cofty

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Posts by cofty

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  39

  Only One Destiny for All Christians

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the following is an extract from an article i wrote when i left the watchtower 25 years ago.

  it may be helpful in reasoning with a jw about the anointed/great crowd distinction.. --------------------------------.

  to divide people into those with a heavenly hope and those with an earthly one is not a biblical concept.

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  cofty

  The full article is here...

  You will see I was a very full-on evangelical back in the day.
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  39

  Only One Destiny for All Christians

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the following is an extract from an article i wrote when i left the watchtower 25 years ago.

  it may be helpful in reasoning with a jw about the anointed/great crowd distinction.. --------------------------------.

  to divide people into those with a heavenly hope and those with an earthly one is not a biblical concept.

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  cofty

  The following is an extract from an article I wrote when I left the Watchtower 25 years ago. It may be helpful in reasoning with a JW about the anointed/Great Crowd distinction.

  --------------------------------

  To divide people into those with a heavenly hope and those with an earthly one is not a Biblical concept. “There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell” (2 Pet.3:13), but that does not mean that God has selected some for heaven and some for earth. In the sermon on the mount Jesus began by making the nine statements known as the beatitudes, in which he declares certain types of people to be happy or blessed, and in each case he makes a promise concerning their future. (Matt.5:3-12) It is clear that Jesus is painting a composite picture of all those who belong to Him, not a list from which individual statements could be chosen and applied to individuals at random. Among the promises that Jesus makes are, “the kingdom of the heavens belong to them”, “they will inherit the earth”, “they will see God” and “they will be called sons of God.” If we are part of Christ’s body then we all have the same hope as Paul reminded the congregation at Ephesus. “One body there is, and one Spirit, even as you were called in the one hope to which you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph.4:4-6) Since Jesus will keep all of His promises we can conclude that seeing God, and inheriting the earth, are not mutually exclusive destinies......

  There are, by the Bible’s reckoning, only two sorts of people. Everybody begins as the same sort; children of Adam or, “in Adam”. In this state they are, under “condemnation” (Rom.5:18), “alienated” from, and “enemies” of God (Col.1:21), “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3), under the “authority of darkness” (Col.1:13), walking in “accord with the flesh” (Rom.8:4), “slaves of sin” (Rom.6:17), and “dead in their trespasses” (Eph.2:1&5).

  This is not the Bible’s description of an especially depraved person but of the normal human condition from God’s perspective. It matters not at all that we may not feel guilty or under condemnation, God’s inspired word says emphatically that we are.

  The other sort of person is, “in Christ”. These are, “declared righteous” (Rom.5:1), “reconciled to God” (Rom.5:10), “born of God” (1 Jhn.5:1) or “born again” (Jhn.3:3), “beloved children” of God (Eph.5:1), “transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love” (Col.1:13), indwelled by “God’s Spirit” (Rom.8:9), part of a “new creation” (2 Cor.5:17), and “alive together with the Christ” (Eph.2:5).

  The difference between these two groups is not that the latter are more worthy, or that they try harder to be good, nor that they naturally have more interest in spiritual matters or an ability to read and understand the Bible. It is simply that they have put faith in God’s provision for their salvation. They have humbly abandoned their attempts to earn His favour and trusted in Jesus as their Saviour. For someone to feel that these blessings could not apply to them because they are not worthy is for that person to miss the point of the good news. Nobody is good enough, that is exactly the point at which the gospel begins.

  We cannot pick and choose which of the above descriptions of those who belong to God apply to us, and which ones do not. We cannot for example be reconciled to God, but not be a “new creation”. (see 2 Cor.5:16-19) We cannot be “beloved children” of God, but not be “born of God”. We cannot draw a line between calling God “Father”, and calling him, “Abba, Father”. If we have not been adopted then we are not His children, He is not our Father, and we have no right to call Him such at all. If we are His children then we are also joint heirs with Christ. If we are “in harmony with the Spirit” then “God’s Spirit truly dwells” in us, but if we do not have the Holy Spirit then we do “not belong to” Christ. (See Rom.8:9-17) Only if we are “led by the Spirit” can we produce the “fruitage of the Spirit”. But again, if we are, then we can cry out “Abba Father” and we are adopted as sons of God and joint heirs with Christ. (See Gal.4:6,7;5:16-24)
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  14

  The Simpson's APU is now NOT politically correct...

  by The Fall Guy in

  1. social
  2. current

  ...so he's being cut from the the programme.

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51158261.

  the world is going bonkers!

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  cofty

  Pretending to take offense on behalf of others is how boring people amuse themselves now. It's all about virtue signalling and earning social capital.

  People who cave in to these bullies need to know that it will cost them more to capitulate than to stand firm. 'Go woke go broke' Gillette is a classic example.
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  22

  Jordan Peterson - Messiah or Poseur?

