Posts by tec

153

Jesus' Teachings - Helpful or Harmful?

by jgnat in

spinning off from another thread, have jesus' teachings been less than universally helpful to mankind?

how do we measure if a particular philosophy is helpful or harmful?.

i am going to use the "universal morals" listed here.

tec

Humbled, your post... that was a beautiful witness. Wow. You have humbled me.

Peace and love to you.

Your sister, servant, and a slave of Christ,

tammy

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

tec

I don't know, but I'm giving God the benefit of the doubt, and declaring Him as innocent anyway"

Isn't that the very backbone of our justice system?

Innocent unless proven guilty?

Peace,

tammy

258

i wish more churches would preach truth like this

by unstopableravens in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncehcvrvgq.

tec

Thanks for posting that. Could you also post the thread so I might see what i was responding to?

That post i recognize. However, I have not contradicted myself. Similar does not equal perfect harmony.

If I mean perfect harmony... i will say perfect harmony. You won't have to interpret my meaning.

What i said there is no different than what I have said here. Christ is not divided. He does not teach conflicting things. So people who are stating conflicting things and each claiming to have learned from Him... one or both are incorrect. Hence, the call to TEST the inspired expression, and to TEST the claims that others make.

Christ did not teach me that there is no hell... while also teaching mrwasher that there is a hell.

But then... mr washer does not claim to have learned that from Christ. He learned it from specific interpretations of the bible and from the southern baptist church and from tradition. So for me, I don't just accept what is traditional or what is orthodox (I guess that means the same here), or what is accepted and taught or interpreted by men. I test it. Hopefully others do also.

Peace to you,

tammy

340

Fallacies about Faith

by tec in

jw
friends

peace to you!.

this thread is about false things (some) atheists think theists believe.

this is not a thread about false things that atheists think about theists.

tec

If I remember correctly the original point of bringing up the death is a person/mind/whatever was to lift the blame from god for killing all the firstborns and place that blame on 'death'.

Yes... so I would just suggest that you re-read the posts from the page and two before as to the reasons why the destroyer was released (and the discussion leading up to that before we went into a discussion about personification of death). Because nothing in the response changes if it was death or an angel of death or the destroyer, etc.

Adamah, everything that you have written is still based upon my ponderings about a concept as a child. (I didn't even think what your post HAS me thinking as a child... i didn't think anything at all about the 'great' nothing, lol. Just about the nothing itself) Had nothing to do with an imaginary friend, or anything else that you are posting. I didn't even have one of those. I'm not getting drawn into a back and forth that you have based on something entirely fabricated in your own mind.

Peace,

tammy

340

Fallacies about Faith

by tec in

jw
friends

peace to you!.

this thread is about false things (some) atheists think theists believe.

this is not a thread about false things that atheists think about theists.

tec

What does? That it can have a will without a mind - or that it can't have a will without a mind? (Don't you need a want/desire to "will" something? ["Will" as seperated from a simple purpose - my ashtray has a purpose])

What you said. Will with a mind.

Since this was in answer to my question about death having a "will", I'm not sure what you mean? (An image of what, and how does this help us know god?

I just meant that without an image (Chirst) we would not be able to understand God. So that instead we would probably have a more 'deistic' God, rather than being able to know Him through the Image He sent us OF Him.

Taking this comment with what you then went on to say about death being more worrying than the Devil: I find that curious. When I believed (take into account here Jdub theology and the whole "god's sovereignity" thing), I never understood the whole argument about heaven vs paradise earth... What does it matter? It matters that we prove god right, even if we get no reward at all. (At least that's how I thought. My point being that I cared little about death at all ["The Great Nothing" seemed fairly peacefull a prospect in the end and no more destructive in achieving its goals than god])

I understand what you are saying, but you understand that jw theology on the sovereignty thing was incorrect.

Death is the last enemy to be defeated.

To pick up on zound's point here - Is it possible perhaps that someone (you/her/both of you) is simply mistaking the bible's fondness for "poetic" language and taking this too literally? Just a thought. After all, I'm not a believer and claim no insight.

Just by going on what is written... of course this is entirely possible. It is just as possible that someone takes poetic verses too literally... as it is that someone mistook a literal thing for a poetic device.

Knowledge gets forgotten as time passes, and meanings of words and phrases can also change.

Peace,

tammy

340

Fallacies about Faith

by tec in

jw
friends

peace to you!.

this thread is about false things (some) atheists think theists believe.

this is not a thread about false things that atheists think about theists.

tec

Here you go Zound, from scripture:

Exodus 12:23

When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the door frame and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the Destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

Who is this destroyer? Well, in Revelation 9:11

They had as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.

Abaddon and Apollyon mean... Destroyer. That is the footnote in my bible on those names.

You can look up the meaning of the words as well, like the meaning of the word abyss:

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G12&t=NIV

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G623&t=NIV

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3&t=NIV

I'm not sure if accepting the personifcation of death changes anything... except perhaps to undersand a bit more about how a ransom could be owed to death, and not that God was demanding his son be killed for himself. If you can learn that lesson another way... then great.

