Chalam (page 6)

Gregor

Sorry, Cameo-d, what I meant to say was:

That's fair enough. But I don't understand some of the objections by others to Chalams posting

Chalam

Once again, thanks for all the posts.

Without quoting chapter and verse, I will try to be "all things to all men". God can speak through any situation at all.

Some of you might even have a donkey talk to you! Personally, I haven't had that yet but He has spoken to me many times in secular films, music, creation or even in the midst pure ungodliness.

I was talking to my JW friend one day about my faith and the omnipresence of God. The Simpsons was on the TV and shortly afterwards my friend said, "there's that word again, omnipresent". I hadn't even been paying attention to the TV but I knew in my spirit the message and smiled to myself :)

Shortly my friend was then talking abut smoking dope as he had done in his "apostasy". Almost immediately it came on the TV, someone on the Simpsons mentioned the very same thing. Coincidence or God-incidence?

Well that is my God, He talks. Not just to say "Here I am" but many other things too. Once you get to know the real Jesus, you don't want to turn back.

I am sorry cofty, I am still trying to get it. I might try and read your page but you could really give me a hint?!

For me, I left the Lord for 20 years. I wouldn't even say I was agnostic, I just stuck my fingers in my ears every time I heard from God. When He talked loud and clear I was in distress! That is not because He likes distressing us, He was to deliver us from our own bad choices. However, like any good parent, He let's us make our own mistakes but also watches over us. I could have met destruction many a time. He encourages us, loves us, even when we made bad decisions. He is patient and kind, loving and gentle.

That said, don't believe that. Others won't forgive and receive forgiveness. Some love darkness, I certainly did.

Well I like the bible, it is not only words but Life and Spirit! It cuts to the chase, right to the heart of the matter. Some are wounded by it.

Some like what it does and the surgery and repair it performs.

Others are offended by those who have used and abused the bible, as they have the name of Jesus.

Well those that our offended, remember it might not be the bible or God, just those who have misrepresented His book and His "name" (not in any JW sense, just His being).

For those that are offended at some of the content, then try and overlook that and be pragmatic like Jeff. I remember being offended at a lot when I first read the bible as an adult, even the good stuff

Other will find the Kingdom offends their intellectual minds. Don't worry it should! The book can not be un-stood on its own, in fact it seems like foolishness.

So to all of you, if you do read it then just ask the Holy Spirit to be your guide, it is that simple.

Otherwise, just keep you eye out. God will speak to you, even if you are watching the Simpsons, smoking dope or wherever. There's no high like the Most High :)

Blessings,

Stephen

asilentone

Chalam, I miss your scriptures. It is part of your online personalty!

Chalam

AST, its there in the post, just no chapter and verses!

Anyhow, ask and you will receive...

Isaiah 43:18-19 (New International Version)

18 "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.

Blessings,

Stephen

Butterflyleia85

the reminders!!

kudos to Chalam!!

designs

Its the 'God talks through me' syndrome all over again, where did we hear that so often. Oh yeh at the meetings all those years. The GB, the Catholic Priest, the Pontiff, Oral Roberts, Benny Hinn, Rev. Laurie, Pat Robertson, the Imams, on it goes.....And now God is speaking through the TV show the Simpsons.

Well I'm convinced......

This is Priceless, you just can't make this stuff up.

'plant a tree, feed the hungry'

GromitSK

At ATJ - "Fool of a TooK" - just realised that could be a Spoonerism.

Deputy Dog

Stephen

I am sorry cofty, I am still trying to get it. I might try and read your page but you could really give me a hint?!

I've been following the exchange between you and cofty. After reading the page from the link he posted, I believe he gives plenty of hints (if I read it wrong, cofty please feel free to correct me). Here are a few things that jumped out at me.

The forgiveness and reconciliation that Jesus' death makes possible is the ultimate expression of God's love. When a legalistic understanding of the ransom impinges on our relationship with God it is not simply a theological technicality. At this present time it denies more than five million people the opportunity to accept Jesus as their personal saviour. While it is for God alone to judge the motives of any who are responsible for teaching error, Paul's warning to the Galatians is sobering,
"If we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond what we declared to you as good news let him be accursed." (
Gal.1:8
)

First I need to say, if someone says something like this and claims to be a child of God, I would never tell them they were not born again. But looking back at someone who now denies the faith, I have to wonder if he ever understood the gift of God's sovereign grace. It look like, at the very least, a humanistic worldview. Did he think he was saved by a prayer he prayed, a decision he made, or his getting his "doctrine" straight. He seems to think JWs simply have "a legalistic understanding of the ransom" the truth is, they have NO understanding at all. He then goes on to say that the sin of legalism, (or the "legalistic understanding") is the thing that separates (or "denies") JWs from the love and/or the grace of God.

He then ends his article with this:

By going back to the Bible in faith and humility, the picture of God suffering for the sins of His own undeserving creation, and offering forgiveness freely to all who believe, emerges vividly as the centrepiece of the Biblical narrative. It is a truth that needs to be understood correctly and as soon as it is, it has the power to transcend knowledge and change our lives forever.

Wow! This could have come right out of the "Knowledge book". Is this how he thinks salvation comes? Did he think it was the "taking in of knowledge", or having the correct understanding, that causes salvation? Is that what it means to him, to be "born again"?

So I'd like to know what has changed? He was a humanist and a moralist as a JW, as a Christian, and now, as what ever he calls himself today.

Then in one of his posts he writes:

I now see the christian world view as being different from that of the JWs more in style than in substance. The particular body of "truths" differ, but submission to an external authority rather than reason is the final arbiter in all matters of belief.

It seems to confirm what I suspect and explains this statement.

The christian's need to defend the accepted dogma of their group and to foist it on others, however blatantly unreasonable it may be, is no different from the unquestioning loyalty required of JWs. AS Ray Franz commented in "Search for Christian Freedom" the chains are just a bit longer.

He also makes these statements:

If you still imagine I don't understand the difference between the JW teaching on born again and the gospel you didn't read the article.

Well, I did read the article, and it leaves us with many many questions.

We were not just victims of a particularly controlling cult we were captives of a superstitious world-view that encourages people to suspend disbelief and live for the next life.

If this is what you think Christianity is, I can understand why you feel that way.

cofty

I hope you don't think I'm butting in to irritate you. Stephen and myself are just trying to understand. I would love to discuss "eternal conscious punishment with you sometime, maybe on another thread.

minimus

Hey, whatever happened to Yadda?

PSacramento

I think that when people use th ebibel as their authority then yes, posting the passages is quite applicable.

If one views the writtten word of the bible as the source and answer to a given issue then, yes, a quote of the correct passage is alos proper.

But I do agree that a commentary on that passage wouldn't hurt either.

Chalam

Isaiah 43:18-19 (New International Version)

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