please help me with two things:.
from the atheist, how do you explain feelings/emotions?
additionally: where do they originate?
Chalam: The underground house church movement in China is probably the fastest growing part of the church in the world, start here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_house_church
Per the link you sent it started after 1949. Please see my questions I followed up to respecting snowbird's response.
please help me with two things:.
from the atheist, how do you explain feelings/emotions?
additionally: where do they originate?
snowbird: Time has proven that He knew what He was doing.
But WHY leave so many people in the dark for so many years respecting the grand promises of heaven and life's purpose due to geographical location? Why should one person be 'punished' so to speak because they were born in India/China when the 'preaching' has/had not been taking place as opposed to someone but into Christianity?
What makes a person born into a Christian home obviously easier to come across the teachings/beliefs of Christ as opposed to a person born into a Hindu or atheists home? What has a child done to be so worthy or unworthy of such (dis)favor?
Please do not take this as an attack. I'm trying to make sense of the viewpoint.
please help me with two things:.
from the atheist, how do you explain feelings/emotions?
additionally: where do they originate?
Quillsky: They oil the wheels of society, production, reproduction, raising families and tribes - in short, contribute towards survival of the fittest of the species.
Thank you for responding. So, you are explaning what emotions do, but how did they come about? Where/when did emotions first start? Do ameba and/or paramecium contain or exhibit these emotions?
Please do not take this as a challenge to yours or anyone else's beliefs. I am genuinely looking for sincere answers.
please help me with two things:.
from the atheist, how do you explain feelings/emotions?
additionally: where do they originate?
Please help me with two things:
From the Atheist, how do you explain feelings/emotions?
Additionally: Where do they originate? When did they come into existence during evolution? This is Inclusive of or impacting Love, kindness, tenderness, warmth, empathy, consideration, along with the bad ones.
From the Christian, how do you explain areas like China and/or India?
Additionally: Why is Christianity hardly known there? Why are the vast majority of people there not Christian? Is it fair of God/Christ to allow these people to live their lives without knowledge of them or their purpose due to where they live?
I hope I am phrasing this correctly, and please excuse my poor communication and questioning if not. From my own personal 'belief system' (Which I guess you can explain best as continuously transitioning), these are the two outstanding issues I have with both of these perspectives. I continue not to find satisfying answers to either viewpoint in conjunction with aforementioned questions and thoughts.
Please do not turn this into another type of argument (I.E. Whether God exist, why not 'insert religion/belief here' instead of Christianity); these are the viewpoints and questions I've been curious about without obtaining any satisfying answers, which for me makes the associated stance invalid.
Thank you in advance. I appreciate and look forward to answers from the respective parties or anyone else who may have an answer to these views without attacking either stance.
could someone give me the refreces (cant spell) of the flip flops on was it sodom n gammora or somthing else were there to be resurecte no not ressurected no we change are mind ressurected, no we didn't meam that they wont be ressurected.
thank you in advance..
Resurrection of the Men of Sodom...
-1879 = Yes.[Watchtower July 1879, page 8]
-1952 = No.[Watchtower June 1, 1952, page 338]
-1965 = Yes.
[Watchtower August 1, 1965, page 479]
-1982 = Yes.[Live Forever Paradise Earth 1982 edition, page 179]
-1988 = No.[Watchtower June 1, 1988 page 31]
-1988 = Yes.
[Insight on the Scriptures Volume 2, page 985]
-1989 = No.[Our Kingdom Ministry, December 1989, page 7]
-1989 = No.[Live Forever Paradise Earth 1989 edition, page 179]
several weeks ago, i was attending a meeting with my wife and i brought my king james translation of the bible with me.
one of the brothers came up to me after the meeting and asked me what translation did i have and i showed it to him.
he asked if i knew that god's name appeared in that translation and i said, "yes, psalms 83:18 i do believe.
