Coptic John ch.1:1

The Sahidic Coptic Indefinite Article at John 1:1

Memra

“The use of the Coptic articles, both definite and indefinite, corresponds closely to the use of the articles in English.” – Thomas O. Lambdin, Introduction to Sahidic Coptic, page 5 (my emphasis)

What is the primary difference? Lambdin continues: “Indefinite nouns designating unspecified quantities of a substance require an indefinite article in Coptic where there is none in English.” Further, “abstract nouns such as *me*, truth, often appear with either article, where English employs no article.” (page 5)

These are the distinctions that some apologists would make of great consequence when faced with the indefinite article at Coptic John 1:1c. But making an issue of this is a smokescreen that hides either ignorance or outright deception. Why? Because these exceptions have absolutely nothing to do with Coptic John 1:1c. Why not? Because the noun used here, *noute*, god, does not fall into either of the categories mentioned above. *Noute* is not a noun designating quantities of a substance. It is not an abstract noun. Rather, it is a regular Coptic noun which, joined with the Sahidic Coptic indefinite article, *ou*, is usually translated by means of the English indefinite article “a”.

Lambdin gives two examples of this usage quite early in his grammar book. For example, on page 17 he gives the sentence *n ounoute an pe*, translatled in the key as “He is not a god.” On page 18 we have the sentence *ntof ounoute pe*, which Lambdin translates as “He is a god.” Not “he is God.” Not “he is Divine.” But, “he is a god.” This same indefinite article – regular noun construction is found at Coptic John 1:1c: *auw neunoute pe pSaje*

Therefore, there are sound grammatical reasons for rendering Sahidic Coptic John 1:1c by what it actually and literally says, “a god was the Word.” (Note: In Coptic, the "e" in *ne* is elided with the "o" in *ou* giving neunoute instead of neounoute when the words are spelled together.)

Nothing is gained by verbose, philosophical attempts at explaining that "a god was the Word" is not what the Coptic text “means.” That’s clearly what it says, so why should that not be what it means? To impute a different meaning to what the Coptic text actually says is eisegesis, not exegesis. It is special pleading of the worst kind. It is bringing theological suppositions into the Coptic text that the text itself does not support.

True, the Coptic text is a translation of the Koine Greek text of John 1:1c , but that text also can be translated literally to say “a god was the Word.” The Sahidic Coptic translators were translating the Greek text as they understood it, from the background of 500 years of Koine Greek influence in Egypt.

The challenge to those scholars and apologists who argue for a qualitative or definite reading for Coptic John 1:1c is that they have the burden of proof to show clearly, by Scripture references, where else the Sahidic Coptic indefinite article before the noun *noute*, god, has a qualitative or definite meaning.

Until they find such verses, their arguments are hollow, shallow, irrelevant, and immaterial.

It is not sufficient to merely suppose and guess that the Sahidic Coptic indefinite article before a regular noun has qualitative or definite significance. Show the proof from the Coptic Scriptures.

On the other hand, there are many verses in just the Gospel of John alone where the Sahidic Coptic indefinite article, joined to a regular noun like *noute*, god, is translated with the English indefinite article “a” in Reverend George Horner’s classic English translation of the Sahidic Coptic text, as well as in other Sahidic Coptic literature that has been translated into English.

In simple terms: Apologists and scholars, don’t continue to give us your theological biases, disguised as grammatical treatments. Don’t continue to throw up verbose smokescreens in attempts to hide the truth of what the Sahidic Coptic text says. Your arguments are built on sand.

Show us the proof of your assertions from actual Sahidic Coptic New Testament verses, if you have any.

Memra at 9:02 AM

Life finds a way?

 

Against Nincsnevem XXI

 Nincsnevem:The apostle Paul not only taught in his letters about Jesus that he "had a prehuman existence", but also that he existed in the form of God (no one ever claimed this about angels) 

Actually the angels are called Gods see Psalms ch.8:5 . Sons of God Job ch.38:4-7

Nincsnevem:and used the term THEOS for the Son completely freely, all this to the congregations made of gentiles freshly converted from paganism in letters written 

Moses is called God by JEHOVAH Himself also the divinely appointed princes of the ancient Hebrew nation are called God

Exodus ch.7:1 KJV"And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet."

Psalms ch.82:6KJV"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High."

Nincsnevem:without making it clear that this particular THEOS really only means archangel. 

He made it clear that this particular has a God above him and thus is not the most high God 2Corinthians ch.1:3, Ephesians ch.1:3,Ephesians ch.1:17 etc. Thus contrary to the Nicene Creed the the Father of Christ is both a distinct and infinitely higher God than the Logos.

Moreover, if we also attribute the letter to the Hebrews to the apostle Paul, then it becomes clear already in the first chapter that the Son cannot be an angel.

No what becomes clear to a pair of unbiased eyes is that the Son was MADE better than angels in a particular respect

Hebrews ch.1:4KJV"Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."

Hebrews ch.1:5NIV"For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?"

At acts ch.13:33 Paul uses this verse in referring to Jesus' resurrection so it was via this resurrection that his God and Father made him better the angels. Before his resurrection though he was made lower than the angels a thing not possible for the immutable God.

Hebrews ch.2:9KJV"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."

Being distinguished from the angels in a certain aspect does necessarily imply that he cannot be called an angel in some respect 

At Hebrews ch.1:1,2 Jesus is distinguished from the prophet's yet we know that he himself is a prophet. 

Acts ch.3:22KKJV"For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the LORD your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you."

 I never said that the Church "went beyond" the Bible, but probably your denomination also preaches as doctrines that are not explicitly in the Bible, but were formed by reading several passages of the Bible together, through INTERPRETATION. 

What the brothers endeavor to do is to allow the bible to speak for itself there is no infant baptism unlike the Catholic church and only those who demonstrate total commitment to JEHOVAH'S cause are allowed to get baptised. We were never taught to view our leaders as prophets or saints. Our conviction comes from our own PERSONAL study of scriptures and the way such confirms the brothers total determination to let the Bible speak for itself and JEHOVAH'S Blessing on that determination.

It is still not clear where in the New Testament it is prophesied that as soon as the apostles die, the ekklesia can close the curtain, see you in 1800 years...

And it is equally unclear to me what relevance that query has to this discussion. The brothers have never taught that those Judged to be through Christians "wheat" will disappear during the apostasy but that will be intermingle with and vastly out numbered by False Christians including false teachers ,"weeds"

The bible states that nearing/ during the endtimes their would be a separating of the true from the false and a gathering of them both and then a Judgment.

