Posts by Cold Steel

32

Is Trump the President of Jerusalem too?

by tor1500 in

jw
friends

your thoughts...how is it that trump can dictate what goes on in other countries?

can anyone from another country come here and tell us what to do...trump is now the president of the world now, uh?.

i'm not really savvy regarding politics but i'm no dummy either...what the heck is going on in the world.... again, any thoughts ?

Cold Steel

NEWSFLASH...It didn't start with Trump. Every U.S. President has pretty much thought of themselves as world leaders. By moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, we're recognizing the legitimacy of the Jewish state. In my view, this is something we should have done years ago.

23

Why "Most high"?

by Doug Mason in

if there were only one god, why do we encounter the expression, "most high god"?.

is this not indicative of polytheism, and of levels (or degrees) of god-ness?.

doug .

Cold Steel

The first references to God in the Bible are polytheistic. The word for God is elohim, the plural form of God. Thus, the plural references in Genesis. "Man has become as one of us," and it even suggests there's a female element to God in that the Gods created man in their image, "male and female."

But how is God one? How can he say he knows of no other? (See Isaiah 44)

When Jesus prayed to the Father concerning the Twelve, he said, ...that THEY may be ONE, even as WE are ONE." This is how the Gods are one. They're one in purpose. But how many GODS are there? We know there's the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, but is that it? Is there a MOTHER in Heaven? And are their others?

We have the singular word FAMILY, but there may be five or more members. Astrophysicists tell us that our universe contains 100-200 billion galaxies. And there may be that many (or more) universes. To say that God is one of a kind and that he has no peers doesn't sound reasonable. And to say God created Earth in seven days also shows that the creation process had to take time. Seven "days" (or eras) is stated, and if there's a single God that can do anything, why didn't He utter a word and create it with the merest thought? The answer is, He can't. Although he's God, He builds using matter, and it takes him time. Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken time to create the Earth.

7

Position on blood idolatrous?

by Jehovah lol in

i just had this thought in my other thread.. jehovah witnesses refuse blood transfusions because they believe blood to be the sacred symbol of life.

that's the primary reason, the medical justifications are simply ad hoc excuses.

couldn't it be said that their willingness to give their lives for the sanctity of the symbol of life is idolatrous?

Cold Steel

The argument they put forth is that receiving blood in a medical procedure is the same as drinking it. Blood is the life, and receiving life is immaterial in how it's done. I don't know what the position of the WTBTS is on receiving one's own blood. I know that President Trump gives his own blood so that it can be preserved in the event he needs it in an emergency. (This was started after Reagan was shot.) My guess is that the GB would say that the prohibition on drinking blood would include drinking one's own blood. Thus, no deal.

Does anyone know if the GB allows medical procedures if one has preserved their own blood in advance? Also, if someone in a moment of weakness okays the use of blood to save a beloved family member, is there forgiveness, or are they DF'ed?

2

Bible adds to confusion

by venus in

when we become confused, we would naturally look to god’s guidance.

see what happens if we turn to the bible.. .

1) noah became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.

Cold Steel

There is no answer because you're looking in the wrong places. The Bible does not contain a commentary on itself, thus we have theology courses that examine the scriptures in light of their historical settings. (As opposed to the JWs, who tend to view the scriptures in the context of their own world view.)

For example, looking at your first example regarding the curse of Noah:

Bergsma and Hahn...argue that maternal incest makes the most sense given the limited evidence. For one, Lev. 18:7-8, which is cited to support paternal incest, equates “father’s nakedness” with the intercourse with the father’s wife:
7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
8 The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness. (the NRSV is even more explicit, translating v. 7 as “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother”; see also Lev. 18:14, 16; 20:11, 20, 21, for other references to a man’s nakedness meaning his wife’s nakedness)
Maternal incest was so vilified in the ancient world because it threatened the patriarchal structure of a family or clan, which would suggest that Ham was attempting to usurp power in his family. It would explain why the text mentions Ham telling his brothers what he had done. There are several examples of sons seeking to replace their fathers by claiming their wife or wives in the Bible and in the ancient Near East (but there are no examples of paternal incest as a means to seize power). Bergsma and Hahn also offer other smaller pieces of evidence for their argument, but this is the crux.
Perhaps the most interesting part of their theory is that it explains why Noah cursed Canaan and not Ham. If Canaan was the offspring, not of Ham’s own wife, but of his father’s wife, that would explain Noah’s wrath. It would also suggest a possible explanation for the specific references in vv. 18 and 22, which both specifically note that Ham is the father of Canaan, while neglecting to mention Ham’s other children or the offspring of Japheth or Shem. Perhaps the author of Gen. 9 is seeking not only to explain the origins of the curse on Canaan, but also how Canaan came to be in the first place.

