I would love to start telling other JW's that I have serious doubts about what the GB thinks is the "truth" and test just how non-dogmatic they really are.
TimDrake1914
JoinedPosts by TimDrake1914
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Anthony Morris claims "dogmatic" does not apply to GB.
by Sanchy inso i was scrolling through the latest morning worship videos and found our good friend tony m. explaining why the gb is not dogmatic.
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you can find hirs reasoning at around the 3:30 mark here..
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If a proposed bill in Mexico passes, new law will mean jailtime for JW´s
by ILoveTTATT2 inapparently it's true!!
omg!!.
i did not want to believe these news, i still feel it's a hoax, it can't be true!.
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TimDrake1914
There was another article that was a little more in depth about this specific proposal. It not only targets religions, but even police officers and any other door-to-door merchants who's persistent knockings can be considered harassment. Looking at it from a neutral point of view, I have a hard time seeing this passed as it clearly infringes on religious rights. However, I'm not well versed on Mexican laws so I'm only looking at it from a US perspective. Looking at it from a biased point of view, I really hope it passes to see how WT will spin this. More than likely, it will get people thinking that the "Great Tribulation" is upon us, and I would love to point out how, even from WT's perspective, it is totally out of line with their predicted sequence of events. I can already see the look of cognitive dissonance that will overtake their faces when they realize how it just doesn't add up, until they find a way to rationalize it. -
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Why did I take the red pill?
by stephanie61092 inignorance really is bliss and reality is harsh.
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just having a bad, emotional day i suppose.
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TimDrake1914
I feel you. I have those days as well. But, ironically enough, I blame the WT entirely for waking me up. They instilled in me a desire for truth, and to stand up for what is right even when everyone else is against you. I never imagined that, one day, I would find the truth outside of them, and then have the need to stand up against them even though everyone inside is now against me in principle for believing the real truth. -
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Did the Brother giving the Memorial talk mention Nisan 14 ???
by RubaDub inin our congregation, the brother mentioned nisan 14 a dozen times.. i thought, with the fact the jewish calendar has nisan 14 in april this year (april 22 i believe) that the nisan 14 thing would be hushed up.. was it mentioned where you attended?.
rub a dub .
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TimDrake1914
Nope. Not one peep from our speaker about it. -
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Words omitted from a Watchtower article
by Doug Mason ina short time ago i sought information regarding a quotation in the watchtower of april 1, 2010, which did not identify the exact source of the quotation from professor oskar skarsaune.
my interest was heightened because words had been omitted from the source.. the wts provided a copy of the original 29-page article, which is in norwegian.. here is my very unofficial personal translation of the passage from professor skarsaune's article that the watchtower is quoting.
firstly i provide the text as it appears in the watchtower magazine, highlighting where the text has been omitted.
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TimDrake1914
Thank you for that link Doug. I hadn't seen that one before, and it looks like another great study. Coincidentally, I just wanted to personally thank you, Terry and Paul for all the great work you've all done for us EX-JWs. Personally speaking, I've benefitted greatly from all the writings you all have put together, and I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for all the work you all have done. One of the doubts I always had that led me to eventually wake up was the doctrine of 1914, and your writings in particular, Doug, really helped me understand it enough to see the real truth behind it. -
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Words omitted from a Watchtower article
by Doug Mason ina short time ago i sought information regarding a quotation in the watchtower of april 1, 2010, which did not identify the exact source of the quotation from professor oskar skarsaune.
my interest was heightened because words had been omitted from the source.. the wts provided a copy of the original 29-page article, which is in norwegian.. here is my very unofficial personal translation of the passage from professor skarsaune's article that the watchtower is quoting.
firstly i provide the text as it appears in the watchtower magazine, highlighting where the text has been omitted.
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TimDrake1914
Thank you @TheOldHippie! I was not aware of this chapter in the "Scripture Inspired" book, so I had to go and read it. Guess I should have paid more attention to this book back in my Uber-dub days. But admittedly, I didn't become interested in scholarly discussions of the Bible until after I was mentally out, ironically enough. It is quite interesting, and very relevant to this discussion indeed. Having immersed myself more in scholarly writings of the Bible, I was able to understand much more about this chapter than I would have previously. Going back to our original discussion, I must say that this chapter doesn't really disagree too much with what scholars say about how the biblical canon was established. They do acknowledge how it is something that eventually developed over hundreds of years, and even acknowledge that it was the church fathers' opinions that really influenced the eventual canon. But what I found a bit comical was how WT explains what their own criteria for establishing canon is. Using their own criteria, one could definitely make an argument for leaving out books that they themselves consider "canon". Paragraph 6 of that chapter is quite revealing. In regards to determining canonicity, they write:
"There must be no appeal to superstition or creature worship but, rather, an appeal to love and service of God. There would have to be nothing in any of the individual writings that would conflict with the internal harmony of the whole, but, rather, each book must, by its unity with the others, support the one authorship, that of Jehovah God. We would also expect the writings to give evidence of accuracy down to the smallest details. In addition to these basic essentials, there are other specific indications of inspiration, and therefore of canonicity, according to the nature of each book's contents, and these have been discussed herein in the introductory material to each of the Bible books. Also, there are special circumstances that apply to the Hebrew Scriptures and others to the Christian Greek Scriptures that help in establishing the Bible canon."
