Posts by venus

10

Biblical gems

by venus in

though the trunk, branches and even most of the leaves of the bible tree make no sense, there are some leaves here and there which are like gems of high value, such as:.

1) “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” often mistaken as the law of retaliation is actually a beautiful foundation of a perfect judicial system because behind the details the essence is that any loss caused should perfectly and proportionately be compensated.

original writing of this law and its context are not relevant because jesus described them as those being orally transmitted (which makes random additions possible), not written (mathew 5:38-42).

venus

David_Jay

That's interesting.

10

Biblical gems

by venus in

though the trunk, branches and even most of the leaves of the bible tree make no sense, there are some leaves here and there which are like gems of high value, such as:.

1) “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” often mistaken as the law of retaliation is actually a beautiful foundation of a perfect judicial system because behind the details the essence is that any loss caused should perfectly and proportionately be compensated.

original writing of this law and its context are not relevant because jesus described them as those being orally transmitted (which makes random additions possible), not written (mathew 5:38-42).

venus

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho asked "no one is a sinner by birth" - is that true? What about Psalm 51:5?

Many have read in various scriptures that we are sinners from birth and heard scriptural characters saying: “The good I wish to do I do not do, but the bad I do not wish to do is what I do. What a wretched person I am!” or “This is the way God has made me” …etc. Reading such things people feel that sin is an inherited tendency—something normal!

But I would not agree because I find an avalanche of proofs against this. We find variety of people acting/reacting differently in same situation: Some do more righteous acts, some do more sinful acts, and others mix them in varying degrees, one-time sinners changing into saints, one-time saints changing into sinners, some very poor people who refuse to steal, and some very wealthy people who steal in various ways… etc. This shows people choose to act the way they like which means they are not sinners from birth—resulting in all sorts of people from sinless to the sinful ones. Interestingly, even Bible makes many references to some sinless persons who lived in the ancient times (Genesis 5:24; Job 1:8; Psalm 18:23; Ezekiel 14:14; Luke 1:6 …etc.) and human capacity to perform righteousness. (Habakkuk 2:4; Hebrews 10:38).

If we are not sinners from birth, when does sin arise?

Our experience shows that beliefs and attitudes are linked. For example, if one truly believes in the principle “one reaps what he sows”, he would not display a casual attitude towards life, but he would think before acting and be alert to do good to others and to avoid doing harm to others as far as possible. That means from beliefs, attitudes are formed; and from attitudes, thoughts are formed; from thoughts, action is produced; from repeated action, tendency and habit are produced which in turn determine one’s destiny. For example, a person steals for first time and he was not caught; then he goes on repeating it and a tendency to steal comes into existence. Similarly, a person chooses to give joy to others and stop giving sorrow to others, and he reaps accordingly which in turn makes him repeat the same and a tendency to do good comes into existence.

Thus tendency to commit sin/virtue begins from repeated action, not from birth. That means performance of an action and its repetition is result of choice people make. Bible describes king David who unwisely used this faculty of choice. From his palace when he looked down he saw his neighbor, a very beautiful woman, taking bath. Now he had two choices—either to immediately withdraw his eyes and mind and carry on with his duties as king or “to keep on looking at” that scene. Unfortunately, he chose the latter which kindled lust in him, and finally committed adultery with her and took her as his wife after deceitfully killing her husband even though he had many wives at that time. (2 Samuel, chapter 11) If he had simply withdrawn his eyes and mind as many have done, no sin would have been committed. (James 1:15)

If doing vice/virtue is out of choice, then it would mean no one is a sinner from birth, hence we cannot call anyone sinner. A person may sometimes get swelling on his leg and may have limped a few times—but he is never called lame. Similarly, a person may at times slip into selfishness and use his free-will to his own harm or to the harm of others—but this does not make him a sinner because the ability to perform virtuous acts also exists in him. If one’s occasional sinning does not make him a sinner, sin of another person such as his parents (immediate or distant) can also never make him a sinner.

10

Biblical gems

by venus in

though the trunk, branches and even most of the leaves of the bible tree make no sense, there are some leaves here and there which are like gems of high value, such as:.

1) “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” often mistaken as the law of retaliation is actually a beautiful foundation of a perfect judicial system because behind the details the essence is that any loss caused should perfectly and proportionately be compensated.

original writing of this law and its context are not relevant because jesus described them as those being orally transmitted (which makes random additions possible), not written (mathew 5:38-42).

venus

zeb,

You are right--analogy is superb. My point was to highlight looking behind the details and benefiting. When we read the Bible with the conditioned mind we may not benefit much. This is what happened to me till I read: ‘You have control over your thoughts. When you change your thoughts, your life changes!’ (Mathew 5:29; James 1:26; Phil 4:8) This great truth hides behind the those verses. Soon I understood that no one is a sinner by birth; hence Genesis account of original sin was not a historical and all the teachings built on that fiction is also useless.

20

How do they get away with "New Light"?

by moreconfusedthanever in

one thing that bothers me greatly is the fact that they can change their policies and beliefs and just say its "new light" and no one bats an eyelid.. there are many scriptures such as isaiah 40:8 "the word of god will last to time indefinite.

" or hebrews 6:18 "it is impossible for god to lie".

if he is "spirit directing" the borg then there should be no need for new light..

venus

It is like how some of the writers made the distinction of what is clean diet and what is unclean. Some of the clean diet described in Leviticus are now proved unhealthy and some of the unclean ones are now found to be healthy.

10

Biblical gems

by venus in

though the trunk, branches and even most of the leaves of the bible tree make no sense, there are some leaves here and there which are like gems of high value, such as:.

