"Salvation by Grace Alone Through Faith Alone has a very long history. It is a history that could have saved us all a lot of trouble and kept us out of a cult had we been aware of it."
Fernando
JoinedPosts by Fernando
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18
JW.ORG has competition!!
by sparky1 ineven the mennonites won't be left behind in having an out of date and hard to use website!
this announcement was 2 months ago but still is rather interesting.
"we are pleased to announce that a new mennonite church usa website will be launched over the weekend of july 5-6!
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How to Avoid the Faithless Spirit of most here-
by DocHouse in1- pray to god (whomever you may imagine him to be) asking for understanding.
2- study the background about the bible (from non-religious sources) to see where it came from.
3- discard (or at least set aside) chuyrch claims and dogma.. 4- read it, looking up archaeological/historical sources about the places and peoples referred to.
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Fernando
Although I might have chosen a more positive title for the OP, in my experience this is indeed a viable recipe for those that are inclined to pursue faith (a higher level of consciousness and intelligence).
Faith (which emanates from God is not the same as belief which emanates from man, and) is a free gift which is granted to anyone who sets aside religion and instead relentlessly pursues the liberating and transformative gospel message hidden in plain sight throughout scripture.
"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." (Rom 10:17, NIV)
One good sign of having received this unmerited free gift, I believe, is being personally able to read, understand, summarise and explain Romans and Galatians from the heart.
And possibly eventually being able to link this with summaries of the "5 solas", "law vs grace", "faith vs works", "imputed righteousness", "imputed holiness", and "religion vs the gospel".
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IRAN and Syria Join the Fight Against ISIL and ISIS! Russia too!
by BucketShopBill inthe powers that funded isis would be the next logical leaders to topple if they are not stopped.
syria learned the hard way, syria gave weapons to fight against the west's (cia sponsored muslims) screwed up anti-syria's government troops.
isis in return started to march towards allepo killing men, women and children that refused to convert to their animalistic cult.
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Fernando
Hey Designs!
For me it is not so much about the books themselves, but rather about the liberating gospel message hidden in plain sight throughout, and which is lost when we use the books to advance religion instead.
BTW I have read three of the (four extant) Muslim Holy books, and so have you: Tawrat, Zabur and Injil or Injeel.
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How do you think we'll be remembered?
by rebel8 insome day far in the future, will we be looked upon as suffragettes who abolished cults with tenacity, courage and outspokenness?.
will future generations shudder at the backwardness of cultures that permitted cults to flourish, and not comprehend how this could have happened?.
will they be grateful for being spared death and suffering at the hands of cults because of what we are doing to expose them and reduce their growth?.
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Fernando
Retweeting:
"I think JWN will be remembered as the cannon that kept firing balls of truth, bombarding the Watchtower with truth until all it's holes were obvious to any thinking person."
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Question du jour - How Many of God's Servants in the Bible Had No Beard?
by berrygerry inquestion du jour - how many of god's servants in the bible had no beard?.
legit question..
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Fernando
Thank you for sharing those interesting observations objectivetruths.
Just when one thinks one is close to unlearning all Watchtower error...
It is becoming increasingly embarrasing to admit we ever believed and followed these men and ate their never ending mounds of rotten and poisonous "food".
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Question du jour - How Many of God's Servants in the Bible Had No Beard?
by berrygerry inquestion du jour - how many of god's servants in the bible had no beard?.
legit question..
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Fernando
Good point.
Probably the minority.
Shaving daily may also have been too tedious (and risky) without modern conveniences?
What can be wrong with a neat and well-kept beard?
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How do you think we'll be remembered?
by rebel8 insome day far in the future, will we be looked upon as suffragettes who abolished cults with tenacity, courage and outspokenness?.
will future generations shudder at the backwardness of cultures that permitted cults to flourish, and not comprehend how this could have happened?.
will they be grateful for being spared death and suffering at the hands of cults because of what we are doing to expose them and reduce their growth?.
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Fernando
Probably the Type-1 civilisation that will develop in the next 100 years according to Physicists will be too enlightened to be as indifferent as we are to the suffering, challenges, dangers and sacrifices faced by persons such as Martin Luther (1517) in delivering and securing the many freedoms we today take for granted.
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Jehovah's Witnesses "shut up the kingdom of heaven" Matt 23:13
by stuckinarut2 ini'm sure this has been thought of before, but while i was gardening today (great time to let the mind think deeply) , i thought of this:.
the org (gb) teaches that only a few go to heaven, therefore everyone else is prevented from entering.. so, are they the scribes and pharisees that jesus spoke of at matt 23:13?.
"woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!, because you shut up the kingdom of the heavens before men; for you yourselves do not go in, neither do you permit others to enter!".
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Fernando
I too believe you are spot-on stuckinarut2.
It is for this reason that I try to look at the Bible from a very different (non-fundamentalist, non-materialistic, non-judgmental, non-legalistic, non-moralistic, non-hypocritical and non-sectarian) perspective than the Watchtower.
For me an important aspect of the Kingdom that the Watchtower obstructs is ordinary persons dealing and hearing direct here and now instead of through supposedly God appointed middlemen and hierarchies (a clergy class, clericalism and magisterium).
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IRAN and Syria Join the Fight Against ISIL and ISIS! Russia too!
by BucketShopBill inthe powers that funded isis would be the next logical leaders to topple if they are not stopped.
syria learned the hard way, syria gave weapons to fight against the west's (cia sponsored muslims) screwed up anti-syria's government troops.
isis in return started to march towards allepo killing men, women and children that refused to convert to their animalistic cult.
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Fernando
It is wonderful that despite all our differences we can still unite against sheer brutality and evil.
Hopefully somewhere along the line we will all learn that this is the face of religion when taken to the max.
Spirituality, faith and the (Judeo-Christian-Muslim) gospel go in the opposite direction:
moderate instead of radicalise
liberate instead of control
life giving instead of death dealing
heal instead of afflict
unite instead of divide
reconcile instead of fuel enmity
empower instead of subjugate
enlighten instead of fostering ignorance
progressive instead of destructive
development instead of decay
peace instead of violence/war
clarity instead of confusion
tolerance instead of prejudice
love instead of hate
equality instead of supremacy
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Fernando
Possibly: "I will give it serious consideration if you are able to answer a few simple questions (related to the liberating gospel) from your heart and from the Bible."