You know, it strikes me as strange that I have a "prism" but you don't.
Who says your "prism" is the correct one?
When on earth did I say I don’t have a “prism” Deeje? Can you quote me on that?
I merely told you that it was not God’s view you were giving me but the Watchtower’s…which you presented as God’s view.
I don’t present my view as God’s view, but you surely presented the Watchtower’s as if it were God’s. That might work for the naïve student who attends one of your “bible” studies, but it won’t pass “Go” on this forum.
Since your "prism" distorts your view IMO, just as our "prism" distorts our view IYO....what makes you think that turning away from the wickedness of the world is "apostasy". That is ridiculous. Turning away from sin is an obligation for Christians, in obedience to the teachings of the Christ.
Aaah. I see the problem now. You don’t understand the word “
apostasy”. Apostasy simply means the renunciation or abandonment of a previous loyalty.
When you abandon loyalty to a prior political, ideological, or religious belief, you become an apostate. So when you turn away from the wickedness of the world and seek God, you become an apostate. Likewise, when you abandon loyalty to God you become apostate once again. The idea that you become apostate only when you abandon God is just as ridiculous as the notion you only become apostate when you abandon a particular church.
I’ve already talked about the
two states mentioned in 2 Peter 2:20 which you did not directly address. But since you only see one state when there are two here is another scripture for you:
“
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household”. Ephesian 2:19 NIV
So you no longer have membership in the old state, but have abandoned it, and once you abandon it, you are by definition apostate, and once you are an apostate, you are well on the road to becoming a fellow citizen of God’s people.
OK.....now I am really confused, since I do not see this first "apostasy" you speak of....
That’s because you have a misunderstanding of the word apostasy and didn’t directly address 2 Peter 2:20.
“…in fact the majority of people in western nations like ours are gravitating to atheism and unbelief. Is that considered "spiritual"?
Of course it is.
There are only two states, remember? Those that belong to Satan, and those that belong to God. Which state do you think atheists and agnostics belong to? Is there perhaps a third state that I am unaware of???
As used in scripture, "apostasy" always pertains to abandoning God's true worship and replacing it with a substitute. This is what I see in Christendom. When you disagree with one person's interpretation of scripture, you can just break away and form your own church founded on your own ideas. Is that what Jesus taught? Make up your own truth?
Sounds like more Watchtower hypocrisy to me…The Bible Student/Jehovah Witnesses split into a number of groups. Is that what Jesus taught? Make up your own truth?
I don't think your interpretation of "apostasy" is biblical.
I just showed you how it was biblical in my prior post. Read my comments on 2 Peter 2:20 again. Then read Ephesians 2:19. There are
two states we can belong to, not one. There are
two states we can turn from, not one.
It is always wrong to be an apostate in God's definition of the word.
You believe it's wrong to turn away or renounce sin? Is this biblical?
IMO you are confusing the issue by inventing an "apostasy" that scripture never speaks about.
It’s not an “inventing” but an “understanding” of the word apostasy, Deeje, that’s all. You belong in a world that invents its own peculiar, loaded definitions that exist nowhere else and expect people to somehow understand them. You can surely turn away or "apostatize" from sin just as surely as you can turn away or "apostatize" from God. To say that scripture never speaks about this is ridiculous.
In short, you want to redefine “apostate” to mean “turn away from God” when in fact it simply means to turn away from a prior position, and when you use it, you want it to mean “turn away from the Watchtower”, when in fact, it means no such thing.
And all of this...ALL of this alleged blindness...is solely for the benefit of those Watchtower members who like to point fingers and enjoy how the word "Apostate!" makes them feel as it rolls off the tongue.
