well jesus has handed the kingdom back to jehovah and satan and his demons are dead forever... peace on earth.. great... a million years go by...the human brain would not hold even 1000 years of memories accurately... indeed the former things would not be called to mind but... 2 billion years... oh i's damn hot the sun is running out of hydrogen.... 5 billion years jehovah sit back laughing... we are all dead... unless we move away from earth... not only is the sun a red giant but andromeda has collided with the milky way and rendered our galaxy no longer a spiral galaxy.. navigation is impossible out there.. 2 trillion years.
oh ... if we existed.. we would have no idea theven is a universe.. the expansion is so far that we can't see beyond our own galaxy ... the heaven declare jehovah diminising glory.. 100 trillion years... the galaxy is gone... stars are burning out... in fact atoms are destabilizing... jehovah will need to remake us... likely in to positronium.... dark energy is so powerful we can feel it... assuming we have bodies anymore.... 100 to the 100 power years.... black holes evaporate away,...we have an almost 0 energy universe .. well except for dark energy which is now so powerful matter cannot exists.. 100 to the 200 power years... well there is no mater or energy except for the energy of the vacuum (quantum fluctuations) dark energy had literally torn this universe apart and assuming m theory... that it... jehovah and jesus laugh hysterically..
Not having answers for everything is the charm of life. I admire God for the situation that both the group feel comfortable--atheists and theists have got proofs to their satisfaction--which means there is harmony in disharmony.
If I were to know answers to all the questions, I will have no interest to live--it would be like watching an old recorded cricket match the result of which you already knew.
while visiting a still in friend last week we had an interesting discussion on narcissism.
he made a very interesting comment that got me thinking about the above.
we were discussing the nature of celebrity and fame and he mentioned that he would find it very difficult to cope with constant adulation and praise.
I disagree with you doubtfull1799
The idea that “He deserves constant praise and worship because he is the creator” is of human imagination, and such human thinking crept into the Bible writing because writers were inducting their own thinking (1Cor 7:10, 40).
However, God’s attitude must be discerned from the action and inaction of God. For example, He knows the existence of conflicted religions and their scriptures, also knows existence of order and disorder in the world—and HE does nothing to straighten it out. This shows He doesn’t want our praise. This has been hinted at in the famous comparison Jesus made God with sun in Mathew 5:44-48. Sun is a giver (of light and energy), it never receives anything from us. This is a repeat of what has already been declared in the Old Testament. (Psalm 84:11)
though bible made prophecies about “wars and rumors of war, famines and earthquakes, and persecution, hatred …” as signs of “last days” (mathew 24:6-11) which are neither specific nor extra-ordinary given the history of such events, it failed to foresee the positive development such as communication revolution (e.g.
tv, internet, mobile phone …) which is also favorable to preaching activity—the whole world can be preached to within a matter of hours.
[bible writers thought it would take at least 21 centuries for the whole world to be preached to.—mathew 24:14].
confusedalot,
I admire your deep sense of humor. Looking forward to more of it.
another inconsistency in wt theology:.
jw believe, when armegeddon comes, only jw will survive.
good news was preached in most areas and people could decide for or against god.
inbetween09,
Yes, it is really an inconsistency which I never thought of.
though bible made prophecies about “wars and rumors of war, famines and earthquakes, and persecution, hatred …” as signs of “last days” (mathew 24:6-11) which are neither specific nor extra-ordinary given the history of such events, it failed to foresee the positive development such as communication revolution (e.g.
tv, internet, mobile phone …) which is also favorable to preaching activity—the whole world can be preached to within a matter of hours.
[bible writers thought it would take at least 21 centuries for the whole world to be preached to.—mathew 24:14].
