I'm starting this thread in an effort to locate other church members who are awake and based. I discovered that there are two based members here at GAW by the user names of Angela84 and DeplorableMimi that posted in this thread.
I am so very happy and relieved that they spoke up and let it be known which church they attend. Up until tonight, I thought I was the only awake church member in the whole church. Yes, seriously.
I've been a long time member of the church. I have been struggling with frustration ever since the covid fiasco started. I have been filled with silent anger with the church leadership for allowing the government to enforce social distancing practices and masks inside our church buildings.
For a long time I didn't go to church because of that anger. I kept thinking if the church prophets were real prophets, why didn't they inform the church members of the truth? Why did the church leadership allow the government to dictate to us what we do in our own church? There's supposed to be a separation of church and state yet the government was forcing us to abide by social distancing practices and wearing masks.
Why didn't the church president come out and tell us the truth? Why did the church president allow the church to be pushed around by the government that is so corrupted with evil? These are the questions I was struggling with for two years and I still struggle with today. I keep wishing and wishing my fellow church members would just wake up! By the shear numbers of us, we could be a strong force against this evil we're living under if we were all awake. So today during sacrament meeting and elders quorum meeting, I sat there silently like I usually do. After elders quorum meeting was over, I quietly walked to my car like I usually do and went home.
I hope very much that the moderators don't delete this thread. I'm just trying to locate more people like myself so that I don't have to feel so alone all the time. I keep wishing I could find brothers and sisters who are awake like me.
Don’t fall into the trap of expecting everything to be perfectly stated to your understanding. That is a fool’s errand. The never speaks about scientific thing’s directly using modern terms but the concepts are all there in words of the time.
Many question what’s included in the Bible and what’s left out. How can we trust it? God’s sovereignty over it. That’s how. What God are you believing in if His message can be ruined by the very man He created and gave it to? Are you worshiping creation of the the Creator? Plus the translations are proven, aside from minor variations, to be correct due to the many different copies that can be compared. Plus the some books that cover the same events but from different points of view.
Faith is believing in something not seen but understood. You cannot see the atoms that make up the mass of things but you understand they are there. The air is invisible but you trust it to hold your jet airliner in the sky. Where is your faith? Rhetorically speaking?
Hopefully this helps. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
What does this mean? What is the relationship between Jesus’ teaching and the Old Testament? Three ideas require definition here.
The phrase “the Law or the Prophets” is a common way of referring to the Old Testament, Israel’s Bible in Jesus’ day. The “Law” comprised the first five books of the OT, and the “Prophets” captured the rest (see also Luke 24:27).
The word “abolish” means “invalidate.” Jesus did not come to “do away with” or “repeal” the OT. Jesus respected the authority of the Law and the Prophets.
The word “fulfill” is the hinge on which the meaning of this verse turns. While it’s tempting to read this as a reference to Jesus’ obedience to the law, the verb translated “fulfill” did not mean “obey.” Rather, the word “fulfill” meant to bring to a designed goal, to fill up and complete, to bring to full expression. Jesus was declaring that he fulfilled the prophecies and even the patterns of Scripture; he showed forth their true meaning.
Luke 24:44 - And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses…
Only perfection could fulfill perfect law. It had to be God Himself that fulfilled His law. Seems logical.
Not interested in converting to 7th Day Adventist or arguing with one. Sorry if you’re not 7th day but you sound just as legalistic as one. If you believe you’re a sinner, that Jesus is God incarnate, that He died to pay your sin debt, then you will go to heaven. The rest is a lot of minutia. Read Romans 7 and 8 and study them for good understanding if you would like to be enlightened about the law and faith.