The apostle Paul was specifically driving home that we can't be saved through works under the Mosaic Law per se, whereas in James, the 'works' without which faith is dead are Christian works. Big difference and not to be confused with each other.
yaddayadda
JoinedPosts by yaddayadda
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16
Need for an org and need to be judged by one's works
by karola ini need some help reaching a friend regarding the faults of the society and the control they have over us.
i keep stressing that the nt insists that salvation is by faith and not by works and that those under works of law are in fact under a curse.
(see gal 3:10-11 and romans 3:20-24).
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Are The Magazines Written By "Complete Idiots"?
by metatron inyes, "complete idiots" - that's the phrase the latest awake ( jan 2006) uses on page 6, thusly:.
"however, man's vision of the future has often proved to be illusory.
for example, decades ago one expert said that by 1984, farmers.
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yaddayadda
Depends a bit on the theme of the article and the context of those words. Is the article just about scientific, technological advancements? Or is it a discussion about predictions in general, even of a religious nature. If the latter then not so much complete idiots as totally deluded hypocrites.
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Jehovar or not to Jehobar: WT -vs- Awake
by DaCheech inwas looking at the jan 15th watchtower and reading it side by side with the january awake.. jehobar is mentioned probably hundreds of times in the wt (anytime god is referenced), instead in the awake --> god is used instead!!.
the only 2 or 3 times it is used in this awake is when quoting scriptures directly and jehobar is in that scripture!.
they are using cute tactics to sway the nieve
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yaddayadda
Why can't you just type it 'Jehovah' duh. Too scared to?
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Expecting armageddon...
by Bryan inwhat event or events do you think would make every witness think the end really was around the corner?
peace between isreal and palistine?
death of the united nations?
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yaddayadda
If Israel and Palestine made peace, JWs will see it as a sign of the end.
When a suicide bomber blows himself up in Israel, JWs see it as a sign of the end.
Huh? JW's dont give a hoot about what happens in Israel, Elsewhere. I was a JW for over 30 years and never thought, heard or read anything that gave any significance to what is happening over in modern Israel. You must be thinking of some other religion dude.
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God's Organization.
by Blueblades init is evident that the only way any organization could be god's organization would be if god appointed it as such.
jehovah's witnesses believe that the watchtower society received that appointment in the spring of 1919 in fulfillment of the most important scripture in watchtower theology---matthew 24:45-47.. on the watchtower's official website under the heading, 'what jehovah's witnesses believe" they list forty of their teachings.
but their most important teaching, the only teaching that needs to be known------"the watchtower society is god's organization"---is not mentioned.. this from,"captives of a concept" page17.
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yaddayadda
The thing is though that if you ask any typical JW why they feel they have the true religion they will never mention Matt 24: 45-47. Instead they will say things like "Only we preach the good news of the kingdom as per Matt 24: 14", or "only we worship the one true God Jehovah, not the trinity, and only we preach the truth about the condition of the dead", or "only we correctly predicted something big in 1914", or something similar.
It is their rather unique blend of doctrine that convinces them they alone have the true religion. I think Don Cameron's book is good but it misses the point. I honestly believe, that if the GB dropped the whole Matthew 24: 45-47 as applied to 1919 and adopted e-watchman's interpretation that the appointment of the slave is still future, there would probably only be a small fraction of JW's that would drop out because of it.
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GB
by peggy inare the members of the gb common knowledge amongst the rf?
i actually never knew the names until i came upon jwd, but are those members mentioned in the publications and is it only apostates that know about the two new members of the gb, cause i mentioned it to an active jw friend last night and she had no idea and wondered where i got that information.
i told her i couldn't remember where i read that.
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yaddayadda
It's amazing that JW's can be so dictated to on everything in their lives by a few old men whose names they do not even know.
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Ridiculous "Revelation Climax" Book interpretations
by Black Man ini used to be so into prophecy and actually loved the climax book when it first came out.
now, i can't believe i bought into that bs.
anyhow, name a ridiculous climax book interpretation.
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yaddayadda
I dig the artwork/ Specially the subliminal bits, for instance, the evil looking claw holding the sceptor that is meant to be the left arm and hand of the dude third from the left with the white robe, page 52; and the ugly little pug face in the palm of Jesus extended right hand on page 158.
cool!
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Regarding the holy Trinity
by kristiano1122 ini want to know why jw dont accept the holy trinity even though there is enough biblical evidence in the bible regarding this.
the following passages are from the book of john .
1:1. in the beginning was the word: and the word was with god: and the word was god.
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yaddayadda
Great points Zen-nudist. Even a non-Christian can see it makes more sense to reject the trinity.
