For those who believe that the Bible is God’s Word, the Great Flood of Noah's day is more than a possibility. It is a fact. Jesus said to God: “Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
Jesus believed that the Flood took place. In his great prophecy about his presence and the end of this system of things, he likened those events to the time of Noah. (Matthew 24:37-39) The apostle Peter also wrote about the floodwaters in Noah’s day: “By those means the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water.” (2 Peter 3:6)
If Noah was a mythical figure and the Great Flood a fable, the warnings of Peter and Jesus for those living in the last days would be meaningless. It is clear that the deluge of Noah's day was a real event that served as a warning and an example. (2 Peter 3:1-7)
Other evidences of the Deluge can be found to linger in mankind's legends and traditions. Practically all ancient peoples have a legend that their ancestors survived a Great Flood.
It is to be expected that over time the legends have been embellished, but they all include several details indicating a common source narrative. The similarities cannot possibly be coincidental. The combined evidence of these legends corroborates the Bible's ancient testimony that all humans descend from the survivors of a flood that destroyed a world of mankind.
For more, see:
According to the Bible, what was the time span between Adam’s creation to the Flood?
Articles from the WBTS:
Why Did That Ancient World Perish?
In certain respects, the pre-Flood civilization enjoyed advantages that we do ... Many centuries before the Flood, earth's population had grown to such an ...
A Whole World Destroyed!
Practically all ancient peoples have a legend that their ancestors survived a global flood. African Pygmies, European Celts, South American ...
Was the Flood of Noah's Day Really Global?
Some may wonder if the story of the whole earth being covered with water is a myth or at least an exaggeration.
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Great Tribulation - Links to Information
(Also see Armageddon and Last Days.)
Click on any of the following to view:
The Great Tribulation (Insight-2 pp. 1126-1128; Watchtower Online Library)
GREAT TRIBULATION (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
How This World Will Come to an End (THE WATCHTOWER (SIMPLIFIED EDITION) SEPTEMBER 2012; JW.ORG)
Doomsday May Not Be What You Think (AWAKE! SEPTEMBER 2012; JW.ORG)
What is the Great Tribulation and how extensive will it be? (Search For Bible Truths)
Should You Fear The Great Tribulation? (Search For Bible Truths)
Click on any of the following to view:
The Great Tribulation (Insight-2 pp. 1126-1128; Watchtower Online Library)
GREAT TRIBULATION (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
How This World Will Come to an End (THE WATCHTOWER (SIMPLIFIED EDITION) SEPTEMBER 2012; JW.ORG)
Doomsday May Not Be What You Think (AWAKE! SEPTEMBER 2012; JW.ORG)
What is the Great Tribulation and how extensive will it be? (Search For Bible Truths)
Should You Fear The Great Tribulation? (Search For Bible Truths)
Monday, March 29, 2010
Questions For Those Who Believe in the Trinity
If the Trinity Doctrine is a Bible teaching...
1. Then why do NUMEROUS encyclopedias agree that
"... the doctrine of the Trinity was of gradual and comparatively late formation; that it had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian scriptures; that it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity"? – p. 34, The Church of the First Three Centuries, Alvan Lamson, D.D.
2. Then why do many encyclopedias, dictionaries and other sources (including Sir Isaac Newton) agree that the "Trinity was a pagan corruption imposed on Christianity in the fourth century by Athanasius"?
3. Then why does the Bible consistently identify God by singular person pronouns: "I, "Me," "He, and "Him" instead of "We", "Us", "They" or "Them"?
4. Then why does 2 Cor. 13:14 say that the Lord Jesus Christ is one individual, the holy spirit is another individual (whether a person or a thing), and that "GOD" IS ANOTHER DIFFERENT INDIVIDUAL?
5. Then why is there not even one scripture which clearly defines the Trinity?
6. Then why is there not even one scripture of a vision, dream, or CLEAR description wherein God is shown as three persons?
7. Then why is there not even one scripture where God is described using the word "three"?
If Jesus is Almighty God...
1. Then why is "God head of Christ just as Christ is head of man"? (1 Cor. 11:3)
2. Then why does Scripture consistently phrase Jesus as a separate person from God? (John 20:17; John 14:1; Mark 10:18; John 17:1-3; etc. Also in heaven, 1 Cor. 11:3; Luke 22:69; etc.)
3. Then how can Jesus have a God? Could Almighty God have a God? (Mic. 5:4; Ps. 45:6, 7; 89:26; John 20:17; Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3; Mark 15:34; John 17:1-3; Also in heaven, Rev. 1:6; 3:2, 12)
4. Then why does Scripture say he was born and is part of Creation? (Col. 1:15)
5. Then why does Rev. 3:14 say that Jesus is "the beginning of the creation of God"?
6. Then why is he subject to GOD, like we're subject to him? (1 Cor. 15:27, 28; Eph. 1:17)
7. Then why does Micah 5:2 say that Jesus' ORIGIN was “from early times”?
8. Then why does Jesus not know what God knows? (Matt. 24:36, Rev.1:1; Luke 8:45)
9. Then why is Jesus still subject to God when he is as high as he will ever be? (1 Cor. 15:27, 28)
10. Then why does Proverbs 8:22-31 show that the Messiah was CREATED / PRODUCED by God?
11. Then why is he not powerful enough to subject things to himself? (1 Cor. 15:27, Eph. 1:17, 22)
12. Then why would he have to be given any power and authority? (Mt. 28:18; 11:27; Jn. 5:22; 17:2; 3:35; 2 Pet. 1:17)
13. Then why did he have to learn anything? (Heb. 5:8; John 5:19; 8:28)
14. Then why is speaking against him not as bad as speaking against the Holy Spirit? (Mt. 12:31,32; Luke 12:10)
15. Then why did Jesus call the "Father...the only true God"? (John 17:3)
16. Then why did he need to be saved? (Heb. 5:7; John 12:27)
17. Then why did he have to be exalted to Leader and Savior? (Acts 5:31)
18. Then how could he be exalted and given a higher name than he had? (Phil. 2:9-11; Heb. 1:2-4)
19. Then why did he have to be given life in himself? (John 5:25,26)
20. Then how can the Father be greater than he? (John 14:28)
21. Then how could Jesus be tempted by Satan when God cannot be tempted with evil? (James 1:13)
22. Then why did he worship the Father? (John 4:22)
23. Then why can he not do anything on his own? (John 5:19; 6:38)
24. Then why would he pray to anybody? (Luke 22:44; John 17:1,2; Heb. 5:7)
25. Then why do John 1:18 and 1 John 4:9 say that Jesus is God's "only BEGOTTEN Son"? ASV
26. Then how can he be God's servant? (Acts 4:26,27,30)
27. Then how could he receive strength from an angel? (Luke 22:43)
28. Then how could he be a mediator between God and man? (1 Tim. 2:5)
29. Then how could he be with God (ton theon)? (John 1:1)
30. Then how can he be God's image? (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3)
31. Then why is he called the agency (dia) of creation and not the Originator (ek)? (1 Cor. 8:6; John 1:1-3; Prov. 8:30; Heb. 2:10; Col. 1:15,16)
32. Then why did Jesus say GOD was "good" in a way that Jesus was not? (Mark 10:18)
33. Then why does he have an archangel's voice instead of God's voice? (1 Thess. 4:16)
34. Then why is the only "worship" given to him the same given to humans? (Heb. 1:6, cf. Mt. 18:26; Rev. 3:9 - "Proskuneo")
35. Then why do many who believe this rely on a few selected, so-called 'proof-texts' instead of the context of the consistent teaching of the entire Bible?
36. Then how could he be commanded to do anything? (John 12:49; Deut. 18:18)
37. Then why did Steven see two separate entities, GOD and Jesus, and not just one God or three persons? (Acts 7:55)
38. Then how could he be seen at GOD's right hand? (Luke 22:69; Acts 7:55; Rom. 8:34)
39. Then how could Jesus be exalted (not to become God Himself, but) to the position of the "right hand OF God"? (Acts 2:33)
40. Then why would he have to receive a revelation from God? (Rev.1:1)
41. Then why is he called God's "begotten" Son before he came to earth? (John 3:16; Gal. 4:4; 1 John 4:9)
42. Then how could he have a Father? (John 20:17)
43. Then how could he come in flesh? (1 Kings 8:27; Acts 17:24,25)
44. Then why did he not come in his own name? (John 5:41-44)
45. Then why did Jesus "come down from heaven to do" God's will and not his own will? (Luke 22:42; John 6:38; John 5:30; John 8:42)
46. Then how could he appear before GOD? (Heb. 9:24)
47. Then how could he die? Can God die? Can part of God die? (Rom. 5:10; Acts 5:30; 1 Cor. 15:3; Hab.1:12; cf. 1 Tim. 6:16; Num. 23:19; Ps. 90:2; Dan. 6:25-26)
48. Then why is it that God resurrected Jesus? (Acts 2:32)
49. Then why can we see him if "no man has seen God at any time"? (John 1:18)
50. Then why is there not one clear scripture where Jesus is called "God the Son," (equal to those declaring "God, the Father)?
