Sad Emo: Just looked up the word 'cult' in the OED: "A small religious group regarded by others as strange or as having too great a control over its members." For someone believing the above story to be true, they would be hard pressed not to view Christianity as a cult. What could be 'stranger', or an exercise of greater "control over its members" than the cult-leader himself ( Jesus ), killing cult members that incur his displeasure?
Scriptures You Will Not Hear at the 14-05-06 Church Sermon
by scout575 28 Replies latest watchtower bible
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DanTheMan
Wow, Ananias and Saphira have been burning in hell now for almost 2000 years now!
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just2sheep
it wasn't beauty that killed the beasts, it was their on dodgy actions. wanta bet that ananias was an elder with a well respected reputation for "sharing" his wealth? his wife had probably been lording it over everyone in the congregation about the amount of money they had donated and how grateful god and everyone else should be because of their "whole souled" contribution. they were hypocrites and heart attacks were too good for them. this type always blame god when things go bad for them and take credit when things go well. they didn't have to give any of it, so why lie about the amount? ego? self importance? pride? or maybe some kind of tax deduction?
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heathen
Yah , maybe they were saving some money for bipass surgery .LOL
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just2sheep
heathen,
now that's funny...
probably a pig valve like they used in the 70's and 80's, after all they weren't jews anymore...of course some of them weren't jews any less, but what can you do? you can tell some people over and over, and still they don't listyen
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dabatgaly
we have to remember that this account was written way after the apostles were around and the early christian church didn't even have these writtings it sounds more like the kind of thing to keep the church members in line and making sure donations from the rich were given over to the church, which would have beenl valuable the equivelent of 100 poor donations , it would have been an urban legend of its time, probably instigated by the clergy of the time .
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Shazard
scout: And again... you didn't noticed my "sometimes". It is not "allways". If it would be allways (btw this is common mistake for new pastors) then you would be true. But when you read Bible then you find out WHY God sometimes allows this to happen (he punishies bad people using other bad people) but at the end of day there is "I will forgive them all their sins and do not remind them". Gospel is the key message which saves you when you are faced with your greatest fear and reality - hell. Hell is where nobody wants ot spend ethernity, and still God shows that it is reality if you do not hold unto Jesus Christ.
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heathen
Yah but it's hard to understand why God would be so petty in that circumstance . I think the bible was tampered with in some parts and that could be one of them. Tho it doesn't say that God actually killed them but it sure implies it . I don't think the church would be above adding something like that in . The general rule at the time was to sell all earthy possesions and they devided things up and shared the food supply. There were people in charge that didn't devide it up fairly at first , the jews were getting the bulk and the gentiles were getting left overs . It seemed the system was due to failure anyway .
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drew sagan
I think that whatever was going on with the first century Christians, it was much more radical than most will want to accept. The fire and judgement of the NT writings cannot be denied, even though most people like to cut it out.
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heathen
The fire and judgement of the NT writings cannot be denied, even though most people like to cut it out.
I don't think people cut it out, they use it as a scare tactic to manipulate people . That's been the big problem with organized religion is their low tolerance for dissent . Once religionists get involved with the political scene it seem to always turn to tyranny .That's one conern I have for the US government is their apparent disregard for the majority rule but seem to think they only have to listen to this "moral" majority group .