for thousands of years people have taken the bible as the word of god.
what would you do if you found out that it was not.
how would your outlook on the world change.. .
Define "authentic"?
It exists as a historic document. Millions of people derive some benefit from it. It doesn't cover every eventuality, but no text does. It was suited to its time and still retains some use.
I view it as a bunch of spiritual diaries. As such I find it often resonates with my own experience, as a "spiritual life" tends to have transcended the changes of modern corporeal living. As such it is as authentic as I need it to be.
Just my 2p.
pages 5-7:.
if you already know how to read, do you really study, as the beroeans did, carefully examining the scriptures daily to see if these things are so?
we read: they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the scriptures daily as to whether these things were so.
DJK:
I haven't read the rest of this yet because the word persuaded caught my attention in the first paragraphs. The power of suggestion, or hypnosis is also a method used to persuade or brainwash.
And it is also used in ordinary debate. Get real!
wow.
wow.
i used to post here lifetimes ago, and i just recently came back and read some of my old posts.
Hi Katie, I remember you, too.
Hope life is looking up
just want to say that i hope all the christians here have a nice easter sunday tomorrow.
a time for reflection and appreciation and so forth (i'm feeling especially clumsy with words today, but you know what i mean).
we won't be going to church, but i wish you the best!
That sounds like a really positive experience, and would seem to show that you're gaining some equilibrium in your views and levels of tolerance towards the variety of opinion that we have on this planet
IMHO its one of the things that demonstrates that an individual is settling into some normality after cult life.
has anyone else ever noticed that there is no watchtower in scripture as part of any particular teaching but there is prominent use of watchtower in dungeons and dragons type games and forms of witchcraft including spells involving watchtower?
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watchtower_%28magic%29.
and msn search for watchtower alone & with magic spell or occult or witchcraft.. ct russell was a 33rd degree freemason ( illuminati) nutcase who read books by guys that measured the lengths of the halls in pyramids to foretell the future by.
MG:
Any thoughts?
Yup - the Knights Templar are not exclusively Masonic, either. As you state, they aren't based on the Egyptian mystery schools. The various Masonic rites have borrowed from a wide range of occult disciplines, including Hermetic, Qaballah, Knights Templar, etc.
The evidence is that Russell was influenced by any number of these, that had no exclusive jurispruidence, making it difficult to track down his source. That having been said he showed ignorance and avoidance of Freemasonry, for whatever reason. It could have been because of the beginnings of a contemporary concern over Masonry in particular, even though so many men were Masons at the time. He basically jumped on the bandwagon with a few other churches.
i am highly considering becoming a jehovah's witness.
i have been raised in the congregration, but left it when i was a child because my mom left too, but we still retatined the core belifs including the ressurection and the blasphemous pagan influence on mainstream churches.
my mom has recently returned to the congregation, and it has helped her a lot.
The best advise on this thread IMHO is to take your questions to the Elders and then sit back and watch the love pour your way...
When you find yourself disillusioned by that you might attempt to stop looking for pat answers to life's complex questions
i don't know about anyone else but this could be the source of major contention between dubs in my halls.
you had those who started their time as soon as you pulled out of the hall parking lot (me), those who counted from the first knock at the door or laundry mat visited, and the die hards who didn't start until they actually spoke to someone(my sister).
my sister and i would go round and round about this, i finally just pretended to start my time when she did just to shut her up.
I started from the first door until the last, but only took off minimal time for breaks. In retrospect I was dumb!
We had a large territory, and so I would "start my time" on a door before travelling maybe 30-60mins, and do the same on the return trip. At least that way I got to count most of the travelling time. I think there was a push by one of the COs, at one point, to have us only count half of the travelling time, but that fell on deaf ears.
just want to say that i hope all the christians here have a nice easter sunday tomorrow.
a time for reflection and appreciation and so forth (i'm feeling especially clumsy with words today, but you know what i mean).
we won't be going to church, but i wish you the best!
Thanks pal. I don't celebrate one day over another, like that, but the thought genuinely counts
i wanted to throw this out there just to make sure i got my facts straight.
i have been researching this but i am still trying to weed out those thoughts planted during a life as a jw.
i will just ask the questions and not cloud with my own view but would like the input from you guys....girls too!
UnDFed:
That Gospel is pretty straightforward and simple isn't it?
Sorry to get on your case, bro, but; not when put that way!
If you want it simple, then: "He die; me no die!"
i wanted to throw this out there just to make sure i got my facts straight.
i have been researching this but i am still trying to weed out those thoughts planted during a life as a jw.
i will just ask the questions and not cloud with my own view but would like the input from you guys....girls too!
The WTS makes much of Matt.24:14 "This good news of the kingdom...", and binds it to their end-times prophesying. The counter to that slant is found in the parallel verses in Luke 21:8 where there's a warning not to follow after people who say such things or to be terrified, but to discern a sense of urgency for yourself in eagerness for the Christ..
The "Gospel" or "Good News" is actually about Christ/ Messiah. That he has arrived, done his work, and people can receive the blessings that come from that. Some expand that to include a future "return", and if that helps them then so be it. Personally I see it in terms of a desire to enjoy more of his presense, rather than a sense of a current absence.
Anything to do with signs and seasons, confusion and anti-christ is just so much window dressing, to my way of thinking. When the emphasis is distracted away from the person of Christ himself then it has become something other than Christianity.