 See Matthew ch.13:25-30

The intermingling with the weeds is why the end time cleansing mentioned at Daniel ch.12:8-10 proves necessary.

Daniel ch.12:10KJV"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. "

The Jewish Logos?

 

File under "Well said" XCVI

 

" I am thankful to everyone who said no to me, it's because of them that I did it myself."

Albert Einstein

Tour and Meyer continue to demystify OOL science.

 

Reason and faith are two sides of the same coin?

 

Further evidence that ID is already mainstream science.

 Explanations Reported by Mainstream Science, Design Inference Continues to Factor

David Coppedge

Intelligent design continues to make news, even if not by that name. Mainstream academic journals continue to disparage ID while, at the same time, finding it useful. This is not to say they are entertaining the God Hypothesis, at least so far. But the Design Filter does not require theology, revealed or natural. It simply tries to distinguish among purposeful activity, natural law, and chance. ID is a rigorous application of the intuition we all engage in daily whenever we try to figure out if a phenomenon was intentional or if it just happened. Here I will update several categories I’ve reported on before.

SETI

The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) does not require atheism, but in practice, many of its adherents are fervent in their philosophical naturalism and their embrace of Darwinian evolution. If life evolved here, they reason, it must have happened in many other locations throughout the universe where conditions are suitable for advanced life. 

We should distinguish SETI from astrobiology and UFOlogy, because SETI is concerned with intelligent life. And despite all the news about UAPs (“unidentified anomalous phenomena” — the new term for UFOs), most SETI advocates discount the notion that space aliens have traveled from the stars to Earth in physical craft. Sociologist Barry Markovsky from the University of South Carolina discounts the “UFO buzz” as due to psychological traits among believers. At The Conversation July 17, he urged readers to trust the real scientists.

For a scientist familiar with the issues, skepticism that UFOs carry alien beings is wholly separate from the prospect of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Scientists engaged in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence have a number of ongoing research projects designed to detect signs of extraterrestrial life. If intelligent life is out there, they’ll likely be the first to know. 

Any being that could build vehicles that do what they are alleged to do, violating laws of physics as we understand them, would certainly pass the design filter if verified. But since UFOlogy remains outside the mainstream, we will focus only on serious SETI that looks for signals or artifacts indicating purposeful activity by intelligent minds. At its basis, SETI relies on the design inference, even though its leading advocates would denounce intelligent design for philosophical reasons.

At Universe Today, Brian Koberlein declared, “Now SETI Researchers can be Sure” that signals came from space, not from Earth. The design inference can be seen in his intuitive discrimination of natural and artificial signals.

In radio astronomy, there are lots of natural radio signals to observe. The glow of hydrogen gas, the swirl of electrons along a magnetic field, or the pop-pop-pop of pulsars. These signals usually have a very naturalcharacter to them, so astronomers can distinguish them from the artificial chirps and chatters of terrestrial sources. But when you’re looking for the signals of alien civilizations, things can get more tricky. They should have an artificial character similar to the radio signals of humans. So how can astronomers distinguish between the distant artificial signal and the local ones?

It’s not an easy challenge. Even natural signals can be confused with artificial ones.

He reported on a new method determined by the Breakthrough Listen project to rule out interference from our home planet. The ability depends on discerning signals with which we are familiar: those intentionally sent by the activity of minds.

Robert Sanders at UC Berkeley engaged in the same “discriminatory” thoughts, “distinguishing a signal from ET” so that we are not “spoofed” by a one-off event. As principal investigator for Breakthrough Listen, Andrew Siemion came up with a technique called scintillation to identify signals emanating from the interstellar medium (ISM) far from Earth. Some local sources of radio interference have fooled SETI researchers before.

Siemion and his colleagues realized, however, that real signals from extraterrestrial civilizations should exhibit features caused by passage through the ISM that could help discriminate between Earth- and space-based radio signals. Thanks to past research describing how the cold plasma in the interstellar medium, primarily free electrons, affect signals from radio sources such as pulsars, astronomers now have a good idea how the ISM affects narrowband radio signals. Such signals tend to rise and fall in amplitude over time — that is, they scintillate. This is because the signals are slightly refracted, or bent, by the intervening cold plasma, so that when the radio waves eventually reach Earth by different paths, the waves interfere, both positively and negatively. 

At  Live Science, David Delgado Shorter worried that contact could result in genocide against earthlings. That inference came from the history of human conquest. It depends on ascribing similar “ethics” to other minds.

Hexagons Update

Last Year I evaluated whether hexagons in nature imply intelligent design. The answer was, “sometimes.” When bees make hexagonal lattices out of beeswax, I said, that had to be driven by coded information. This becomes even more apparent when scientists observe the ability of honeybees and wasps to adjust the diameter of the hexagons, and join them together, to accommodate size differences from one side to the other. Based on findings from Auburn University, Science Daily says,

Theresearchers found that wasps and bees used similar building techniques at the transition between small and large cells: if the size difference was minor, the insects built intermediate-sized hexagonal cells in between, but when the size difference was more pronounced, they built pairs of five- and seven-sided cells at the join. A mathematical model of the hexagonal comb structure generated a similar pattern of intermediate-sized and pentagonal/heptagonal cells at the transition between different cell sizes, indicating that the observed structure is based on fundamental geometric rules.

Whether one wishes to accept the “convergent evolution” tale to explain this is another matter. The authors of the scientific paper in PLOS Biology, though evolutionists, agree that the insects’ “architectural tricks” look like amazing “architectural solutions to nest-building problems.” 

Fairy Circles Update

Causation is important in science. Instead of chalking up phenomena to chance, scientists seek to understand the causes behind them. For over four decades, scientists have been trying to figure out what created equally spaced circles in the Namib desert. Intelligent design was unlikely; one would have to invoke the aforementioned space aliens to explain that and the debunked crop circle craze. Two leading theories have competed: natural self-organization (here), or the work of termites (here). 

Score another win for the termite theory. This month, researchers at the University of Hamburg claim to have “confirmed” that termites are the cause of the fairy circles in the Namib Desert. After observing sand termites in 1,700 fairy circles in Africa, Norbert Jürgens and Alexander Gröngröft “now refute the central arguments” of the self-organization theory, showing that the termites organize the sand grains to hold water for long-term storage. 

“The horizontal water transports over metres in a few days assumed by the representatives of self-regulation are physically impossible according to current knowledge. The debate about opposing interpretations of a biological phenomenon is thus surprisingly decided by physics, in this case soil physics,” says Jürgens. “The soil moisture measurements on the fairy circles and the soil hydraulic properties of the sand found in the laboratory thus rule out the self-regulation hypothesis as an explanation for the fairy circles. The cause for the formation of the fairy circles is thus clear – it is the sand termites that secure a considerable survival advantage through soil moisture storage.”