According to Insight on the Scriptures Volume 2, page 5 under the heading, 'Jehovah' the following is stated:
"Correct Pronunciation of the Divine Name. “Jehovah” is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name, although “Yahweh” is favored by most Hebrew scholars. The oldest Hebrew manuscripts present the name in the form of four consonants, commonly called the Tetragrammaton (from Greek te•tra-, meaning “four,” and gram'ma, “letter”). These four letters (written from right to left) are ???? and may be transliterated into English as YHWH (or, JHVH)."
The Divine Name brochure on page 7 under ‘God’s Name – It’s Meaning and Pronunciation’ makes the following statements:
“How Is God’s Name Pronounced? The truth is, nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced. Why not? Well, the first language used in writing the Bible was Hebrew, and when the Hebrew language was written down, the writers wrote only consonants—not vowels. Hence, when the inspired writers wrote God’s name, they naturally did the same thing and wrote only the consonants."
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, (1991) under the heading 'Yahweh', here is how this name came into being:
"The Masoretes, who from about the 6th to the 10th century worked to reproduce the original text of the Hebrew Bible, replaced the vowels of the name YHWH with the vowel signs of the Hebrew word Adonai or Elohim. Thus the artificial name Jehovah (YeHoWaH) came into being."
Despite the name Jehovah being nonexistent in the original Hebrew scriptures, it really started to become mainstream around 1270 A.D. due to the work of a Roman Catholic Spanish Monk, named Raymundus Martini. There is no J or V in the Hebrew alphabet. 'Jehovah' is a Latinized or anglicized transliteration. It is not an accurate one.
what do you make of this recent article by george chryssides?.
http://www.equinoxjournals.com/ijsnr/article/viewfile/8147/pdf.
apparently the prophetic failure of jehovah's witnesses has been overdone by opponents.
"...are more largely attributable to changed understandings of biblical chronology than to failed predictions."
How many cult leaders have used that line of reasoning or some other similar excuse to make up for their failed predictions? Furthermore, this is a pathetic crutch and reasoning, just as bad as using a biblical passage of a father talking to his son about life [Proverbs chapter 4], being a justification for flip-flops in teachings or these so-called 'changed understandings of biblical chronology'.
Additionally, the Watchtower Society is never genuine or upfront about stating, 'Hey, we were wrong, and we're sorry. We're trying to do our best to understand and interpret the scriptures, and admit to being outright wrong'. The organization will blame 'some brothers' or 'some over anxious and eager ones', instead of taking ownership.
Their misunderstanding of biblical chronologies is *the truth* that must be obeyed and believed as such, until they change their understandings of biblical chronology again. Meanwhile, if you speak against it or out rightly say they are wrong, a judicial committee will be on you like white on rice. The Watchtower, August 1, 2001 Issue, Page 14, Paragraph 8, makes it clear a member of the organization should not even "harbor private ideas", which of course encompasses these 'changed understandings of biblical chronology'.
The writer of the article is a poor Jehovah's Witnesses apologist at best.
....watch the video, what if we were to substitute the word islam (in the video) for watchtowerism.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcbptzalqfy.
TAQIYYA = "Theocratic Warefare".
SHARI'A = Doctrine, practices, teachings from the Society.
Early part of Quran superceded by later part of Quran = Newer Watchtower articles/teachings superceded by new Watchtower articles/teachings.
now that you have discovered the "truth" is not the truth, do you still believe that a truth exists?
do you think you have found one, are you still searching or have you given up on the whole idea of an absolute truth?.
"The truth" is a simple way of the Watchtower Society to group all their teachings, doctrines, and interpretation as well as copy of the scriptures. So by stating if we're still looking for 'the truth' I would hope for all of us the answer is no. I am not looking to the Watchtower Society for answers any longer.
However, do I believe 'everything' they taught is not 'true'? Of course not. But all that they taught that was 'true' can be found within many religions as well as non-religious organizations.