51. How is it that the Jews rounded up some false witnesses to make up lies to obtain a death sentence for Jesus, but neither the Jewish officials nor even one of these false witnesses made a claim that he was God or equally God? (Matt. 26:59-67)
52. John summed up his whole Gospel by saying that it was written that we may believe "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." Why is there is no mention in that summary of the entire Gospel of what would be the most important thing of all - that Jesus is God? (John 20:31)
53. How could Jesus teach in the Jewish synagogues and the temple? This would never happen if any of the authorities believed he claimed to be God (or that his followers believed such a thing). - Matt. 26:55; John 7:14, 28. Matt. 4:23.
54. How could Jesus' followers teach in Jewish synagogues after Jesus' death and for the remainder of that first century (at least)? Again, this would not have been allowed if there were any suspicion that they believed Jesus to be God. Acts 9:20; 13:5, Acts 13:13-15.
IF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ALMIGHTY GOD...
1. Then why do quotes from Trinitarians admit that the Holy Spirit is not God but rather is a force from God?
2. Then why would Jews instructed in the Old Testament scriptures and in the teachings of John the Baptist, NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS? (Acts 19:2)
3. Then why isn't the Holy Spirit given equal description in the Bible?
4. Then why didn't Jesus ever teach that the Holy Spirit was God along with the Father and Son?
5. Then why does the Bible describe the Holy Spirit as an "it"? (Is. 34:16 ASV, KJV; Numbers 11:17, 25 ASV, KJV, RSV, NRSV, AT, LB, NEB, REB, NAB, JB, NJB; and Romans 8:16, 26 in the KJV.)
6. Then why does the Bible describe the Holy Spirit as a thing that can be poured out into portions? (Acts 2:17, 18, 33; Numbers 11:17, 25)
7. Then why is the holy spirit nameless and indistinguishable from all of the other holy spirits?
8. Then why did the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD disregard the Holy Spirit as a member of the Godhead when they made Jesus 'God' in 325 AD? Why did they wait until the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD to include the Holy Spirit in the formula?
9. Then wouldn't the water and blood be persons too according to Trinitarian reasoning and 1 John 5:8?
10. Then why is it sandwiched between a list of QUALITIES at 2 Cor. 6:6?
11. Then why does the NT Greek Lexicon describes the Holy Spirit as "this" at Acts 2:33?
12. Then why is it that nowhere in the Bible is the Holy Spirit ever said to be an equal member of a trinity?
13. Then why is it that nowhere is it mentioned in the Bible the words, "God, the Holy Spirit," or "The Holy Spirit is God"?
14. Then why is it that there is never mentioned a vision, dream or clear description in scripture wherein God and the Holy Spirit are shown as the same person?
1. Then why do NUMEROUS encyclopedias agree that
"... the doctrine of the Trinity was of gradual and comparatively late formation; that it had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian scriptures; that it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity"? – p. 34, The Church of the First Three Centuries, Alvan Lamson, D.D.
2. Then why do many encyclopedias, dictionaries and other sources (including Sir Isaac Newton) agree that the "Trinity was a pagan corruption imposed on Christianity in the fourth century by Athanasius"?
3. Then why does the Bible consistently identify God by singular person pronouns: "I, "Me," "He, and "Him" instead of "We", "Us", "They" or "Them"?
4. Then why does 2 Cor. 13:14 say that the Lord Jesus Christ is one individual, the holy spirit is another individual (whether a person or a thing), and that "GOD" IS ANOTHER DIFFERENT INDIVIDUAL?
5. Then why is there not even one scripture which clearly defines the Trinity?
6. Then why is there not even one scripture of a vision, dream, or CLEAR description wherein God is shown as three persons?
7. Then why is there not even one scripture where God is described using the word "three"?
If Jesus is Almighty God...
1. Then why is "God head of Christ just as Christ is head of man"? (1 Cor. 11:3)
2. Then why does Scripture consistently phrase Jesus as a separate person from God? (John 20:17; John 14:1; Mark 10:18; John 17:1-3; etc. Also in heaven, 1 Cor. 11:3; Luke 22:69; etc.)
3. Then how can Jesus have a God? Could Almighty God have a God? (Mic. 5:4; Ps. 45:6, 7; 89:26; John 20:17; Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3; Mark 15:34; John 17:1-3; Also in heaven, Rev. 1:6; 3:2, 12)
4. Then why does Scripture say he was born and is part of Creation? (Col. 1:15)
5. Then why does Rev. 3:14 say that Jesus is "the beginning of the creation of God"?
6. Then why is he subject to GOD, like we're subject to him? (1 Cor. 15:27, 28; Eph. 1:17)
7. Then why does Micah 5:2 say that Jesus' ORIGIN was “from early times”?
8. Then why does Jesus not know what God knows? (Matt. 24:36, Rev.1:1; Luke 8:45)
9. Then why is Jesus still subject to God when he is as high as he will ever be? (1 Cor. 15:27, 28)
10. Then why does Proverbs 8:22-31 show that the Messiah was CREATED / PRODUCED by God?
11. Then why is he not powerful enough to subject things to himself? (1 Cor. 15:27, Eph. 1:17, 22)
12. Then why would he have to be given any power and authority? (Mt. 28:18; 11:27; Jn. 5:22; 17:2; 3:35; 2 Pet. 1:17)
13. Then why did he have to learn anything? (Heb. 5:8; John 5:19; 8:28)
14. Then why is speaking against him not as bad as speaking against the Holy Spirit? (Mt. 12:31,32; Luke 12:10)
15. Then why did Jesus call the "Father...the only true God"? (John 17:3)
16. Then why did he need to be saved? (Heb. 5:7; John 12:27)
17. Then why did he have to be exalted to Leader and Savior? (Acts 5:31)
18. Then how could he be exalted and given a higher name than he had? (Phil. 2:9-11; Heb. 1:2-4)
19. Then why did he have to be given life in himself? (John 5:25,26)
20. Then how can the Father be greater than he? (John 14:28)
21. Then how could Jesus be tempted by Satan when God cannot be tempted with evil? (James 1:13)
22. Then why did he worship the Father? (John 4:22)
23. Then why can he not do anything on his own? (John 5:19; 6:38)
24. Then why would he pray to anybody? (Luke 22:44; John 17:1,2; Heb. 5:7)
25. Then why do John 1:18 and 1 John 4:9 say that Jesus is God's "only BEGOTTEN Son"? ASV
26. Then how can he be God's servant? (Acts 4:26,27,30)
27. Then how could he receive strength from an angel? (Luke 22:43)
28. Then how could he be a mediator between God and man? (1 Tim. 2:5)
29. Then how could he be with God (ton theon)? (John 1:1)
30. Then how can he be God's image? (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3)
31. Then why is he called the agency (dia) of creation and not the Originator (ek)? (1 Cor. 8:6; John 1:1-3; Prov. 8:30; Heb. 2:10; Col. 1:15,16)
32. Then why did Jesus say GOD was "good" in a way that Jesus was not? (Mark 10:18)
33. Then why does he have an archangel's voice instead of God's voice? (1 Thess. 4:16)
34. Then why is the only "worship" given to him the same given to humans? (Heb. 1:6, cf. Mt. 18:26; Rev. 3:9 - "Proskuneo")
35. Then why do many who believe this rely on a few selected, so-called 'proof-texts' instead of the context of the consistent teaching of the entire Bible?
36. Then how could he be commanded to do anything? (John 12:49; Deut. 18:18)
37. Then why did Steven see two separate entities, GOD and Jesus, and not just one God or three persons? (Acts 7:55)
38. Then how could he be seen at GOD's right hand? (Luke 22:69; Acts 7:55; Rom. 8:34)
39. Then how could Jesus be exalted (not to become God Himself, but) to the position of the "right hand OF God"? (Acts 2:33)
40. Then why would he have to receive a revelation from God? (Rev.1:1)
41. Then why is he called God's "begotten" Son before he came to earth? (John 3:16; Gal. 4:4; 1 John 4:9)
42. Then how could he have a Father? (John 20:17)
43. Then how could he come in flesh? (1 Kings 8:27; Acts 17:24,25)
44. Then why did he not come in his own name? (John 5:41-44)
45. Then why did Jesus "come down from heaven to do" God's will and not his own will? (Luke 22:42; John 6:38; John 5:30; John 8:42)
46. Then how could he appear before GOD? (Heb. 9:24)
47. Then how could he die? Can God die? Can part of God die? (Rom. 5:10; Acts 5:30; 1 Cor. 15:3; Hab.1:12; cf. 1 Tim. 6:16; Num. 23:19; Ps. 90:2; Dan. 6:25-26)
48. Then why is it that God resurrected Jesus? (Acts 2:32)
49. Then why can we see him if "no man has seen God at any time"? (John 1:18)
50. Then why is there not one clear scripture where Jesus is called "God the Son," (equal to those declaring "God, the Father)?