Though Bible made prophecies about “wars and rumors of war, famines and earthquakes, and persecution, hatred …” as signs of “Last Days” (Mathew 24:6-11) which are neither specific nor extra-ordinary given the history of such events, it failed to foresee the positive development such as communication revolution (e.g. TV, Internet, mobile phone …) which is also favorable to preaching activity—the whole world can be preached to within a matter of hours. [Bible writers thought it would take at least 21 centuries for the whole world to be preached to.—Mathew 24:14]
Even though global warming and subsequent sea-level rise are extremely favorable to eschatology which is one of the key subjects of Bible, still they find no mention in the Bible. Interestingly, more details are coming up with regard to this subject such as danger to the fishes in the sea: “Warmer waters increase fish's need for oxygen but climate change will result in less oxygen in the oceans. This means that gills have less oxygen to supply to a body that already grows faster than them. The researchers say this forces fish to stop growing at a smaller size to be able to fulfill their needs with the little oxygen available to them. Some species may be more affected by this combination of factors. Tuna, which are fast moving and require more energy and oxygen, may shrink even more when temperatures increase.”
a miracle is an event not explicable by natural or scientific laws.
bible reports many such miracles.
interestingly, responses to these reported miracles could be even labeled as a greater miracle which cannot be explained by any known law, logic or experience.
Drearyweather,
People who were really witnesses of miracles such as resurrection cannot be influenced against the performer of those miracles by things such as indoctrination, money, or threat ...
If people were indoctrinated against Jesus, then it would mean such great miracles have never taken place.
i'm not quite sure that this post fits under jws/wts since they do not keep up with real biblical scholarship, but i don't know where else to post it.. thomas a. robinson (university of lethbridge) has just published a book through oxford university press on the earliest christians, entitled who were the first christians?
: dismantling the urban thesis.
for some years the idea has dominated scholarship that christianity grew strongly at first in ancient cities like rome, alexandria, and corinth; the notion has been largely influenced by wayne meeks' (of yale) thinking in his book the first urban christians (1986).. i once saw a member here cite meeks' idea of how many christians existed in the roman empire.
Rome was the world power at that time, hence was in a position to influence history and even Bible writing. For example, The Greeks had named the days week after the sun, the moon and the five known planets, which were in turn named after the gods Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus, and had called the days of the week the Theon hemerai "days of the Gods". But Romans substituted their equivalent gods for the Greek gods, Mars, Mercury, Jove (Jupiter), Venus, and Saturn. (The two pantheons are very similar.)
Rome wanted a Christianity that should be submissive to it, hence used name of Jesus (who could have been known as a great teacher by then) to their advantage. Hence they ensured a Bible writing in which Jesus is seen as giving pro-Roman commands such as:
* “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you” (Mathew 5:11)
* “do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also; if anyone wants to … take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles (Mathew 5:39-41) …
Hence actual history of early Christianity may never be known!
jws advise that we should not take this illustration as literal saying things such as heaven and hell are not in close proximity so that both the inmates can speak to each other, dipping the tip of one’s finger in water would not be enough to put off one’s thirst …etc.. interestingly, jesus himself did not want his listeners to take this illustration literally or figuratively because he mixed both, hence wanted to get the message typical of any story.
if we were to take the illustration figuratively, who do “dogs that came and licked sores of lazar” symbolize?
also, the rich man in the story makes a powerful point when he says: ‘if someone from the dead is resurrected and speaks his surviving family members on earth, they will repent.’ (luke 16:27-31) the powerful logic used in this argument is to be literal, can’t be figurative because it concerns about literal death of a person and his resurrection.. those who are concerned about determining whether this illustration is literal or figurative miss the simple message of this story: god plays no role in the affairs of man and everyone can learn from experience (own or from others) that there is sowing and reaping, hence everyone is free to choose his destiny..
Religious founders leave behind simple truths which the religious leaders would complicate so that the readers miss the essence.
This has been the case with most of the religions. In the case of Bible, it started with Paul who openly admits: "I give this command (not I, but the Lord)"; "I think that I too have the Spirit of God." (1Cor 7:10, 40)
romans 4:5new international version (niv).
5 however, to the one who does not work but trusts god who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.. .
i need help to understand this scripture.
NJ5011,
It is Paul’s word, not God’s word (1 Cor 7:10, 40); hence there is no benefit trying to understand it.
[please feel free to share.].
forced to choose between beliefs and family.
“no one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds objectionable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family.” that statement appeared in an article entitled “is it wrong to change your religion?” in the july 2009 awake magazine, published and distributed widely by jehovah’s witnesses.. nearly everyone reading that statement would consider it to be mere common sense.
Anyone who believes shunning is right can never see anything right because that is the rock-bottom one can go in distorted view.
