Posts by davidmitchell

12

Why does the Almighty need a mediator?

by economy in

god is alike to all of his children, hence cannot elevate one child above all others just because one was brought into existence before others.

(ezekiel 18:4) someone has to be first-born which does not give him any superiority over others!

interestingly, jesus simply dismissed the whole idea of one being placed over the others as pagan.

davidmitchell

When a communication is from God, it will be absolutely simple and will be impossible to be misunderstood by readers.

Eh? Where is any proof of this?

Would make us think: “If I am a person, my heavenly Father (my source) is also a person who must be like me in all respect"/

Again, how is this arrived at? The attributes of God, as narrated in the Bible, indicate he has (and can have) little in common with us.

It is necessary to remember that when Christianity went into the Gentile (Greek) world, it embraced the conceptual world of Hellenism and had to use its language and imagery.

John 1:1 is an example of using terminology that many groups at the time would recognise, e.g., Jews, Stoics, Gnostics, the students of Philo, etc., etc. They would be happy with all of John 1:1-13 and it would only be at 1:14 that they would have problems (In fact some writers believe that John 1:1-14 was a self-contained early Christian hymn or credal statement that the author of the Fourth Gospel tagged onto the beginning of his writing.

5

The Witchtower: Bearing Children in a Dangerous World ;)

by processor in

bearing children in a dangerous world.

family, jehovah's witnesses add comments.

reprint from the witchtower, 09/2010.

davidmitchell

Though “not everyone who goes to university loses his Christian faith

When I was an university, I was fascinated to see how Christians, who came to study theology and thought they knew all about their faith but actually knew only what they had been told by their church/pastor and by the Christian literature they had read, were suddenly confronted with **facts** for the first time ever. The vast majority lost their faith or became ultra-liberals by the end of the course. I believe only one out of over a hundred retained his faith despite all the overwhelming evidence that the Bible is not consistent or inerrant.

11

Nigerian scammers are getting hilariously sloppy - read this

by sir82 in

here is part of a scam e-mail delivered to my junk folder (i glance thru it every so often for kicks).

i highlighted the parts i found especially goofy:.

we found your name in our list and that is why we are contacting you, and we are happy to announce to you that every necessary legalarrangement regarding to your compensation has been signed and sealed.

davidmitchell

I received a scam email from a "Mrs Gadaffi" saying she wanted to transfer millions of dollars from her late husband's bank account, within just 10 minutes of his death being publicised! Can anyone beat that for speed?

5

WT Archives

by Lady Lee in

forum
links

this site has many files i have never seen before.

something i have been looking for are the various versions of studies in the scriptures and the muillenial dawn series.

this site lists both - a rare find indeed.. wtarchives or http://www.a2z.org/wtarchive/archive.htm.

davidmitchell

The links in www.a2z.org/wtarchive/archive.htm are dead as are those listed on the Archives! page in the second message.

66

BART EHRMAN answers my question

by TerryWalstrom in

as a member on bart ehrman's blog, i am able to ask him direct questions.is jehovah in the bible?.

question:.

how firmly grounded in reality is the claim of jehovahs witnesses that the divine name (jehovah) belongs in the new testament?.

davidmitchell

OrphanCrow: 'Jehovah' appears 7 times in the KJV (all in the Old

You will find the actual word occurs four times:

Exodus 6:3
Psalm 83:18
Isaiah 12:2
Isaiah 26:4.

66

BART EHRMAN answers my question

by TerryWalstrom in

as a member on bart ehrman's blog, i am able to ask him direct questions.is jehovah in the bible?.

question:.

how firmly grounded in reality is the claim of jehovahs witnesses that the divine name (jehovah) belongs in the new testament?.

davidmitchell

I dont think the King James version used Jehovah ?

In the KJV, the word Jehovah is included in four texts:
Exodus 6:3
Psalm 83:18
Isaiah 12:2
Isaiah 26:4.

66

BART EHRMAN answers my question

by TerryWalstrom in

as a member on bart ehrman's blog, i am able to ask him direct questions.is jehovah in the bible?.

question:.

how firmly grounded in reality is the claim of jehovahs witnesses that the divine name (jehovah) belongs in the new testament?.

davidmitchell

About the middle of the first century C.E., the disciple James said to the elders in Jerusalem:

James said no such thing. Acts was composed towards the close of the first century CE. It is a work of fiction.

