dear mP...
the law and the prophets ANTICIPATED...1 peter 1:11...the prophets of GOD spoke but didn't know exactly how everything was to "unfold" yet you require a single scripture
at the risk of being a bore...mark 1:11
love michelle
theres a clear difference between prophecies (predictions of future events) and laws(stuff you should and shouldnt do).. now since xians always says jesus fullfilled the law, how does one fullfill a bunch of requirements like dont murder, dont worship idols, shave your beard like this etc.. there are 613 laws in the torah, jewish rabbis have done all the hard work and we have a nice list on wiki.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_mitzvot.
im confused which of those some how select a unique individual to be the unique messiah ?
then again there were many messiahs, every king and priest of israel and judea was a messiah.
dear mP...
the law and the prophets ANTICIPATED...1 peter 1:11...the prophets of GOD spoke but didn't know exactly how everything was to "unfold" yet you require a single scripture
at the risk of being a bore...mark 1:11
love michelle
theres a clear difference between prophecies (predictions of future events) and laws(stuff you should and shouldnt do).. now since xians always says jesus fullfilled the law, how does one fullfill a bunch of requirements like dont murder, dont worship idols, shave your beard like this etc.. there are 613 laws in the torah, jewish rabbis have done all the hard work and we have a nice list on wiki.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_mitzvot.
im confused which of those some how select a unique individual to be the unique messiah ?
then again there were many messiahs, every king and priest of israel and judea was a messiah.
dear mP...
the entire law code is man's interpretation of what was to be "done" in order to stand before a holy God. Jesus came and fulfilled God's interpretation of what is to be "done" in order to stand before a holy God. Thus fulfilling God's law. Jesus came to do the will of His Father in heaven NOT the will of the priests who interpreted the law. He took the strict observance of the ceramonial "law" requirements for personal sin (ie. the passover lamb) and tempered it with the mercy that ought to be shown towards those who don't observe the strict "moral" code envisioned in the law of moses. matthew 23:23
love michelle
theres a clear difference between prophecies (predictions of future events) and laws(stuff you should and shouldnt do).. now since xians always says jesus fullfilled the law, how does one fullfill a bunch of requirements like dont murder, dont worship idols, shave your beard like this etc.. there are 613 laws in the torah, jewish rabbis have done all the hard work and we have a nice list on wiki.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_mitzvot.
im confused which of those some how select a unique individual to be the unique messiah ?
then again there were many messiahs, every king and priest of israel and judea was a messiah.
dear Phizzy...
you said: "Interesting, and revealing, that Paul had no moral compass without rules and regulations spelling out to him what is right and wrong."...
I wonder why you think this. It is argued that most people Do have a moral compass, isn't it? Yes, it is. The fact is that accepting Jesus as your personal saviour isn't about suddenly aquiring a moral compass. It isn't this way for me or you or anyone. It isn't about OUR morals. It is about perfect holiness...Jesus magnified the law...He was perfectly HOLY before God the Father.
God is completely holy and it is written that people need to be holy in order to enter in before Him or into His presense in heaven. In the garden A&E were able to walk with God because until they actually DID sin by being disobedient they walked in holiness...all God ever desired of His human creation. After the fall from holiness before God, there was the expulsion from His direct presense for all the offspring. None walked in perfect holiness.
Jesus fulfilled the law in that He alone, unlike the first Adam, was able to and did walk in perfect holiness before God. The law was man's way of interpreting from God to man WHAT perfect holiness is. Even though it is flawed in that it does prescribe what outward holiness was to "look" like it may not reflect what the inward moral compass actually did. Remember that unless someone actually disclosed that their child was not obeying the law there was no consequence to dis-obeying it. Sure we can look back now and say this was the law...how barberac...and we can site the pharisees as an example that the law was followed (they wanted to stone the adultress)...but the pharisees were an extreme example of obeying the law without mercy. Jesus even said that they would obey the law to the letter but they would forget mercy...He said this to the law keepers, not to everyone congregated.
