fulltimestudent

Joined

• started 752 topics
• posted 3,901 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by fulltimestudent

• 
  30

  Is Satan really the bad guy in story of creation?

  by evilApostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i wanted to take an objective look at satan in the story of creation.

  this is not meant to offend those of you who are still christians.

  i'm agnostic btw.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  Haha !

  There is little evidence (outside of the Jewish documents incorporated into the bible) that belief in a spiritual opponent to YHWH existed before the second temple era (that is, after the Babylonian exile of the Jewish elite).

  Most scholarship sees the rise of belief in two figures who are opposed to each other and spoken of in terms like good and evil, and light and darkness as the influence of Zoroastrianism on the Jewish elite.

  The garden of Eden story in Genesis is pure mythology, best described as a foundation myth.

  Crazyguy's explanation is also importatn in understanding how Jewish thought developed.
  
• 
  33

  Is this another Trump backflip?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we've seen one backflip.

  crooked hillary became a hard-working woman who deserves the nations praise (in his victory speech);.

  now according to a uk newspaper:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  More grins - That Bloody wall he promised so often to build ...

  Quote: "Washington: President-elect Donald Trump backed away from his promise to build a wall on the US-Mexican border, saying some areas could instead be "fencing," and added he would move to deport up to 3 million immigrants in the country illegally who have criminal records.
  Trump, who made his pledge to force Mexico to pay for a border wall a centrepiece of his White House campaign, said "for certain areas" he would accept fencing instead of a brick-and-mortar wall, according to excerpts released on Sunday of his interview with the CBS program "60 Minutes.""

  Reference: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/world/us-election/donald-trump-says-part-of-promised-border-wall-could-be-fence-20161113-gsogq7.html
• 
  1

  The World's Biggest Shopping Day

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  indicative of the changes in the chinese economy, the 'singles day' sales have just been held and alibaba, the web based, chinese marketing company made record sales in one day.. http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/inside-the-worlds-biggest-shopping-event/news-story/ddf8e2794db542d33018002747ac70ae.

  1. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  For the first time customers could use virtual reality to inspect the items they were interested in buying. With 176,000 orders being placed every second, delivery becomes a major priority.

  Special arrangements were made to use some of the 22,000 km of very fast train tracks to help in the delivery process.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbm507UinOk
• 
  1

  The World's Biggest Shopping Day

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  indicative of the changes in the chinese economy, the 'singles day' sales have just been held and alibaba, the web based, chinese marketing company made record sales in one day.. http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/inside-the-worlds-biggest-shopping-event/news-story/ddf8e2794db542d33018002747ac70ae.

  1. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  Indicative of the changes in the Chinese economy, the 'Singles Day' sales have just been held and Alibaba, the web based, Chinese marketing company made record sales in one day.

  http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/inside-the-worlds-biggest-shopping-event/news-story/ddf8e2794db542d33018002747ac70ae
  
• 
  16

  Does Mr Trump have his own 'hotline' to Russia's President Putin?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  according to australian newspaper, the canberra times (for aussies, its a fairfax publication) trump is able to contact putin and the conversations cannot be tapped.

  (an interesting claim).. quote 1:.

  "a former senior western intelligence operative, a specialist in russian counterintelligence deemed credible in washington, has provided the fbi with evidence that trump 'and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the kremlin, including on clinton, since russian intelligence had compromised trump during his visits to moscow – so that he could be blackmailed'.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  Looks like some really interesting changes ahead -

  Australia's Sydney Morning Herald reports today:

  "Mr Trump used his first interviews since winning the election to indicate that he will withdraw support for rebels in Syria and thanked Vladimir Putin for sending him a "beautiful" letter.

  
  Mr Trump said he will instead join forces with Russia and focus on defeating Islamic State (IS). He has previously said it would be "nice" if the US and Russia could work together to "knock the hell out of" IS."
  Reference: http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-election/donald-trumpvladimir-putin-alliance-sparks-diplomatic-crisis-20161112-gso1oi.html
• 
  6

  The Q Gospel

  by schnell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so, i'm reading "the lost gospel: the book of q and christian origins" on scribd.

  check it out: https://www.scribd.com/book/163624254.

  if you're not aware (i'm just learning about this), the q is a term for an early "sayings gospel" of yeshua, a document that recorded his sayings rather than his supposed life story.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  Reading the bible carefully exposes much of the futility of reading it:

  Take Luke 1:1 -

  "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled[a] among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word."

