I have a paper due, over what I believe about Soteriology, or the study of salvation. The questions are drawn from a catechism. There are 24 total questions within this paper that I will answer. On executive decision, I chose to post each of these on Answers! but…. I am going to do them about once each day. They will be titled "Soteriology – Q # ______ . " I am going to poast them, one each day, because I am hoping to get as many different people to answer these questions as possible. If you would like to answer all 24, search them through my name, and answer as many as you would like to. PLEASE back up your answers with Scriptural references, theologian quotes, your opinions, etc. I want you to be as creative as possible, and I want as many people to participate as possible. Thank you for your participation! I do not want you to do my research. I want more opinions than just people I can find on my own. In a sense, think of it more as an interview.

I took a soteriology class in college. In the old testament, people brought their sacrafices to the priest, and the PRIEST offered the sacrafices for the people. The priest was the one that was able to ask for the Lords forgiveness. He was a mediator for the people. The people did not go directly to God. Now that Christ has died for our sins, He is our High Priest. Instead of offering sacrafices, we now go to Him and pray to Him and He lets our requests be made know unto the father. Leviticus is a good book to read in the old testament, it is full of the recquironments and the duties of a priest.. In the new testament I would read Acts, this will show how Jesus now fulfills this role. Good luck with your paper!

Nearly two thirds of the adolescents interviewed in one study said that they had been disciplined for breaking house rules.
As a Christian what scriptural basis gives you the right to set rules ?
As a Christian how do you handle it if they have legal rights that contradict the bible ?

That study must have been done in Australia. In the US I doubt that 10% of teenagers are disciplined by their parents and most don’t have house rules.

As parents we have an obligation to care for and train our children. Many scriptures in Proverbs and other scriptures concern the discipline, or training, of children. Rules are needed in all parts of our lives. As adults we obey laws, follow the rules of our employer and follow certain rules (medicine and care) given by our doctors.

Discipline isn’t cruelty, since most laws (where I live, anyway) concerning parenting have to do with abuse or lack of care. But until teens are at least 18, it’s "you live here, you live by the rules" and if they are over 18 cay be told to leave the house. One brother I know had a son so incorrigible and constantly in trouble with the law, he took his son to the police and told them either they locked him up or he would have to himself. They put the son in a public mental facility in lockdown. He turned out to be a responsible adult.

There are many forms of discipline that aren’t physical, so a Christian parent would have to show some ingenuity and perhaps help from the elders with a truly unruly child if there were laws against hitting a child. Personally, I feel that should be a last resort at any time.

shouldnt there be a really rich collection of books encoraging study of scriptural truths ?
I mean you are talking about several sized bookstores and a rich history of the bible going into English

Because Westminster Abbey is more symbolic than religious. York Minister has loads.

Some Known factors……………….

Tamil Language
Primitive and original.
Spoken and living language.
Of Lemurian-Indian Origin.
Scriptural studies exoteric.
Inculcation of cosmopolitanism.
Admission of all to asceticism.
Holding higher education common to all.
Encouragement of gifts to all the poor and needy.
Love of truth.
Laying of emphasis on love, as means of attaining eternal bliss.
Having monotheistic Sai-vism and Vaisnavism as religions.
Literary description natural.

Sanskrit Language
Derivative.
Semi-artificial literary dialect.
Of Indo-European Origin.
Scriptural studies esoteric.
Division of society into numerous castes on the basis of birth and parentage.
Restriction of asceticism to Brahmins.
Restriction of higher education to Sanskritists.
Enjoinment on the donors to give only to the Sans-kritists.
Love of imposture and plagiarism.
Laying of emphasis on knowledge, as means of attaining union with the universal soul.
Having a system of sacrifices to minor deities as religion.
Literary description imaginary.

