i am just posting the article link because i saw it today trolling through yahoo.
wow!
a billion, with a "b" is a big chunk of change.. http://news.yahoo.com/jehovahs-witnesses-could-1-billion-nyc-properties-161102417.html.
I'm no financial expert, but as I understand it a multi-national corporation that is wishing to expand can burn through a billion dollars fairly quickly.
Or, to put it another way, of the supposed 2,000 Kingdom Halls the society wants to build a billion dollars would only buy half of them.
for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.- romans 15:4. ever consider that paul wasn't referencing his own letters to the congregations?
and he certainly wasn't referring to the gospels which hadn't even been written yet.
anybody else ever notice this?.
I always loved reading the writings of Paul. They always seemed so logical and interesting. Now, I have to ask myself, "Was he really any different than Rutherford?" After all, he inserted his own thoughts into the mix, by his own admission. Then he would say, "Not I, but the Lord!"
One crazy person begets another crazy person I guess. I think I would be slightly more impressed if Jesus had written his own books or letters and not left the whole thing to anonymous authors (the Gospels) or to Paul who never met Jesus except in a vision. I think it was Hume that pointed out revelation is necessarily first person and to everyone else it's hearsay.
If you accept the words of Paul then one also has to accept the words of Muhammad and Joseph Smith.
for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.- romans 15:4. ever consider that paul wasn't referencing his own letters to the congregations?
and he certainly wasn't referring to the gospels which hadn't even been written yet.
anybody else ever notice this?.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.
- Romans 15:4
Ever consider that Paul wasn't referencing his own letters to the congregations? And he certainly wasn't referring to the Gospels which hadn't even been written yet. Anybody else ever notice this?
I think he's most likely referring to the Septuagint (the Old Testament that had been translated into Greek). The same goes with 2 Timothy 3:16:
All Scripture is inspired of God+ and beneficial for teaching,+ for reproving, for setting things straight,* for disciplining in righteousness,+ 17 so that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.
These letters were never meant to be self referencing. We know this because in the verse right before this one it says "from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures" (the Holy Scriptures existing prior to his writings). It's so odd that this realization never occurred to me while I was a JW. And that Elders will quote Paul and then cite another writing of Timothy or Paul for "setting things straight" or "disciplining" as though that's what Paul or Timothy were talking about.
So weird! Paul claimed to have a revelation on the way to Damascus where he met ghost Jesus. But he never claimed that his writings were of divine inspiration.
paul knew that torah with all its rituals and sacrifices did not originate with god (jeremiah 7:22; 8:8), hence he warned christians to guard against deceptive philosophy that would take them back to torah.
(colossians 2:8 compare 2:11, 16, 17) in view of the over-all view of the bible, there is no excuse to use the word philosophy with any negative connotation.
jws built their stand on philosophy based on this wrong (negative) use of the word philosophy found in colossians 2:8.. the greek word philosophi a means love of wisdom.
I know that philosophy is a lot of things. But my go to answer for its value is that it helps us make sure that we're asking the right questions.
Of course, in JW land - the questions are pre-supplied at the bottom of the page ...
all religion is flawed because its led by man.
jw is not bad religon if it changed some of its doctrines and thoughts.
if it didnt "shun" members and "worldly people.
All religion is flawed because it's led by man.
No, all religion is flawed because it claims to know things it can't possibly know and purports to have abilities it doesn't actually have. And this creates all kinds of mayhem for everyone on this planet because the actions of religious people have very real consequences - and if they don't have a good understanding of how reality works then they're going to make bad decisions.
https://web.archive.org/web/20151210004420/http://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/united-states/jw-headquarters-peak-construction/.
http://imgur.com/a/dbsqt.
are they just moving the goal posts now that 2016 is almost upon us?.
Why waste such a beautiful location on such dull, drab, and oppressive architecture? Who in their right mind signed off on this?
.
Even a completely generic office building would look better.
But honestly, if you're going to invest this kind of money and also have most of the work done for free why not go with a nice modern aesthetic?
Or why not capitalize
Honestly, anything would be better than what they're building. Really disappointing. Oh well, the WT never misses an opportunity - to miss an opportunity.
storm desmond - how kindness is keeping cumbria afloat.
read here:.
today, we are grateful to receive warnings that help us not to have a selfish attitude like that of most in the world.
"Well they seem like a nice person but do they love you best friend?"
"Well they seem like a nice person but do you love your mother?"
What imbecilic nonsense! Alive, you make a great point, just because another person doesn't have the same exact affections as you do doesn't mean there's something wrong with them or that they are somehow untrustworthy.
The JWs deep seeded tribalism and us versus them is such an insidious mentality. It allows them to dehumanise anyone who doesn't conform to their belief structure. I always had a problem with me and it never set well that I was just supposed to expect that everyone else was "bad".
I really hope we see a serious decline in numbers amongst the JWs over the next couple of years. There are far too many genuinely good people trapped in that truly evil religion.
christopher hitchens has some insightful thoughts on judaism and christianity from a human sociological perspective .
part 1 .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyaqprzjl18.
Christopher Hitchens - as always - cuts through the total BS that is religion. He concedes it not greatness and no ethicacy.
I am so glad that his word and thought - and his voice - has been immortalized in print and video and in the ever growing push back against organized religion.
i've found it interesting that- imho- most of the politically vocal ex-jw's at this website seem to lean left.
i'm personally pretty centered- right on some issues, left on others, but overall have a pretty cynical view of all political/religious leaders.
i find it somewhat ironic that people who leave such a dogmatic group like the witnesses become so politically dogmatic.
The angry trash talk about 'the liberal media' from the right, and 'stupid Fox News etc.' from the left
Wow LGB, false equivocate much? Calling Fox news "stupid" is nothing like conservatives trash talking the so called "liberal media".
Fox "News" is a propaganda tool that spreads out right false information and offers non stop criticism of the Left while turning a blind eye to most of the problems with Conservative Leaders. Not only that, Fox News is a single organisation with a rather singular goal.
However, the so called "Liberal Media" is literally hundreds of independent media outlets that have no connections to each other. Some are full blown commercial organizations. Others are non-profit. And most of them have strict editorial process' via which they try to screen out as much personal and societal bias as possible.
I find it ironic that you would buy into the false narrative that their are two sides to every story. This simply is NOT true. Sometimes there is an objectively right and wrong position.
When it comes to where we get our news there is a HUGE difference between having an informed opinion vs. just being opinionated. Between understanding the necessary facts and principles at hand vs. just saying the first thing that pops into your head.
People who watch Fox News are the LEAST informed about current events. Not only do they rate below every other major network - they also rate below people who watch no news at all!
Fox News is demonstrably and objectively biased. And "the left wing Media" is just a made up term Republicans use when a fact or story is inconvenient to their cause.
in this age of violence with the san bernardino and france massacres sometimes it's good to reflect on the wise words of the peace advocates among us who proposed a better solution in bringing a more civil society to our universe.
john lennon, martin luther king jr. - people who stood up for equal rights and world peace and denounced violence and war - no matter how that violence occurs.
please feel free to comment on stories of john lennon on this thread and feel free to post any you tubes of his music that you may have enjoyed through the years.
