So i started reading the bible

DX'd - Other
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I was raised Christian, and lived the majority of my life that way. But after I developed sz, I started experimenting with other religions. Now, I borrow from Buddhism, Christianity, and Wicca. I’ve found a healthy balance of spiritualism–not unquestioning religiousity.

One of the coolest, and most helpful things I’ve found is the Bible app for smartphones. It has all the different translations, very nice study plans, and easy to follow format.

I’ve almost read the entire book of Psalms! It’s a very positive and inspiring book of poetry and lyrics.

I highly recommend!

Blessings,

Anthony

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I tried to read the bible once and it scared the ever living life out of me. I loved God (or was I just desperate for relief from everything?) but anyways I thought that I should actually read the bible if I wanted to call myself a Christian. (I have always had a thing about people saying they are of a certain religion who have not or are not in the process of reading their holy books. Especially the revealed religions where God actually spoke to someone).
Here’s what I got in like ten pages. I remember absolutely nothing about Adam and Eve. I couldn’t tell you anything about the snake. All I can remember is as far as I got into the “laws”.
If you wear/make cloth out of two different fibers, you are committing an abomination.
If you meet a female sorcerer you must kill her because she is an abomination.
Eating shellfish makes you an abomination. (I used to love eating crab).
A man lying with another man is an abomination.
It is an abomination to spill your seed on the earth.

I remember these even after over ten years they scared me so bad. My parents tried to take me to our preacher, but he didn’t do a good job. The thing where you couldn’t eat shellfish without being damned he said changed when God offered Peter(?) some animals on a blanket to eat that were religiously unclean and Peter said he wouldn’t because they were unclean. Sounds like one of Jesus’s buddies just shot us on the foot with that one. Also why a FEMALE sorcerer? Were male sorcerers ok? Why? Was I going to hell for eating some tasty shellfish? Was it a permanent thing? Would I be ok if I just stopped eating them? It sounded like they were pretty serious about all (if I remember 200, I didn’t make it all the way through, it was just too scary!) of it.
The preacher just tried to cap it all off by saying that Jesus took back all of the old testament. But I payed attention to what little we were told in church. Jesus said that he was coming to modify, not destroy the old laws. I wish I could remember the exact words, they have never left me, but yeah. Jesus said the old laws were just being modified and not destroyed. He also didn’t say anything about shellfish so is eating shellfish still an abomination or not? I also wore blended fiber cloths. I came to actually believe I was an abomination with my magical thinking (I kinda thought that if I concentrated enough I could make objects do stuff, female sorcerer), my shellfish consumption, it sounded like they were serious and permanent about that too.
I don’t exactly trust Jesus’s buddies either. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Never did trust any of them. From the letter to the Corinthians and stuff it sounded to me like they just did whatever they wanted after Jesus died.
Oh, Jesus said you were a good person Mary Madeline? You need to still cover your head in church. Mary, mother of God? You’re a woman too. No talking while the men talk. Those are just what I remember the most. They said a lot of horrible stuff.
Finally, the council of Trent. They wrote the bible. Not Jesus.

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It says Jesus came to fulfill, not destroy the law. basically what happened was the 10 commandments still stands…but the ceremonial law dealing with sacrifices was abolished because Christ fulfilled that part by being the final sacrifice.

Paul wrote Corinthians and made it clear it was personal about the women. Pauls writings are just letters to individual churches or people. he said specifically “I do not allow women to teach.” In another letter he calls himself a fool for boasting. And when he talks about marriage he says strait up that some of what he says comes from him, not from God.

Then Peter who was one of Jesus direct disciples warns that Paul writes difficult things hard to understand, and that some people twist what he says.

The New Testement has many examples of women teachers. Even Paul speaks about them. From what i studied both in Bible college and on my own is that when paul wrote Corinthians it was only that specific church that had a group of disruptive gossiping women so he made up those rules only for them. Sadly, many churches today think its for everyone and that’s how we get the oppression of women issues.

