Just what I expect from someone such as yourself.....The "Gospel" is "good news" that Jesus asked us to spread to all who would listen. God's Kingdom was the theme of his entire ministry....so what is the "good news" of God's Kingdom? He taught us to pray for it to "come"....how does it "come"? How is God's will then "done, on earth as it is in heaven"? Please explain.
Ah, so these are your teachers...? The word "crucify" is "stauroo" which means....
- "to stake, drive down stakes
- to fortify with driven stakes, to palisade
- to crucify" (Strongs)
A "stauros" is an upright stake. It never means two beams crossed at any angle.
From your link....
"There is dispute on the Greek word for "cross" which is "stauros." It can mean an upright stake or a cross. Therefore, some groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses, say that Jesus died on a vertical stake. But then, others simply deny that Jesus was crucified at all and they claim He died of old age or some other natural sickness. Both of these conjectures are in error according to the New Testament.
First of all, there is a verse in the New Testament that demonstrates Jesus did not die on a vertical stake without a cross bar. If Jesus died on a vertical stake, then His hands would have been placed together over His head, one on top of another. It would be very easy to then take a single nail and drive it through both wrists at the same time. This is how crucifixion was done when victims were crucified in this manner. However, if a person was crucified on a cross, then two nails were required, one for each wrist, since the hands would be spread apart.
If we look at John 20:25 we see that the plural word "nails" is used in reference to Jesus' hands.
"The other disciples therefore were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe," (NASB).
The plural form "nails" is used. This means that more than one nail was used upon Jesus' hands. Therefore, we can conclude that the most logical explanation for the plural use of nails is that there is at least two nails, one for each hand that was stretched out from left to right as would be done if Jesus were crucified on a cross. This would mean that the torture stake, or the vertical stake theory would be invalid."
It seems to me that the 'doubting Thomas' was referring to the fact that Jesus was nailed to the stake with both hands and feet....that would imply a plural number of nails.
You seem to miss the point all together......it simply doesn't matter what the instrument was.....it is idolized....images are made of it, which was against God's law. The cross pre-dates Christianity by many centuries and it has very grubby origins.
The foursided ark....is a symbol of a cross? Seriously, where did you get that one?
Peter's words ring truer for me....
1 Peter 3:18-22...
"For Christ died once for all time for sins, a righteous person for unrighteous ones, in order to lead you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. 19 And in this state he went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who had formerly been disobedient when God was patiently waiting in Noah’s day, while the ark was being constructed, in which a few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, is also now saving you (not by the removing of the filth of the flesh, but by the request to God for a good conscience), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 22 He is at God’s right hand, for he went to heaven, and angels and authorities and powers were made subject to him."
The ark was what saved Noah and his family through the deluge.....what did Peter say...? That eight souls were carried safely through the water....baptism is what corresponds with that. I see nothing in the ark's construction mentioned by God that included a cross. The very fact that it was an "ark" means that it was a chest, not a boat. It had no bow or stern or rudder. It was merely designed to float....and it did beautifully.
Do you see any of those symbols used by Jehovah's Witnesses this century? You do realize that that you are going back a hundred years? I hope we have moved on in our knowledge a great deal since then. I think they still celebrated Christmas back then......haven't touched Christmas or Easter for a very long time. Once you find out the origins of these things, you have to abandon them.
Proverbs 4:18...
"But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.." (ESV)
It's talking about the light on the path of the righteous one.....about the path we tread that gets more enlightened with time. That has certainly been our experience.
So does everyone else.....the plain fact is...they can't all be right. What makes you more right than me?
They have very, very few beliefs in common with us.
We have no life before birth and after death.
Adam and Eve were not heroes for taking the fruit. The earth is not populated because they had to sin to have sex.
Jesus did not travel to the USA after his resurrection and as far as I know, the nations mentioned in the book of Mormon....there is no proof that they ever existed.
An angel named Moroni is not mentioned in the Bible as giving golden plates to Joe Smith.
There is no mention of any scripture to follow the writings of the apostles.
Its a strange religion IMO.
You have your own interpretation of the Bible and your teachers are certainly not the prophets or the apostles if you fail to follow what they teach.
Your take on scripture looks like a grab from a spiritual smorgasbord of weird ideas. You've been shopping in the great celestial supermarket just like all the other lone rangers in the world. You belong to no church...so who are your brothers? With whom do you meet for worship? (Hebrews 10:24-25) Who else believes what you do?
I don't recall ever saying that we were free of sins......no human is. But I hope we just try harder than most.
So......? Isn't it good that others too recognize that Jesus said no bloodshed. "Those who live by the sword [gun, bomb, tank] will die by the sword [gun, bomb, tank]" (Mark 26:52; 2 Corinthians 10:3-4)
Anyone who claims to be Christians but who will kill their enemies for their government are not being obedient to the Christ. We are to 'love our enemies' (Matthew 5:44-45).....you can't do that with a gun, a tank or a bomb.
If you think there is no difference then you would compromise on Christian neutrality because you can't tell what it is. Civilian service for a JW is not serving the interests of war in any way. Not driving ambulances, not working in medical evac units, not making munitions or weapons......nothing connected to the war effort. That would be consenting. There can be no compromise.
