Posts by Crystal

10

Do you have faith

by Crystal in

creation of god a matter of faith jim dail .

for the californian .

christian-based religions all share at least one core belief: god is the creator and he sent his only son to earth to die on the cross for the sins of man.

Do you have faith

by Crystal in

creation of god a matter of faith jim dail .

for the californian .

christian-based religions all share at least one core belief: god is the creator and he sent his only son to earth to die on the cross for the sins of man.

Creation of God a matter of faith

JIM DAIL
For The Californian

Christian-based religions all share at least one core belief: God is the creator and he sent his only son to Earth to die on the cross for the sins of man. But picture a small child attending his or her first Sunday School class. What if that child asks, "Who made God?"

Certainly, the Bible leaves no doubt in who created Earth, heaven, man and Jesus Christ. The problem lies in that the Bible does not explicitly tell Christian followers that anyone or anything created God, only what God made.

"There was nothing until he created it," said the Rev. Mike Rogers, an assistant pastor at the non-denominational New Covenant Fellowship in Temecula. "We must believe he is and those who do will be rewarded."

Indeed, The Bible calls on followers to have faith in God's existence.

"No one made God; he just was," said the Rev. Larry Koger, pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Temecula. "We have to have faith in him."

Leaders from local Jewish, Mormon, Presbyterian or Jehovah's Witness congregations did not return calls.

The need to have that faith is pointed out in the New Testament's Book of John. John 1:1 instructs that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God."

In discussing a person's need to rely on faith, the first teaching must be that God is supernatural and has always existed.

"I would tell a person curious about who made God that since they believe in the word, they must believe that God is eternal," said Monsignor Tom Wallace of St. Martha's Catholic Parish in Murrieta.

That point is a common thread among local clergy.

"We hold that God is all reigning and has always been there," said the Rev. Blake Withers, senior pastor of the Las Brisas Bible Fellowship, a Southern Baptist church in Murrieta. "We teach that God is all powerful, sovereign and all-existent."

But what of a person who questions that which he cannot see?

"There's always someone who will say 'Now wait a minute. There's always a start to something,'" Rogers said. "We just have to rely back on the Scripture that he's an eternal being. Man's lifespan is small, but God is an eternal being ---- never started and never ends."

Indeed, all theories of Earth and man's creation rely on a super force of some kind pre-existing. Even the Big Bang theory requires the presence of an explosive, creative force that existed before the planets and all that is part of them.

One old argument is that even scientific forces sometimes cannot be seen. People do not actually see gravity, only the result of it. We have, in a sense, faith that gravity is behind an apple falling to the ground.

That point is addressed again in the Bible. Hebrew 11:1 reads "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

In other words, some things do not have an obvious visual answer.

"We can't always explain everything to our satisfaction," Wallace said. "We, as Catholics, simply believe that God is eternal ---- no beginning and now end."

As a result, clergy ask their congregations to have strong, unyielding belief in their faith.

"We must trust God's love in the way God speaks to us through family," Koger said. "There are things we can't see or understand, but they do exist."

6/14/02

5

POSITIVE THOUGHS and FEELINGS

by QUEENIE in

jw
friends

the less i think about jw shit and pervert crap the better i think and fell during the day and since there is only 24/7 i will spend more of my time doing plastic canvas among other thing.. life is so short as it is coloring in my coloring book sounds great and is what is best for queenie !!

!

Crystal

I think it is a great idea for us to focus on the good instead of the bad also Quennie,at least today.
Come on everyone...think ...what gives you the most pleasure in life.
Spending time with your kids, nature,hobbies ect.ect.

I enjoy simple things, going for walks on the beach with my Mom.
Taking pictures of nature..riding my bike...

36

CHANGED---NEW POLICY/INVITATION

by silentlambs in

jw
friends

as a few may recall watchtower policy has changed when circumstances serves the interest of the governing body in getting rid of someone they want to railroad.

an example that has been offered involves peter gregerson.

peter was a personal friend to ray franz, in 1980 peter wrote a letter to the society, saying he wanted no further association with the organization.

Crystal

I think all of us should go to the Thursday meeting (in our own towns of course)for a silent protest.Each of us should be holding a stuffed silent lamb.

3

Montel - Abused Children and Cults

by Dia in

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montel is doing a show this week on children who grew up and were abused in various cults.. see local listings.

Crystal

Are you sure it is this week....checked listing and not one show this week sounds like it is about cults.

10

URGENT WORLDWIDE HELP FOR SILENTLAMBS

by Nowfree in

jw
friends

help is needed from everybody worldwide to assist in a mail distribution in support of silentlambs.

please email

or anglise .

Crystal

Sent the message to my group.

Can't wait to get started.

5

unexpected writers

by happy man in

jw
friends

.

when i first going in on this place, i was sure here will be a lot of young peopel who was dfd fore some bad things, but what a chock i hade, here was, a lot of elders, former pionjers, even former behtelits, never inn my life i waited this.. i dont now how many you are inn us fore exampel who leavs, but when we look in figures, we can not se so many cant we?.

i must ask who many it is leaving the truth , is it perhaps oneor two inn the cong in 5 year period, here inn sweden we have minus , going down from 24 to 22 000 inn a few year.. but in my cong, nowone leave, fore a long time, and then we have this year 2 new coming inn , who been away for 30 year.. so perhaps when we read this site , you will have the picture many is leaving, but is this the truth, ot not?.