Timeline for the evolution of mankind and Tamil is as follows:

ca. 500,000 BC: origin of the human race,
ca. 200,000 to 50,000 BC: evolution of "the Tamilian or Homo Dravida[1]",
ca. 200,000 to 100,000 BC, beginnings of Tamil
ca. 100,000 to 50,000 BC, growth and development of Tamil,
50,000 BC: Kumari Kandam civilisation
20,000 BC: A lost Tamil culture of the Easter Island which had an advanced civilisation
16,000 BC: Lemuria submerged
6087 BC: Second Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
3031 BC: A Chera prince in his wanderings in the Solomon Island saw wild sugarcane and started cultivation in Tamilnadu.
1780 BC: The Third Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
7th century BC: Tolkappiyam, the earliest extant Tamil grammar

Sanskrit and Tamil
The six most ancient languages in the world are Sanskrit, Tamil, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and Latin. All these six are classical languages as well. Of these six classical languages Tamil and Sanskrit are the two classical languages, which flourished in India since very ancient times.

Sanskrit, the mother of all European languages and of many Indian languages is as old as the hills. The exact antiquity of Sanskrit cannot be established with any degree of certainty. This is because, we have written records only for the past 5000 years. Therefore, history beyond that period is in the realm of fancy and conjecture. The Rig Veda, the oldest among the Vedas is said to be 10,000 years old, if not older. But, there are no written records to prove this fact. But, the fact remains that Sanskrit was the lingua franca of India for thousands of years.

Sanskrit is the foundation of Hinduism. In fact, it can be said without fear of contradiction that without Sanskrit, there is no Hinduism. The four Vedas and the Upanishads, the Brahma-Sutra written by Veda Vyasa, the two epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and the Bhagavad-Gita which forms part of the Mahabharata are all in Sanskrit. There are numerous devotional works and hymns in Sanskrit
.
Sanskrit literature is one of the richest in the world. The number of standard works in Sanskrit is mind-bogging and runs into several hundreds.

Sanskrit is a veritable storehouse of knowledge and there are standard text-books in it in all faculties or disciplines including science, technology, mathematics, astrology, astronomy, botany, medicine etc. So, it is not as if Sanskrit is literature alone, including devotional literature and nothing else. It is gratifying that the Government of India is doing its level best to promote the learning of Sanskrit in India, including spoken Sanskrit The greatness and glory of Sanskrit must spread throughout the world. This is possible only if all the important works in Sanskrit are translated into English.

I shall now give a brief resume of Tamil literature. If there is any Indian language which is equal to Sanskrit it is Tamil only and not any other Indian language for that matter. Sanskrit is a match for Tamil. Conversely, Tamil is a match for Sanskrit in grandeur and greatness.

It is difficult to say how old Tamil is. But, it is the considered opinion of Dr.M.Varadarajan, an outstanding Tamil scholar that it is 25,000 years old. It has a vast repertoire of classical works. The earliest extant classic in Tamil is, of course, Tolkappiam, which is said to be 5000 years old. But, there are references in Tamil literature about works earlier to Tolkappiam, but these have been irretrievably lost to posterity. Generally speaking Silappadigaram, Chintamani, Manimekalai, Valayapathi and Gundalakesi are considered as five great classics in Tamil literature, of which the last two have been lost to posterity. But, the greatest classic in Tamil literature is undoubtedly Kamba Ramayanam, an epic poem of around 12,000 verses, written in grandiose style. The number of literary works in Tamil is legion. And each literary work has a distinctive flavor of its own. For example, Villibharatam, excels in the use of choice diction and resonant rhymes while Kalingathu Bharani glorifies heroism on the battlefield. There are also several devotional works in Tamil like Devaram, Tiruvachagam, Thiruppavai, Tiruvembavai, Nalayirathu Divya Prabandam, Thiru Arutpa and Thiruppugazh, to mention only a few among them. This is because piety has been the hallmark of Tamils since antinquity.

