Posts by menrov

14

The Study edition of Luke NWT Now on JW.ORG...great, now they dig even deeper into the pile of muck

by NikL in

jw
friends

so had to check it out to see what it's all about.. what i got was more cloudiness.

as in luke 2:9.... suddenly jehovah’s angel stood before them, and jehovah’s glory gleamed around them, and they became very fearful.

the notes point out.... jehovah’s angel: this expression occurs many times in the hebrew scriptures, starting at ge 16:7. when it occurs in early copies of the septuagint, the greek word agʹge·los (angel; messenger) is followed by the divine name written in hebrew characters.

menrov

On studybible.info:

Murdock (i) 9 And lo, the angel of God came to them, and the glory of the Lord shone upon them: and they feared with great fear.

So, an angel of God and the glory of the Lord (Jesus??)

And found this one (WBTS very happy):

ECB (i) 9 and behold, the angel of Yah Veh stands over them and the glory of Yah Veh haloes them: and they awe a mega awe.

and this one:

JMNT (i) 9 And then – look and think of this! – all at once [the] Lord's [= Yahweh's] agent (or: messenger) took a stand upon [their encampment], in the midst of them (or: stood at their [side]), and [the] Lord's [= Yahweh's] glory (Theophanous manifestation) shone (gleamed and radiated) around about them, and they became afraid [with] a great fear (= were struck with terror).

Anyway, we do not know what the translations or copies they used in the first century. Further, if it was critical that the tetragrammaton was to remain in all translations or copies because it means life, you'd expect it to be there. A God who is capable to create humans, is very well capable to protect His name. But He did not. Moreover, the name of His Son became the most important name mentioned in the NT.

19

JW.ORG Now requires personal address

by AverageJoe1 in

logging on to the user area access today, there appeared a message saying that they now require a postal and physical home address to attach to your profile, with a note saying that the branch may change the details as they see fit.

this raises several questions in my mind:.

why would they need to have your physical address on file?.

menrov

Asking for an address might be acceptable as access is supposed to be only for authorized people. They also might need an address to facilitate regular donations.

Request to allow WT to make changes is a bit strange as I would never allow any organisation (nor my employer) to make changes to my personal details. I guess it has to do with "demotions" i.e. from elder back to servant or to nothing.

24

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the February 19, 2017 WT Study (DECEMBER 2016)(ANXIETY)

by blondie in

jw
friends

blondie’s comments you will not hear at the february 19, 2017 wt study (december 2016) (throw anxiety jehovah).

https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-december-2016/.

excellent general website: www.jwfacts.com .

menrov

Hi Blondie, i hope you get your new job. Enjoy.

13

BOE: Singers for recordings in German - bethel email address uncovered

by Edison Trent in

last week a new letter for the boe in germany was published online.

i want to share it with you (poor translation by google, sorry for that):.

to all service comitees of german speaking congregations.

menrov

WT...THE VOICE

12

Can someone explain today's text

by poopie in

jw
friends

i'm confused..

menrov

In the Netherlands, yes, WE ARE SECOND... :-), the text for the 3rd of Feb is:

Friday, February 3

We ourselves take pride in you among the congregations of God because of your endurance and faith.—2 Thess. 1:4.

Feeling good about the works of others and even having a degree of pride in ourselves can be healthy. We are not expected to be ashamed of our family, culture, or the region where we grew up. (Acts 21:39) On the other hand, there is a kind of pride that can eat away at relationships and damage our friendship with Jehovah. Such pride can cause us to resent and reject needed counsel rather than humbly accept it. (Ps. 141:5) This type of pride is defined as “inordinate self-esteem” or “a haughty attitude shown by people who believe, often unjustifiably, that they are better than others.” Jehovah hates arrogant pride. (Ezek. 33:28; Amos 6:8) But Satan must delight to see humans display boastful pride, for it echoes his own arrogance. How Satan must have reveled in the boasting of such men as Nimrod, Pharaoh, and Absalom—all of whom fell victim to improper pride!—Gen. 10:8, 9; Ex. 5:1, 2; 2 Sam. 15:4-6. w15 5/15 2:5, 6

So, what is confusing? The lesson: shut up and obey and listen to the counsel of the elders. Otherwise you are proud and Jehovah will hate you.

But I can be wrong of course ...just an inactive guy you should avoid associating with ...

99

January 19, 2017 TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS IN WALES Re: Prerecorded Memorial and Special Talk 2017 - Welsh

by wifibandit in

january 19, 2017 to all bodies of elders in wales re: prerecorded memorial and special talk 2017 - welsh.

menrov

The letter says: advise you that the Teaching Committee of the Governing Body has

granted approval for the Memorial discourse and special talk to be prerecorded in Welsh for use on

JW Stream.

So, this blows away the argument that the gb is not controlling the WBTS (was that not Losch who said this...)

99

January 19, 2017 TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS IN WALES Re: Prerecorded Memorial and Special Talk 2017 - Welsh

by wifibandit in

january 19, 2017 to all bodies of elders in wales re: prerecorded memorial and special talk 2017 - welsh.

menrov

It is a lot cheaper to have a Welsh speaking person from Wales to fly to Bethel Germany with all the recording equipment, or even to New York or to bethel UK. You do not need a mansion for RTO. I really would like to see a RTO in say far east or Africa.

