Posts by myelaine

251

Is Jesus Christ and Michael the ArchAngel one and the same person?

by booker-t in

i must admit that as a jw i never really swallowed this belief maybe because i was so young when i was really a staunch jw.

i would have born-again christians tell me that it was impossible for jesus and michael to be the same person and that jw's invented this doctrine.

fast forward to 2004 while i was reading a book on jesus i noticed that some of the early church fathers thought michael was jesus christ i almost fell out of my chair.

myelaine

Dear Green,

I have not read anything that Leo has written that would tell me one way or another whether she was any form of christian or otherwise. She shows no bias in her work.

michelle

80

Can someone explain to me the story of the tower of Babel?

by tippysock in

in genisis 11:6 jehovah appears to be worried that mankind will be able to do anything they desire.

did jehovah scatter men and use different languages as a controlling measure to make us dependent on him?

what happened to freewill?

myelaine

Funkyderek,

Surely everyone would believe in God after a miracle like that, especially as it came only a couple of generations after the flood?

You must be reading a different Bible to read that EVERYONE believed in God after a miracle like that.

Genesis 11:10 We are intruduced to the one "group" of people led by Abram, who, had a healthy fear of the Lord. A good portion of the same Bible follows this one "group" of people while admonishing the "everyone else" that were scattered abroad. These same "everyone else" ...... "groups" might have started all the other different "theologies" for all I know. God did choose this one group didn't He? To hell with the rest of them..... (in the beginning). They did not meet God's requirements, ESPECIALLY as it came only a couple of generations after the flood.

Having said that I have to admit that I don't even recall what statement I'm replying to.

OK, I guess yoiu must have been reading a different story. I don't see how anyone could take that from the Babel legend.

Oh, right....We are supposed to "take" something away from this story.....why is it there?.....hummm.... I was giving a reasonable explaination for it being there....I figure it is a way to explain how and why God chose the group that He did. I'm sure there are other explainations. So, lets let someone else give their explainaion. Is the story a "fore-glimmer" of a type of people? Is it prophectic?

80

Can someone explain to me the story of the tower of Babel?

by tippysock in

in genisis 11:6 jehovah appears to be worried that mankind will be able to do anything they desire.

did jehovah scatter men and use different languages as a controlling measure to make us dependent on him?

what happened to freewill?

myelaine

Funkyderek,

But if God confuses all the languages, then only speakers of one language have the opportunity for "salvation" (at least in the beginning).

Surely everyone would believe in God after a miracle like that, especially as it came only a couple of generations after the flood?

There is a big difference between believing there is an all-powerful God and serving that God. Perhaps there was only one "group" or dialect that God found to be willing to serve Him out of love and it was through this "group" God chose to open the way for salvation to everyone.

It is interesting the way that you worded the top statement, in that, according to the Bible there is only one way or language of salvation, The Word.

251

Is Jesus Christ and Michael the ArchAngel one and the same person?

by booker-t in

i must admit that as a jw i never really swallowed this belief maybe because i was so young when i was really a staunch jw.

i would have born-again christians tell me that it was impossible for jesus and michael to be the same person and that jw's invented this doctrine.

fast forward to 2004 while i was reading a book on jesus i noticed that some of the early church fathers thought michael was jesus christ i almost fell out of my chair.

myelaine

Dear Green,

you said: The doctrine of the immortality of the soul opens more questions than it answers. In my opinion.

You are right this doctrine opens more questions along the lines of what happens to this soul after death, these questions can be answered from the scriptures. To say that the soul is not immortal and dies only to be recreated in another vessel at some future date asks even more questions that can't be answered from the scriptures and you have to, like the WBTS, give God the job of recreating an exact replica of each individual throughout history. Some to be recreated for life and some to be recreated for everlasting death. That's not to say that God can't do this, but why would He? We are told that there is no "crossing over" after we have died a physical death, so why recreate the unrighteous at all?

80

Can someone explain to me the story of the tower of Babel?

by tippysock in

in genisis 11:6 jehovah appears to be worried that mankind will be able to do anything they desire.

did jehovah scatter men and use different languages as a controlling measure to make us dependent on him?

what happened to freewill?

myelaine

Funkyderek,

If everyone was of the same mindset (wanted to make a name for themselves[like God]) there is no room for God's plan of salvation for mankind. Once the people are seperated, in the manner that they were, there are bound to be people that have a healthy "fear of the Lord" this seperation was needed to ALLOW for a people to be called out for His purposes and His plan of salvation. In that way also, no one could have said to be forced into obeying the Lord. The people left Babel with their own "idea" of what God could do and at the same time might have decided whether they wanted to serve the God that was capable of doing this or to serve their own interests. You might say that when God confused the languages He also seperated the believers from the non-believers to some degree.