No response from the opposition has been seen yet, so it’s not known if they will call their bluff or acquiesce to the new causal explanation. If the termite theory wins, then ID still has a role — not to allege that termites are capable of conscious thought — but as Eric Cassell argues in Animal Algorithms, instincts that show purposeful activity for function imply programming just as much as robotic activity does. These termites may not be thinking about organizing sand grains for water storage. Their collective behavior, though, shows them acting with foresight and intention as if programmed to do so.

Speaking of regularly spaced circles, I observed something similar in southern Utah from a helicopter in 2019 (see the photo at the top). If any aspiring ID researcher wishes to practice the design inference and determine if they are natural or artificial, the coordinates are 37° 0’55.92″N, 112°20’2.67″W.

Saying we don't know in more than so many words.

 In Some Science Contexts, “Emergence” Really Means “We Don’t Know How”

Denyse O Leary

For some purposes, “emergence” is just another word in the dictionary. For example, ”caterpillar emergence” (emphasis added) means just that: Caterpillars exiting their eggs.

But there is a sneakier way the word is sometimes used in science contexts: It’s a way of pretending we know something we don’t or that something can happen in a certain way — but we have no evidence for that.

Consider Three Illustrations

First:

Abiotic emergence of ordered information stored in the form of RNA is an important unresolved problem concerning the origin of life.

TOTANI, T. EMERGENCE OF LIFE IN AN INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE. SCI REP 10, 1671 (2020).

When used with respect to the origin of life, emergence is intended to convey the idea that life simply started to form without any intelligence in the universe directing it. The author is willing to admit that this is “an important unresolved problem” but the word “emergence” encourages us to think of it as like the caterpillar bursting out of the egg — forgetting that, in this case, the origin of the egg and other life forms is precisely what we wish to account for.

The study of human evolution has become particularly focussed on the emergence of language and human consciousness with respect to the social behaviour and mental capacities of our closest relatives: the apes.

JONKER, A. THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN MIND A SPECULATION ON THE EMERGENCE OF LANGUAGE AND HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS. ACTA BIOTHEOR 36, 129–177 (1987).

 this example, “emergence” encourages us to consider the gradual origin of human language and consciousness from the social and mental capacities of apes as both plausible and scientific. It fuzzes over the fact that we have no idea how these things emerged and enables speculation to sound like a sort of fact.

And the third illustration?

Meanwhile, the categorization of types of religion (e.g., as polytheism, henotheism, or other) continued to stimulate attempts at a deeper understanding of the emergence of monotheism.

NINIAN SMART, THE EDITORS OF ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANICA, “HISTORY OF THE STUDY OF RELIGION” – BRITANNICA

Emergence here subtly encourages us to adopt biological evolutionary theory as a model for understanding monotheism. That is, we are not supposed to see monotheism as an initiative from the outside, suddenly appearing, as in: “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.’” (Genesis17:1) The choice of emergence is not a question of evidence but of what is permitted to count as an explanation.

In that sense, emergence permits the improbable to be considered probable for the purposes of sounding like science without providing any actual science.

These types of uses of the word and the underlying concepts that enable them have attracted criticism from varying perspectives. Here are two:

Emergence” Is a Prayer Trying to Be an Explanation

Yervant Kulbashian, who leads an applied AI team at a robotics company, doesn’t like the term, especially as applied to artificial intelligence:

Emergence can only be ascribed to a phenomenon in retrospect, once you already know what has “emerged”. The higher-level properties that emerge are qualitatively different from those at the lower-level — otherwise it wouldn’t be “emergence”. So by necessity they could not have been predicted from the lower-level ones. The properties of “intelligence” could not have been logically foreseen from the properties of neurons unless you had already observed that property emerge in a similar substrate. And even then it’s just a guess that is likely to be wrong given the complexity of the interactions involved; small differences can easily invalidate the hypothesis. In both cases emergence gives no new information: when explaining existing examples it gives you no new insights about the processes except that they happen; and when predicting unknown behaviours it gives very poor guarantees that anything you expect to happen will do so.

Emergence is only really valid as a general metaphysical classification of certain phenomena. It’s a metaphysical category, like “cause”, “effect” or “change”. Using the word when explaining cognition is not wrong per se, it just has no real meaning or explanatory force. It’s like having a theory of “thing-happened-ness” — it’s correct, but void of content.

Y. KULBASHIAN, “EMERGENCE” ISN’T AN EXPLANATION, IT’S A PRAYER,” MEDIUM, JULY 15, 2023 

He adds that the term is used in AI development “whenever someone encounters a phenomenon in the human mind and has no idea how to even start explaining it (e.g. art, socialization, empathy, transcendental aesthetics, DnD, etc).”

              Emergence has nothing to do with the whole being more than its parts. Instead, it calls our attention to behavioural outcomes that reveal themselves at the level of the whole rather than at the level of the parts, but this is not the same as the creation of an inequality of wholes and parts. Don’t fall prey to the lure of mystical interpretations, fanciful explanations, or hand-waving. Instead, see emergence for what it truly is — the system’s behaviour emerging from the interactions of its constituent elements.

DEREK CABRERA, “THE ABSURDITY OF EMERGENCE,” IAI.TV, JULY 26, 2023. 

No. That ship sailed a long time ago. For example, the people who talk about the emergence of human consciousness and language would be only too happy to show how they arose from ape behavior. Trouble is, they can’t. “Emergence” is a way around admitting a reality that mocks their devoutly held promissory materialism.

Promissory materialism is the future facts that must turn out to be the case if materialism is true. We should, on that view, find materialist explanations for the origin of life, mind, and religion any day now. No day that we recognize that we can’t do so can even be contemplated. 

And that is where emergence stands bravely in the gap.

Against Anonymous re Christ resurrection.

Anonymous: Watchtower Objections To A Bodily Resurrection

1. He would be taking His body off the altar, thus removing the ransom sacrifice.

Answer: It was the blood of Jesus which was shed for our redemption.

In the Old Testament sacrifices which typified Christ it was the blood which was carried into the Holy of Holies, not the body. Likewise it is Jesus' blood which paid the debt for our sins, (Hebrews 9:22)."

AservantofJEHOVAH Was it though only the blood 

Hebrews ch.13:11ESV,"For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.

All sin offerings are to be completely destroyed on the altar

John ch.6:51NIV"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give(not lend) for the life of the world.”"