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Are the gospels genuine?
by ackack ini've been reading the jesus puzzle and something interesting was this re-ordering of q. its seems like the various pieces of q in luke and matthew have different contexts.
this would support that the contexts for the q sayings were invented.. it seems that paul doesn't reference the gospels in any form.. does this support a late writing for the gospels and therefore calls into question how close the gospels were written to the alleged events of jesus' life?.
how would someone who believes in the gospels reconcile these differences?
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yaddayadda
I honestly think they are genuine.
If the same objective, scientific approach is applied to the NT texts that is used on all other ancient documents, the NT bear up remarkable well. For instance, there are about 500 different copies of the NT earlier than 500AD, many of which are in amazingly good condition. The next most reliable ancient text we have is the Iliad, for which there are only fifty copies that date from 500 years or less after its origin. There is only one very late manuscript of Tacitus's Annals, but no one is reluctant to treat that as authentic history. If the books of the NT did not contain accounts of miracles or make radical, uncomfortable claims on our lives, they would be accepted by every scholar in the world. In other words, it is not objective, neutral science but subjective prejudice or ideology that fuels skeptical scripture scholarship.
The manuscripts we have are not only very old but mutually reinforcing and consistent. There are no real important discrepancies. And all later discoveries of manuscripts, eg, the Dead Sea Scrolls, confirm rather than refute the accuracy of previously existing manuscripts.
Also, it takes about 2 or 3 generations for a myth to evolve, otherwise there would be eyewitnesses of the real Jesus that would refute the myth. Both disciples and enemies would have had reasons to oppose the new myth. Yet we find no evidence at all of anyone ever opposing the so-called myth of Jesus as the miracle working Son of God. And no competent scholar denies the first century dating of virtually all of the NT.
If a mythic 'layer' had ben added later onto an originally merely human Jesus, we should find some evidence, at least indirectly and secondhand, of this earlier layer. We find instead an absolute and total absence of any such evidence anywhere, either internal (in the NT texts themselves) or external, anywhere else, in Christian, anti-Christian or non-Christian sources.
The inventiveness alleged by modern critics is not found in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Rather, it appears in documents of the second century C.E. So certain unscriptural narratives about Christ were produced when an apostasy from true Christianity was developing among communities alienated from the apostolic congregation. The style of the Gospels is not the style of myths but that of real, though unscientific, eyewitness description. Anyone sensitive to literary styles can compare the Gospels to any of the mythic religious literature of the time, and the difference will appear remarkable and unmistakable: for instance, the intertestamental apocalyptic literature of both Jews and Gentiles, or pagan mythic fantasies like Ovid's Metamorphoses or Flavius Philostratus's sotry of the wonder-worker Apollonius of Tyana (AD 220).
If the events recorded in the Gospels did not really happen, then these authors invented modern realistic fantasy nineteen centuries ago. The Gospels are full of little details that are found only in eyewitness descriptions or modern realistic fiction. they also include dozens of details of life in first-century Israel that could not have been known by someone not living in that time and place (see John 12:3, for instance). And there are no second-century anachronisms, either in language or content.
There are four Gospels, not just one. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written by four different writers, at four different times, probably for four different audiences and with four somewhat different purposes and emphases. So a lot of cross-checking is possible. By a textual trigonometry or triangulation, we can fix the facts with far greater assurance here than with any other ancient personage or series of events. The only inconsistencies are in chronology (only Luke's Gospel claims to be in exact order) and accidentals like numbers (eg, did the women see one angel or two at the empty tomb?)
If the divine Jesus of the Gospels is a myth, who invented it? Whether it was his first disciples or some later generation, no possible motive can account for this invention. For until the Edict of Milan in AD 313, Christians were subject to persecution, often tortured and martyred, and hated and oppressed for their beliefs. No one invents an elaborate practical joke in order to be crucified, stoned or beheaded.
First century Jews and Christians were not prone to belief in myths. They were already more 'demythologized' than any other people. The orthodox were adamantly, even cantankerously and intolerantly, opposed to the polytheistic mths or paganismand to any ecumenical syncretism. Nor would anyone be less likely to confuse myth and fact than a Jew. Peter explicitly makes the point that the Gospel story is historical fact, not "cleverly devised myths" (2 Pet 1:16)
The accusation that the Gospels are legends also stumbles on the strict rabbinic method of teaching that was in fashion during the time of the writing of the Gospels. That method adhered closely to learning by rote—a memorizing process using routine or repetition. This favors the accurate and careful rendering of Jesus' sayings and works as opposed to the creation of an embellished version.
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Comments You Will Not Hear at the 12-4-05 WT Study (Shepherd)
by blondie injehovah is our shepherd .
"jehovah is my shepherd.
" he said to him: "shepherd my little sheep.
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yaddayadda
Thank you Blondie.
It is a disgrace that there is no mention of Jesus in this whole article, yet they mention the FDS. An absolute disgrace. Shame on you WTS!