23

Were they right about anything?

by kwintestal in

the wts is often critised about being false prophets when they predict something and it doesn't come about.

rightly so.

expose them for the false prophets they are!.

myelaine

Kwin,

Where there are advances in science and technology that can help us live a longer life than in previous generations, its seems as though the moral fibre that held us together (do unto others...) is rapidly fraying. Parents and others don't have the respect from their children that they used to have and this is, I believe, directly related to the lack of "God conciousness" of our society. Humans figure that, given time, we can do it all and there is no need for God to direct us in any area of our lives. In the city that I live, Meth is a BIG problem. The crime that we experience now is directly related to kids stealing to get money for drugs. The kids think of their next hit, not whether their actions are right or wrong. At some point (and it's happening already to some degree) I'm sure children will believe that any action they take to please themselves is the right thing to do. The only action that is wrong is something that goes contrary to their desires. So that would leave most if not all authority figures (the man) wrong. I don't think that anything we do is going to correct this problem. Advances in science and technology can't address what I call a negative "heart condition". These advances can help the human physical condition, but do they really help us live a better or righteous life? I don't think so, and I don't think that the kids even care anymore.

p.s. I don't mean to sound like all kids everywhere have a problem with drugs, but honestly, it isn't getting any better is it?

80

Can someone explain to me the story of the tower of Babel?

by tippysock in

in genisis 11:6 jehovah appears to be worried that mankind will be able to do anything they desire.

did jehovah scatter men and use different languages as a controlling measure to make us dependent on him?

what happened to freewill?

myelaine

The tower of Babel was built to reach into the heavens. So Nimrod could be a ruler "like God". Satan wanted to be a ruler "like God " too, he was removed from heaven. God confused the languages to scare the people so that they would scatter throughout the earth as per the original plan. The Bible account shows how God got people back on track as far as populating the EARTH instead of just a small corner of it. God also showed Nimrod and the people the power of the true God, that power can't be obtained by the mere fact that humans have the ability to create great monuments that reach into the heavens. It can't be obtained by all people being of the same mindset, having the same goals, or even the same language. God "freaked them out" and the people took this new/personal display of God's power with them to the different areas where they settled.

23

Were they right about anything?

by kwintestal in

the wts is often critised about being false prophets when they predict something and it doesn't come about.

rightly so.

expose them for the false prophets they are!.

myelaine

Kwin,

What do they toot their horn about, saying, "See...we were right!"

Don't they say, "See... we were right!" about Christ's invisible presence. Using dates culled from the Bible and world events. That is one thing that they will always say they are right about. They can SEE that they are right.

251

Is Jesus Christ and Michael the ArchAngel one and the same person?

by booker-t in

i must admit that as a jw i never really swallowed this belief maybe because i was so young when i was really a staunch jw.

i would have born-again christians tell me that it was impossible for jesus and michael to be the same person and that jw's invented this doctrine.

fast forward to 2004 while i was reading a book on jesus i noticed that some of the early church fathers thought michael was jesus christ i almost fell out of my chair.

myelaine

Dear Green,

If you don't believe in the immortality of the soul them it stands to reason that when Jesus was taken into heaven, He would have been "empty". By that I mean, without memory of His life as Jesus. The soul of Jesus had in effect "died" on the cross. At that point He would be an "ordinary" spirit that could no longer relate to us or understand us as humans because He never was one. No been there, done that. What do you think?

see Hebrews 2:18

13

Blood and Food

by Lampokey in

i am well aware of jw doctrine concerning blood and its foundations in acts 15:20.. i am also well aware of how much discussion this has provoked.. could ex , or current , jw's comment on one aspect of this please :.

the ban on blood seems unequivocal and would seem not to leave any room for compromising.. in that case , would eating a piece of red meat be in violation of jw's beliefs?

presumably , it would , as even a well-cooked piece of meat would contain blood molecules.have any jw's raised this point with their congration's elders?.

myelaine

Is beef gravy o.k.?