yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.
we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.
they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.
cofty
DD - I fail to see the connection between my views on Hell and the topic of this thread. I am discussing ONLY "natural evil". Suffering caused by bad things that are not a result of the actions of other humans.
If there were no hell, (as you say you taught as a "christian"), who suffered? Death would end all suffering. Or are we talking about the suffering of those who survived?
This thread appears to be more about your personal suffering on that day, than the people who died.
yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.
we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.
they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.
Cofty
All this talk (124 pages so far) about suffering? You've said in the past on this board that you were a "christian" who never believed in suffering after death. Are you saying NOW that you actualy believed in eternal suffering?
This thread is very specifically about how to reconcile the omnipotent, loving god of christian theism with the events of 26th December 2004.
I will not allow it to go off-topic no matter how many pages long it is.
You need to be much more specific as to why the deaths of these people are different than all the others that die every second (average about 2) of every day (over 150,000).
Did YOU know any personaly?
Simon
And of course, if you didn't follow along with the belief that the end was coming in 1975 then you were considered an apostate. Now you are an apostate if you remind anyone they ever said it.
Well said.
I think of it sort of like a stone.
Jos 24:27 "See!" he said to all the people. "This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God."
yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.
we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.
they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.
We know. Your god has no morals.
Your god "moralism" has no love, and yet you still worship it. Is it any wonder?
yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.
we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.
they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.
Only 118 pages?
The question is NOT about suffering in general. It isn't about suffering caused by accidents or disease. It isn't about suffering caused by the actions of other humans.
It is specifically about the events of 26th December 2004.
That’s the problem with the little plan"B" god of moralism, he/it can be put in a moral box.
If you want to get specific, you need to get to know every detail of each and every person involed in the events of that day. I don't believe there is ONE single reason for the suffering of that day. I'm sure there are more reasons than people involved, and it had a different impact on every single one.
My sovereign God has His own reasons for every detail of every human being. If you think you have the time and bandwidth to discuss each and every one ( I know I don't), knock yourself out.
i often wonder how does the average jw get past the obvious words at romans 12:1.
"present yourself...acceptable to god, with your power of reason".
the very essence of being a witness is to switch off your thinking reasoning, and just blindly follow the gb?.
Sir82
Sorry for the confusion. My original point was that the NWT is misleading. I don’t think that the idea of the phrase “YOUR power of reason.” was ever intended in the text.
Look at the ESV
Rom 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
The caps thing was just an unconnected side note and another example (as Data Dog pointed out) of how the GB tries to do the thinking for Joe JW.
i often wonder how does the average jw get past the obvious words at romans 12:1.
"present yourself...acceptable to god, with your power of reason".
the very essence of being a witness is to switch off your thinking reasoning, and just blindly follow the gb?.
sir82
That may be how THEY explain it:)
Don't you think that that was the GB doing the thinking for the reader in the older NWT?
Corporate you and yours vs personal.
Data Dog
EVERYTHING THEY DO IS TO PREVENT JWs FROM SEEING THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN.
You nailed it!
i often wonder how does the average jw get past the obvious words at romans 12:1.
"present yourself...acceptable to god, with your power of reason".
the very essence of being a witness is to switch off your thinking reasoning, and just blindly follow the gb?.
stuckinarut2
For starters, even that translation (NWT) is twisted by the GB.
Consequently I entreat YOU by the compassions of God, brothers, to present YOUR bodies a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with YOUR power of reason.
I think it's interesting that they put YOU and YOUR in caps, something that is usually reserved for God, to imply deity in most bible translations.
when people willfully believe something without evidence, or contrary to evidence, are they neglecting thier moral responsibility?
so many people say faith is a virtue but i just can't comprehend why anyone would think that.
.
Faith is neither moral or immoral?
It's what/who it's placed in that determines "morality"
they say horses communicate with their ears.
mr. ed talked, though.
pet owners, do you think that your cat or dog or goldfish really understands you?.
Min
As a dog trainer the answer is yes and no. It depends on what you mean by “Truly Understand” and what animals you are talking about.
I’ve seen dogs with the ability to react to words printed on flash cards, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it reading or understanding the actual words. I credit it to both a very smart dog and a very good trainer.
