This thread reminds me of an experience I had many years ago. I was Chairman of the Board of a small Disciple of Christ(Christian) church in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.. As the church was without a minister at the time, I was filling in as worship leader and calling on the members. One of my calls was on a normally inactive member who had attended the previous Sunday. He was decidedly cool and let me know that I had offended him by reading from the RSV bible. I responded that the pulpit bible was indeed an RSV edition and asked if he was partial to the King James version. He responded by saying that he was indeed a believer in the KJV and thought we ought to leave the Bible alone, just like Jesus wrote it. In the face of such monumental ignorance, what can you do, but smile, say God Bless You, and depart.
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The writers of the bible & Jesus
by Ginosko inmore than 20 years ago, before i baptised, i reached the conclusion that the words of the bible are not inspired by god but only the global ideas.
the reason why i reached that conclusion is based on hebrews 6:18 "through to unchageable things in which it is imposible for god to lie" and the title of a famous book written by the jw.
the idea i developed was the following: if there are things in which is impossible for god to lie ,then, by extension there are things in which is possible for god to lie, which is not proper for an ethically perfect god.
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Study of John's Gospel
by ISP inbible commentary, p. 1046).
jesus (cf.
of the revisers was to make one of the two disciples from vv.
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John is my favorite book as well. However, it should be noted that a lot got lost when the work was translated into Greek. George Lamsa, editor of the Lamsa Bible, points out that the name Cephas, used for the apostle Simon, which was translated Peter (Rock) was a nickname. It was applied to people who were a bit on the dense side, and slow to understand. It translates literally "Stonehead". It is unlikely that Simon would have been addressed as Cephas by any except his most intimate friends. The modern equivalent nickname would be "dumb-ass". Simon always seems to be the last one to "get it". Perhaps Jesus used him to test whether or not his explanations had been sufficiently succint. If Simon understood, then surely the rest must have got it as well. When Jesus asked Simon who he thought he was, Simon was inspired to reply, "Thou art the Son of God". In his reply, Jeus says "And I say that thou art, Simon, and upon this (declaration), I will build my church. In other words, Jesus was telling Simon that he too, was the son of God as are we all. By shifting a comma and inserting the greek word for rock, the translator effectively established a basis for the belief that Peter was the first Pope. The misuse of the nickname, however, makes the whole passage suspect.
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Catholics cannonized the Bible, right?
by StinkyPantz inisn't it true that the roman catholic church put together the bible (canonized the books), and decided the order and all that?
if this isn't true set me straight please.. what do the witnesses think about this?
is it (the bible) just as valid if part of "christendom" decided which books of the bible would be included?
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The old testament was canonized by the Jews at the Council of Jamnia in 96 A.D.. There was a lot of argument in the early church (which was not Roman Catholic yet) about what books should be included in the New Testament. There is a record of one of the early church fathers receiving a letter from one of his congregations indicating that they had a gospel account written by the apostle Peter and wanting permission to teach from it. He replied that certainly anything written by Peter must be O.K.. However, when he later had an opportunity to examine the gospel, he branded it a gnostic heresy. It seems unlikely that any of the apostles wrote anything. No one knows who wrote the book of John which is written in a high order of greek. Had it not been ascribed to the Apostle John, it is unlikely that it would have made the list. It also seems unlikely that Paul wrote everything ascribed to him. Ascribing a work to someone revered was common technique of winning acceptance for the work. The early "canon" varied considerably during the first 100 years or so, depending on where you were geographicly.
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is this life all there is?
by comforter incomforter was driving down the mowterway this afternoon and a ambulance came by looking like it was getting up to save somebody's life.
comforter then thought to himself.
is this life all thar is?
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I don't believe it is. I believe this life is a crash course in spiritual growth. If we can get it right this time we won't have to come back. Our purpose here is not to serve Jehovah, but to remember who and what we really are, beloved children of the Most High. Not everyone is afraid to die. My father, who suffered considerably with angina, was certainly ready to get on to the next phase. When he would say grace at mealtime he would say "and today, Lord, would be a good day". Mother knew what he meant and would give him a bit of a kick under the table. When he had his final heart attack, Mother, being the dutiful wife that she was, took him to the emergency room where he was revived. Boy, was he pissed off! He passed a week after that. That was 20 years ago. I get little signals every now and then that he is still here, alive and well and feeling no pain, just vibrating on a higher frequency. I hope to tune in to that higher frequency when I go. As you can see, I've never bought into the Dub bullshit about sleeping in death.
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JESUS CHRIST -- I AM WHO I AM
by UnDisfellowshipped in(exodus 3:13) and moses said to god, behold, when i come to the children of israel, and shall say to them, the god of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, what is his name?
(exodus 3:14) and god said to moses, i am who i am: and he said, thus you shall say to the children of israel, i am has sent me to you.. (exodus 3:15) and god said moreover to moses, thus you shall say to the children of israel, jehovah the god of your fathers, the god of abraham, the god of isaac, and the god of jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.. (john 8:24) i said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you do not believe that i am, you shall die in your sins.. (john 8:28) then jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the son of man, then you shall know that i am, and that i do nothing of myself; but as my father has taught me, i speak these things.. (john 8:53) are you greater than our father abraham, who is dead?
and the prophets are dead: who do you make yourself?.
