XPost: alt.bible, alt.religion, alt.religion.christian.biblestudy   
   XPost: alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic   
   From: none@none.con   
      
   On Sep 26, 2023, James wrote   
   (in article<8da6hi9cea0prqu63c6bffl55b98koppcs@4ax.com>):   
      
   > On Tue, 26 Sep 2023 10:12:41 -0500, McLoon  wrote:   
   >   
   > > On Tue, 26 Sep 2023 10:55:38 -0400   
   > > James   wrote:   
   > >   
   > > > Thus it doesn't seem likely that Jesus was married.   
   > >   
   > > The pertinent question to ponder is who is the bride of Christ.   
   > >   
   > > We know the Watchtower is not his bride.   
   >   
   > The Bible (not men's teachings) holds out two possibilities for humans   
   > for salvation. Life eternal in Heaven, and life eternal on a paradise   
   > earth. For example referring to the later, Jesus said at Mt 5:5,   
   >   
   > "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (NIV)   
   >   
   > If all the good people are going to Heaven, who will be around to   
   > "inherit the earth"?   
   >   
   > Jesus also make a distinction between the two groups at Joh 10:16,   
   >   
   > "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them   
   > also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock   
   > and one shepherd." (NIV)   
   >   
   > Notice that Jesus has some sheep in his "sheep pen". Those would be   
   > the people who will go to Heaven and be with Jesus. But he also has   
   > "other sheep" who are not in that sheep pen. Those are the ones who   
   > will inherit the earth, and live forever upon it. These are the ones   
   > the Psalmist also refers to at Ps 37:29,   
   >   
   > "The righteous themselves will possess the earth, And they will reside   
   > forever upon it." (NWT)   
   >   
   > (many translations use the word "land" here instead of "earth". But   
   > the Hebrew word used here is "erets" and can also mean "earth".) For   
   > example, that same word is used at Ge 1:1 in the NIV Bible,   
   >   
   > "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth [erets]"   
   > --brackets mine.)   
   >   
   > So there are two groups of people who receive salvation. But the group   
   > going to Heaven is limit in number to 144,000. (see Re 14:1; 7:4) And   
   > it is that group who is referred to as the bride of Christ. Paul makes   
   > reference to that by his wording at 2 Co 11:2,   
   >   
   > "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one   
   > husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to   
   > him." (NIV)   
   >   
   > I hope this has helped somewhat, or has sparked some interest to do   
   > more research, since there is a lot more that could be said here.   
   >   
   > Sincerely James   
      
   CAUTION !   
   Everything that James wrote here is new to the JW doctrines and is either   
   twisted/distorted and or flat out wrong.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)