|
Latest Articles: Religion
Brother Oscar L. Pillars of Albuquerque
Post Date: 2009-03-02 08:34:20 by richard9151
0 Comments
Someone, or rather, a couple of someones, have mentioned how the Jehovah Witnesses claim that they are demonized and attacked because of their work for Jehovah God. Really? Is it just a 'claim?' Brother Oscar L. Pillars of Albuquerque, NM, died this week at the age of 90 years old. You may remember the account of a brother that was hanged by a mob and the rope broke. That was brother Pillars. See the account below extracted from the Yearbook. ** yb75 pp. 188-190 Part 3— United States of America *** OTHER ACTS OF MOB BRUTALITY Many were the acts of mob violence having Jehovah’s witnesses as their targets. In December 1942 at Winnsboro , Texas , a number of ...
The Church Fathers—Advocates of Bible Truth?
Post Date: 2009-03-01 19:54:02 by richard9151
2 Comments
The Church Fathers—Advocates of Bible Truth? Whether you profess to be a Christian or not, your perception of the God of the Bible, of Jesus, and of Christianity may well have been influenced by them. One of them was called Golden-Mouthed; another, Great. Collectively, they have been described as “the supreme embodiments of the life of Christ.” Who are they? They are the ancient religious thinkers, writers, theologians, and philosophers who have shaped much of today’s “Christian” thinking—the Church Fathers. “THE Bible is not the totality of God’s word,” claims Greek Orthodox professor of religious studies Demetrios J. Constantelos. ...
Can You Believe the Bible?
Post Date: 2009-03-01 19:12:37 by richard9151
24 Comments
Can You Believe the Bible? BELIEF in the Bible remains widespread, even in this modern world. For instance, in a recent Gallup survey of Americans, 80 percent expressed belief that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Whether the percentage is as high in your area or not, you can understand that such believers expect to be taught the Bible in church. But often they are not. Take, for example, the doctrine of punishment of the soul after death. Is either purgatory or a fiery hell taught anywhere in the Bible? Today, many scholars in Christendom would answer no. The New Catholic Encyclopedia states: “In the final analysis, the Catholic doctrine on purgatory is based on tradition, not ...
Salvation by Overcoming Proud Tradition
Post Date: 2009-03-01 19:01:28 by richard9151
0 Comments
Salvation by Overcoming Proud Tradition “‘Do not go beyond the things that are written,’ in order that you may not be puffed up individually in favor of the one against the other. For who makes you to differ from another? Indeed, what do you have that you did not receive? If, now, you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”—1 Cor. 4:6, 7. PROUD tradition is old-world thinking that must be eradicated, as it has no place in God’s new world. Worldly traditions affect practically every family in one way or another. Often people do not even realize the extent to which their thinking is conditioned by the ingrained traditions and ...
Examing the Roman Catholic church
Post Date: 2009-02-28 18:21:17 by richard9151
0 Comments
Please note that NONE of this information is from the Jehovah's Witnesses. NONE! THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH - ESTABLISHED BY THE APOSTLES? The Church claims its beginnings to be with the apostles and Peter in particular. But an examination of its teachings and practice shows that this has no biblical basis. The apostles were ordinary men, usually married, who devoted their lives to teaching the Word of God and nurturing the infant congregations, refusing to be involved with the politics or the acquisition of wealth. Each member had an input into the decisions of the congregation, which, though linked by common doctrinal belief, was autonomous in function. No apostolic succession was ...
Why Jehovah's Witnesses Shun PeopleIs Disfellowshipping A Christian Practice? (Disfellowship - A Hybrid and Loaded Word) [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2009-02-27 22:32:12 by Coral Snake
42 Comments
Disfellowship - A Hybrid and Loaded Word For context about 1% of Jehovah’s Witnesses are disfellowshipped every year; about 70,000 per annum. Two out of three are never reinstated. Along with those that have simply stopped attending the group meetings, likely there are millions of disfellowshipped and disassociated ex-Jehovah's Witnesses in the community. Being disfellowshipped frequently results in emotional side effects. Those that continue to believe Watchtower doctrine are told that, whilst disfellowshipped, they are condemned to everlasting destruction. Those who become unbelievers, with no intention of returning to the Watchtower Society, realize they are unlikely to freely ...
