You find truth in books and I find truth in life. I formulate my opinions and beliefs off of my experience not some book written by man thousands of years ago. I do not need the threat of damnation or the reward of eternal bliss to be a good person. Our values are inherent and developed out of a hunter/gatherer society long before man codified those ideas in books.
Have you ever played the game Operator as a kid? It's the game where kids sit in a big circle and one person whispers a message that is passed in secret from kid to kid. By the time the message gets to the end of the circle it only vaguely resembles the original message. Now take that concept and add politics, different languages and several thousand years and you begin to understand how flawed it is to put ones faith in a book. A book that has been edited, rewritten and translated thousands of times. Entire gospels, chapters and verses completely erased from existence depending on what pope, emperor or king was in power.
There is less proof of Hunter gatherer's existing hundreds of thousands of years ago, than anything in the Bible. You say I believe in books, you believe in life. Well last i checked, the bible writers were just as human as you and I. We're not exactly speaking humpty dumpty here. Real people, real events that can be proven to have happened. I'm taking Moses word over science's theory of these so called hunter gatherer's any day. He at least can be absolutely without a doubt, proven to have lived.
Secondly, the Bible is called the word of God. While written by many different men, in different era's and places, somehow, it manages to be harmonious and factual in real time events. some of the time, the specific writer was not even made to understand the meaning of what he was writing (chk the book of Daniel) So while men wrote it, does not mean it stems from them. Be no different from a writer being inspired to tell you're story. They pen it, but it's the book of your story. So the written by man thing pretty much holds no weight. It's just an excuse to ignore what's real.
Why do I say? Because there is no way these people penning this stuff would be able to know for sure what would take place long after they died unless someone with insight to future times was behind what was written. For example, the Isaiah passage i put up last. Chapter 2 starting in verse 2. How could Isaiah be able to control that prophecy from his grave? How is it that it has come to pass, exactly how it says it would? How did he know? He didn't. Jehovah did. So that is why I take this "book" as truth, because it's the only one with prophecy on earth. And since it only applies to one specific group, and there is a specific group of people in our times that have streamed to worship Jehovah, and they are made of of all nations and tongues, and they are taught Jehovah's ways by studying his word and living them, and they, unlike any other form of Christianity, will not lift up sword against any other people or nation, therefore not learning war anymore, I'd have to say that whoever inspired Isaiah to write this stuff, must know what they hell they are talking about.
And I don't need a super education to see that. I can just use my eyes and common sense.
Yes. I believe IF there were a god, an all powerful, all knowing supreme being he/she/it would not be so insecure as to care how one would go about showing respect or worship. Nor do I think god is so needy that he needs humans worshiping him at all. Further an all knowing being knows what is in your heart and does not need you to manifest your feelings outwardly. Praying and religion is for human beings, not god. According to your belief God knows everything that has happened and what will happen so why would one need to prove anything?
The problem with that theory is that God created us in his image. And his main attribute is love. Therefore, if he loves, he made us with the ability to love. To be able to love, you have to have free will. One shows a loving attitude because he wants to, not out of compulsion. Jehovah wants us to show him love. Being loving is not doing whatever you wish to a person and they just accept it on your terms. So in essence, you must be saying that God should not care if the humans he made in his image, which is love, shows love. And that's crazy.
No God does not need us. But out of love he created us. I'm thankful. So I try to show it, by returning it as best I can. One who says, i'll do what i want, he don't need me, he's all supreme and he can deal with whatever. That is an improper viewpoint according to him, and as the creator, guess what? He has the right to set the standard!!!! Just like you have the right to set the standard in your household.
Prayer is the direct way to speak to God. it is for both parties. Not just human. If you do not pray to God, you cannot posiibly have a relationship with him. Be no different than you not speaking to your parents at all, but saying you know and love them. That would be foolish.
And the Bible says that God is all knowing. But that does not mean that he chooses to press fast forward or rewind, or pause every chance he gets. Who's to say he does not at times just let it play? Hmmmm.
More specifically, I believe if there were a god that just being a good person is enough and one is free to worship (or not) any way they chose. I for one want no part in a supreme dictator that controls our every action and judges us not on our hearts but on what rituals we follow.
If God wanted to control humans, he would have made them robots. he would have stopped Adam and Eve from eating the forbidden fruit. You cannot show love without free will. God wants humans to love him because they want to. Especially since his laws and regulations ONLY HELP THE HUMAN FAMILY AVOID CALAMITY!!!!!!!!!!!
If we don't commit adultery, does that hurt or help the human race? If we don't lie, help or hurt? Steal? Murder? Take care of the earth? All of these things God warns us about. Newsflash, God is doing ok in heaven. We are suffering, because we call God looking out for us, him being a dictator. No wonder the world is jacked up! We got it backwards!! We're smarter than God!!!
The concept that there is some eternal magical place we all go after we die is laughable. Especially a place where we retain our memories and bring the baggage of the physical world with us. NO, I am fairly confident none of us will be sitting on a cloud strumming a gold harp arguing over which religion is best.
