Canon,
"... preferably that you may PROPHESY."
If you're a JW, and I think you are, you should know that the WT Society does not interpret the word "prophesy" as used here to mean the foretelling of future events.
Non-WT commentaries agree.
Herk
It's so simple -- Matthew 24
by cruzanheart 91 Replies latest watchtower bible
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herk
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JCanon
Or should the mystery of Christ lead to more love, more kindness, more good works?
1 Cor. 14:1 "Pursue LOVE, yet keep ZEALOUSLY seeing the spiritual gifts, but preferably that you may PROPHESY."
Ohhhhh, I see, we are to casually seek prophesying.....oops! Wait....it says ZEALOUSLY...for a moment I was so busy reading between the lines "zealously" looked like "casually" to me. So I got it. Before reading between the lines we need to read on the line!
Got it!
"PURSUE LOVE....ZEALOUSLY SEEK PROPHYSYING..."
Got it!
Thanks.
Canon
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jgnat
Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he that does the will of my Father who is in the heavens. Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied through *thy* name, and through *thy* name cast out demons, and through *thy* name done many works of power? and then will I avow unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, workers of lawlessness.
Matthew 7:21-23 Darby
And as Big Tex already pointed out,
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1
Take care, Canon, as the ax is at the root of the tree. Neglecting the weightiest matter of the law - love - can leave a man spiritually bankrupt, and in no condition to meet his Maker. No matter if he has “discerned” the day and the hour.
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herk
jgnat,
Take care, Canon, as the ax is at the root of the tree. Neglecting the weightiest matter of the law - love - can leave a man spiritually bankrupt, and in no condition to meet his Maker. No matter if he has “discerned” the day and the hour.
Excellent point! As I see it, a great conclusion to the matter.
Herk
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JCanon
Every one of those verses you quoted is absolutely correct, but it is the height of arrogance to claim that your farfetched private speculation is a fulfillment of any of them.
Perhaps. But maybe these are not my personal interpretations and I'm just repeating what someone else told me that I think works. And if this interpretation turns out to be the correct one, then, it wouldn't be "farfetched" now would it.
In the meantime, if this does seem "farfetched" to you, perhaps you'd like to share a better, closer- fetched prophecy with us so I may benefit from the refinement or correction?
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herk
Canon,
If you will go back to the beginning of this thread, you will notice that I've already given the logical interpretation that is supplied by the parables surrounding this parable. The problem with your speculation is that it doesn't let the Bible interpret itself. It is, as you put it, a "reading between the lines" interpretation that is no more valid than any other between the lines interpretation dreamed up by somebody else.
You're a JW, but you're not even giving the JW interpretation accurately. And I have a stronger reason to believe that you are far off the mark. There is something about your attitude and manner that just doesn't smack of humility. For a young person, you try to portray yourself as having all the answers. Even though you're a JW, you fudge with some texts that you would be criticized for by brothers in the Writing Department at Bethel. You can insist that the Society teaches correctly about the ten virgins if you wish. But you need to do a better job of studying what the Society actually says. Until you do, you need to recognize that you are not qualified to serve as a teacher just because you yourself think you have those qualifications.
Herk
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bigboi
And God said: "The world is wicked! I'm going to destroy it. I want my blessed people to be at the docks at 9:30 p.m. sharp. We'll load from 9:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. but the boat must leave by 10:00 p.m. in order to avoid the castrophe! Don't be late!"
9:59 p.m. ALL ABOARD!
:Hey wait! What about "Nice Lady!" The one who helps the homeless and the sick. The one that gives all her time to the poor?
:What? She must be on board already, look for her!
:She's not here, I checked!
:What?!!!! Well, didn't we tell her what time to be here?
:Yes.
:Didn't I say 9:30 p.m., we leave at 10?
:Yes.
:Well, where is she? Doesn't she care enough to follow my instructions?
:I think she really cares, but you know tonight she had a special function for the homeless and I think she didn't finish feeding everybody.
:The homeless? Most of whom are on the boat? Those homeless?
:Yes. But...well, I'm sure she'll be here. Can't we just hold the boat up for a short while until she arrives?
:If we hold the boat up, all the people on board will die, including her. Wouldn't it be better to save these and lose her than for everyone to die?
:You're right. Everyone knew what to do. I guess she had her own priorities.