We are seperated from God because of our personal sin and because of His wrath against sin...God is opposed to sin and we are sinners. The gospel states that while we were still sinners the Father sent His Son to pay the penalty for those sins...not counting those sins against us but against His Son in our stead. Jesus "owned" the required perfection in order to "stand" before Him...only Jesus can stand before Him in righteousness. Anyone who doesn't count this as a gift of love from a God who wants to redeem is said to be without God and without hope in the world and death and the wrath of God against sin is still held against them. 2 corinthians 5:11-12
Jesus was the perfect man who walked in holiness before God without blemish inside AND out. That is how He fulfilled God's law and man's interpretation of HOW God wanted His creation to walk before Him. No one can stand before the holy God without the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ...(even if they treat His brothers well Tammy because that makes it about YOUR OWN righteousness)...God does not change.
love michelle
besides the usual suspects that appear on some bibles (1 and 2 maccabeans, wisdom, judith) what are some other apocripha books that exist out there?
i mean besides the so called gnostic gospels.
why have they been ruled out from the cannon?
dear Terry...
you said: "It was begun by the apostate MARCION who tossed out the Old Testament Jehovah and substituted the Pauline concept of merciful Jesus."...
indeed...God said: "but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." exodus 20:6
AND THEN He sent His beloved Son and showed His mercy to all mankind who WOULD love Him and keep His commands. john 3:16-18
of course one must turn to the Light while it shines..."Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.
But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
“Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the L ord been revealed?” john 12:35-38
or you can not believe..."Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.” john 12:39-40
there was a time that one was at the mercy of the "gods/judges" of this system...if no one saw the offense?...now however...Jesus magnifies the law to everyone who God has shown mercy to...ie: everyone who has heard the gospel of salvation. He who reads hearts and minds judges..."For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries...Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The L ord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." hebrews 26-31 <cf. paul<
love michelle
merry xmas to you all!.
i have just set up my first real fir xmas tree at home after 7 years out.
it was a great experience.
Merry Christmas WTWizard...(prepare yourself for an original not very good poem by moi )
the tree, the tree;
decorations strung about.
red ones and white ones, blue ones too.
the lights how they glow in the night-time so dark
their splendor without the thought of a spark.
who would cite error in one so devout? the hounders, the hounders;
they're the ones, they do!
love michelle
merry xmas to you all!.
i have just set up my first real fir xmas tree at home after 7 years out.
it was a great experience.
Merry Christmas panhandlegirl
it is delicious looking...and healthy.
a yummy dip for this fruit tree is:
1/2 marshmallow frosting 1/2 cream cheese blended until smooth...it is not so healthy though
xo
cezanne's greetings.
cheerful tidings.. .
chagall acquaintance be forgot.
Freeze, freeze,
thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not
bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou
the waters warp,
Thy sting is
not so sharp
As friend
remember'd not. ~william shakespeare~
love michelle
merry xmas to you all!.
i have just set up my first real fir xmas tree at home after 7 years out.
it was a great experience.
Merry Christmas MMXIV...
I hope all these new joys of the season become the precious gifts that you always remember
love michelle
is the jehovah's witness religion christian?the answer to the question is, "no.
it is not christian.
" like all non-christian cults, the jehovah's witness organization distorts the essential doctrines of christianity.
dear Cold Steel...
you said: " What troubles me is when someone not only condemns the doctrines of other Christians, but then puts them on a greased slide to Hell. To my understanding, Hell is not vindictive, but remedial,"
I don't know if you are talking to me specifically because I haven't put anyone on a "greased slide to hell". Jesus was the one who expounded on hell and the merits of HIS sacrifice in order to AVOID it. As to my mentioning OTHER faiths...they are just that. Neither the JW's, the mormons nor the bahai's have the bible as their sole source for doctrine. They have added to, and in the case of the JW's and bahai's, taken away from the message of salvation for all who would believe (john 8:24) found in the bible.