There are many things I could point out about their criteria, but I found the highlighted statement most comical. For anyone familiar with scholarly discussions on textual criticism of the Bible, reading that statement would make one believe that only ONE Gospel should be considered canon at most, or that no gospel should be! HAHAHAHAHA!
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Words omitted from a Watchtower article
by Doug Mason ina short time ago i sought information regarding a quotation in the watchtower of april 1, 2010, which did not identify the exact source of the quotation from professor oskar skarsaune.
my interest was heightened because words had been omitted from the source.. the wts provided a copy of the original 29-page article, which is in norwegian.. here is my very unofficial personal translation of the passage from professor skarsaune's article that the watchtower is quoting.
firstly i provide the text as it appears in the watchtower magazine, highlighting where the text has been omitted.
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TimDrake1914
I guess where I'm confused about the quote is that, both the real story of how the New Testament canon was decided, as well as WT's views on it, seem like a very complicated, not-so-straight forward story to tell. Reading Bart Ehrman's blogs, I'm aware that the real story about how the canon was decided was a long, drawn out process that took place over hundreds of years via many arguments and disagreements between many churches and church fathers.
However, I don't think I've ever read anything from WT that specifically tries to contradict this story, or anything remotely close that tries to explain in detail how the canon was established. The closest thing I can think of is the "All Scripture" book that gives the reasoning behind why each book in their Bible can be considered inspired. But even that book has fallen on the wayside, and it seems as if now, and even back then, they've always shied away from trying to specifically explain why other "apocryphal" books are not inspired writings.
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Question for those still attending the Kingdom Hall
by ToesUp inthis a question more out of curiosity, because we have not stepped foot in a kh in 3 years.. how is the attendance at the meetings/assemblies?
i know the answer will vary due to location.. are you (especially elders) receiving any notification or communication from bethel or co's that there is an upsurge of people that are simply disappearing or out right dis associating?.
thanks, in advance, for your feedback!
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TimDrake1914
Where I live, for the most part, things appear to be the same mostly, no real growth, but no real decline. Everything seems to be holding steady for the most part. Most new people that come into the congregation are really just people from other congregations moving into ours. There is no real growth happening in my congregation, and even though I might be a little biased at wanting to see a decline, I can't help but think that at least morale is declining, if not actual attendance.
But if you pushed me, I would lean more to say that it "looks" as if our attendance is declining more than rising, at least for the midweek meeting. Sundays always seem to look steady for the most part. But the midweek meeting is definitely a lonely place sometimes. I honestly think that all the new changes with the CLAM are turning off most people in our congregation, rather than actually getting people excited, other than the Uber-dubs. I think part of it stems from the fact that all of our BOE and all our MS's are technologically challenged for the most part. So when it comes to using video presentations, they always seem to botch it up. Sometimes, it takes more time to get the videos started than to actually watch the videos. I think it makes everyone feel "behind the times", and only adds to the discomfort of living in a whole "new world" that no one is really comfortable with.
To add to it, our BOE is really unorganized and always seem to be doing things at the last minute, which gives off the appearance that they are lazy, since they never seem to do anything on time. I think most of the congregation is actually quite frustrated with them. I mean, no one likes to be called at the last minute to prepare for a part in two days, just because the elder in charge of assignments had not gotten around to making the list on time. And by the time they finally put up the list of assignments, there is only two weeks left on it, and everyone knows next month will just be the same.
So, in our congregation at least, while attendance might be holding steady for the most part (if not declining a bit), morale at least is at an all time low, and it's mostly due to the incompetence of our BOE. If I had to guess, though, I would think most other congregations feel the same, especially those with older BOEs who are struggling to keep up with all the changes and "technological advances". The BOE frustrations eventually get mirrored by their respective congregations, and as sad as it is to see other people's morales decline, there is a part of me that smiles on the inside, hoping it's the catalyst to their eventual and painful waking up.
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Words omitted from a Watchtower article
by Doug Mason ina short time ago i sought information regarding a quotation in the watchtower of april 1, 2010, which did not identify the exact source of the quotation from professor oskar skarsaune.
my interest was heightened because words had been omitted from the source.. the wts provided a copy of the original 29-page article, which is in norwegian.. here is my very unofficial personal translation of the passage from professor skarsaune's article that the watchtower is quoting.
firstly i provide the text as it appears in the watchtower magazine, highlighting where the text has been omitted.
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TimDrake1914
Reading the original, unedited quotes, I find it difficult to comprehend the reasoning behind omitting those other words. It doesn't really affect too much what he wrote, and I see no good reason for even omitting them. I guess they are so used to doing it at this point that it probably feels weird for them NOT to omit words from quotes, even if it doesn't affect the point they are trying to make. -
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TimDrake1914
Oh look, we are "waaaaaaaaarmly welcomed" to this as well! LOL!