It's in the magic wand section
^ Re: 'quote' button. Ah, thank you.
well, the switchover happened - there were a couple of things i had to fix which meant the posting was disabled for longer than i planned but it's now enabled and some people have already posted.. if you have any questions about the new format or suggestions on how to improve it, please post them here.. if you are having trouble signing in or posting then you'll need to email me instead.. many thanks to everyone for their patience during the changeover !.
It's in the magic wand section
^ Re: 'quote' button. Ah, thank you.
well, the switchover happened - there were a couple of things i had to fix which meant the posting was disabled for longer than i planned but it's now enabled and some people have already posted.. if you have any questions about the new format or suggestions on how to improve it, please post them here.. if you are having trouble signing in or posting then you'll need to email me instead.. many thanks to everyone for their patience during the changeover !.
:) I like the look of it.
I like that, for the first time since joining, I've been able to update my email address and, for the first time in almost as many years, I can change my avatar.
My basic phone and its Opera Mini browser cannot cope as well with the new site, even with updating to Opera Mini 5 today. JWN was always 'read only' for me on there, but at least it was straight-forward to navigate around and most of the links worked. The 'menu' button at the top of the (mobile) page does nothing so I can't sign in on my phone any more or opt to view active topics. Maybe I can figure out a work-around.
What would be handy
It would be nice to have people's join dates and posting dates displayed again. '5 years ago,' 'a day ago' - too vague on its own.
I can't see a 'quote' button in the 'reply' box.
ldc semininar @ patterson nov 15-18, 2014 .
entire ldc dept included remote workers/design/legal/real estate/purchasing.
oversight.
The pattern repeats. The delay of the eschatological end means focussing on building the Kingdom of God on earth with 'churches' and 'cathederals.'
the wts says that the 70 years began when the last jews entered egypt (7th month, feast of gedaliah), and that this final exodus took place in 607 bce.. they then say that jerusalem was destroyed 2 months earlier (5th month) and that this event marked the end of the davidic kingdom, which commenced the 2520 years.
on that basis, if my reading is correct, their 2520 years ended on the 5th month of 1914, not in october.. further confusion reigns, since according to parker and dubberstein, in 607 bce the babylonians inserted an intercalary second elul before tishri.
from memory, thiele says that jeremiah used the babylonian calendar.. i know that their chronology and eisgeses are totally fanciful; i am simply addressing the logic in the thinking that they appear to present.. i have elsewhere shown that it is more likely that the time fom the destruction of jerusalem to the exodus into egypt is more likely to have been at least 2 years, perhaps as long as 4, so i am not canvassing that issue here either.. doug.
Oh good grief, I must be half asleep!
I said,
As St. George said, the 2520 years commences when Zedekiah was removed. That period is to do with the absence of a Davidic king until Jesus' enthronement in 1914.
Yes, duh. You are right, Doug. There is an inconsistency. Zed removed 5th month, but 2520 years counted from 7th month, and Davidic kingdom restored 7th month.
the wts says that the 70 years began when the last jews entered egypt (7th month, feast of gedaliah), and that this final exodus took place in 607 bce.. they then say that jerusalem was destroyed 2 months earlier (5th month) and that this event marked the end of the davidic kingdom, which commenced the 2520 years.
on that basis, if my reading is correct, their 2520 years ended on the 5th month of 1914, not in october.. further confusion reigns, since according to parker and dubberstein, in 607 bce the babylonians inserted an intercalary second elul before tishri.
from memory, thiele says that jeremiah used the babylonian calendar.. i know that their chronology and eisgeses are totally fanciful; i am simply addressing the logic in the thinking that they appear to present.. i have elsewhere shown that it is more likely that the time fom the destruction of jerusalem to the exodus into egypt is more likely to have been at least 2 years, perhaps as long as 4, so i am not canvassing that issue here either.. doug.
Hi Doug.
