What Do bible Students Believe?

Above is the Codex Sinaiticus in facsimile format.  The codex is the oldest complete copy of the New Testament we have and contains about 1/2 of the Old Testament.  Together with the Codex Vaticanus 1709 and Codex Alexandrinus these form the Greek text Bible Students consider more reliable and tend to consult when we go back to the Greek text.  For the Old Testament text we tend to go with the Masoretic text in Hebrew as represented by the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia,  Fortunately for most, computer programs, several of them for free, make it much easier to wade through the texts than our forebears found it.  But one thing to keep in mind as well is that Charles Taze Russell primarily used the King James Version as his go to English Bible and that Bible is still something of a standard among us today.  So, what have our studies using the method outlined earlier led us to?  what do we believe the bible teaches when we rely on the Bile alone?

I found this statement of believe on the website for The International Bible Students Association and it pretty much covers the core beliefs we have as a movement:

1. Both the Old and New Testament are Jehovah's inspired words; the primary source of all Truth.

2. Man did not evolve but was created.

3. Jehovah created his only-begotten Son, Jesus. Jesus created all other things.

4. Jesus descended from heaven to earth and was born of Mary as a perfect human man, not as God in     flesh.

5. God raised Jesus from death in a Spirit body, not in a physical body of flesh.

6. The Holy Spirit is Jehovah's active power and force, not a person.

7. The Trinity is no where found or taught in the Bible.

8. Man is mortal and does not possess an immortal soul. The soul ceases to exist after death.

9. There is no hell of fire where the wicked are punished. "Hell" is from the same Greek and Hebrew     words for "grave," describing the sleep of death, not eternal torment.

10. We are now living in the "time of the end".

11. Jesus returned and has been invisibly present on earth since the early days of the Watchtower    
     Bible and Tract Society.

12. The 144,000 of Revelation 7 are the anointed Bride of Christ in heaven.

14. Earth will never be literally destroyed or completely depopulated.

15. In the Kingdom, Christ will rule the earth in righteousness and peace.

16. By their faithfulness to God, the obedient of mankind will be granted what our original parents           lost-everlasting life in human perfection on a paradise earth.

While this is is not completely inclusive and there are some differences among the Bible Students on other beliefs, it does form a good working list to go from and we will go through it in our posts to come and explain exactly what in God's word led us to these beliefs.  We will also go over some of those other beliefs we hold and show the biblical basis for them as well.

Tchau!

How To Study The Bible

Today we are going to look at how the Bible Students studied God's word right from the beginning.  The thing is the Bible can be a confusing and intimidating book at first glance and there is a reason for that.  God didn't intend for it to be clearly understood to whatever extent he permitted during the Gospel age by any but those he called to be members of the Church.  Even while he was on the earth he generally spoke in a manner to hide what he taught from those not meant to understand (Matt. 13:10-13).  I know we sometimes get accused of being Gnostics for pointing this out, but these are the facts and the truth is found through careful study and search, not through going outside the word or embracing any sort of intuitive teachings, as the Gnostics do.

Something to have in mind as one does search the scriptures is that the Bible is not a Western document no matter how much many around the world like to think it is.  So it cannot be understood using Western philosophies, as "Christian" theology from as early as the second century has sought to do.  Instead God Chose those we call the Jewish people to write the book therein, all of them as Luke may well have been a kinsman to the Apostle Paul ( Luke is short for Lucious and it is possible the to are the same. Rom. 16:21).  So it must be properly understood from that viewpoint instead of that of the West.  Sadly, though Jewish thought can be enlightening, one must be careful with it because revered teachers among the Jews such as Philo of Alexandria, a contemporary of Jesus, and Moses Ben Maimonides imported Western Greek philosophy into Judaism essentially corrupting it which is quite astonishing considering their persecutors were highly influenced by the same philosophy.

So the best way to study is to throw off preconceived notions of theology and let the Bible speak for itself on doctrines great and small.  After the failure of Millerism in 1844 those who had followed him decided to do just that and set about the task quite diligently.  But how?

