by sd-7 56 Replies latest jw friends
I figured it might help kept my moral compass a bit more steady in these uncharted waters.
As you learn to trust yourself, which is what you are doing right now, you won't need external rules to keep your moral compass steady. In fact, you will take responsiblity for it, and guard it even closer, because it is YOURS and your responsiblity. It's not inflicted. You'll learn you are a perfectly wonderful person, and no one needs to tell you to be that way.
sd-7, I think I totally know how you feel. I started asking the same questions over 2 years ago and it has been an interesting experience. The way I look at the Torah is that it was not originally designed to be read in chapters and verses and it wasn't written for the common man, but for the teacher. It's an ancient textbook of sorts that works by making assertions and letting the reader ask and answer their own questions. A teacher with a group of students seems to be the appropriate setting for the book. You are supposed to do battle with the Torrah ideologically as it brings up the key issues of human society. All Jewish leaders had to be well studied in Torah ethics.
For readers today, the first issue is that of the translation of the text. Because this document is a textbook mistranslations could render it practically useless. Just as mistranslating a textbook on trigonometry would wholly compromise it's contents. This could be an issue of faith, but also a secular understanding of the preservation of the document through time. Luckily the content is rather simple, which is by design as the document was meant to be able to pierce time itself. It had to travel through oral societies before it was even written down. The preservation of a simple set of stories, in the right order and with certain key elements would prove the sufficient medium to provide what one could consider a reliable modern product. However we have corrupt translations that were developed to make money or control one's own society. Those should be considered for their value as creations of the psychopathic mind which furthers the sciences of psychology, sociology, anthropology and a number of scientific fields.
The book opens up with the assertion of a creator of the universe and the earth we reside within. The Torah is designed to get the brain asking the big questions and it does such in the very beginning of the book. It's asking for YOU to do YOUR homework and agree with it's assertion, or move on to a contemporary textbook instead of a word of God. To answer the question of Genesis 1:1 one must delve into the sciences of cosmology and physics. In the ancient world this process could have been as easy as observing the heavens above and the earth below. A self identification of all that is the known world of creation. In the modern world, however, when we look at a light in the sky at night we have a totally different conception of the universe. Therefore, the process of Genesis 1:1 for the modern day reader of the Torah is incredibly personal and often an arduous experience that requires a dip into the secular community. Times were simpler when the Torah was created, there was much less knowledge which created a blissful ignorance.
The document requires a stillness of mind that is not wavered by harsh criticisms of the human consciousness. The questions asked need to be weighed with a sober mind and all factors considered. Even in the ancient times it was asking for faith that the creator is out there and the heavens and the earth are in His control. If you cannot accept this as fact then the book will just remain a book and nothing more. Faith is the ignition switch for all Scripture. If we think we know that means we have stopped seeking.
-Sab
i came to the same conclusion many years ago, now I starting to read many articles backing this up.
religion the worlds biggist ever hoax
Well put. It's exactly how I feel. The Bible is wonderful literature especially when it's not looked at devotionally. Reading Bart Ehrham book "God's Problem" sealed the deal for me.
It's just a mixed up salad of ancient writings, historically interesting maybe. But certainly not something to live by.
Well, get the documentary "Riligulous" by Bill Mayer. I think you are ready for a lighter, funny, yet acidic view of what you are beginning to understand.
I've been thinking about that one for awhile. "Religulous"--yes, Bill Maher is absolutely one of my favorite people these days. Even the handful of videos I've seen of him are hilarious. So...I'll have to find a way to watch that one.
I guess now the question is how to proceed from here. I often used to say that the Bible was part of a larger moral fabric for me. I suppose I can't avoid its apparent and profound influence, but I can move on from it. It's kind of nice to not have to be under the thumb of fear (okay, I'm just imagining this big thumb with 'Fear' written on it) anymore. I haven't really been thinking that much about life lately, which is weird. I mean, why would I suddenly have this thought in my head? I've been busy with work and the kids and the seemingly immortal pile of dishes, with a few snatches of reading 'A Dance With Dragons' and 'The Two Towers' in between. It's strange that this thought would show up.
I suppose I'm still evolving without even being conscious of it. Hmm. I think I'd like to do more threads like this, but...I don't know. It beats talking about the situation at home, that's for sure. But this was fun. I'm glad to get such positive responses, as I was curious about how people would take it. Fascinating.
--sd-7
Well done SD7, both in your post and in your mind.
I think a sort of subconscious process goes on in our mind, it is weighing up arguments and thoughts. I know that since my exit I have woken up in the morning with the kind of sudden realisations that kind of shocked me, even frightened me a bit, but it was where I was, and no going back.
The very first with me was realising I was, without doubt, going to die, as JW's we do not believe we will. So facing my mortality was quite an experience for a born-in who had been in for 5 decades (almost).
The second was waking up and realising I simply could not believe there was a God, because there was no proof, and the evidence and facts against his/her existence, such as the problem of evil, was so strong that to me, on that morning, it rang in my head "There is no God !".
After that I tested the Bible, a strange way round of doing things I suppose, but I thought if there was any proof I had missed, perhaps it is in there, but no, I had to conclude the Bible was entirely of men, and men of their time too, usually with some underlying agenda.
As to the moral compass thing, I think I have become a person with higher moral standards since leaving the JW's, the code I live by is mine, to go against it is to deny and change who I am, that is a much bigger control on me than some Sky-daddy disapproving of what I do.
Maybe you and I my friend are still on a journey, one that our sub-conscious does most of the work on for us , but a good journey, away more and more from the chains of Myth, Lies and Fear that bound us.
Keep on truckin' ! and keep on giving us your thoughts on here, please SD.
Congratulations... Intellectual honesty its winning the battle over Whisful thinking.
good post, the crazy thing thing is how many billions have bought into it, the sin of Adam and Eve is so ludicrous it beggars belief, they were odds on of trillions to 1 to fail, even if the serpent had warned them about bad stuff happening to them if they ate the fruit they would have still failed, dont get me started on the flood which is even more ludicrous.
Sab... where have you been all these hundreds of years... we have been in need of you for the Torah's interpretation.... .. ok it took 3 years for Sd-7 to come to this conclussion... maybe next year ... maybe