Anonymous:Would not the taking back of his life be equally disastrous according to this Watchtower logic? But Jesus said he had power to lay down His life and take it again, (John 10:17-18).

Reclaiming His human life would violate the prophetic pattern set by the Law Jesus said I came not to remove but to fulfill Matthew 5:17 

Matthew ch.20:28 NIV"just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give(Not lend) his life(psyche) as a ransom for many.”

If Jesus had his human life restored to him he could not be said to have fulfilled the Law only by exchanging his human life for a superhuman one ,one not sustained by blood could the pattern set by the law be fulfilled 

The wages of sin is a permanent end to our human life if Christ is a substitute for us then he must under go the same punishment

Isaiah ch.53:8NIV"He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken."

The only way for a substitutionary atonement to fulfill the law was for Christ to permanently lose his human life.

Anonymous:(2. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God," (1 Corinthians 15:50

Answer: The expression "flesh and blood" occurs only five times in the New Testament. We must derive our definition of its meaning from these occurrences. Webster's Dictionary is of no use here.

Examine the following references and see if the writers are not just as often speaking of "flesh and blood" as "fallen man" as they are of the physical body.

Matt. 16:13-17: "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven." Is this speaking of the physical flesh, or corrupt, sinful man not revealing Christ's identity to Peter?"

The presupposition is that the two are mutually exclusive man is made of flesh whether he is sinful or not certainly Jesus flesh and blood was not sinful. Nor was the flesh and blood of the first Adam

All of Paul's declarations re:the resurrection are to be understood as applying first to Jesus and only afterward to those born again through him. Also they are justified prior to being born again so their flesh and blood is considered sinless just like their Lord's

Romans ch.8:30NIV"And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."

So they are justified while in the flesh legally they are on the same level as the two Adams.

So flesh and blood here has nothing to do with sin.

Anonymous:-Eph. 6:12: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood..." A case can be made either way in the interpretation of this text.

For instance, because Christians do not physically wrestle with their opposition, Paul may not be referring to the physical body, but rather that Christians wrestle against sinful corruption of man and the spiritual forces of evil influencing him.

Heb. 2:14: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same...."

Here the text does refer to the physical flesh because Jesus did not take on Himself a sinful nature.

And Jesus flesh and blood is the primary issue he is the forerunner and the pattern for all others 

Hebrews ch.6:19,20"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."

I Cor. 15:50: "...flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God...."

Paul is answering the question of what kind of body believers will have in the resurrection (vs. 35). It will be a "spiritual body" (vs. 44).

A "spiritual body" must be defined by the ONLY example we have of one, the body of Jesus.

So given that this first resurrection is only for those Justified in the flesh including Jesus ,it must be concluded that "flesh and blood" has nothing to do with sin

Hebrews ch.2:14-16NIV"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.

So the distinction is not between the sinful and the sinless but between the human and the superhuman just as to legally be considered a substitute for humans he had to exchange is his superhuman perfection for human perfection so too for his substitutionary offering to conform to law he had to exchange his human perfection for superhuman perfection.

Who outranks whom?

Daniel ch.10:5,6NIV"I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. 6His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude."

Some are claiming that this man that Daniel saw in vision is JEHOVAH himself. Does the context support such an opinion.

Daniel ch.10:12-14NIV"12Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. "

So how could anyone imagine that almighty God would be detained by a demon prince and then need to be rescued by one of his creations

Daniel ch.10:21NIV"but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince."

Some claim that the fact that this Holy angel list Michael as his only helper proves that he outranks Michael THE(Not a) prince of Daniel's people at Daniel ch.12:1 he is called THE( Not a) great prince.

Again we have to wonder as to how consistently are they prepared to adhere to this line of reasoning.

Psalms ch.54:4ASV"Behold, God is my helper: The Lord is of them that uphold my soul."

Where as the angel said that Michael was his only help the psalmist list God among those helping him. Was the psalmist trying to promulgate the Idea that he outranked God by his statement or the reverse.

Michael is one of the Chief princes thus he can't be the logos.

Why not, the title sar(prince) is also given to JEHOVAH in the book of Daniel.

Daniel ch.8:11KJV"Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. "

Compared to the demon princes that Govern the nations JEHOVAH and his archangel are the foremost princes.

In calling Michael the prince of JEHOVAH'S People see Daniel ch.10:21 the Angel links Michael to the angel at 

exodus ch.23:20,21ASV"“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him."

Later when Israel got into the land the prophet Joshua encountered an angel claiming to be the prince of JEHOVAH'S Army doubtless that same angel that bears JEHOVAH'S Name at exodus ch.23:20,21

Joshua ch.5:13-15NIV,"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? 14And he said, Nay; but as prince of the host of Jehovah am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? 15And the prince of Jehovah's host said unto Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so."

Many commentators claim that is a manifestation of the pre-human Christ we agree .

Sit at my right hand?

 Nincsnevem:The fact that 'Christ ascended to his heavenly throne' happened already in the 1st century, there was no need to wait until 1914 for this! According to Mark 'Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them,"

Revelation ch.12:5NIV"She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, "

According to the Revelation of the end times given to John the setting up of the kingdom and the casting down of Satan was to wait till the last days note the dragon has seven heads representing the seven political powers that have dominated the world Known to JEHOVAH'S people Rome was the sixth head so only in the time of the prophesied seventh head would the kingdom be set up

Revelation ch.17:10,11ESV"This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. "

As already mentioned revelation borrows heavily from Daniel and the post exilic books

So unsurprisingly Daniel also speaks of the kingdom as being set up in the time of the last set of kings.

Daniel ch.243,44ESV"As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage,c but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,"

The iron would correspond to Rome the sixth "king" which was in John's day and the mix of iron and clay would correspond to the seventh "king" which would follow John's day "in the days of those kings" would the Davidic kingdom be restored to the Son of David.

Hebrews ch.2:8KJV"Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him."

It was not yet time for the Davidic kingdom to be restored.

Acts ch.1:6,7KJV"When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

The great apostasy.

 However, the universal Christian Church could not have ceased for millennia in spite of all problems, because according to Christ, the forces of hell cannot prevail over it (Mt 16:18, Jude 24-25 cf. Eph 5:25-32). What is this Hades that will not prevail against the true church some underground realm of demons 

Acts ch.2:31NIV"31Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead(Hades), nor did his body see decay."

So Hades is not a reference to superhuman wickedness but death, everyone bound for heaven must make a stop over in Hades/ Hell the true church refers to those heaven bound believers who remain faithful until death it's got nothing to to with these labels people like to wear

Revelation ch.2:26NIV"26To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end,

To them I will give authority over all the nations."