I do not believe any organization or person has 'the truth' (As defined by all teachings, doctrine, interpretation and understanding to be 100% right). Outside of Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and a few other groups/sects, very few will claim to have 'the truth' in the most simplest terms means to be right about everything. The Watchtower Society promotes that notion of being 'the truth'...It is Witnessoid speak (Hi, Mad JW); and its just a way to guilt, fear and control the masses.
Looking for the truth/answers to all the different ideas, notions, beliefs and teachings which the Watchtower Society covered over as 'the truth' would probably better be handled on a topic by topic basis.
this was on a witness yahoo e-mail site.
funny how they can see the complexity of the trinity doctrine while just swallowing the generation explanation.
plus how do they react if someone belittles their faith as this guy belittles those who accept the trinity doctrine.. .
Two relatively recent examples where this hypocrisy is epitomized is first, Keep Yourselves In God's Love, entailing pages 86-96, Chapter 8,'God Loves Clean People'.
Directing our attention to paragraph 10 it states the following:
"Today, we as true Christians must be careful not to become contaminated by false worship. (1 Corinthians 10:21) Caution is essential in this regard, for the influence of false religion is pervasive. In many lands, various traditions, activities, and rituals are connected with false religious teachings, such as the notion that something inside us survives death. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10) True Christians avoid customs involving false religious beliefs. We will not allow pressure from others to cause us to compromise the Bible's standards of clean worship.-Acts 5:29."
By then note their attitude towards Pinatas per September 22, 2003, Awake!, page 24, 'The Piñata - An Ancient Tradition' :
"We found that for many people in Mexico, the piñata has lost its religious significance and is considered by most to be just harmless fun...A main concern is, not what the practice meant hundreds of years ago, but how it is viewed today in your area. Understandably, opinions may vary from one place to another. Hence, it is wise to avoid turning such matters into big issues."
Meanwhile, the origin of the Piñata and the history behind it shows usage attached to celebrating the coming of Spring and part of the Posada in the Catholic culture. Furthermore, it symbolizes sins and the breaking of the Piñata equates to the destroying of sins, while the flowing candy and treats from the broken Piñata symbolizes the forgiveness of sins and the releasing of blessings
Secondly, in 2004, the Watchtower Society had a campaign with a tract entitled Keep on the Watch!
On Page 3 under the section 'The Religious Scene', it states:
"Priest sexually exploit young people; church cover-up. Decline in attendance; church buildings sold."
The obvious hypocrisy and realization that the same could be said of their religion no doubt highly, if not completely, influenced the cancellation of the January 2008 campaign to place this track once again. I n a very brief Letter to the Body of Elders, dated November 14, 2007 it states:
"Please inform the congregation of the following adjustment to the January 2008 literature offer. Instead of the brochure Keep on the Watch!, the book What Does the Bible Really Teach? should be offered. If householders already have the book, publishers may offer any 192-page book printed on paper that discolors or any book published prior to 1992 with the exception of Creation, Mankind's Search for God, and Young People Ask."
So, I would have to side with not poking fun at other religions. They just end up with egg on their face.
Secondly, in 2004, the Watchtower Society had a campaign with a tract entitled Keep on the Watch!
On Page 3 under the section 'The Religious Scene', it states:
"Priest sexually exploit young people; church cover-up. Decline in attendance; church buildings sold."
The obvious hypocrisy and realization that the same could be said of their religion no doubt highly, if not completely, influenced the cancellation of the January 2008 campaign to place this track once again. I n a very brief Letter to the Body of Elders, dated November 14, 2007 it states:
"Please inform the congregation of the following adjustment to the January 2008 literature offer. Instead of the brochure Keep on the Watch!, the book What Does the Bible Really Teach? should be offered. If householders already have the book, publishers may offer any 192-page book printed on paper that discolors or any book published prior to 1992 with the exception of Creation, Mankind's Search for God, and Young People Ask."
So, I would have to side with not poking fun at other religions. They just end up with egg on their face.