51. How is it that the Jews rounded up some false witnesses to make up lies to obtain a death sentence for Jesus, but neither the Jewish officials nor even one of these false witnesses made a claim that he was God or equally God? (Matt. 26:59-67)
52. John summed up his whole Gospel by saying that it was written that we may believe "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." Why is there is no mention in that summary of the entire Gospel of what would be the most important thing of all - that Jesus is God? (John 20:31)
53. How could Jesus teach in the Jewish synagogues and the temple? This would never happen if any of the authorities believed he claimed to be God (or that his followers believed such a thing). - Matt. 26:55; John 7:14, 28. Matt. 4:23.
54. How could Jesus' followers teach in Jewish synagogues after Jesus' death and for the remainder of that first century (at least)? Again, this would not have been allowed if there were any suspicion that they believed Jesus to be God. Acts 9:20; 13:5, Acts 13:13-15.
IF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ALMIGHTY GOD...
1. Then why do quotes from Trinitarians admit that the Holy Spirit is not God but rather is a force from God?
2. Then why would Jews instructed in the Old Testament scriptures and in the teachings of John the Baptist, NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS? (Acts 19:2)
3. Then why isn't the Holy Spirit given equal description in the Bible?
4. Then why didn't Jesus ever teach that the Holy Spirit was God along with the Father and Son?
5. Then why does the Bible describe the Holy Spirit as an "it"? (Is. 34:16 ASV, KJV; Numbers 11:17, 25 ASV, KJV, RSV, NRSV, AT, LB, NEB, REB, NAB, JB, NJB; and Romans 8:16, 26 in the KJV.)
6. Then why does the Bible describe the Holy Spirit as a thing that can be poured out into portions? (Acts 2:17, 18, 33; Numbers 11:17, 25)
7. Then why is the holy spirit nameless and indistinguishable from all of the other holy spirits?
8. Then why did the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD disregard the Holy Spirit as a member of the Godhead when they made Jesus 'God' in 325 AD? Why did they wait until the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD to include the Holy Spirit in the formula?
9. Then wouldn't the water and blood be persons too according to Trinitarian reasoning and 1 John 5:8?
10. Then why is it sandwiched between a list of QUALITIES at 2 Cor. 6:6?
11. Then why does the NT Greek Lexicon describes the Holy Spirit as "this" at Acts 2:33?
12. Then why is it that nowhere in the Bible is the Holy Spirit ever said to be an equal member of a trinity?
13. Then why is it that nowhere is it mentioned in the Bible the words, "God, the Holy Spirit," or "The Holy Spirit is God"?
14. Then why is it that there is never mentioned a vision, dream or clear description in scripture wherein God and the Holy Spirit are shown as the same person?
Sunday, March 28, 2010
False Prophet
Click on any link to view:
'False Prophet' Claim and Jerusalem 607 B.C.E. (SFBT)
Does the Watchtower Society really claim to be an inspired prophet? (JWQ&A)
Dates (1914; 1975) (SFBT)
The Destruction of Jerusalem - 607 B.C.? (SFBT)
Are Jehovah's Witnesses "false prophets"? (jwitnessforum)
The Problem with "False Prophecy" Polemics (Bible Translation and Study)
The Churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Question of Unfulfilled Prophetic Expectations (Jehovah's Witnesses United)
Has The Watchtower Society Ever Claimed to be Infallible? (SFBT)
Did the Bible ever say that God's followers would never make mistakes? (jwitnessforum)
Have Jehovah's Witnesses ever claimed to be an INSPIRED prophet? (SFBT)
Can Dreams Foretell The Future? (WBTS)
Why You Can Trust Bible Prophecy (WBTS)
'False Prophet' Claim and Jerusalem 607 B.C.E. (SFBT)
Does the Watchtower Society really claim to be an inspired prophet? (JWQ&A)
Dates (1914; 1975) (SFBT)
The Destruction of Jerusalem - 607 B.C.? (SFBT)
Are Jehovah's Witnesses "false prophets"? (jwitnessforum)
The Problem with "False Prophecy" Polemics (Bible Translation and Study)
The Churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Question of Unfulfilled Prophetic Expectations (Jehovah's Witnesses United)
Has The Watchtower Society Ever Claimed to be Infallible? (SFBT)
Did the Bible ever say that God's followers would never make mistakes? (jwitnessforum)
Have Jehovah's Witnesses ever claimed to be an INSPIRED prophet? (SFBT)
Can Dreams Foretell The Future? (WBTS)
Why You Can Trust Bible Prophecy (WBTS)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Drugs - Links to Information
Click on any of the following links to view:
DRUGS - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Drugs (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Is There Anything Wrong For a Christian to Use Marijuana? Can it Be Equated to Alcohol? (Search For Bible Truths)
How Safe Is Marijuana? Why Say No to Drugs? Marijuana—A New Wonder Drug? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers; Quotes from yp chap. 34 p. 278 and g01 7/8 p. 9)
DRUGS - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Drugs (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Is There Anything Wrong For a Christian to Use Marijuana? Can it Be Equated to Alcohol? (Search For Bible Truths)
How Safe Is Marijuana? Why Say No to Drugs? Marijuana—A New Wonder Drug? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers; Quotes from yp chap. 34 p. 278 and g01 7/8 p. 9)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Children - Links to Information
Click on any of the following links to view:
CHILDREN - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
CHILD, CHILDREN (Insight-1 pp. 434-436; Watchtower Online Library)
Children (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Keys to Family Happiness - Disciplining Children (THE WATCHTOWER 2009-02-01; JW.ORG)
Why did little children suffer the wrath of God’s executioners? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Be humble like children (Mt. 18:1-5) (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
CHILDREN - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
CHILD, CHILDREN (Insight-1 pp. 434-436; Watchtower Online Library)
Children (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Keys to Family Happiness - Disciplining Children (THE WATCHTOWER 2009-02-01; JW.ORG)
Why did little children suffer the wrath of God’s executioners? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Be humble like children (Mt. 18:1-5) (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Were the creative "days" in Genesis literal 24 hour periods?
Gen. 1:2 and on describes God's preparation of planet Earth over a period of what the account calls as "days". However, these "days" were most likely NOT literal days, but rather figurative "days" such as the descriptive sayings: "Back in the 'day' of my youth" or "In the 'day' of the dinosaurs". Even the entire period of the six time units or creative “days” dedicated to the preparation of planet Earth is summed up in one all-embracing “day” at Genesis 2:4.
Simply by examining the Genesis account itself, it can be seen that the events that occurred during those "days" had to have been a much longer length of time than a literal 24 hour period.
To illustrate, all of the islands of Hawaii used to be under the ocean's surface an extremely long time ago. Due to volcanic activity, these islands slowly built up with time. The Big Island is still growing. Compared to the continents we see today, Hawaii is relatively small. The time it took for the natural process for all of this dry land to appear must have been much longer than a literal day or two. And yet, Gen. 1:9-13 tells us that dry land appeared within the third creative "day" or stage.
Additionally, it is hard to imagine that grass can shoot forth, vegetation can bear seed and fruit trees yield fruit in just one single literal 24 hour day. (Gen. 1:11-13)
A Religious Encyclopaedia (Vol. I, p. 613) sums it up: “The days of creation were creative days, stages in the process, but not days of twenty-four hours each.” - Edited by P. Schaff, 1894.
So because these creative "days" were figurative, they actually could have been hundreds, thousands or even millions of years in length.
For more, see:
Is the Earth really only 10,000 years old? (Search For Bible Truths)
Creation (Search For Bible Truths)
Why Do Some Scientists Believe in God? (Search For Bible Truths)
Simply by examining the Genesis account itself, it can be seen that the events that occurred during those "days" had to have been a much longer length of time than a literal 24 hour period.
To illustrate, all of the islands of Hawaii used to be under the ocean's surface an extremely long time ago. Due to volcanic activity, these islands slowly built up with time. The Big Island is still growing. Compared to the continents we see today, Hawaii is relatively small. The time it took for the natural process for all of this dry land to appear must have been much longer than a literal day or two. And yet, Gen. 1:9-13 tells us that dry land appeared within the third creative "day" or stage.
Additionally, it is hard to imagine that grass can shoot forth, vegetation can bear seed and fruit trees yield fruit in just one single literal 24 hour day. (Gen. 1:11-13)
A Religious Encyclopaedia (Vol. I, p. 613) sums it up: “The days of creation were creative days, stages in the process, but not days of twenty-four hours each.” - Edited by P. Schaff, 1894.
So because these creative "days" were figurative, they actually could have been hundreds, thousands or even millions of years in length.
For more, see:
Is the Earth really only 10,000 years old? (Search For Bible Truths)
Creation (Search For Bible Truths)
Why Do Some Scientists Believe in God? (Search For Bible Truths)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
What is Wormwood as read at Rev. 8:10,11?
Revelation 8:10-11 says:
"And the third angel blew his trumpet. And a great star burning as a lamp fell from heaven, and it fell upon a third of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And a third of the waters turned into wormwood, and many of the men died from the waters, because these had been made bitter."