Matthew ch.16:18NASB"And I also say to you that you are [m]Peter, and upon this [n]rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades(the grave) will not overpower it. "

So the great apostasy did not stop the gathering of sanctified ones for the kingdom or represent a failure of Jesus promise at Matthew 16:18. 

Matthew ch.13:27-30NIV“ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

“ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”" all the apostasy means is that the few who were attempting to claw their way back to bible truth were scattered among the many who were Christians in name alone. But Jesus says that in the end times there would be a separating and a gathering of the fruit bearing wheat in one place and the fruitless weeds in another.

So who lied: Jesus or the Watchtower? The New Testament also writes about the need for constant defense of faith (Jude 3), not about a complete

JEHOVAH Does not need to have a majority on his side to defend his faith he is a majority unto himself

Judges 7:4ASV"And Jehovah said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. "

So this is non point the basics were still present among a tiny persecuted minority and of course JEHOVAH Would consider the mitigation of their circumstance and overlook their shortcomings 

Acts ch.17:30ASV"The times of IGNORANCE therefore God overlooked; but NOW he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent:"

JEHOVAH Has the power to raise the dead thus because some through no fault of their own die in ignorance it does not follow that such are eternally lost. 

Anonymous" disintegration and theological breakdown after the 1st century until the 1870s. The original text of 2Thess 2:3 is not "great apostasy", but "falling away" or "defection" (without any further detail), and this is when the Antichrist also appears, who sits in the temple of God, deifying himself etc. None of this has happened yet."

1John ch.2:18NIV"Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour."

The apostolic era was ending and John was putting the brothers on their guard as to what was to follow he said that they already heard that the antichrist was coming ,where would they have heard that. 

2Thessalonians ch.2:5,7NIV"Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8A"

Paul is saying that the man of lawlessness/antichrist(it's a collective)was already present but there was someone( also a collective) holding him back but he is hinting that the one holding him back would soon be taken away. So at 1John ch.2:18 John is echoing Paul's words at 2Thessalonians ch.2:5-7 but the situation was more urgent at 2John because John was the last apostle and was at the end of his life.

We know that Satan operates in a very subtle manner we should not expect that the antichrist is going to declare himself the antichrist of course he is going to pretend to be a representative of Christ

Matthew ch.7:15NIV"“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."

2Corinthians ch.11:14NIV"And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."

The anti Christ has come and as predicted has decieved the whole world.

Revelation ch.12:9KJV"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the WHOLE world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. "

It's the mainstream that is in darkness truth is somewhere outside the mainstream Jesus gave the following advice in separating those who are in the light from those who are in the dark.

John ch.13:34,35KJV"34A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

This love is not to be abrogated by any of the powers of the present age so you are not to murder your Christian brother regardless of which politician demands it.

The churches of Christendom have failed spectacularly to display this kind of love.

But by JEHOVAH'S Grace the brothers have proven ready to go to their deaths rather than violate Christ command. Thus fulfilling the sign.

 

More controversy re:arius

 

Fall of an ultra titan?

 

On Russia's man of steel.

 

Those violent among Daniel's people?

Daniel ch.11:14NIV" “In those times many will rise against the king of the South. Those who are violent among your own people will rebel in fulfillment of the vision, but without success."

The 1st century natural Jews wanted a political Messiah to make their nation great again. That's why they were blinded to the presence of the true Messiah and his representatives ,their uprising against the hated Roman coloniser ended in total disaster.

Christendom i.e both the "Christian" left and the "Christian" right have also fashion a hyper-political/ ultranationalist Christ in keeping with their preferences and ambitions. And have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness deploy kinetic means in hastening the arrival of their political version of Christ's kingdom.

But the angels warning goes for them as well.

Revelation ch.13:10KJVHe that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints."

In defense of biblicism II

 Anonymous:And this is where we arrive at biblicism, which strives to form the single, solid point of reference for belief from solely reading and interpreting the Scripture. They consider only the Scripture to be the Word of God, and they want to reveal the truth of the Scripture with only one method, denying the necessity of broader exegesis."

1peter ch.2:21NIV"To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."

Where do we read of Christ quoting or referring to any rabbinic oral tradition or Greek philosopher in any of his many defenses. Our Lord always referred to the inspired writings as a defense so much so that he could make the following statement: John ch.5:45NIV"“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set."

He put the inspired writings above even his own oral declarations

John ch.17:17NIV"Sanctify them by  the truth; your word is truth."

1Corinthians ch.4:6NIV"Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other."

Deuteronomy ch.17:18,19NIV"When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees"

The longest Psalm in the bible is an ode to the virtues of the inspired writings

Psalms ch.119:105NIV"Your word is a lamp for my feet,

a light on my path."

So biblicism is not a human invention it is a divine mandate.

How does knowledge increase.

 Nincsnevem:The WT Society interprets Daniel's prophecy as having been fulfilled in the past 140 years of the Bible Researchers and Jehovah's Witnesses movement, and in the Society's publications. If Daniel only prophesied that his own book would be understood more deeply in the distant future, then the Society can only refer to this verse in relation to its calculations about the date 1914. But if Daniel was talking about the increase in knowledge, isn't it more likely that the prophecy was fulfilled in the 1st century, when the collection of Hebrew Writings was supplemented by twenty-seven New Testament Greek Writings?

Here we see a contrast between the context driven approach of the brothers and the context averse approach of Mr nevem and his ilk

Daniel ch.12:4NIV"I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?”

Obviously Daniel is not interested in getting more writings that he did not understand he wants to understand the prophecies that he has received these things

 9He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.

The increase knowledge of has to with understanding the wise will UNDERSTAND What Daniel did not in the first century there was an end of the world of sorts

Daniel ch.9:24ESV"“Seventy weeksc are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.d"

A reference to Jesus ministry death and resurrection that brought a real atonement replacing what was formally merely a pattern so there was a minor fulfillment of the angel's words but the tribulation that befell first century Israel was certainly not the greatest in human history.

The book of Revelation which borrows much of its prophetic imagery from the book of Daniel speaks of an even greater tribulation

Revelation ch.7:14NIV"I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

So the end times spoken of in Daniel would mainly be fulfilled in the in the distant future which is hinted by the angel

Daniel ch.12:1,2NIV"At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt"

So not just the end of the temple and the mosaic law but the end of human rule the end prophesied at 

Daniel ch.2:44NIV"“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever."