At the time printing had brought the price of original text Bibles, both the Old and New Testaments within the means of most people for the first time.  They also brought such aids to understanding the text as lexicons, or dictionaries as they can also be called as well as concordances, such as The Poor Englishman's Hebrew Concordance to the Old Testament within reach as well.  For the first time such aids made it possible for the average man to follow key Biblical words and see exactly how they were used in God's word as well as unmask many obfuscations used by translators motivated by their theologies to hide the real meanings in God's word.  Greek was also often taught in Schools back then along with Latin so that more and more people could get even more out of God's word.  This would result in one particular problem with one verse I will write about later, I'm thinking of the next topic.

So what happens when one uses such aids to answer that old question voiced by a frustrated roman governor, "What is truth?" (John 18:38)  Let's take a fundamental word, the word "soul" and follow it through the Old Testament, the source for Jesus' beliefs and early Christian beliefs as well.  That word is נֶפֶשׁ  (nephesh H5315).  Strong's Lexicon defines it thus:

From H5314; properly a breathing creature, that is, animal or (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental): - any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead (-ly), desire, X [dis-] contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart (-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortality, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will, X would have it.
Total KJV occurrences: 753

Now I don't know about you but that is a bit confusing and other contemporary lexicons aren't much in the way of help.  That is where concordances become so valuable.  I use the Bible Study program E-Sword which is an excellent free program for use in Bible Study.  One of the Dictionary modules for it is a Hebrew and Greek concordance of the KJV keyed to the Strong's numbers for Biblical words, which is a numbering system Dr. Strong assigned to each original language word to facilitate study.

Here is the entry for Nephesh, which will easily make this the largest post I've ever put in a blog:

