A serious questions for the Jehovah's Witnesses on these threads.

[The Learner]

Luke 4:17-21
New International Version
17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[a]

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:17-21
Contemporary English Version
17 he was given the book of Isaiah the prophet. He opened it and read,

18 “The Lord's Spirit
has come to me,
because he has chosen me
to tell the good news
to the poor.
The Lord has sent me
to announce freedom
for prisoners,
to give sight to the blind,
to free everyone
who suffers,
19 and to say, ‘This is the year
the Lord has chosen.’ ”

20 Jesus closed the book, then handed it back to the man in charge and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue looked straight at Jesus.

21 Then Jesus said to them, “What you have just heard me read has come true today.”

 

[The Learner]

“The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”” ‭‭John‬ ‭7:15‬ ‭

We know that there were multiples sects at the time of Jesus’ incarnate life. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were predominantly featured in the Biblical discourse.

It is clear that they had never seen Jesus attend any of their rabbinical schools otherwise they would not have marveled that he was well studied.

Jesus could read Luke 4:16, therefore he was literate and consequently educated though not necessarily by a religious rabbi.

And there were other religious schools like the Essenes. Would it be out of the question Jesus was taught by an Essene? They were renown for their love for the Scriptures.

Jesus also grew up near the city of Sepphoris. He certainly used the term hypocrite which might indicate having at least been to this city and seen its amphitheater, if not attended and spectated a theatrical performance. He might have received his education from here by a religious or non religious teacher?

In light of the fact that Jesus according to Philippians 2:7 voluntarily emptied or nullified His divine attributes whilst in a human body, meaning He had to learn (Isaiah 7:15) and could not rely on His omniscience, why were these people marveling? Surely the Pharisees were not the only ones who could teach on the Scriptures? Did they hold a monopoly on religious education?

Or was it (also) a matter of costs? Jesus didn’t look/dress like he was part of high society to have afforded an education (private) in his childhood?

Was Jesus educated, uneducated, or merely not educated by a rabbi of the Pharisaical sect?

“The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”” ‭‭John‬ ‭7:15‬ ‭ We know that there were multiples sects at the time of Jesus’ incarnate l...

hermeneutics.stackexchange.com

 

[The Learner]

Mark 12:35
And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?

John 7:14
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.

Luke was a Doctor, Paul studied Theology on Senimary Level. Rest of the Apostles, except maybe the tax collector were not educated on the senimary level.
Their boldness from the Holy Spirit got them noticed.

2 Peter 3:16 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful​

As he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

1 Peter 3:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes​

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

 

[The Learner]

John 8:20
These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.

Acts 5:42
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

 

[The Learner]

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful​

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Acts 4:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes​

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Luke 2
40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

 

[Wrangler]

@The Learner,

I come here for a conversation. Not sure what you hope to accomplish with all this copy and pasting.

FYI

W

 

[The Learner]

Seneca the Elder (54 B.C.E.-39 C.E.), was a Roman rhetorician and writer, born of a wealthy equestrian family of Cordoba, Hispania. Seneca lived through the reigns of three significant emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula. For our purpose here we are particularly interested in his letters, which were published; i.e. someone paid to have a scribe produce a copy of them. As was the case with many works of antiquity, the process was repeated over and over again throughout the centuries

...

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 B.C.E.–65 C.E.), was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist, i.e., a very famous, skilled, and effective speaker

 

[The Learner]

Acts 4:13-20 They couldn’t take their eyes off them—Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Script Now as they observed the confidence

They couldn’t take their eyes off them—Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Script Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated...

www.bible.com

Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee (The Library of New Testament Studies) Hardcover – November 17, 2011
by Chris Keith

 

[The Learner]

