So due that an hour ago Zoe started puking (most likely from the gobs of phlegm in her throat), I had to cancel my Wednesday morning Bible study with Bonnie.
Zoe is eating ice chips - hopefully things get better soon. Eva seems fine., just a plugged nose..LOL!
So I thought I'd mention a few questions I wanted to bring up to Bonnie today.
1) The Witnesses have a calculation of when the end time began: 1914. I thought I understood. However, according to the passage in "What Does the Bible Really Teach" there is reference to Revelation chapter 12. The Witnesses claim that the verbiage equals three and a half times. Here is what the NIV has written in 12:14, "...for a time, times and a half a time. I get that time = 1 year. But how are we so sure that times = 2? The Message has the same verbiage.
On Got Questions (http://www.gotquestions.or
"When it speaks of the woman fleeing into the wilderness for 1,260 days, it is referring to the future time called the tribulation period. Twelve hundred sixty days is 42 months of 30 days each. 42 months is 3 1/2 years."
Many scholars believe that the number is symbolic. So where are the Jehovah Witnesses getting this information? How do they know their calculations are correct? Last week Bonnie's friend, Lori, was quick to say that it will be the generation that was around in 1914 that will see the "end". The "generation" being 100 years. I just wonder what will happen when 2014 comes and the "end" hasn't happened. I wonder what figures will be determined then...
2) In the following chapter of, "What Does the Bible Really Teach", we are told about Spirit Creatures and how they affect us. Long story short there are no longer good spirits on Earth, so only the demonic are left. This is a great story. Anyway, our society is being mislead by the demons. This misleading practice is summed up in the word: divination. I had never heard of the word before. Jim informed me that in Dungeons & Dragons there are divination spells. Anyway, in the book states, "some forms of divination are astrology, the use of tarot cards, crystal gazing, palmistry, and the search for mysterious omens, or signs, in dreams."
So this got me thinking...wasn't John having a premonition dream that he wrote about in Revelations? And in the Old Testament, didn't Joseph (the multi-colored coat guy) have prophetic dreams that ultimately brought him into the Pharaoh's favor? So then what is the line between prophecy and divination? And how can you be certain that one isn't the other and vise versa? I'm really curious about the Jehovah Witness view on this.
However, since I wanted a clearer answer today, I went to the Internet. Yahoo Answers had a really good description. It also included another word, augury, that I had never heard.
"Prophecy: divine revelation as uttered by someone said to be a prophet. A prophet is defined as someone who is in direct communication with the Divine and speaks on behalf of the Divine.
Example: Noah. God spoke directly to Noah and told Noah about the upcoming flood. There were no indicators of a flood, Noah didn't use some magic ritual to learn about the flood....God spoke directly to Noah and told Noah. Noah thus tried to warn others. His warnings are prophecy because he is a prophet.
Augury: this is where omens or signs signal some future event. Example: "he hoped it was an augury" that is to say "he hoped it was a sign from God"
Example: Many Christians use the words from prophets of the old testament that foretold the events that would indicate the messiah...they then conclude that these events occurred with Jesus. Jesus is also a good example in that he provided "signs" for the end of days, for his return. Many shamanic religions also use augury, or signs, in nature to indicate supposed future events such as animal behaviors, etc.
Divination: this is using a ritual or ceremony of some kind to predict the future. Example: using a crystal ball, tarot cards, etc to predict the future. This is what most people think about when they think of fortune telling, future prediction. That people are using some kind of ritual, ceremony, or set of tools (and magic) to foresee the future.
Soothsaying: A soothsayer is also called by term "seer", this is someone who "sees" the future events and tells others. Many times a soothsayer sees these in dreams or visions.
Example: Joseph in the Bible would be called a soothsayer because he soothsayed...that is he interpreted dreams (though in this case the dreams were not his own, they were Pharoah's dreams). We don't really use this term much anymore. Today we call soothsayers by a different name: psychics. People who have visions of the future whether in dreams when they sleep or in visions while awake. That's what it soothsaying means.
So there ya have it - my continued journey of enlightenment...
No comments:
Post a Comment