I've been thinking about this the last few days and I think that no matter what I write, it will bring up more questions. Since most of you have a grasp of what the Bible says, I will try to offer an explanation as simple as I can make it without Biblical references. I think most of you will be able to figure out where the references are.
We were created in God's image. We know that a good image can be nothing more and nothing less than a slave to its source. God is good. God created us to reflect himself. When God said, “it was very good”, he meant simply that his creation was in agreement with himself. God rules through the medium of his word.
When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil by the word of the serpent, mankind no longer reflected God's image, died, and became the slaves of Satan. Did Jesus deny Satan's authority to give to him the kingdoms of the world? Mankind under the authority of God would not have known evil because nothing would have been in disagreement with God. I believe that if no one disobeyed the words of God, the least of the people in the world that reflected God's image would have been better off than the so called greatest in this world.
If no one had perfectly reflected the image of God, there would had been no escape of the sentence of God. Jesus as a man perfectly reflected the image of God by doing all that God the Father commanded him. It was God the Father's purpose for Jesus to be the sacrifice for those who desire to be reconciled to God. This sacrifice could not have been made by a person that did not perfectly reflect God's image because the debt owed for only himself is too great to be paid.
This is a simple explanation and I could go more in depth if anyone is interested.
Chap
Posts by Chap
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77What's the big deal with Jesus' "sacrifice"?
by bluesapphire inwhat was the big deal with that dam tree to begin with!
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Chap
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77
What's the big deal with Jesus' "sacrifice"?
by bluesapphire inwhat was the big deal with that dam tree to begin with!
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Chap
Hi,
I've been meaning to write down what I believe and why for my own personal reference for a while but haven't gotten around to it. bluesapphire's question gives me motivation to finally do it so thanks for asking. I find it tedious to write and it will take a bit to put my thoughts down in a way so others can understand them easily. So if you are interested, check back in a couple of days. I have never been a part of the JW organization and it saddens me to read on this site what many of you have gone through. I hope to be able to let you see through my eyes.
Chap -
136
If you dont believe in God...according to the bible you are a fool!
by Blackboo inthe fool has said in his heart there is no "god" how can this?
why do non-believers jump to such a conclusion?
i have notice many former witnesses have lost faith in god because of a a "religion" who didnt measure up to what it claims.
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Chap
I didn't read this whole thread... Maybe I didn't miss much. :)
I have a question for Cog. I am currently using Firefox and I don't see how to quote like I can in other boards.
"That's a really good suggestion. Blackboo, if every single time you have a thought about God or religion, you ask yourself "how do I know that" and "where did I first learn that" you will soon quickly realize that every single idea about God you have was taught to you by someone else. And everything they have told you was taught to them by someone else. Every single verse in the Bible that you believe is because someone else claims to have seen or experienced those events and told you the story of them. None of those things have you actually "experienced" for yourself.
That is the exact process by which I became an atheist, although it was unintended. I was first encouraged to use this type of questioning in science classes and nursing practice classes. Every single time I planned to take an action with a patient, I had to justify in my own mind, why I was taking this action. If it was based upon information from others, how did I know the information was accurate? How did I know whether it was from a credible source or not? What makes a source credible? Trustworthy? First I applied this type of questioning to the WTBTS and then to the Bible and then to my belief in God. I was an atheist in about two weeks time.
If you were to dismiss EVERYTHING that everyone ever told you and rely on ONLY what you have sensed and experienced in your own mind, you would not be able to reconcile a belief in God to your present and past experience. Try it. It is a mindbender for sure.
Cog" -
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Love your neighbor MORE than yourself???!! Is that possible?
by Fisherman inno doubt in my mind that jesus loved people more than himself.
got him killed.
is it posible for people to live their lives doing that?
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Chap
the dreamer dreaming wrote:
"Jesus said you must love your neighbor as yourself, but also said unless you hate yourself you cannot be his disciple-- so basically to love your neighbor means to hate him (^_^)
Luk 14:26
If any [man] come to me, and ***HATE*** not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." -
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Attn: JW's and Bible Students - Lets Discuss John 1:1
by lovelylil inthis verse came up on the thread about whether or not jesus is michael the archangel.
i wanted to discuss it in further detail on a new thread because i think raised on the other thread was an important point about how jw's and bs translate john 1:1.
1in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the word was god.. as we know the nwt adds an "a" to say "and the word was (a) god, when there is no support for this in the ancient greek manuscripts.
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Chap
"John 1:14 (KJV) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 20:24-29 (KJV) But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. [25] The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. [26] And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. [27] Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. [28] And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. [29] Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." I do not understand Greek so my observations/questions comes from reading other parts of English translations. I see that John 1:14 refers to (the Word) becoming flesh as Jesus. Is the word (properly translated) "a god" in 1:1 the same word "God" that Thomas believes in in verse 14:28? If it is, hasn't Thomas broken the first commandment?
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146
The Trinity... is it a false teaching as the WTBTS claims?
by Honesty inin the old testament god revealed himself to his chosen people, the israelites as i am:.
ex 3:14-15 - god replied to moses, i am who i am.
this is what you are to say to the israelites: i am .
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Chap
John 1 should be taken literally because that is clearly how it is stated. The passages in Exodus are similes.
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146
The Trinity... is it a false teaching as the WTBTS claims?
by Honesty inin the old testament god revealed himself to his chosen people, the israelites as i am:.
ex 3:14-15 - god replied to moses, i am who i am.
this is what you are to say to the israelites: i am .
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146
The Trinity... is it a false teaching as the WTBTS claims?
by Honesty inin the old testament god revealed himself to his chosen people, the israelites as i am:.
ex 3:14-15 - god replied to moses, i am who i am.
this is what you are to say to the israelites: i am .
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Chap
Genesis 1:26 (KJV)
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 3:22 (KJV)
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Genesis 11:5-7 (KJV)
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. [6] And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. [7] Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
I understand that in the original language, the word for Lord in these verses has a singular-plural meaning. If this is translated correctly, there would be room for a "God-Man" in a Jew's way of thinking if he was following the law and was thinking about what it meant while worshipping God. The New American Standard Version capitalizes: "Us" in these verses and "Our" in Genesis 1:26. I do not put much stock in the NWT but am curious as to how it reads in these verses. -
146
The Trinity... is it a false teaching as the WTBTS claims?
by Honesty inin the old testament god revealed himself to his chosen people, the israelites as i am:.
ex 3:14-15 - god replied to moses, i am who i am.
this is what you are to say to the israelites: i am .
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Chap
Didn't mean to scrunch this post. I reposted with a different format.
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7
why is it the more "facts" I question, the more "opinions" I discover?
by DavidChristopher ini have been seeing this more and more.
has anyone else?
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Chap
I don't know if this is what you are getting at but it seems that facts and opinions are becoming more synonomis (sp?) as people care less and less about the truth and more and more about elevating their opinions to reach their goals.