by jeanniebeanz 12 Replies latest jw friends
I hear this all the time. He/she has good Christian Principles. What exactly does that mean? How are Christian Principles any better than, say, societal or cultural principles?
I have known some outstanding, wonderful atheists and some real rounders that claim to be living by Christian Principles.
You know what? I don't have a clue any more. I guess I think that the most basic "Christian" principal is doing unto others before they do unto you. Wait,....erm...oh yeah, do others the way you'd like to be done....unto. Something like that.
Sorry, jeannie, I'm extra tired and haven't eaten all day. The blood sugar is prolly low.
Seriously, I'm not sure any more. So much Christian rhetoric is just a bunch of blah blah. I'm sure if I could concentrate on a thought for more than two seconds I could come up with something. Maybe I should go see what's in the fridge.
I did a bit of "research." The term occurs hundreds of times in the Society's literature. The closest thing to a definition of the term I could find is this:
*** w57 9/1 p. 524 par. 1 Never Compromising on Christian Principles ***
TRUE Christians are governed by principles. A principle is a fundamental truth. Since truth is that which is in accordance with the actual state of things, principles essentially are statements of basic facts. The Bible contains thousands of these principles, expressly stated as in the text above. Others are deduced or found in the book of nature, as Paul wrote at Romans 1:20 (NW): God’s “invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are understood by the things made.”
The article goes on to say:
*** w57 9/1 p. 524 par. 2 Never Compromising on Christian Principles ***
Some examples of principles will serve to show the part principles play in our understanding and reasoning. Here are a few: Jehovah is the Most High over all the earth. There is no God besides Jehovah. Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting. Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God. God is head over Christ. The Father is greater than Christ. The Son is subject to God. God raised up Christ from the dead. God gave Christ a higher position than before. Holy spirit is not a person. People can be filled with holy spirit.
So, like, it doesn't sound like a property a person can actually have. It's more like an unassailable truth. A person can live by Christian Principles, but a person cannot have Christian Principles.
The false prophets of the WATCHTOWER™ have to coin phrases to accomadate their refusal to believe God's Word.
Heb 8:10-11 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And each person will not teach his fellow citizen, and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.
Heb 10:16
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws on their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,
The Bible doesn't have a list of do's and don'ts to cover every questionable situation that can occur. For example the principle of doing unto others as you would have them do to you and loving your neighbor are principles that cover a multitude of actions not specifically addressed in the Bible. A Bible trained conscience would aid one to recognize what principles apply to what situations and to try and correctly apply the principles.
What are "Christian Principle's”?
WT defines RULES TO LIVE BY or suffer eternal death
Utterly amazing how they take so many things and redefine them according to their own teachings.
uh oh yeah that's what cults do
The term implies that there was something original about the teachings of Jesus, when many Bible scholars have noted a remarkable similarity between teachings of Jesus and those of Buddah and others who lived centuries before. Perhaps the best known so-called "Christian Principle" is the Golden Rule, roughly "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Following is a list of the writings of some who said essentially the same thing: Pittacus (circa 650 B.C.E.) "Do not that to your neighbor which you would receive ill from him." Thales of Miletus, (circa 585 B.C.E.) was quoted as saying "Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing." Confucius (circa 500 B.C.E.) taught "Do to another what you would have them do to yourself, you need only this law, it is the foundation of all other laws." Sextus (circa 406 B.C.E.) wrote "What you wish your neighbors to be to you, be also to them." Aristotle (circa 385 B.C.E.) said "We should conduct ourselves toward others as we would have them act towards ourselves." Aristippus (365 B.C.E.) wrote "Cherish reciprocal benevolance, which will make you as anxious for anothers welfare as for your own." Isocrates (circa 338 B.C.E.) taught "Act toward others as you desire them to act toward yourself." So in this instance, what is widely considered to be a "Christian principle" is seen to have been actually a widely held view among pagans first, only adopted by Christians much later.
Gaiagirl,
That is exactly what I was talking about. What does it mean, "Christian Principles" when Christian's didn't have them first? In fact, Christ didn't have them first.
J
My daughtered married young while in the "bloom of youth"
We were counciled by elders that we were breaking a "prinipal" not a law in the bible...and that was Pauls council about person who was in the bloom of youth was too young to marry. The "youth book" said 19 for a girl and 21 for a boy was considered..."past the bloom of youth"
So to them, a principal was a suggestion or rule of thumb, but not a hard and fast rule.
Gumby
I think that principles are things people are happy to live with. It takes a lot of effort to bend your mind to change it's principles.
It's something I went through a decade ago when leaving the organisation. Up to that point, I knew what was right and wrong because the Watchtower Society told me so. And I feel no regret in telling you that when I left the organisation, my morals were all in a state of flux, and I felt I could drink as much as I liked and have sex as much as I liked because there was no god anymore.
Sheesh, I'm not a quick learner. I did that for a long time, and I still have weaknesses to this day. But the difference is I now have an understanding that bettering oneself is not all about fullfilling our most basic desires. We are all growing and growing in understanding I guess.
