All through the Bible, Jesus (the Messiah) is set as being equal to God. So, yeah, you're mistaken. in fact, you're so badly mistaken that I strongly doubt that you've put any effort to seeking out the truth yourself and are relying on simply parroting what you've been told.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Leftists and very small children don't seem to be able to understand that the Government isn't there to "fix" the economy, anymore than a tick is there to fix your dog.~Oftencold

Being equal to god is not the same as being god.

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"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and religions." - Jlarsen

See the Kindom Halls I attended were very strictly against any kind of wall adornments, no pictures of Russell or the judge (?) or anything like that.

And drinking was not forbidden, but frowned upon, and most were tea totalers, big time. It was OK to drink in non-intoxicating amounts, but most of the JWs I knew didn't touch alcohol at all, and those that did - never more than 1 - 2 drinks in a single day if even that much.

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"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and religions." - Jlarsen

There is that regional difference I guess...... The hall in Sacramento's Arden area had the picts on the wall in the back of the hall behind all the seating........

& yea they drank alot............. Hell even the Muslims drink here & Jews eat pork chops.......... Oy Vay this California....

The fact that Jesus was born into a Jewish family does not automatically vitiate the assertion that He was a part of the godhead (or "Trinity").

Certainly, Paul, as the apostle to the Gentiles, was careful not to do anything that might offend his Christian brethren of Jewish heritage (many of whom believed that the Mosaic Law was still in effect, including its dietary codes).

But I do not believe that Paul is ever in conflict with Jesus over doctrinal matters (or in conflict with James either--who is often cited as being, supposedly, Paul's antithesis, in matters of faith versus works).

Christians believe that the selection of the canonical books of the New Testament was guided by the Holy Spirit.

In any case, the so-called "Gospel of Thomas" and other apocraphyl works are clearly not due a place in the canon of inspired scripture.

There is certainly a strong dualism that runs throughout the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse, as it is typically titled in Catholic Bibles). But I see nothing especially gnostic in this.

For one thing, I do not view it as some abstruse blueprint for future history that Christians were expected to follow. So the esoteric element of special knowledge (so fundamental to gnostic theory) is just not there, it seems to me.

And neither is the gnostic view that the Earth represents a deeply flawed world--perhaps a world created by an inferior god.

Study up on history the Crusades was a response to the expansionist nature of Islam.

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ΜΌΛΌΝ ΛΆΒΈ (come and take them)

Al Gore didn't invent the internet, but he did invent global warming

I always knew what you believe FS. You believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Right?

You may even believe the Bishop Usher's timetable of creation, even though he was a very minor Episcopal priest in the 18th century, wasn't he? Do you believe in the Rapture? Those are both examples of stuff that never were in the Bible.

I do not accept the Isaiah prophecy, because doesn't apply. It never happened. There are alternate explanations the other predictions, too. You must take them in their own cultural context and place and time, not to mention in the context of the words before and after each one.

Paul started orchestrating his version of the Bible and the coming NT after Jesus left the earth. The historicity of the Magi, the Virgin birth, and other episodes don't hold up under examination. They are always considered the mythic realm of the Greeks. The real John, brother of Jesus, was in a battle with Paul over the fact that Jesus was a Jew and practiced Judaism his whole life. Paul won through political maneuvering and discredited The Rabbi of the Jerusalem conclave. Many scholars and linguists think the gospels are all Pauline documents or doctored by Paulinists. I think most credit Jesus with the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord's Prayer. They are the heart of Jesus' teaching as we have received it. Yet veritably no one follows the words in either. I think it was Hillel who was first quoted with a form of the Golden Rule, but Jesus certainly espoused it. He also mentioned love thy brother as thyself and recommended if a man was without a coat, he should be given one. He is also probably the author of the Good Samaritan story and other parables.

So much of the Christianity I see today is spoiled by theological squabbles and by denouncing others. You hardly ever ever see anyone sticking to Jesus' main teachings and not falling prey to cursing people to hell for minor things, let alone major ones.

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With the notable exception of Fitna this is the best video I have seen on our Islamic enemies

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ΜΌΛΌΝ ΛΆΒΈ (come and take them)

Al Gore didn't invent the internet, but he did invent global warming

You don't believe the world is flawed? I just saw that view of Gnosticsm mentioned in Wikipedia, but I rejected it because it is not the big picture of Gnosticism. The Gnostic metaphor is that good and evil, light and dark, were pitted against each other and someday an apocolypse will happen when in an epic battle Good wins, Evil is virtually eliminated, leaving God in Charge of what's left. Until then the world is tainted by evil and thus flawed.

It was a very black and white religion. No shades of gray, no ambiguity. Ancient gnostics often believed the world was not "real" but that all life was spiritual. The earth is flawed because it is not "real", but an illusion. This harks to the Hindu concept of the Maya but was developed in a different direction by Manichean beliefs. At some point, Gnostics became people that believed the Gnosis was knowing God directly without the help of a priesthood intervening. That was the basic issue the Old Church wanted to kill. That was the political part. They wanted the Power over believers. God forbid, they should turn directly to God!

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