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But again, the Father see heart not knowledge. There are a lot of guys more inteligent than us who try to understand this points in the bible and were unable to explain completed clear to us. Don't worry much about this topic. Try to be a better person and to develop a relationship with the Father.
.Ginosko has it right!
Jesus's claim to have existed before Abraham may not be so remarkable as it seems. The belief in reincarnation was widely held among the Jewish people of that day. Of course the early Christian church stamped out that belief as quickly as possible since it took away some of their power and authority. The statement by Jesus may have simply been a claim to prior existence. I don't agree that the disciples prayed to Jesus as God. The use of the term Lord has been badly abused by the various translators and is much influenced by cultural bias. The title Lord is still widely used in the U.K. today. I don't think anyone believes that their local "gentry" is God in their human incarnation. That having been said, we should remember that we are all created in the image and likeness of God out of "God Stuff". The difference between us and Jesus is that he remembered who he was and where he came from. Could it be that he didn't come to die for our sins, but to remind us who we are and to demonstrate that death could be overcome?
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Is the bible God's Word?
by WTLies ini posted this in "friends" forum:.
author topic: is the bible god's word?
read 2 timesbe the 1st to rate this threadwtlies.
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I have always been suspicious of religions that practiced "Bibliolotry" (worship of the Bible). The WBTS is a leading, but not the only practitioner of this silly idea. They ridicule those who would ascribe divine power to a statue formed by a skilled artesan, but do the same thing to a book written by some "not so insightful men". The bible does tell us how the people of their day viewed God. It appears to be mostly through "coke bottle glass"; distorted, limited, and unreadable. Much of the rationale for the treatment of women in the WTBTS comes from Paul's letters to the Corinthians. It disregards that Paul was dealing with a special situation there that was tearing the congregation apart. Corinth was the San Diego of its day. Its main occupation was the entertainment of sailors while their boats were being hauled across the narrow part of Greece. Temple prostitution was prevalent in the predominant pagan religion in which the women took the leading parts. Many in the Corinth congregation were recent converts from that pagan religion and had brought some of those practices into the Christian congregation. It hardly seems fair to use Paul's advice in that situation to keep women out of leadership roles. God speaks to our hearts, not our heads. Because Paul's letters were collected so well, we really don't practice Christianity today but Paulianitry. It also seems doubtful that Paul wrote all of the letters attributed to him.
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Isaiah 53
by DevonMcBride in" in matt.
53:7 "he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.
" see matt.
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I believe most scholars attribute Isaiah 53 to the 2nd author of Isaiah (Chapters 40-54). It seems to be quite a stretch to me as well to see that Chapter as a prediction of the coming of Jesus, although I can understand the desire of the early church to read it that way. I've always had a problem with the whole concept of Jesus dying for our sins. After all, what kind of a G-D takes pleasure in animal or human sacrifice? It is easy to forget that the very early Christians were Jews and had a long tradition of animal sacrifice. I've come to the conclusion that the real reason Jesus came was to show us what the possibilities were when you come into a close relationship with G-D. He demonstrated that death could be overcome, and that G-D loves us beyond anything that we can conceive of.
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Where To Start.....
by Lin ini'm new to posting here, although i've been reading posts on this site for some time now.
i post often on silentlambs, but only now feel the desire to ask for some suggestions.
here's my situation: i was raised a jw, and i'm now 42. i left the org in '95 and was also df'd, no big deal.
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Linda-You are probably on "sensory overload" by now so I will simply say that a good reference work is "The Interpreter's One Volume Commentary On the Bible" edited by Charles M. Laymon. It is pretty expensive, but well worth it. I'm with those who have recommended looking "inward" rather than outward. If you are going to read the Bible, then the Book of John is a good place to start. I'm partial to the books by Joel Goldsmith. I guarantee that your belief structure will be quite different 5 years from now than it is today. With your attitude, you will continue to grow spiritually at a very high rate. Don't let anyone do your thinking for you! Truth lies in many places. All that the Holy Spirit requires is a little willingness and you have certainly demonstrated that. You will find, however, that the Holy Spirit is pretty sneaky in presenting the lessons you need to learn. Those you don't learn the first time get presented again...and again... and again. God Bless!
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Try this poll one last time.
by Bleep inpoll#2.
since the last poll was trolled by some people lets do this one more time.
what is god?
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Bleep-Do you seriously believe that the human mind can define God? If so, then I would suggest that your god is too small.
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The Truth about Who is going to heaven, etc..
by Legendary U.2.K. inwell after 2 years of my bible study's with the father's help & the messiah help, i had to post this, to get thousands str once again: - it's a knowed fact that billions are infact dead in their graves, cause like christ already mention in john chapter 5 verses 28, & 28 & 25 that the resurrection will only happen on the last day... so if anybody in this life period teach that after you die you go to heaven is a liar(cough christianity), cause the resurrection has not happen yet...... and the only people who are going to heaven after armageddon is the 144,000(book of revelation said's 'they were', in revelation chapter 1, god said 'things that must shortly come to pass)...... continue>
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Bleep-The last line in your original post which references DNA highlights the problem. You think of yourself as a flesh body instead of a spiritual being created in the image and likeness of God which happens to be occupying a flesh body.