Posts by venus

5

Faithful and discreet “slave” is very apt name!

by venus in

i found it difficult to digest the word (“slave”) jesus supposedly used to refer to his appointees on earth to dispense spiritual food on earth.

(mathew 24:45) why not a better word, something positive in view of the fact that jesus came to free us?

freedom is the absence of physical and mental boundaries or restrictions.

venus

Bopcat,

That's interesting: question is directed to all Christians.

5

Faithful and discreet “slave” is very apt name!

by venus in

i found it difficult to digest the word (“slave”) jesus supposedly used to refer to his appointees on earth to dispense spiritual food on earth.

(mathew 24:45) why not a better word, something positive in view of the fact that jesus came to free us?

freedom is the absence of physical and mental boundaries or restrictions.

That is an interesting thought. Adopting a name and going exactly opposite to it is of worldly spirit. It reminds me of William Shakespeare who wrote: ‘What's in a name?’ because many names and words have lost their meaning. For example, a city is named Los Ángeles which means 'the angels' (in Spanish). The word religion (from religare, Latin) which originally meant re-uniting (or reestablishing bond between God and humans and between humans) is now synonym for divisiveness and conflicts.

5

Faithful and discreet “slave” is very apt name!

by venus in

i found it difficult to digest the word (“slave”) jesus supposedly used to refer to his appointees on earth to dispense spiritual food on earth.

(mathew 24:45) why not a better word, something positive in view of the fact that jesus came to free us?

freedom is the absence of physical and mental boundaries or restrictions.

venus

I found it difficult to digest the word (“slave”) Jesus supposedly used to refer to His appointees on earth to dispense spiritual food on earth. (Mathew 24:45) Why not a better word, something positive in view of the fact that Jesus came to free us?

Freedom is the absence of physical and mental boundaries or restrictions. Physical freedom is when you enjoy freedom of movement. Mental freedom is when you are free to choose and make your own decisions. However, “Faithful and discreet slave” class find themselves restrained when it comes to their vital duty of imparting spiritual food. They know hanging on to the year 1914, Bible verses such as 1 John 5:19 (which they apply against voting, defense service …) are all senseless, yet they are not free to think differently. That means they experience no freedom, hence are “slave,” still controlled by short-term goals which mean slavery to ego.

True freedom, however, is internal. In true freedom, one would love to say “Today is the first day of the rest of my life; the past isn’t important, for, from today onward, I can change; and I very well know that God is pleased when I give Him my mistakes.”

14

What do scriptural contradictions convey?

by venus in

any book that claims to be god’s word should have the minimum qualification of clarity.

if any of its verses are open to many interpretations, it cannot be god’s word.

god can easily be crystal clear as traffic police who puts traffic signals (red means stop, green means start …etc.

venus

smiddy,

The fact that God doesn't take measures to correct the scriptures or He is not bothered to unify religions shows that scriptures and religions are not His. He knows very well that people know what is right and wrong, hence why should people be given external guidance?

For example, many lick the shoes of those from whom they expect some benefits, and kick the feet of those from whom they expect no benefits--we find its varying degree among people.

11

Speaking of the 144,000...................

by The Fall Guy in

...........why would an all-powerful christ, whom the bible describes as having been given "all authority", need 144,000 other king/priests as "helpers" to run his universal organization?

(matthew 28:18) .

1 corinthians 15:25 - "for he [not 144,000] must rule as king until god has put all enemies under his feet.".

venus

When humans write scriptures they can think only in terms of their experience. They have observed a King being assisted by a selected group of people, hence they chose a number:144000. They ignore the fact Almighty does need the help of humans to restore what has been lost.

17

The Witneses reckon that they are the only ones going door-to-door!

by Bungi Bill in

i just had a visit from two guys who are engaged in a door-to-door campaign in the area, preaching "the gospel", and offering, to quote "the best news you are ever going to hear".

this was at 3:30 pm local time, an hour at by which all jws would have long called it a day.

while these two didn't identify themselves with any particular church group, it was quite obvious that they were neither jws or lds.

venus

When means of communication have been radically changed, still resorting to 2000-year old house-to-house means of communication is like saying: Jesus used a boat to cross the river, and now also I will use boat even though there is an express-high-way-bridge going over the same river.