JW's proclaim that Jesus is the Mediator for the F&DS only and that the rank and file themselves are granted mediation through the F&DS. The bahai's don't call themselves christian as that faith group is comprised of many different faiths under the direction of their own GB who follow the teachings of their founder whom they perceive to be the returned spirit of Christ in the person of a persian man named baha'u'llah(1817-1892). the mormons, as you know, believe that the bible speaks of the God of THIS planet and that there are MANY other gods ruling on many other planets and that male adherents are in training to become one of those many OTHER gods...to the mormon, Jehovah is a true God as much as the male adherent will be a true god some day too.
as to leading "godly" lives, there is no question that each individual JW, bahai, and mormon is encouraged to do just that. but...the bible states that in the apostasy of the last days, as well as the willfully wicked, there will be those having a form of godliness but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.(2 timothy 3:1-8)...notice vs. 8...these resist THE truth and are disapproved concerning THE faith. it seems that paul believes and teaches that disapproved is disapproved...in the same way that sin is missing the mark whether by an inch or a mile. these people are estranged...how do YOU explain that a person can be estranged from THE truth of THE christian faith yet at the same time BE a christian?
where do you get your understanding that hell is remedial and that people will be released?...that idea is similar to the catholic doctrine of purgatory that can be drawn from the words of Jesus in luke 16:19-31, which I think is picturing the intermediate "staging area" after death where the righteous and the unrighteous go before the resurrection of the just and the unjust (daniel 12:2) but even in daniel 12:3 there seems to be a need for those resurrected to turn TO righteousness and the NT identifies the only means of achieving that "state" of being righteous before God is through the mediation of Jesus Christ...being washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. Our own righteousness being as filthy rags.
love michelle
is the jehovah's witness religion christian?the answer to the question is, "no.
it is not christian.
" like all non-christian cults, the jehovah's witness organization distorts the essential doctrines of christianity.
dear Kosonen...
the JW "theologians" have misconstrued the form of the Godhead and perceive Jehovah as the Father (only). The trinity doctrine provides for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit being Jehovah.
This can be shown by the scripture that you have quoted...otherwise both God the Father and Jesus the Son as well as the apostle paul have been dishonest. The scripture that you quoted says that Jehovah (whom you say is the Father only) is the redeemer...and Jesus affirms that He is the redeemer...and the scriptures say that the same Spirit (Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ) that raised Jesus from the dead will also redeem from death BY giving life to our mortal bodies. romans 8:9-11...if you believe that the bible is a source for the truth about God then do you see how these references to scripture need to be reconciled because we KNOW that there is only ONE true God?...that is what the trinity doctrine does. the JW theology leaves the questions that these and many other references in scripture generate...unresolved.
you are somewhat right when you say: "Jesus replaced Adam as father for christians." Jesus didn't replace adam as father, we are still of adam and born in sin because we are human. Jesus is Father of the NEW creation (2 cor 5:17)...by the Spirit we cry out, "ABBA Father" (romans 8:15)...
we KNOW that Jehovah said this:
"The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
Let Him be your fear,
And let Him be your dread.
He will be as a sanctuary,
But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense
To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many among them shall stumble;
They shall fall and be broken,
Be snared and taken.”
Bind up the testimony,
Seal the law among my disciples.
And I will wait on the Lord ,
Who hides His face from the house of Jacob;
And I will hope in Him.
Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me!
We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the Lord of hosts,
Who dwells in Mount Zion. isaiah 8:13-18
...Jesus is the stone of stumbling, it was Jesus and what He taught about WHO He was that became the snare and trap for the pharisees (john 8:19, 24) and it is Jesus who is the Father of many children of the NEW creation...BUT, as you can see, it is Jehovah (LORD) speaking in this scripture... Jesus doesn't "replace" the Father that the JW calls Jehovah. Jehovah is the exponent of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit being the ONE true God.
you said: "I draw a logic conclusion between the confusion in the second and the third centry among christians that lead to the Nicean Creed and what the apostles and even Jesus forewarned about."...How IS it logical to you that satan is able to thwart Jesus, the apostles, all the people who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and the whole plan of God for the church by infiltrating and dislodging the truth by means of "imposters" within a few hundred years...and then THAT church of "imposters" and the message it preached grew and covered the whole earth?...Who do YOU ascribe Almightiness to with your "logic"?
love michelle