Hi Happy,
There is no "Memorial Season" for Christians. There is a "Resurrection Sunday" (sometimes referred to as Easter) commemorating the day Jesus got up and walked out of a tomb.
so for those of you that are christian, what do you do during the memorial season?
for those that have not joined a church, how do you celebrate passover?.
Hi Happy,
There is no "Memorial Season" for Christians. There is a "Resurrection Sunday" (sometimes referred to as Easter) commemorating the day Jesus got up and walked out of a tomb.
it really is common sense, but nobody here seems to recognize or acknowledge this blatant and obvious truth.. the holy bible is the result of the catholic liturgy.
they used these scriptures in their religious practices and confirmed which books would and would not be part of their cannon.
they picked, preserved and promoted these books and gave 'the word of god' to the world.. i know that pisses off some folks, but it is the truth [not the 'truth'tm].
The "Catholic Church" didn't exist until some time after Constantine converted in 312 AD, However....
Around 250 A.D., Origen likely produced a complete list of all 27 New Testament books–more than a hundred years before Athanasius. In his typical allegorical fashion, Origen used the story of Joshua to describe the New Testament canon:
But when our Lord Jesus Christ comes, whose arrival that prior son of Nun designated, he sends priests, his apostles, bearing “trumpets hammered thin,” the magnificent and heavenly instruction of proclamation. Matthew first sounded the priestly trumpet in his Gospel; Mark also; Luke and John each played their own priestly trumpets. Even Peter cries out with trumpets in two of his epistles; also James and Jude. In addition, John also sounds the trumpet through his epistles [and Revelation], and Luke, as he describes the Acts of the Apostles. And now that last one comes, the one who said, “I think God displays us apostles last,” and in fourteen of his epistles, thundering with trumpets, he casts down the walls of Jericho and all the devices of idolatry and dogmas of philosophers, all the way to the foundations (Hom. Jos. 7.1).
As one can see from the list above, all 27 books of the New Testament are accounted for (Origen clearly counts Hebrews as part of Paul’s letters). The only ambiguity is a text-critical issue with Revelation, but we have good evidence from other sources that Origen accepted Revelation as Scripture (Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.25.10).
My thoughts: The early church leaders (disciples of the apostles) wrote a lot of letters to each other, mostly to deal with heresies. In those letters, as a whole, a person can reconstruct about 2/3 of the traditional New Testament canon either quoted or paraphrased. Thus, it is easy to see which writings were used as authoritative (as well as what was, and what was not "sound doctrine")..
The appearance of "a list" by Athanasius in 380 AD or so, has little to do with which letters/books were accepted as authoritative by the first congregation elders centuries earlier.
what advice do you have for a teenager that is being raised as a witness but not baptized?
everyone is pressuring her to get baptized how to avoid that till they are 18 and they are 16?
how to stay sane in a household of religion you don´t believe in.
The position is definitely improved if you do not get baptized. But, eventually there will be little difference over time if the parents remain hardcore adherents.
Why not use BOTH a biblical and a non-biblical approach? Cast a wider net is my suggestion.
what advice do you have for a teenager that is being raised as a witness but not baptized?
everyone is pressuring her to get baptized how to avoid that till they are 18 and they are 16?
how to stay sane in a household of religion you don´t believe in.
If your parents stay in, the end result will be the same whether you get baptized or not. They will eventually shun you for not worshiping their idol. Eventually there is little real-world difference between whether or not you got baptized.
I agree with the others to try to get along. But you can learn as much as you can about historical Christianity and be able to prove that the Watchtower is gravely mistaken about a great many things. By planting seeds you can stand your ground on biblical grounds, that's the difference.
One of the seeds might take root and eventually you'll have one or both parents for life. IM me if you'd like some ideas.
there is a slight possibility of one of my jw relatives coming to have a read of this forum, which has made me really excited and endlessly hopeful, but also worried that they might read some of my angry comments from back in the day and throw their hands up in horror.
i've also been thinking about the book by christopher hitchens "god is not great" recently and i think there are similar defences to be made for both.. there is a topic that i started called jehovah god is not real and there are also comments that i have made where i have said that jehovah god is cruel, stupid or even evil.
i appreciate that this sounds like a personal attack on god, just as hitchens' book "god is not great", sounds like an attack on god, but the truth is that they're not.. the title of hitchen's book: "god is not great" is (deliberately) a negation of the islamic phrase allahu akbar "god is greatest" and my topic on this forum called "jehovah god is not real", was in direct response to another poster's topic "jehovah god is real".
there is a single piece of evidence which does not come second hand from a human being.
I'd just like to point out that most of the things we accept as true, comes second hand from other humans
i was howling watching cedars latest video of tm111 buying a dozen bottles of scotch ((maccallans scotch).
you can't write this stuff.
right, i'm now off to buy a bottle of maccallans 😂..
Morris reputedly comes from an extremely wealthy family (tobacco merchants)
Probably explains why he didn't pick up a few cigars along with the Scotch.....has a private stash.
according to a recent filing, the watchtower has ordered reddit to give them the name of one of their posters who has used their right of free speech.
they are calling it copyright infringement.
but, we all know this is just another routine "hit" ordered by the watchtower mafia.