1) “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” often mistaken as the law of retaliation is actually a beautiful foundation of a perfect judicial system because behind the details the essence is that any loss caused should perfectly and proportionately be compensated.

original writing of this law and its context are not relevant because jesus described them as those being orally transmitted (which makes random additions possible), not written (mathew 5:38-42).

venus

Though the trunk, branches and even most of the leaves of the Bible tree make no sense, there are some leaves here and there which are like gems of high value, such as:

1) “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” often mistaken as the Law of Retaliation is actually a beautiful foundation of a perfect judicial system because behind the details the essence is that any loss caused should perfectly and proportionately be compensated. Original writing of this law and its context are not relevant because Jesus described them as those being orally transmitted (which makes random additions possible), not written (Mathew 5:38-42)

2) “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mathew 19:24) often mistaken as the anti-rich verse is actually a great verse that is in harmony with what we find in our experience. One who becomes rich in any one particular aspect (money-making, knowledge, art, talent, skill …etc) is often weak in many other aspects of life which invites problems making life (of his and others) a hell. Also, many who are exceptionally good in one aspect is often seen arrogant and treat others as good for nothing which also creates hell for him and others. Because they think their happiness depends on the validation of others, they often experience unhappiness. But if one views life as something to be enjoyed, relaxed—with nothing to “prove” and live in “the now” he is already in the Kingdom of God (Colossians 3:23; Luke 17:21)

13

Who is "The" Creator ? Jehovah or Jesus ?

by smiddy3 in

is jehovah the creator ?.

apparently jehovah created the "word" or "logos" ( jesus).

and he never created anything else according to bible scripture.. however the first born of creation the logos /jesus was used to create everything else in the material world.. so then isn`t jesus also a creator ?.

venus

This is nothing but obscurantism, and priestly class needed this tactics so that people were there always looking to them for information. If it is made clear, that is the end of flocks coming to them.

33

The Creation of Jesus

by berrygerry in

seeing a trinity thread.. can a jw apologist explain what (not who) is jesus?.

prior to the creation of everything 13.7 billion years ago (draw close book), jehovah created jesus as his firstborn, his only-begotten.. there was nothing else - no stars, no dust, no matter - just jehovah - and then, just jehovah and jesus.

so, what was jesus?.

venus

When somebody starts writing of scriptures, he has to start with something which cannot be taken literally, and looking into past infinite is only a guess. We need to go beyond the details and see the essence. Taking things literally often makes no sense. For example, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" is a law of retaliation if taken literally.

But if taken by its essence, it is so beautiful and meaningful because it forms the essence of a perfect judicial system. Here Bible is not talking about literal eye, tooth etc. It's all about any loss caused to you by someone else should perfectly be compensated.

2

An organization to dispense spiritual food?!

by venus in

seeing the existence of an organization of god (appointed to dispense spiritual food at the proper time) in the parable of mathew 24:45-51 is like trying to discern who the good samaritan is!

parable of good samaritan is all about how to be loving toward our neighbors whereas parable of mathew 24:45-51 is all about alertness as bringing good returns and carelessness as bringing bitter returns [which means everyone should learn from experience].

god’s ways are not like the ways of humans (unlike humans who responds to honor and dishonor, god is least bothered when he is honored or dishonored by humans).

venus

Seeing the existence of an organization of God (appointed to dispense spiritual food at the proper time) in the parable of Mathew 24:45-51 is like trying to discern who the good Samaritan is! Parable of good Samaritan is all about how to be loving toward our neighbors whereas parable of Mathew 24:45-51 is all about alertness as bringing good returns and carelessness as bringing bitter returns [which means everyone should learn from experience].

God’s ways are not like the ways of humans (unlike humans who responds to honor and dishonor, God is least bothered when He is honored or dishonored by humans). That means God would not go for an illogical option of appointing an organization to dispense spiritual food to others because there is no spiritual food that suits everyone. For example, there are many humans suffering in the world; yet suffering is also relative: A kid without much to eat and without a good hygiene in a third world country, may not feel that “experience” as suffering as a kid from the fist world country does. Suffering is only a part of life, yet what about the life itself? For most people, life is a struggle—a fight at many levels whereas for others life is to be enjoyed, relaxed—with nothing to “prove.”

Life has its own ways to teach a person!

10

Spiritual paradise is a heart condition and not connected to and ORG, that's what they said?

by Crazyguy in

according to a post over at reddit this was said at the annual meeting.

did anyone else hear this?

this is huge and very telling if they did actually say this.

venus

1) If they come out with this understanding, then JWs are really getting the truth hidden in the Bible and also with truth which we can experiment and find out. We are already endowed with the capacity to live as though in heaven. When we are fully focused on the now we live as though in heaven [for example, three hours in an examination hall are felt by us like three seconds; in contrast three hours waiting in the Airport when we have something urgent to do on arrival are felt by us like three days]. When we base our happiness on perfect behavior of others we live as though in hell because they cannot often rise to the level of our expectation as actions of others depend on many factors and forces often beyond their control. Even when we are wronged, we have the freedom to move ahead leaving the past where it belongs to and to fully focus on the now which again makes us live as though in heaven. Jesus reiterated this saying: “the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)

Jesus did mean Kingdom of God is “within” or “inside” us because he used the same Greek word in other unambiguous verses (such as Luke 11:39) where he says: “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” If one wants he can choose to make his life heaven or hell. It’s all within us because our mind is too wonderful that it can choose to be self-contented (like some of the poor people do) or greedy (like some of the rich people do) in any circumstances.

6

Watchtower policies Versus the Bible

by UnshackleTheChains in

i thought i would run a new kind of topic.

watchtower policies versus the bible .

to start off with.

venus

JWs have unwittingly sided with the older son of the parable