A strict literal interpretation of Revelation 8:10,11 relating to the last days, seeing Wormwood as an actual star fated to strike the earth is highly improbable. A literal star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. To get a sense of the size of stars, the nearest star to Earth is the Sun. 1,300,000 Earths could fit in the Sun and the Sun is considered only an average-sized star. If a literal star were to actually stray into the solar system and come into contact with the Earth, the damage would be far more devastating than simply 1/3 of the Earth being affected. The oceans, lakes and rivers would literally boil away (leaving no rivers for the star to fall on in the first place) and eventually the entire earth would be consumed.
Clearly this "star" Wormwood would have to be meant in a figurative sense for it to "fall" upon the Earth. If it were a literal star, considering a star's size and gravity, it is the Earth that would fall into the star...not the other way around.
So what is Wormwood?
Actual wormwood is a somewhat woody plant that has an intensely bitter taste and a strong aromatic odor. Hence, the reference to being made "bitter" in Rev. 8:10,11 has more meaning. And by examining and comparing scriptural references to wormwood, this can aid in discovering it's true identification which is judgment from God:
"Therefore this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said, 'Here I am making them, that is, this people, eat wormwood, and I will make them drink poisoned water; and I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send after them the sword until I shall have exterminated them.'" (Jeremiah 9:15-16)
"Therefore this is what Jehovah of armies has said against the prophets: 'Here I am making them eat wormwood, and I will give them poisoned water to drink. For from the prophets of Jerusalem apostasy has gone forth to all the land.'" (Jeremiah 23:15)
"He has given me a sufficiency of bitter things. He has saturated me with wormwood." (Lamentations 3:15)
"On a crag will horses run, or will one plow [there] with cattle? For into a poisonous plant YOU people have turned justice, and the fruitage of righteousness into wormwood."(Amos 6:12)
Also consider this reference on page 187 of Vol. 1, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, Eerdmans, 1990:
apsinthos - "Rev. 8:11 (bis): masc., as the name of a star; fem., as the name of a bitter liquid into which a third of all water is transformed at the third trumpet sound. Because of its bitterness, [apsinthos], mugwort, is translated traditionally by wormwood, and is an image for damnation and judgment."
For more, see:
Not uncommon for the Bible to use stars in a figurative sense
Wormwood and spiritual poisoning
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
"And the third angel blew his trumpet. And a great star burning as a lamp fell from heaven, and it fell upon a third of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And a third of the waters turned into wormwood, and many of the men died from the waters, because these had been made bitter."
A strict literal interpretation of Revelation 8:10,11 relating to the last days, seeing Wormwood as an actual star fated to strike the earth is highly improbable. A literal star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. To get a sense of the size of stars, the nearest star to Earth is the Sun. 1,300,000 Earths could fit in the Sun and the Sun is considered only an average-sized star. If a literal star were to actually stray into the solar system and come into contact with the Earth, the damage would be far more devastating than simply 1/3 of the Earth being affected. The oceans, lakes and rivers would literally boil away (leaving no rivers for the star to fall on in the first place) and eventually the entire earth would be consumed.
Clearly this "star" Wormwood would have to be meant in a figurative sense for it to "fall" upon the Earth. If it were a literal star, considering a star's size and gravity, it is the Earth that would fall into the star...not the other way around.
So what is Wormwood?
Actual wormwood is a somewhat woody plant that has an intensely bitter taste and a strong aromatic odor. Hence, the reference to being made "bitter" in Rev. 8:10,11 has more meaning. And by examining and comparing scriptural references to wormwood, this can aid in discovering it's true identification which is judgment from God:
"Therefore this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said, 'Here I am making them, that is, this people, eat wormwood, and I will make them drink poisoned water; and I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send after them the sword until I shall have exterminated them.'" (Jeremiah 9:15-16)
"Therefore this is what Jehovah of armies has said against the prophets: 'Here I am making them eat wormwood, and I will give them poisoned water to drink. For from the prophets of Jerusalem apostasy has gone forth to all the land.'" (Jeremiah 23:15)
"He has given me a sufficiency of bitter things. He has saturated me with wormwood." (Lamentations 3:15)
"On a crag will horses run, or will one plow [there] with cattle? For into a poisonous plant YOU people have turned justice, and the fruitage of righteousness into wormwood."(Amos 6:12)
Also consider this reference on page 187 of Vol. 1, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, Eerdmans, 1990:
apsinthos - "Rev. 8:11 (bis): masc., as the name of a star; fem., as the name of a bitter liquid into which a third of all water is transformed at the third trumpet sound. Because of its bitterness, [apsinthos], mugwort, is translated traditionally by wormwood, and is an image for damnation and judgment."
For more, see:
Not uncommon for the Bible to use stars in a figurative sense
Wormwood and spiritual poisoning
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Garden of Eden - Links to Information
GARDEN OF EDEN - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
The Garden of Eden—Myth or Fact? (1/1/11 Watchtower; Watchtower Online Library)
Garden of Eden (Insight-1 pp. 889-891; Watchtower Online Library)
Eden (Insight-1 pp. 676-677; Watchtower Online Library)
Garden of Eden (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Was the Garden of Eden a real place and if so, where was it located? (Search For Bible Truths)
Can the Genesis account and Adam and Eve be believed? (Search For Bible Truths)
Is the Scene in the Garden of Eden too Simplistic to be Believed? (Jehovah's Witnesses United)
How is Man Made in God's Image? (Gen. 1:26) (Search For Bible Truths)
Why, in some Bibles, does it say that God called "THEIR name Adam"? (Gen. 2:5) (Search For Bible Truths)
What did the tree of the knowledge of good and bad represent? (Search For Bible Truths)
Was Satan around at the time of Adam and Eve and was he responsible for the snake? (Search For Bible Truths)
Where did Cain get his wife? (Search For Bible Truths)
According to the Bible, what was the time span between Adam’s creation to the Flood? (Search For Bible Truths)
Monday, March 22, 2010
EASTER - Does It Have Any Pagan Religious Associations?
What do the name "Easter," colored eggs, hot-cross buns, and bunnies have to do with honoring Jesus and Jehovah?
The very name of this celebration in English ("Easter") is the name of a pagan goddess! Many of the customs originally used in worshiping this ancient European goddess are the same ones used today in celebrating Easter!
"East'er ..., n. [AS. eastre, pl. eastron, from name of old Teutonic goddess of spring, AS. Eastre.]" - Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1953.
"... Eastre was the goddess of spring in the religion of the ancient Angles and Saxons. Every April a festival was celebrated in her honor. .... The festival [eventually] was celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ but was still known as Easter after the old goddess." p. 215, v. 5, Britannica Junior, 1957.
"(the word Easter is derived from the [Anglo-Saxon] name of Eastre, the Spring-goddess….)" – p. 240, An Encyclopedia of Religion, Virgilius Ferm, The Philosophical Library, 1945.
Easter was
"originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian Festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ." - The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible.
"Rooted in ancient veneration, the date of Easter was long regarded as symbolizing the rebirth of living things that had passed through the death of winter. Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who presided over the vernal equinox, eventually gave her name to the Christian [?] festival." - How It Started, Garrison, copyright 1972 by Abingdon Press, pp. 49-50.
"Amongst the Anglo-Saxons the month of April was dedicated to Eostre or Ostara, Goddess of Spring; and her great feast has given its name to our Easter. Here again the Church was quite frank about it, and Bede states that the feast in England was simply `the old [pagan] festival observed with the gladness of a new solemnity.'" - Paganism in our Christianity, Weigall, p. 261, Gordon Press, 1974 (Reprint of the edition published by Putnam, New York.)
So how did the name of a pagan European goddess come to be in the KJV translation of Acts 12:4?
"EASTER - originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occurred at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word [Easter] was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version [KJV] (1611) was formed, the word `passover' was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Acts 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, "passover," is always used." – Easton's Bible Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publ.
* * * *
"Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard [in a respectful, or even tolerating, manner] on your lips." Exodus 23:13, NIVSB.
* * * *
"Eating special buns at the festival of the pagan goddess Eostre has long been an established custom among the natives of Britain. Early Christian missionaries who tried to stop this practice got nowhere. Eventually.... converts ... were permitted to continue eating buns at the time of the spring festival...." - How It Started, p. 50.
"Like the Greeks, the [pagan] Romans ate bread marked with a cross ... at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and then taken in with them - a custom alluded to by St. Paul in 1 Cor. x. 28. The cross-bread was eaten by pagan Saxons in honour of Easter, their goddess of light. .... The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early Church adroitly adopted the practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist and so giving us the hot-cross-bun." - The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1959, Vol. 4, p. 381.
"Long before the Christian festival of Easter was established, persons of many cultures exchanged eggs at the time of the year when nature wakes up from sleep. Wealthy persons used to cover their gift eggs with gilt or even gold leaf; ordinary persons usually colored them red. Today's [Easter] egg hunt, involving a dozen or hundreds or thousands of decorated or candy eggs, is so gay that it conceals the reverence with which many ancients [pagans] regarded this symbol of `life and death.'" - How It Started, p. 51.
