Why would I just "accept" something without examining it first?

Question

Why do you have to blindly accept FIRST and then get indoctrinated to believe in the bible is the 100% inerrant word of God?

Why can't you not just read and study it with a rational mind and using your God given intellect and discernment see the evidence for yourself, then decide to join?

Why is some kind of emotionally charged experience and surrender needed?

I am asking because in response to a question I had about the inerrancy of the bible here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmsPJ3jZcEm.kDyrnZYT0Fvd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20071108083806AAnjB2t

a person called preacherswife responded:

"....you must first become a Child of God until this happens the Bible will always be a mystery to you but if you would only read Roman 10:9-13 and do what it says in these verses then you will be surprised at how much you can understand and realize that the Bible (KJV) is Truly the Word of God."

But why would I just "accept" something without examining it first?

Answer 1

If this weren't in the R&S section, you'd get a lot of comments about how you'd have to be absolutely nuts! But since it's religion, people are willing to blindly follow.

If you called an auto-repair shop and said "my car is making funny noises" and the person over the phone said "oh, your radiator needs repair. That'll cost $2000." Would you have "faith" in that person and just blindly hand him $2000 before he accessed the problem in person? NO. You'd have to be a lunatic!

Answer 2

Why can't you not just read and study it with a rational mind and using your God given intellect and discernment see the evidence for yourself, then decide to join?
It is your choice, you can study the Bible without being a Christian, and then you can decide to join never let anyone tell you otherwise.
There are many Atheist out there who know the Bible better than many Christians in this worlld, because they have taken the time to study the words, of course that is so they can prove it to be false. But it is sad that a non-believer knows more than a believer.

Answer 3

I wouldn't just "accept" it. I still read it carefully and critically. But, I haven't found errors that invalidates Jesus Christ. The Gospel is what Jesus Christ did for us. The Bible detailed the coming Messiah, why Jesus was needed and what to look for in the future. The life of Jesus is the Gospel. Other than passing the story down from generation to generation verbally, the Bible has provided a written record documenting these events and their significance to mankind. It's accuracy is amazing and no other ancient text compares to it. It even stands up to today's scrutiny. With all that said, it is still up to the reader to search for it's truth which most likely will require an acceptance of Jesus as being who he claimed to be. That is the faith part.

Answer 4

It falls under religious indoctrination in my opinion. You have in a certain way answered your own question without realizing it.
Rational thinking, independent thoughts and being a freethinker pose a threat to religion; that is why they want people to accept things unconditionally first. Once this is done, there is little chance that a person will question their religion.
The person preacherswife is a great example, she has been conditioned to simply follow her religion in a blind manner and to just use bible verses as if they wer magical words to get people to understand god.

Alright look at it from this view point. Organized religion is an institution that tries to strip away a person's personality and then rebuild that person with the type of personality that they want. In short brainwashing them to think and act as they want them to.

Again rational thinking, independent thoughts and freethinkers are viewed as a threat to religion and will do whatever they can to stop people from having those traits.

Answer 5

Because that is not how religion works. You cannot examine faith. Faith is a belief, a wish, a hope, a desire; they are not something tangible you can hold in front of you and examine. If you did, you would more than likely reject it.
Think about those ridiculous commercials on TV. They ask you to BUY, BUY, BUY! without really thinking about it. They make you think that have done all the thinking for you, and all you need to do it buy into the product.
However, if you take a close look at that product and examine it, you'll find that its just soap, not a miracle cleaner that will solve all your problems. They are selling and IDEA and a HOPE, not a product.
Same thing with religion. I do not understand why you cannot believe in a god WITHOUT the use of religion.

Answer 6

actually? Bible certainty in comparison WITH what the WBTS teaches. certainty learn, i substitute into raised by potential of a mom who substitute into one in each and every of Jehovah's Witnesses. i substitute into baptized whilst i substitute into 14. whilst i substitute into 30, however i might in no way actually left the Witnesses, i substitute into rather ambivalent and pronounced i could elect to do what i elect now. A humorous component befell however. I studied the bible, then studied it some greater. Listened greater heavily at bible discourses and so on. The greater I did that the greater confident i substitute into that what I had discovered and alter into nonetheless getting to understand substitute into the certainty. And this not in basic terms from a non secular perspective, yet one in each and every of logic to boot. I even have now been baptized 40 two years. i might upload, Jehovah's Witnesses rather are the only ones that provide you solutions to the main severe questions. i'm going to provide you a real occasion. After 9/11 the glaring question substitute into why might God enable the kind of poor component to take place. The pat answer from the clergy substitute into "do not question" or "it rather is a secret". One very user-friendly member of the clergy, whilst interviewed a while later, admitted that the clergy had did not answer that burning question. we are able to respond to it, by potential of potential of the scriptures.

Answer 7

You are absolutely right. We need to examine it first. There are people who believe that the English version of the Bible is the inherent Word of God, but don't even know what it says. This is how we get the different denominations and theologies, because people listen to people instead of checking it out for themselves.

Of course the threat of hellfire should drive us to check it out.

Answer 8

the bible comes from the beginning of time when god created earth wow pretty old. so when did hindu write their book? on mars or did it come from uranus? the bible also give a genetic lineage of descendants of adam and eve read genesis. there is one god. the same god that formed the universe, earth, water, and sand. he created man in his image. oddly enough jews, christians and islamic religions all agree that there is one god and all calim the same holy land. read the text ask questions ask other people for ypur answers, step away from this forum which is corrupted and seek enlightened people individually then form your beliefs, here there are too many herics.

test your faith, dont test god.

Answer 9

There is NO need to just accept without examination. We all have choices. In all of life, "stuff" happens that we can not make any sense of. One of my favorite sayings is:
If I understand a thing, it continues to be what it is,
If I dont understand a thing it continues to be what it is.
As for acceptance, in general, I refer to the Serenity Prayer..."God..grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,( other people, places and things) courage to change the things I can (ME)and the wisdom to know the difference."

Answer 10

When did you first hear that the earth orbits the Sun? 1st grade? 2nd grade? Did you examine it with a rational mind? Have you done so since then? Can you accurately describe how and why the earth orbits the sun? What exactly did you examine that proved the earth orbits the sun?

Most who use this argument are hypocrites.