by AlmostAtheist 16 Replies latest jw friends
Questions from Readers
"What's the deal with that Ananias and Sapphira routine in Acts 5?" -- A.A., Columbus, Ohio
It's just some idealized happy horese manure. For more information, visit your local kingdumb hall.
(If they'd adopt this "simplified" approach, they could answer more questions! Maybe make the Watchtower a monthly pub!)
Dave
So wait...this story is about as true as the one about the sister who commits fornication on a cruise and then gets a little black coffin from her boy toy with the words "Welcome to the World of AIDS"?!
You're all forgetting...the lied about MONEY. Very unforgivable.
The purpose of this "tale" is given at its conclusion:
Acts 5:11 "Consequently great fear came over the whole congregation and over all those hearing about these things"
Boo! Now do as you are told or else....
This was obviously an early urban legend.
The Devil could rightly challenge God as he did in the case of Job:
"Is it for nothing that Job has feared God? Have not you yourself threatened to punish him severely if he disobeys?"
Badger....That's part of my point, they were supposed to donate ALL their money to the church and claimed they did when actually they withheld some money from their brothers. proplog....I believe the next chapter has a story about how even Peter's shadow could cure people of disease miraculously. The early church was rife with such "urban legends". Just look at all the wild stories that Papias of Hierapolis (writing about AD 140) collected from "oral tradition" about the apostles and those of their generation.
Leo:
...in Acts 4:8, we read that Peter was "filled with the Holy Spirit" and "spoke by the Holy Spirit" (v. 25), and more importantly the Holy Spirit is presented as personally directing the Christian mission (Acts 13:2, 16:6, 20:23, 28).
And hence the WTS generally avoids using the story, as it lends too much emphasis to the idea of the Deity of the Holy Spirit.
Where's Pete, btw?
He always used to post on these kind of threads, too!
Latterly I've come to appreciate more and more his older posts.