H5315

נפשׁ

nephesh

Total KJV Occurrences: 749

soul, 416

Gen_2:7, Gen_17:13-14 (2), Gen_19:20, Gen_27:4, Gen_27:19, Gen_27:25, Gen_27:31, Gen_34:3, Gen_34:8, Gen_35:18, Gen_42:21, Gen_49:6, Exo_12:15, Exo_12:19, Exo_30:12, Exo_31:14, Lev_4:2, Lev_5:1-2 (2), Lev_5:4, Lev_5:15, Lev_5:17, Lev_6:2, Lev_7:18, Lev_7:20-21 (4), Lev_7:25, Lev_7:27 (2), Lev_17:10-12 (3), Lev_17:15, Lev_19:8, Lev_20:6 (2), Lev_22:3, Lev_22:6, Lev_22:11, Lev_23:29-30 (3), Lev_26:11, Lev_26:15, Lev_26:30, Lev_26:43, Num_9:13, Num_11:6, Num_15:27-28 (2), Num_15:30-31 (3), Num_19:13, Num_19:20, Num_19:22, Num_21:4-5 (2), Num_30:2, Num_30:4-8 (6), Num_30:10-13 (4), Num_31:28, Deu_4:9, Deu_4:29, Deu_6:5, Deu_11:12-13 (2), Deu_11:18, Deu_12:15, Deu_12:20-21 (3), Deu_13:3, Deu_13:6, Deu_14:26 (2), Deu_26:16, Deu_30:2, Deu_30:6, Deu_30:10, Jos_22:5, Jdg_5:21, Jdg_16:16 (2), 1Sa_1:10, 1Sa_1:15, 1Sa_1:26, 1Sa_2:16, 1Sa_17:55, 1Sa_18:1 (3), 1Sa_20:3-4 (3), 1Sa_20:17, 1Sa_23:20, 1Sa_24:11, 1Sa_25:26, 1Sa_25:29 (2), 1Sa_26:21, 1Sa_30:6, 2Sa_4:9, 2Sa_5:8, 2Sa_11:11, 2Sa_14:19, 1Ki_1:29, 1Ki_2:4, 1Ki_8:48, 1Ki_11:37, 1Ki_17:21-22 (2), 2Ki_2:2, 2Ki_2:4, 2Ki_2:6, 2Ki_4:27, 2Ki_4:30, 2Ki_23:3, 2Ki_23:25, 1Ch_22:19, 2Ch_6:38, 2Ch_15:12, 2Ch_34:31, Job_3:20, Job_6:7, Job_7:11, Job_7:15, Job_9:21, Job_10:1 (2), Job_12:10, Job_14:22, Job_16:4, Job_19:2, Job_21:25, Job_23:13, Job_24:12, Job_27:2, Job_27:8, Job_30:16, Job_30:25, Job_31:30, Job_33:18, Job_33:20, Job_33:22, Job_33:28, Job_33:30, Psa_6:2-4 (3), Psa_7:2, Psa_7:5, Psa_11:1, Psa_11:5, Psa_13:2, Psa_16:10, Psa_17:13, Psa_19:7, Psa_22:20, Psa_22:29, Psa_24:3-4 (2), Psa_25:1, Psa_25:13, Psa_25:20, Psa_26:9, Psa_30:3, Psa_31:7, Psa_31:9, Psa_33:19-20 (2), Psa_34:2, Psa_34:22, Psa_35:3-4 (2), Psa_35:7, Psa_35:9, Psa_35:12-13 (2), Psa_35:17, Psa_40:14, Psa_41:4, Psa_42:1-2 (2), Psa_42:4-6 (3), Psa_42:11, Psa_43:5, Psa_44:25, Psa_49:8, Psa_49:15, Psa_49:18, Psa_54:3-4 (2), Psa_55:18, Psa_56:6, Psa_56:13, Psa_57:1, Psa_57:4, Psa_57:6, Psa_59:3, Psa_62:1, Psa_62:5, Psa_63:1, Psa_63:5, Psa_66:8-9 (3), Psa_66:16, Psa_69:1, Psa_69:10, Psa_69:18, Psa_70:2, Psa_71:10, Psa_71:13, Psa_71:23, Psa_72:14, Psa_74:19, Psa_77:2, Psa_78:50, Psa_86:2 (2), Psa_86:4 (2), Psa_86:13-14 (2), Psa_88:3, Psa_88:14, Psa_89:48, Psa_94:17, Psa_94:19, Psa_94:21, Psa_103:1-2 (2), Psa_103:22, Psa_104:1, Psa_104:35, Psa_106:15, Psa_107:5, Psa_107:9 (2), Psa_107:18, Psa_107:26, Psa_109:20, Psa_109:31, Psa_116:4, Psa_116:7-8 (2), Psa_119:20, Psa_119:25, Psa_119:28, Psa_119:81, Psa_119:109, Psa_119:129, Psa_119:167, Psa_119:175, Psa_120:2, Psa_121:6-7 (2), Psa_124:4-5 (3), Psa_124:7, Psa_130:5-6 (2), Psa_138:2-3 (2), Psa_139:14, Psa_141:8, Psa_142:4, Psa_142:7, Psa_143:3, Psa_143:6, Psa_143:8, Psa_143:11-12 (2), Psa_146:1, Pro_2:10, Pro_3:22, Pro_6:30, Pro_6:32, Pro_8:36, Pro_10:3, Pro_11:17, Pro_11:25, Pro_13:2, Pro_13:4 (2), Pro_13:19, Pro_13:25, Pro_15:32, Pro_16:17, Pro_16:24, Pro_18:7, Pro_19:2, Pro_19:8, Pro_19:15-16 (2), Pro_19:18, Pro_20:2, Pro_21:10, Pro_21:23, Pro_22:5, Pro_22:23, Pro_22:25, Pro_23:14, Pro_24:12, Pro_24:14, Pro_25:13, Pro_25:25, Pro_27:7 (2), Pro_29:10, Pro_29:17, Ecc_2:24 (2), Ecc_4:8, Ecc_6:2-3 (2), Ecc_7:28, Son_1:7, Son_3:1-4 (4), Son_5:6, Son_6:12, Isa_1:14, Isa_3:9, Isa_10:18, Isa_26:8-9 (2), Isa_29:8 (2), Isa_32:6, Isa_38:15, Isa_38:17, Isa_42:1, Isa_44:20, Isa_51:23, Isa_53:10-12 (3), Isa_58:2-3 (3), Isa_58:5, Isa_58:10-11 (3), Isa_61:10, Isa_66:3, Jer_4:10, Jer_4:19, Jer_4:31, Jer_5:9, Jer_5:29, Jer_9:8-9 (2), Jer_12:7, Jer_13:17, Jer_18:19-20 (2), Jer_20:13, Jer_31:12, Jer_31:14, Jer_31:25 (2), Jer_32:41, Jer_38:16-17 (2), Jer_38:20, Jer_50:19, Jer_51:6, Jer_51:45, Lam_1:11, Lam_1:16, Lam_2:12, Lam_3:17, Lam_3:20, Lam_3:24-25 (2), Lam_3:58, Eze_3:19, Eze_3:21, Eze_4:14, Eze_18:4 (3), Eze_18:20, Eze_18:27, Eze_24:21, Eze_33:5, Eze_33:9, Jon_2:4-5 (2), Mic_6:7 (2), Mic_7:1, Hab_2:4, Hab_2:10, Zec_11:8

