Posts by fulltimestudent

63

EXACTLY Why JW's Are NOT Christian

by Perry in

a lot of people, ex-jws, believers and unbelievers alike, think that jw's are just a somewhat kooky brand of christianity.

is it possible to "try and follow jesus" and not be christian?

what exactly makes someone a christian?

fulltimestudent

It always intrigues me when people start saying that someone or something is not Christian. The evidence points to a spectrum of beliefs in the early church.

Anyway, I wondered what the definition of a Christian was in Antioch, you know, ...

"The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." (Acts 11:26 NIV)

I wonder what they called themselves before that? Since Paul was a bit new at this game, did his arguments change during the preaching he did at Antioch?

Later in time, those who supported Athanasius and those who supported Arius were coming to blows and even shedding blood in their doctrinal struggle over new light and old light (cant resist the dig). Who was right, in view of what the gospel writers had recorded?

btw, can anyone recall who said this, and why it was said?

Quote: "Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

2

Sorry, I cant help it -I'm morphing again

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

new avatar coming.

fulltimestudent

Dont U like me, darling?

2

Sorry, I cant help it -I'm morphing again

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

new avatar coming.

fulltimestudent

New avatar coming

4

Mutating music from Mongolia

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

do you want this sound coming from your kid's bedrooms on sunday morning?

if not act now, play it tonite during dinner.. mongolia is getting to be a cool place, just watch out for their tendency to revere chinggis khan.. mongolian throat singer zorigoo (altain orgil).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el93mixaf-c. and follow up with:.

fulltimestudent

Mongolians are steppe people - you ought to know more about them. They destroyed the western Roman Empire, rode into west European cities and towns, killed the rulers and said, We here! we're taking over.

So modern France and Germany owe a lot to the Steppe people, as do Hungary, Bulgaria and Russia.

But it doesn't stop there. The Xiongnu to the north of China, were the bane of the Chinese kingdoms before the first emperor. From some perspectives, the steppe people were THE big power. And they kept coming. Pushed back by the Qin (who were a related people) and the Han, relatives formed the Sui dynasty and then the Tang, and then the Yuan dynasty and then the Qing dynasty, as well as many smaller empires in what is now north China. North Korea may be more steppe people than anything else, and they are an important part of the South Korea ethnicity and Japan.

Steppe people rule !!!

4

Mutating music from Mongolia

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

do you want this sound coming from your kid's bedrooms on sunday morning?

if not act now, play it tonite during dinner.. mongolia is getting to be a cool place, just watch out for their tendency to revere chinggis khan.. mongolian throat singer zorigoo (altain orgil).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el93mixaf-c. and follow up with:.

fulltimestudent

Do you want this sound coming from your kid's bedrooms on sunday morning? If not act now, play it tonite during dinner.

Mongolia is getting to be a cool place, just watch out for their tendency to revere Chinggis Khan.

Mongolian throat singer Zorigoo (altain orgil)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el93MIxAf-c

and follow up with:

Khoomii Mongolian Throat Song "Mountain Kharkhiraa" (Techno)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW7uvYz9yjA

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx8hrhBZJ98

14

What did early Christians believe about the dead?

by fulltimestudent in

as witnesses we were truly convinced that we knew the truth about the dead.

they were truly dead, and we often quoted ecclesiastes 9:4-6, our favourite proof text on that topic, to prove the point.

that text reads (just in case you've already forgotten it - smile), (from the niv):.

fulltimestudent

paradisebeauty: The jw's are wrong on many doctrine, but I do not think they are wrong on the "life after death" separated from the body doctrine.

Thnx for the reference, paradisebeauty. But, I was not arguing for soul life or soul death. The thread was simply to examine what early Christians thought about the dead. As I headed my last post:

"The biggest problem in using early writings, etc is that there was likely no unified 'Christian' belief system. So with that in mind, we should take care not to suggest that the evidence for a particular personal belief, demonstrates that ALL early Christians believed it."

I will get round to reading your reference one day (got a lot of study at present) :(, though I note that its sort of associated with what seems to (may be) another splinter group from Armstrong's WWCG. Although, the Restoration Fellowship's own web-site claims an independent formation.

Restoration Fellowship was founded by Sir Anthony Buzzard, Bt., MA (Oxon.) MA Th. in 1981. The subject matter of our literature is not new and has been held by small groups of believers throughout the centuries, notably by some Anabaptists and the Church of God General Conference whose headquarters and college, Atlanta Bible College, are located in McDonough, GA, USA.
http://focusonthekingdom.org/index.html

and thnx again for posting.