1. Jesus taught according to rabbinic styles. Jesus also used rabbinic styles of teaching. Jesus often answered questions by asking them. When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life while calling Jesus good, Jesus responded by asking, “Why do you call me good” (Lk. 18:19, CSB)? In another case, Jesus is asked whether people should pay taxes. Jesus responds with the question after taking a denarius, “Whose image and inscriptions does it have” (Lk. 20:24)? Jesus also uses a rabbinical style of teaching called Remez, which alludes to a passage of Scripture. Remez is a Haggadic method of interpretation. Since many people memorized the Scripture, it wasn’t necessary to quote the entire passage of Scripture. Rather, one could recall part of the Scripture or allude to the Scripture. When the allusion to the Scripture is given, the entire passage is referenced. When Jesus answers the disciples of John the Baptist as to whether he is the Messiah, Jesus replies by saying, “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me” (Mt. 11:5). In this one statement, Jesus references Isaiah 29:18; 35:5-6; 42:7; and 61:1. John the Baptist would have understood Jesus’s citation (Blizzard and Bivin, org, 2013). Not only does Jesus use extensive rabbinic techniques, Jesus uses tremendous methodologies of logic in his teaching as well as various picturesque expressions in his teaching, including similes (Mt. 7:24, 26), metaphors (Mt. 13:19-22), hypocatastates (comparison of two unlike things in naming, Lk. 13:32), metonymies (word or phrase is substituted for another word or phrase associated with it, Mt. 10:34; 11:21, 23), synecdoche (like metonymies but that this substitutes a part for a whole or vice versa, Lk. 23:29), hyperboles (exaggerations to prove a point, Mt. 5:29-30), personification (Mt. 6:3, 6:34, 11:2), apostrophes (addresses an object as if it were a person, Mt. 11:21, 23; Lk. 10:13), euphemisms (substitution of an inoffensive expression with a bold one, Mt. 9:24; Jn. 11:11), ironies (Mk. 2:17; Mk. 7:9), paradoxes (Mt. 5:2-5; Mt. 19:29; Mt. 23:11), puns (Lk. 21:11; Jn. 3:3), humor (Mt. 6:2; 7:3; 19:24), enigmas (Mt. 8:22; Mt. 10:34), aphorisms (Mt. 5:13-14; 6:34; Lk. 12:34), repetitions (“Blessed” in the Beatitudes; “I tell you” in Mt. 18:3, 10, 18-19, 22; 26:21, 29, 34), a fortiori (Mt. 6:26; 10:29-30), reductio ad absurdium (Mt. 5:46-47; 12:24-26), excluded middle (Mt. 12:30; 21:25-27), noncontradiction (Lk. 6:39) analogies (Mt. 12:40), contrasts (Mt. 23:23-24), and Hebrew forms of poetry (Mt. 10:24, 26) (Zuck, Teaching as Jesus Taught, 183-234). The high level of logic and reasoning in addition to his rabbinical style of teaching seems to preclude that Jesus of Nazareth was well educated.
2. Jesus knew the Hebrew Bible well. This point does not need a lot of exposition. It is evident even upon a casual reading of the Gospels that Jesus knew the Scriptures well. He even segments the Scriptures into the classical way of segmenting them as the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Lk. 24:44). Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy, Isaiah, the Psalms, and other prophets frequently indicating that he had memorized large segments of Scripture.
3. Jesus lived in a region that had schools. Finally, it should be noted that according to Professor Shmuel Safrai, the number of Galilean rabbis eclipsed those of Judean rabbis in the first century (Safrai, Jewish People of the First Century). Archaeologists have uncovered synagogues in the Galilean area as found within the first century. Jesus would have received his education at the synagogues by the rabbis of the area in addition to his earthly father, Joseph of Nazareth. While not much is known about Joseph, if James, the half-brother of Jesus, is any indication, it would seem that Joseph would have been quite knowledgeable of the Scriptures himself as he would have passed along an education to Jesus and James.

When Jesus was called unlearned, it is most likely that the Jewish leaders noted that Jesus had not been trained in the approved schools in Judea. He had, however, been educated in Galilee. Each synagogue had its own bet-sefer, that is, a school of learning. While Jesus may not have received the training that a scribe would have received in Jerusalem, Jesus would most certainly been educated during his early years as was evidenced by Jesus’s reading, writing, and teaching skills. Many people ask, “What was Jesus doing in his early years?” I think the answer is quite simple. Jesus was memorizing and learning the Scriptures in preparation for his ministry, which was to come. If Jesus, the Son of God, needed to study the Scriptures, what does that say of our need to study them?