Truly the greatest tribulation mankind would ever witness

Daniel ch.12;4NIV"But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”"

So this translation makes a clear link between the diligent effort of these many and increase of knowledge obviously the increase of inspired information can't be credited to effort of any man and would not automatically result in increased understanding of any prophecy as Daniel ch.12:4 shows

Thus the mere increase in inspired writings in the first century are not a satisfactory explanation of Daniel 12:8-10.

Which would only be satisfied by an increase in the understanding of end time prophecy not an addition of even more mysterious prophecies. This of course will call for adjustments to previously incomplete understandings

Rise of the machines is definitely a thing.

 

Power Corrupts?

 

Bringing "science" down from Olympus.

 Douglas Axe: Science as a Human Enterprise

Evolution News

On a classic episode of ID the Future, host Eric Metaxas interviews biologist Douglas Axe. Axe is the Maxwell Professor of Molecular Biology at Biola University, the founding Director of Biologic Institute, the founding Editor of BIO-Complexity, and the author of Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life is Designed. Dr. Axe discusses how he lost his research position in Cambridge during a season of political controversy over Darwinian evolution in the UK. Axe’s research led him to cast doubt on the prevailing ideas about protein evolution, showing that proteins are actually more fragile and less flexible than many claim. In talking about his book Undeniable, Axe explains that science is a human enterprise: “Science is not the dispassionate, purely rational, perfect discipline that some people still seem to think it is,” says Axe. “The human part of science brings all the baggage and complexity that humans bring to every other discipline in science, and how could it be otherwise?” This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Download the podcast or listen to it Here.

How wise is the faithful and wise servant.

The Society's leaders build their authority on this and therefore do not tolerate contradiction or independent thinking within the organization, therefore they call everyone to convert and obey them in everything.

Anyone who thinks that they have a superior command of the bible on any topic than me is free to demonstrate said superior knowledge our readers can judge for themselves whose interpretations are forced and whose are who is determined to let the bible speak for itself that is why I know that those selected by JEHOVAH are trustworthy. Like Socrates I have put all you biblical illiterates to the test and am satisfied that you have nothing to teach me. It is simply a lie to claim that the brothers have quibbled on fundamentals the fundamentals of our faith are regarding the nature of the one true God and his Messiah and the need to remain separate from the world the understanding of prophecy has ALWAYS been understood to be provisional that is why brothers used the term present truth. Indicating that overall their understanding of prophecy though imperfect was the best approximation available and that any better approximation must await JEHOVAH'S design.

https://aservantofjehovah.blogspot.com/2023/07/on-false-prophets-and-false-accusers.html?m=1

Scripture or tradition?

 Anonymous:Tradition Is Not a Dirty Word

Protestants often quote the verses in the Bible where corrupt traditions of men are condemned (e.g., Matt. 15:2–6; Mark 7:8–13; Col. 2:8). Of course, Catholics agree with this. 

I totally agree that tradition is not a dirty word however

"Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other."

The inspired scriptures are to supersede all else.

Finally physics' holy grail

 

In defence of biblicism

 Anonymous:Biblicism is right that the church is entirely under the law of Scripture and is only a church insofar as it listens to Scripture. But the dogmatician, as a member of the church, can only reach the hearing of the Word together with the church, not in a vacuum or arbitrarily chosen space, but within the church. 

Matthew ch.7:21-23ESV"“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Only the head of the church has the authority to declare it's boundaries and who is inside or outside of those boundaries. The fact that you are wealthier and more powerful as this world tends to evaluate matters means nothing to him he has provided a sign for sincere truth-seekers 

Matthew ch.7:15NIV"“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? "

The violent oppression perpetrated by Christendom including her persecution of JEHOVAH'S People rule out any possibility that that tree was planted by the God and Father of Jesus Christ.

Matthew ch.15:13NIV"He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots."

JEHOVAH distinguishes himself from the false Gods and their acolytes by blessing his people with global peace that they simply cannot replicate

Isaiah ch.2:3,4ASV"3And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of JEHOVAH, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of JEHOVAH from Jerusalem.

4And he will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

Any God who cannot bring peace among his own people cannot be trusted to bring world peace.

In his days shall the righteous flourish, And abundance of peace, till the moon be no more.

8He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the River unto the ends of the earth.

JEHOVAH'S Word or human councils.

Anonymous" The theologian cannot teach about the Scriptures if he has not first heard it in the church community. The Bible is read by the church and in it the church hears the Word of God. This means that when we read the Bible, we must also hear what the church has so far read and heard from the Bible."

Christians are supposedly disciples of Christ, is it the example that we received from our Lord to put tradition above the plain reading of the sacred text ,btw the text repeatedly makes it clear that is JEHOVAH'S creation and possession and not the property of any man or council of men.

Thessalonians ch.2:13NIV"And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe."

Mark ch.7:6-8 NIV"He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

7They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules.’ b

8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”"

So this seems clear enough our Lord's council is that under no circumstance is any tradition to supersede JEHOVAH'S word.

JEHOVAH'S People and philosophy

 Anonymous:"You will hardly be able to deal with scholasticism with the Watchowerite excuse that it is "philosophy". Anyway according to my belief "the philosophy" is usually not some satanic horrible thing in itself that has to be feared. According to Catholic Teaching, "faith seeks understanding, reason seeks faith""

The issue is not one of philosophy or not but rather the embrace of flagrant violations of the laws of logic as sophisticated thinking.

In his book intellectuals and society warned about the ability of intellectuals to create labrynthine mental constructs that tend to cut the mind off from feed back from the real world. It is simply not possible to abandon the laws of logic without impairing epistemology.

The common man's philosophy

 Anonymous :"If you make the criterion of a religious truth the simple people's "common sense" compliance, indeed, not much would remain of Christianity, as it is full of miracles: they simply do not meet the "common sense". Now I don't mean the quick answer that "God can do it", but the question of how exactly. But it shows that if you have to explain miracles, even the wildest rationalist-biblicist can dismiss it by saying that it is supernatural, and it does not matter if it does not match formal logic,  "

There are no miracles recorded in scripture that are any more puzzling and inexplicable than the one we each see in our mirrors every day yet we can be sure that like every other miracle

Performed by JEHOVAH Logical contradictions are not a factor in its explanation. The bible has satisfying answers for all the questions it raises none of which requires the embrace of logical contradictions JEHOVAH is sage not Mage

Jeremiah ch.10:12NIV"But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his WISDOM and stretched out the heavens by his UNDERSTANDING."

Letting the book speak for itself

Unknown:  see a concrete example: The Scripture teaches that there is one God: yet it states both explicitly and implicitly that there are three subjects who are God. 