life, 100

Gen_9:4-5 (2), Gen_19:17, Gen_19:19, Gen_44:30 (3), Exo_4:19, Exo_21:23 (2), Exo_21:30, Lev_17:11, Lev_17:14 (3), Num_35:31, Deu_12:23 (2), Deu_19:21 (2), Deu_24:6, Jos_2:14, Jdg_9:17, Jdg_12:3, Jdg_18:25, Rth_4:15, 1Sa_19:5, 1Sa_19:11, 1Sa_20:1, 1Sa_22:23 (2), 1Sa_23:15, 1Sa_26:24 (2), 1Sa_28:9, 1Sa_28:21, 2Sa_1:9, 2Sa_4:8, 2Sa_14:7, 2Sa_16:11, 2Sa_18:13, 2Sa_19:5, 1Ki_1:12 (2), 1Ki_2:23, 1Ki_3:11, 1Ki_19:2-4 (4), 1Ki_19:10, 1Ki_19:14, 1Ki_20:31, 1Ki_20:39 (2), 1Ki_20:42 (2), 2Ki_1:13-14 (3), 2Ki_7:7, 2Ki_10:24 (2), 2Ch_1:11, Est_7:3, Est_7:7, Est_8:11, Job_2:4, Job_2:6, Job_6:11, Job_13:14, Job_31:39, Psa_31:13, Psa_38:12, Pro_1:19, Pro_6:26, Pro_7:23, Pro_12:10, Pro_13:3, Pro_13:8, Isa_43:4 (2), Jer_4:30, Jer_11:21, Jer_21:7, Jer_21:9, Jer_22:25, Jer_34:20-21 (2), Jer_38:2, Jer_38:16, Jer_39:18, Jer_44:30 (2), Jer_45:5, Jer_49:37, Lam_2:19, Eze_32:10, Jon_1:14, Jon_4:3

souls, 58

Gen_12:5, Gen_46:15, Gen_46:18, Gen_46:22, Gen_46:25-27 (5), Exo_1:5 (2), Exo_12:4, Exo_30:15-16 (2), Lev_16:29, Lev_16:31, Lev_17:11, Lev_18:29, Lev_20:25, Lev_23:27, Lev_23:32, Num_16:38, Num_29:7, Num_30:9, Num_31:50, Jos_10:28, Jos_10:30, Jos_10:32, Jos_10:35, Jos_10:37 (2), Jos_10:39, Jos_11:11, Jos_23:14, 1Sa_25:29, Psa_72:13, Psa_97:10, Pro_11:30, Pro_14:25, Jer_2:34, Jer_6:16, Jer_26:19, Jer_44:7, Eze_7:19 (2), Eze_13:18-20 (8), Eze_14:14, Eze_14:20, Eze_18:4, Eze_22:25, Eze_22:27

lives, 18

Gen_9:5, Jos_2:13, Jos_9:24, Jdg_5:18, Jdg_18:25, 2Sa_19:5 (3), 2Sa_23:17, 1Ch_11:19 (2), Est_9:16, Pro_1:18, Jer_19:7, Jer_19:9, Jer_46:26, Jer_48:6, Lam_5:9

persons, 16

Gen_14:21, Gen_36:6, Exo_16:16, Lev_27:2, Num_19:18, Num_31:35, Num_31:40 (2), Num_31:46, Deu_10:22, 1Sa_22:22, Jer_52:29-30 (3), Eze_17:17, Eze_27:13

person, 14

Num_5:6, Num_31:19, Num_35:11, Num_35:15, Num_35:30 (2), Deu_27:25, Jos_20:3, Jos_20:9, 2Sa_14:14, Pro_28:17, Jer_43:6, Eze_33:5-6 (2)

heart, 12

Exo_23:9, Lev_26:16, Deu_24:15, 1Sa_2:33, 2Sa_3:21, Pro_23:7, Pro_28:25, Lam_3:51, Eze_25:6, Eze_25:15, Eze_27:31, Hos_4:8

mind, 11

Gen_23:8 (2), Deu_18:6, Deu_28:65, 1Sa_2:35, 1Ch_28:9, Jer_15:1, Eze_23:17-18 (3), Eze_23:22, Eze_23:28