Sources

Blizzard, Roy B., and David Bivin. “Study Shows Jesus as Rabbi.” Bible Scholars.org (May 2013). Accessed on April 29, 2019. Study Shows Jesus as Rabbi.

Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1996.

Safrai, Shmuel. The Jewish People in the First Century: Historical Geography, Political History, Social, Cultural, and Religious Life and Institutions. Volume 2. Boston: Brill, 1988.

Zuck, Roy B. Teaching as Jesus Taught. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1995.

The Education of Jesus of Nazareth

 

[Aunty Jane]

And Jesus knew that when a mans body dies His soul goes to hell. either in Abrahams bosom or the place of torment. HIs spirit returns to God as Ecclesiastes says.

I’m sorry, but that just made me shake my head.....you refer to a parable and assume that the details are real rather than metaphorical. Parables are not real stories about real people, but illustrative of realities that Jesus’ audience did not always understand. Sometimes he explained them, but sometimes he didn’t. His teachings would explain more as time went on.

The “rich man and Lazarus” is not a story about individuals, but about two completely different groups of people.
The “rich man” represented the Pharisees who had no concern at all for the ones that they considered “lost”......the “beggar” represented the “lost sheep” to whom Jesus was sent, sitting at the gate waiting for a few crumbs that might fall from the rich man’s table.....the “bosom of Abraham” is a position of favour with God since he was the only man in scripture called “Jehovah’s friend”. (James 2:23)

Their “deaths” meant a change in their individual status...it meant that they swapped places. The “lost sheep” who responded to Jesus and accepted him as Messiah, now gained the bosom position, and the the Pharisees officially lost it. By the time of Jesus’ ministry, it had been about 300 years since God had tried to correct his wayward nation by sending them his prophets....Jesus was the last chance that Israel had to come back to God.....but as a nation, they never did...the “beggars” however, began to be fed and they had Jesus and his apostles as their teachers. Only a “remnant” of natural Israel was going to respond, as the scriptures had foretold. (Romans 9:27)

To assume that this parable is a real story is ridiculous. Are heaven and hell within speaking distance to each other? Will a drop of water on someone’s finger cool the tongue of someone in a fire? Really???
The “fire” is God’s wrath. This is so not a story about “heaven and hell”.....Jewish scripture was devoid of any such notion. The dead are “sleeping” in their graves. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; John 11:11)

You're getting close- for now you recognize that something in man that is dead can be made alive again. You are beginning to see other than those contorted lies of the Watchtower!

Wow....do you think you have you begun to educate me? Since this is what I have always believed, I assume that you have fooled yourself here. It is the Bible that tells me that “spiritual death” is not the same as “physical death”. We will have a different view on what that means however.

According to you but according to history, I am right on. PHarisees and the average Jew of Jesus day, believed in spiritual life after death. They did not think a person ceased to exist at bodily death, Just like Jesus taught and Pal and John and the apostles all taught!

And yet Jesus called the teachings of the Pharisees “leaven”....something corrupt. (Matt 16:6)
Whatever the Jews of Jesus day taught and believed, was not what what Jesus promoted. (Matthew 15:7-9)
Don’t take too much notice of them.....Jesus didn’t.

Just like Paul declared- when we (us who trust in the physical resurrection of Jesus for our sins) are absnet from teh body, we are present with the Lord- MNot at some future date or time, but the moment our body dies.

Sorry, the Bible disagrees with you. Paul, being one of the elect, had a heavenly hope (Hebrews 3:1)....that of being resurrected “in the spirit” as Jesus was. That meant shedding his fleshly body and being given a spiritual one. That is not the destiny of all Christians however. The elect are to be rulers and priests in God’s Kingdom, (Revelation 20:6) sharing rulership with their King Christ Jesus. But their subjects will live on earth. (Revelation 21:2-4) I hope to be one of them....