I beg to differ. It's very different which is why one will result in a lengthy prison sentence and the other will result in laughter if you claim you were "effectively murdered".
Tune in next week for "someone brushed past me at the supermarket, it's tantamount to rape"
On behalf of the many EX-JW suicides who can no longer speak for themselves (including some former posters on this very board); I too beg to differ.
Would most have committed suicide if they had not lost their families? No. So, who killed who?
I understand your point from a legal perspective. But even from that point of view, others have been successfully prosecuted from influencing a suicide. Suicide and those who influence it, is not a laughing matter. It is a tragedy.
There are of course may legal issues with all this, and I'm not convinced we should change laws to include the WT for influencing suicides because of a whole range of freedom issues..... but I'm not sure we shouldn't try either. I'd have to think about it more.
But certainly from the viewpoint of an Ultimate Judge, the WT has blood on their hands.
i was howling watching cedars latest video of tm111 buying a dozen bottles of scotch ((maccallans scotch).
you can't write this stuff.
right, i'm now off to buy a bottle of maccallans 😂..
There once was a preacher man named Tony
He made booze runs on Sundays ;
Truthers didn't know he was a phoney;
Guzzling his Scotch like always.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Prophesied did he from those spirits:
I need that ice cream money;
It's a big church I need to steer it!
What's that in your pocket sonny?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hard times came from the secret film;
The sheeple started to discount him,
Hark! I need a herald please;
The party's over, turn in those keys.
i was doing some reminiscing and remember the days back in the late 80s and early 90s where i truly could say the meetings were so encouraging and that i felt the holy spirit present and operating on all of us.
today when i attend, there is nothing of the sort.
is it because jehovah has withheld it?
I was raised a JW and was baptized in 1986; then left with the November 15th issue of the WT in 1995 when they jettisoned the generation doctrine and removed the statement on the inside page of the Awake about how Armageddon would come before the generation of 1914 would pass away. I was never Df'd.
After about 8 years, I became a traditional non-denominational Christian, attending a medium size Bible Church. In Christianity, you don't feel special, but you do feel peace. You are a sinner saved by Grace ... "not of works, lest any man should boast".
Salvation is a two-part process. 1. Conviction of sin, and 2. Acceptance of Christ's blood covering offered at Matthew 26: 27, 28 "for the forgiveness of sins".
The first is an action of the Holy Spirit and the 2nd is an action from your own volition. The Will of God and the Free Moral Agency of man meet here. .
From my point of view, I can now compare my two experiences. As a JW, I had in fact experienced a supernatural conviction of sin, but I had been prevented from accepting the new covenant "for the forgiveness of sins". So, although I believe I experienced a move of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of becoming a JW, most of the later JW experience was a false specialness kinda feeling that I felt from being in the "right" club...as opposed as to being in a right relationship with God.
Now, I feel much smaller, and God (especially Christ) seems much bigger. The Holy Spirit now edifies my spirit with inner peace as I've slowly learned to trust again.
Hope that helps.
i was howling watching cedars latest video of tm111 buying a dozen bottles of scotch ((maccallans scotch).
you can't write this stuff.
right, i'm now off to buy a bottle of maccallans 😂..
I perceive a study article coming soon on the subject of divine authority. The OS (other sheep) will again be told to just leave it in Jehovah's hands. We have to respect and obey divinely appointed authority.....remember, David did not kill Saul when he had the opportunity. He said in 1 Sam 26:9 "who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?"
Carefully selected scriptural references will be proffered such as:
Don’t let me hear of your suffering for murdering or stealing or making trouble or being a busybody and prying into other people’s affairs. 1 Peter 4: 15
This should be your ambition: to live a quiet life, minding your own business and doing your own work, just as we told you before. 1 Thess. 4: 11
The following scriptural references will likely NOT be included:
Matthew 24:48-51 | Drunkards warned about the return of Christ and His judgment. |
Luke 1:15 | Greatness of John the Baptist linked with his total abstinence. |
Luke 12:45 | Christ warns against being enmeshed in drunken evils. |
Luke 21:34 | Warning against drunkenness and the cares of this life, |
Romans 13:13 | All are admonished to walk honestly, not in rioting and drunkenness. |
Romans 14:21 | Drinking causes a brother to stumble. Importance of example. |
1 Cor. 6:10 | No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God. |
1 Cor. 11:25 | The Lord's Supper no place for wine. Word "wine" not even used. Instead all accounts say "the cup" or "fruit of the vine." |
Galatians 5:21 | Revelers in drunkenness shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. |
Ephesians 5:18 | Direct command that exhilaration shall be of the Spirit and not by wine. |
1 Thess. 5:7 | Sobriety enjoined upon the Thessalonians. |
1 Timothy 3:3,8,11-12 Church officers must not drink; neither should their families. And the #1 Scriptural Reference that will not appear in the coming article on Divine Authority? Drum Roll ..................... They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. - Mt. 23:4 |