The Bible

[AscensionOm]

"An ardent Jehovah's Witness once tried to convince me that if there
were a God of love, he would certainly provide mankind with a reliable
and infallible textbook for the guidance of conduct. I replied that no
considerate God would destroy the human mind by making it so rigid
and unadaptable as to depend upon one book, the Bible, for all the
answers. For the use of words, and thus of a book, is to point beyond
themselves to a world of life and experience that is not mere words or
even ideas. Just as money is not real, consumable wealth, books are not
life. To idolize scriptures is like eating paper currency.
Therefore The Book that I would like to slip to my children would
itself be slippery. It would slip them into a new domain, not of ideas
alone, but of experience and feeling. It would be a temporary medicine,
not a diet; a point of departure, not a perpetual point of reference. They
would read it and be done with it, for if it were well and clearly written
they would not have to go back to it again and again for hidden
meanings or for clarification of obscure doctrines.We do not need a new religion or a new bible. We need a new
experience—a new feeling of what it is to be "I." The lowdown (which
is, of course, the secret and profound view) on life is that our normal
sensation of self is a hoax or, at best, a temporary role that we are
playing, or have been conned into playing—with our own tacit consent,
just as every hypnotized person is basically willing to be hypnotized."

How did he respond?

[AscensionOm]

Originally Posted by Gracey

How did he respond?

Not sure. The quote I posted was from a book I'm reading.

[Busby]

Originally Posted by AscensionOm

"An ardent Jehovah's Witness once tried to convince me that if there
were a God of love, he would certainly provide mankind with a reliable
and infallible textbook for the guidance of conduct. I replied that no
considerate God would destroy the human mind by making it so rigid
and unadaptable as to depend upon one book, the Bible, for all the
answers. For the use of words, and thus of a book, is to point beyond
themselves to a world of life and experience that is not mere words or
even ideas. Just as money is not real, consumable wealth, books are not
life. To idolize scriptures is like eating paper currency.
Therefore The Book that I would like to slip to my children would
itself be slippery. It would slip them into a new domain, not of ideas
alone, but of experience and feeling. It would be a temporary medicine,
not a diet; a point of departure, not a perpetual point of reference. They
would read it and be done with it, for if it were well and clearly written
they would not have to go back to it again and again for hidden
meanings or for clarification of obscure doctrines.We do not need a new religion or a new bible. We need a new
experience—a new feeling of what it is to be "I." The lowdown (which
is, of course, the secret and profound view) on life is that our normal
sensation of self is a hoax or, at best, a temporary role that we are
playing, or have been conned into playing—with our own tacit consent,
just as every hypnotized person is basically willing to be hypnotized."

Nevertheless it would be immensely helpful if this book had been, was and is written in such a way that we would all understand the same thing. It wouldn't have harmed either if it had mentioned that the world was a globe and that the Earth went round the sun. That wouldn't have destroyed the human mind and it would have saved people from a lot of suffering later. I don't see why we shouldn't have known that even then, when this man appeared in the middle of a bunch of uneducated and ignorant shepherds. Nor would it have been a bad idea to tell us about the pains his two neighbours on their crosses had to bear even if they were thieves. Apparently pains borne by thieves are OK in 'god's' eyes. As for Jehova's Witnesses they have their own version of the Bible anyway.

[Baile]

Originally Posted by AscensionOm

We do not need a new religion or a new bible. We need a new experience—a new feeling of what it is to be. The lowdown (which is, of course, the secret and profound view)

I see now. You would obviously enjoy and appreciate the Why The West Needs Gnosis thread. Same topic, & rite up your alley sounds like.

[Baile]

Double post.

[AscensionOm]

Originally Posted by Baile

Double post.

Originally Posted by Busby

Nevertheless it ....

This was a quote posted from a book. Stating rather well, how the Bible is viewed to most people.
"if it were well and clearly written
they would not have to go back to it again and again for hidden
meanings or for clarification of obscure doctrines"

So to base your life off of it completely and take the obscure doctrines literally, is absurd. Regardless of how strong your belief is that it was inspired by God. It was in fact, written and compiled by humans. Many things are inspired by God and considered 100% perfect....like creating Adam and Eve...yet they came with flaw and sinned.

[Baile]

Originally Posted by AscensionOm

This was a quote posted from a book. Stating rather well, how the Bible is viewed to most people.
"if it were well and clearly written
they would not have to go back to it again and again for hidden
meanings or for clarification of obscure doctrines"

I'm aware of that. Not clear what you're saying here, lots of book quoting and not much conversation on your part. Maybe you'd like to clearly explain your own position, there's one place to start.

[Molearner]

Originally Posted by AscensionOm

This was a quote posted from a book. Stating rather well, how the Bible is viewed to most people.
"if it were well and clearly written
they would not have to go back to it again and again for hidden
meanings or for clarification of obscure doctrines"

.

AscensionOm,

We live in a very lazy age. It would not surprise me if most people felt this way. Read it once and discard it like one would discard the assembly instructions for a bicycle after it was assembled. If all of our students were given the answers for every test everyone would be an 'A' student. IMO, the process of discovery is of more importance than the discovery itself. It is the discovery process that forces one to think.

[AscensionOm]

Originally Posted by Baile

I'm aware of that. Not clear what you're saying here, lots of book quoting and not much conversation on your part. Maybe you'd like to clearly explain your own position, there's one place to start.

Everyone else seem's to understand. The "not clear" part is on your end. I recommend re-reading a bit more. Maybe take notes and piece it together