Free Will
Post Date: 2009-02-27 18:18:45 by richard9151
0 Comments
Free Will (Reply to a letter raising objections on this point) I AM in disagreement with articles published in The Watchtower dated June 1, 1953. There is no such thing as a “free” will; and the only freedom human beings can ever experience is that which is conveyed upon them when they give their hearts to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and are born of the spirit.—J. H. N., England. The above-mentioned articles in The Watchtower discussed the subject of predestination as taught by the religious systems of Christendom and showed the falsity of their teaching, setting forth, instead, from the Holy Scriptures, that all men are allowed the free exercise of their will to ...
Identifying “the Man of Lawlessness"
Post Date: 2009-02-27 13:31:16 by richard9151
0 Comments
Identifying “the Man of Lawlessness" “The lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will do away with.”—2 THESSALONIANS 2:8. WE LIVE in an era of lawlessness. It is a worldwide phenomenon. Everywhere there is fear of lawless predators and the threat they present to our person and property. Yet, there is a far more insidious lawless element that has been at work for many centuries. In the Bible it is called “the man of lawlessness.” 2 It is vital that we identify this man of lawlessness. Why? Because he is intent on undermining our good standing with God and our hope of eternal life. How? By getting us to abandon the truth and to believe ...
Salvation
Post Date: 2009-02-27 12:25:53 by richard9151
1 Comments
Salvation Definition: Preservation or deliverance from danger or destruction. That deliverance may be from the hands of oppressors or persecutors. For all true Christians, Jehovah provides through his Son deliverance from the present wicked system of things as well as salvation from bondage to sin and death. For a great crowd of faithful servants of Jehovah living during “the last days,” salvation will include preservation through the great tribulation. Will God, in his great mercy, eventually save all humankind? Does 2 Peter 3:9 indicate that there will be universal salvation? It says: “The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing ...
Trinity [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2009-02-27 12:16:15 by richard9151
49 Comments
Trinity Definition: The central doctrine of religions of Christendom. According to the Athanasian Creed, there are three divine Persons (the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost), each said to be eternal, each said to be almighty, none greater or less than another, each said to be God, and yet together being but one God. Other statements of the dogma emphasize that these three “Persons” are not separate and distinct individuals but are three modes in which the divine essence exists. Thus some Trinitarians emphasize their belief that Jesus Christ is God, or that Jesus and the Holy Ghost are Jehovah. Not a Bible teaching. What is the origin of the Trinity doctrine? The New ...
BAAL
Post Date: 2009-02-27 11:31:24 by richard9151
0 Comments
BAAL (Ba82;al) [Owner; Master]. 1. The fourth-listed son of Jeiel, a Benjamite.—1Ch 8:29, 30; 9:35, 36. 2. A Reubenite whose son Beerah was among those taken captive by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III.—1Ch 5:5, 6, 26. 3. A Simeonite enclave city within the territory of Judah, apparently the same as Baalath-beer and Ramah of the south (or Negeb).—Compare 1Ch 4:32, 33 and Jos 19:7-9. 4. In the Scriptures, the Hebrew word ba82;59;al is employed with reference to (1) a husband as owner of his wife (Ge 20:3); (2) landowners (Jos 24:11, ftn); (3) “owners of the nations” (Isa 16:8, ftn); (4) “confederates” ...
GEHENNA
Post Date: 2009-02-27 11:22:07 by richard9151
14 Comments
GEHENNA (Ge·hen82;na) [Gr. form of the Heb. Geh Hin·nom82;, “Valley of Hinnom”]. This name appears 12 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, and whereas many translators take the liberty to render it by the word “hell,” a number of modern translations transliterate the word from the Greek ge82;en·na.—Mt 5:22, Ro, Mo, ED, NW, BC (Spanish), NC (Spanish), also the footnotes of Da and RS. The deep, narrow Valley of Hinnom, later known by this Greek name, lay to the S and SW of ancient Jerusalem and is the modern-day Wadi er-Rababi (Ge Ben Hinnom). (Jos 15:8; 18:16; Jer 19:2, 6; see HINNOM, VALLEY OF.) Judean Kings Ahaz and Manasseh engaged ...