Jesus: Hey! Let's get going! If Sweet Lady wasn't so wrapped up into what SHE wanted to do instead of caring about what God commands then she would have been here early. She is getting her reward right now. Plus, she's not that smart. Why is she fooling around trying to feed the homeless who are going to die anyway because they didn't care enough either to be here on time? It's too bad, but I'm sorry. There's a time for helping the homeless and there is a time for getting on the boat, and she should have figured that out.
:So, um, you're saying she's not that smart?
Jesus: No. I'm saying she's not true "kingdom material" as nice as she is. Kingdom material would have been on the boat at 9:29.
:Right.
This illustration might fit if the discussion were about obeying an expressed command of God as opposed to taking care of ....whomever. In a situation like that one would tend to pay attention to whatever God tells them I suppose. I don't think that obeying expressed commands of God is the issue here. It is simply what does being prepared mean as both sides seem to agree that preparation is the import of the parables being discussed.
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JCanon
Take care, Canon, as the ax is at the root of the tree. Neglecting the weightiest matter of the law - love - can leave a man spiritually bankrupt, and in no condition to meet his Maker. No matter if he has “discerned” the day and the hour.
I didn't say anything about leaving LOVE to pursue prophesy. The scripture includes BOTH!
"Pursue love" AND/DON'T NEGLECT "vigorously pursuing PROPHECY."I'm trying to do both?
Are you saying I should drop the ball on part 2 and just focus on part 1?
On the other hand, let's make sure we get these commands straight about LOVE.
Matthew 22:37 gives us the LOVE COMMANDS, which #1 is:
"YOU MUST LOVE YOUR GOD WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART AND WITH YOUR WHOLE SOUL AND WITH YOUR WHOLE MIND. THIS IS THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT."
So right off the bat, the greatest commandment is to love God. Not love yourself. Not love your brother. But to love God. And what does it mean to love God? This is commandment #1 now...not commandment #2. This is FIRST.
Now the FIRST and FOREMOST thing we have to do, STEP #1 before going to STEP #2 is to find out what the love of God means. That is given at John14:23:
1 JOHN 5:3 "For this is what the LOVE of God means, that we OBSERVE HIS COMMANDMENTS."
So, my FIRST OBLIGATION is to find out what God's commandments are so that I show that I love him. His commandments are in the Bible.
Now....Can I truly be WHOLE-SOULED and love with ALL MY MIGHT and yet decide that some things in scripture are to be ignored?
I'm thinking, my first obligation is to love God first. Obey what he says the best I can. I have to do that FIRST. Part of that is loving our fellowman, but it's not ALL of it, nor is it the primary LOVE we must have. Our primary love is to God; more than ourselves, more than our fellowman whom we love equally AS OURSELVES. But our greatest love is for God.
Is that what the Bible is telling us?
Canon
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JCanon
I don't think that obeying expressed commands of God is the issue here. It is simply what does being prepared mean as both sides seem to agree that preparation is the import of the parables being discussed.
I've enjoyed the discussion and all the comments.
But perhaps my simple point is that "good intentions" won't cut it. All the virgins at first had good intentions. They were all believers. They were all ready to become part of Christ's bridal procession. But what happened?
Both began to nod. Their lamps began to die out. Thus both were doing everything they thought they were to do up to this point. Both had the same understanding, and both experienced dimness of light. But then, suddenly when the Lord arrived, they needed MORE OIL, in which case only the wise virgins had that extra oil to keep their lamps burning.
So I'm just saying, in a general illustration, given that the Bible does provide Prophecy related to the second coming, and prophetic parables (including this one) and other things in scripture, that these must be some of the things that the wise virgins were into. Whereas the foolish virgins were not. Ultimately the comparison between the wise and the foolish is that the foolish only went half way. They were not interested in everything they needed to complete the picture; everything that God gave them. And in the end, they needed it ALL.
So why discourage someone from pursuing ALL? Why insist that looking into prophecy or chronology or other things in the Bible is something we shouldn't do or needn't do? Why discourage interest in something that's in the Bible. It doesn't mean I don't give money to the homeless or don't love my fellowman. I just think we need to do BOTH. Doing one is not good enough.
If you have prophecy but ignore love, you won't make it. If you love your fellowman and ignore prophecy, you won't make it either. You must do BOTH. You must have oil in your lamps AND in your receptacles to make it.
????
Right?
Canon
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JCanon
The problem with your speculation is that it doesn't let the Bible interpret itself.
"Interpretation belongs to God."