if anyone were to come up to you claiming that they are the faithful and discreet slave, how would you go about proving them to be false, based upon scripture?.
estephan.
No hard evidence could convince the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. They didn’t want it.
Or stated more precisely, they understood their own writings precluded the idea of vicarious human sacrifice buying the forgiveness for the sins of others. The "promised" Messiah was a real savior not an invisible secret one. Much like why most Christians today reject the WT's invisible spiritual return.
many on here are ex jw....they have left the jws because of coming to find out the many false indoctrinations.
one of the things learned as a jw is that there isn't anything true about xmas being the birth of jesus.
( matt chapter 2 tells a whole different narrative about the baby jesus than what is portrayed by the christian churches) they learn the ways that are celebrated are pagan practices jesus told the samaritan woman that god wanted to be worshipped in spirit and it truth.
enough...you do know the two stories in Matt and Luke are incompatible and that they reflect just 2 of any number of Jesus birth traditions. The church Xmas nativity stories today in the Western Christian tradition are an attempted blending of the two. The Greek Orthodox tradition however maintains Jesus was born in a cave. In this they agree with Justin Martyr and Origen who both said a cave in Bethlehem was the site of Jesus' birth. The Protoevangelium also testifies to this early tradition. Emperor Hadrian even went and leveled the site because first century Christians were making pilgrimages to the cave. Ascension of Is has him born in a house like Matt..
Then we have Ignatius, the supposed first attestation of Matt, he has a very different version of the star story where Jesus IS the star.
Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the Prince of this world, as was also her offspring, and the death of the Lord; three mysteries of renown, which were wrought in silence by God. How, then, was He manifested to the world? A star shone forth in heaven above all the other stars, the light of which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with astonishment. And all the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above them all. And there was agitation felt as to whence this new spectacle came, so unlike everything else above. Hence every kind of magic was destroyed, and every bond of wickedness disappeared, ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom abolished, when God appeared in human form [or revealed himself in a human manner] for the renewal of eternal life.
Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians 19
We haven't even started on this topic, but my point is that there simply wasn't the a singular tradition about Jesus' birth in the earliest Christian records. No one appears to be fixated or maybe even aware of the contradictory birth narratives in Matt and Luke.
many on here are ex jw....they have left the jws because of coming to find out the many false indoctrinations.
one of the things learned as a jw is that there isn't anything true about xmas being the birth of jesus.
( matt chapter 2 tells a whole different narrative about the baby jesus than what is portrayed by the christian churches) they learn the ways that are celebrated are pagan practices jesus told the samaritan woman that god wanted to be worshipped in spirit and it truth.
enough .....you made similar negative comments about Xmas a month ago that suggest you haven't yet shed the sectarian bigotry of the WT. Anyone who studies religious history understands that every religion is indebted to those that came before. Every religion is a syncretic admixture of old and new. Last month I said:
baah humbug. Ludicrous. Jesus is depicted as celebrating Hanukah. An apostate religious holiday (with Solstice lights and delayed to match the Roman event) if there ever was one. He is also depicted as celebrating the Passover reclining not standing up like the Bible says. Jews had by then adopted the Roman tradition of reclining at ease. He drinks 4 glasses of wine, not part of the OT instructions in fact prohibited due to the yeast. Sanctimonious puritanism is not a reflection of the Jesus of the Bible.
Have you considered what that ought to suggest? Did the writers of the Gospels see it as an issue? What about Paul saying not to be concerned about "eating food sacrificed to idols"? Doesn't that also suggest Paul felt that the religious use of something doesn't "taint" the object? Even former JWs who identify as Christians need to ask how much of my belief system is the product of sectarian JWism,
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hanukkah-and-the-winter-solstice/
the wt engages in history revisionism when insisting the world changed overnight in 1914. in fact the european power struggles that came to a head were centuries old.
millions of lives had been lost in the wars of the 19th century, with the world a powder keg the years prior to the assassination of franz ferdinand in june 1914 which is often said, albeit rather arbitrarily, as the start of the war that escalated over the next 4 years into the great war.
take a look at these two pages and ask if the wt's interpretation of history seems accurate to you.
the wt engages in history revisionism when insisting the world changed overnight in 1914. in fact the european power struggles that came to a head were centuries old.
millions of lives had been lost in the wars of the 19th century, with the world a powder keg the years prior to the assassination of franz ferdinand in june 1914 which is often said, albeit rather arbitrarily, as the start of the war that escalated over the next 4 years into the great war.
take a look at these two pages and ask if the wt's interpretation of history seems accurate to you.
the wt engages in history revisionism when insisting the world changed overnight in 1914. in fact the european power struggles that came to a head were centuries old.
millions of lives had been lost in the wars of the 19th century, with the world a powder keg the years prior to the assassination of franz ferdinand in june 1914 which is often said, albeit rather arbitrarily, as the start of the war that escalated over the next 4 years into the great war.
take a look at these two pages and ask if the wt's interpretation of history seems accurate to you.
The WT engages in history revisionism when insisting the world changed overnight in 1914. In fact the European power struggles that came to a head were centuries old. Millions of lives had been lost in the wars of the 19th century, with the world a powder keg the years prior to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 which is often said, albeit rather arbitrarily, as the start of the war that escalated over the next 4 years into the Great War. Take a look at these two pages and ask if the WT's interpretation of history seems accurate to you.
i would have to say yes...by tagging god's alledged name in their title and attaching to it unusual doctrines, end of world date predictions, deadly blood interpretation, abusive shunning policy, csa cover ups.. is there more?.
if you haven't noticed kevin mcfree is posting again.
re-uploading some of the stuff he had to take down.. also, here is an article by a brother telling the gb exactly what he thinks of how they treated kevin.. https://governingbody.net/i-am-speaking-to-you-the-governing-body-to-move-you-to-shame.
https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/DN-20-McFree-Pre-conference-Statement.pdf
It is a fascinating story.
among the first books i acquired in my research was an old copy of a harmony of the synoptic gospels for historical and critical study by burton and goodspeed.
before that i had heard others speak of the 'synoptic problem' but it was meaningless to me and just sounded like quackery meant to discredit the bible.
i have to say this one volume's laying out the synoptic gospels (matt,mark,luke) without any commentary in a side by side parallel format rocked my world.
Glad someone enjoys this subject. Learning about Christian origins is extremely valuable for former JWs. There are some who have been separated from the WT church for many years who just haven't been able to move on. They appear frozen in their minds, unsure of what to believe about specific doctrinal debates but assume the WT indoctrination was essentially "true". Some seem almost afraid to investigate
I don't really understand that because IMO the best aspects of Christianity (ideals of selfless love and charity, can still be appreciated with an informed understanding of how religion evolves and adapts.
my pick.. https://youtu.be/vyjmgf7kf-4.