RESURRECTION
Post Date: 2009-02-27 11:01:28 by richard9151
8 Comments
RESURRECTION The Greek word a·na82;sta·sis literally means “raising up; standing up.” It is used frequently in the Christian Greek Scriptures with reference to the resurrection of the dead. The Hebrew Scriptures at Hosea 13:14, quoted by the apostle Paul (1Co 15:54, 55), speak of the abolition of death and the rendering powerless of Sheol (Heb., she’ohl82;; Gr., hai82;des). She’ohl82; is rendered in various versions as “grave” and “pit.” The dead are spoken of as going there. (Ge 37:35; 1Ki 2:6; Ec 9:10) Its usage in the Scriptures, along with the usage of its Greek equivalent hai82;des in the Christian Greek Scriptures, shows that ...
TORTURE STAKE
Post Date: 2009-02-26 15:09:58 by richard9151
2 Comments
TORTURE STAKE An instrument such as that on which Jesus Christ met death by impalement. (Mt 27:32-40; Mr 15:21-30; Lu 23:26; Joh 19:17-19, 25) In classical Greek the word (stau·ros82;) rendered “torture stake” in the New World Translation primarily denotes an upright stake, or pole, and there is no evidence that the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures used it to designate a stake with a crossbeam.—See IMPALEMENT; Int, pp. 1149-1151. The book The Non-Christian Cross, by John Denham Parsons, states: “There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the ...
Contending With Two Ferocious Beasts
Post Date: 2009-02-24 12:12:20 by richard9151
2 Comments
Contending With Two Ferocious Beasts Vision 8—Revelation 13:1-18 Subject: The seven-headed wild beast, the two-horned wild beast, and the image of the wild beast Time of fulfillment: From Nimrod’s day to the great tribulation THE great dragon has been cast down to the earth! Our study of Revelation makes it clear that never again will the Serpent or his demon followers be allowed back into heaven. But we are not yet finished with “the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth.” The account next identifies in greater detail the means used by Satan to fight against ‘the woman and her seed.’ (Revelation 12:9, 17) John says ...
Religion’s Tidal Wave—The Final Reckoning
Post Date: 2009-02-24 11:56:17 by richard9151
23 Comments
Religion’s Tidal Wave—The Final Reckoning BONFIRES crackle, sparklers flash, rockets rush to color the sky red, blue, yellow, and green. Potatoes in their jackets. Peals of laughter, shrieks of delight. Bonfire Night in England. WORKERS found the 25 corpses by accident. The skeletons had been carefully buried, arms folded. Historians thus stumbled onto a trail of mystery going back some 200 years. Quebec, Canada. The above are two unconnected events with a common root—the Reformation. AN ARTICLE in our October 1 issue showed that Europe witnessed tremendous religious upheaval in the 16th century. The results spread to other parts of the world. Many aspects of life today ...
Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?
Post Date: 2009-02-23 17:49:15 by Old Friend
7 Comments
Last week I asked my students to write down the most difficult question they could imagine about God. While there were some great questions about evil, other religions, and reincarnation, the question that most caught my attention was about the historical Jesus. “In our age of science,” one girl asked, “Can we really believe that Jesus died 2,000 years ago, was buried for three days, and then came back to life? And if so, what does it matter?” I told her that if she is an open-minded person who wants to follow the evidence, then she would likely find the evidence both compelling and hopeful. The Possibility of Miracles Some people discount the possibility of the ...
Revelation 13
Post Date: 2009-02-23 04:54:25 by richard9151
1 Comments
Revelation 13:11; 11 And I saw another wild beast ascending out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, but it began speaking as a dragon. 12 And it exercises all the authority of the first wild beast in its sight. And it makes the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first wild beast, whose death-stroke got healed. 13 And it performs great signs, so that it should even make fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the sight of mankind. another wild beast In the Bible, when a wild beast is referred to, generally it is talking about a government. ascending out of the earth In the Bible, when the earth or the world is referred to, it generally means the ...
Why So Many Violent Crimes Now?