As St. George said, the 2520 years commences when Zedekiah was removed. That period is to do with the absence of a Davidic king until Jesus' enthronement in 1914.
On the other hand, the 70 years is to do with how long the land was 'desolate, without an inhabitant' which, as the WTS maintains, started from Tishri 607 BCE (the flight to Egypt) to Tishri 537 BCE (the resettlement in Israel).
Further confusion reigns, since according to Parker and Dubberstein, in 607 BCE the Babylonians inserted an intercalary second Elul before Tishri. From memory, Thiele says that Jeremiah used the Babylonian calendar.
Ahh but the intercalary months are attached to kings' regnal years, not BCE dates. No intercalary month is attested to Nebuchadnezzar's 18th year.
As an aside, the intercalary Ululu/Elul (6th month) assigned to 607/6 BCE (really Nabopolassar's 19th year) is an error. See note 9 on p. 4 of P&D as to the uncertainty about this cited tablet. There are actually 5 tablets attesting to Nabopolassar's 18th year having an intercalary Ululu/Elul (C. B. Walker, CBT).
the time has nearly come to switch over to the new forum software.
of course it's not completely finished yet (and never will be) but i think it's good enough to go live with and probably already better than the current one.
i'll give you a quick overview of what to expect and post more detail about the changeover process later.. cloud platform.
^ Same here. The email account I signed up with is obselete. I can't remember it properly.
New site's looking good, btw, Simon
so most would now know of the vile act in sydney last week where a man held hostage over 17 people in the lindt cafe in the middle of sydney.. two people were murdered...a beautiful, educated lawyer,loving mother of three, and a brave, loving young man working as the cafe manager.. this senseless and cruel act has touched everyone deeply, especially in the communities of sydney.
the outpouring of grief and support for the victims and their families has been immense.. i was therefore outraged to have the following comment made by a witness in conversation at the kingdom hall:.
"well, we dont need to be sad, because at least now they (the two victims) will get a ressurection.
"well, we dont need to be sad, because at least NOW they (the two victims) will get a ressurection. If this hadnt happened, they probably wouldnt have accepted the truth becuase of their busy lives or lifestyle"
Aw, how heart-warming and comforting - I guess the same can be said of the 8 murdered children in Cairns.
NOT.
Even as a loyal 'in the box' dubbie, I wouldn't have been able to let such an asinine remark go.
i was talking with two brothers at the kingdom hall the other day.
one of them suggested seeing the new exodus movie.
the other brother says, "i heard it's really violent"!
One of them suggested seeing the new Exodus movie. The other brother says, "I heard it's really violent"!
LOL. Well, duhhhh!
(Exodus 2:11, 12) . . .Now in those days, after Moses had become an adult, he went out to his brothers to look at the burdens they were bearing, and he caught sight of an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers. So he looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
(Exodus 5:13, 14) . . .And the taskmasters kept urging them: “You must each finish your work every day, just as when straw was provided.” Also the foremen of the Israelites, whom Phar′aoh’s taskmasters had appointed over them, were beaten. . . .
(Exodus 9:18, 19, 24, 25) . . .Here I will cause a very great hail to rain down tomorrow about this time, such as has never occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Therefore, send word to bring all your livestock and all that is yours in the field under shelter. Every man and beast caught in the field and not brought into the house will die when the hail comes down on them.”’” [. . .] There was hail, and there was fire flashing in the midst of the hail. It was very heavy; there had never been any like it in the land since Egypt had become a nation. The hail struck everything in the field throughout the land of Egypt, from man to beast, and it struck down all the vegetation and shattered all the trees of the field.
(Exodus 12:29, 30) . . .Then at midnight, Jehovah struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Phar′aoh who was sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and every firstborn of the animals. Phar′aoh got up that night along with all his servants and all the other Egyptians, and there was a great outcry among the Egyptians, because there was not a house where someone was not dead.