  Luke says there were already many accounts by the time he set out to write his 'history.'

  When was that? The wikipedia entry on Luke notes:

  "The most probable date for its composition is around 80–100 AD, and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century." (reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Luke)

  Clearly, most of those accounts did not survive., but Luke was relying mostly on second hand eye-witness accounts or earlier documents.

  We will likely never know for sure.
  
  

  
  
  
• 
  33

  Is this another Trump backflip?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we've seen one backflip.

  crooked hillary became a hard-working woman who deserves the nations praise (in his victory speech);.

  now according to a uk newspaper:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  We've seen one backflip. Crooked Hillary became a hard-working woman who deserves the nations praise (in his victory speech);

  Now according to a UK newspaper:

  Donald Trump statement calling for ban on all Muslims entering US DISAPPEARS from his website day after election

  Reference: http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/donald-trump-statement-calling-for-ban-on-all-muslims-entering-us-disappears-from-his-website-day-after-election/ar-AAk9mrz?li=AAgfYrC&ocid=mailsignout

  If true, have all his supporters just been conned ???
• 
  3

  The two powers in heaven

  by Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  lately i have been watching a video series by a bible scholar named michael heiser explaining the idea of there being a plurality to god in the old testament.

  the seen god and the unseen god and reading the bible though first century jewish eyes.

  of course being a somewhat of an unbeliever i checked out some bart erham videos on the subject and he basically says what this christian scholar said.. basically christ is thought to be the manifestion of god that was seen and dealt with in the old testament.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  If anyone is not familiar with Zoroastrianism, this YT video of a lecture on the topic may be helpful:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfYg70DEXx0
  
• 
  18

  Is there a biblical basis for separation or divorce?

  by Conias in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is there a biblical basis for separation or divorce?.

  in the event that one of the spouses is being psychologically mistreated in a very serious manner where his health is severely damaged and even his own life is in danger.

  is there a biblical basis for jehovah's witnesses for separation or divorce?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  Posted: Why did Jesus put the blame on Moses? The was part of the Law that GOD gave Moses. I have not researched this, yet, but it seems to me something is amiss here.

  It was the the gospel writer that constructed the sense of the text, not necessarily Jesus.

  Who really believes that after 20+ years anyone recalled precisely the words Jesus may have uttered. Our memories do not work that way (i.e. They are not tape recorders).

  As the early church spread outside the Jewish homeland, they had to reconcile dogma with other customs and laws. You could give consideration to the possibility that your looking at one of the earliest "new light" moments.
• 
  3

  The two powers in heaven

  by Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  lately i have been watching a video series by a bible scholar named michael heiser explaining the idea of there being a plurality to god in the old testament.

  the seen god and the unseen god and reading the bible though first century jewish eyes.

  of course being a somewhat of an unbeliever i checked out some bart erham videos on the subject and he basically says what this christian scholar said.. basically christ is thought to be the manifestion of god that was seen and dealt with in the old testament.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  fulltimestudent

  The concept of two spiritual powers is far older than Second Temple Judaism and its Christian offshoot.

  The concept's roots are believed to have derived from Zoroastrianism ...

  Zoroastrianism,[n 1] or more natively Mazdayasna,[1] is one of the world's oldest religions, "combining a cosmogonicdualism and eschatological monotheism in a manner unique […] among the major religions of the world."[2] Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra),[3] he exalted their deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord), as its Supreme Being.[4] Leading characteristics, such as messianism, heaven and hell, and free will are said to have influenced other religious systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam.[5] With possible roots dating back to the second millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism enters recorded history in the 5th-century BCE,[4] and including a Mithraic Median prototype and Zurvanist Sassanid successor it served as the state religion of the pre-Islamic Iranian empires from around 600 BCE to 650 CE. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia.[6] ... In Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu (Good Spirit, "Bounteous Immortals")[11] is an all-good "father" of Asha (Truth, “order, justice,")[12][13] in opposition to Druj(“falsehood, deceit”)[14][15] and no evil originates from "him".[16] "He" and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas[17] and the host of other Yazatas, through whom worship of Mazda is ultimately directed.
  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

  Sometimes this concept is referred to as 'dualism,' and is noticeable in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

  It is believed that the Jewish elite came into contact with Zoroastrian concepts while in exile in Babylon (lots of time on their hands to speculate) especially after Cyrus the Iranian conquered Babylon.

  The spiritual idea of light and darkness is another Zoroastrian belief that was effectively copied by the Christian offshoot we know as Manicheanism