In order to understand why God told Moses to put a snake on the pole and the people to look at it to be healed,you have to read some other chapters of the Old and New Testaments. In Deuteronomy it say "cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree." The bible says in Galatians that Jesus took away the curse of sin by being made a curse for us. That serpent(which is a cursed symbol) on that pole was symbolic of Jesus being crucified on the cross. By looking toward that curse and believing, the Israelites would be healed from the curse of sin just as we are today when we look to Christ believingly and trust in his sacrifice. All of this stuff about a goddess is pure made up fiction.
Posts by demar
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21Did God make the ancient israelites also worship a goddess?
by avishai inever heard about the "goddess" the ancient hebrews worshipped?
asherah?
funny, how the jews were'nt supposed to have other gods or graven images, but there it is, right there in exedous , i believe, the israelites were wandering around in the desert & started to get bit by snakes.
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Jesus was gay - says academic
by ISP injesus was gay - says academic
jesus was gay and so were at least three of his 12 disciples, according to an australian academic.. .
dr rollan mccleary said jesus's astrological chart, clues in the scriptures and biblical translations, all played a part in his conclusions.. in a forthcoming book, he attempts to present st john's gospel in a new light to back up his claims, reports the herald sun.. dr rollan mccleary, a university of queensland phd graduate who now lives in melbourne, has just been awarded his doctorate for a thesis on gay spirituality.. an anglican and a qualified reader of astrological charts, dr mccleary said the planet uranus figured prominently in jesus's astrological chart, as it did with many gays..
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demar
People will do or say anything to justify their sinful lifestyle. I don't know who this idiot is but anyone who looks to stars(trillions of miles away)and planets(millions of miles away)as a guide for truth about ones life they need serious psychological help. First of all let me say it is a historical fact that Jesus walked this earth. Flavius Josephus, Seutonias, Pliny the younger were all historians who lived during the time of Jesus, and they all wrote about him. And may I add that they were all enemies of the faith but they were honest historians who had to report the truth. Secondly Jesus(being a teacher of the law) taught that woman was made for man and that only men and women are to marry. The apostle Paul(like all of the bible) condemns homosexuality in places such as Romans 1, I Corinthithians,and Timothy. It is against Gods created order and an abomination. Only a person who has rejected the truth of the word of God would come to such a bonehead conclusion.
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Scientology: Who's out?
by Swan ini don't usually follow celebrity gossip, but i saw this headline on msn and followed the link.. http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=119692.
scientology shuffle.
nicole kidman and lisa marie differ on the church.
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demar
I dont even see why they use the word christian scientist. They deny that Christ came in the flesh, which is said in the epistles of John to be Anti-Christ.
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Religions are supposed to breed happiness. Why do they not do that?
by SpannerintheWorks infrom the jw's to the catholics, happiness is promised!
religions are supposed to breed happiness.
spanner
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demar
First of all lets define religion. Religion is mans way of trying to reach God on his own merit. While true christianity(which is faith in Christ)teaches God reached down to man and has accomplished everything himself. Love and happiness is only found in truth. We experience shame because we know we are guilty of living on our own terms. Thats why no matter how good you try to live you always feel like it's not good enough, and your right. Without Christ all religions are the same. They all lead to God in judgement. Jesus said,"happy is the man who hears my words and obeys." No man can ever experience true happiness and joy apart from Christ.
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How many out here.....
by tazmaniac inhow many out here know a loved one or know of someone who suffers from depression and it is from being in the borg and never feel you are doing enough.
my ex wife would always lapse into a few month state of depression right after a visit from the c/o and getting pounded on about f/s hours or not enough studies or not enough pioneers yadda yadda yadda.
i know with my ex that the constant fear of armageddon and feeling inadequate was a depression trigger ready to be pulled at any instant.
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demar
you know the whole problem witn jw's being depressed is they feel they can never do enough to please God, and they're absolutely right! The Watchtower organization has a works-oriented salvation plan. They think if they go door to door passing out awake magazines and evangelizing and giving money and doing as much work as they can that somehow that will merit them salvation and favor with God. But the bible says,"By grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves lest any man should boast. The Bible says before you are saved your works are as filthy rags,because they are unsanctified and unblessed. God demands 100% perfection, and since he knew no one would ever be able to live a perfect life without sinning he sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay the sin debt(remember theres no remission of sins without the shedding of blood)in our place for our sins. So when you believe and trust in that sacrifice and resurrection ,his righteousness is credited to our account as if we never sinned! Jw's think they can go straight to Jehovah without the mediator Christ Jesus. Thats why they teach you can't be born again. But the Lord Jesus says,"Unless a man be born again he won't see the kingdom or enter it. My question to the Jw is, if you won't see the kingdom or enter it as Jesus says in John 3, what part do you have in it?
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Is the baby being thrown out with the bath water?
by Chap inif god spoke to a man and told him to write down what he said, how are we to distinguish this writing from other people who say god spoke to them?
we know the human beings can lie about anything for any reason.
if a writing supposedly contains prophesy, some say it wasn't prophesy and was written after the fact.
