No, ancient Jews had the choice of being a slave if they had a debt and could not pay it off by any other means. Even today some persons living in middle east work 10+ hours a day for less than 50 cents which is only enough to pay for a nights worth of dinner. This type person is free in name only. By all other means that person is a slave. You may find this hard to believe, but there are people living in poor countries who would jump at chance to be your slave provided he/she gets to live in America, go to school, and free warm meals. I remember reading story about a woman who ate her baby during time of one the Jewish Kings because the country was empty of all food stuff. I bet she would have sold herself into slavery if she could. The point I am trying to make is that biblical times were very rough and we should try to see slavery from a relative perspective based on the alternative during those times. Not to meantion slavery takes on diffrent meanings during the passing of times.
Rydar
JoinedPosts by Rydar
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11
Bible and Slavery: the watchtower view
by melmac inhttp://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2001/9/8a/article_01.htm
there's an article at the official wastetower, entitled "did god condone the slave trade?".
the article tries to justify slavery in the bible by saying that it was different from slavery among other people (non-jews and non-christians).
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Bible and Slavery: the watchtower view
by melmac inhttp://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2001/9/8a/article_01.htm
there's an article at the official wastetower, entitled "did god condone the slave trade?".
the article tries to justify slavery in the bible by saying that it was different from slavery among other people (non-jews and non-christians).
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Rydar
Question, if you had to choose between being a slave or a bum, would one would you choose! Look at the starving people in Ethopia. I bet one of Abraham's slaves had a much easier life.
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Are we to be Angels or merely mankind?What did Jesus mean?
by ko38 inthat is a question i would have never asked even a month ago.being raised a jw how could you not know the answer?they told me time after time after time that we have an earthly hope.we can live forever in a paradise without sickness or death.
(that sounded great to me).as i'm sure all of you are aware the wtbts has some rather selective interpretations of scripture.these are easily proved to their captive audience, i mean their followers by using their own translation of the bible.. what i'm having a problem with is understanding who goes where?.
the jws believe that the annointed go to heaven and the great crowd benifit by being associated with these annointed by gaining eternal life on earth.thus they are saying that the entire greek scriptures apply only to the annointed.
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Rydar
Hi I am a new comer to these boards, but I am a avid bible student. I believe in God and all his promises. I use to attend Kingdom Hall meetings, but I just stop going to them one day. I never got baptized with them and became a full member. It was for about a year or so that I was a Jehovah Witness. Anyway I have studied the Bible and read the entire book from front to back. The truth is that Jehovah Witness are correct in what they say about Hell, The Trinity and the Soul. Hell is not a place of torment, the soul is not immortal, and Jesus is not God Himself. However, the one thing that the Jehovah Witnesse's did get wrong was the identity of the Great Crowd and 144,000. The JW think that the 144,000 talked about in the book of revalations is a literal number and that the Great Crowd represents followers of Christ with an earthly hope. That is just a plain misinterpretation of the scriptures. The Great Crowd and the 144,000 are actually one and the same. Trust me I know this because I have read the book revelations more times than I can possibly remember and I have let the Bible interpret itself. All who do God's will and put faith in his son Jesus Christ will be rewarded with a heavenly life as an angel ruling over the earth for a thousand years with with Jesus while being a priest of God. All those who died before Jesus time and who died doing bad things while alive on earth will get a earthly resurrection at most.
Want proof that those of the Great Crowd recieve life in heaven and not on earth when they die? I will prove it to you. But first, let's examine the 144,000 mentioned in the book of Revelations. It first appearance is in revelations chapter 7 verse 4.
The WTBTS teach that the 144,000 is a literal number, but that can't be true since in every apperance in the Book Revelations, the number is surrounded by symbolical text. If you pay attention you will notice that 2 of the 12 tribes of Israel mentioned actually don't exist! Thus, the make-up of the tribe is symbolic.
Rev 7:4-8
Secondly, The the 144,000 is discribed as standing on Mount Zion (Jerusalem) with the Lamb (Jesus) having the name of God and Jesus written on their foreheads which is also clearly symbolic.
Rev 14:1
In its last appearance the 144,000 and the 12 tribes of Israel is described as the building blocks as the holy city of New Jerusalem. So the there is no reason why the 144,000 should be interpretated as literal number because in all cases it is surrounded symbolical context.
Rev 21:10-21
So if the 144,000 is symbolic, what does it represent? That number symbolizes the great crowd while they are still here on earth doing God's will. Recall that Paul said that "He who is a jew on the outside is not necessarily a jew, but he that is a jew on the inside is a jew." Thus, those doing God's will after the resurrection Christ were considered now to be part and make up the body of a spiritual Israel so to speak. So the 144,000 thousand that make up the 12 tribes of Spiritual Israel are actually persons from all nationalities and racial backgrounds.
Rev 7:9
The Great Crowd and 144,000 are one and the same. Chaperter 19 verse 1 directly points to the Great Crowd as being a heavenly group. Pay close attention to verse 6 of chapter 19 and compare that with chapter 14 verse 2. Those 2 verses directly link the identity of the 144,000 as actually being the great crowd.
There is a lot more scriptures identifying the great crowd as a heavenly group. Rev 5:9-10 and Rev 7:15
Notice that Revelations 7:15 says of the group crowds as rendering "sacred service" day and night inside his temple. This verse can only suggest that the great crowd recieves the reward of being angelic priest of Jehovah as Jesus promised.
Rev 5:10
A careful study of the bible will reveal thatthere is nothing in it that really points to followers of Christ living forever here on earth. Those who do God's will post death of Christ have a special reward and privledge. They are part of the first resurrection which recieves life in Heaven!
Rev 20:4-6
Everyone else who's name is in the scroll of life will be resurrected here on earth and recieve eternal life provided that they stop practincing sin.
Rev 20:11-15 and rev 21:1-4
You and everyone else have a shot at becoming annointed christians and the reward is great. Don't allow anyone to rob you out of that. If anyone REALLY wants to get to know God. Study the Bible and read it for yourself. Seek out God and open your heart to Jesus;pray for understanding and then you will see the "TRUTH".
BTW, just because anyone does not associate with Jehovah Witness's any more does not mean they should also turn their back on Jehovah. God cannot be held responsible for those who claim to act in his name and then burn you with treachery. His son Jesus warned all of you that people would come in his name and mislead many. The problem with most people is that they don't read the Bible on their own and study it with an open mind. Learn to put faith first in what the Bible actually teaches and then judge rather or not if what any professed servant of God says is true. God is real and his promises are real. Get to know him by reading the Bible. Don't let people who doesn't really read the Bible tell you what type person God is or what kind of punishments he delivers to the wicked. I have heard some wrongly accuse Jehovah of being a barberic War God in the Old Testament. This is simply not true. When King Solomon listed the 7 things God hate most in the book of proverbs, one them was a person who was in a rush to shed innocent blood. Also, one of the 10 commandments said "thou shall not kill." The people God did slaughter or ordered to be slain were wicked and cruel.
All that God ask is that we love him, worship only him, treat everyone with respect, take care the needs of our family, look out for orpfens, poor people, and widows, be faithful to your marriage partner, earn all your possesions thru legal and honest means, and tell people the truth. Is any of this so bad?
God is good and only wants whats best for us. Why should God give eternal life to anyone who insist on causing problems and making life miserable for others? I don't know about everyone else, but a world without murderers, thieves, liars, fornicaters, slanders, betrayers, riduculers, and lovers of violence sounds good to me!