If you have to lay off so many special pioneers and bethel staff to save money, you DO NOT spend money on a mansion for RTO only. That is what I call an investment under the umbrella of an RTO. In many countries congregations have to travel more because they are merge with another congregation to share one kh. Assemblees are held in far distant locations, to save money (though the R&F need to spend a lot more on travel costs). Until now, they did not care to translate their 2013 NWT into Dutch, with some 35000 publishers....

So....purely a money game here.

20

Death and Judgement Day

by Tirisilex in

i'm having a hard time with this.

what does the bible say what happens when you die?

when jesus was on the cross he said to the man that when he dies he will be with jesus in heaven.

menrov

I have been thinking about it too. And yes, there are various doctrines about the after death situation. Will people go to heaven, or some to hell, or do they sleep and wait or what.......Christians have their doctrines, Islam their own, Hinduism, Buddhism...all with their own views.

In the end, you have to decide what you believe is reasonable.

Personally, I first re-evaluated my own belief. I believe in a creator. Not necessarily do I believe in the bible as we have it. I cannot find a satisfactory answer for all the suffering in the world of innocent people, like children, women, men, fathers, mothers etc. Ask around, who really is free from any means of suffering?

I can see that we were created. But what if that creator just created us and just left it to His creation to make something of it? I sometimes compare to the live of ants Do we as humans feel any sympathy for them, meaning, do we care if they are ill, weak etc? No, we do not and feel no sorry at all if you kill one or many of them. Why? Because they are too small to be concerned about. Well, now consider a Creator who is that smart and intelligent that He was able to produce human and animal life, including all flora. Why would he be concerned about individuals? Are we not like ants?

So, this is my way of thinking now a bit. Where does that lead us, humans? I do not know. May be our creator has something better for us (but why would he do that??), may be this life is all there is...I really do not know. What I do see is that if all humans help each other, life would be much better. Not without pain or sorrow but better. Will it ever be without sorrow and pain and fear etc? I really do not know. Do Christians know? No, it is a belief, like for Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists.

13

The rich will not inherit the Kingdom of God—Did Jesus really say this?

by anointed1 in

it is our experience that love of money brings action towards accumulating abundance of wealth which ultimately convinces the owner that “i was wasting my time” which in turn motivates him to turn into philanthropy (like bill gates and co did).

this is a perfect design (designed to work independently of god) like a journey of which the first half is wasteful and the second half is fruitful, and it is to be viewed as a whole.

hence it is unlikely that jesus would say: “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of god.” (mathew 19:24) verse is obviously attributed to jesus by later writers.. this means question of morality is not complicated if viewed as a whole process.

menrov

TOR1500: or is it Truly I say to you TODAY :-)

Anyway, if something is difficult, it does not mean that it is not possible or that by definition they will not inherit. The point is that being rich (like many leading Jews at the time, looking down on the poor for which they did nothing) is by no means their ticket to paradise. In fact, it will likely be more difficult for them as they (the rich Jewish leaders) lack the love and compassion for others, the weak, the meek (Matt. 5).

But of course, the leaders of the WBTS, who pretend to be poor but live like very wealthy people without spending one penny on the poor or meek or sick, do not want its members to become rich according to their definition. Because money gives some independence, and that is something they hate.

210

Morality Without Deity

by cofty in

one of the most persistent arguments for belief in god centres on the necessity of an ultimate law-giver and epitome of goodness.. a softer version is seen in the genuine concern that a loss of faith will result in a corresponding loss of a moral compass - a more strident argument links the existence of good and evil with proof of the reality of god.

it is often asserted that without god, moral decisions degenerate to nothing more than personal preferences and the victory of "might is right".. i want to succinctly lay out my response as an atheist, and show that a supreme being is not required for objective morality.. it is helpful to distinguish between absolute morality, objective morality and subjective morality.

christian apologists frequently conflate the first two, and secular debaters often fail to point out the difference.. theists who disagree on everything else, are unanimous that god is perfectly good.

menrov

I have not read all the comments yet. But I do see that if one leaves a rather controlling religious group because of the false claims or even lies and bad things happening in that group, that person runs the risk to lose all faith in a god. And if that happens, also the believe in the bible is gone. Now, where to go for your moral compass? Eventually, the person either regains some faith again in a god or accepts his own views and conscience to be his moral compass. Whichever the final result, there will be a period in which that person lives in a sort of a vacuum. For many, a very uncomforting situation.

People will say: you see, that is what happens if you leave us (religious organisation) or when you lose faith in god. And meaning that the person is worse off than before. For a moment, that can be true, but it is a phase.

There are many human groups that do not have access to a Christian bible and use other sources to define their moral compass. Are these societies worse off than those that are more based on bible principles? I believe that history shows that it does not really make a big difference. Is a Chinese person a worse person than a person from a western (Christian) based country?

What makes life difficult for humans is being ruled by people who love power and are willing to use everything to gain that power. People being ruled by such people will adjust their views on what is right or wrong to some extend.

Anyway, just my view.