Posts by opusdei1972

22

Jesus The Perfect Reflection Of The Father?

by JW_Rogue in

so this week's wt study was all about jesus and the miracles he performed.

according to the study this proves that god wants to heal mankind in the same way.

because as we all know jesus is a perfect reflection of his heavenly father.

Jesus The Perfect Reflection Of The Father?

by JW_Rogue in

so this week's wt study was all about jesus and the miracles he performed.

according to the study this proves that god wants to heal mankind in the same way.

because as we all know jesus is a perfect reflection of his heavenly father.

Hi Rogue:

I accept the same general conclusions of modern scholars on textual criticism (Bart Ehrman in US, Antonio Piñero in Spain). Also, some catholic scholar priests like Raymond E. Brown, admit that the Gospels were not written by eyewitnesses of Jesus, and some narrations are not historical facts. I can show you some an example. The Gospel of Matthew could not be written by Matthew. Firstly, according to the church father Papias, who knew some disciples of the Apostles, reported that Matthew wrote the sayings of Jesus in hebrew language. However, it is clear that the Gospel that we know is in Greek, and it is not a translation from the hebrew language. Our Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Greek, and in some quotes it uses the Septuagint, which was the greek version of the Old Testament. For instance, Matthew uses the septuagint version of Isaiah 7:14 so as to "prove" a prophecy on the viriginity of Mary. However, the Hebrew Bible does not contain the word "virgin" in Isaiah 7:14. This is an example of why our Gospel of Matthew was not originally written in Hebrew. Furthermore, it can be shown that our Gospel of Matthew has based its composition on the manuscript of the Gospel of Mark. And we know that Mark was not an eyewitness, but a gentile christian. I want to show an example of this fraud:

Sometimes we see in Matthew, in the author's attempts to create a more elegant version than Mark, trips all over himself and produce a flawed version. A case to point is the story of John the Baptist's murder. Let us first look at Mark's version.

Mark 6:17-29
For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday, Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me anything you want, and I'll give it to you." And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom." She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" "The head of John the Baptist," she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter." The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oath and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Mark's account above tells of King Herod having John imprisoned because of his wife's demand. But he also respected John and liked listening to him. When Herodias' daughter demanded John's head, Herod's reaction of being "greatly distressed" makes sense, as he did not want to kill John, but in view of the situation had no choice. Now let us look at Matthew's version:

Matthew 14:3-12
Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her." Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet. On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised her with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was distressed, but because of his oath and his dinner guests, he ordered her requests be granted and had John beheaded in prison. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John's disciples came and took his body and buried it.

As before note that Matthew's account is an abbreviated version of Mark. But we can also see that Matthew has twisted the story such that it is slightly different from Mark's. In the Markan account, Herod was presented as someone who did not want to kill John; he respected the Baptist and liked listening to him. Matthew however said that Herod wanted to kill the Baptist from the beginning but "feared the people". Matthew than reverted to Mark's account and said that Herod was "greatly distressed" when he heard the girl's request. But this does not make sense in Matthew's account for we are told that Herod wanted to kill John from the beginning. It would have made an excellent excuse to have John killed. In short, Matthew by setting out to create an improved version from Mark ended with a blunder of inconsistency.

22

Jesus The Perfect Reflection Of The Father?

by JW_Rogue in

so this week's wt study was all about jesus and the miracles he performed.

according to the study this proves that god wants to heal mankind in the same way.

because as we all know jesus is a perfect reflection of his heavenly father.

opusdei1972

I want to say that I don't think that all was negative in the early christians. Despite its crazy theology and deluded apocalyptic message, early Christianity cared for the poor. It seems that this teaching came originally from Jesus. I think this was his best social contribution. This Christian community invented a social security for the poor, and this is why this religion had success in that time. So, although I no longer believe in Jesus as the Christ, I think that those who claim to be christians must follow this thinking in favor to the poor, if they want to follow the best positive thing of the early christians. So, in my view, the Watchtower religion is against this christian principle. The Watchtower theology only takes the worst of the early Christian theology.

22

Jesus The Perfect Reflection Of The Father?

by JW_Rogue in

so this week's wt study was all about jesus and the miracles he performed.

according to the study this proves that god wants to heal mankind in the same way.

because as we all know jesus is a perfect reflection of his heavenly father.

