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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by LupinsOrYourLife! on 23 May 2005 8:13pm |
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I agree with you George, i have always found religion immensly interesting. I am not sure if i am completely right on this, but i have always thought that Jehovas Witnesses believed that Jesus wasnt the true messiah, and so didnt believe in him being the son of God. I also think that they believe that they are still waiting for the 'true' messiah to come to them. And this is why they dont celebrate Christmas, as they believe that Christ's birthday is of no significance to them. They do use the Bible as their holy text, but only the first testament, as that is the testament before Jesus was born.
As i've said, i am not sure on any of this information, but i thought i would share it with you as it might be true, and in which case, it will be helpful!
Also, apologies if the first half of the bible is not called the first testament, i am not a Christian, and so i am not familiar with the names of everything!
Hope that helped
Chloe |
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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by George on 23 May 2005 10:36pm |
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Chloe, first of all, the first testament refer to is more commonly known by Christians as the Old Testament, which was finished before the birth of Christ. It's length varies between churches, but it usually contains at least 34 books written by Prophets and the 5 Books of Moses known to Jews as the Torah, their most sacred scripture. It was written in Hebrew. There has been virtually no controversy over any of its translations which began with Latin during the time of Roman Emperor, Constantine and was the only legal translation used by the church.
The New Testament which was written in classical Greek and a street language known as Aramaic has had it's problems. The Jehovah's Witnesses use a translation known as the New World Bible, written in 1950. When the church was founded in 1872, it declared that Jesus was not a Messiah but a "perfect angel". After his death he became Lord of Heaven and will come to judge all people one day according to their faith. The Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe Jesus was the Son of God because they don't believe in the Trinity, which is the eternal coexistance of God as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. Further, they believe that heaven is "empty" right now, except for Jesus.
What happens when you die? The JW's between you will go into a state unconsciousness along with all the rest until Judgement Day. On that day heaven will descend upon the world and will replace what we have now. Those judged "worthy" will enjoy the fruits of heaven forever and those not will simply go out of existance. They don't believe in hell. Why the differences in translations? Well, because the New Testament was first commissioned to be translated by the Catholic Church, as it existed then, and was, therefore, subject to lots of official tinkering. It is possible for a lot of prejudice to come into play, certainly before the Reformation, to fit the needs of the church at that time. In fact, an Englishman named John Wycliff was burned alive for translating it into English in the the late 1500's. Also, it is my understanding, Greek is a very hard language to accurately translate at all. Therefore, a person is free to interpret the text to fit his/her own prejudices to fit their own agenda, and still be correct. I hope this helps. Sorry to go so long. |
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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by George on 23 May 2005 11:09pm |
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Finally, someone disagrees with me!
Why? I got my information about the Jehovah's Witnesses directly from the Watchtower, their own publication. |
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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by harvey123 on 23 May 2005 11:14pm |
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| George~ disregard the comment made about you because it is a knob head that made it ... it is not Perfectbitch the very pleasant member that graces the site it is in fact a troll look at the user name it is spelt wrong :) |
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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by George on 24 May 2005 2:44am |
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| Thank you for covering my back, Harvey123. I owe you a drink. Make mine a gin/tonic. |
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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by perfectbitch on 24 May 2005 11:38am |
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| Dear George, This is the true perfectbitch (not perfectbicth as above.) Please ignore the imposter, your posting is intelligent and thought provoking. Linz |
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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by George on 24 May 2005 6:22pm |
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| Dear Linz, thank you. I appreciate the kinds words. It didn't sound at all like you, anyway. |
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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by canaveralgumby on 25 May 2005 5:57am |
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Hope nobody minds me asking a follow-up question on this thread. I appreciate seeing all the input.
I have been searching for a good layperson's text on the history of Protestantism. and especially the differences between churches. I really haven't found a book I can understand, you know, like a book that isn't for seminarians and clerics.
(BTW my background is Jewish if that matters to anyone. I have not practiced since the day of my Bat Mitzvah, and even that was under duress. Anyway, most of my best friends, as well as my in-laws, are Catholic. My husband, also, only under duress until he became taller than his mother, around age 14!)
My curiosity began when I had to look up a local church number in the yellow pages to find out when someone's funeral service was being held. I was overwhelmed by the number of seperate listings for seperate denominations.
Some time after that, I heard Emo Phillips tell this joke which I thought was brilliant and I have it posted on my website:
http://www.canaveralgumby.com/corispage/emoqut.html
Not that I'm pandering for people to go to my site, so only look at this page!
Seriously, are Protestants so hung up on details that there need to be so many seperate churches? "SPLITTERS!" But seriously, I do mean to ask this with respect for all, NOT to make fun.
Thanks, Cori (who has no idea what she is yet)
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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by perfectbitch on 25 May 2005 10:58am |
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I loved the joke on your link. There are so very many different protestant Christian churches. It's even more mind boggling when you consider the churches abroad like Greek orthodox, Russian orthodox, etc, etc.
If you look deep enough, you may agree with me that most western religions, Christian, Judaism and Islam, are based on sun god worship. One of the reasons for the diversity, in my opinion, is that the schisms occured due to political influences at the time. I'm sure that religious teachings have good advice, guidence and some truth wherever they come from but it is the dogma created by church leaders and their interpretations of the holy books that cause all the problems. It is sad really. I just wish people would try to get along and help each other through this journey of life. After all, we get one shot here, why make it unpleasant for others if they don't agree with ones spiritual opinions and beliefs. Life is too short to worry about the fine details of faith. "Do unto others..." seems the most valuable creed to me. With love, Linz
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| Re: Friendly Q: religion~ can someone explain to me please the difference between...
by Dr. Piglet on 25 May 2005 3:11pm |
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very well said, linz. *applauds*
a fascinating book is "the pagan christ" by tom harpur.
piglet
(a happy pagan)
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