2) “‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death,” God told Moses. (Leviticus 20:1, 9) Then why Jesus was crucified instead of Satan who presented God as a liar to Adam and Eve. Why? No answer.

Actually, this one is answered in scripture. Jesus was unjustly put to death by the Jews, which placed them under condemnation and caused them to be dispersed to the heathen nations by the Romans. (See Ezekiel 39:23-24, 26) Satan has already been judged and condemned by God, and at the conclusion of the Millennium will be cast into Outer Darkness with those who followed him. And Jesus already has been exalted and sits on the right hand of the Father. The scriptures also are clear that Jesus came into the world to take upon himself, willingly, the sins of the world and to be unjustly slain, thereby being mandkind's Savior and Redeemer.

3) To the important question ‘Does the human spirit rises upward and the spirit of the animal go down into the earth?’ Bible itself answers “Who knows?” (Ecclesiastes 3:21)

The book of Ecclesiastes was said to be written by Solomon, who was a king, not a prophet. And his book is a philosophical work, not an eschatological one. Solomon married heathen women who led him to sin against the God of Israel and to erect heathen altars. And Ecclesiastes was written in his final days, when he was a bitter old man. Unfortunately, the Adventists used his writings to attempt to show that man does not have a spirit that survives death. But the early Christians clearly believed that man has an immortal spirit. Jesus, when he was crucified, went and preached to those who were dead. Peter writes:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but [made alive] by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. (1 Peter 3:18-20)

...Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. (1 Peter 4:5-6)

How could Jesus preach to the dead -- the spirits in prison -- if they ceased to exist? That's why Jesus told the malefactor, “Verily I say into you, this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” The Adventists say the comma was misplaced, and that he was saying, “I'm telling you today, you will be with me in Paradise.” But nowhere else in the Bible, or in any other ancient document from any culture, have they shown that that idiom was ever used. Jesus certainly never used it, nor any of the prophets for that matter. “I'm telling you today” was not a recognized figure of speech.

The Bible never specifically says animals have spirits. Catholics say no. Most Protestants say yes. If spirits animate the flesh in man, why not animals? They live like people and are subject to death like people. Their bodies appear bereft of life when they die, so why not? That the Bible is silent on the issue means nothing. The Bible is silent on many things, but seeing how God put the proper care for animals into the law, to me, is significant.

9

What Do You Think A CIA Or NSA Security File On The Watchtower And Tract Society And It's Governing Body Would Say?

by Brokeback Watchtower in

i'm sure that a top secret security clearance not very high up the chain of command would show a ton of information, .

i mean everything that happens on the internet and on computers i'm sure is assessable to the us intelligence community, why would the government not pass up an opportunity to spy on it's population and run all internet data through homeland security to protect it's interest both home and abroad, realistically thinking that is.. so with this in mind what would a highly classified report look like?

.

Cold Steel

JW.Org/About Us » Any donations that are forwarded to the branch offices of Jehovah’s Witnesses are used to relieve victims of natural disasters, to support our missionaries and traveling ministers, to help construct our houses of worship in developing countries, and to print and ship Bibles and other Christian publications.

This was news to me. In an article about how the Organization finances missionary work, I read the above. Perhaps the CIA knows how the Governing Body relieves victims of natural disasters since I've never heard of them doing these things.

84

Spirit Channeling at Wallkill's Bethel

by Marie33 in

look what an ex-bethelite has to say about the spirit channeling he saw first hand up at wallkill:.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfmqnzbyrko.

now i believe rayven's story of horror at brooklyn bethel:.

Cold Steel

Knowsnothing » BTW, from personal experience, channeling is very real. Don't try it. You'll open a bad gateway.

,;aakdkfkn;kse,mfskkndf;kkn;elkfn madfm'm /al lm'aflddfm'alee'fm'qal;emff' lm'qwlemff'lm'woo4twjfosm'kmw4j[tjwwi4e4w[m[wrerlf,[[,p2qok4p4tj[wf,[wok[o4pktv

Guess it doesn't work with a keyboard.

Seriously, I don't mess around with anything having to do with spooks...or people like this guy who are nutso.

Which reminds me. A sports reporter once asked Muhammad Ali if his boxing translated into street fighting. When Ali hesitated, not understanding the reporter, the reporter said, "I mean, if someone came up to you on the street and hit you, would you be able to punch him back." (Okay, it was a stupid question, but I didn't ask it.)

Ali looked at the guy like he was nuts, then replied, "I'd probably run, 'cause he'd have to be craaazy!"

