How...odd. You claim that this "day and age" is corrupt; yet you alter the clear words of your "scripture" to fit this corrupt day and age. It is as if the actual meaning of the clear words of your "scripture" is not good enough for you, so you make free to pretend it means whatever you want it to mean...
...even if you claim that the "prophecy" means something different than it did when it was said to be said to have been prophesied...
Again, it is as if the actual meanings of the actual words in your "scriptures" does not matter to you.
Actually, the "144k" were a group of men in a vision. According to your "scriptures", they were characterized as the "ones who had not defiled themselves with women"--that is, they were "virgin" (a technical term with a precise meaning--that is, "ones who has not had sex"). It is dishonest to pretend that, in this case (and this case only) "virginity" might encompass sexually active men. It is dishonest of you to pretend that "defiled" and "women" are equally ambiguous.
It is, however, patently clear to the most casual observer (to say nothing of those of us who actually read the languages involved, as you confess you do not) that your manufacture of a spurious ambiguity is the only way you can continue to pretend that a sexually active man can be accurately described as "virgin"...
...I wonder if it has occurred to you that a homosexually active man would qualify as not having "defiled himself" with "women"...
The actual meanings of the actual words in the actual contexts of your "scriptures" are immaterial to your fantasies.
No, not once. The passage in Corinthians is a simile (it might even be considered a metonymy, but that's a discussion for a different, more gramatically rigorous, audience).
Not if you want to pretend that παρθένος actually has a lexical meaning.
Despite your need to pretend that you are (or will be) numbered in that number "that no man can number" the one who "qualify" (if your "scriptures" are to be taken to have any meaning at all) as παρθένοι are the ones who "have not defiled themselves with women" (which, among other things, gives a not-very-reassuring picture of the mindset of whoever actually wrote the "Book of 'John's' Revelation").
QUOTE=Paul Bethke;11392445]So when you take the accusations Jesus brings against some of the Churches in the Revelation, it is clear that there was sexual immorality in the Churches.<scripturesnip>
So you see SV the Church had those in it that were not pure.—( Rev 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.)
So the 144k were those who did not defile themselves with woman—they kept themselves PURE.
No, not at all. what made the "144K" in the hallucination
καθαρόι was that they had not
ἐμολύνθησαν with
γυναικῶν; that is, they were
παρθένοι.
No matter how often you fallaciously attempt to pretend it works backwards.
No matter how you try to disregard what I say, the Scriptures are clear on who the redeemed are in the past and in the present. To be born again as Jesus put it, it is the same today. To repent as Jesus put it, it is the same today.
The vision given to John, was for the purpose to encourage the Church during the time of persecution that was being inflicted upon it.
So the 144 k were those who had overcome the temptation.( Rev 6:11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed. )
So what there is today, is the same, to find those who have not defiled themselves with woman.
The homosexuals must repent---(1Co 6:9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes
nor homosexual offenders
1Co 6:10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1Co 6:11
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
So here Paul is addressing the Church in his day, showing what people were and what they can become.
The 144k virgins were those who had been washed and sanctified, and justified—the defining term is defiled—they did not defile themselves---this also applies to the redeemed today, they keep themselves pure.(I know it is a vision)
So the purpose is that a vision was given that has meaning today, in the correct context.
You see SV the Gospel and the plan of God for the salvation of the world is the same today as it was in the time of Jesus. The problem in the Churches then is the same as what there is today—the Church was infiltrated by false teachers, who corrupted the teachings of Jesus.
(2Pe_2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.
They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Jud_1:4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago
have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality ; and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
I am still obliged to you for your persistence.