Actually there are more than three subjects called God in the scriptures

The angels are called God

Psalms ch.8:5

Moses is called God

Exodus 7:1

At John 10:34 and Psalms 82:1-6 the rulers of the Hebrew nation are called God's

If there is one way of interpreting the scriptures that makes sense and that can be consistently applied and another that leaves matters even more puzzling after its application and that cannot be consistently applied. Occam's razor demands that the former be the preferred choice.

Against Nincsnevem XX

 

Nincsnevem:Regarding Matthew 24:15, this refers back to Daniel 9:27, thus the New Testament scripture indeed references the prophecy in question from the book of Daniel, but not in relation to the coming of Jesus Christ, but rather in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. 

The destruction of Jerusalem was a divine judgment and thus was effected through Christ here is John's Warning Luke ch.3:16NIV"John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and FIRE."

Thus The outpouring of divine wrath by the risen Christ upon 1st century Jerusalem was a miniature fulfillment of his coming to judge all the world especially those gigantic religious bureaucracies and their enablers claiming to be Christians or spiritual jews. That there is a larger fulfillment is confirmed by the use of imagery from the book of Daniel in the post temple inspired book of revelation

Against unknown?II

 

This well known propaganda technique is called poisoning the well. It is a a variant of the ad hominem attack. You will notice that no actual argument is presented. Merely defamatory propaganda with the aim of dissuading the reader/listener from giving the opposing view a fair hearing. 

The pitch in this case is based on the implied lie that the brothers have claimed prophet hood or infallibility or some such nonsense.

The fact of the matter is the Society's founders were cessationists who believed in a closed canon

 :We have not the gift of prophecy Zion's Watch Tower, July 1883.

Zion's watchtower January 1908With regard to 1914: : "We are not prophesying; we are merely giving our surmises . . . We do nvot even aver that there is no mistake in our interpretation of prophecy and our calculations of chronology. We have merely laid these before you, leaving it for each to exercise his own faith or doubt in respect to them"

Another fact is none of those Ideas were thought up by the brothers they were based on commentaries that preceded them some long before Russell was born. The fact of the matter is that we believe that JEHOVAH is blessing our community of Ernest bible students in our research because with the benefit of hindsight we can see the emergence of a clearer picture of JEHOVAH'S Character and purposes from scripture and that the promises of religious cleansing and global peace that JEHOVAH indicated would be fulfilled upon keepers of his present truth are quite frankly being fulfilled only upon JEHOVAH'S servants,and not because we think our leaders are prophets or saints or infallible.

Isaiah ch.2:3,4ASV"3And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of JEHOVAH, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of JEHOVAH from Jerusalem.

4And he will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Daniel ch.12:8-10ASV"And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my lord, what shall be the issue of these things? 9And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. 10Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but they that are wise shall understand"

The argument that Satan can cause these prophesies to be fulfilled on those he confuses but that Jesus cannot cause them to be fulfilled on those he enlightens is tantamount to arguing that Satan is wiser than Jesus.

Why every Friday is a black Friday for Darwinists.

 Fossil Friday: Another Prediction Vindicated

Gunter Bechly

In a recent article for Fossil Friday (Bechly 2023a) I discussed the controversial hominin taxon Homo habilis and said that “this ape-like creature was rather the animal prey of contemporary human hunters than a human ancestor and producer of stone tools.” The virtual ink for this article had hardly dried when a story about a new discovery hit the news around the globe, reporting the earliest evidence of cannibalism by human ancestors about 1.45 million years ago (Bower 2023, Metcalfe 2023, Tozer 2023, Zhao 2023).

In 1970 the famous paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey discovered a fragment of a hominin tibia at the Koobi Fora locality in the Turkana region of Kenya. It was first considered as belonging to Australopithecus (Leakey 1971, Leakey & Leakey 1977), but later attributed to Homo erectus (Walker & Leakey 1993). However, Wood (2011) remarked about this fossil in the prestigious Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Human Evolution that its “current conventional taxonomic allocation is H. erectus or Hominin gen et sp. indet.” and “because so little is known about the tibial morphology of early hominins other than Australopithecus afarensis it may be premature to rule out the possibility that it belongs to Homo habilis or Paranthropus boisei.” Consequently, Pobiner et al. (2023) cautioned that “due to the taxonomic uncertainty of this fossil, we simply refer to it in this study as a hominin (hominin gen. et sp. indet).”

Cut Marks by Stone Tools

More than a half century after the initial discovery of the fossil bone, Pobiner et al. (2023) had reanalyzed the material and found on this leg bone several cut marks that were probably made by stone tools. Control experiments indeed confirmed that similar marks result from butchering activity with stone tools, which the authors interpreted as evidence for cannibalism among early humans.

Even though this fossil is slightly younger than the youngest known finds of Homo habilis, it is still contemporary with other ape-like hominins of the genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus. Considering its taxonomic uncertainty, the bone more likely belonged to an australopithecine-like Homo habilis than to a contemporary member of genuine Homo erectus (= Homo ergaster), who could rather have been the hunter. In the latter case this could hardly be called cannibalism and instead would simply be an instance of human hunting and butchering of large hominid primates that is still common in the notorious bushmeat trade of West Africa today. An article in the New York Times agreed that the cannibalism claim might rather be mere clickbait and that “the field has a long history of overstating such claims” (Lidz 2023). You don’t say.

Anyway, this case arguably represents yet another empirical prediction by Darwin critics, which is vindicated by modern science, confirming a consistent pattern that I recently emphasized in another article for Fossil Friday (Bechly 2023b).

Against nincsnevem XIX

 The nineteenth installment in my responses to Mr.Nevem

Nincsnevem5:49 AM

This is really easy to answer: according to his human nature, Jesus is a Messianic King, according to his human nature he is the heir to David's throne, and of course Jesus' humanity is not God, not YHWH. Jesus' human and divine natures are distinct but inseparable.

Reply

aservantofJehovah6:31 AM

"This is really easy to answer: according to his human nature, Jesus is a Messianic King, according to his human nature he is the heir to David's throne, and of course Jesus' humanity is not God, not YHWH. Jesus' human and divine natures are distinct but inseparable.,"

Here is the thing Mr.nevem the verse makes no mention of a nature but of a person so if this person( not nature) is equal to his Father is not the most high or he is his own Father stop putting words in the prophet's mouth

Also there is a small matter of the Holy Spirit who is not the Father of Jesus according to the Nicene creed and not incarnated if he is equal to the Father then obviously the Father of Jesus is not the most high.

So your fudge fails the person (not the nature) of the Father is greater than the person of the Son and if the spirit is a person greater than the person of the spirit.