Jesus did resurrect Lazarus and a couple others in front of many witnesses(even his enemies). So you're already wrong, you can live again after you die, if Jehovah's permits it. in fact, he plans to bring billions of people back to life, in conditions he set up for Adam and Eve, just to show how he originally intended for mankind to live. And yes, they will have their memories, for the purpose to deciphering which way of life to choose. One apart from God in a wicked world (now) And one with God, and not a trace of wickedness around(new system)
Well, the god of the bible does not exist and it is proven by all the flaws and mistakes in nature. Why would a perfect being like god have so many failures? Stars, planets and galaxies that fail to form. Babies born with deformities and genetic defects. etc etc
Further homosexuality exists in nature not just in humans. Under your belief, god created everything we see including homosexuality. Since homosexuality is not just a human manifestation one can safely conclude that it is not some "test" for humans. SO if there were a god I am sure he would accept homosexuals as he does all his other creations.
I don't know enough about stars and planets, to be honest. It bored me to death in school, lol! But I will venture to say this. Science has done a remarkable job of explaining seemingly unexplainable things. Yet, they are constantly still learning about things they think they've figured out. Who's to say that does not apply to these stars and planets?
As far as Human deficiencies, simple answer, we're all born in sin. Which means we're sick. God intended for the human family to never die. We die because sin is a disease. It leads to genetic deformities and decay, and sickness and death. That is the penalty for sin. But Jehovah, out of his kindheartedness, has remedied the situation, through his Son, Christ Jesus. This is why Jesus performed such miracles as stopping the wind storm while walking on water, and bringing the dead back to life. If he can do that on a small scale, certainly he can do it on a grand scale. If you can stop a raging windstorm while walking on water, you can prevent natural disasters. If you can bring one dead person back to life, why not billions? If you can feed a crowd of thousands with 3 fish, And had some left over, you certainly can find a way to feed billions. No more hunger, no more death, no more worries of earthquakes and Tsunami's. Nice.
Yet this supreme being tolerates it every day on earth. God does not need us to walk the path or test us when he knows everything we will ever do or think. Religion is so flawed and easy to pick apart.
You are entitled to your beliefs and I don't begrudge you for your religion. I take offense to anyone person or doctrine claiming they know the real way to god. The truth is, none of us know anything but what another flawed human being told us. One can be a good person and follow any religion or even no religion at all. Religion is a crutch to many who are looking for answers and nothing more. There are too many contradictions and false certitude in religious dogma for me personally to believe in any one god or book.
God tolerates this world begrudgingly, I may add, for very good reason. It is to prove who has the right to rule, Mankind apart from God, or God. Man has failed miserably trying to live apart from the evil dictator, who wants us to Love him and each other and avoid calamity. And even if he does know, he has allowed us to know his plans, which will help us to choose to side with, or against him in this vital issue.
Good to humans is far beneath what is good to God. His standards are far better than ours. And they are for our benefit. What is good unless it's to our benefit to live? So if it's not as good as god intended for us, it will probably hurt us. So how can good apart from God, really be good?
There are no contradictions with Jehovah. There is, however, lack of understand. But only a humble person would acknowledge what they don't know or understand. That is precisely the person Jehovah looks for. Which explains why the world as a whole does not accept him, because the world lacks humility and love. Two things that Jehovah has in abundance more than any living creature in existence.
I could cling to the Old Testament, the original book and it's warnings about fake religions and false prophets to totally discount every religion that has come since. (including JW and other forms of Christianity) The truth is people pick and chose what parts they believe and what parts they dismiss. You are no better than the radical Muslim that believes all infidels are wrong and must be converted to Islam or suffer the fate of a punitive, intolerant supreme being.
Actually you cannot do such a thing, since the Bible is meant, like every other book, to be read in it's entirety. You won't read half of any other book, and try to tell a person who has not read it the whole story, would you? That being said, If one reads Hebrews chapters 11 and 12, they would then have to gather that Jehovah has had his witnesses on earth, as early as Abel!! So it is a laughable thing to say Jehovah's witnesses are a new, radical faith, when God's word says they have been around on earth long before the Jews became God's chosen people, and Christians afterward!
And it may be true that other Christian faiths pick and choose which parts of the Bible to believe and dismiss, but Jehovah's witnesses believe in it ALL!!! We do not pick and choose which parts fit us, which is the reason why our form of worship is acceptable to God, because we choose to allow his word to regulate our lives, And do not stray away from it, or bend it for our purposes!!! This is how come he had Isaiah pen what he did in chapter 2, because he knew he would restore true worship of him to stand out for the world to see! His very name, Jehovah, means "He who causes to become" In Hebrew. How could he live up to that name if he can't establish pure worship from the creatures he created? Will never happen.
And lastly, seriously, The last religious group on earth you're worried about is Jehovah's witnesses. Let's be real. Every other faith will willingly join their armies to go to war against other nations, even those in the same faith. Save Jehovah's witnesses. You really wanna compare us to radical Jihadist's? C'mon Son!