What Does This Bit Of Christian Scripture Mean ?

[atalanta]

( Matthew 10:34)
Words which the gospel ascribes to Jesus Christ
"I come not to bring peace but a sword"
I've never understood this.
Does this mean Christianity is not a religion of peace ?

[jim360]

If you were trying to encourage us to join your faith, you just failed spectacularly.

[Baldric]

Goodlife @ 13:02, are you Preston here, 'cos your post is?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090227163146AAWhM3w

[goodlife]

If you were among those early Christians, would you have been impressed by the persuasive arguments of the intellectual elite of the day or overawed by their display There would have been no reason for that, according to the apostle Paul. He reminded true Christians that Jehovah views “the wisdom of the wise men” and the “intelligence of the intellectual men” of the day as foolish. (1 Corinthians 1:19) and you have access to a Bible too you know.

[Anngel]

Well the Crusaders certainly brought the sword didn't they? What a proud moment for Christianity that was!

[LazyGun]

@goodlife Well all that says is that even back then, those of faith recognised how absurd they were and how vulnerable they were to true intelligence or intellect.

Oh, and in case readers were wondering, yes, you are right - more unattributed cut and paste,passed off by goodlife as their own work, but in fact lifted word for word from here

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2000887#h=20:0-22:577

[Baldric]

Watchtower online again, no original thought at all

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2000887#h=20:0-22:577

[goodlife]

what a shame you don't know how too be Christian,but you how to persecute the Christian and a lot more.

[elliemay1]

another one for you to work out: Why, in the Apostles Creed, does it say that Jesus descended into hell...?

[LazyGun]

@Goodlife - "what a shame you don't know how too be Christian,but you how to persecute the Christian and a lot more."

More lies. Show me where in this post christians are being persecuted. Oh, thats right, you cannot - its just you and your persecution complex whining.

Stop the lying and misrepresentation, Attribute and acknowledge that what you are proposing to offer is cut and paste from elsewhere - offer links to where you have taken the text from.

It can hardly be persecution when someone is factually correct in pointing out your intellectual dishonesty...

[goodlife]

Time and time again I have put up the website as to where I have got the information. You yourselves know because you too put up the website. Why is it you do it and nothing is said, I do it but you pick on me. I cannot attribute the posts to any particular person but no one who writes for the Watchtower give their names. We are allowed to use the information. Another thing, I don't always get the information from where you say. We have weekly public talks and information is given there which, you may say is copy & paste but it is not.
Anyway, as far as I am concerned, that is the end of the matter.

[LazyGun]

But it is not, Goodlife. Time and time again you posted cut and paste screed without any attribution whatsoever. Then you finally admitted that the source of much of your posts were copied wholesale from the JW archives and provided a generic link.

Then you went back to unattributed cut and pasting.

This is insufficient and remains dishonest.

When you are challenged on this dishonesty you whine that you are being persecuted, when it is nothing of the sort.

For every post you start, what you need to do is to offer attribution for what you post - so if you are posting some copy and pasted text - say so before you post it!

And then offer a link to the specific source of what you have copied, so readers and contributors can visit and see for themselves,should they so wish. Not a generic link to the official JW website - a specific link to the actual place from where you got the copy.

If it is genuinely from an notes and lectures, say that too - before you post your screed.

You need to do this every time, unless you are offering original content of your own, in your own words.

Unless you do , you continue to be a fly-by cut and paste poster, more interested in evangelising than in discussion and debate, incapable of original thought and contribution, and intellectually dishonest by not acknowledging that your postings are the work of others.

Thats not persecution of a christian, goodlife - thats a factual analysis of your intellectual dishonesty..

[Baldric]

It amounts to plagiarism imo!

[atalanta]

I'm still baffled.

[naomi24]

Atalanta, why baffled? Jesus wasn’t a Christian (see my post at 08:22 Sat 13th Apr 2013). During his lifetime there was no such thing. Christianity was systematically constructed by other men long after Jesus died. Therefore the question of whether or not it is a religion of peace has no bearing whatsoever on what he – allegedly - did or didn’t do or say. Christianity’s ideologies (plural because they differ with chosen flavour) are what the leaders of ‘Christian’ congregations deem them to be. What they say he was and what, in reality, he was are two very different things - that's, of course, if he existed at all. Personally, I think he did - but that can only be an opinion. As I said, take away the magic and mystery and the story begins to make some sense.

[chakka35]

naomi is right, Atalanta. It is a measure of how dishonest the established church is, from Sunday-school teacher to Archbishop and Pope, that they continue to call Jesus a Christian and/or the founder of Christianity, whereas, if he existed at all, he was a devout Jew.

If Jesus lived during the time traditionally claimed for his life (though there is not a trace of him during those years) then he would have died 20 or more years before Paul first mentioned such a person, claimed that he was divine and formed a new religion around him - later called Christianity. Jesus would never have heard of such an idea and would have been appalled at the misuse to which his name was being put.

But the preachers will always win because the average Christian knows little or nothing about the origins of his own religion. Extraordinary.

[mikey4444]

Goobledegook, like all the rest of it I suppose !

[jomifl]

Mikey, perhaps it means if you are going to start trouble be well armed.

[PsalmEquipt]

Romans 10:15 "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"
The meaning of the gospel of peace and glad tidings of good things speaks directly to our minds and is readily understood. To understand the meaning of beautiful feet a Biblical Research Principle applies. Whenever a word or phrase in the scriptures fails to be true to fact, it is always a figure of speech. God intentionally utilizes figures of speech to vitalize with divine design and emphasis. In this case, the word feet figuratively represents actions.
II Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
We stand approved before God as we rightly divide His Word. Rightly dividing difficult verses involves yet another principle. The difficult verse must be understood in light of the many clear verses on the subject. For that reason, a Bible student often finds the difficult scripture he has left on the shelf to clearly unfold after gaining a more thorough understanding of the subject.