Post Date: 2009-02-22 18:12:06 by richard9151
7 Comments
Why So Many Violent Crimes Now? ALL crimes are evil. But mindless or purposeless crimes are harder to understand. The fact that they are often without an obvious motive baffles investigators. With mass communication becoming much more effective in recent years, such appalling crimes are known to millions, or even billions, within hours. A report published by the World Health Organization states that “violence leaves no continent, no country and few communities untouched.” Even places that were considered relatively safe in past years have recently seen more instances of senseless acts of violence. For example, Japan has long had a low rate of violent crime. However, in Ikeda, in ...
How Does God Feel About Violence?
Post Date: 2009-02-22 18:03:18 by richard9151
5 Comments
The Bible’s Viewpoint How Does God Feel About Violence? VIOLENCE is widespread and has many faces. Aside from war, there is sports-related, drug-related, gang-related, school-related, and work-related violence as well as violence in entertainment. Even domestic violence seems to be commonplace in many families. For example, one recent study suggested that in Canada 1.2 million men and women were violently attacked by their own mates at least once during a recent five-year period. Another study concluded that about 50 percent of wife batterers also violently abuse their children. Surely, such acts of violence are as appalling to you as they are to most other people. Still, ...
Being Slow About Wrath
Post Date: 2009-02-22 17:55:36 by richard9151
0 Comments
Being Slow About Wrath “Man’s wrath does not produce God’s righteousness.”—Jas. 1:20. ANGER in itself is not evil. The anger of Jehovah is the justifiable reaction of the wholly righteous God against sin, wickedness and all forms of unrighteousness. “Because of the aforesaid things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.” God’s wrath is completely under the control of his attributes of justice, wisdom, love and power. “Jehovah is slow to anger”—this the prophets Nahum, Joel and Jonah affirm. The psalmist says: “Jehovah is gracious and merciful, slow to anger.” And Jehovah himself gives this description at ...
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Post Date: 2009-02-22 15:28:26 by richard9151
2 Comments
RIGHTEOUSNESS The Hebrew tse82;dheq and tsedha·qah82; as well as the Greek di·kai·o·sy82;ne have the thought of “rectitude,” “uprightness,” indicating a standard or norm determining what is upright. “Righteousness” is frequently used in connection with a judge, or with judgment, giving the term a somewhat legal flavor (hence, the original-language terms are at times translated “justice”). (Ps 35:24; 72:2; 96:13; Isa 11:4; Re 19:11) In the Mosaic Law, at Leviticus 19:36, tse82;dheq is used four times in connection with business transactions: “You should prove to have accurate [“just,” AT, KJ, Le] scales, ...
How old is the earth? by Bodie Hodge [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2009-02-21 18:32:28 by Old Friend
53 Comments
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The question of the age of the earth has produced heated discussions on debate boards, classrooms, TV, radio, and in many churches, Christian colleges, and seminaries. The primary sides are: * Young earth proponents (biblical age of the earth and universe of about 6,000 years)1 * Old earth proponents (secular age of the earth of about 4.5 billion years and a universe about 14 billion years old)2 The difference is immense! Let’s give a little history of where these two basic calculations came from and which worldview is more reasonable. Where did a young-earth worldview come from? Simply put, it came from the ...
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH? [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2009-02-21 16:41:43 by Rotara
47 Comments
Many Christians are under the impression that if you believe the Bible, then you must believe that the earth is 6,000 years old. But is this so? Christians come to the 6,000 year conclusion, not based on something the Bible says about the age of the earth, but by tracking the biblical genealogies from Jesus back to Adam, which add up to about 4,000 years, and then adding in the 2,000 years from Christ until now. From a biblical perspective, this approach tells us approximately how long man has been around, but as we shall see, it does not necessarily tell us how long the earth has been around.Modern scientists, on the other hand, generally claim that the earth is more like five billion ...
Pope Caught Orchestrating Church Pedophile Cover Up
Post Date: 2009-02-18 20:29:03 by Itistoolate
10 Comments
Pope Caught Orchestrating Church Pedophile Cover Up A BBC documentary has exposed that Pope Benedict XVI, aka Cardinal Ratzinger, played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests. In 2001, while he was a cardinal, he issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church's interests ahead of child safety. The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it. And, to keep victims quiet, it threatened that if they repeat the allegations they would be ...
Latest [Newer] 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 [Older]
|