Apparently, the God-dishonoring tradition of removing the divine name from Greek manuscripts developed only later.

Manuscript evidence? Any physical evidence at all?

The AnchorBible Dictionary makes this comment...

Once again, where is the evidence of what is stated here? This is supposition. After 70CE and the church concentrated on preaching to the Gentiles, the Jewish name for God would be an obstacle to such preaching apart from being meaningless.

And finally, even if the 'divine name' were in use in the 1st century CE, it certainly was not the direct Greek/Hebrew equivalent of the word 'Jehovah' which is a made-up word.

9

Bali Nine

by smiddy in

their are two australian guys scheduled for execution in indonesia in the very near future for drug smuggling , they were the ring leaders of seven others involved.this happened a number of years ago when the australian authourities notified their indonesian counterparts that drugs were to be smuggled out of indonesia into australia by australian citizens .. some argue , why didn` t the australian authourities simply arrest these people on arrival in australia where no capital punishment is on the agenda .. by all accounts they have now been on death row for many years and have turned their lives around , being role models to other prisoners and changing their lives .. i personally have mixed feelings about all this and would like your input .. should these two be executed ?.

should they spend the rest of their life in an indonesian jail .

should they be given an alternative sentence .?.

davidmitchell

Simon: Get a job, work hard, pay taxes - like the rest of us.

But some people cannot do this - poor education (not through their own choosing), illness/disability, lack of jobs or getting into major debt. These situations certainly do not excuse anyone commiting crime, but the neat row of options that you present is not as easy as you make out.

9

Bali Nine

by smiddy in

their are two australian guys scheduled for execution in indonesia in the very near future for drug smuggling , they were the ring leaders of seven others involved.this happened a number of years ago when the australian authourities notified their indonesian counterparts that drugs were to be smuggled out of indonesia into australia by australian citizens .. some argue , why didn` t the australian authourities simply arrest these people on arrival in australia where no capital punishment is on the agenda .. by all accounts they have now been on death row for many years and have turned their lives around , being role models to other prisoners and changing their lives .. i personally have mixed feelings about all this and would like your input .. should these two be executed ?.

should they spend the rest of their life in an indonesian jail .

should they be given an alternative sentence .?.

davidmitchell

I was brought up as anti-death penalty advocate and in the 1990s, I wrote to several men on death row in America to befriend them, this included one who was later executed.
I think what changed my opinion - a little - was my growing awareness of the violent nature of some murders and that some victims were not only murdered but tortured as well. The problem that clouded the issue for me was how people were executed and how this was fast becoming a circus, i.e, the recent problem with America not being able to obtain the required toxic ingredients to carry out executions by 'lethal injection'.
So many executions have beene 'botched' whether by hanging, shooting, gassing, electrocution or lethal injection, and this results in the process making the authorities appear incompetent and not in control.
I have come to the conclusion that murder should mean life imprisonment and that 'life' should mean 'life' and any privileges in prison, not matter how small, should be earned.
In the case of particularly brutal or multiple murders, then sadly, the punishment should be death by the most humane means and carried out as quickly as possible (in the UK, I believe that when there were executions, these had to be carrried out within a month of the sentence).

There is the further problem that the wealthy who murder can and do get off with just a term of imprisonment because of being able to hire clever lawyers, while the poor person gets the death penalty for the same crime.

In the case of the men in indonesia, I cannot believe that execution is appropriate for what they allegedly did. 25-40 years' imprisonment is more appropriate. Remember that with capital punishment, the punishment ends when death occurs, but with long-term imprisonment, the punishment lasts.

20

The 'Message" is spread into 700 languages...SO WHAT??? Big Deal!

by stuckinarut2 in

you know how the org goes on and on about how the "preaching work" takes place in so many languages by the website?.

they also trumpet the fact that witnesses are in "sooooo many lands and nations"....... so what!.

just because the message is spread far and wide, does not mean the content of the message is correct or of value.. take the example of coca-cola or mcdonalds.... these products are in nearly every nation around the world....but does that mean they are beneficial or healthy?

davidmitchell

As Steve 2 says. Its rather like the claim that so many Bible-believers constantly state, i.e., there are thousands of New Testament texts from the 4th century onwards.But just because a lie is repeated many thousands of times does not make it any less of a lie.

*Noteworthy is that there are no manuscripts of any complete New Testament writing from the 1st century so we have no idea of what changes were made to the origianl texts.