"… the symbol of the egg generated not from Christian observances, but from pagan rituals. From earliest times, the egg has been a symbol of fertility and immortality. During the rites of spring, the pagan nations included it as a symbol of celebrating for the new life promised during the season of planting. The Church only took this ancient sign and applied it as a visual lesson to the resurrection of Christ." – p. 232, The Christian Book of Why, J. C. McCollister (Lutheran pastor and university professor), Jonathan David Publishers, 1983.
"Like the egg, the rabbit has been a symbol of fertility, the observance of which was a part of the Anglo-Saxon mythology and the pagan's celebration of spring, In a blend of Christian and pagan traditions, the rabbit was adopted as part of the festival of Jesus' resurrection celebrated during the spring each year." – pp. 233-234, McCollister.
"A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring.... The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility." - The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, Vol. V, p. 227.
So when children hunt for Easter eggs (left by the `Easter Bunny'),
"This is not mere child's play, but the vestige of a [pagan] fertility rite." - Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, Vol. 1, p. 335.
The Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition, volume 8, page 828:
"There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians. . . . The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (Hist. Eccl. v. 22) states, with perfect truth, that neither the Lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival . . . and he attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, `just as many other customs have been established.'"
The `old usage' was the practice by pagans of having a festival in honor of their goddess of spring.
* * * *
"What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? .... `Therefore come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord. `Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you ...' says the Lord Almighty." - 2 Cor. 6:16, 17, NIVSB. [NIVSB f.n.: "agreement...between the temple of God and idols. There can be no reversion to or compromise with the idolatry they have forsaken for the gospel (cf. 1 Th. 1:9)."]
For more, see:
Easter - Who Does It Really Honor?
Articles from the WBTS:
Beliefs and Customs That Displease God
In 16 well-illustrated lessons, this brochure presents the Bible's basic teachings.
Should We Celebrate Holidays?
The origin of religious celebrations has a bearing on whether they please God.
The very name of this celebration in English ("Easter") is the name of a pagan goddess! Many of the customs originally used in worshiping this ancient European goddess are the same ones used today in celebrating Easter!
"East'er ..., n. [AS. eastre, pl. eastron, from name of old Teutonic goddess of spring, AS. Eastre.]" - Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1953.
"... Eastre was the goddess of spring in the religion of the ancient Angles and Saxons. Every April a festival was celebrated in her honor. .... The festival [eventually] was celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ but was still known as Easter after the old goddess." p. 215, v. 5, Britannica Junior, 1957.
"(the word Easter is derived from the [Anglo-Saxon] name of Eastre, the Spring-goddess….)" – p. 240, An Encyclopedia of Religion, Virgilius Ferm, The Philosophical Library, 1945.
Easter was
"originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian Festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ." - The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible.
"Rooted in ancient veneration, the date of Easter was long regarded as symbolizing the rebirth of living things that had passed through the death of winter. Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who presided over the vernal equinox, eventually gave her name to the Christian [?] festival." - How It Started, Garrison, copyright 1972 by Abingdon Press, pp. 49-50.
"Amongst the Anglo-Saxons the month of April was dedicated to Eostre or Ostara, Goddess of Spring; and her great feast has given its name to our Easter. Here again the Church was quite frank about it, and Bede states that the feast in England was simply `the old [pagan] festival observed with the gladness of a new solemnity.'" - Paganism in our Christianity, Weigall, p. 261, Gordon Press, 1974 (Reprint of the edition published by Putnam, New York.)
So how did the name of a pagan European goddess come to be in the KJV translation of Acts 12:4?
"EASTER - originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occurred at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word [Easter] was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version [KJV] (1611) was formed, the word `passover' was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Acts 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, "passover," is always used." – Easton's Bible Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publ.
* * * *
"Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard [in a respectful, or even tolerating, manner] on your lips." Exodus 23:13, NIVSB.
* * * *
"Eating special buns at the festival of the pagan goddess Eostre has long been an established custom among the natives of Britain. Early Christian missionaries who tried to stop this practice got nowhere. Eventually.... converts ... were permitted to continue eating buns at the time of the spring festival...." - How It Started, p. 50.
"Like the Greeks, the [pagan] Romans ate bread marked with a cross ... at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and then taken in with them - a custom alluded to by St. Paul in 1 Cor. x. 28. The cross-bread was eaten by pagan Saxons in honour of Easter, their goddess of light. .... The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early Church adroitly adopted the practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist and so giving us the hot-cross-bun." - The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1959, Vol. 4, p. 381.
"Long before the Christian festival of Easter was established, persons of many cultures exchanged eggs at the time of the year when nature wakes up from sleep. Wealthy persons used to cover their gift eggs with gilt or even gold leaf; ordinary persons usually colored them red. Today's [Easter] egg hunt, involving a dozen or hundreds or thousands of decorated or candy eggs, is so gay that it conceals the reverence with which many ancients [pagans] regarded this symbol of `life and death.'" - How It Started, p. 51.
"… the symbol of the egg generated not from Christian observances, but from pagan rituals. From earliest times, the egg has been a symbol of fertility and immortality. During the rites of spring, the pagan nations included it as a symbol of celebrating for the new life promised during the season of planting. The Church only took this ancient sign and applied it as a visual lesson to the resurrection of Christ." – p. 232, The Christian Book of Why, J. C. McCollister (Lutheran pastor and university professor), Jonathan David Publishers, 1983.
"Like the egg, the rabbit has been a symbol of fertility, the observance of which was a part of the Anglo-Saxon mythology and the pagan's celebration of spring, In a blend of Christian and pagan traditions, the rabbit was adopted as part of the festival of Jesus' resurrection celebrated during the spring each year." – pp. 233-234, McCollister.
"A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring.... The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility." - The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, Vol. V, p. 227.
So when children hunt for Easter eggs (left by the `Easter Bunny'),
"This is not mere child's play, but the vestige of a [pagan] fertility rite." - Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, Vol. 1, p. 335.
The Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition, volume 8, page 828:
"There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians. . . . The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (Hist. Eccl. v. 22) states, with perfect truth, that neither the Lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival . . . and he attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, `just as many other customs have been established.'"
The `old usage' was the practice by pagans of having a festival in honor of their goddess of spring.
* * * *
"What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? .... `Therefore come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord. `Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you ...' says the Lord Almighty." - 2 Cor. 6:16, 17, NIVSB. [NIVSB f.n.: "agreement...between the temple of God and idols. There can be no reversion to or compromise with the idolatry they have forsaken for the gospel (cf. 1 Th. 1:9)."]
For more, see:
Easter - Who Does It Really Honor?
Articles from the WBTS:
Beliefs and Customs That Displease God
In 16 well-illustrated lessons, this brochure presents the Bible's basic teachings.
Should We Celebrate Holidays?
The origin of religious celebrations has a bearing on whether they please God.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Is God comprised of three persons, or is He just one person?
What is the Trinity?
Page 630 of Today's Dictionary of the Bible, Bethany House Publishers, 1982 defines it:
"Trinity, a word not found in Scripture but used to express the doctrine of the unity of God as subsisting in three distinct persons."
And the Encyclopedia Britannica Online:
"In Christian doctrine, the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one God in three persons."
But does the Bible really portray God "as subsisting in three distinct persons"?
No. The Scriptures clearly show that God is only one person and that person is identified as the Father:
"There is actually to us one God the Father.” (1 Cor. 8:5, 6)
"Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah." (Deut. 6:4) ASV
It is interesting that even some trinitarian scholars apparently (inadvertently?) admit that Gal. 3:20 shows God to be one person.
You should be aware, however, that some trinitarian Bibles translate Gal. 3:20 as “a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.” - NASB. The underlined words (“party” and “only”) are not in the original text, but certain trinitarians insist that something like “party” has to be understood in order for God to be three persons [a “party”] and not just one person.
However, even some trinitarian translators don’t believe such a translation of Gal. 3:20 is correct. For example, the Roman Catholic New American Bible (1970) renders Gal. 3:20 as:
“Now there can be no mediator when only one person is involved; and God is one [heis - masculine singular].”
And the highly trinitarian Good News Bible (GNB) renders it:
“a go-between is not needed when only one person is involved; and God is one.” - also TEV.
Even the extremely trinitarian The Amplified Bible, which often goes to incredible lengths in its attempt to produce trinitarian “proof” scriptures, renders Gal. 3:20 as:
“there can be no mediator with just one person. Yet God is [only] one PERSON.”
For more, see:
God is one, not three
Are there many gods, or is there only one God?
Trinity Indexes
Examining Trinity 'Proof Texts'
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
Page 630 of Today's Dictionary of the Bible, Bethany House Publishers, 1982 defines it:
"Trinity, a word not found in Scripture but used to express the doctrine of the unity of God as subsisting in three distinct persons."
And the Encyclopedia Britannica Online:
"In Christian doctrine, the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one God in three persons."
But does the Bible really portray God "as subsisting in three distinct persons"?
