whats the difference between christianity and jehovah's witnesses??

[nuhsenutten]

CC that discussion is one raw deal been there done that.

[Greatis]

Very interesting thread it was rather enlightening.

[SOLDIER OF JEHOVAH]

What did you find enlightening, Greatis?

[silentburn]

Manu - - If you want to keep the Sabbath and follow the Ten Commandments, have at it. I'm not saying that it is wrong to do it, I'm simply saying that the Mosaic Law that commanded the Jews to do it does not apply to the Gentiles. But, Gentiles can do it if they want to. After all, you do have a free-will. And, if you do it, I'm not going to be one to judge you for it. That's not my place.

Just an interjection. The ten commandments are not a part of mosaic law. There is a distinct line drawn between the law of God and the laws of Moses. The bible claims that the Ten commandments were written by God's own hand, on mount Sinai.

The laws of moses are ceremonial laws, hygienic laws and laws pertaining to the old sacrificial system. The Ten Commandments are independent of those rules.

The first 4 represents Love for God and the last 6 represent love for your fellow man. Just repeating that point. I'm sure you can come up with some other point to render sabbath keeping unecessary but the abolition of the mosaic law is not one of them.

[CyberCat]

Just an interjection. The ten commandments are not a part of mosaic law. There is a distinct line drawn between the law of God and the laws of Moses. The bible claims that the Ten commandments were written by God's own hand, on mount Sinai.

The laws of moses are ceremonial laws, hygienic laws and laws pertaining to the old sacrificial system. The Ten Commandments are independent of those rules.

The first 4 represents Love for God and the last 6 represent love for your fellow man. Just repeating that point. I'm sure you can come up with some other point to render sabbath keeping unecessary but the abolition of the mosaic law is not one of them.

[gucci man]

Manu
When Jesus died, that was the end of the Mosaic Law....

Says who?
Where did it explicitly say that Jesus ended the mosaic laws?
And what would be the logic behind it?

FTR, i'm not an SDA

[gucci man]

Honestly, you know what i getting from all of this sabbath stuff?
Rebellion. Yeah, man is rebellious by nature. And the very existence of evil began with a rebellion in heaven. So by doing our own thing are we not like the devil when evil began? doing his own thing? rebelling?

You decide!

Sometimes I find it so hard to go church because of all of this confusion. I feel like i'm doing something wrong. But am I?

One thing i do believe is that the Father is the creator, Jesus was there from the beginning and the holy spirit is more like a force...something less of a personal nature. And I am lead to this believe this because the holy spirit has fewer personal attributes given it. To understand what i mean, ask youself this..do you call the Holy spirit a He, him, or it?




Then again, it might be beyond our mental capacity to understand.


But people will always have differences. As our geographic distance increases so does our views.

Who can tell the Muslims that they are wrong?
They are probably saying the same thing about US!!!


One thing is for sure, and I learn of this in history class:
Religion shapes civilization and usually not the other way around.

[Greatis]

What did you find enlightening, Greatis?

Quite a few things to be exact. I didn't have much knowledge really of the Jehovah's Witness. However to be honest after the discussion I could not prove (beyond the shadow of a doubt) any major differences between modern day Jehovah's and Christians

[SOLDIER OF JEHOVAH]

Silentburn,
The ‘Law of Moses’ is also known as the ‘Mosaic Law’ or, the ‘Law Covenant’ or the ‘Law of Commandments’. It dealt with subjects like:

Alien residents; selling unbled carcasses; not boiling a baby goat in its mother’s milk; beards and sidelocks; blood; childbirth; children; cleanness; clothing; fringes; contributions; death; cutting oneself; fasting; the Jubilee; loans; interest; collateral; sex; actions, attitudes, and more.

Although the Bible repeatedly mentions ‘the law of Moses’ (Jos 8:31,32; 1Ki 2:3; 2Ch 23:18; 30:16), it also acknowledges Jehovah as the actual Lawgiver and Moses as only His instrument and representative in giving the Law to Israel (2Ch 34:14). Even angels had a share in representing God in this matter, for the Law ‘was transmitted through angels by the hand of a mediator.’ Nevertheless, Moses, being Jehovah’s appointed mediator of the covenant between God and Israel is spoken of as if he were the lawgiver. (Ga 3:19; Heb 2:2).

