What kind of "loving" god would take a person out of a moving car, to leave the car free to plow into other traffic and take other lives? I'm aware that this is the picture painted by rapturefans, and that this and similar images are in the books and movies based on the "Left Behind" series. I seem to recall one scene in which an airliner is left to crash, because the pilot had been "raptured". In the bible account at 2 Kings 2:11, Elijah went "ascending in the windstorm to the heavens". No mention is made of his clothing being left behind. And no one was injured as a result of Elijah's being taken. Could there be any other, more rational explanation for Elisha venturing into the wilderness with Elijah, and returning WITHOUT him? Could speculation about being raptured just be "wishful thinking" on the part of Christians who don't want to face responsibility for the problems of modern society? Would a "god" who would take the driver out of a moving car, or the pilot from an airliner in flight even be worthy of worship? Would such a god not be, in fact and in deed, worse than the majority of humans on this planet?
gaiagirl
JoinedPosts by gaiagirl
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Rapture index
by Satanus inhow much longer do christians have on this earth before they get zapped off to be w jesus at his ranch on utopianus planet in the logos nebula?
rest easy folks.
it's being taken care of by the lords people on the site called rapture ready.
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Rapture index
by Satanus inhow much longer do christians have on this earth before they get zapped off to be w jesus at his ranch on utopianus planet in the logos nebula?
rest easy folks.
it's being taken care of by the lords people on the site called rapture ready.
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gaiagirl
Assuming that one believed in the rapture, how would one prove that the rapture had not already occurred, and those on earth now are the ones left behind, as in the series of books?
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JWs and Clothing
by the_classicist inwhere i live, its not usual for people to "dress up," especially business people and executives, you are more likely to see them with a button up shirt, khakis, and one of those fleece vests on.
so, on the whole, jws look very out of place wearing their cheap suits (though a few elders didn't wear cheap suits and they made that known, "look at this, i got a spot on my new $200 designer shirt" -- really, something like this happened).
but what i did notice is that, in my area, dressing guidelines usually weren't followed, or enforced for that matter, for good looking women.
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gaiagirl
Never wore heels, or "dressed for work in an office" as recommended. My approach was, if I was going to wear a dress, then it would be comfortable. So, in warm weather, a sun dress, or something else cotton and breathable, and Dr. Scholls or other sandals.
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A roman perspective on 1st century Christian life
by El blanko in.
hi all.... i am looking for "a roman perspective on 1st century christian life" to dispel the myth that 1st century christians performed their earthly service 'door to door' (jw stylee).. any info or links appreciated.. regards.
blanko.
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gaiagirl
Two books which might offer some insight on Roman views of early Christians are "A History Of Pagan Europe" (Jones & Pennick, 1995, published by Barnes & Noble) and "Pagans and Christians" (Robin, Lane, and Fox, 1989, published by Knopf). I don't recall if they commented on the door-to-door aspect (so probably they didn't), but other revelations were eye-opening.
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Jurassic Park .....T-Rex, and other fluffy stuff...
by ScoobySnax inwhen i was a kid, i remember sitting in class, waiting for the playground breaks so i could show the other kids my dinosaur collections.
i had real fossils, plastic t-rex's triceratops and diplodocuses.
this must have been 1977, and i was 7 years old.
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gaiagirl
Here's a tip from one dino fan to another: Walgreens has DVD's of old silent movies (and a few talkies) for less than $10. I found the 1925 version of "The Lost World", and loved the primitive stop-motion animation. Some of the portrayals, of active, aggressive predators is closer to the modern view than the sluggish, stupid creatures of the films of the '50s and '60s. I believe the same animator went on to greater fame in the 1933 classic "King Kong".
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Did the bookstudy overseer ever phone you for your "time" and nothing else?
by truthseeker inthis happened fairly recently.
my book study overseer who never calls if i am absent at the meeting, will call me with clockwork regularity at the beginning of the month and ask for my field service report.
has this ever happened to you?
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gaiagirl
Once, the bookstudy conductor called asking for my time, and when I revealed that I had no time to turn in for that month, he said "You mean you went a WHOLE MONTH without talking to anybody about Jehovah?!?"
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Sheesh, men. He's Not Going to Call, Is He?
by SixofNine inhe said he wanted to get back together this very afternoon.
he didn't even want to wait till tonight.
he'd called me after seeing an ad i'd placed online and in a local magazine.
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gaiagirl
You know, maybe he's just not into you(r truck).
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The King James Version is Perfect
by blabbermouth ini don't know about anybody else,but i love the beautiful king james version.it contains no error and is perfect.there are no mistranslations in it,and none can be proven.i don't read or study anything else for spirituality.im like a tree that is planted by the water,i shall not be moved,amen,amen,hallelujah,praise jesus!!!!
