by doinmypart 473 Replies latest jw friends
myelaine wrote:
there are only two opposing kingdoms. the kingdom of God and the kingdom of satan...
One of the last kingdoms, the Kingdom Of Bhutan, made the transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy in 2008. Some other absolute monarchies include: Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Vatican City.
there are only two opposing kingdoms. the kingdom of God and the kingdom of satan...
This illustrates why monotheism is corrosive to genuine human relationships.
Michelle/Mylaine's belief is common to millions of adherents of the three Abrahamic faiths - most of them are more tactful; or perhaps less honest.
Regardless of their disingenuous claims to the contrary how can you really love somebody if your dogma compels you to view them as enemies of your god?
Thank the all father for polytheism!
dear cofty...
Both of these kingdoms operate in their respective "spiritual" realms.
those born of the Holy Spirit are sealed by the Holy Spirit to a new life in God's kingdom. those not born of the Holy Spirit and "sealed" by the Holy Spirit still have their life in satans kingdom and are left "open" to satans varied and subtle ways of operating in his realm.
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others." ephesians 2:1-3
the people themselves are left suseptible to these other spirits of the prince of the power "of the air"...ie: the anti-christ spirit which is 1) in opposition to Jesus Christ and 2) seeks to replace the real Jesus Christ with a false christ OR any leader who would draw people away from the real Jesus Christ...these anti-christs can have many names...buddha, mohammad, joel osteen, the WTBTS, the mormons, the bahai and especially those who admit their roots in witchcraft and find thier "groove" with satan. unfortunately the list goes on and on and because satan is so subtle many of these false christ "ideas" have their beginnings in the church (1 john 2:18-19). we are told broad is the way that leads off into destruction.
We love the people but detest the spirits that hold sway over them. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." ephesians 6:12
I am ministering to Tammy in this way (drawing out the faulty/false premise of her argument) so that she can see and hear that she has been deceived by a false christ.
love michelle
Michelle
You believe that there is an all powerful spirit being that could do anything in the universe but he cares enough about little old me to try to get my soul destroyed. More than that you are saying that if I don't follow the spirit who created me so that I could worship him for eternity then the other spirit will definitley capture and destroy me. Bit of a hobsons' choice then. Or is there a third choice?
James
dear jamesmahon...
it isn't God who is trying to get you destroyed(if that's what you mean)...Jesus defeated satan for you at the cross. satan has been putting in extra effort since then to destroy you, he knows where he is going and he's trying to bring you with him. notice the first people that were led (by UNSEEN wicked spiritual forces) to reject Jesus Christ were the very ones that Jesus was sent to redeem...mark 15:13...Jesus asked His Father to forgive them because they knew not what they did...but NOW we have the full revelation in the bible and so the only option for forgiveness is to turn to Jesus Christ.
love michelle
.Jesus defeated satan for you at the cross. satan has been putting in extra effort since then to destroy you
You know, kind of like how the Allied Powers defeated Germany at Berlin, but Hitler is still capturing and killing Jews.
Or does "defeated" have some definition that allows the defeated to still be running around attacking people?
michelle - I am very familiar with your dualistic worldview.
Are you aware that Satan did not exist in the oldest parts of the Old Testament? People believed that god was responsible for everything - good and evil. If things went well for you it meant god approved of you for being good. When things went wrong it was god's punishment for something bad you had done. "Simples".
There were no rewards or punishments in the afterlife, blessings in this life were the goal of worshipper of Yahweh.
The allegorical book of Job challenges this simplistic, homespun logic.
In Babylonian captivity the Israelites were brought into contact with other cultures and religions including Zoroastrianism with its dualistic god v devil view of the world.
Now god could be relieved of responsiblity for evil and credited only with good. We see a glaring example of this in the account of the census taken by David resulting in thousands of deaths. In the pre-exile book of Samuel Yahweh made David do it but in post-exile Chronicles it was Satan who manipulated David to sin.
Fast-forward thosuands of years and we find you still dividing humanity into children of god and children of the devil - notice too how religion infantalises its adherents.
The fact is none of us are under the control of any supernatural force; good or evil. We are responsible for our own actions, people who don't share your particular superstitions are not your enemy.
Very interesting Cofty - didn't know any of that. Excellent post.
Michelle - did you know any of that? And out of interest, given Satan knows what is going to happen why doesn't he just say sorry? Or failing that, turn everyone to Jesus so that some evil people get through the net thus scuppering the sifting of the sheep from the goats?
dear cofty...
you said: "people who don't share your particular superstitions are not your enemy."...
did you read what I professed?..." We love the people but detest the spirits that hold sway over them."
there is a point though that a person can be so overtaken by wickedness that there is no definition between the person and the wicked spirit. the bible says that God would not force anyone to choose Jesus Christ and so that person has been left to his own "lusts" or given over to the spirit that leads him.
love michelle
