Shining One: You say: "The New Testament is absolutely clear that it is the word of God." It may seem strange to some, but it was my disillusionment with the NT that left me with no choice but to leave the 'truth'. Whilst the recurring barbaric portrayals of God, in the OT, troubled me greatly, it wasn't enough to make me leave because I reluctantly accepted the reasoning that God could read hearts, and that he only killed those who truly deserved it. However, the NT became increasingly unacceptable to me due to the way that its writers take such glaring liberties in their applications of their quotations from the OT. I could be facetious and say: The soul that is spinning, it itself will lie. The truth is, I prefer not to call them liars, but they are certainly the unapologetic purveyors of spin.
scout575
JoinedPosts by scout575
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Scriptures You Will Not Hear at the 07-04-06 Church Sermon
by scout575 in"enter ye at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
" ( matthew 7:13,14 ).
"then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
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A couple of good quotes about Revelation
by JeffT ingiven the way the wtbs pulls some of its most important doctrines and prophecies from the book of revelation, i thought these quotes were good.
they can (in my opinion) apply to a lot of other obscure passages, like the book of daniel.
the first one was part of the outline for today's sermon at church, i found the second while doing some research.. "in the louvre museum in paris some years ago, i stood at arm's length from a large impressionistic painting by renoir.
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scout575
JeffT: You have a very charitable view of the book of Revelation. Your quote: "RESIST THE TEMPTATION to become overly enamoured with the details". The trouble is, the Devil is in the detail. Reading the 'small print' and the 'punitive clauses' of Revelation ( Rev 2:16, 23, 26,27; 3:16 ), leaves me with a slightly less generous view of the book than you.
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Scriptures You Will Not Hear at the 07-04-06 Church Sermon
by scout575 in"enter ye at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
" ( matthew 7:13,14 ).
"then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
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scout575
Freetosee: These weekly posts are really directed at JWs who may be considering joining a fundamentalist church. Whereas liberal Christians have given themselves the leeway to view the bigotted parts of the Bible as 'not reflecting the true nature of God', fundamentalists don't have that luxury. They feel duty-bound to try to 'harmonize' the above texts to their belief that 'God is love', just like we did when we were JWs. Its a tricky job, to say the least.
Liberal Christians feel no such obligation. If I were a liberal Christian who believes that some parts of the Bible do reflect the true nature of God, and some parts don't, I might begin to wonder whether the 'nice' parts of the Bible are just as much of human origin, as are the 'nasty' parts.
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WTS HATE
by jw in.
if you have a need to hate the wts then so be it.. but don't hate all jw's, that is just wrong .. you preach that you have found truth, if that were the case then where is your love for all humans?.
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scout575
jw: I hate neither the WTS nor JWs. I try to live by the maxim: Never attribute to malice what could be attributed to ignorance. I try to apply the words at 1 Corinthians 13:7: ( Love ) "beliveth all things." Unless I have INDISPUTABLE proof that someone is acting out of malice, I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt.
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Scriptures You Will Not Hear at the 07-04-06 Church Sermon
by scout575 in"enter ye at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
" ( matthew 7:13,14 ).
"then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
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scout575
"Enter ye at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to DESTRUCTION, and MANY there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto LIFE, and FEW there be that find it." ( Matthew 7:13,14 )
"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me ye CURSED, into EVERLASTING FIRE, prepared for the devil and his angels." ( Matthew 25:41 )
"And these shall go away into EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT: but the RIGHTEOUS into LIFE ETERNAL." ( Matthew 25:46 )
The "cursed", "many", are heading for "everlasting" "destruction", but the "righteous" "few", are heading for "life eternal". New Testament bigotry at its worst.
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Accepting your mortality sets you free from JWism.
by Spectrum init was a depressing feeling when i realised i was actually going to die like everybody else.
who me, die?
no chance.
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scout575
The prospect of eternal life in paradise, and the attendant prospect of not having to die first, had great appeal to me. This was the 'magic wand' that meant that I could put my life 'on hold' and wait for the new system to give me the 'real life'. I had to exchange eternal life in paradise for 40 years in England. I didn't give it up without a fight.