himself, 10

1Ki_19:4, Job_18:4, Job_22:2, Job_23:9, Job_32:2, Amo_2:14-15 (4), Amo_6:8

body, 9

Lev_21:11, Num_9:6-7 (3), Num_19:10-11 (2), Num_19:13, Num_19:16, Hag_2:13

creature, 9

Gen_1:21, Gen_1:24, Gen_2:19, Gen_9:10, Gen_9:12, Gen_9:15-16 (2), Lev_11:46 (2)

dead, 8

Lev_19:28, Lev_21:1, Lev_22:4, Num_5:2, Num_6:11, Num_9:6-7 (2), Num_9:10

yourselves, 8

Lev_11:43-44 (4), Deu_4:15, Jos_23:11, Jer_17:21, Jer_37:9

desire, 5

Ecc_6:9 (2), Jer_22:27, Jer_44:14, Mic_7:3, Hab_2:5

man, 4

Lev_24:16-17 (2), 2Ki_12:4, Isa_49:7

minds, 4

2Sa_17:8, 2Ki_9:15, Eze_24:25, Eze_36:5

pleasure, 4

Deu_23:24, Psa_105:22, Jer_2:24, Jer_34:16

will, 4

Deu_21:14, Psa_27:12, Psa_41:2, Eze_16:27

any, 3

Lev_2:1, Lev_4:27, Deu_24:7

beast, 3

Lev_24:18 (3)

themselves, 3

Est_9:31, Isa_46:2, Isa_47:14

appetite, 2

Pro_23:2, Ecc_6:7

ghost, 2

Job_11:20, Jer_15:9

hearts, 2

Pro_31:6, Jer_42:20

lust, 2

Exo_15:9, Psa_78:18

thing, 2

Lev_11:10, Eze_47:9

angry, 1

Jdg_18:25

breath, 1

Job_41:21

deadly, 1

Psa_17:9

discontented, 1

1Sa_22:2

fish, 1

Isa_19:10

greedy, 1

Isa_56:10-11 (2)

heart’s, 1

Psa_10:3

hearty, 1

Pro_27:9

herself, 1

Isa_5:14

men, 1

1Ch_5:21

mortally, 1

Deu_19:11

myself, 1

Psa_131:2

one, 1

Lev_4:27

own, 1

Pro_14:10

slay, 1

Jer_40:14

slayeth, 1

Deu_22:26

soul’s, 1

Job_16:4

tablets, 1

Isa_3:20

thyself, 1

Est_4:13

would, 1

Psa_35:25

Really?  What, pray tell, is going on here?  Just one look down this list tells us that something is being hidden by the translators of the King James version of the Bible since it is doubtful one word can have so many widely differing meanings!  But what is being hidden?  My computer program makes it a little easier to compare since all I have to do is place my cursor over the scriptural citation to see a pop-up of the scripture.

So when I place my cursor over the very first verse this is what I get:

(Gen 2:7)  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

So right up front we discover that man doesn't have separate soul as theology teaches, man is a living soul!  Wow!  That isn't all.  The word nephesh occurs before Gen 2:7, here are the prior occurences, Gen_1:21, Gen_1:24, Gen_2:19 and you have to go down to the word creature to find them.  So what we discover from this is that animals are living souls as well!  Given the theological dogma that man has a separate immortal soul within him this comes as a shocking revelation as we start to uncover what is hidden through obfuscation in translation.  There is much more to discover by going through these scriptures.  But I won't spoil the fun of the search for the earnest seeker after the truth hidden by such a simple matter as the way theologically driven translators choose to translate this very important word.  Basically, though, the word has two meanings, soul and life.  In the latter sense it is often part of a euphemism for looking to murder somebody.

This is the first step towards truth for those willing to take it.  It also resulted in an enlightenment of God's word among the early Adventists which I believe was foretold by Daniel when he recorded the following:

 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

(Dan 12:4)

Sadly, the biggest block of Adventist surviving to this day, the Seventh Day Adventists have turned their back on much of that light in an attempt for acceptance among the nominal churches and even now speak out against the truths uncovered at that time. 

The door isn't closed yet and this is still the basic methodology for discovering the precious truths God hid in his word, in part by allowing translators of it to obscure much of it by permitting their biases to reign.

See you again soon!