14

What did early Christians believe about the dead?

by fulltimestudent in

as witnesses we were truly convinced that we knew the truth about the dead.

they were truly dead, and we often quoted ecclesiastes 9:4-6, our favourite proof text on that topic, to prove the point.

that text reads (just in case you've already forgotten it - smile), (from the niv):.

fulltimestudent

The biggest problem in using early writings, etc is that there was likely no unified 'Christian' belief system. So with that in mind, we should take care not to suggest that the evidence for a particular personal belief, demonstrates that ALL early Christians believed it.

So with that thought in mind, lets look at another source of information about the post-death beliefs.

A well-known scholar, (Peter Brown, Professor Emeritus, Philip and Beulah Rollins Professor of History, Emeritus. Senior Historian. Princeton University), who has specialised in the period known as 'late antiquity' (usually considered as between the third and ninth centuries, CE.) and the rise of Christianity published a book this year, entitled, "The Ransom of the Soul." ( Harvard University Press, 2015) in which he explores the connection between ' afterlife and wealth in early western Christianity). I mention this because I'm using Brown's work to look at what early Christian's thought on the topic of life after death.

For example, on p.5 of the book, in the introduction, he quotes Cyprian (bishop of Carthage in 250 CE), death provided an instantaneous entry to heaven. He imagined,

"... to close in a moment the eyes by which human beings and the world are seen, and to open these same eyes instantly to see God and Christ."

In pages 36 to 40 he discusses messages left by the living requesting the dead to intercede for them. But that's for the next post.

34

Hebrew Was The First Language

by Bloody Hotdogs! in

according to the newest watchtower:.

jehovah communicated with adam in the garden of eden, using human language.

god likely did so in an ancient form of hebrew.

fulltimestudent

They've been making this absurd claim for a while

Yup! I have a vague memory of a WT study article, maybe in the late 1950's or early 1960s in which the author (likely that glorious scholar, F Franz) made the same point.

then (as likely now) it'll get all the bros speculating on having to learning Hebrew in the paradise, (if not Akkadian which some see as the oldest, known semitic language) and take their minds off Yahweh's delay in introducing the paradise.

14

What did early Christians believe about the dead?

by fulltimestudent in

as witnesses we were truly convinced that we knew the truth about the dead.

they were truly dead, and we often quoted ecclesiastes 9:4-6, our favourite proof text on that topic, to prove the point.

that text reads (just in case you've already forgotten it - smile), (from the niv):.

fulltimestudent

If we could converse with some early Christians, what would they say on this subject?

We can't, but we do have some written evidence of what they believed. Here's some quotations;

From, 'The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans.'

"It is a grand thing for my life to set on the world, and for me to be on my way to God, so that I may rise in his presence." (2:2)

Ignatius was arrested around 110 C.E. and sent to Rome for to be tried and executed.

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

From, 'The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas.'

While being held in prison Perpetua has a number of visions, one of them concerned her 7 y.o brother who had previously died from cancer. In this vision she 'sees' him already in heaven, and healed of the cancer that killed him. (Ch 8). In another vision related by a fellow Christian prisoner, he 'sees' their group after their death, carried off to 'heaven' by angels. Heaven is described as a beautiful garden. There other angels invite them to, ".. come and enter and greet the Lord." (Ch. 11-14).

Their martyrdom occurred around 202-203 C.E.

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

17

Where's this going? American soldiers call on Jehovah

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

the song is 'days of elijah,' and the bit i'm referring to is about half way through, as they sing, "there is no god like jehovah":.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjz_ilp9c5a.

fulltimestudent

I'd never heard that particular song previously, for anyone else as dumb as I am, here's the lyrics, or should I say, what someone has posted on the web, as the lyrics:

"Days Of Elijah"

These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the word of the Lord, yeah
And these are the days of Your servant, Moses
Righteousness being restored

These are the days of great trials
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still we are the voice in the desert crying
Prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Say, behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun, at the trumpet's call
Lift your voice, (it's) the year of Jubilee
Out of Zion's hill, salvation comes

And these are the days of Ezekiel
The dry bones becoming as flesh
And these are the days of Your servant, David
Rebuilding the temple of praise

And these are the days of the harvest
The fields are all white in the world
And we are the laborers that are in Your vineyard
Declaring the Word of the Lord

Say, behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet's call
Lift your voice, (it's) the year of Jubilee
Out of Zion's hill, salvation comes

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet's call
Lift your voice, (it's) the year of Jubilee
Out of Zion's hill, salvation comes

There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!

There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!

There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!

There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!

There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!

There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!
There's no God like Jehovah!

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun, at the trumpet's call
Lift your voice, (it's) the year of Jubilee
Out of Zion's hill, salvation comes

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun, at the trumpet's call
Lift your voice, (it's) the year of Jubilee
Out of Zion's hill, salvation comes