Whatr you willingly overlook is this: Paul says that we as persons are not our body. When "WE" ( as people) are absewnt from our bodies , WE as people are present with the Lord whhile our bodies are in the ground! This is simple basuic 2nd grade grammar and understanding. The Watchtower dumbs you down to blind you to Gods Truth!

What I believe you willingly overlook in order to keep your beliefs, is that human beings were designed by their Creator to live here on earth forever. In the beginning, there was no natural cause of death....it was the penalty for disobedience, not something inevitable. “The tree of life” was there in the garden to guarantee everlasting life on condition of their continued obedience. Death was never a “natural” thing for humans as we alone go through enormous grieving over the loss of a loved one. Animals normally take death in their stride.

Of all the “souls” that God created, (both animals and humans) only humans were given the hope of a resurrection. That was not a continuation of life....but a restoration of it, here on the earth. This is where the Jews expected the resurrection to take place under the rule of Messiah’s kingdom. Even as he was leaving to return to heaven, his apostles asked if he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel at that time? (Acts 1:6) He told them to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. All was then revealed about their heavenly hope. The apostles all had the heavenly hope as those who would be the very foundations of God’s kingdom. (Revelation 21:14)

There was no passage of scripture that even suggested that this earth was to be a training ground for heaven. If God had wanted humankind in heaven, he would have created us to live there.....he clearly didn’t.
God already had a large spirit family in heaven long before he decided to create material beings in a material environment.

When humans disobeyed their Creator, he responded to their defection by immediately giving the first prophesy in Genesis 3:15.....this was not fully understood until the time came for the savior that Jehovah would send to redeem the children that Adam and his wife were permitted to bring into the world. He allowed the first part of his mandate...to “fill the earth” with their offspring, to go ahead, but the second part (that of ‘subduing’ the earth) would have to wait. It was always God’s intention to restore what was lost.

If we don’t understand what God’s first purpose was, and how he planned to reinstate it after a period of educating his children about the value of obedience, (both in heaven and on earth) we will miss the whole point of it. What God starts, he finishes. (Isaiah 45:11) He never intended for any human to go to heaven at the beginning.....so why do so many expect to go where God never designed us to live?

He has chosen some from among mankind to form the governmental arrangement that will reinstate God’s first purpose for this earth. Why is that so hard to comprehend?

 

[Cassandra]

If the righteous dead go to Abraham's bosom, where did the folk go before Abraham died? Did Abraham go into his bosom?

 

[RLT63]

I’m sorry, but that just made me shake my head.....you refer to a parable and assume that the details are real rather than metaphorical. Parables are not real stories about real people, but illustrative of realities that Jesus’ audience did not always understand. Sometimes he explained them, but sometimes he didn’t. His teachings would explain more as time went on.

The “rich man and Lazarus” is not a story about individuals, but about two completely different groups of people.
The “rich man” represented the Pharisees who had no concern at all for the ones that they considered “lost”......the “beggar” represented the “lost sheep” to whom Jesus was sent, sitting at the gate waiting for a few crumbs that might fall from the rich man’s table.....the “bosom of Abraham” is a position of favour with God since he was the only man in scripture called “Jehovah’s friend”. (James 2:23)

Their “deaths” meant a change in their individual status...it meant that they swapped places. The “lost sheep” who responded to Jesus and accepted him as Messiah, now gained the bosom position, and the the Pharisees officially lost it. By the time of Jesus’ ministry, it had been about 300 years since God had tried to correct his wayward nation by sending them his prophets....Jesus was the last chance that Israel had to come back to God.....but as a nation, they never did...the “beggars” however, began to be fed and they had Jesus and his apostles as their teachers. Only a “remnant” of natural Israel was going to respond, as the scriptures had foretold. (Romans 9:27)

To assume that this parable is a real story is ridiculous. Are heaven and hell within speaking distance to each other? Will a drop of water on someone’s finger cool the tongue of someone in a fire? Really???
The “fire” is God’s wrath. This is so not a story about “heaven and hell”.....Jewish scripture was devoid of any such notion. The dead are “sleeping” in their graves. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; John 11:11)

Wow....do you think you have you begun to educate me? Since this is what I have always believed, I assume that you have fooled yourself here. It is the Bible that tells me that “spiritual death” is not the same as “physical death”. We will have a different view on what that means however.

