Search For Bible Truths

Monday, March 8, 2010

Covetousness - Links to Information

Click on any link to view:

COVETOUSNESS - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)

Greed (Insight-1 pp. 1005-1006; Watchtower Online Library)

Covetousness (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)

How are we supposed to move forward in life when the Bible says, "You must not covet"? (Search For Bible Truths)

Chronology - Links to Information

Click on any link to view:

CHRONOLOGY - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)

CHRONOLOGY (Insight-1 pp. 447-467; Watchtower Online Library)

According to the Bible, what was the time span between Adam’s creation to the Flood?
(Search For Bible Truths)

Men had life-spans up to 969 years between Adam’s creation to the Flood. If it was only 1,656 years between those two events, then why do those 10 generational names potentially add up to just under 10,000 years? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)

How long has man been on the earth from Adam to present? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)

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)

According to the Bible, when was the city (and tower) of Ba'bel built? (Search For Bible Truths)

Armageddon - Who will be destroyed and who will survive?

The scriptures show that there can be no neutral position:

2 Thess. 1:8: "He brings vengeance upon those who [by choice] do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus."

Matt. 24:37-39: "Just as the days of Noah were . . . they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be."

Matt. 12:30: "He that is not on my side is against me, and he that does not gather with me scatters."

So who or what will be destroyed at Armageddon?

Dan. 2:44: "The God of heaven will set up a kingdom . . . It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite."

Rev. 19:17, 18: "I saw also an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice and said to all the birds that fly in midheaven: `Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God, that you may eat the fleshy parts of kings and the fleshy parts of military commanders and the fleshy parts of strong men and the fleshy parts of horses and of those seated upon them, and the fleshy parts of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.'"

1 John 2:16, 17: "Everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one's means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever." (Also compare Deuteronomy 30:19, 20.)

The scriptures show that the destruction will be forever:

Matt. 25:46: "These [who refused to do good to Christ's "brothers"] will depart into everlasting cutting-off."

2 Thess. 1:8, 9: "Those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus . . . will undergo the judicial punishment of everlasting destruction."

However, the Scriptures show that there will be survivors:

Zeph. 2:3: "Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, who have practiced His own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah's anger."

Rom. 10:13: "Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved."

Ps. 37:34: "Hope in Jehovah and keep his way, and he will exalt you to take possession of the earth. When the wicked ones are cut off, you will see it."

John 3:16: "God . . . gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life."

Rev. 7:9, 10, 14: "I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: `Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.' . . . `These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation.'"

For more, see:
WHAT IS ARMAGEDDON?

Do You Know the Truth About ARMAGEDDON?

Armageddon—God’s War to End All Wars

ARMAGEDDON - A Happy Beginning

Are We Living in the Last Days?

Judgment Day—What Is It?

What Is God’s Kingdom?

Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE

Scriptures Index

Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide

What is the war of Armageddon and does the use of the name Armageddon (Har–Magedon) mean that the war will be fought at a literal Mountain of Megiddo?

This name, more commonly rendered Armageddon, occurs only once in the Bible:

Rev. 16:16 says, "And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Ma·ged´on."

Rev. 16:14 provides context:

"And they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty."

The name Har–Magedon means “Mountain of Megiddo” and Armageddon has been linked with the ancient city of Megiddo, the site of many decisive battles in Bible times.

So will the war will be fought at a literal Mountain of Megiddo?

The problem is that there is no literal Mountain of Megiddo; only a mound about 70 feet (21 m) high where ruins of ancient Megiddo are found.

It is also quite evident that the kings and military forces of "the entire inhabited earth" could not fit into the literal Plain of Esdraelon, below Megiddo. The plain is triangular, only 20 miles (32 km) long and 18 miles (29 km) wide at the eastern end. -The Geography of the Bible (New York, 1957), Denis Baly, p. 148.

So rather than being a literal place, it evidently represents the world situation into which all nations are gathered in opposition to Jehovah God and where he will finally destroy them. This is global in extent. (See Jeremiah 25:31-33 and Daniel 2:44.)

For more, see:
WHAT IS ARMAGEDDON?

Do You Know the Truth About ARMAGEDDON?

Armageddon—God’s War to End All Wars

ARMAGEDDON - A Happy Beginning

Are We Living in the Last Days?

Judgment Day—What Is It?

What Is God’s Kingdom?

Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE

Scriptures Index

Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide

Angels - Links to Information

Sunday, March 7, 2010

What does it mean when Phil. 2:6 says that Jesus was in God's form?

Many trinitarian Bible scholars attempt to force an interpretation of "form" [morphe] that includes the idea of "essence" or "nature." However, even many trinitarian Bible scholars admit:

"Morphe is instanced from Homer onwards and means form in the sense of outward appearance." - The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, 1986, Zondervan, p. 705, vol. 1.

Thayer agrees that morphe is

"the form by which a person or thing strikes the vision; the external appearance" - Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 418, Baker Book House. [Also see Young's Analytical Concordance (also compare the closely-related morphosis) and Liddell and Scott's An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, p. 519, Oxford University Press, 1994 printing.]

If Paul had intended `nature,' `very essence,' etc., he certainly would not have used a word which means only external appearance (morphe). He would have used one of the words which really mean absolute nature.

And EVEN IF we allowed the modern, forced “nature” meaning for morphe, we still wouldn’t necessarily have to understand Jesus as being equally God with the Father. As the trinitarian Today’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1982, Bethany House Publ., tells us:

“the name [‘angel’] does not denote their nature [just as the title ‘God’ or ‘god’ does not necessarily denote one’s nature], but their office as messengers” - p. 38. “As to their nature, they are spirits.” - p. 39.

Or, as the equally trinitarian New Bible Dictionary (2nd ed.), Tyndale House, 1982, tells us, angels are “uncorrupted spirit in original essence.” - p. 36.

Today’s Dictionary of the Bible also tells us that this nature (“spirit”) of angels is “the divine nature” - p. 593. And the New Bible Dictionary admits: “in his nature God is pure spirit.” - p. 427.

Therefore, God, Jesus, and the angels all have the “essence” or “nature” of spirit. This obviously does not make them all equally God! Man, mouse, and canary are certainly not all equally man simply because they all have the same “essence” or “nature” of flesh.

For more about Phil. 2:6, see:
PHIL 2:6

Trinity Indexes

Examining Trinity 'Proof Texts'

Search For Bible Truths - ARCHIVE

Scriptures Index

Search For Bible Truths - Search Guide

Animals - Links to Information

Click on any of the following links to view:

ANIMALS - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)

ANIMALS (Insight-1 pp. 110-112; Watchtower Online Library)

Animals (Search results From the Watchtower Online Library)

A Closer Look at Today’s Zoos (AWAKE! SEPTEMBER 2012; JW.ORG)

Why Do Animals Die if They Don't Sin? (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)

Does the Bible say that animals are souls? (Search For Bible Truths)

Is it wrong to take the life of a very sick or old pet? (Search For Bible Truths)

Did the snake in the Garden of Eden really talk? How could it when snakes don't have vocal cords? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)

Who was the Serpent in Genesis 3? (Jehovah's Witnesses United)

Did animals eat meat before the statement at Gen. 1:30? Will all animals will be vegetarian in the new world? How can we account for meat-eating animals apparently at creation being equipped as meat eaters? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)

If God's purpose was to have animals eat only vegetation, why do they have teeth that is suitable for eating and tearing flesh? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)

What does Isaiah 65:25 mean when it says that "the lion will eat straw just like the bull"? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)

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Monday, March 8, 2010

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