Posts by bebu

71

The "Left Behind" book series. Has anyone read the books?

by Yizuman in

jw
friends

has anyone read the "left behind" book series?

http://www.leftbehind.com .

yizuman.

bebu

Sort of.

I have been hearing people talk about them, raving about them, for a long time. I have just skimmed thru them a little.

Now I'm the church librarian, and I've had to stock the series. Someone recently donated another book called, "God's Wrath on the Left Behind Series", which summarized the books as being the anti-Christ! So apparently there are some Christians who don't feel too supportive of this series. Well, I declined to put that book on the shelf, although it did make some very good points about some sloppy theology in the LB books.

The authors have stated clearly that it is FICTION. Personally, I don't believe in "left behinders", but I'll let God decide all the if's and how's of a rapture. It is like arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. It makes me shiver a little when I hear that some folks think that this FICTION series is actually kind of a legitimate prophecy.

But I will say this: very good writing, for the most part of what I've skimmed thru. People who like fiction will probably enjoy this more than they expect. Good for the imagination--like Star Trek.

bebu

26

Is Jesus Dead?

by Tower Man in

since it's about that time of year, i have a new article on my site about the resurrection.

http://www.towertotruth.net/is_jesus_dead.htm

tower man

bebu

No. There's obvious differences.

That is a good question, though.

Luckily for you, I lost a very long (~~monotonous~~ and clever) reply to your question. Drat.

But I found an interesting compact answer online. This has also interesting overviews of Mohammed's example, Muslim nations, Apostates, and Women in Islam. Hope you find it as interesting as I did.

http://www.answering-islam.org/TWOR/peacepromoting.html

(Scroll down to the numbered areas for all the best info. Number 4 deals with History of Islamic Expansion.)

bebu

14

? for those who are anti-capital punishment

by StinkyPantz in

this question goes out to people who are against capital punishment under any circumstances.

i'm talkin' like even if you saw the crime on video, you still believe that cp is wrong because all life is sacred; or because god judges everyone not man.. i was just looking over spice's thread "could you kill?".

everyone so far has said that yes they would kill in order to protect family/friends.

bebu

Do I believe that I would seek vengeance upon someone who killed a member of my family?
Yes.

Isn't CP vengeance of a sort, except monitored by the state to ensure that emotional relatives don't go overboard in taking the law into their own hands, in a sense? I think that in ages past, vengeance has had a tendency to get out of hand when it was taken by relatives.

Family members of victims of murders cannot legally seek vengeance. They demand that the state give it to them thru CP. For them, it means justice. Perhaps that is why it persists.

Just thinking...

bebu

26

Is Jesus Dead?

by Tower Man in

since it's about that time of year, i have a new article on my site about the resurrection.

http://www.towertotruth.net/is_jesus_dead.htm

tower man

bebu

I concede that even had Christianity not been adopted by the Roman Empire, it might still somehow have survived, but there is no reason to believe so..

You are right. There is no reason. ...Unless God is behind it.

Christianity was thriving even during the Roman persecutions of the first centuries, not just surviving, as you imply.

Also consider:

Christianity is NOT related to the traditional religions of China, has NOT been adopted by its government. European missionary efforts there began mostly with Hudson Taylor, around 1865. There were about 227 million people in China and 581 missionaries by 1887. The rate of Christianity's growth was negligible--perhaps to 1% of the population by 1950, when Communism entered as government.

Quickly, all foreign missionaries were expelled and some were executed. National Christians were pressured to recant or face imprisonment, re-education, and/or death. What's left of the scant church was driven underground, while the Chinese gov't created a parody of Christianity, the Three-Self Church. This Communist-party church borrowed whatever suited its purposes from the Bible, like obeying leaders, etc., and forbade teaching Christ as a resurrected King who is coming again (they just didn't like the thought of competition). The "priests" are appointed by the government, and these priests must act like spies to report any real individual spiritual devotion that develops to the Party.

What is the number of Christians in China, today? Reliable estimates put it at at least 10% of 1 billion people. Ten years ago, for every 50 days that passed, another 1 million Chinese became Christian. (At that rate, in less than 1 year the WT's current membership would be reached) It is still mostly underground, but very active. There are more Christians in China right now than are members of the Chinese Communist party. There might be more Christians there than in the US.

There were no knife-point conversions here, in fact, it has been the opposite. Christians are still regularly arrested and beaten, and occasionally beaten to death (some provinces have tougher cops than others.) People who print or distribute Christian literature (that isn't printed by the communist party--which, by the way, only prints one Christian magazine for all of the registered Chinese Christians to show to any visiting foreigners) are also imprisoned for years. They lose their apartments and jobs. I've met and talked with folks who were tortured there within the last ten years.

