apostle, prophet, disciple
- Thread starter Orleander
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M*W: Nothing. All three mean 'teachers'. I could extend that to also say they are 'workers' in a particular philosophy or 'promoters.'
In catholicism, a member is either an apostle, martyr or a saint. Somehow, I think these designations don't represent all catholics. In other words, they are christians 'in name only,' but nothing more.
Wrong.
Disciple is a follower.
Apostle is a followed AND teacher - someone who spreads the "truth" of their teacher.
Prophet is a seer - someone who predicts the future.
Just look the words up in a dictionary.
Someone thought they were.
Apostle, i can understand someone not knowing that but the other two. You almost have to know what those mean.
If they could talk to God and predict the future based on divine knowledge they were.
Well an Apostle was one who was called by Jesus to follow Him.
Jesus had other followers called disciples some of them left him before the end of His mission on earth.
A prophet is a spokesman for God. Many of the Apostles became prophets after Jesus ascended into heaven. A prophet is also someone who can be given knowledge of the future and this is what most people think a Prophet is (one who tells of future events.) But the truth is a Prophet is a messenger of God and only says what God has given them to say often this has nothing to do with telling someone about a future event.
So the Apostles where also Disciples and became Prophets.
Anyone who is a follower of Jesus is a disciple.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
"Apostle" generally refers to early or original supporters of someone who has an innovation in a way of thinking. In the religious sense, this would mean the earliest and original followers of a cult leader who are intended to help spread the cult's doctrine.
Apostles by definition are also disciples since they "learn" from the cult leader. Disciples follow the "disciplines" set forth by the cult leader and the "apostles" -in the academic and business worlds, these would be the people who study a particular paradigm and apply it to their business or academic disciplines.
Prophets are religious figures that divine the future and make predictions alleged to based on divine knowledge. None have been demonstrated to actually have existed, hence the "prophets" mentioned in religious texts used the powers of deception, hindsight, and generalization to make their "prophecies" appear fulfilled. In the business and academic worlds, there are also "prophets," but these people aren't claiming "divine knowledge." Instead, they base their predictions on intuition and past experience, predicting things like market shifts, corporate fitness, etc.
Apostles by definition are also disciples since they "learn" from the cult leader. Disciples follow the "disciplines" set forth by the cult leader and the "apostles" -in the academic and business worlds, these would be the people who study a particular paradigm and apply it to their business or academic disciplines.
Prophets are religious figures that divine the future and make predictions alleged to based on divine knowledge. None have been demonstrated to actually have existed, hence the "prophets" mentioned in religious texts used the powers of deception, hindsight, and generalization to make their "prophecies" appear fulfilled. In the business and academic worlds, there are also "prophets," but these people aren't claiming "divine knowledge." Instead, they base their predictions on intuition and past experience, predicting things like market shifts, corporate fitness, etc.
if spreading doctrine is the essential qualification of an apostle, it appears that the term can be applied to persons outside of a religious context
perhaps in the eyes of a person with a mission to spread a conflicting doctrine
How do you know that they just didn't have an understanding of human nature and in some cases, a knowledge of natural processes? I would pretend to have divine foresight if I could get away with it and make petty predictions on the weather or on what someone will end up doing in a relationship(it's fairly easy to tell things like that from the begining).
because you have a conflicting doctrine no doubt ...
then why is Warren Jeffs being called a prophet?
If so, then it is one of reality and not fantasy and superstition. The claim of "prophecy" who's burden of proof resides with the claimant or the claimants supporters. None have yet demonstrated the validity of "prophecy" as a way of knowing anything about the world and many "prophecies" have been demonstrated to be wrong, too general to be called anything but "general guesses," or clearly written in hindsight.
Your task here seems more to troll than to discuss since you've not bothered to show examples of "prophecy" that is otherwise. Now that I've said this, you'll no doubt have some quotes from Vedic mythology that have been translated with a conclusion in mind (i.e. translating the Sanskrit word for "very small" to "atomic," etc.).