That’s quite ironic given the number of changes and flip flops that the JW organization has done over its 125 some odd years of existence.
You must be so new that you’re not even ‘aware’ of the ‘Generation’ change - or all of the other failed teachings the Watchtower has “shrugged” out with its “scholarly” research.
If you read and think about what you are reading you will note that the Psalmist says all are gods and sons of the most high, Jesus uses this to explain why he calls God his father, and taught people to say “Our Father”
If all people were created by this God, then all would be of his progeny. It was the writers of the OT that wrote and declared what God was supposed to have said or done, so we are believing in them, not a God! Then Christians believe that God became man and changed the old meanings.
I meant if God is all knowing as has been taught, it is wrong, and he should have known ahead of time what would happen. If he didn’t know, then it would seem unfair to expect people who don’t know all things to know how to act.
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I meant if God is all knowing as has been taught, it is wrong, and he should have known ahead of time what would happen******
That’s not clearing it up.
If he didn’t know, then it would seem unfair to expect people who don’t know all things to know how to act.
Why? He purportedly tells you how to act through the prophets. Why would you need to know all things?
He told Adam and Eve directly…but what he said doesn’t seem to be true. “On that day you will die.” They didn’t.
The prophets were a really poor way of getting the word out. For one thing, there were many would-be prophets, then as today. (The cartoon image of a guy standing on a street corner with a sandwich board shouting “The end is near” is far more than just a cartoon. There really are such persons.) How do we tell a false prophet from a true one?
(Harold Camping comes to mind: “The world will end in 2011, and The Bible Guarantees It.”)
Second, their message was usually cryptic. Why not be explicit? “On June 1st, Seleucis will bring his army to Moab, going round by the east road.” Whatever. Instead, we only get, “Woe to Jerusalem, for nobody listens to God anymore. (And the way kids wear their hair! Oy vey!”)
Agreed, we don’t need to know all things. But we need to know much more than the Bible and the prophets have told us.
Why? I mean really, why? For a better life? Peace of mind? Why do we need to know more?
Definitely, yes, for peace of mind and a better life.
How many millions of lives might have been saved, spared hellish suffering, if God had simply written down a few notes on the germ theory of disease, and how washing our hands is of more than merely ritual benefit.
That position is both impossible (since the Bible both contradicts known history and itself), and very dangerous. Those millions of people make decisions based on their impossible beliefs and try to force them on others. Maybe you make yourself happy, but only at the cost of spreading suffering - and only until following your fantasy leads you to disaster, since reality is not required to conform to your beliefs.
I don’t think Scriptures are primarily a user manual for reality. Why would a supremely powerful deity worry about things like “lives”? If the soul is immortal, no biggie, you just teleport up to Heaven when you die… If the soul isn’t immortal, then why are we even paying attention to an infinite being who seems to be very busy for the past couple of millennia and hasn’t been returning calls. Either way, Gods must have somethings better to do than coach us. Maybe he just gave up after a while.
Makes sense… Even saints have limits to their patience. After about the millionth time people did something stupid, God could well have thrown up his hands and said, “Fine!”
Most of my reasoning was: a God (having the usual Abrahamic virtues) could have done so much better a job. To me, that throws out those virtues right away. Either he’s incapable or cruel.
If you spend infinite eternity creating universes and keeping planets from bumping into each other and other cosmic pursuits, maybe the ant farm we call Earth just doesn’t get 100% of your attention. My guess is that He let some Angels watch over the place and they made whoopie with the womenfolk, and it was sort of a cluster-f*** from there on.
I think we’re pretty much on our own most of the time, which is OK with me. There are some secret pass-words in the Bible that might get you through the “dialing menu” when you call, but like I said, He’s probably very busy … I wouldn’t hold my breath . Sometimes the greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.
Saying that "GOD exists is a belief not a fact, were it a fact it could be proven and faith would not be needed.
Actually reading the book, begs more questions than answers. It is the right for anyone to have their beliefs about anything. That doesn’t mean the Book is any better than another, What works for you doesn’t work for many others. Each person has their own idea of what or who God is. There is no One Belief about God. All is of human thought or teaching.
The so called Prophets not necessarily right, They were human, and because they said what God said, or didn’t say, is a matter of one’s own beliefs. The stuff the prophets said God said is a matter of what they say God said or did. One can believe it or not. Just as Nostradamus’ and so called modern Prophets.
I am respectfully disagreeing w/you. My problem accepting any religions teachings as truth is the proponents’ aguments are based upon individual faith/belief, as opposed to reliable sources and indisputable facts. Purely and simply, their non-argument is BS. I don’t agree that choosing actual fact over faith shows any arrogance; I cannot debate anybody’s faith/belief, and THAT’S A FACT.
Still researching in preparation for my new thread- I expect to be vigorously challenged and I will be ready to face all combatants.
“In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is KING.”
No, I think the Prophets were human and not necessarily any thing they wrote or said was from God, any more than any one now days that say God led them or said something to them. The human mind is a thing to ponder! One is still taking the word of another human, that is a fact!
I don’t see evidence of people having peace of mind that call them selves believers. If that were the case they would just trust the God they believe in, and not worry about what is to come or why. What is a better life is a matter of opinion!
Barack Obama is the President.
Does that statement necessarily imply that there are no other presidents anywhere?