Even preaching activity itself is not the sign of a true religion (Mathew 7:21-23), if so, how can its means of being carried out be the sign of true religion?

14

What do scriptural contradictions convey?

by venus in

any book that claims to be god’s word should have the minimum qualification of clarity.

if any of its verses are open to many interpretations, it cannot be god’s word.

god can easily be crystal clear as traffic police who puts traffic signals (red means stop, green means start …etc.

venus

Saename,

Not only contradictions, even other assertions carry inherent contradictions. For example, you know that something against demand-and-supply mechanism will not happen—if someone says “when supply of gold exceeds and becomes superfluous like sand in the desert, its price will increase” no one will agree. Similarly, Can a father exalt one child (Jesus) over others, or one nation (Israel) over others? Can a nation that experienced a great miraculous escape soon turn into calf worship telling a single calf idol: ‘You are our gods, who brought us up out of Egypt’? (Exodus 32:4) Can a nation that experienced millions of miracles from Jesus soon turn to be so mad as to demand “Kill Jesus, and release for us Barabbas!” which would bring them no benefit at all? (Luke 23:18) Yet these are not just isolated verses, but are the very pillar on which the whole Bible is built!

14

What do scriptural contradictions convey?

by venus in

any book that claims to be god’s word should have the minimum qualification of clarity.

if any of its verses are open to many interpretations, it cannot be god’s word.

god can easily be crystal clear as traffic police who puts traffic signals (red means stop, green means start …etc.

venus

Any book that claims to be God’s word should have the minimum qualification of clarity. If any of its verses are open to many interpretations, it cannot be God’s word. God can easily be crystal clear as Traffic Police who puts traffic signals (RED means STOP, GREEN means START …etc.) Not to mention are the contradictions. If I find contradictions, I conclude this way: “These contradictory verses are written by two different schools of thought with each one having beliefs-system opposed to each other, and have nothing to do with God.”

That means verses such as the following verses are purely of human origin:

1) We are saved by faith alone without works (Romans 3:20, 28; 5:1) x A man is justified by works, and not by faith only (James 2:24)

2) Thou shalt not kill. (Exodus 20:13) x kill every man his brother…companion…neighbor. (Exodus 32:27)

3) Death came to all people, because all sinned… (Romans 5:12) x Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death. (John 8:51)

4) To Pilate Jesus “answered never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly… (Matthew 27:13-14) x Jesus answered Pilate, saying … (John 18:33-34)

5) He who is not with me is against me (Mathew 12:30) x Whoever is not against us is for us (Mark 9:40)

30

Finds in Jerusalem shore up biblical account of Babylonian conquest (586 BCE date)

by Hecce in

this is a nice article about archaeological finds, what caught my attention is the use of 586 bce as the date for the destruction of jerusalem.. according to biblical descriptions, in 586 bce, the babylonian king nebuchadnezzar vanquished the judaean king zedekiah and razed his capital city, jerusalem.

the babylonian captain of the guard nebuzaradan was dispatched into the city, where, as told in the book of jeremiah, he “burned the house of the lord, and the king’s house; and all the houses of jerusalem, even every great man’s house, burned he with fire.”.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-jerusalem-finds-shore-up-biblical-account-of-babylonian-conquest/.

venus

It is a matter of time that WT society would make this significant change: "The generation of 1935 (585 years of BC + 1935 years into AD = 2520 years) will not pass away until all these things occur."

46

Believers: How do you know your view of your chosen holy book is the correct one?

by punkofnice in

don't start fighting, darlings.

i am genuinely curious.

after all i was a jobo 50 years and thought the wbt$ was 100% correct.. i ask this because i see that, for example, christian denominations (or whatever), likely have differing interpretations of the same writing.

venus

Any scripture that is open for various interpretations cannot originate from God. If I were born in Saudi Arabia, I would have believed their scripture is naturally my scripture.