No. The Scriptures clearly show that God is only one person and that person is identified as the Father:
"There is actually to us one God the Father.” (1 Cor. 8:5, 6)
"Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah." (Deut. 6:4) ASV
It is interesting that even some trinitarian scholars apparently (inadvertently?) admit that Gal. 3:20 shows God to be one person.
You should be aware, however, that some trinitarian Bibles translate Gal. 3:20 as “a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.” - NASB. The underlined words (“party” and “only”) are not in the original text, but certain trinitarians insist that something like “party” has to be understood in order for God to be three persons [a “party”] and not just one person.
However, even some trinitarian translators don’t believe such a translation of Gal. 3:20 is correct. For example, the Roman Catholic New American Bible (1970) renders Gal. 3:20 as:
“Now there can be no mediator when only one person is involved; and God is one [heis - masculine singular].”
And the highly trinitarian Good News Bible (GNB) renders it:
“a go-between is not needed when only one person is involved; and God is one.” - also TEV.
Even the extremely trinitarian The Amplified Bible, which often goes to incredible lengths in its attempt to produce trinitarian “proof” scriptures, renders Gal. 3:20 as:
“there can be no mediator with just one person. Yet God is [only] one PERSON.”
For more, see:
God is one, not three
Are there many gods, or is there only one God?
Trinity Indexes
Examining Trinity 'Proof Texts'
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
Faith - Links to Information
Click on any link to view:
Faith - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
FAITH (Insight-1 pp. 803-805; Watchtower Online Library)
Faith (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
What is faith, and is it the only thing required of us? (Search For Bible Truths)
Faith - Once Saved, Always Saved? (Search For Bible Truths)
Can you be Christian and NOT believe in the Bible? (Search For Bible Truths)
Could Jesus Have Had Faith in God? - A Trinitarian Dilemma (Pastor Russell)
Is There One True Religion? (Search For Bible Truths)
Does it matter which religion you choose? (Search For Bible Truths)
How do I choose a religion? (Search For Bible Truths)
Faith - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
FAITH (Insight-1 pp. 803-805; Watchtower Online Library)
Faith (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
What is faith, and is it the only thing required of us? (Search For Bible Truths)
Faith - Once Saved, Always Saved? (Search For Bible Truths)
Can you be Christian and NOT believe in the Bible? (Search For Bible Truths)
Could Jesus Have Had Faith in God? - A Trinitarian Dilemma (Pastor Russell)
Is There One True Religion? (Search For Bible Truths)
Does it matter which religion you choose? (Search For Bible Truths)
How do I choose a religion? (Search For Bible Truths)
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Cross - Links to Information
Click on any link to view:
CROSS - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Cross (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
What does the original Greek reveal as to the shape of the instrument on which Jesus was put to death? (Insight-1 pp. 1190-1192; Watchtower Online Library)
TORTURE STAKE (Insight-2 pp. 1116-1117; Watchtower Online Library)
STAUROS - "Cross" or "Torture Stake"? (Search For Bible Truths)
Stauros / Torture Stake (Response to accusations made by Robert H. Countess) (Defending the New World Translation)
Extracts from HISTORY OF THE CROSS: THE PAGAN ORIGIN AND IDOLATROUS ADOPTION AND WORSHIP, OF THE IMAGE. BY HENRY DANA WARD, M.A., U.S.A. 1871 (In Defense of the New World Translation)
The STAUROS of the New Testament: Cross or Stake? (In Defense of the New World Translation)
Cross or Stake (Stauros) (Pastor Russel)
What does the original Greek reveal as to the shape of the instrument on which Jesus was put to death? (Jehovah's Witnesses Question and Answers)
Advantages of the New World Translation: Did Jesus Die on a Cross? (Jehovah's Witnesses United)
If Jesus was nailed to a tree with his hands above his head then why does John 20:25 say nailS? (Y/A; Esp. Bar Anerges' response);
"Jesus did not die on cross, says scholar" (News article from Telegraph.co.uk)
NWT - Criticism by Zondervan's So Many Versions? - "Torture Stake" vs. "Cross" (Defending the NWT)
Quotes concerning the pagan history of the Cross (Search For Bible Truths)
Should the Cross be venerated? (Jehovah's Witnesses Question and Answers)
Does it matter if Jesus died on a cross? (Search For Bible Truths)
The Sign of the Cross (Pastor Russel)
CROSS - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Cross (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
What does the original Greek reveal as to the shape of the instrument on which Jesus was put to death? (Insight-1 pp. 1190-1192; Watchtower Online Library)
TORTURE STAKE (Insight-2 pp. 1116-1117; Watchtower Online Library)
STAUROS - "Cross" or "Torture Stake"? (Search For Bible Truths)
Stauros / Torture Stake (Response to accusations made by Robert H. Countess) (Defending the New World Translation)
Extracts from HISTORY OF THE CROSS: THE PAGAN ORIGIN AND IDOLATROUS ADOPTION AND WORSHIP, OF THE IMAGE. BY HENRY DANA WARD, M.A., U.S.A. 1871 (In Defense of the New World Translation)
The STAUROS of the New Testament: Cross or Stake? (In Defense of the New World Translation)
Cross or Stake (Stauros) (Pastor Russel)
What does the original Greek reveal as to the shape of the instrument on which Jesus was put to death? (Jehovah's Witnesses Question and Answers)
Advantages of the New World Translation: Did Jesus Die on a Cross? (Jehovah's Witnesses United)
If Jesus was nailed to a tree with his hands above his head then why does John 20:25 say nailS? (Y/A; Esp. Bar Anerges' response);
"Jesus did not die on cross, says scholar" (News article from Telegraph.co.uk)
NWT - Criticism by Zondervan's So Many Versions? - "Torture Stake" vs. "Cross" (Defending the NWT)
Quotes concerning the pagan history of the Cross (Search For Bible Truths)
Should the Cross be venerated? (Jehovah's Witnesses Question and Answers)
Does it matter if Jesus died on a cross? (Search For Bible Truths)
The Sign of the Cross (Pastor Russel)
Earth - Links to Information
EARTH - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
EARTH (Insight-1 pp. 666-669; Watchtower Online Library)
Earth (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
What Is God’s Purpose for the Earth? (What Does the Bible Really Teach?; Watchtower Online Library)
Does the Bible Really Describe the Earth As Flat? (Search For Bible Truths)
What is God's purpose for the earth? (Search For Bible Truths)
Has God's original purpose for the earth changed? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
If God intended for us to live in heaven and not on earth, why did He not create us there? (Search For Bible Truths)
When God’s will is done on earth, will people still get sick or die? (Search For Bible Truths)
Is there a possibility that the nations might completely ruin the earth or destroy it in a nuclear war? (Search For Bible Truths)
Will Planet Earth be destroyed in a nuclear war? (Pastor Russell)
What did Peter mean when he wrote about "the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire"? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Is 2 Pet. 3:10 really describing the literal heavens and earth being destroyed? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Will This World Survive? (Pastor Russell)
Are the paradise conditions described in Isa. 11:6-9 a literal or figurative promise? (Search For Bible Truths)
The Christian Community and the Earthly Hope (Pastor Russell)
SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES OF A CHRISTIAN EARTHLY CLASS (Jehovah's Witnesses United)
If true Christians will live on Paradise Earth forever, won't over-population become a problem? (Search For Bible Truths)
Would it be boring to live forever? (Search For Bible Truths)
Endless Life on Earth, a Joyful Blessing or a Condemnation? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Is the Earth really only 10,000 years old? (Search For Bible Truths)
Were the creative "days" in Genesis literal 24 hour periods? (Search For Bible Truths)
Did the Great Flood of Noah's Day Really Happen? (Search For Bible Truths)
Friday, March 19, 2010
The Lord’s Evening Meal
Jesus introduced a special observance that the Bible calls “the Lord’s evening meal.” (1 Cor. 11:20; Matt. 26:26-28) This observance is also called the Memorial of Christ’s death and reminds us that Jesus gave his life for many. For more, see:
MEMORIAL (Lord’s Evening Meal) (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Lord’s Evening Meal (Insight-2 pp. 268-271; Watchtower Online Library)
The Lord’s Evening Meal—An Observance That Honors God (bh p. 206-p. 208; Watchtower Online Library)
Who Are to Partake of the Bread and the Wine and How Does One Know if They Are of the Anointed Or Called to Heavenly Life? (Search For Bible Truths)
Why Observe the Lord’s Evening Meal? (w03 2/15 pp. 12-16; Watchtower Online Library)
The Lord’s Evening Meal—How Observed? (w04 3/15 pp. 4-7; Watchtower Online Library)
What Does the Lord’s Evening Meal Mean to You? (w03 2/15 pp. 17-22; Watchtower Online Library)
The Ransom—God’s Greatest Gift (bh chap. 5 pp. 47-56; Watchtower Online Library)
How can you demonstrate that you appreciate God’s gift of the ransom? Attend the annual observance of the Lord’s Evening Meal.
The Eucharist—The Facts Behind the Ritual (w08 4/1 pp. 26-29; Watchtower Online Library)
What was the original observance that Jesus instituted like?
