by TimothyT 117 Replies latest watchtower bible
Getting married to Jack in May. We have been together for 4 and a half years now.
That's great! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.
I guess I should thank the JW's for kicking me out. They really helped me! xxx
Yeah, its hard while it's happening, but in the end you are usually better off.
TimothyT,
Wooooo hoooooooooooooooo!
I'm very happy for you.
Never understood how it's anyone's damn business who someone chooses to love. Good for you Tim and I wish you and your partner a long, happy and fulfilling life together.
On a side note: i believe gay couples are a boon to humanity. They are less likely to add to our already over populated planet, adopt unwanted children and shower them with love and furnish them with a stable home and the promise of a future that many heterosexual parents are unable to do or couldn't bother with. This is something civilization is in dire need of.
If I may insert a couple of things here from my background in both philology and as a Jew, and the fact that our holiday Sukkot is coming around the corner (which I am currently preparing for).
The word in Revelation 21.3 is NOT describing the Tabernacle. It is a SUKKAH in Hebrew, the type of tent set up during SUKKOT when we Jews celebrate the Festival of Tents/Tabernacles/Booths (why Gentiles have so many names for Sukkot is beyond me). The Greek equivalent of a "sukkah" is SKENE (pronounced "skaynay").
Because Revelation is speaking of G-d coming to dwell or living among us, it is speaking of an action, one actually associated with celebrating a feast (as a SKENE or a sukkah is often set up for other types of celebrations, even among Gentiles). The author of Revelation is borrowing from Jewish eschatology regarding Olam Ha Ba, of "the World to Come." In Revelation the author reverses the arrangement of the Temple wherein people had to travel often great distances to eat and feast at the Temple building in Jerusalem "where God dwelt."
But now G-d comes to humans to participate in the banquet. It is as if G-d comes to participate in an eternal celebration of Sukkot, but this is not likely a picture of the Third Temple. SKENE is used In Revelation in connection with an action (to set up a sukkah) which is different from saying people are going to a Temple.
The Third Temple is never described in the Hebrew Scriptures as a sukkah, always a Temple. The days of G-d dwelling in a tabernacle ended with the Davidic dynasty, and the only time it is ever spoken of in great detail is in the book of Hebrews where the author uses it instead of the Temple, claiming that Christianity is greater than the Tabernacle arrangement (oddly the author of Hebrews never speaks of the Temple).
As for the Bible and its use in religions regarding homosexuality: Judaism was one of the first (some claim the first) of the mainstream religions to fully accept homosexuals. The recent marriage equality changes in the United States were heavily and publicly lobbied for by Jewish denominations and movements in America. While Orthodox Jews still are on the fence at best (very much in the same place Catholicism dwells on the subject) with some still adamantly against it, universally in Judaism there is no recognition of homosexuality being prohibited in Scripture per se. The texts in the Hebrew Scriptures used by Christian groups as prohibitions against homosexuality, such as in Leviticus 18, are seen as limited instruction to Levitcal priests or misinterpretations in Judaism. It is due to this realization in that Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Post Denominational Jews have welcomed gays among their groups and why the Orthodox are left struggling with the issue.
The Bible is not necessarily the problem.
congratulations on the wedding plans good for you. It is important to have people in your life who are there for you and accept you for who you are,
I wish you every happiness for your future.
Men are not attractive enough for homosexuality to be justifiable.
