For those who still believe that Christianity is the only truth

by sosoconfused 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  villagegirl

  sosoconfused - its not about calculations or dates or adding this and that up

  and dividing by some other number to come up with "truth"

  God has dealt with everyone, at all times, Jesus indicated this.

  People outside the Law of Moses, the Bible says were

  "A Law unto themsleves, and it was counted to them as righteousness"

  In other words what ever anybvody did at any time that was just, or right,

  counted to God and he noticed it. Jesus always used non-Jews to illustrate

  righteousness even though he said : Salvation is through the Jews.

  Watchtower thinking is formulated to make you think that there is an answer

  for everything, and that premise is flawed. Things are not fixed, things change,

  people change over time, God changes his mind, based on people and what they do.

  Thats a basic Book of Jonah lesson. God does not plan everything, thats a Calvanist

  idea, determinism. God may determine some things and not others. God may create

  some things and not others, or his creation can be perverted from its intention,

  or corrupted or changed somehow, its not cast in stone, its not predictable.

  Many Christians like to say " God has a plan for your life." And then they sit and

  wait for God to deliver the plan and make things happen for them.

  God might have had a plan for some prophets life, but Jesus indicated we better

  make sure we do the planning: " Who of you when building a tower does not

  first calculate the expense, otherwise you will run out of money, before it is

  completed " Jesus gave this as an example of being a careful planner of your

  own affairs. Acting wisely. Being practical. The Watchtower has trained you

  in all-or-nothing thinking. In the idea everything can be explained, it can't.

  When I was a JW I knew everything, now I know nothing, that is progress.
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  kassad84

  Didn't God say His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways?

  The interpretation of some Christians that only they will be saved in my opinion is misguided. True Christians will reign and be judges with Christ, but with regards to the rest of humanity they will be saved by God's grace and mercy through Christ and his persecution-tested brothers - all their lives they have learned to love even their enemies. The future for us, that degree of Love and Forgiveness will be mind boggling. That's what I can glean from the scriptures anyway. It doesn't mean I am right. But there is one thing I am sure of: that God is greater than us, that we don't really know anything, and that His heart is bigger than what we judge Him for.

  For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. - Romans 11:32
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  Londo111

  What is presented is the OP is not the view of all Christians…it is the "Christian" fundamentalist viewpoint, and they are by nature very narrow minded. But you will find Christianity is a wide tent, many who believe in theistic evolution, many who do not believe in a global flood, many who do not take Genesis literally, and universal reconciliation seems to be gaining more and more traction. At the very least, many Christians do not believe in so narrow a scope of salvation.
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  Separation of Powers

  Sosoconfused, I believe that the answer to your question can only be understood by considering the purpose of the book of Genesis. The book is a recounting of the history of the Jewish people. Every nation, ancient or modern relies on myths and legends upon which to build a foundation of loyalty and purpose. The United States is a good example of this. Think of George Washington and the venerable cherry tree. Did he acutally cut down a cherry tree? Does it matter? The story is used as a foundational element to why George Washington was more noble than all others that could be chose as the first president of the United States. It sets the tone in which the country is conceived.

  So, too, the book of Genesis serves to distinguish the Hebrew people as a nation. There are many evidences of this. By far, the most powerful is the expression of Cain who after being cursed by God worries that people will find him and kill him. What people? Well, simply look at where Cain was sent....to the Land of Nod, to the East of Eden, somewhere outside the consecrated land of the Adam, Eve and their family.

  If you look at Genesis with the perspective that it serves this purpose, then every story prior to Moses takes on a different connotation, including the flood.

  Just my opinion
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  soontobe

  What are your thoughts

  My thought is that the great majority of Christians do not believe the scenario you've sketched out in your OP (most Christians are not Bible literalists/fundamentalists). Since the vast majority of Christians do not believe that, it is only a challenge for the minority that do.