(Exodus 14:27, 28) . . .Moses at once stretched out his hand over the sea, and as morning approached, the sea returned to its normal condition. As the Egyptians fled from it, Jehovah shook the Egyptians off into the midst of the sea. The returning waters covered the war chariots and the cavalrymen and all of Phar′aoh’s army who had gone into the sea after them. Not so much as one among them was allowed to survive.
(Exodus 17:8-10, 13) . . .Then the A·mal′ek·ites came and fought against Israel in Reph′i·dim. At this Moses said to Joshua: “Choose men for us and go out to fight against the A·mal′ek·ites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill, with the rod of the true God in my hand.” Then Joshua did just as Moses told him, and he fought against the A·mal′ek·ites. [...] Thus Joshua defeated Am′a·lek and his people with the sword.
(Exodus 32:26-29) [After the golden calf incident] Then Moses took his position in the gate of the camp and said: “Who is on Jehovah’s side? Come to me!” And all the Levites gathered around him. He now said to them: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘Each of you must fasten on his sword and pass through all the camp from gate to gate, killing his brother, his neighbor, and his close companion.’” The Levites did what Moses said. So about 3,000 men were killed on that day. Then Moses said: “Set yourselves apart for Jehovah today, for each of you has gone against his own son and his own brother; today he will give you a blessing.”
so, i'm visiting family this week who are all jws.
yesterday, it started with one of them talking about a co giving her some points on time keeping for service.
she is now writing a letter before she drives to service, so she can count her drive time.
we are finding ways to "cheat" hours.
That's been done for as long as there was hour reporting. Pioneering, we'd immediately do a couple of persistent 'not homes' or a RV nearby or give a tract to some unsuspecting passerby, then we'd have started the clock. We could then drive miles to the territory, not stressing because of having already started our time. We could count our coffee break if we left a mag or tract with the assistant. All 'creative' hour counting.
I mean, really. Does God really give a crap if you drive to service and count your time?
Nope. But the Org. does.
A friend made a comment about not being able to find the Daniel book on jw.org anymore. His wife said, "maybe it's because they are changing it". Everyone said," oh yeah, that must be it" and moved on.
jw.org has publications back to 2000 (with one or two exceptions like the Insight volumes). The Daniel's Prophecy book is from 1999.
for a while i have shaken my head after learning how jw's interpret (rather corrupt the meaning of) matthew 8:11. i thought it couldn't get any worse.
i was wrong.
the following is an extract of the march 2015 watchtower in pg 27. the writer is explaining the meaning of mathew 25:31-46. enjoy!.
Another one to shake your head at, never a jw, from p. 14, par. 9:
'The second quality that helps those
virgins to be ready is vigilance. Would
it be possible for individual anointed
Christians to get sleepy during a long
nighttime vigil? Indeed. Note that Jesus
says of the ten virgins that “they all became
drowsy and fell asleep” during
the apparent delay of the bridegroom.
Jesus knew well that even a willing,
eager spirit may be hampered by the
weakness of the flesh. Faithful anointed
ones have heeded that implied warning
and have worked ever harder to remain
vigilant, watchful. In the parable, all
the virgins responded to the nighttime
shout: “Here is the bridegroom!” But
only the vigilant ones endured to the
end. (Matt. 25:5, 6; 26:41) What about
faithful anointed ones today? Throughout
the last days, they have responded to
strong evidence that, in effect, cries out,
“Here is the bridegroom”—just about to
come. They have also endured, keeping
ever ready for the Bridegroom to arrive.'
Apart from the fact that, for about 80 years until 2012, both 'anointed' and 'other sheep' JWs were taught the Bridegroom had already arrived back in 1918, so "faithful anointed ones" couldn't have "kept ever ready for the Bridegroom to arrive," the Watchtower article bizarrely interprets Jesus' detail about all ten virgins falling asleep to mean that the five faithful ones actually "worked ever harder to remain vigilant, watchful" (therefore, they didn't fall asleep as Jesus said they did).