One of the greatest works in Tamil which is of timeless value is, of course, Tirukkural, containing nuggets of wisdom. There are several commentaries on it, but that by Parimalazhagar is regarded as the best by erudite scholars. Modern students of Tamil literature can make profitable use of the rendition of the Tirukkural into simple prose by Dr.M.Varadarajan, a name to conjure with Tamil literature. His work Kallo Kaviyamo is a masterpiece, which has won wide acclaim.

The history of Tamil literature can be divided into two periods namely Tamil literature before the advent of British rule and Tamil literature after the establishment of the British rule in India.

Before the British set foot on our soil, Tamil literature had a stunted and lopsided growth. There was superabunclant poetry, a small amount of turgid prose and little else.

The renaissance of Tamil language/ literature took place only during the British regime. New forms of writing in Tamil never known before, like skit, modern prose, article, essay, drama, one-act play, short story, novel, satire etc. blossomed only after scholars and writers in Tamil were exposed to English and its literature. Thus, English contributed to t

I dreamt that I was gisele bundchen… and I was with 2 or 3 other models and we were moving forward, I think with a car. Nobody in the world made more money than me, but I lost my perfect poise a couple of times and had to move in other directions. What I did was extremely difficult (poising in perfect position for 14 hours a day) and that’s why I made so much money.

Then I went to a farm to visit my boyfriend but he wouldn’t give me a ride home… and I thought that the route that takes you out of the farm was too long… so I made a right turn to see if I could get there faster through the right lane and discovered after walking for a while that it was blocked, but I was too tired to go back and try to find the right way back… so I asked again and once again he refused to give me a ride home.

Then I went to my ex-boyfriend’s house and dropped by on his doorstep crying saying that I had lost so much weight and wanted him to give me noather ahnce (gained 90 pounds over the course of our relationship) and well his younger brother came out to greet us… but my ex-boyfriend never said anything to me.

And then I was going to an indian town…. and in the middle of the town, on the side of the street…. There was a small store, that I entered into, and then was taken care of by an indian man… that’s all I remember.

Gisele = modeling God’s righteousness for others and reaching a great spiritual and emotional height
2 or 3 = couple
car = agent of change
moving forward = progression or spiritual growth
money = understanding and wisdom
Extremely difficult = extremely particular or specific
Farm = a place where animals (those who do not have souls) are fed
ex-boyfriend = previous help
route = scriptural study
tired = lacking powers of study
right turn = taking action
ride home = restoration
Doorstep = hearing
crying = spiritual expression
weight = burdened
another chance = rebirth
younger brother = open minded receptivity
Town = opportunity… The centre of the opportunity
Side = outcast
Street = Integration of knowledge and spiritual truth
Small store = meagre provision
Indian = Cultural practice

dr allen hobson, harvard medical school, ‘they are ambiguous stimuli which can be interpreted in any way a therapist is predisposed to. but their meaning is in the eye of the beholder-not in the dream itself.’
harpers bible dictionary ‘babylonians had such trust in dreams that on the eve of important decisions they slept in temples hoping for counsel. greeks desiring health instruction slept in shrines, and romans in temples. egyptians prepared elaborate books for dream interpretation.’
pslams 73:20 ‘like a dream after awaking , so when arousing yourself you will despise their very image"
isaiah 29:8 ‘it must occur just as when someone hungry dreams and here he is eating, and he actually awakes his soul is empty, and just as when someone thirsty dreams and here he is drinking and he actually awakes and here he is tired and his soul is dried out.’
natural dreams may be stimulated by certain thoughts, emotions, or daily activities. these dreams are of no great signifigance. the scriptures warn against looking for omens, whether in natural dreams or in various incidents.
deuteronomy 18:10-12

http://www.watchtower.org/e/19961001/article_02.htm

there are plenty of examples of terrible family behavior like cain and abel (murdering a sibling) abraham and sarai/hagar (sleeping with your wife’s slave and then kicking her and her son to the curb), etc… I won’t keep going. Jesus himself said in so many words that we must give up our attachments to our families to truly become christian. As a studious christian living with the real book in the real world, it bothers me to hear people talk about biblical family values! Have you people ever even read the bible?

please tell me the scriptural basis of these "biblical family values" because it seems so silly to me.

well, let’s start off with something. You are CLEARLY NOT a "studious christian living with the real book in the real world" because if you were you wouldn’t come on here and mock the word of a holy and righteous God.