The Memorial of Christ’s Death - Why Do Jehovah's Witnesses Observe it Annually? (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Quotes concerning the pagan history of the Cross
The "Christian" cross "was an emblem to which religious and mystical meanings were attached long before the Christian era." - Chamber's Encyclopaedia, 1969 ed.
The pagan Romans used the symbol of the cross before and during the early days of Christianity: "These crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian sun-god ... and are first seen on a coin of Juolius Caesar, 100-44 B.C., and then on a coin struck by Caesar's heir (Augustus), 20 B.C." - The Companion Bible.
And Prof. G.F. Snyder points out that "The sign of the cross has been a symbol of great antiquity, present in nearly every known culture. .... The universal use of the sign of the cross makes more poignant the striking lack of crosses in early Christian remains, especially any specific reference to the event on Golgotha. Most scholars now agree that the cross, as an artistic reference to the passion event, cannot be found prior to the time of Constantine." - p. 27, Ante Pacem - Archaeological Evidence of Church Life Before Constantinte.
The Baptist NT scholar W.E. Vine wrote about "Cross":
"STAUROS ... denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten on a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross. The shape of the latter had its origins in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ." - p. 248, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Thomas Nelson, 1983 printing.
"In ancient Israel, unfaithful Jews wept over the death of the false god Tammuz. Jehovah spoke of what they were doing as being a `detestable thing.' (Ezek. 8:13, 14) According to history, Tammuz was a Babylonian god, and the cross was used as his symbol. From its beginning in the days of Nimrod, Babylon was against Jehovah and an enemy of true worship. (Gen. 10:8-10; Jer. 50:29) So by cherishing the cross, a person is honoring a symbol of worship that is opposed to the true God." - Reasoning From the Scriptures, "Cross"
The pagan Romans used the symbol of the cross before and during the early days of Christianity: "These crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian sun-god ... and are first seen on a coin of Juolius Caesar, 100-44 B.C., and then on a coin struck by Caesar's heir (Augustus), 20 B.C." - The Companion Bible.
And Prof. G.F. Snyder points out that "The sign of the cross has been a symbol of great antiquity, present in nearly every known culture. .... The universal use of the sign of the cross makes more poignant the striking lack of crosses in early Christian remains, especially any specific reference to the event on Golgotha. Most scholars now agree that the cross, as an artistic reference to the passion event, cannot be found prior to the time of Constantine." - p. 27, Ante Pacem - Archaeological Evidence of Church Life Before Constantinte.
The Baptist NT scholar W.E. Vine wrote about "Cross":
"STAUROS ... denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten on a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross. The shape of the latter had its origins in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ." - p. 248, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Thomas Nelson, 1983 printing.
"In ancient Israel, unfaithful Jews wept over the death of the false god Tammuz. Jehovah spoke of what they were doing as being a `detestable thing.' (Ezek. 8:13, 14) According to history, Tammuz was a Babylonian god, and the cross was used as his symbol. From its beginning in the days of Nimrod, Babylon was against Jehovah and an enemy of true worship. (Gen. 10:8-10; Jer. 50:29) So by cherishing the cross, a person is honoring a symbol of worship that is opposed to the true God." - Reasoning From the Scriptures, "Cross"
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Religion - Links to Information
Click on any link to view:
RELIGION - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Religion (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Does it matter which religion you choose? (Search For Bible Truths)
Is there one true religion? (Search For Bible Truths)
How do I choose a religion? (Search For Bible Truths)
Do Jehovah's Witnesses believe that their religion is the only right one? (Search For Bible Truths)
Does the majority really necessarily indicate the true belief? (Search For Bible Truths)
RELIGION - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Religion (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Does it matter which religion you choose? (Search For Bible Truths)
Is there one true religion? (Search For Bible Truths)
How do I choose a religion? (Search For Bible Truths)
Do Jehovah's Witnesses believe that their religion is the only right one? (Search For Bible Truths)
Does the majority really necessarily indicate the true belief? (Search For Bible Truths)
Heaven
Click on any link to view:
HEAVEN(S) (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Heaven (Insight-1 pp. 1059-1065; Watchtower Online Library)
Heaven (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Myth 3: All Good People Go to Heaven (THE WATCHTOWER 2009-11-01; JW.ORG)
If God intended for us to live in heaven and not on earth, why did He not create us there? (Search For Bible Truths)
Who selects the ones who will go to heaven and what will they do there? (Search For Bible Truths)
Heaven (Insight-1 pp. 1059-1065; Watchtower Online Library)
Heaven (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Myth 3: All Good People Go to Heaven (THE WATCHTOWER 2009-11-01; JW.ORG)
If God intended for us to live in heaven and not on earth, why did He not create us there? (Search For Bible Truths)
Who selects the ones who will go to heaven and what will they do there? (Search For Bible Truths)
Do all good persons go to heaven? (Search For Bible Truths)
To how many does the Bible hold out hope of heavenly life? (Search For Bible Truths)
Was there ever a heavenly hope held out to God’s servants prior to the coming of Christ Jesus? (Search For Bible Truths)
Was there ever a heavenly hope held out to God’s servants prior to the coming of Christ Jesus? (Search For Bible Truths)
If Adam had not sinned, would he eventually have gone to heaven? (Search For Bible Truths)
Must a person go to heaven to have a truly happy future? (Search For Bible Truths)
What references are there in the "New Testament" to a provision for Christians to be rewarded with eternal life on earth? (Search For Bible Truths)
What references are there in the "New Testament" to a provision for Christians to be rewarded with eternal life on earth? (Search For Bible Truths)
What Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe Regarding Physical And Heavenly Afterlives? The 144,000? (Search For Bible Truths)
What future hope is there for Jehovah's Witnesses if they believe that only 144,000 go to heaven? (Search For Bible Truths)
If Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only 144,000 people go to heaven, then wouldn't making more Jehovah's Witnesses reduce their own chances of getting into heaven? (Search For Bible Truths)
Do all of the anointed ones first have to die? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
If we don't go to heaven or hell, then what motivates us to serve God? (Search For Bible Truths)
Do all of the anointed ones first have to die? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
If we don't go to heaven or hell, then what motivates us to serve God? (Search For Bible Truths)
Is there a hope of an afterlife for animals? (Search For Bible Truths)
If animals don't go to heaven, then why are creatures described being there in Revelation? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Can the examples of Jesus and the materialized angels properly be used to prove that humans existed in the spirit realm "prior to their earthly probation"? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
If animals don't go to heaven, then why are creatures described being there in Revelation? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Can the examples of Jesus and the materialized angels properly be used to prove that humans existed in the spirit realm "prior to their earthly probation"? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Who selects the ones who will go to heaven and what will they do there?
The Bible says that God selects those who will go to heaven:
2 Thess. 2:13, 14: "We are obligated to thank God always for you, brothers loved by Jehovah, because God selected you from the beginning for salvation by sanctifying you with spirit and by your faith in the truth. To this very destiny he called you through the good news we declare, for the purpose of acquiring the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Rom. 9:6, 16: "Not all who spring from Israel are really `Israel.' . . . It depends, not upon the one wishing nor upon the one running, but upon God, who has mercy."
The Bible says that those going to heaven "will be priests of God ... and will rule as kings."
Rev. 20:6: "They will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years." (Also Daniel 7:27)
1 Cor. 6:2: "Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world?"
Rev. 5:10: "You made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth."
For more, see:
144,000
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
2 Thess. 2:13, 14: "We are obligated to thank God always for you, brothers loved by Jehovah, because God selected you from the beginning for salvation by sanctifying you with spirit and by your faith in the truth. To this very destiny he called you through the good news we declare, for the purpose of acquiring the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Rom. 9:6, 16: "Not all who spring from Israel are really `Israel.' . . . It depends, not upon the one wishing nor upon the one running, but upon God, who has mercy."
The Bible says that those going to heaven "will be priests of God ... and will rule as kings."
Rev. 20:6: "They will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years." (Also Daniel 7:27)
1 Cor. 6:2: "Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world?"
Rev. 5:10: "You made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth."
For more, see:
144,000
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
What references are there in the "New Testament" to a provision for Christians to be rewarded with eternal life on earth?
Matt. 5:5: "Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth."
Matt. 6:9, 10: "Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth."
2 Pet. 3:13: "There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell."
Revelation 21:1-4: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away ... With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”
For more, see:
As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth
What Is God's Purpose for the Earth?
As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth
You Can Believe in a Paradise Earth
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
Matt. 6:9, 10: "Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth."
2 Pet. 3:13: "There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell."
Revelation 21:1-4: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away ... With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”
For more, see:
As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth
What Is God's Purpose for the Earth?
As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth
You Can Believe in a Paradise Earth
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
Must a person go to heaven to have a truly happy future?
The Scriptures describe a peaceful, happy future for people living on the earth:
Ps. 37:11: "The meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace."
Rev. 21:1-4: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth . . . I heard a loud voice from the throne say: `Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.'"