Luke ch.1:32NIV"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, "

A similar problem exists with Matthew ch.24:36

Matthew ch.24:36KJV"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my FATHER ONLY. "

Why would the unincarnated Spirit not know the day or hour

And if you could just put the smug away for a minute(because it is clearly impeding your judgment) you will see that the question was mainly about the identity of the most high because, by definition the most high can have no equals so who is this unequalled Father of Jesus.

So it really doesn't matter whether the human Jesus was less than his father if there is a divine Jesus that is equal to his Father his Father is not the MOST HIGH as per the dictionary definition of that term

Against Nincsnevem XVIII

 Daniel 12:4 is not a prophecy about the Daniel 12:4 is not a prophecy about the evolving doctrines of a denomination would be created in the 19th century, but on the one hand, the book of Daniel basically refers to Antiochus' persecution, and on the other hand, in a biblical context, "the last time", the messianic era itself, which is the last era in order, and therefore last, because there will be no more periods, no third covenant, it also does not apply to the 20th century. doctrines of a denomination would be created in the 19th century, but on the one hand, the book of Daniel basically refers to Antiochus' persecution, and on the other hand, in a biblical context, "the last time", the messianic era itself, which is the last era in order, and therefore last, because there will be no more periods, no third covenant, it also does not apply to the 20th century.

This of course is the opinion of men who refuse to let the bible speak for itself let us instead here from a real expert on the subject

Matthew ch.24:15NIV"“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet DANIEL—let the reader understand—" 

This of course is well after Antiochus the book of revelation written long after the Fall of the temple borrows a lot of its imagery from the book of Daniel

Revelation ch.13:2NIV"beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. "

Compare Daniel Chapter 7:1-8:

Daniel ch.12:8-10NIV"I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?”

9He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. 10Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand"

Amen and Amen

An interlude II

 

Ultra titan of the endgame?

 

Against unknown?

 Corinthians 2:14-15, which says that "a physical man does not receive the things of God," but that "the spiritual man examines indeed all things." The JW should agree that what Paul means is that a physical man without God's 

The word spirit can have a number of different usages it can refer to a spirit person but it need not. It can also refer to the inner mental life that might be inaccessible to onlookers see Hebrews ch.4:12 or indeed it may refer to the Holy Spirit. Here the contrast is between mindsets there is a mindset that results from submitting to/being led by the spirit and it is being contrasted with the mindset that results from submitting to/being led by the flesh JEHOVAH doesn't give his spirit to Just anyone he gives to to those hungering for it spiritual people

1Corinthians ch.2:11KJV"For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit(mind) of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit(mind )of God."

1Corinthians ch.2:12KJV"Now we have received, not the spirit(Mindset) of the world, but the spirit(mindset) which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God"

So we are not dealing with a contrasting of essential natures because both the fleshly man and the spiritual man have the same essential nature but the spiritual man has chosen to pursue a relationship with JEHOVAH And the fleshly man has chosen to pander to the flesh

This spiritual mindset is not an essential nature it can be lost if not carefully curated likewise there is always the hope that one with a fleshly mindset can come to realise futility of attempting to satisfy the flesh and begin a sincere search for the truth.

Matthew ch.11:25NIV"At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. "

Unknown:without the Spirit will not accept the truth of God's word. Yet the contrast here is between the exact same two words (in Greek as well as in English, as can be shown using the JWs' Kingdom Interlinear Translation if necessary). Clearly, the "spiritual" man in this text has not ceased to have physical existence; the point is that the ultimate source of his life is different from that of the (merely) physical man. In like manner the "spiritual" body of 1 Corinthians 15:44 is not an immaterial body, 

we know that all words can be used in a variety of senses so is the word pneumatikos/spiritual being used in the same sense at both  1corinthians ch.15:44 and 1Corinthian ch.2:14,15 one way to tell would be to carefully examine the respective contrasts that are being made

At 1Corinthians ch.2:14,15 it is two mindsets and not two essential natures that are being contrasted

While at 1Corinthians Ch.15:44 it is the essential nature of the body that is sown that is contrasted with the essential nature of the body that is raised up.

Unknowned:but one that is energized or enlivened by the Spirit in a way that it was not beforehand. And so this verse also is a prooftext for, and not against, the physical resurrection of Jesus.

 It does seem that Paul was alluding to a change of essential natures though

1Corinthians ch.15:45KJV"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit."

It is important to note both what is said and what isn't said

It is said that the man was MADE a soul it is not said that the man received a soul so the man is a soul rather than possessing a soul

The same statement is made of the lower lifeforms they too are referred to as psyche/nefesh

Genesis ch.1:21KJV"And God created great whales, and every living creature(Psyche/Nefesh) that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

Likewise it is not said that the last Adam received a spirit but that he BECAME a spirit the same word is used of angels

1Chronicles ch.18:21ASV"there came forth a SPIRIT, and stood before JEHOVAH, and said, I will entice him. And JEHOVAH said unto him, Wherewith?"

Just as the first Adam was not a Soul before becoming such neither was the last Adam spirit before BECOMING such

Think of Fred who goes to medical school and becomes a doctor there is no concrete distinction between Fred and the doctor that he has BECOME thus if Fred dies it would be understood that the doctor that he had become died.

And what does it mean for a soul to die it simply means that that soul has RETURNED to its pre-creation state:

Genesis ch.3:19NIV"By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until YOU(not your body) RETURN to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust YOU(not you body) are

and to dust YOU(not your body) will RETURN.”

Though the bodies possessed by spirit beings are essentially intangible ,invisible and certainly not humanoid. they can materialise bodies that look indistinguishable from humans

Luke ch.24:4ASV"And it came to pass, while they were perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel: "

Such materialisations would not only explain his tangibility on occasion but also his mysterious appearances and disappearances

Luke ch.24:31 ASV"31And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he VANISHED out of their sight."

Luke ch.24:31ASV"And as they spake these things, he himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. "

Thus the fact that Jesus could be visible and tangible if he chose to (at least before his glorification)

Does not disprove that his essential nature was spirit but his appearances and disappearances at times in forms that were not recognisable to his disciples

Suggest that he had exchanged his human perfection for superhuman perfection.

John ch.20:14NIV" At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus."

The best Son a mother ever had and she did not recognise him.

John ch.21:4NIV"4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus."

They had known him their whole lives, if there is one person that you would think would be easily recognisable to friend and foe alike it would be Jesus Christ.

2Corinthians ch.5:1NIV"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands."

Note there is no remodelling of the earthly house it is destroyed and replaced by a heavenly one the prospect of human perfection is exchanged for superhuman perfection.

Myers and Tour Vs Cronin on OOL Research