Posts by EdenOne

22

Mentally diseased translation in NWT.

by newdawnfades in

perhaps this has been discussed before.

1 tim 6:4. nwt .

4 he is puffed up [with pride], not understanding anything, but being mentally diseased over questionings and debates about words.

EdenOne

marked

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Luke and the other gospels before

by EdenOne in

this week's bible reading started me thinking ... luke 1:1-4.

"whereas many have undertaken to compile a statement of the facts that are given full credence among us, just as those who from [the] beginning became eyewitnesses and attendants of the message delivered these to us, i resolved also, because i have traced all things from the start with accuracy, to write them in logical order to you, most excellent theophilus, that you may know fully the certainty of the things that you have been taught orally.".

now, the gospel of luke appears to have been written before acts, sometime between 56-58 ce.. in the above introduction, luke mentions that "many" (not just one or two) "have undertaken to compile a statement" ( "to compile a narrative" - english standard version; therefore, more than just the description of isolated events or isolated "wisdom sayings".

EdenOne

Luke was not one of the apostles.

Eden

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Luke and the other gospels before

by EdenOne in

this week's bible reading started me thinking ... luke 1:1-4.

"whereas many have undertaken to compile a statement of the facts that are given full credence among us, just as those who from [the] beginning became eyewitnesses and attendants of the message delivered these to us, i resolved also, because i have traced all things from the start with accuracy, to write them in logical order to you, most excellent theophilus, that you may know fully the certainty of the things that you have been taught orally.".

now, the gospel of luke appears to have been written before acts, sometime between 56-58 ce.. in the above introduction, luke mentions that "many" (not just one or two) "have undertaken to compile a statement" ( "to compile a narrative" - english standard version; therefore, more than just the description of isolated events or isolated "wisdom sayings".

EdenOne

This week's Bible reading started me thinking ... Luke 1:1-4

"Whereas many have undertaken to compile a statement of the facts that are given full credence among us, just as those who from [the] beginning became eyewitnesses and attendants of the message delivered these to us, I resolved also, because I have traced all things from the start with accuracy, to write them in logical order to you, most excellent The·oph′i·lus, that you may know fully the certainty of the things that you have been taught orally."

Now, the gospel of Luke appears to have been written before Acts, sometime between 56-58 CE.

In the above introduction, Luke mentions that "MANY" (not just one or two) "HAVE UNDERTAKEN TO COMPILE A STATEMENT" ( " to compile a narrative" - English Standard Version; therefore, more than just the description of isolated events or isolated "wisdom sayings".) "OF THE FACTS THAT ARE GIVEN FULL CREDANCE AMONG US" (meaning, the other accounts are just as equally accurate, because they refer to facts that are accepted by christians as accurate), "THEY (who? those who wrote the other narratives) RECEIVED THEIR INFORMATION FROM THOSE WHO HAD BEEN EYEWITNESSES AND SERVANTS OF GOD'S WORD (Greek: "Logos" - the same term used in John 1:1 to refer to Jesus in his pre-human form, therefore literally servant's of Jesus CHrist, or Christians) FROM THE BEGINNING; AND THEY PASSED IT ON TO US" (God's Word Translation)

Now, the contemporary sinoptic Gospels lists only ONE gospel written before Luke. This one is the gospel of Matthew. Obviously, the "many" mentioned by Luke might have included Matthew, but surely other christians undertook the task of writing accounts, even credible accounts, of the life of Jesus, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses. Luke didn't dispute the authenticity of those accounts, that probably were in circulation among the early congregations, but wanted to give a "logical order" (chronological ?) to the accounts.

Where are those gospels written before Luke (besides Matthew) ? Are they entirely lost?

Also: If Luke wrote his gospel AFTER Matthew, and surely had access to it, and claims to have " traced all things from the start with accuracy" regarding Jesus' life, how come he leaves out a lot of material that is found in Matthew?

Eden

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Interesting Youtube video: "Jehovah's Witnesses and hedge funds revisited"

by Londo111 in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhn7xzopyii.

according to this, the uk branch made a cool million pounds from investments...which implies theyve much more invested.

i know very little about financial stuff.

EdenOne

marked

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Do the Governing Body members ever go Door-to-Door?

by 00DAD in

in his book, in search of christian freedom, ray franz wrote that that gb members for the most part never participated in door-to-door work.

they were "too busy with more important things.

" (gee, how come that excuse wouldn't work for the rest of us?

EdenOne

A close relative of mine once went out in FS with Karl Klein when he was visiting here, in europe....

