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Luke 1:36 tells us that Mary became pregnant 6 months after Elizabeth. Luke 1:56 tells us Mary stayed with Elizabeth for 3 more months - putting Elizabeth to a full 9 months. But we find that Mary left her at this time. Why? Luke 2:41 tells us it was to attend Passover. When is Passover? SPRING. Which puts Christ's birth 6 months later. Late Sept or Oct.
But you are still saying that the Bible is corrupt and we can't trust it. It's either God's Word or it's man's words. Which is it?I have not read the original manuscripts but our Bible translations have enough truth in them to understand not only the will of God but also life itself.
What's important when studying the word of God is the Spirit of God (John 16:13) and never use verses to interpret the Bible, but rather, use the Bible to interpret the verses. Also, do your reseach and investigate, in other words, test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Your research will include historical research such as comparing pagan practices vs God's will, examining and studying words in their original language, reading your Bible line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little (Isaiah 8:9-10). After you have done all that you can do to find a particular truth than you will know the truth and have a sure foundation (1 John 3:18-21).
Truth does not come easy. It's hidden and sometimes perverted and twisted. Jesus says that if we CONTINUE in His word we will know the truth and the truth will make us free.
John 8:31-32 Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Before I leave I want to share another example of a Bible translation error, which I think is funny. If you take your King James Bible tranlastion at full value without testing, as God says, you will probably find yourself trying to heal a sick handkerchief or apron.
KJV
Acts 19:12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
Notice the comma is missing which now makes the Bible speak of sick handkerchiefs and aprons.
Enough truth is not the entire truth. That would leave the Bible "open to" interpretation, and that's not the case. Only if it's the entire truth is it God's Word.
I found this to be an interesting read from EGW.
On Christmas, so soon to come, let not the parents take the position that an evergreen placed in the church for the amusement of the Sabbath school scholars is a sin; for it may be made a great blessing. Keep before their minds benevolent objects. In no case should mere amusement be the object of these gatherings. While there may be some who will turn these occasions into seasons of careless levity, and whose minds will not receive the divine impress, to other minds and characters these seasons will be highly beneficial. I am fully satisfied that innocent substitutes can be devised for many gatherings that demoralize.
Christmas is coming. May you all have wisdom to make it a precious season. Let the older church members unite, heart and soul, with their children in their innocent amusement and recreation, in devising ways and means to show true respect to Jesus by bringing to Him gifts and offerings. Let everyone remember the claims of God. His cause cannot go forward without your aid. Let the gifts you have usually bestowed upon one another be placed in the Lord's treasury. . . . In every church let your smaller offerings be placed upon your Christmas tree. Let the precious emblem "evergreen" suggest the holy work of God and His beneficence to us; and the loving heart-work will be to save other souls who are in darkness. Let your works be in accordance with your faith. . . .
Every tree in Satan's garden hangs laden with the fruits of vanity, pride, self-importance, evil desire, extravagance--all poisoned fruit, but very gratifying to the carnal heart. Let the several churches present to God Christmas trees in every church, and then let them hang thereon the fruits of beneficence and gratitude--offerings coming from willing hearts and hands, fruits that God will accept as an expression of our faith and our great love to Him for the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Let the evergreen be laden with fruit, rich and pure and holy, acceptable to God. Shall we not have such a Christmas as Heaven can approve?
What are your thoughts?
But don't you see ECR, "open to" means that even if I'm wrong, I'm right, because I can show you Scripture to prove it.If the Bible is not open to interpretation we wouldn't be on a forum that hosts various denominational groups.
It's through the Holy Spirit that we gain an understanding of the truth of Gods Word. Thats why the Bible is not for private interpretation...
On Christmas day our hall was full. Many had come in from Sydney, Adelaide, Ballarat, and the smaller churches. The Lord gave me much of his Spirit in speaking of the first advent of Christ, when angels heralded his birth to the waiting shepherds and sang their glad songs over the plains of Bethlehem. {BEcho, January 1, 1892 par. 20}
We see in the people here the intelligence, heartiness, and simplicity that characterize the lovers of the Truth in America. Many express gratitude to God that he has sent his servants here. {Bible Echo, January 1, 1892 par. 21}
Then she isn't a prophet is she?Two things about sister White's comments on Christmas stand out to me...
One is that she states that she is satisfied that innocent substitutes can be devised. This is not, to me, a thus sayeth the Lord, statement. While it has always been based around pagan holidays, the level to which it was celebrated in her day was probably far less than today.
Secondly, I do not believe that sister White was given light on every subject. The studies I have done on the meaning behind the words 'Merry Christmas' to the satanic symbolism of santa claus has led me to denounce the holiday as not only not Biblical, but to be dangerous to Christians by the obserbance of tradition. As for the tree, there is a passage in Jer 10:2-4 that calls the practice heathenism and warns against it. While God does not call it an abomination, He does call it a vain custom.
In my mind why give any due to satan for the practices he has set up. Honour God everyday the same and there will not be a need to have a day set aside to remember Him.
But you are still saying that the Bible is corrupt and we can't trust it. It's either God's Word or it's man's words. Which is it?