And yet Jesus called the teachings of the Pharisees “leaven”....something corrupt. (Matt 16:6)
Whatever the Jews of Jesus day taught and believed, was not what what Jesus promoted. (Matthew 15:7-9)
Don’t take too much notice of them.....Jesus didn’t.

Sorry, the Bible disagrees with you. Paul, being one of the elect, had a heavenly hope (Hebrews 3:1)....that of being resurrected “in the spirit” as Jesus was. That meant shedding his fleshly body and being given a spiritual one. That is not the destiny of all Christians however. The elect are to be rulers and priests in God’s Kingdom, (Revelation 20:6) sharing rulership with their King Christ Jesus. But their subjects will live on earth. (Revelation 21:2-4) I hope to be one of them....

What I believe you willingly overlook in order to keep your beliefs, is that human beings were designed by their Creator to live here on earth forever. In the beginning, there was no natural cause of death....it was the penalty for disobedience, not something inevitable. “The tree of life” was there in the garden to guarantee everlasting life on condition of their continued obedience. Death was never a “natural” thing for humans as we alone go through enormous grieving over the loss of a loved one. Animals normally take death in their stride.

Of all the “souls” that God created, (both animals and humans) only humans were given the hope of a resurrection. That was not a continuation of life....but a restoration of it, here on the earth. This is where the Jews expected the resurrection to take place under the rule of Messiah’s kingdom. Even as he was leaving to return to heaven, his apostles asked if he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel at that time? (Acts 1:6) He told them to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. All was then revealed about their heavenly hope. The apostles all had the heavenly hope as those who would be the very foundations of God’s kingdom. (Revelation 21:14)

There was no passage of scripture that even suggested that this earth was to be a training ground for heaven. If God had wanted humankind in heaven, he would have created us to live there.....he clearly didn’t.
God already had a large spirit family in heaven long before he decided to create material beings in a material environment.

When humans disobeyed their Creator, he responded to their defection by immediately giving the first prophesy in Genesis 3:15.....this was not fully understood until the time came for the savior that Jehovah would send to redeem the children that Adam and his wife were permitted to bring into the world. He allowed the first part of his mandate...to “fill the earth” with their offspring, to go ahead, but the second part (that of ‘subduing’ the earth) would have to wait. It was always God’s intention to restore what was lost.

If we don’t understand what God’s first purpose was, and how he planned to reinstate it after a period of educating his children about the value of obedience, (both in heaven and on earth) we will miss the whole point of it. What God starts, he finishes. (Isaiah 45:11) He never intended for any human to go to heaven at the beginning.....so why do so many expect to go where God never designed us to live?

He has chosen some from among mankind to form the governmental arrangement that will reinstate God’s first purpose for this earth. Why is that so hard to comprehend?

Thank you for sharing your beliefs. They are definitely out of the mainstream but everyone can read your comments and decide for themselves.

 

[Aunty Jane]

Thank you for sharing your beliefs. They are definitely out of the mainstream but everyone can read your comments and decide for themselves.

Isn't that what Internet forums are for? People come to these places to be fed spiritually, and when "the mainstream" is old and tired, meaningless hypocrisy, (as it was for me) people need the kind of spiritual food that helps them to regain their faith....to find "the only true God"...to answer the unanswered questions.....and to have something to mull over, so that they can connect to God in a meaningful way.... (John 17:3)...often for the first time.

It occurred to me a long time ago that God has never been "mainstream"....his adversary has control of that group. (1 John 5:19; Matthew 7:13-14)
It's how you know you are on the right track.....at this "time of the end", the "wheat" and the "weeds" will have nothing in common....this is what the separation means.

 

[RLT63]

Isn't that what Internet forums are for? People come to these places to be fed spiritually, and when "the mainstream" is old and tired, meaningless hypocrisy, (as it was for me) people need the kind of spiritual food that helps them to regain their faith....to find "the only true God"...to answer the unanswered questions.....and to have something to mull over, so that they can connect to God in a meaningful way.... (John 17:3)...often for the first time.

