Shining One

Joined

• started 82 topics
• posted 1,321 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Shining One

• 
  33

  Are You a Christian Because You Born in America?

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  follow this link and scroll down to the article, "solid ground".

  it explains the faulty logic of 'genetic fallacy'.

  learn from this site how to defend your belief against the logical errors typically used to dismiss christianity.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  Daunt,
  You better bring more than a peashooter to a gunfight...
  How is it possible that there can be any lost books of the Bible?
  Is it possible that in the first sense of the word Bible that the books could be lost? Wait a minute, if God is supernaturally overseeing it, then God is supernaturally involved in seeing that His book gets written down and preserved. So we have God's supernatural protection if it has a supernatural quality to it. You may say that the supernatural element is bogus, but you can see that from this sense of the definition that it's not really possible to think that God could lose His own book. "But man wrote it...." Can you make your dog sit? Of course. If you a mere man can make your dog sit, can't an infinite God oversee the care of His Word? It doesn't matter if man or monkeys were responsible for taking care of it.
  Maybe the Bible isn't supernatural, it's a statement of beliefs of the leaders of the church. Okay, if that's the case then who has the final word on which books belong in the Bible? The leaders of the early church. Therefore, by very definition any books that they cast into outer darkness are not part of the Bible. It's their decision to decide which books represent their beliefs. And if they say the Gospel of Thomas isn't our book and somebody else picks it up two thousand years later and say it's a lost book of the Bible, then it's fair to ask "In what sense is it a lost book of the Bible?" It might be a lost book of antiquity, a great archaeological find, a wonderful piece of literature, but a lost book of the Bible? No.
  The Bible has to be either a supernatural book, or a non-supernatural book. If it's supernatural -- if God is responsible for its writing, it's transmission and its survival -- then God, being God, does the job right. God doesn't make mistakes, he doesn't forget things, he doesn't get confused about what is true and what is false, and He isn't absent-minded -- He doesn't lose his lessons.
  If the Bible is not supernatural -- as many will contend, especially those who claim to have found lost books -- we have a different problem. By what standard do we claim these are bonafide lost books of the Bible? If, from a human perspective, the Bible is that collection of writings that reflect the beliefs of the leaders of early Christianity, then those writings they discard are not parts of the Bible by very definition. It's like writing a book of your personal beliefs from a stack of ideas you've collected over the years and then have someone rummage through your trash to find other beliefs you didn't include and then claim that these were your secret or lost beliefs. You say, "No, they're not my beliefs; that's why they're in the trash. If they were were really mine, they'd be in the book.
  The irony is that many of the the "lost books" advocates make the point that these books they've rediscovered, books like the so-called Gospel of Thomas, were missing because the church fathers "suppressed" them, which is another way of saying the early Christians threw them out, trashed them. And the accusation is true. They did. Critics think this strengthens their case. It doesn't; it destroys it, because it proves that these books were simply not accepted by the leaders as representative of their beliefs. So therefore it can't be their Bible.
  The Jesus Seminar people are taking a little different tack. They reject the idea that the Bible has supernatural origins. They suggest that since it's just man's opinion anyway, we should have a recall vote on the Bible and fix the defects. We should reconvene and reshuffle the deck, tossing some books out and including others to reflect what the church now believes about spiritual truth, which means "what the Jesus Seminar now believes about spiritual truth." They are not using the "lost books of the Bible" tack.
  So regardless of your view of the Bible -- supernatural or natural -- there is no sense in which it makes any sense to talk of lost books of the Bible. Ergo it's impossible, rationally -- nothing to do with spiritual commitments at all -- that there can be anything like lost books of the Bible. The phrase just doesn't make any sense.
  
  Just a little 'cut and paste' from a website that you obviously have not taken the time to study. How about if I post one article a day and you try to refute each one?
  Rex
• 
  32

  Paradise Lost Paradise Regained / The Terror Pages

  by prophecor in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  .

  .

  did those pictures of people jumping outta' thier graves not scare the $#!+ outta' you?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  Old Soul.
  You would not want the original pictures posted. The Society's copyright police would be all over Simon and shut him down! LOL
  Rex
• 
  21

  JW kids and the national anthem humiliation......

  by kid-A in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for me, school was extremely stressful as a jw kid.

  the worst part had to be my morning dose of humiliation being forced to walk out of the room as the national anthem came on the loudspeakers (first god save the queen, then, oh canada).

  the other kids found this completely bizarre, and several of my "patriotic" minded teachers really resented me for doing this (despite the obvious fact i had no choice in the matter but was being forced into this by my parents).. how could anybody force this public humiliation on a small child or teen-ager, already having to deal with the normal stresses of growing up and worrying about their public image with their peers???

