Posts by JustHuman14

12

JW tells granddaughter that her parents are Satan Worshippers

by darthfader in

jw
friends

it's a pretty polarizing statement.

either you are in the "truth" and the light of the organization or you are a satan worshipper.. i guess i now realize who the statement "having no natural effection" applies to.. sheesh....

Does the Christian message fall apart without a literal interpretation of Genesis?

by nicolaou in

.

what's the point of jesus if adam & eve did not 'fall' and condemn us all to sin?.

Even as far as the time of Eve's creation, God had not created a single earthly creation of his as a perfect one, as Moses tells us in Genesis 1 31: And God looked upon everything that He had created, and behold, they were VERY FINE.

Those who are familiar with the Greek language can easily discern that the expression "very fine" (καλ? λ?αν) is a far cry from the word "perfect" (τ?λειον). A perfect creation is one that has nothing lacking in it. Therefore, both Adam and Eve and the rest of material creation that is described in Genesis, were DEFICIENT.

Does this mean that God didn't know how to do things properly? Of course not!The reason He didn't create them perfect from the beginning, was that Creation was still lacking something, even after the creation of mankind. There was yet another element that had to be attained, which required the collaboration of man. This detail is apparent, in the following tract:The image and the likeness.

Genesis 1 26,27: "And the Lord said: Let's make man, according to our image and according to our likeness.....And God created man according to His image. According to the image of God He created him." Here -according to the teaching of the Fathers- God appears to have the intention of creating man "according to the image and to the likeness" of Himself. When He eventually created man, He made man in His image. And this is where the formula of perfection is hidden: Man, having being created "according to God's image" was "very fine". But, when man becomes "according to God's likeness", he would then be on a course towards PERFECTION.

Given that God is what He is, BECAUSE HE WANTS TO and not because He is compelled to, man must likewise WANT TO, must attempt to, through use of his freedom as "the image of" and his intelligence, reach perfection; in other words, seek the course towards becoming "according to the likeness of God." This is a characteristic that man alone has, in all of creation.

It was not possible for man to be created perfect straight away (=compulsorily). Satan had enticed man, that he would become "according to the likeness of God" through his independence and self-government, without the collaboration of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, man failed to attain the goal of perfection (=he sinned), thus, instead of becoming "according to the likeness of God", man now "resembled the decadent beasts". The goal of perfection is the goal of every Christian, as is evident in the following Gospel excerpts:

Matthew 5: 48: "Be therefore perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect".
Hebrews 6: 1: "..putting aside the initial teaching of Christ, let us move on, towards perfection.."
Ephesians 4: 13: "Until such time as we shall all have reached the unity of the faith and the awareness of the Son of God, (thus becoming) a perfect man, to that measure of age of the fullness of Christ."

We must clarify something here: When the Holy Bible speaks of perfection, it is nowhere referring to the perfection of the physical body, as perceived by "Witnesses". The Bible speaks of a similarity to God, which has absolutely nothing to do with a corporal inference. The fact that the bodies of the perfected acquire incorruptibility and immortality is only the natural result of perfection, and not perfection itself.
So, how can we become similar to God, if we haven't seen Him? Once again, the answer lies in the phrase: "according to His image and according to His likeness". It doesn't say: "image and likeness".What does the word "according to" (Greek=κατ?) imply? It implies "the image of the image" of God, and not God's image directly. Who then is the direct image of God? It is Jesus Christ of course:

Collosians 1: 15: "...who is the image of the invisible God..."Adam, therefore, had been created "according to the image of God", or, "as an image of Christ.The fact that Jesus Christ had not yet been incarnated as a man, is not an issue. God, Who is beyond time, and as the Creator of Time, knows the future full well. All of this, is in compliance with Ephesians 4: 13 that we mentioned previously. We must therefore strive towards the example that was set by the Lord Jesus Christ, because this is what will lead us to becoming "according to the likeness" of God - in other words, our path towards perfection.Could it be that perfection is not feasible, since we are referring to the infinitely perfect God? This is partially true. To reach Him is definitely impossible. But we can draw nearer to Him, from now through to all eternity, becoming more and more according to His likeness, as we can see from the following verse:

Corinthians II, 3: 18: "but we all, with face uncovered, as reflections of the glory of God, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory."
Perfection therefore is a relative idea, and each one of us is on a course towards the likeness, either of God, or of his enemy the Devil. The free will of each one of us is the determining factor for the stage of progress one has attained. Perfection is not a destination point. It is a non-stop course!