Eden

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QUESTIONS FROM READERS - W15, 01/01 .... new light!

by EdenOne in

questions from the readers (w15, 01/01).

what is the christian position regarding looking out the window ?.

"gods word, the bible, commands us to thoroughly make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine.

EdenOne

LOL no ...

But if you look closely it's the same arguments used to ban birthdays.....

Eden

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QUESTIONS FROM READERS - W15, 01/01 .... new light!

by EdenOne in

questions from the readers (w15, 01/01).

what is the christian position regarding looking out the window ?.

"gods word, the bible, commands us to thoroughly make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine.

EdenOne

Questions from the readers (W15, 01/01)

“What is the christian position regarding looking out the window ?”

"God’s word, the Bible, commands us to thoroughly “make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine. Abstain from every form of wickedness”. (1 Tess 4:22, 23) It is clear that, in order to avoid ‘every form of wickedness’, the God-fearing christian must ‘make sure’ that his beliefs, conduct, and even his thinking are in accordance with Jehovah’s will.

‘Making sure of all things’ involves studying the Scriptures to understand the mind of God. This is crucial, because not everything in the Bible consists on direct commands to do something or prohibitions regarding something else. Naturally, due to our imperfect nature, we cannot fully understand Jehovah’s way of thinking; Still, we’re encouraged to seek “intimacy with Jehovah”. (Ps 25:14) How do we achieve this? By carefully examine the Bible accounts and to meditate on them, we can begin to understand God’s qualities and his way of thinking. This is certainly the case when we consider what God thinks about looking out windows.

In the early dealings of Jehovah with humans, looking out windows wouldn’t be an issue, since most would live in simple shelters, with a single opening serving as doorway. In the early days of the patriarchs, tents were used as homes, and these wouldn’t have windows either. However, as the first cities were built, using more permanent materials, such as stone, windows were introduced into the architecture. We must keep in mind that the construction of concentrated human settlements in the early stages of human history was contrary to God’s commandment to the first human couple to “be fruitful and fill the earth”. (Gen 1:28) No doubt, the influence of the pre-deluge fallen angels led mankind into desobey God by building cities, which in turn resulted in the invention of windows, which then became stumbling blocks for mankind.

When God directed Noah to build an ark that would serve as saving vessel for his family and the animals, he gave detailed instructions for the inclusion of an opening immediatly below the roof: “ Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around [the ark]. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat--lower, middle, and upper.” (Genesis 6:16, New Living Translation) Was this opening a “window” in the architectural sense? No. Unlike windows in homes, this opening was placed imediatly under the roof, serving only for ventilation and lighting purposes, as can be seen by its small vertical dimentions (18 inches / 45 cms) and the fact that it would be placed all the way around. When the deluge stopped and the ark was floating free, Noah wasn’t allowed by Jehovah to look out this opening to inspect the landscape; Instead, on the 40th day after the ark landed on Mount Ararat, he opened a ‘window’, not to look through it, but instead to release a raven and a dove to scout the surrounding areas for dry land. (Gen 8: 6-11) Even in this earliest mention of a “window”, Noah didn’t look through it. Clearly, Noah understood Jehovah’s way of thinking.

Noah and his descendants lived in tents soon after leaving the ark, but it didn’t take too long before Satan’s rebellious ways lead Noah’s grandson, Nimrod, described in the Bible as a “mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah” (Genesis 10:9) In his rebellion against God, he built the first post-deluge empire, based on the contruction of several cities in the plains of Shinar, including Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh. No doubt, in all of these cities existed houses whose architecture included windows. This is confirmed by modern archaeology.

In the days of the patriarch Isaac, the heathen people of the Philistines lived in houses with windows. When Isaac and his attractive wife Rebekah took an extended stay at the city of Gerar, he, fearing that the immoral Philistines might kill him to steal his wife, said that Rebekah was his sister. In the meantime, the Philistine king, Abimelech, obviously with immoral intentions, had an eye on Rebekah. The account says: “ A·bim′e·lech, king of the Phi·lis′tines, was looking out of the window and taking in the sight, and there was Isaac having a good time with Re·bek′ah his wife” (Gen 26:8) Unbeknown to Isaac, Abimelech had been ‘looking out of the window’ with immoral intentions towards Rebekah. However, Jehovah providentially made Isaac to engage into foreplay with his wife, thus revealing their bond, so that a potential rape was averted.