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  Kid,
  I was one of the lucky ones who did not have JW parents, my maternal grandparents were. I knew it was 'wrong' to say the pledge but I mouthed the words silently, LOL. That way I did not have to stand out as odd and I relieved my conscience! When I was growing up we were allowed to stand and be respectful for that and the national anthem. It was a few years later that the Society saw we were not feeling persecuted enough and changed that one.
  Rex
• 
  33

  Are You a Christian Because You Born in America?

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  follow this link and scroll down to the article, "solid ground".

  it explains the faulty logic of 'genetic fallacy'.

  learn from this site how to defend your belief against the logical errors typically used to dismiss christianity.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  Hi Daunt,
  Please read some of the articles. They are much better at apologetics than I am.
  Rex
• 
  33

  Are You a Christian Because You Born in America?

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  follow this link and scroll down to the article, "solid ground".

  it explains the faulty logic of 'genetic fallacy'.

  learn from this site how to defend your belief against the logical errors typically used to dismiss christianity.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  Hey Tetly,
  Which logical fallacy did you just use in that post....anyone care to point it out to our esteemed wise guy? I have seen you use the so many logical fallacies (in many ways) and that is one reason that I posted the link. Now, which hospital are you staying in and why do they let you use a computer? How do you type with a straitjacket on?
  Rex
• 
  50

  Appropriateness of Women's Headcovering

  by TheListener in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  1 corinthians 11:3-16 doesn't make any sense to me.

  several other places paul says there are no male, female, slaves, jews, greeks, etc but we are all one with christ.

  so why do some of us, who are all one, have to cover our heads or not even speak publicly at the meetings?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  Narkissos,
  You did indeed nail that one down to specifics. Good solid exegesis. Please do forgive me for being so judgmental with you in another thread. It is a fault that I occasionally have to deal with.
  Rex
• 
  50

  Appropriateness of Women's Headcovering

  by TheListener in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  1 corinthians 11:3-16 doesn't make any sense to me.

  several other places paul says there are no male, female, slaves, jews, greeks, etc but we are all one with christ.

  so why do some of us, who are all one, have to cover our heads or not even speak publicly at the meetings?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  Hi Flyinghighnow,
  >Whenever I would have a differing opinion from my ex, he would get very rude and sarcastice with me, especially in front of our children and call me Boss or say, "Okay, Boss. You're the boss. You're always trying to step out of your place." I cringe when I think of the way his voice sounded, so haughty and so cruel.
  
  You should have reminded him that he needed to love and respect you as Christ loves the church. As husbands, we are to put your needs above all others and that includes the children. There are two parts to that section of scripture and weak, insecure men often ignore the whole context of the verses. They get that naturally though, from Watchtower leadership. LOL
  Rex
• 
  33

  Are You a Christian Because You Born in America?

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  follow this link and scroll down to the article, "solid ground".

  it explains the faulty logic of 'genetic fallacy'.

  learn from this site how to defend your belief against the logical errors typically used to dismiss christianity.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  Follow this link and scroll down to the article, "Solid Ground". It explains the faulty logic of 'genetic fallacy'. Learn from this site how to defend your belief against the logical errors typically used to dismiss Christianity.
  http://www.str.org/index.htm
  Rex
• 
  163

  The Bible...trust in Faith or trust in Fact?

  by jgnat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i read the most extraordinary claim the other day.

  "the bible is factual.

  " i wondered, how could the speaker possibly back up such a claim?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  Hi Little Toe,
  I did appreciate you telling me about the features that can be used to quote from previous posts but Firefox doesn't seem to have that. You said:
  >Interesting. Thanks for that. FYI I'm also of Calvinistic persuasion. Touching Revelation I am preterist with a dash of "personal revelation" (e.g. Armaggedon occurs in every believer's life).
  I take it that you are not a hyper-preterist? This is from their web site: "We believe Scripture teaches Christ would come again in that first century generation while some of His original disciples were still alive, to judge the living and the dead." in other words, there is no future return of any kind.
  http://www.preterist.org/whatispreterism.asp
  >There are so many biblical dichotomies - "Man's responsibility vs God's Sovereignty" being the classic Calvinist one. I tend to hold a "dual-view" on most subjects, that there is a human perspective and a perspective from "eternity" that are simultaneously true, yet held in tension.
  I think that is the most reasonable view also....here are a couple of good web sites:
  http://www.founders.org/
  http://www.str.org/index.htm
  God Bless,
  Rex
• 
  163

  The Bible...trust in Faith or trust in Fact?

  by jgnat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i read the most extraordinary claim the other day.

  "the bible is factual.

  " i wondered, how could the speaker possibly back up such a claim?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Shining One

  >I think the author may here have his eye on sarcastically discrediting this belief by using sóthésetai in this verse instead of some other synonym
  
  I never realized that before, thank you.
  Rex