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"Why Won't God Heal Amputees?"
by scout575 in"according to believers, god is answering millions of their prayers every day.
prayer seems to be especially powerful in the medical arena - god eliminates cancers, kills viruses, reverses the efffects of poisons, heals internal organs, repairs injuries etc.".
the above quote is taken from an ex-christian website.
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scout575
drew sagan: You say that the fact that amputees' limbs are not being restored can be explained in 2 ways: "Either he's not there or healing people isn't something he's doing right now." Its hard to argue with that. It is, of course, viewed differently by many Christians. For them, God IS performing miraculous cures today.
In talking to some born again Christians recently, they told me how they had personally witnessed miraculous cures take place right in front of them. They mentioned that God had miraculously cured fellow believers of conditions like lupus and fibromyalgia. If I were one of them, I might wonder why God was taking the trouble to provide these kind of 'miraculous' cures, and yet never taking the trouble to restore the limbs of amputees.
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"Why Won't God Heal Amputees?"
by scout575 in"according to believers, god is answering millions of their prayers every day.
prayer seems to be especially powerful in the medical arena - god eliminates cancers, kills viruses, reverses the efffects of poisons, heals internal organs, repairs injuries etc.".
the above quote is taken from an ex-christian website.
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scout575
"According to believers, God is answering millions of their prayers every day. Prayer seems to be especially powerful in the medical arena - God eliminates cancers, kills viruses, reverses the efffects of poisons, heals internal organs, repairs injuries etc."
The above quote is taken from an ex-Christian website. If you a JW considering joining a church that believes in miraculous cures, please spend time thinking about the question: If God is supposed to be healing the medical problems of Christians, why does he never restore the limbs of Christians who are amputees?
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Scriptures You Will Not Hear at the 30-04-06 Church Sermon
by scout575 in"but the same day that lot went out of sodom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven, and destroyed them all.
even thus shall it be on the day when the son of man is revealed.
" ( luke 17: 29, 30 ).
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scout575
Lovelylil: Thanks very much for your comprehensive replies. I wish you peace in your life too.
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Scriptures You Will Not Hear at the 30-04-06 Church Sermon
by scout575 in"but the same day that lot went out of sodom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven, and destroyed them all.
even thus shall it be on the day when the son of man is revealed.
" ( luke 17: 29, 30 ).
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scout575
Lovelylil: I agree with you that the Luke 17 account is indicating the sudden and unexpected nature of Jesus' return, but it is ALSO indicating that, just as the people of Sodom were destroyed by God, so too the 'ungodly' living at the time of Jesus' return would be destroyed by God. What is Jesus' sudden and unexpected return supposed to accomplish in connection with the 'ungodly' who will be 'caught off guard' by his return? The same thing as happened ( if you believe the Bible ) to the people of Sodom: Their destruction.
Notice that at Luke 17:30, Jesus refers to, "when the son of man is REVEALED." This is the same word used at 2 Thessalonians 1:7, where the writer refers to, "when the Lord Jesus shall be REVEALED." What does this revelation of Jesus accomplish in connection with the 'ungodly'? Verses 8 and 9 say, "In flaming fire taking VENGEANCE on them that KNOW NOT GOD, and that OBEY NOT the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be PUNISHED with EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." The NT is very clear about this: All those who aren't Christians will be destroyed by Jesus when he returns. It is this ugly threat that I don't like. Happily, I don't believe a word of it.
SLICK WILLIE: Forgive me if I'm wrong but I got the impression from your reply that you think I'm still a JW. You'll notice from the last sentence of the above reply to Lovelylil, that that isn't the case. My purpose in making these weekly posts is simply to encourage JW 'lurkers' who may considering joining a fundamentalist church, to think very carefully about it beforehand.
By the way, I would welcome a weekly post from you listing the 'nice' bits of the NT. Believe it or not, although I am now an atheist I still enjoy reading certain parts of the Bible. I particularly like the KJV because of its charismatic turn of phrase. Look forward to your posts.