Now, if Christianity is always bound to die except for sponsoring governments, it should have stayed within the Western World, and never thrived where people are threatened to remain unconverted at knifepoint. It seems strange to see that many times it grows even better in these conditions.

So, logically, you are right--there is no reason to suspect that it would survive. But history keeps showing that it does not just survive, but illogically thrives.

Why? My thoughts turn back to the Bible.

Daniel 9:35 But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

Psalm 118:22, 23:

`The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes' ?

PS 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.

ISA 43:13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?

MATT 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Acts 22:38 (Gamaliel speaking) "Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. [39] But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

bebu

26

Remodeling the Kingdom Hall

by sandy in

jw
friends

i always wondered why we remodeled our kh.

there wasn't really anything wrong with it.

i could see painting or putting in new carpet when needed.

bebu

ROFL at the WTBS being the second insurers!!!

What great irony!

bebu

22

Why Doesn't The WT. Get Embarrassed When They Talk About The Pharisees?

by minimus in

jw
friends

.

one thing that i could never figure out was how the society could rail against the scribes and pharisees and not blink an eye.

what's up with that?

bebu

Thanks for the excerpt, Nina. That's a refreshing translation, especially compared to the NWT, which always reads so wooden and weird.

bebu

51

Interesting Tidbits

by Xena in

jw
friends

after reading the thread about posing in the nude, i was suprised to see how many people on here had done that....made me start to wonder what other interesting tidbits (hence the title of this thread) i didn't know about my fellow posters.

so what interesting or unusual thing have you done or been or seen in your life?

posed in the nude?

bebu

There's some music talent in my family, especially in my dad.

My dad is a fairly successful jazz musician. He's now touring with a jazz band around the world--wish I could fit into the suitcase. He has perfect pitch, plays along with the radio, plays any instrument (but excels on wind instruments), and sings beautiful tenor. (I might add that all my girlfriends adored him--he looked a bit like Alan Alda during MASH years. He also had the most wonderful temperament, very patient and kind. A perfect dad, in my book.)

When he retired from his career of teaching music 3 years ago, there was a 2-hour concert by his students playing music pieces he'd composed over his career. It was a lot like Mr. Holland's Opus. Near the end of the concert, my 3 brothers and 3 sisters and I all came out with straw hats and dixie-land style garb, as a surprise for dad, and we played a couple of jazz tunes--tunes my dad had arranged for us to play while we were growing up. (My two youngest brothers are total prodigies--a drummer and a bass guitarist--and they were just in/barely out of high school; one sister is a commander of the national guard's army band, and she's a killer trombone player; the others were on trumpet, clarinet, and sax, playing much better than me! I faked on piano--it'd been too long.) Anyway, we pull my dad in for the second number, and he pulled out all stops in improvising. He played clarinet.

...Now I know why performers perform: when you succeed, and the audience is on their feet and cheering before the song is even done, it can make you decide that this just might be a profession to follow! And it was the first time ever, believe it or not, that ALL of us (7 kids and dad) had ever played together at the same time, since there is quite an age difference between my youngest brothers and the rest of us.

I've experienced more earthquakes than I can count, between Japan, California, and Washington. Hope I've met my quota.

Oh, one crazy thing. There was a girl from Taiwan, a TV "idol", who was a singing prodigy like Charlotte Church. She came to Japan for vacation, and visited a friend of mine. (Nobody in Japan knew who she was, so she was able to relax very well.) I happened to visit during this time, and they asked me to accompany her on guitar for a song or two. This was very strange for me, because at that time I was better at classical guitar, and I really didn't do too well, 'cause I avoid playing before others. But she was very sweet, and it was an almost surreal experience.

bebu

26

Is Jesus Dead?

by Tower Man in

since it's about that time of year, i have a new article on my site about the resurrection.

http://www.towertotruth.net/is_jesus_dead.htm

tower man

bebu

Simple, huh?

Not for me!! But I don't think that not understanding God is hardly proof against Him.

"Many a long dispute among divines may be thus abridged: It is so. It is not so. It is so. It is not so."--Benjamin Franklin ...

There are things that shouldn't be possible at all either from the logical/scientific point of view. Ex: despite the staggering odds against life in the universe, it exists. To whom do I complain that I should not logically be here?

I believe that the resurrection of Christ is a miracle that has enough evidence behind it to support its veracity. It makes no sense for me to look elsewhere for a religous/philosophical base until someone (Francois?) can give convincing prove that Jesus is still cold and dead.

Funky, if the resurrection of Christ is true, then nothing is stopping God on the way to allowing His message of forgiveness to be heard everywhere in the world. God let great miracles accompany the believers--this gave the church better momentum than Constantine. Persecutions from outside or even inside the church hasn't stopped this message. The blood of martyrs has been the seed of the church, not Constantine.