Enough truth is not the entire truth. That would leave the Bible "open to" interpretation, and that's not the case. Only if it's the entire truth is it God's Word.
God gave us examples of paganism in the Bible, He gave us examples of legalism and hypocrisy with the Pharisees, He's given us all the examples we need in His Word. His Will in contrast to pagan belief. The Israelites didn't waste anytime with the golden calf, Jezebel and her reign as the prophetess of Baal. It's all in there. We don't have to look any further than His Word.
But don't you see, this is what makes it the truth. God didn't leave out the words and behaviors of evil people and even Satan. That's what makes the Bible the "entire truth". Let me explain.The Bible contains the words of God but they also contain the words of evil men and woman, unbelievers and Satan himself.
K4C, you seem to be a stickler for grammar and so on, did it ever occur to you that the following verse that SDA's use as "proof text" for the sabbath, is saying something entirely different from what they think.The Bible is never calls itself, the word of God. The Bible calls itself, the Scriptures, which means, the writtings. The Bible contains the words of God but they also contain the words of evil men and woman, unbelievers and Satan himself.
Bible translations are not inspired so they have to be tested, studied and evaluated in light of God's will and His overall plan for saving His people. Many of today's doctrines are translated into our modern day translations, for example. The original language uses no commas so where a comma is place in our translations is based on a preconceived belief. If you study and test the belief that a person in alive after death you will find that is not what God says. In order to lead people to believe people are alive after they die you will have to translate the Bible to make it say they are, for example.
Luke 23:42-43 Then the thief said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.'' And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.''
The thief had his doctrines right when he asked Jesus to remember his when Jesus comes IN HIS KINGDOM. When Jesus comes in His Kingdom, at His second coming, the dead will be rasied to eternal life, not before. The translators twised the whole verse by placing a comma after the word (you) when Jesus said, "I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise". Placing the comma after the word (you) makes it sound as though you go to heaven or hell at death but this is not what the Bible says as a whole. The comma should have been placed after the word, (today). This would make the verse line up with the etire Bible and God's plan. The verse should read like this, "I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise". Jesus was telling the thief, on that day, that he would be in Paradise with Jesus, not that he would be in Paradaise on that day. We know Jesus was not in Paradise that day with the thief because Jesus was dead and in the tomb three days and on the third day He rose from the dead. Then Jesus told Mary that He had not yet gone to the Father in heaven so neither Jesus or the thief was in Paradise on the day they both hung from the cross.
So will try to say Paradise is somehwere in the grave or under the earth but they too is false. The tree of life is in the Paradise of God.
Revelation 2:7 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.''
The tree of life is where God's throne is, which means Paradise is where God is dwelling.
Revelation 22:1-2 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Yes, I do, because you put too much emphasis on a day. Your focus is on the day, not the time with the Lord. Your focus is in the wrong place if you ask me. But hey, that's just me.But there is still a reference to the Sabbath which you can'y get away from....
You are right that the scripture is open to interpretation by man... but through the Holy Spirit, the truth is revealed.
As far as the holiday thing, everyone is convinced in their own mind of what is honourable to God. I have only tried to show people evidences that they may not have seen before regarding the holiday. I don't judge you for what you want to do personally. I do, however, not believe that the church should advocate it. As an example, one of the local SDA churches here apparantly cancelled Sabbath service yesterday because of the holidays... do you see how this can be dangerous??
Yes, I do, because you put too much emphasis on a day. Your focus is on the day, not the time with the Lord. Your focus is in the wrong place if you ask me. But hey, that's just me.
Our emphasis is on obedience through love. If you say you love God yet dont obey Him that makes you a hypocrite. Obedience through love is the foundation of true worship. So yes, we do put an emphasis on obeying the fourth commandment because it sure seems like everyone is forgetting it. We also put a lot of emphasis on sexual purity, honesty, not stealing and so on.
But don't you see what I'm getting at? ECR said that one church canceled service because Christmas fell on the sabbath. Apparently this church's leaders felt that if people saw them worshiping on Christmas, they'd get the wrong idea thinking they were celebrating Christmas. So they decided it would be better not to have service...all because it was Christmas, and they didn't want to be associated with a pagan holiday. This is what makes a hypocrite.Our emphasis is on obedience through love. If you say you love God yet dont obey Him that makes you a hypocrite. Obedience through love is the foundation of true worship. So yes, we do put an emphasis on obeying the fourth commandment because it sure seems like everyone is forgetting it. We also put a lot of emphasis on sexual purity, honesty, not stealing and so on.
But don't you see what I'm getting at? ECR said that one church canceled service because Christmas fell on the sabbath. Apparently this church's leaders felt that if people saw them worshiping on Christmas, they'd get the wrong idea thinking they were celebrating Christmas. So they decided it would be better not to have service...all because it was Christmas, and they didn't want to be associated with a pagan holiday. This is what makes a hypocrite.
I stand corrected.Way to twist the facts Zeker... Sabbath was cancelled not because of what others would think but because the members, it seems, wanted to celebrate the holiday more than their Sabbath service....
I stand corrected.
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