opusdei1972

JW_Rogue

It seems that Jesus was indeed an apocalyptic prophet. Not merely a man of peace and love like the hippies. May be he was the source of the idea that the kingdom of God would come to Israel during his generation to destroy the Roman Empire. We can't know if he believed that he would be proclaimed king by God, or something like that. But, it is possible that he did something crazy in the temple, and the jews were offended by something politically wrong that he did. So they or the roman authorities decided to kill him. After his death, the plans of the sect had to be modified. I strongly doubt that Jesus believed that he would die for the sins of the humanity. His death was not predicted, but his educated disciples developed a theology to justify his death and invented initially an spiritual resurrection. They indeed found some interesting texts in the OT, like "the suffering servant" in Isaiah 53 to justify this unexpected death. So they proclaimed that Jesus would be back in power to establish the kingdom in Jerusalem. Then, Jerusalen was destroyed in 70 AD, and they invented that Jesus predicted it. But now, this destruction of the city was convenient to invent that his body disappeared when his disciples visited the tomb. Because all tombs were destroyed by the romans, no one could verify if that story was true or false. When this jewish sect was shunned by reorganized pharisees in the 80s and 90s, they invented that Jesus predicted that they would be expelled from the synagoges. Indeed, I believe that at every emerged problem, the Christian scribes decided to invent a prediction for this situation. ....In the beginning of the second century, some guys believed that the matter is evil, then some Christian scribes decided to invent the bodily resurrection, so as to ensure that he resurrected in flesh. Of course, the virginity of Mary and other stories were the product of gentile christians to make Jesus like the pagan gods.

22

Jesus The Perfect Reflection Of The Father?

by JW_Rogue in

so this week's wt study was all about jesus and the miracles he performed.

according to the study this proves that god wants to heal mankind in the same way.

because as we all know jesus is a perfect reflection of his heavenly father.

opusdei1972

We don't know how Jesus exactly was. His closer disciples did not write the Gospels, and Paul did not know him. Most probably he did not think he was the pre-existent Logos who was with God in the beginning of the creative works (John 1:1). May be it was Paul who invented this doctrine. May be Jesus thought he was a special prophet or teacher of Yahweh, and after his death, some educated disciples created a theology about him, based on Old Testament passages. I doubt that Jesus believed in a preaching work for the gentiles. It is clear that the last verses of the Gospel of Matthew saying "make disciples of all nations" were invented at the end of the first century, so Jesus said nothing about it.

32

Branch Manual 2015

by Marvin Shilmer in

apparently the backroom arguments have been heard and decided.

the royal commission finally uploaded a redacted version of the 2015 branch manual.

watchtower lawyers were looking to have as much redacted from this manual as possible.

opusdei1972

It would be interesting to have the complete scanned version of this document.

21

Why the Bible is a poor moral compass

by Diogenesister in

please don't click the link if you feel details of abuse would upset you http://jwleaks.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/letter-to-the-director-of-public-prosecutions-from-steven-unthank-in-relation-to-discontinuing-the-criminal-trial-february-2012-pdf.pdf.

looking at some of the events that led up to the rc in australia i came across this letter, submitted to the d.p.p.

by steven upthank, in relation to the crown discontinuing prosecution of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.

opusdei1972

So, in other words, according to the Society, if I avoid to donate blood, I am being holy.

21

Why the Bible is a poor moral compass

by Diogenesister in

please don't click the link if you feel details of abuse would upset you http://jwleaks.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/letter-to-the-director-of-public-prosecutions-from-steven-unthank-in-relation-to-discontinuing-the-criminal-trial-february-2012-pdf.pdf.

looking at some of the events that led up to the rc in australia i came across this letter, submitted to the d.p.p.

by steven upthank, in relation to the crown discontinuing prosecution of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.

opusdei1972

Hi Caleb:

Here I want to quote to you how the ancient jewish concept of holiness is reconfigured by the Watchtower Society:

Surely we do not want to sadden Jehovah’s heart by accepting something that his Word condemns! Many medical professionals and other advocates of blood transfusion appeal to people to donate blood in hopes of saving lives. However, Jehovah’s holy people acknowledge that the Creator has the right to say how blood is to be treated. To him, “any sort of blood” is sacred. We must be determined to obey his law on blood. By our holy conduct, we prove to him that we deeply appreciate the lifesaving power of Jesus’ blood —the only blood that makes possible the forgiveness of sin and everlasting life.—John 3:16. (The Watchtower, Study Edition, 11/15, 2014) (here the link of the article : http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2014843 )

21

Why the Bible is a poor moral compass

by Diogenesister in

please don't click the link if you feel details of abuse would upset you http://jwleaks.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/letter-to-the-director-of-public-prosecutions-from-steven-unthank-in-relation-to-discontinuing-the-criminal-trial-february-2012-pdf.pdf.

looking at some of the events that led up to the rc in australia i came across this letter, submitted to the d.p.p.

by steven upthank, in relation to the crown discontinuing prosecution of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.

opusdei1972

Here a Bible verse:

Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. (Psalm 137:9)

Any thoughts???

21

Why the Bible is a poor moral compass

by Diogenesister in

please don't click the link if you feel details of abuse would upset you http://jwleaks.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/letter-to-the-director-of-public-prosecutions-from-steven-unthank-in-relation-to-discontinuing-the-criminal-trial-february-2012-pdf.pdf.

looking at some of the events that led up to the rc in australia i came across this letter, submitted to the d.p.p.

by steven upthank, in relation to the crown discontinuing prosecution of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.

opusdei1972

Whichever be the institution that claims to follow the Bible will be found practicing double standards. The Bible by itself produces conflicting behaviors in the humans who want to follow it.