Do you believe what the Bible teaches? If "yes", why? If "no", why?

by Tenacious 41 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Tenacious

  If you do believe in the Bible's message, do you believe society has gotten better, worse, or has remained the same?

  If you don't believe in the Bible's message, do you believe society has gotten better, worse, or has remained the same?

  On a personal note, there are many things that I can't help but notice that coincide with what the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in his second letter chapter 3 regarding tough times:

  3 But understand this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God. 5 They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these. (New English Translation)
  
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  millie210

  For me, the jury is still out on where to put the Bible in my new path.

  I have given up posting on any of the religious threads on this fourm because only one point of view seems acceptable these days - and NO time for a person to arrive at it either!

  So thank you for asking for view points. 

  I hope this thread does well.

   
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  Simon

  Society has gotten better in the last 2000 years, the last 200 years and the last 20 years.

  Why would we follow the bible message? What exactly is the message? It's a hodge-podge of contradictions, superstitious mumbo-jumbo and things that are laughably outdated. It's a mistake to take the odd snippets that do contain some basic common sense as any proof of divine origin.

  If you asked any reasonable person to come up with 10 most important laws / commandments, I doubt any would come up with the crap that we're supposed to believe "god" thought most vital.

  Slavery? Child abuse? No - don't covert your neighbours ass. See the video for a great breakdown and better rules.

  It's obviously the invention of some fairly horrid people. It has no place in modern or civilized society.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9weXGtCk7c
  
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  Coded Logic

  The opinions of Timothy about the following generation being "worse" than the current one has been a theme all throughout history.  People always look at history through rose colored glasses acting as though things used to be so much better.  This is nothing new.  Please reference PERSONAL BIAS for more information.

  
  

  “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”
  

  - Socrates (400 BC)
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  cofty

  The facts show that the world is getting better.

  Every generation longs for a "good old days" that never existed. In every possible measure there is remarkable improvement.

  Human rights, women's rights, the rights of children, gay rights, animal rights, treatment of offenders, all of these and more show that this is the very best world that has ever existed. Despite the world wars the 20th century was the least violent in human history.

  It is precisely this hurdle that JWs have to get over when leaving the cult. Once you get over the jaundiced and myopic view of the world that you have been taught your understanding of life will change radically. It is THE most pernicious of all the lies you were told.

  "The Better Angels of our Nature - A History of Violence and Humanity" by Steven Pinker should be required reading for every JW.
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  Ucantnome

  when I went to school as a child the kids didn't use bad words but now they do.
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  cofty

  when I went to school as a child the kids didn't use bad words but now they do.

  Superficial christian ethics
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  Look no further than the history of 'Christianity' and your answer is hiding in plain sight.

  Who was the first Christian? Did this person become such by reading something like the Bible? Or, were there so many debates, arguments, controversies about who said what to whom that a NEED arose to "prove" things.

  The first hack at a Bible came from a person named Marcion. Yes--THAT Marcion!

  He was Gnostic and eagerly embraced the only 'Christian' writings available (letters from Saul (Paul) of Tarsus.

  Marcion tossed out writings about the raving lunatic God of the Hebrews (Yahweh) and assembled Paul's letters into reference.

  For awhile, Marcion's side was winning. But, the early Christian community calling itself Universal (i.e. Catholic) excommunicated Marcion and--not unlike the Governing Body of JW's today) marginalized Marcion as Apostate.

  4 to 5 HUNDRED years passed . . . 

  After much arguing and in-fighting, a Bible 'canon' was collected.

  This became--by men's decree only--the official BIBLE of history.

  Would you like to guess how many books it contained?

  There were more than we have today!

  Under the 2000+ year history of the Universal Christian Church (i.e. Catholicism)

  Christians got along just fine without ever reading their Bible. Their Governing Body told them all they needed to know!

  Protestations by the monk, Martin Luther, led to a great upheaval and the splitting of Christianity into a do-it-yourself group of Protestants.

  Their unique claim was naive: all you need is the Bible, prayer and the Holy Spirit.

  The result?

  Today, we have over 41,000 separate denominations with differning interpretations of the SAME Bible!

  So, now--please ask that question again, won't you?

  
  

  
  
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  James Brown

  I will say it is hard to disprove the Bible.

  The bible is the anvil that has worn out many hammers.

  Having said that. 

  It might take one a life time to figure out what the bible says. 
• 

  Giordano

  Apart from a bit of poetry and a little history the Bible is a failed book to place one's hope and trust in. God remains silent and holy books are simply a bad translation of that silence.

  Is the world in a better place? Yes the facts bear that out.

  http://startupguide.com/world/the-world-is-actually-getting-better/
  

  		1900	1980	2012
  HEALTH	1. Life Expectancy1	32	63	70
  	2. Infant Mortality2	19.5%	7.64%	3.69%
  ECONOMICS	3. Per Person Income3	$2000	$5911	$10,070
  	4. % In Extreme Poverty4	68.7%	42.6%	16.9%
  EDUCATION	5. Literacy Rate5	42%	70%	84%
  	6. Internet Access6	0%	0%	34%
  ENVIRONMENT	7. C02 Parts Per Million7	295	334	396
  	8. Surface Temp vs. Baseline (C°)8	-0.14°	+0.23°	+0.57°

   

  We’ve made immense improvements in the measures of of health (1, 2), economics (3, 4), and education (5, 6). However we’ve got work to do on the environmental measures (7, 8) in order to reach the goal of a world with sustainable prosperity for every person. Fortunately, for the first time in human history, a world in which every person has access to food, water, shelter, healthcare, and education is in reach. This goal of sustainable prosperity is not only within reach, it is amazingly within reach during our lifetime.