To answer your other question, as if you are really interested, read Ephesians 5.

To get truly saved, see below.

So far, Jesus only seems to fit these vague criteria:

He will be descended from King David (Isaiah 11:1) via Solomon (1 Chronicles 22:8-10, 2 Chronicles 7:18)
The Moshiach will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with "fear of God" (Isaiah 11:2)
He will be a messenger of peace (Isaiah 52:7)

All of these hese are left unfulfilled:

The Sanhedrin will be re-established (Isaiah 1:26)
Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance. (Isaiah 2:4)
The whole world will worship the One God of Israel (Isaiah 2:17)
Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership (Isaiah 11:4)
Knowledge of God will fill the world (Isaiah 11:9)
He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations (Isaiah 11:10)
All Israelites will be returned to their homeland (Isaiah 11:12)
Death will be swallowed up forever (Isaiah 25:8)
There will be no more hunger or illness, and death will cease (Isaiah 25:8)
All of the dead will rise again (Isaiah 26:19)
The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness (Isaiah 51:11)
Nations will end up recognizing the wrongs they did to Israel (Isaiah 52:13-53:5)
The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance (Zechariah 8:23)
The ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezekiel 16:55)
Weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezekiel 39:9)
The Temple will be rebuilt resuming many of the suspended mitzvot (Ezekiel 40)
He will then perfect the entire world to serve God together (Zephaniah 3:9)
Jews will know the Torah without study (Jeremiah 31:33)[3]
He will give you all the worthy desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4)

Why haven’t these things happened? And come on, Jesus was the first person to ever speak of such a thing. He made that up. There are clear guidlines establishing the Messianic Age.
No, please explain how hunger and illness have ceased already!! Please tell me how evil and tyranny don’t stand anymore. Please explain how the weapons of war have been destroyed. Please explain what happened to my worthy desires!!!

You are correct. The Jewish messianic prophecies have not been fulfilled by either Jesus, nor anyone else. Back then, many young Jewish men claimed to be the messiah; some of them were far better qualified than Jesus, in that they DID fulfill a few of the prophecies. None were accepted, though, because the Jewish maschiach *must* fulfill them ALL before dying – no ‘second coming’.

I am baffled as to the list of ‘prophecies’ that some Christians present here. Where on earth do they come from? Certainly, they are not taken from the Tanakh, the Jewish bible.

As for the Christian argument that Jesus ‘will’ fulfill the prophecies upon his ‘return’ – it’s clear to many of us that this ‘second coming’ is merely a device to explain HOW Jesus could die WITHOUT fulfilling the Jewish prophecies.

Christians are often asking why Jews don’t accept Jesus as messiah – well, here we have one of the reasons. Christians have to appreciate that THEIR prophecies are not OUR prophecies. Our messiah must fulfill OUR prophecies – full stop.

Jesus was almost certainly a cannabis user and an early proponent of the medicinal properties of the drug, according to a study of scriptural texts.

The study suggests that Jesus and his disciples used the drug to carry out miraculous healings.
Muckwathagicku asked for sources, rather than doing the legwork himself.

The research is reported in http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,869273,00.html ,
which ecxpalins that "The anointing oil used by Jesus and his disciples contained an ingredient called kaneh-bosem which has since been identified as cannabis extract, according to an article by Chris Bennett in the drugs magazine, High Times, entitled Was Jesus a Stoner? The incense used by Jesus in ceremonies also contained a cannabis extract, suggests Mr Bennett, who quotes scholars to back his claims."

OK, so I have done your work for you. Now please comment, Mr. Muckwathagicku.

The thing does indeed appear likely.