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demar
well first of all God is not giving any new revelation to anyone. Hebrews says"In these last days he has spoken by his Son. The bible is the complete authorative word of God. God doesn't have to speak audibly because he has put everything we need to know in scripture. Now how do we know if someone is speaking for God? Well we compare what they say to scripture. If it contradicts scripture we know its a lie. The bible says men wrote as they were moved(inspired) by the Holy Spirit. It also says that God is the author of scripture not man. That no prophecy of scripture orginated in man but came from God. Now you and I know that there is no way a man can predict events 100's and even 1000's of years before it happens! Yet even by secular history the bible has been proved true. Only someone who is omniscient and all powerful would no things before it happens. Hey most of you people who don't believe the bible have a problem with your will. Its not that you can't believe its that you won't believe. Before you downtalk something why not check the evidence. Pick up a bible and read
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Hey Happy Easter folks!!! Will you be celebrating?
by ISP inwill you be celebrating?
do you go for the chocolate eggs!?
i gotta to work out where to hide some for the kids!.
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demar
I celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the fact that he is the Son of the living God. But as for easter I did not because it stems from paganism.The bunnies the eggs and all the commercialization is pagan to the core. Now that might be fun for the kids(easter egg hunts and dyeing eggs)but isn't teaching your children the truth more important than giving them a false view to have fun?
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Dino cancer
by peacefulpete ini have been reading about dinosaurs and other contemporaneous animals and have repeatedly encountered examples of physical malformation (diseased or deformed bone and teeth)and evidence of bone cancer over 100 million years ago.
does this not refute the position held by jws that disease resulted from adam's sin?
comments?
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demar
this is one time I will agree with the witnesses on this subject. First of all the earth is not as old as you think it is. Its only about 7000 years old. Scientist have found human footprints alongside dinosaur prints and inside dinosaur prints. this goes right along with the creation concept in Genesis. God did make animals first then Adam. And after God made everything he said it was good. So there was no death and sickness before the fall. But God told Adam the day he sinned he would die not only physically but spiritually and he introduced evil into the world. If you read genesis youll notice that all animals and humans were to be herbivores. But after the fall you have animals killing each other and man having to kill animals for meat. Just one more thing, did you ever wonder how dinosaur fossils have been found on the top of mountains?(The Great Flood) Now if the bible states this physical fact and you dont believe it how will you ever believe spiritual things like sin and evil that the bible proclaims?
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Why Catholics?
by playdrums injust a question about the vitriol aimed at the catholic church from the wtbs- .
i understand (but disagree) with the "doctrinal" aspect of the attacks leveled at the catholic church by the wtbs - it's the great harlot, etc.
i'm more interested in getting to the bottom of the real reason they target catholics so strongly.
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demar
you know I find it funny how the watchtower ridicules the catholic church about christmas being the birth of christ and not having any doctrinal support for that date. But doesnt give any scriptural documentation for the so called year 1928 when heaven was closed, and only 144000 people were getting in. I wonder do you witnesses have any idea where that teaching comes from? Well I'll tell you because you're elders won't. During a speech in Washington D.C Judge Rutherford(your 2nd president) said he had a revelation that heaven was closed and no one else was getting in. Thats it! No scripture proof, no proof that he was inspired when making that speech, zilch! While the bible in revelation says there was a number no man could number of people and men from every kindred and every tongue and every tribe are there. Tell me is better to believe God or man?
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JW Parents refuse to have 8yr old back after transfusion
by ISP in25 jan 1996 : column 1162to the noble baroness, lady faithfull, if this was a matter with which she had to deal.
i do so because it actually happened in oxford.
the child of two jehovah's witnesses aged eight was knocked down, severely injured and was bleeding to death.
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demar
you know all of this stuff about blood and the watchtower comes from eisegesis of scripture. The whole blood issue in the old testament was about eating animal blood. When a person gets a blood transfusion the body does not receive the blood as food. Any doctor will tell you that. Food is eaten and digested. Blood is not. the bible says that the life is in the blood.,therefore a person lacking blood is lacking life. when you donate blood your helping replenish life to someone. And by the way I dont care what an elder tells you the only unforgivable sin in the bible is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Thus says the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now in the new testament in the book of Acts it says to abstain from blood. I hear this from a lot of witnesses. But they dont read it in context. The whole argument was should the gentile believers exercise jewish customs. gentiles ate all kinds of blood and this would be destestable to their jewish bretheren, therefore the apostle tells them to abstain from blood so they would not offend their jewish breteheren. If you remember Paul talks about this in one of his epistles. So being a parent myself I cant believe a person would let an organization tell them to let their child die. Ask your elders about the ban on immunizations and organ donations years ago. And all of the people who lost loved ones. And then they realized that these things were beneficial and lifted the ban. Well what about all the people who died because of their teachings. Oh by the way they lost over half their members doing that time!