The original plan for mankind was for them to live on a paradise earth forever, that plan is still in place but first Jehovah has to deal with the challenge that SIf there are only 144 000 of the JW's going to heaven what happens to the rest, and who makes the choice????
It's ok. I didn't ask you to believe me. The two men from the nearby Kingdom Hall asked me if I wanted to take Bible lessons from them and I warned them I am Catholic. I guess they were feeling all giddy about snatching me from the jaws of the beast because they wanted to get started immediately. it didn't go well from the beginning because I didn't agree with them that the world was a hellhole and out to destroy true Christians. Also, when they brought up a church teaching and it matched up with an early church heresy more closely than the Early Christian Church......they actually told me that they were not used to talking with people who knew anything about Christianity. They made it two more weeks and finally said, 'it sounds like you understand what you believe' and never came back. I wonder if I am now shunned or one of the forbidden.
ME: I would say to you that you are just one of the humans that came under the ransom sacrifice of Jesus, this sacrifice covered the sins of everyone, even you, you do not have to go to the church and confess your daily sins to another man, pay a few dollars and say a few chants, that is denying the ransom tha t Jesus paid for the sins of Adam and Eve.
Again you search for some criticism to denigrate the Jws by saying they are not used to talking to people that knew anything about Christianity. The Jws talk to people that know more about Christianity than you are ever going to learn in the Catholic Church. To the Jehovah Witnesses Christianity is a way of life, not just a two or three times a year event as most religions have.
As far as being shunned, You are not judged by the Jehovah Witnesses, you are judged by Jehovah.
I can't understand the meaning of "out to destroy true Christians" That seems like a throw in from your own animosity
Christian Church history has been continuous, from Pentecost until today. It includes all churches who recognize the true nature of God and accept the Nicene Creed. The Great Apostacy is a myth, with no evidence in any history outside of 19th century church movements.
The Dark Ages were not pleasant for anyone. However, the time period did produce universities, early scientific practices, medical treatment, the Renaissance and eventually, the Enlightenment. It also produced rich spiritual writings by the Italian, Spanish and German Catholic Mystics.
The dark Ages is a reference to the clandestine methods of the Holy Roman Church's murder and torture of innocent people that did not what to have anything to do with this most angry religion. These ones were arrested by the government of the day and handed to the Church interrogation order. If these Innocents did not renounce their own religion they were tortured to death or taken before a kangaroo court of Catholics that condemned them to death for heresy.
This "Christian Church" burned Bibles so that the masses could not see the wrong that the Church put forward, in Latin mainly, so that the masses had no way of knowing what was being said. Learning to read was almost a mortal sin for the Church congregations.
The Catholic Church inquisition activities lasted until the mid 1950s in my country and I, having been a catholic College Pupil, well knew what went on in those terrible times. I really do not need your stories of piety and pompous papal propaganda to tell me about the activities of the Catholic Church.
Thankfully, the idea of separating church and state led to a reprieve from kings and church leaders from using each other to fight for power and territory. Hopefully, it will continue.
So....based on the superstitions taught by your church.....you have been told that engaging in Christian activities on the same days that Pagans once celebrated holidays qualifies as a Pagan practice? Do you know that we also drink the same water as our ancestors who were not Christians? We sleep during the same time periods and we may even work during the same time periods? We build roads like the Romans and think deep thoughts like Greeks! We even pray......knowing that Zorastrians and Hindus prayed before us!!
Outrageous! A scandal indeed...
If that is the best you can come up with, you had better go back for some more Catholic bigotry and hate. You stated in your reply to my first intention that you did not intend to take part in my discussions, why can't you honour that statement please. Yo have not shown one ounce of intention of telling the truth, and you know it.
Is there actually a Catholic you know personally, who prays to plaster replicas? If so, you better let them know immediately that those statues can't hear a word they are telling them......kind of silly to pray to plaster, although a lot less tacky than plastic, I imagine. The Church does not condone praying to material objects.
How many times has some gimmick , like a weeping Mary statue been used to raise money in some parish, and thousands of people flock to see the miracle
If these Idols are not for praying to, why do they adorn the Churches? Of course, there is the concept of praying to, for example, St Christopher to keep you safe in your vehicle, or to St Patrick to get a snake out of the house, or to Jesus mother, or bending you knee at a statue supposedly representing Jesus.
There is that much paraphernalia that comes from the Pagan Roman days it is a wonder that it is not seen by the congregations. The Bible says that Satan shows himself as an angel of light when in fact he is an angel of darkness.
Never heard of a Pagan praying the Rosary, but who knows? Certainly can't hurt!
The exact origin of the Rosary as a prayer is less than clear and subject to debate among scholars. Prayer beads may have their origins in the Eastern religions in India in the 3rd century BC. The use of knotted prayer ropes in Christianity goes back to the Desert Fathers in the 3rd and early 4th centuries.
Catholics, themselves argue as to the origin and the proper use of the beads.
St. Gregory would be so disappointed by your condemnation of singing the Psalms....i can promise you that I know of no Pagan who chant the Psalms.
Twisting will get you now where: I said that chanting is pagan origin.
Of course there are.....it's always the case with Pagan practices! Downright insidious..
Most Emporers are known for speaking to their base....look at Trump and white supremacists
Constantine issued the edict of Milan 313 AD - it continued the practice of tolerance of Christianity started by earlier Emperors.
Missorium of Emperor Theodosius I, made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.
Nicene Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD, when Emperor Theodosius I made it the Empire's sole authorized religion.
According to Jaslov Pelikan, a church historian, Constantine converted to Christ on his deathbed. Constantine did not hold any church office. He was interested only in stabilizing his newly conquered Empire and getting the different Christians on the same page - lots of nasty heresies floating around in the early 300s - Gnosticism, Arianism, Docetism, Sabellianism (JWs would love Sabellius, if they knew church history) that had to be identified and rooted out.
19th century movements (mostly stemming from Millerites) like JWs and their little sister, the Adventists love to believe that Constantine was a Catholic Pope - he was not. Neither was he involved in compiling the New Testament or developing the doctrine of the Trinity or Incarnation. He was a politician.
Paganism was a multicultural religion practiced in the Roman Empire - it include the God of the Greeks and the Parthenon and the Sun and the Emperor, himself.
Actually, he was more into subduing the Romans.....The whole conquering Rome thingy?
People of the Babylonian Empire were Babylonians and that Empire was long gone, by Constantines time. Babylon was also a term used to describe Pagan Rome by early Christians. The derogative term 'papist' came out of the English Reformation - 1200 years after Constantine. Roman Catholics do not use the term.
The Early Christian Church worshiped one God. Christianity developed from Judaism, which was strictly monotheistic. When the Early Christians were eventually kicked out of the Jewish Temple and Paul began planting churches through the Roman World, they continued to worship one God - three in one, God the Father, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Spirit. The recognition of saints in the early church stemmed from the persecution and sacrifices of the martyrs - they were never worshiped in the early church and they are not worshiped today.
Jehovah is a mistranslation of Yahweh and one of the more convincing reasons that Jehovahs Witnesses need educated theologians in their church. Also, where does it say (outside the NWT) that only God can be prayed to? Only God may be worshiped.
Placing Christ at the center and focus of a ritual is not sinful or Pagan. It is superstitious to believe that any ritual has power, in and of itself.
Sure.....now you tell me. Well, you better stick with JW doctrine...much safer
The current Pope doesn't use a Popemobile. He drives a simple Fiat.
Except in Rome then the security guards and the bullet proof popemobile is demanded.