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. current

  a jp video came up on my youtube feed last week - he was on a panel in front of a huge audience and some poor disturbed guy ran on stage and started crying and wailing to peterson that he needed his help.

  it was agonising to watch.. what was even more disturbing was the comments section.

  i do not exaggerate when i say that dozens of people were extolling peterson's wisdom as if jesus had come again.

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  cofty

  OneEyedJoe - you summed up my thoughts exactly thanks.

  For somebody who has done so much good work exposing the fraud of postmodernism Jordan sounds exactly like the philosophers he despises whenever he is asked a challenging question.

  Stephen Hicks is infinitely more interesting and informative than Peterson on many of the the same subjects.

  I think neverendingjourney hit on something when he said that Peterson is a father figure for lots of young men in particular.

  He definitely tries to play both sides in the area of spirituality. He must know he is being dishonest.
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  22

  Jordan Peterson - Messiah or Poseur?

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. current

  a jp video came up on my youtube feed last week - he was on a panel in front of a huge audience and some poor disturbed guy ran on stage and started crying and wailing to peterson that he needed his help.

  it was agonising to watch.. what was even more disturbing was the comments section.

  i do not exaggerate when i say that dozens of people were extolling peterson's wisdom as if jesus had come again.

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  cofty

  A JP video came up on my YouTube feed last week - he was on a panel in front of a huge audience and some poor disturbed guy ran on stage and started crying and wailing to Peterson that he needed his help. It was agonising to watch.

  What was even more disturbing was the comments section. I do not exaggerate when I say that dozens of people were extolling Peterson's wisdom as if Jesus had come again. The parallel to the woman who needed to touch Jesus' garment to be cured came up more than once - and not in an ironic way.

  I have forced myself to endure numerous lectures of his in the past couple of weeks and I have hated every minute. I have never heard a man say nothing but take so long to say it and to do so in such a self-aggrandising way.

  I agree with some of his observations about the culture wars but IMO he is a poseur. Maybe there is something there worth more time and effort but life is too short. I think he is the leader (perhaps by accident) of a personality cult.

  Your thoughts?
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  65

  Would You Ever Go Back To The Witnesses??

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  every once in a while you hear people say they actually “miss” their old witness friends and or family.

  some would have even stayed in the organization if they became a bit more liberal and open minded.

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  cofty

  I could not sit and listen to some ignorant buffoon preaching bullshit with no right of reply.

  All the money in the world could not make me stay in my seat.
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  14

  Movie Review 1917

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  movie review"1917".

  i so seldom seek to sit inside an actual movie theater anymore.however ...some films are absolutely tailored for it.life of pigravityavatar3 examples of movies which do not translate to your home viewing...at all.good, bad, or indifferent - some films are visual and immersive.. here is a sacred pronouncement:movies are a visual medium.in the hands of an orson welles (i.e.

  citizen kane) they are a radio play+visual storytelling medium._____.

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  cofty

  It's outstanding
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  29

  Greta

  by road to nowhere in

  1. social
  2. current

  the daily wire.

  facebook glitch reveals father, activist behind greta thunberg's facebook .... i'm not good at getting links right.

  but this is interesting in light of greta supposedly doing things on her own according to dear old dad.

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  cofty

  Redvip - I said that the solution to climate change is technology. You replied that 'hoping on technology is a product of self centered, lazy and stagnant mind'.

  I have no reason to insult you.

  I agree.

  it's really sad that folks who thrive to have a cleaner planet, are now assigned a term (environmentalism), which has the stink of a religious cult

  We all aspire to a cleaner planet. You don't get to claim the moral high ground. Just because I don't uncritically buy into all the propaganda doesn't mean that I am any less passionate than you about the future of planet earth.

  I said quite explicitly that the environmentalist movement is a cult. It has dogma, prophets, orthodoxy, heresy and apostasy.

  Have you not noticed that the loudest voices conflate green with red?

  Climate activism is all a part of anti-capitalism, anti-patriarchy, feminism and social Marxism. It is no accident. The Green movement is just another utopian ideology. It has its roots in The Frankfurt School and Herbert Marcuse in particular.

  The last person to acknowledge that they are following a cult is the cult member - we should know.
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  29

  Greta

  by road to nowhere in

  1. social
  2. current

  the daily wire.

  facebook glitch reveals father, activist behind greta thunberg's facebook .... i'm not good at getting links right.

  but this is interesting in light of greta supposedly doing things on her own according to dear old dad.

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  cofty

  So Redvip insults me because I don't buy into environmentalism with sufficient enthusiasm and Jimmy insults me because I don't dismiss it with the required amount of contempt.

  This is typical of what passes for discussion. Mouths wide open and minds firmly closed.
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  29

  Greta

  by road to nowhere in

  1. social
  2. current

  the daily wire.

  facebook glitch reveals father, activist behind greta thunberg's facebook .... i'm not good at getting links right.

  but this is interesting in light of greta supposedly doing things on her own according to dear old dad.

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  cofty

  Jimmy - Try reading rather than ranting.