John Cunyus, the author of a book on Christian healing, said: "Well, the Bible does say that St. Stephen was stoned… but perhaps not in that sense!"

Perhaps YES in that sense!

I am speaking of a small group of Witnesses forming home-study groups to do research on Bible related subjects such as how to defend their faith against commonly asked questions. Another example would be to pursue an independent study of Greek and Hebrew so as to better support the accuracy of the NWT. (I think Bar-enos does this.) Still others have created websites where they exchange their views and post their responses to debates. Tears of Oberon and Vot (for example) participate in this activity.

Does the faithful and discreet slave endorse any of these actions? Are you permitted to do any of this stuff? I’m curious about that.
Edit:

Ethan & Poя¢єℓαιη: It appears you both are violating a ruling issued by your governing body just 16 months ago. There is a Question box in a JW magazine titled “Our Kingdom Ministry” (September 2007 edition). Here’s the scanned image:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/sricheso/JWblogs.jpg

In this box, my question was specifically addressed. Perhaps I was quoting from the “old light,” because most JWs will say (and have said) that there is absolutely nothing at all wrong with meeting together for small home study groups and posting blogs that defend your faith. So can you show me the “new light?” I’d be interesting in reading the announced change in policy.
Edit 2:

Apparently, VOT forgot that she is a co-author of an internet blog, as she describes in this post:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvoAVywJWZxjD8sODbmcuW4jzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20091220183848AAlSPMU

And as far as creating websites, that’s not too hard to do:

http://asboobet.blogspot.com/

VOT: It seems that you are playing semantic games with this whole topic. It would be like me claiming that you own a “dog” and you protesting that this is a lie because you actually own a poodle. Let me clear this confusion.

By any definition, a “blog” is a type of website. Did you not know this? And to “endorse” something means to approve it. You and Tears of Oberon are running a blog where you achieve your responses to questions posed on the Yahoo Answers religion section. I actually like your blog and I’m glad you do it. However, it is clear to me that you are doing something that is NOT approved by your governing body. If you follow their advice (in the KM article), you would conclude that blogs are bad because you JWs receive “ample spiritual instruction and encouragement at the congregational meetings.”
Edit: 3

Pedro: Like I said, I love what Vot and Tears do with their debate-blog. They cut-and-paste some hard questions they encounter on Y/A and they respond in much more detail to those questions using their own independent brains and logical reasoning. I much rather prefer reading their blog than the Watchtower site. What I disagree with is how they interpret the commands of the Tower. Your leadership has clearly told all true worshippers of Jehovah that they should not be running web-blogs where they post scriptural research and exchange Bible ideas. Other websites (like sports or hobbies) are OK. But the Watchtower says you guys should NOT get involved with websites that deal with Bible doctrines and debates. As you can see, VOT says that I am misunderstanding the KM article and that a “blog” is actually not a website, contrary to what Wikipedia and most dictionaries say. By the way, have you read their blog? What did you think? Did you like it?

I am sorry but I fail to see any problem here. I don’t care if JWs obey or not the instructions of the WTBTS.

What is important is that they are checking on the NWT and how it relates to the Hebrew texts.

What more could you want, this is the best news I have heard for years.

Any serious person checking on how well the Hebrew texts and the NWT line up will see the great divide between the truth and the NWT.

Instead of asking why, we should be saying, all JWs, join in with these soon to be enlightened JWs and study for yourself the truth.

Don’t rely on any other publication or person to tell you the truth, seek and you will find!

Praise the Lord that this is happening, Praise God..

Let ever Christian here and anywhere support fully any JW that wants to do interdependent study away from the controlling WTBTS rules.

Come on JWs join in this search for truth.

Questions I ask in the Religion and Spirituality section directed to atheists often get 25 or more responses. Then I got to wondering why atheists are interested in answering questions that are on the topic of religion and spirituality.

I am here because I enjoy discussing and debating religion and spirituality, I enjoy learning about religion and spirituality, and I enjoy replying to the questions people ask of atheists.