Mic. 4:3, 4: "They will not lift up sword, nation against nation, neither will they learn war anymore. And they will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken it."
For more, see:
Are the paradise conditions described in Isa. 11:6-9 a literal or figurative promise?
“As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth”
Eternal Happiness--In Heaven or on Earth?
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
Ps. 37:11: "The meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace."
Rev. 21:1-4: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth . . . I heard a loud voice from the throne say: `Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.'"
Mic. 4:3, 4: "They will not lift up sword, nation against nation, neither will they learn war anymore. And they will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken it."
For more, see:
Are the paradise conditions described in Isa. 11:6-9 a literal or figurative promise?
“As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth”
Eternal Happiness--In Heaven or on Earth?
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
If Adam had not sinned, would he eventually have gone to heaven?
God's purpose for Adam was that he be caretaker of the earth and of the animal life there. Nothing is said about his going to heaven:
Gen. 1:26: "God went on to say: `Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth.'"
Gen. 2:16, 17: "Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: `From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.'"
For more, see:
As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth
What Is God's Purpose for the Earth?
As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth
You Can Believe in a Paradise Earth
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
Gen. 1:26: "God went on to say: `Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth.'"
Gen. 2:16, 17: "Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: `From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.'"
For more, see:
As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth
What Is God's Purpose for the Earth?
As in Heaven, Also Upon Earth
You Can Believe in a Paradise Earth
Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE
Scriptures Index
Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Genesis - Links to Information
Also see Abel, Abraham, Adam and Eve, Babel, Cain, Canaan, Creation, Day, Dinosaurs, Flood, Fossils, Garden of Eden, Noah, Race, and Sons of God.
Click on any link to view:
GENESIS (Book) - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
GENESIS, BOOK OF (Insight-1 pp. 919-923; Watchtower Online Library)
Genesis (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Does Science Contradict the Genesis Account? (Search For Bible Truths)
Is the Earth really only 10,000 years old? (Search For Bible Truths)
How could God produce light on the first day if the luminaries were not made until the fourth day? (Search For Bible Truths)
What are The Meanings Of The Words Translated "created" In Genesis 1:1 And "make" in Genesis 1:16? (Y/A; Esp. Bar Enosh's response)
Were the creative "days" in Genesis literal 24 hour periods? (Search For Bible Truths)
How long is a "day" in the first chapter of Genesis? What Does the Hebrew word for "Day" mean? What each Day began and ended with (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
What is the significance of a Genesis "Day" consisting of only "evening' and "morning"? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Is Gen. 1:5 talking about a literal morning and a literal evening of a literal day? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Definition of a "Genesis Kind" (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Were there two separate accounts of creation? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Why did Moses write Genesis chapter 2 the way he did? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Can the Genesis account and Adam and Eve be believed? (Search For Bible Truths)
Was the Garden of Eden a real place and if so, where was it located? (Search For Bible Truths)
How is Man Made in God's Image? (Gen. 1:26) (Search For Bible Truths)
Does Genesis 1:26 prove the Trinity? (Search For Bible Truths)
Was Eve created shortly after Adam? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Why, in some Bibles, does it say that God called "THEIR name Adam"? (Gen. 2:5) (Search For Bible Truths)
What did the tree of the knowledge of good and bad represent? (Search For Bible Truths)
What would have happened if Adam had told Eve "No"? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Was Satan around at the time of Adam and Eve and was he responsible for the snake? (Search For Bible Truths)
Where did Cain get his wife? (Search For Bible Truths)
Where did all of the varieties of human races/skin tones come from? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
According to the Bible, what was the time span between Adam’s creation to the Flood? (Search For Bible Truths)
Were the "sons of God" mentioned in Genesis 6:2 angels, and if so, how could they produce offspring (Nephilim) in the time of Noah? (Search For Bible Truths)
Did the Great Flood of Noah's Day Really Happen? (Search For Bible Truths)
From what source was the Flood of Noah’s day? (Search For Bible Truths)
In what year does the Bible indicate the Great Flood occurred and why didn't Noah's father and grandfather enter the ark? (Search For Bible Truths)
Who were the "sons of God" mentioned in Genesis 6:2? (Search For Bible Truths)
Who were the Nephilim? (Search For Bible Truths)
According to the Bible, when was the city (and tower) of Ba'bel built? (Search For Bible Truths)
Would we have only one advantageous language with one alphabet if natural selection was at work? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Click on any link to view:
GENESIS (Book) - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
GENESIS, BOOK OF (Insight-1 pp. 919-923; Watchtower Online Library)
Genesis (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Does Science Contradict the Genesis Account? (Search For Bible Truths)
Is the Earth really only 10,000 years old? (Search For Bible Truths)
How could God produce light on the first day if the luminaries were not made until the fourth day? (Search For Bible Truths)
What are The Meanings Of The Words Translated "created" In Genesis 1:1 And "make" in Genesis 1:16? (Y/A; Esp. Bar Enosh's response)
Were the creative "days" in Genesis literal 24 hour periods? (Search For Bible Truths)
How long is a "day" in the first chapter of Genesis? What Does the Hebrew word for "Day" mean? What each Day began and ended with (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
What is the significance of a Genesis "Day" consisting of only "evening' and "morning"? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Is Gen. 1:5 talking about a literal morning and a literal evening of a literal day? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Definition of a "Genesis Kind" (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Were there two separate accounts of creation? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Why did Moses write Genesis chapter 2 the way he did? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Can the Genesis account and Adam and Eve be believed? (Search For Bible Truths)
Was the Garden of Eden a real place and if so, where was it located? (Search For Bible Truths)
How is Man Made in God's Image? (Gen. 1:26) (Search For Bible Truths)
Does Genesis 1:26 prove the Trinity? (Search For Bible Truths)
Was Eve created shortly after Adam? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Why, in some Bibles, does it say that God called "THEIR name Adam"? (Gen. 2:5) (Search For Bible Truths)
What did the tree of the knowledge of good and bad represent? (Search For Bible Truths)
What would have happened if Adam had told Eve "No"? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Was Satan around at the time of Adam and Eve and was he responsible for the snake? (Search For Bible Truths)
Where did Cain get his wife? (Search For Bible Truths)
Where did all of the varieties of human races/skin tones come from? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
According to the Bible, what was the time span between Adam’s creation to the Flood? (Search For Bible Truths)
Were the "sons of God" mentioned in Genesis 6:2 angels, and if so, how could they produce offspring (Nephilim) in the time of Noah? (Search For Bible Truths)
Did the Great Flood of Noah's Day Really Happen? (Search For Bible Truths)
From what source was the Flood of Noah’s day? (Search For Bible Truths)
In what year does the Bible indicate the Great Flood occurred and why didn't Noah's father and grandfather enter the ark? (Search For Bible Truths)
Who were the "sons of God" mentioned in Genesis 6:2? (Search For Bible Truths)
Who were the Nephilim? (Search For Bible Truths)
According to the Bible, when was the city (and tower) of Ba'bel built? (Search For Bible Truths)
Would we have only one advantageous language with one alphabet if natural selection was at work? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Paganism - Links to Information
Click on any link to view:
PAGANISM - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Pagan (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Can the Pagan Customs of Christmas Really Be MADE Acceptable to God? (Search For Bible Truths)
Do many Holidays have pagan origins or associations? (Search For Bible Truths)
What is the origin of popular customs associated with birthday celebrations? (Search For Bible Truths)
Trinity And Pagan Influence (Search For Bible Truths)
Christmas - It's Origins And Associations (Search For Bible Truths)
Quotes concerning the pagan history of the Cross (Search For Bible Truths)
Why is paganism so despicable to Jehovah Witnesses? (Search For Bible Truths)
Should WEDDING RINGS and the use of days and months of the GREGORIAN CALENDAR be avoided by true Christians? (Search For Bible Truths)
Why do Jehovah's Witnesses use the Gregorian calender when it's months are named in honor of the pagan Roman kings/gods? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Why did the Jews use the name of the pagan god Tammuz as the name for one of their months? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Is the Watchtower of pagan origin? (Pastor Russell)
PAGANISM - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)
Pagan (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)
Can the Pagan Customs of Christmas Really Be MADE Acceptable to God? (Search For Bible Truths)
Do many Holidays have pagan origins or associations? (Search For Bible Truths)
What is the origin of popular customs associated with birthday celebrations? (Search For Bible Truths)
Trinity And Pagan Influence (Search For Bible Truths)
Christmas - It's Origins And Associations (Search For Bible Truths)
Quotes concerning the pagan history of the Cross (Search For Bible Truths)
Why is paganism so despicable to Jehovah Witnesses? (Search For Bible Truths)
Should WEDDING RINGS and the use of days and months of the GREGORIAN CALENDAR be avoided by true Christians? (Search For Bible Truths)
Why do Jehovah's Witnesses use the Gregorian calender when it's months are named in honor of the pagan Roman kings/gods? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Why did the Jews use the name of the pagan god Tammuz as the name for one of their months? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)
Is the Watchtower of pagan origin? (Pastor Russell)
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