A verse that indicates this relative meaning of the word "perfection" appears very early in the Holy Bible:Genesis 6: 9: "Noah was a righteous man, perfect amongst those of his time. Noah had walked with God..." Noah is regarded perfect, as compared to his contemporaries, because "he walked with God." He was on the course towards perfection! He had exhausted all the means available to him at the time, on his road towards perfection.

The reality is, that the creation of mankind was perfected, much, much later. It was only upon the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, that man (at last) appeared in a state of perfection. Jesus Christ was the only man Who was actually perfect. In His person, mankind had found the fulfillment of God's purpose for it: "let's create man....according to our likeness."

Jesus had opened the way towards perfection and towards all those who were on the path for becoming "according to the likeness". James 3: 9: ".....men, who have been made according to the likeness of God...."

69

First time ever - I attended my first Catholic Mass tonight...

by ziddina in

it was very interesting.... of course, the first thing i noticed was the building.

very different from a "kingdom hall" - this catholic church is in an extremely modern, six-sided building.

as one enters the building, their "holy water" font - fountain(???

JustHuman14

Similar feelings I had when I went to the Orthodox Church. Although Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are the 2 basic Christian religions and have only 2 issues that separates them, Filioque and the possition of Pope at the Church.

Technically speaking the Apostolic Orthodox Church set the Biblical Canon with the 76 Books. So if you feel to look at the origins of Christianity then look for Orthodox or Roman Catholic Church.

Specially the Orthodox Temple gives you the feel that indeed you are entering in place of worship. The way the Icons are on the surrounding walls, the candles, the scents, the Eclesiastical music, all they indicate that you are in place of worship and prayer.

108

The secret of how Christianity spread across the world

by Terry in

what i am going to say may sound nasty and mean-spirited.

i assure you it is not intended in that tone.. men are power seekers and control freaks.

without using women as drones to do the grunt work of religion.

JustHuman14

It is obvious that indeed women played a very importand role in the spreading of Christianity. Terry you have confirmed my observations in my post regarding Maria Magdalene.

36

Circuit Assembly Lowlights

by Red Piller in

our do is a southerner- his drawl makes the.

scary things he says much easier to swallow.. some highlights of his talks:.

apostates are miserable.

JustHuman14

I loved Avatar....would I get disfellowshiped for watching it????

31

Bible's Buried Secrets

by Mat in

anyone in the uk watching this seris?

last one on next tuesday.

the first two can be watched online here:.

JustHuman14

mm, I will watch that

108

The secret of how Christianity spread across the world

by Terry in

what i am going to say may sound nasty and mean-spirited.

i assure you it is not intended in that tone.. men are power seekers and control freaks.

without using women as drones to do the grunt work of religion.

JustHuman14

There are many aspects regarding how did Christianity spread out in the World. Perhaps we might have similar reasons why did Muslims spread out as well. Both religions have their foundations in Judaism, so they are kind of "Judaic Sects", although at their beginning Muslims consider to be a Christian Sect.

What did prevented Judaism to spread out in the Ancient World? I guess it was the fact that their God, was God of wrath with laws like, "an eye for an eye". Besides the Hebrew faith was based upon Mesopotamian legends and stories like Noah's Flood, a reproduction of Gilgamesh Epic and even the Mosaic Law is a copy of the Hammurabi's Code, and that is not a surprise to have many similarities, since Abraham came from Mesopotamia region and moved to Palestine.

Then we have the same pattern of Jesus story known to the Greco-Roman World. Mithras a Roman God, He was born through a Virgin Mother, had 12 disciples, he was considered the Light of the World, the Savior, died and resurrected for the sins of mankind. The same pattern is founded with the Egyptian God Horus, Greek semi- God Adonis. Again the same story is repeated through the Hindu Krishna (Christ) and Buddha.

So Christianity, or Jesus Christ story and teachings to be more accurate, are not something new to the World. They existed in different variations in many places, that's why it was easy to be accepted.

A key role, and one of the major factors of Christianity's expansion was the Hellenic Culture domination of the Ancient World. Since Alexander the Great conquered the known World he passed the Hellenic language, religion and philosophy to many other places. Socrates, Plato, have similar ideas and teachings like Jesus did, so for a "new" religion to appeared wasn't hard, since it had the same accepted principals. So we have the unique Hellenic Culture all over the Roman Empire from Minor Asia, Middle East, Black Sea, Balkans, Africa(just to remind you Alexandria and the vast Library it was build by the Greeks) Europe and Mediterranean Sea to be the dominated by the one and only Hellenic Culture and Language. Besides Jesus preaching was more successful to the Hellenic speaking Jews, instead of the native speaking Jews.