Even prior to the Exodus from Egypt, Jehovah had served as the Statute-Giver to his people Israel. (Ex 12:1, 14:20; 13:10) A later example of his role as Lawgiver was his institution of the Law Covenant. Here, for the first time, was a body of laws in code form governing every facet of life. (Much like our present-day Civil Code, Penal Code, Administrative Code, Labor Code, Municipal Code, and more). This covenant between Jehovah God and his people Israel made them an exclusive people, a nation belonging peculiarly to Him and it distinguished Israel from all other nations. (Ex 31:16,17; De 4:8; Ps 78:5; 147:19,20)

Jehovah God himself issued these laws to Israel through His mediator, Moses. Moses did not make up these laws himself. It is called the ‘Law of Moses’ because it was Jehovah’s laws to Israel written by Moses through divine inspiration. Jehovah put the words into the mind of Moses so that he could write them down. He later read them to Israel.

The Ten Commandments is actually translated from the Hebrew expression "ase’reth had•deva•rim" to mean ‘Ten Words’. It is found only in the Pentateuch, (the first five books of the Bible). It designates the ten basic laws of the ‘Law Covenant’. As we just read in the first paragraph, the ‘Law Covenant’ is also known as the ‘Law of Moses’ or the ‘Mosaic Law’ or the ‘Law of Commandments’. This special code of laws is also spoken of as the ‘Words’ and as ‘the words of the covenant’. It is also known as the ‘Decalogue’ from de’ka (ten) and lo’gous (words) found in the Greek Septuagint.

The Ten Commandments were written on two stone tablets called ‘the tablets of the covenant’ and they were kept by Moses in an ark of acacia wood then later in the gold overlaid ‘ark of the covenant’ made by Bezalel. This legislation of the ‘Ten Words’ was also referred to as ‘the testimony’ (Ex 25:16,21; 40:20) and the ‘tablets of the testimony’ (Ex 31:18; 34:29).We can also read about the ‘ark of the testimony’ (Ex 25:22; Nu 4:5) and about ‘the tabernacle of the testimony’ (Ex 38:21) which is the tent where the Ark was housed.

I think we can agree that the Ten Commandments came from God and, as you have just read in paragraphs 3-6, so did the ‘Law Covenant’ (or ‘Mosaic Law’ or ‘Law of Moses’) through God’s mediator, Moses.

So yes, the Ten Commandments are the ten basic laws of the ‘Law Covenant’ (known as the ‘Mosaic Law’), and are indeed a part of and integral to the ‘Mosaic law’. They are not independent of the Law.

Silentburn, I do not render sabbath keeping unnecessary. God’s Word, the Bible does that. If you wish to observe it, go ahead! I’ll not judge you on it. I simply pointed out that the Bible tells us that by means of the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Law of Commandments has been abolished. Please read these references, (especially the bolded ones):

Ro 5:13; 6:14; 10:4; 13:8,9; Ga 2:21; 3:13; 5:14 Eph 2:15; Col 2:13,14; Heb 8:6,13

It is not uncommon that many people who claim to know the Word of God will speak as babes, think as babes, and even reason as babes. However, as they mature to become reasonable men and women they must do away with such traits.

[SOLDIER OF JEHOVAH]

gucci man,

You said, "One thing i do believe is that the Father is the creator, Jesus was there from the beginning and the holy spirit is more like a force...something less of a personal nature. And I am lead to this believe this because the holy spirit has fewer personal attributes given it. To understand what i mean, ask youself this..do you call the Holy spirit a He, him, or it?"

You are exactly right! The Father is the Creator and his son Jesus was there from the beginning. See Proverbs 8:22-30. And the Spirit is God's active force which is often personified in the Bible. Think of it like this:

You are like a lightbulb. The bulb itself is your body, and when it is destroyed it returns to the sand from which it was made. (Glass is made of sand.) As it is destroyed, its light is suddenly gone. The body's soul is no more. The electricity that caused the bulb to become lit cannot travel across an open circuit so, it goes back to the generator from which it came. The glass bulb is your body, its light is the soul, and the electricity is the spirit (or God's active force which caused the body to become alive in the first place). In the case of the bulb, the electricity is what caused the bulb to light.

To answer your question about "Where did it explicitly say that Jesus ended the mosaic laws?", see the bolded verses at the end of my previous post. Especially Ephesians 2:15.