A gospel of LOVE or a gospel of HATE?

by JanH 32 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Halcon

  That phrase is lifted from a pseudonymously written epistle offering an excuse for the destruction of the world to not yet have happened as promised. It amounts to the very same thing as the WT overlapping generation drivel. The writer of 2 Peter wasn't renouncing the destruction of the world but by indefinitely delaying the promised destruction for the sake of a vaguely defined greater good rendered the original promise effectively meaningless.

  I believe slimboy was referring to what happens to the soul upon death. The end of our physical life, not the end of the world.
• 

  peacefulpete

  It says God wants everyone to repent and live, ....

  And what did the protoOrthodox writer mean by "repent" other than become a Christian of the same sect as himself?
• 

  peacefulpete

  There is nothing especially peaceful or loving in the words of 2 Peter.

  2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies,....bringing swift destruction on themselves. ..... Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

  4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell.... putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; ..... if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, ... if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; .....to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment..... This is especially true of those who ....despise authority (church leaders).

  But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish..... These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.

  Or if you prefer you can read the same material in the book of Jude, which was the source for 2 Peter.
• 

  Sea Breeze

  They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct

  A perfect example of JW's who cannot seem to reason, only react like an animal when others do not submit to their authority.

  "Men can spray a field with chemicals that kill weeds but spare crops; too bad they cannot spray cities with bombs that blow the bad to bits but leave the innocent intact." (The Watchtower, 7/15 1955, p. 436)

  Imagine if the WT somehow got political power of the state. If technology would allow it, it looks like they wish to carpet bomb cities and kill everyone who are not JW’s.

  At any rate, it is not hard to imagine the radicalization of WT members spilling over into their own family members who dare to question the JW church. The recent "90% of children getting beat study" done recently in Japan supports this. If only we could get such a study in the USA!
  
  BTW, there are excellent quotes from WT in the OP that I have never seen before. Great research JanH !
  
  Bookmarked.
• 

  peacefulpete

  Imagine if the WT somehow got political power of the state. If technology would allow it, it looks like they wish to carpet bomb cities and kill everyone who are not JW’s

  We don't have to imagine very hard, as we have the record of history of when the Catholic church (or Lutherans or Puritans etc.) had the power of the State.
• 

  Sea Breeze

  Or Atheists ?
  
  How many hundreds of millions of people got murdered by atheists in the 20th century PP? I think the atheists win this murder contest.
• 

  peacefulpete

  Are you really going to argue that Christians are no worse than atheists? That's a strange argument to make by someone who claims Christians are morally superior. But, since you brought it up, yes, ideologically blinded atheists (Leninists, Khmer nationalists etc.) are every bit as dangerous as ideologically blinded religionists.
• 

  Sea Breeze

  That's a strange argument to make by someone who claims Christians are morally superior
  

  Please show where I have ever stated that Christians (especially the non-born again type if there is such a thing) are morally superior to atheists. The doctrine of moral depravity is bedrock Christian doctrine.

  What the Catholic Church did was hideous. But as our resident Catholic aquased pointed out, much of that (he says nearly all, and I disagree) was the State acting as an agent in the name of the church.

  Regardless, without question atheists ideologies have murdered hundreds of millions more people that the "Christian" church/state ever did, and you know that. So, get off your moral pony ya filthy heathen...
• 

  peacefulpete

  Ok, then you believe atheists and Christians as people are moral equals.

  . Atheists and Religionists with cultlike ideologies and authority of the State are a recipe for oppression. The churches that had the power to oppress perceived 'heretics' or nonconformists have always used it.
• 

  Sea Breeze

  Absolutely, Yes.
  
  The fact that atheists cannot account for the morality they do have in their worldview, doesn't diminish the doctrine of moral depravity, it strengthens it:
  
  

  "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, and have become utterly useless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

  "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind".

  "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
  
  If born-again Christians do something that is truly pure, they can't really take credit for that. It was a gift and did not originate with them.