At the early stages of Christianity, the first 300 years it was persecuted by the dominant Roman religion of the era. So if you persecute something, it usually thrives. Christians had a unique bond -Love that was Jesus fundamental teaching. Jesus preaching gave an update role to women, we all know from the Gospels the way He spoke and deled with women, plus He first appeared to them after His resurrection from the death. Even in His Mother Womb we have the prophesy that "she will be honored like no other Woman on earth" and this honor it is clearly seen within the Orthodox/Catholic Church.

The emphasis on women appeared in the Gnostic Gospels and especially in The Gospel of Maria Magdalene, a gospel that was banned from the Biblical Canon (along with some others like the Gospel Of Thomas). We know that, at the Early Christian Church there wasn't any structure or central control, regarding of what Books could the congregations read, besides the 51 books of the Old Testament. We had many other writings circulating along with Epistles of the Apostles and along with them they used to be the Gnostic Gospels. It seems that in the Early Church women played an equal role like men, and this is obvious in the Gospel of Magdalene, that women could serve in the Christian Church. We even find early paintings in Rome's Catacombs that women served as priests. There was a conflict for the role of women within the Early Church and this conflict ended when Constantine declared Christianity as the official Religion of the East and West Romanae. The structure started to be more official and Church Councils (Synodos) started to take place in order to clarify Christian Faith, starting with Council of Nicene in 325A.D with the Trinity issue. Then the Biblical Cannon was clarified by Saint Athanasius in 365A.D. and sealed for good the Books that consisted the Canon, leading to fade the Gnostic Gospels.

So we have many reasons why did Christianity spread so fast:

1. The common Hellenic Culture and Language amongst the Greco-Roman Empire
2. Jesus message and teachings that was Universal to all
3. The important role of women in the Early Church
4. Constantine the Great who turned Christianity the Official Religion of East and West Roman Empire

40

craziest reason elders wanted to have a commitee meeting with you

by glentrevette in

i had a sister who was a tenant in my house and her car was leaking oil all over my newly paved driveway before she moved in i had a condition on the lease that said if her car leaked oil she couldnt park there and i told here after she moved in that she was being deceptive to me when she said her car didnt leak oil she was good friends with a lot of powerful elders in the hall and would you believe they asked to meet with me 3 elders in the back room of the library because they said i had called this sister a liar i got out of it only after i produced a copy of the lease and pictures of the oil mess if i hadnt of had pictures maybe i would of been dfd.

JustHuman14

I miss the meeting to watch Elvis funeral.....

13

WT 15th Feb 2011;Treatment of DF'ed/DA'ed Family Members

by jookbeard in

is this a newer hard line stance or has it been similar for the last couple of years?

there clearly must be a problem in this area in regards to nations that appear to have far stronger family units not adhering to the previous warnings, the wt article definitely has a barf alert comparing jeehobah's feelings when the angels rebelled in heaven!

well how the hell would they have know his feelings?.

JustHuman14

Indeed they are promoting hate, but they will never tell that, will they? I'm a disfellowshiped person and I feel the hate, SOCIAL ISOLATION, and the cut off from family ties. If you ask anyone who is in the possition like me, they will say that our human rights are violated. So it is better for the WT to start respecting the human rights for their ex-members if they do not wish Goverments to go after them..

96

April 15th WT - WT Society says " Obeying Us is Same as Obeying God "

by flipper in

jw
friends

this is a non-study article in the witness only version of the april 15th titled " do you discern the evidence of god's guidance ?

" essentially in this article the alleged " faithful slave " is telling witnesses that to be approved to survive armageddon- they will have to recognize the " faithful & discreet slave's " authority in their lives.. notice these direct quotes from pg.

4 , " jesus christ is the assigned leader of the congregation.

JustHuman14

they are tightening the screws!!! I just don't know how long the rank and file will go on like that. As I have seen the new GB members and specially that idiot, Losch are even more hard than the old ones...

I don't know for how long the GB will continue this blasphemy, by replacing Jesus. At the end of the day they might come up that they are the ones who died for our sins and not Jesus...