But regardless of whether you think it was death... or an angel of death... or abaddon/apollyon/destroyer... as another being or as figurative... it is the destroyer who was released and permitted to strike down the firstborn of Egypt... and not permitted to strike down anyone in any house that was covered in the blood of the lamb... again, a precusor for us and Christ.

Peace to you,

tammy

258

i wish more churches would preach truth like this

by unstopableravens in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncehcvrvgq.

tec

You seem to be under the impression that i am trying to impose my faith upon others. I give my witness. I answer questions. I sometimes share something give to me. What others do with that... is entirely up to them.

There is nothing that Christ has said that is not from love. Truth is from Love. Might not be pleasant for some to hear, might not be easy for some to hear, might not be what they want to hear... but it is still from love.

peace,

tammy

340

Fallacies about Faith

by tec in

jw
friends

peace to you!.

this thread is about false things (some) atheists think theists believe.

this is not a thread about false things that atheists think about theists.

tec

I was a kid, Adamah. Maybe you should have read that warning before you hit submit.

Peace,

tammy

340

Fallacies about Faith

by tec in

jw
friends

peace to you!.

this thread is about false things (some) atheists think theists believe.

this is not a thread about false things that atheists think about theists.

tec

Do you remember saying this Band just 12 hours ago?

This is way too much for me. No more bait.

You are a hypocrite. Because the next time you complain about some other poster "bullying you or insulting you or berating you", etc, etc... you just remember the posts like the above that you CONSTANTLY make to me, especially after you have been proven wrong in somthing that you think the bible states.

Hypocrite.

Other than that, if you want to put your faith in scholars... if you want to sound smart, be accepted, show everyone how intelligent and refined you are (even though your post above is more like someone stamping their feet in a tantrum because they were wrong again about what is written regarding Israel)... then you go right ahead. I'll put mine in Christ. If that makes me look foolish... then I am happy, grateful, humbled, thrilled... to be foolish.

I also don't know someone can belong to Christ, follow Him, love Him... and then use Him to be as vulgar as you were above when speaking of Him in order to mock me.

But that is for you to work out and for you to be responsible FOR.

I still wish you peace in Christ.

Your servant and a slave of Christ,

tammy

340

Fallacies about Faith

by tec in

jw
friends

peace to you!.

this thread is about false things (some) atheists think theists believe.

this is not a thread about false things that atheists think about theists.

tec

Can someone/thing have "will" without a "mind"? I don't think so (I don't expect you to answer that btw, you said you don't know... I'm just thinking while I type).

Makes sense to me. But I don't claim to understand everything, and I do not grasp this about death, except in an abstract way. Still learning; still listening on that.

We at least have an image so that we can understand and know God.

See it? I lived it, I saw the damn thing so many times I still dream about gmork (wolf dude) from time to time.

Ah... Gmork. Thank you. I remember watching it as a kid and struggling to wrap my head around this 'great nothing' also.

But if what you're saying is true - shouldn't we be worried about Death rather than Satan? If Death is the Devil's bossman and he has his own purpose? Sounds like the Devil is just Robin to Death's Batman.

Well aren't we? More worried about death I mean? Not mainly as a personification, but as a state of being (or rather non-state of being)? Satan hopes to lead us away from Christ.. the LIFE (also personified, btw.. in Christ, as Christ IS the Life)... and so toward death. So the adversary is serving death... rather than serving Life (Christ)

Tyvm, but no. You have a better response rate when it comes to answering.

Talking/discussing is one thing. As long as you are not looking to me for truth or listening to me. Because I am not the truth, and I can do nothing more than witness TO the Truth. If you want truth... well, that would be Christ... so look to Him... over anyone, and that certainly includes me.

I am not saying that you are looking to me for truth. I understand that we are just discussing, and also that you were just teasing above. But... if one wants to know the truth on this or any matter... then Christ is the one who knows. Listen to and follow Him. Definitely not me; not any other person or religion or thing.

Just a witness here, and one who is learning from Him. Some truths i know because He has taught me (but you cannot and should not just take my word for it). Some things I am still learning, like this particular topic.

Thanks for the answer. I don't really know what to say in response to death has a will and possibly a mind...

It is really new for me to consider and ask about as well, and I may well not be explaining anything well... since, how can a person explain something that they do not fully understand themselves? I would not even have considered it on my own (at least not yet) had someone else not mentioned what she had received on the matter of death. So I am still asking and learning myself. I previously thought that the 'angel of death' passed over and took the firstborn. But i hadn't yet gotten around to asking what that meant: the spirit of death; an agent of death; the destroyer/abaddon BEING death.

So I apologize if I have caused confusion.

Perhaps just take it as something to keep in mind, and so to ask about yourself. That is what I do when someone states something that is not against Christ... but i do not know if it is true or not. Just something to keep in mind.

Peace to you both,

tammy