I’ve attended a couple churches with female pastors. One even incorporated Native American beliefs and ceremonies into the services…and funny, at times they had to tell disruptive men to be quiet…LOL…

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Hi Skims, are you still adhering to the daily reading list? It is almost year-end now. It’s time to create a new list for next year. Do you study the Watchtower magazines?

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No I fell off the reading list a couple months ago. I pick it up from time to time though. Jehovah’s used to come by and leave me the Watchtower. I enjoyed reading it. I just googled the magazine and this months issue feature’s What You Should Know About Mental Disorders. I’m kind of torn between spending christmas eve with my family (I don’t get to see my brother and his wife often) or going to mass with my boyfriend’s family.

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I am glad that you enjoyed reading the Watchtower. The article does not cover specific types of mental diaorder, but provides a general coverage on it. You make the decision, I just hope it won’t turn out to be a conflict between you and either part of family.
Did you know that the site which publishes the magazine now offers online streaming on Bible education? If you didn’t know about it, I invite you to take a look at tv.jw.org

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They used to knock on my door, so I let them in.

However, after I had mentioned that once I, due to an accident, ended up in a hospital and needed blood transfusions, they got up and left.

Hmmmmm,… do the Jehovah’s witnesses eat their meat well done?

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[quote]
Christians are commanded to ‘abstain from blood’
Acts 15:28, 29.

Similarly, any food with blood should not be eaten.[/quote]
This is applicable to Christians.

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But they can get plasma transfusions right?

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least favorite verses:

“Be fruitful and multiply” I really hate that one. If you want more people then make them, im not doing that to my child. And besides that what if they were a total psychopath?! Im not making a psychopath like dahmer or hitler. And id get rather frustrated if my child’s head was ripped apart. You make more people if you want them, im not doing ■■■■.

“Honor thy mother and father” Oh really?! Honor is a bit strong wouldn’t you say? How am i supposed to honor the two that put me here in this horrible nightmare? Some kids have alcoholics for parents. My “father” left me in the street to die. I don’t think kids should honor their parents in the least and i don’t think it’s even possible for them to do once they know the fate their parents genetalia has bestowed upon them.

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Another least favorite verse:

“Love your enemies” Can anyone explain that one? Some guy wants to cut my throat and im supposed to love him? A drunk driver rips apart a four year old and i should love him? If i were to harm someone could i ever expect them to love me? Hideous this book.

Another least favorite verse:

“God created the earth” Thats all that you need to hear when it comes to worshipping god, you don’t worship him. If you created the earth and the beings on it then you don’t ask or tell them to worship you and you are a jackass for even suggesting it. Nice job on the monkies and pigs by the way god, really good thinking on some of these creatures, how great you really are. seriously what a ■■■■■■■ piece of ■■■■.

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Hi, excerpt from the Watchtower 2004, 15th June.

[quote]
Today, most transfusions are not of whole blood but of one of its primary components: (1) red cells; (2) white cells; (3) platelets; b plasma (serum), the fluid part[/b]. Depending on the condition of the patient, physicians might prescribe red cells, white cells, platelets, or plasma. Transfusing these major components allows a single unit of blood to be divided among more patients. Jehovah’s Witnesses hold that accepting whole blood or any of those four primary components violates God’s law. [/quote]

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My family are all Jehovah’s Witnesses so I can’t fault individual people but that religion is messed up.

One thing that always gets me is how they swore for almost a century that the literal generation that saw WW1 would not die, that Armageddon would come before that literal generation passed. Now that those people are almost all dead the JWs changed it to a figurative generation. If your core religious beliefs change like that then you’re not following any sort of truth.

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I can’t read religious material sometimes because it is so black and white.

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the bible isn’t just a book its more of a way of life

its right and wrong, yes and know, do’s and don’ts

its lots of things

but i have been going to service mostly every week for the last 2 years and i still haven’t read it

reading the bible doesn’t make you a Christian, if that were true then it would be like any other book with a start an end and a finish, the best thing about this book is that there is no end, it is eternal and you will have everlasting life.

