Annanias and Saphira - only record of Christian executions?

by truthseeker 15 Replies latest jw friends

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  troucul

  I really never cared for the apostle Paul (pummeling his body and leading it as a slave and all). He seemed to go 'beyond the teachings'. Who's to say he didn't inflate the account of Ananias and Saphira?
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  Narkissos

  troucul

  What's Paul to do with Acts 5?

  (Btw your nickname always gives me a chuckle. Just in case you don't know the correct translation of @$$h0l3 should be "trou du cul" ).
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  blondie

  I think you meant Peter, trocul.

  5

  However, a certain man, An·a·ni´as by name, together with Sap·phi´ra his wife, sold a possession 2 and secretly held back some of the price, his wife also knowing about it, and he brought just a part and deposited it at the feet of the apostles. 3 But Peter said: "An·a·ni´as, why has Satan emboldened you to play false to the holy spirit and to hold back secretly some of the price of the field? 4 As long as it remained with you did it not remain yours, and after it was sold did it not continue in your control? Why was it that you purposed such a deed as this in your heart? You have played false, not to men, but to God." 5 On hearing these words An·a·ni´as fell down and expired. And great fear came over all those hearing of it. 6 But the younger men rose, wrapped him in cloths, and carried him out and buried him. 7 Now after an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter said to her: "Tell me, did YOU [two] sell the field for so much?" She said: "Yes, for so much." 9 So Peter said to her: "Why was it agreed upon between YOU [two] to make a test of the spirit of Jehovah? Look! The feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." 10 Instantly she fell down at his feet and expired. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her alongside her husband. ACTS 5:1-10 NWT

  "play false to the holy spirit"---Is this the sin against the holy spirit meant at Hebrews 10:26-29

  For if we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, 27 but [there is] a certain fearful expectation of judgment and [there is] a fiery jealousy that is going to consume those in opposition. 28 Any man that has disregarded the law of Moses dies without compassion, upon the testimony of two or three. 29 Of how much more severe a punishment, do YOU think, will the man be counted worthy who has trampled upon the Son of God and who has esteemed as of ordinary value the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has outraged the spirit of undeserved kindness with contempt? 30 For we know him that said: "Vengeance is mine; I will recompense"; and again: "Jehovah will judge his people." 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of [the] living God.

  HEBREWS 10:26-31 NWT

  If so, when Sapphira and Ananias died, were they put to death by the holy spirit and thus had no hope of a resurrection to heaven at a later date per the WTS (1918)? Did they descend into Gehenna as the WTS teaches that unrepentant Pharisees/scribes of Jesus' time did when they died?

  BTW, the WTS is singularly silent on this point, unless someone knows where their comments are.

  Thanks

  Blondie
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  Narkissos

  WT 96 4/15 p. 28-29:

  One case that involved apostolic authority to forgive or retain sins involved Ananias and Sapphira, who played false to the spirit. Peter, who heard Jesus utter what we read at John 20:22, 23, exposed Ananias and Sapphira. Peter first addressed Ananias, who died on the spot. When Sapphira later came in and kept up the falsehood, Peter proclaimed her judgment. Peter did not forgive her sin but said: "Look! The feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." She too died on the spot.?Acts 5:1-11.

  In this instance the apostle Peter used special authority to express a definite retaining of sin, a miraculous knowledge that God would not pardon the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. The apostles also appear to have had superhuman insight into cases where they were sure that sins had been forgiven on the basis of Christ?s sacrifice. So those spirit-empowered apostles could declare the forgiveness or retention of sins.
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  blondie

  Thanks, Narkissos. Typical WTS BS where they wirte an addition to the Bible. If this was the case, why was it exercised in only this one case? Are we to understand that no other Christian every committed a simlar sin with a similar motive.
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  Panda

  This story has always bothered me. How would Peter know that this was a sin if he hadn't dealt with it before (please don't say holy spirit told him). Proverbs says that Money is for a protection. Annanias and Saphira didn't do anything wrong --- IMO they were used as yet another FEAR tactic to get the dubs inline. A moral playlet to show the authority of the Apostles (and later the church). And having a woman as co-culprit also would remind the faithful of --- yes! Eve and Jezebel ad nauseum.