Bible Reading Leading to More Doubt Than Faith... :(

by jeanniebeanz 32 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Jez

  Pistoff wrote:

  Look at last week's WT lesson: Lot offers his daughters, a repulsive thing to do. The WT spin, and possibly the ancient Jews too, was that it was not wrong and that God blessed the effort by the angels saving everyone involved. Peter called Lot a righteous man, so he must not have been wrong; that is the WT line

  Yup, and they said that perhaps Lot was soooo confident that God would save his daughters that he had no fear in offering them up. BUT the first thought in my head was: THEN OFFER THE ANGELS!!!! FOOL! God will more likely save them or better yet, they can save themselves? If you had to choose who to gamble on, would you gamble on your daughters or angels?

  Stupid, simplistic reasoning of the WT.

  Jeannie: I agree, the more I learn about the bible, the less faith I have in it. It IS an amazing book, one that i enjoy examining, but I always bear in mind that it was written by imperfect men for an ancient culture. It provides me with a glimpse of an ancient ppl's way of life. It does contain lessons of life, but when I read I always ask myself, is the bible a reflection of human nature or is human nature reflecting what God wants and demands? Nevertheless, the lessons contained in the bible have transpired throughout the ages and it is a book that condenses the nature of humans. Quite fasinating.

  Jez
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  diamondblue1974

  I always bear in mind that it was written by imperfect men for an ancient culture

  Spot on...how the WTS can say it provides modern day solutions to everyday problems is beyond me...even at its most simplistic levels its supposed solutions are totally impractical,sexist and downright illogical.

  Good point, great thread.
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  trevor

  If you think about it too much you will go mad.

  The Bible is a collection stories of the opinions and struggles of imperfect men. They have created 'god' in their own image.

  It does show that just because millions of people believe something, it does not make it true.
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  Narkissos

  Perhaps any reading leads to more doubt than faith in the long run.

  The texts which happened to be gathered in what we call "the Bible," and the idea of "God" which they construct, belong to the times of their writing. They are not above the ongoing history of thought.

  If we really admit this, we can let the texts be what they are (instead of judging them by anachronistic notions and values), and be happily surprised of finding interesting and inspiring words in it... occasionally.
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  JamesThomas

  Perhaps there is a time when some -- in their sincere search for ultimate truth -- need to believe in anthropomorphic deities. They require some thing, some object outside of themselves to focus on. This may give some sense of satisfaction and peace for a while. However, contradictions arise. Our little deities' feet are made of sand, and they begin to crumble. They are way too man-like, way too tiny and distant to give us any real sense of ultimate truth. Perhaps the main reason they exist, the most important lesson they can teach, is that they and their "holy" books, can not give us what we seek.
  
  Perhaps there is another way that we can discover the deep peace and wholeness that we seek.
  
  
  j
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  jeanniebeanz

  Perhaps any reading leads to more doubt than faith in the long run.

  That is what I am finding, much to my husbands and my consternation. He doesn't get what the big deal is and doesn't understand why I cannot just simply accept long held views on the bible and wait for 'the end' for the answers.

  I never did like being told "wait on Jehovah" whenever a tough question came up as a witness, and won't put up with it now. Just hope this does not cause too many issues in our lives...

  J
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  doogie

  perhaps it's the fundamentalist mentality that was implanted in me, but in my eyes for the bible to be considered divinely inspired, the WHOLE thing has to be inspired. if it contains errors, then it is not what it claims to be and should be viewed as simply a man-made book of man-made hopes, dreams and myths. it was this that caused the whole bible to crumble in my hands.

  there's so much that can be torn apart in the old testament (for instance, according to bible chronology, the incident at the tower of babel happened 144 years after the flood. this is not possible. either the bible writer was lying or the event was sensationalized. either way, NOT divinely inspired), that many people feel pretty comfortable viewing that as tribal mythology. i agree, but for me that kind of leaves jesus hanging out to dry.

  the way i see it, the messiah jesus depends on the garden of eden and the flood (he apparently believed it to be a real event), among other OT traditions. for me, the fact that these 2 things (eden and the flood) have been demonstrably proven false (to me, at least), left jesus hanging by an amazingly thin thread. it was then that i felt comfortable letting the bible go.
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  frankiespeakin

  Jeanie,

  It is better to know what you now know,,it will shake up your world a little bit until you get used to it. For me when I first realized that the Bible God was just a myth so many things started to make more sense with more and more mystery about what may be impossible to know.

  I think my brain got really rocked by no longer holding on to past beleifs,, everything started taking on much more meaning and the possiblity of everything being one or sacred has me at times of awe, which to me feel like a shaky feeling of reverance. Not fearful, but more like,,do I really really want to know or can I know more than 5 senses will allow. I think JT has said some interesting things about the inner search,, instead of going to the outer try the inner find out what makes you tick try to see if you can look inside yourself,,durring this unsteadying change in beleif structure,,durring such states of mind we become more open to radical information that is very transforming. When you feel sadness because of your changing outlook or for whatever reason,,look at the sadness annnnd see it as not you be an observer of your sadness but don't try to hold on to it as quickly as it came it will leave you,,you can call it back if you want to or you can just let it come anytime it wants to,, don't judge the sadness as either good or bad just see it without any judgements at all. I think this is a very good way to deal with painfull emotions.
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  melmac

  Been there, done that. The more I read, the more I see it can't be God's inspired word. At least, not the OT. The NT is still under scrutiny, but, being based on the OT...
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  JamesThomas

  Questioning the Bible and being honest enough to allow yourself to see the, ummm, b.s., is a big step for us who have based so very much of our life and identity on it. It's not easy; it takes guts; I see it as an extremely healthy sign.
  
  There may be much fear and confusion when our rug of reality has been pulled out from under us. So, expect it, and honor it.
  
  Believe it or not, the very best place to be, is when you have no where to turn, no beliefs to lean on, and all you have is Life in the present moment. Here, is where the magic happens.
  
  
  j