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gaiagirl
Here is some additional information regarding the sources used for the King James Bible. The article at www.prca.org/pamphlets/pamphlet_9.html says: "At the time the translators were ready to begin their work, they had no less than ten printed editions of the Hebrew Old Testament available to them. There was the Complutensian Polyglot of Cardinal Ximenes published in 1517 which contained the Hebrew text (the fifth complete O. T.) as well as the Latin Vulgate and the Greek Septuagint translations of it. They had four editions by Daniel Bomberg (1516-17, 1516-17, 1521, 1525-28). The last of these was popular with the Reformers. The standard edition was considered to be that of Jacob ben Chayim-the Second Rabbinic Bible. Besides these, there was the Antwerp Polyglot (1572) with the Hebrew text of Arius Montanus and the Latin interlinear translation of Pagninus." "The Greek text was readily available in the Complutensian Polyglot (1514), the five editions of Erasmus (1516-1535), the four editions of Robert Stephanus (1546-1551), and the ten editions of Theodore Beza (1560-1598). They also consulted the editions of Aldus (1518), Colinaeus (1534), and Plantin (1572)." "Yet the King James Version is not a totally new work. In terms of literary units-phrases and clauses-the King James Version is about thirty nine percent new translation. Sixty one percent of the phrases are taken over from older English versions. In fact, the King James Version can be considered the fifth revision of the work of William Tyndale who first translated the New Testament into English from the Greek." "The first revision of Tyndale was done by John Rogers (Rector of a London church and later chaplain to the English merchants in Antwerp) and is called the Matthew's Bible (1537). Under the auspices of Thomas Cromwell, Myles Coverdale (Tyndale's assistant) revised the Matthew's Bible to produce the Great Bible (1539). In 1560 the Protestants in exile at Geneva produced the Geneva Bible which was the third revision of Tyndale. Finally in 1568 the English bishops prepared what is known as the Bishops' Bible, which was the version from which the translators were to make their revisions, according to the command of King James." To sum up, the documents used to produce the KJV were primarily English translations produced within the previous 100 years (61 percent based on Tyndale's version). Of the remaining 39 percent which is actually translated from "the original tongues", the text used were copies of copies of copies, primarily compiled and edited within the previous century. In this light, describing the KJV as "a translation of a translation of a translation" seems accurate. Research it yourself and draw your own conclusions.
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Wiccans cannot be proper marriage counselors according to Christian woman
by unbeliever ina very good friend of mine sent me a link to a message board where a practicing wiccan was criticized for her beliefs.
this is what one fine christian woman says about her.......'xxxxxx', i was talking to my pastor about xxxxxx being a 'wiccan' and he warned me, as a christian, to never take marital advice from someone involved with this cult.. .
anyone can decide for themselves but that is what he told me.
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gaiagirl
It sounds as if this woman had a similar mindset to one of my co-workers, who recently tried to evangelize me. They began by asking questions such as "Do you believe the Bible is the inspired word of God?" (answer: No more so than sacred writings of other cultures), "Do you believe Jesus died for your sins? (answer: he may have died, but not for MY sins), etc. I asked why I should accept the truthfulness of HIS chosen book, the King James Bible, over, say, the Rig Veda (whats that?), the surviving legends from Greece and Rome, etc. His reply was that I had to have FAITH. So I asked, Ok, why should I have faith in YOUR book over any other? Do you really believe that God ONLY spoke to the Hebrews, and ignored the WHOLE rest of the world? At that point, he got stuck in the same groove and kept repeating that I must have faith, over and over. He seemed completely incapable of wrapping his mind around the idea that cultures outside of Palestine could have any relationship with deity.
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The King James Version is Perfect
by blabbermouth ini don't know about anybody else,but i love the beautiful king james version.it contains no error and is perfect.there are no mistranslations in it,and none can be proven.i don't read or study anything else for spirituality.im like a tree that is planted by the water,i shall not be moved,amen,amen,hallelujah,praise jesus!!!!
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gaiagirl
KJV would be a lot better if it were translated directly from original Hebrew and Greek documents. Unfortunately, by the 17th century, those had been lost for many hundreds of years. All the KJV translators had to use were translations (NOT original writings) which themselves had been made hundreds of years after the originals. In other words, KJV is not a direct translation, but at best, a third generation translation (a translation of a translation of a translation). Each time the text is translated from one language to another, the possiblility of error is magnified. The other problem with the KJV is that, even if the translation into 17th century English had been perfect, English word meanings have changed in the nearly 400 years since then. Words no longer mean the same thing as 400 years ago, so accurate reflection of the writers intended meaning has been lost, kind of like a metal mirror slowly corroding and oxidizing over time. One humorous story which illustrates the problems of translation involved a company which produced an electronic handheld translator, for use by tourists traveling to various countries. A customer was being instructed in the use of this device at the store where they were sold, and the salesman said "Type in any expression you want, and the machine can translate it to any language you want". The customer typed in "Out of sight, out of mind" in the keypad, and pressed the button for Chinese language translation. A string of Chinese characters appeared on the screen. Since neither the customer nor the salesman could read Chinese, the customer pressed the button to translate the Chinese characters back into English. The machine dutifully translated the characters...."Invisible Idiot".