AC
On Mon, 29 Apr 2002 23:12:14 +0200, "Pradera" <pradera@pradera.prv.pl> wrote:

Pradera
U?ytkownik AC <spam@nospam.com>w wiadomo?ci do grup dyskusyjnych napisa?:3ccdb604.128882292@news2.randori.com...

AC
On Mon, 29 Apr 2002 22:57:29 +0200, "Pradera" <pradera@pradera.prv.pl> wrote:

Pradera
U?ytkownik Morgil Blackhope <morestelx@hotmail.com>w wiadomo?ci do

dyskusyjnych napisa?:aakbfv$b2gkr$1@ID-81911.news.dfncis.de...

Morgil Blackhope
John Savard kirjoitti viestiss?

Pradera
<31850e01.4454951@news.ed.shawcable.net>...

John Savard
On Sat, 27 Apr 2002 01:44:32 +0100, Michael O'Neill <onq@indigo.ie> wrote, in part:

Michael O'Neill
So you think violence and Christianity are incompatible, do you?

John Savard
Snipping isolated verses out of context does not provide the

of the Bible. One has to read the New Testament as a whole to understand what it is trying to convey.

Morgil Blackhope
Yet there are many Christians who demand that Bible should be taken to the letter and that it is not open for interpretations...

Pradera
Many? Very few, I believe. Some forgotten sects in remote lands like middle-US, perhaps ;) It's Jehova's Witness that demand direct and litterary reading of

not

Christians.

AC
So what exactly makes Jehovah's Witnesses not Christians? Or to put it another way, what defines whether a specific church is a Christian church?

--- AaronC

Pradera
Jehovah's Witnessess are definitely not Christians. They say so

at least those I spoke to.

AC
I come from a family filled with them (don't worry, if you've read my comments on evolution I'm sure you will realize that I abandoned it a very long time ago). However, they do consider themselves to be Christians, as those relatives who still believe that I'm in dire need of saving endlessly point out to me. I don't see anything in their beliefs that would mark them out as not a Christian sect. A bit wacky and extremely conservative, but still within the sphere. What they don't believe is that anybody else is Christian. In other words, they believe that if you are not a JW, you are doomed. Doesn't matter whether you are a good and decent pagan, a Catholic (they really dislike these) or an Anabaptist.

--- AaronC