The Bible is very clear when repeatedly showing its readers how morally dangerous looking out the window can be, even for a faithful servant of Jehovah. The book of Proverbs also speaks of a loyal servant of Jehovah who, against all godly wisdom, looked out of a window, only to become interested in being a voyeuristic witness of an act of immoral seduction between a married woman and a young man. (Pro 7:6-20) This certainly led to an unclean conscience before God. The psalmist wrote: “Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.” (Psalms 119:37) Certainly it would have been better to avoid looking out the window than to carry the burden of an unclean cosncience!

Looking out the window can also lead to severe loss of spirituallity and failed marriages. When David returned from a successful military campaign that resulted in recovering the covenant ark from the Philistines, his wife Michal, instead of coming down and join her husband in a most appropriate joyous celebration for such victory for theocracy, she “ looked down through the window and got to see King David leaping and dancing around before Jehovah; and she began to despise him in her heart.” (2 Sam 6:16) Being the daughter of the unfaithful King Saul, Michal lacked spiritual insight to understand Jehovah’s way of thinking, and recklessly looked out of the window. This resulted not only in rejecting the theocratic arrangement of Jehovah regarding the covenant ark, but also in despising her husband, which resulted up in the breaking of her marriage. How tragic!

As with other types of brazen conduct that end up resulting in physical damage for the individual, the Bible also inform us of the hazards that result from looking out of windows. Take, for example, the wicked queen Jezabel, widow of King Ahab of Israel. When Jehu, the appointed agent from Jehovah, approached the palace in Jezreel to request a hearing before the queen, the paganish Jezabel “heard about it ... painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window.” This offensive gesture outraged Jehu, that cried out to her servants: “let her drop!”; so they did and Jezabel died instantly for her blasphemy. - 2 Kings 9:30-33

The heathen mother of the cananite general Sisera also had the filthy habit of looking out of the window. The Bible tells: "Through the window peered Sisera's mother; behind the lattice she cried out, 'Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?' (Jud 5:28) However, even her detestable practice couldn’t revert the result of Jehovah’s judgement against Sisera and the army of the cananite king Jabin.

Even faithful christians must guard themselves against this dangerous practice. Remember how the young Eutychus allowed himself to sit by a window while Paul was delivering a discourse in Troas? While the Scriptures don’t directly mention so, obviously Euthycus peeked out of the window. Instead of paying attention to the theocratic message delivered by Paul during his fairwell discourse, Eutychus allowed his mind to wander to the worldly affairs that he could watch from the window, and that made him sleepy - spiritually and physically. He momantarily lost his precious balance - his relationship with Jehovah - fell and died. How tragic for this young man! Fortunately, God is merciful and saw something good in the young Eutychus and empowered the apostle Paul to bring him back to life. - Acts 20:7-12; 1 Kings 14:13

James warned us to not be ‘ deceiving ourselves with false reasoning’. (James 1:22) Such ‘false reasoning’ includes thinking that, just because the Bible doesn’t explicitly condemns certain practice, such practice becomes acceptable, even desireable for a Christian. The Bible clearly depicts looking out the windows on a very unfavorable light. This practice is usually linked to: a) detestable heathens b) spiritually weak people and c) has hazardous consequences, both morally, spiritually and physically. Think about it: If God wanted us to look out the windows, wouldn’t he made that clear in his inspired word?

Those who wish to please Jehovah take into account his feelings. He hates badness. At first glance, some practices may not seem so bad. But after meditating on the cited scriptures, you will likely see the wisdom of Jehovah’s laws and points of view. Following a different path than the majority of the wordly people may seem challenging; yet, living in a way that pleases God brings great satisfaction and happiness. (Isa 48:17, 18) And it is something that is within your reach. You CAN avoid looking out of windows."

Eden

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The 24 Elders in Revelation are NOT the anointed......

by EndofMysteries in

today i just thought of this.

i had written a thread about the false teaching of the anointed being resurrected already.

anyway, the wt assumes the 24 elders in revelation are the 144,000, and the assumption is merely because both sit on thrones.

EdenOne

AGuest ... or anyone for that matter ...

I have pondered the possibility that the "24 elders" may include the likes of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses ... it makes a lot of sense to me, actually. Yet, this reasoning would imply that such men would have been resurrected to a celestial position before Jesus was. This seems to colide with Colossians 1:18, where Christ is called “the firstborn from the dead.” (Since there has been resurrections in the days of Elijah and Elisha, surely this means a resurrection for a different type of life); Also 1 Corinthians 15:20, that says: " Christ has been raised up from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [in death]."

This appears to contradict the possibility of a resurrection for a celestial life to have ocurred before Jesus was resurrected. How do you resolve this contradiction? I'm very interested in hearing it.

Eden

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