It occurred to me a long time ago that God has never been "mainstream"....his adversary has control of that group. (1 John 5:19; Matthew 7:13-14)
It's how you know you are on the right track.....at this "time of the end", the "wheat" and the "weeds" will have nothing in common....this is what the separation means.

You share that in common with Calvinists who think they are the chosen few, some Catholics who claim they are the one true Church, other denominations who think only they are saved and some loners I’ve met on here who believe they have stumbled onto the truth and everyone else is wrong. Mainstream probably isn’t the right word anymore because they are accepting evolution, homosexuality and abortion now, maybe traditional is a better word.

 

[Aunty Jane]

You share that in common with Calvinists who think they are the chosen few, some Catholics who claim they are the one true Church, other denominations who think only they are saved and some loners I’ve met on here who believe they have stumbled onto the truth and everyone else is wrong. Mainstream probably isn’t the right word anymore because they are accepting evolution, homosexuality and abortion now, maybe traditional is a better word.

Do you honestly think the devil is going to make the identity of God's appointed "faithful and wise servant" obvious? (Matthew 24:45) Why do you think Jesus framed his identity in a question? Who really is this "servant" who is charged with 'feeding' his entire household of fellow servants, their "food at the proper time"?
How do you think satan creates confusion? He gives people too many choices, so that no one can see the diamond in the pile of broken glass....

Only those who are guided by God's spirit will discern the truth...the rest are on another road entirely. Only at the judgment will we all know who found the diamond and who is part of the broken glass.

 

[RLT63]

Do you honestly think the devil is going to make the identity of God's appointed "faithful and wise servant" obvious? (Matthew 24:45) Why do you think Jesus framed his identity in a question? Who really is this "servant" who is charged with 'feeding' his entire household of fellow servants, their "food at the proper time"?
How do you think satan creates confusion? He gives people too many choices, so that no one can see the diamond in the pile of broken glass....

Only those who are guided by God's spirit will discern the truth...the rest are on another road entirely. Only at the judgment will we all know who found the diamond and who is part of the broken glass.

Now who is taking parables literally? You can’t be guided by someone you don’t believe in.

 

[Aunty Jane]

Now who is taking parables literally? You can’t be guided by someone you don’t believe in.

Parables are not just stories, but realities couched in illustrations of familiar things. Israel was familiar with servants and faithful ones were given more responsibilities and freedom. Jesus portrayed himself as the Master of the house.

You’ll have to explain that last part.....who is it that you think I don’t believe in?

 

[Wrangler]

You share that in common with Calvinists who think they are the chosen few, some Catholics who claim they are the one true Church, other denominations who think only they are saved and some loners I’ve met on here who believe they have stumbled onto the truth and everyone else is wrong. Mainstream probably isn’t the right word anymore because they are accepting evolution, homosexuality and abortion now, maybe traditional is a better word.

The notion of truth exclusive to a denomination got me thinking about idolatry.

Sad but there is truth in what you write. They don’t see it.

Some time ago I realized many Christians are idolators; they’ve made their doctrines into an IDOL.

Such IDOLATORS create what is not in Scripture, a doctrinal purity test. Such IDOLATRY led to the Inquisitions.

Lacking political power now, such idolators still invoke ‘questions’ but not to learn but to relentlessly attack. Sad.

What do you think?

 

[RLT63]

The notion of truth exclusive to a denomination got me thinking about idolatry.


What do you think?

It fits

 

[Wrangler]

It fits

I think there is a lot of idolatry in the world, even beyond Christian denominations. I'm kind of surprised more sermons are not on that topic.

The allure of idolatry is powerful. Sex, drugs, and especially power and money. I've heard a very high % of ministers admit to having porn addictions, let alone the laity.

Another obvious but controversial addictive idol today is video games. Those that get hooked have a noticable detoriation in social skills. Even when not plugged into the electronic obsession, they remain NOT plugged into their family and greater world around them. Many say JW is a cult that controls its members, e.g., only get information from JW approved sources. That is more concerning to me than any doctrinal differences.