not changed, except that now I read with a more open mind instead of always accepting the reading in the light of the WTS.
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  PSacramento

  When my Mom and older sister becmae JW's and started pontificating from the bible, I KNEW something didn't smell just quite right.

  It forced me to not only read the bible, but study it, who wrote it, translated it, the process of becoming Canon, commentaries about the different books and letters, biographies of the people that wrote them, the history of 1st and 2nd century judaisim and Christianity. etc, etc.

  All that lead to a new and profound appreciation of the bible.
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  Palimpsest

  I don't accept the Bible or Christianity as anything other than the work of men, so there's that. But I've come to really love the Bible as literature. I think reading it from that perspective -- that it's a really fascinating myth cycle with rich storytelling, good-vs.-evil characters, and interesting parables -- makes one appreciate it a lot more. I was always warned away from reading it as literature, because JWs think that demeans the book or takes away its meaning, but even strong Christians I know often say they enjoy approaching it from that viewpoint. Seeing it with new eyes really helps you get what the collection is truly saying.