I think what he was saying is that in many ways, crazy people are scarier than sane ones.

65

What is the benifits to living forever?

by Jayk in

can anyone give me a valid reason for it?

growing old is a drag.

the witnesses idea of ever lasting life, that you will come back to your most youthful state is such a bs answer..

Cold Steel

Smiddy3 » In the 1960s I was taught that Jehovah didn`t create all of these [galaxies] for nothing. [He] probably/possibly plans to eventually populate planets in these [galaxies] with those who have proved themselves faithful here on Earth and the whole universe would be filled with humans praising Jehovah.

They certainly don't have much imagination, do they? It sounds as though they believe God created the Universe as a backdrop for Earth. If God created the earth out of nothing, why did it take him six days to do it? (The term "days" in the scriptures has the same meaning it does to us in that it can refer to a 24-hour day or an era, such as, "in my grandfather's day.") My question to them would be, if God can do anything, why didn't he create it in one day? Or one minute? Why didn't he just speak the word and have the earth just pop into existence? Or if he could do anything, why not just speak and have the Universe appear fully developed?

The purveyors of doctrine within the JW strata don't think anything through. They see the afterlife as one big family reunion that never ends. The pictures say it all. There's no growth or development. What purpose was there to the Adam and Eve story? If Satan had not interfered, what would they be doing today? Nothing! They would still be there petting the tigers and playing hide and seek. They would still not know good from evil and there would be no Wal*Marts or Cracker Barrels!

In other words, man would still be mired in a stalemate with Satan, and they needed Satan to break out of the status quo and progress.

65

What is the benifits to living forever?

by Jayk in

can anyone give me a valid reason for it?

growing old is a drag.

the witnesses idea of ever lasting life, that you will come back to your most youthful state is such a bs answer..

Cold Steel

Not dying is a negative. Being on Paradise Earth will be great for the first hundred years, then what? I went to one semester of school on the north end of the island of Oahu in Hawaii, and when I saw it I told my sister, "I'm NEVER gonna get tired of this place!"

Well, guess what? At the end of the semester I was ready to come home. There was just so many luaus and scuba or snorkling outings after class you can take, then it gets old. Finish classes, go back to the dorm, change into your bathing suit, catch the bus and take your diving stuff to Shark's Cove. You see the same fish, walk on the beach. On weekends you go to Honolulu, visit the same stores. Not a bad life for awhile, but two hundred, three hundred, eight hundred, two thousand years? You visit the Alps, India, Jerusalem, Spain. After awhile it's going to get old.

Anyone remember the story of the teenager who dies. In the afterlife this old couple greets him, welcomes him to heaven, plays Scrabble with him, feeds him home cooked meals and shows him slides of their vacations. Finally he's had enough of them and tells his guide he doesn't like it in heaven. He wants to go to hell! His guide laughs and tells him it is HELL! But, the teenager says, the old folks he lived with told him it was heaven. His guide laughs again and says, "It is heaven...for them!"

The apostle John tells the saints of his day that it does not yet appear what we shall be in the resurrection, but that when we see God, "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2) Only by progressing can man be happy. We must always be advancing by various stages or degrees for there to be fulfillment. The Jews and the early Christians understood that. The GB never has. That's why their eschatology is so sterile. Stilted.

Even God doesn't stand still. He lives to create.

8

The 4 Bachelors in WT Mythology leading to 2075.

by waton in

it is kind of a puzzle, only one of the 4 is real, but all have been mentioned by wt.

i am ham fisted, but will try to re-post in a while.

the line leads to 2075. try it, then read the quote.

Cold Steel

When is it going to be ENOUGH!

Don't they have to come for the JWs first?

Armageddon can't come until the Antichrist comes and starts rounding up Jehovah's Witnesses first. You can't fool me. I've seen The BUNKER video. First, they create bunkers. Then they tell a bunch of stories. Then they're going to be rounded up and taken out and executed. (They don't learn until the end that Brother Brown was the informant, and then it's too late.)

The BUNKER features a family of Jehovah's Witnesses who are rounded up by the federales and executed. Most are taken out and shot, but Sister Maria Garcia Julio escapes and makes her way to Iran and is stoned by the Elite Guard.

All this has to happen before Armageddon.

13

Why isn't Lazarus my next-door neighbor?

by return of parakeet in

after looking through doug mason's "ransom" thread, i noticed a little discrepancy between dub doctrine and the bible; i.e.

lazarus.. if the wages of sin is death, lazarus paid the wages in full by dying, and when resurrected by jesus, he should then have been a "perfect" man.

after all, he paid his wages for his imperfection -- he died.

Cold Steel

If I died and someone brought me back to life I'd be ticked.