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I struggle with my faith, something horrible. So I share these titles with you as someone who respects folks and loves reading. I found these titles to be hardcore reads from authors who did the research.

I am offering this title as a suggestion, as the book helps the reader understand more the background and events that took place during each Psalm. To understand the Psalms is to understand the bible.

Exploring Psalms, Volume 1 (John Phillips Commentary Series)

May I say, a reader cannot just read the bible, a reader has to read other works of that time period as well.

Another deep writer over at peace theology can challenge you properly.

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Yes, I can explain that one quite simply. If every human on the planet did what Jesus asked, we would have no wars. It also works both ways. Your enemies would also love you, but you cannot see that and therefore can only take a negative from it.

A book like the Bible requires many years of study to even attempt an assessment of it.

Your language is a little difficult to understand, but if you are slating God for NOT forcing people to worship him then I find that rather strange. God gave all humans free will, which is why you have the freedom to slander him and the Bible on an internet forum. You may be perhaps labouring under the impression that God is not active here on Earth, but, actually, the opposite is true. Everything is connected. God is active. And so, unfortunately, is the other chap.

I don’t understand this. Monkeys and pigs seem quite happy to me. It is only when they come into contact with humans that they can be made to feel unhappy.

He did indeed create the earth. We are just not sure how, yet. Or perhaps you know different. Please do enlighten us.

Best wishes,
Padster

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Yes, God created the demon, but the demon(s) were originally angels that were in with God. When creating a life form a Creator would give it free will to make their own choices. Otherwise they would just be slaves.
Now we know god has foreknowledge so knew some angels and some humans would turn against him. Again free will. He did and does try and convince them otherwise. If they persist in rebellion then they become evil.

Demons by themselves are not such a challenge if you confront them in the name and power of Jesus. But they aren’t stupid creatures either. they are cunning. So they influence other people, especially people close to you: family, so called friends, in the workplace. The demon takes advantage of peoples faults, weaknesses, insecurities and tweaks them. This is the cause of much conflict in the world, both private and nations against nation.
many wars are religious in nature, including the most recent ones. the demon is influencing BOTH sides, even when one or both sides claim to be Christian. The demon also knows this will give Christ a bad name and people will blame God. This goes along with Jesus warning about false prophets and people who come in his name that are false teachers.

Very important verse, and it is hard still to deal with when the demon affects someone close to you: husband, wife, child, parent, inlaws, etc.

Ephesians 6:12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

To paraphrase that it literally means, Our ·fight [conflict; struggle] is not against people on earth [ flesh and blood] but against the rulers and authorities and the powers [or cosmic powers/rulers] of this world’s darkness [L darkness], against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly (astral/spirit) world [realm; places].

So while people do have a sin nature, the sin nature is usually provoked by demonic powers. this is the story of Adam and Eve with the fruit…it took an entity to deceive them and influence them, lie to them and get them to turn from Gods way. Once that happened it opened the door for it to happen to everyone.

Ok, so I have been guilty of getting mad at people and not confronting the demon directly as much as should be done. I think everyone goes through this. They SEE the 3D person acting a certain way and that person gets 100% of the blame. Need to sit back for a minute and consider how much demon influence is involved.

The fight must be taken into the spirit realm where the problem originates from.
And…

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I may have poluted my soul, but you may have never done what I did few days before 9-11-2001 when I lived in my auto under one bridge in Miami, I had the Bible, Torah, Mormon’s Bible, JW material, Koran and Thus Spoke Zarahustra and I dumped all in one garbage bin and I had just left my smiling skull that I showed one very black man who prayed with his Bible. I never saw him again.

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I trashed a couple Bibles before…
But a few days before 9/11 you threw several sacred texts all in a garbage BIN - (Laden)?
Oh my!