God says concerning Cyrus (a Persian who wasn't Jewish, but who would rebuild the temple):

ISA 45:4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me.

God is not limited in whom He uses for His good purposes. Why did God involve Cyrus?--He could surely have used another method. ...Why Constantine? I dunno. (But if the WT also reviles him because of doctrinal issues, perhaps he wasn't all that bad... )

I don't understand God. But I am convinced of these two things nonetheless: God is good, and Jesus is alive.

bebu

26

Is Jesus Dead?

by Tower Man in

since it's about that time of year, i have a new article on my site about the resurrection.

http://www.towertotruth.net/is_jesus_dead.htm

tower man

bebu

Don't you see a connection between the two?

I'm sorry, Funky, I'm kind of thick-headed. Are you saying that my conversion is directly related to Constantine's methods? ?

God allows for lots of crazy things, but that doesn't mean He puts His stamp of approval on everything that happens.

I think Constantine was probably syncretistic himself. Many of his actions belie some major misunderstandings of Jesus' teachings. He was a bit like Nebuchadnezzar, in a sense, who, after the 3 exiled Jews got thrown in the fiery furnace--and survived--made a really strict decree:

DAN 3:29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.

I can't be confident that God endorsed Neb's words, but they do reflect his zeal and his culture's method of working with gods. One would hope that Constantine understood better, but it doesn't really seem to show.

But again, I don't have to wonder about Constantine. The mystery is why God allows anyone who calls themselves a Christian to ever sin, in either big or little ways. We're such a total liability!

bebu

24

Religions are supposed to breed happiness. Why do they not do that?

by SpannerintheWorks in

jw
friends

from the jw's to the catholics, happiness is promised!

religions are supposed to breed happiness.

spanner

bebu

Sorry Spanner, I still think your premise is flawed as far as "religion" being supposed to breed happiness. (It makes an interesting thread title, though.)

I think you might have a point with the JWs--not with the Catholics, as in your first post. When the WT advertises dubs as the "happiest people in the world", then it is, in my opinion, making a claim--a claim that falls flat. I haven't met a Catholic who advertised Catholicism as making them happy, but then again, I'm on the left coast. Maybe they should just say, they are happy to be Catholics/Baptists/JWs, rather than their religion "breeds" happiness (in general).

I don't know if Islam claims to make people happy. Muslims do enjoy many aspects of their faith, of course, but I think it makes people anxious, actually, since everyone is still quietly wondering if they will balance over 50 good on the Scales of God at judgement. (Lowest passing score to reach Paradise is 51%.) I've read comments by former Muslims, and according to them, this anxiety motivates the constant religious works--even martyrdom. They have strong faith in God (Allah), but there is no way to be assured this side of heaven that they will not be saved.

(BTW, two odd similarities b/w Islam and JW: 'Paradise' without God's presence, and God is constantly billed as "compassionate" but really comes across as desperately wanting to completely annihilate at everyone...)

The Sokka Gakkai branch of Buddhism is an interesting one. I've had friends in college and Japan who say that it makes them extremely happy and relieved, since they don't have to follow any "rules" at all; just chant for peace, and whatever else they personally want. When they get it, they are very happy. If they don't get what they want, they still have comfort from chanting. This branch of Buddhism is an unusual one, I should add.

More traditional Buddhism seems to be a religion of resignation. So does Hinduism, in my view. There's not much to hope for, and once you figure that out and come to terms with understanding this, well, you have a measure of peace and happiness (of a sort). This is just my observation and interpretation from personal conversations. But I don't think that Buddhism or HInduism aggressively promotes themselves as ways to happiness, except when you see serene statues of the Buddha and Bodhisatvas, or see the Dalai Lama smiling calmly. There is an inference to serenity.

Pagan religions are not usually complicated--they are, at heart, frameworks of keeping out of the wrath of gods or demons or gaining wealth or health; not breeding happiness. Our Chinese international student was terrified of cemeteries and was extremely superstitious when she first arrived--though she called herself a Christian. At this point, she has a fuller idea of faith, and I think she is relieved to not live in constant fear of demons now (like dubs do). I'd say that's a nice perk of her faith. She seems a lot happier to me now, to be honest with you, but I don't think pursuing happiness was her original motivation for becoming a Christian. I think she was looking for something that could REALLY be more powerful than the demonic forces she'd experienced earlier in her life, with an aunt who was a medium...

I think that people are attracted to religions that offer them hope, or something positive. And hope gives a person relief from fear. Comfort is a nicer state than anxiety.

blahblahblah. Sorry.

bebu