anewperson

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  4

  REMOVED as an Elder

  by LDH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you from upstate ny, an elder was removed last week.. his name rhymes with "dud heffer.".

  he moved away immediately.. according to the gossip, "his pride got the best of him.".

  lisa

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  anewperson

  Mmmmm, not sure. Wish we had a hint. Wonder what he was "proud" about? Did he proudly defy Big Momma WTS?
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  6

  Question about Easter

  by Adonai438 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read a post on here recently about the origin of the word 'easter' and was wondering what it said (i only skimmed it the first time).

  it was some info that contradicted the jw argument that it came from the fertility goddess, ishtar.

  anyone want to fess up .

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  anewperson

  The name may be from Eostre a pagan goddess, the Anglo-Saxon word for East, a combination or some other source. The absolute Truth that you seek is no living person can now be 100% sure. But it is sure that the day has for well over 1,000 years been accepted as Christian & has been used to attack & replace pagan observances.
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  6

  Question about Easter

  by Adonai438 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read a post on here recently about the origin of the word 'easter' and was wondering what it said (i only skimmed it the first time).

  it was some info that contradicted the jw argument that it came from the fertility goddess, ishtar.

  anyone want to fess up .

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  anewperson

  EASTER, WHAT'S THE REAL TRUTH: Previously, and as found in most encyclopedias, most scholars took the view of "the Venerable Bede" who in 8th Century England speculated that the name Easter may have come from the name for the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eastre. But more research research shows several other possibilities. One is that the name more likely came from the Latin for "White Week," that spring week when people wore white to be baptized as Christians. The Latin expression "Hebdonada Alba" (White Week) was misunderstood as the plural for the word dawn and mistranslated into Old High German as Eostarum. Another possibility is that Easter came from the Anglo-Saxon word "eastre" akin to the words easterly or eastern, that is something that came from the East. This is possible because Christianity entered Germany and England in Western Europe from the east, the Middle East. A lesser possibility is that it derived from the Bible's speaking of Christ as someday returning to resurrect people from out of the east. Of course there might also be a combination of possible reasons for the name.

  In any event, when Christianity reached Germany in the 1500s the Christians there symbolized the resurrection hope, that is new life, via rabbits and eggs. This was because from eggs clearly come new life, and also because rabbits were well-known for appearing first here and then there which is exactly how Christ did, appearing in first one place then another, after he was resurrected. Some modern persons have attacked the celebration of Easter by promoting in writing their theory that the continuing usage today of Easter rabbits and eggs is a vestige of ancient fertility or sex rituals that pre-dated Christianity, and so this day that is so highly esteemed by those of different beliefs is, they contend, tarred with an immorality that God could not possibly find acceptable. Such criticism from some persons is well-intended because it comes from a lack of full knowledge and such critics having been mistaught, and it is true that some ancient cultures used colored eggs to symbolize different ideas or as part of worship as when, for example, the Chinese, have used eggs dyed red to symbolize good luck.

  Therefore let can conclude that those not celebrating Easter from lack of correct knowledge, or who out of honest doubts and sensitivity do so, deserve our respect too but yet we can also feel free to educate them to the real truth about Easter, the rabbits and eggs, even as those who honorably observe the day and its traditions also deserve full respect, which is exactly what Paul counsels at Colossians 2:16. This carries over to other things, for usually those with misinformation the call "the truth" about Easter are also persons taught that Christmas trees and Santa are pagan instead of the real truth which is that the tree began as the tree of paradise used in Medieval church plays and Santa came from Saint Nicholas who was a Medieval gift-giver also in Medieval times. Visit our nonprofit Jah Christians egroup at the following to request more free Bible information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jahchristian, or contact: jahchristian at yahoo.com
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  9

  I Know Christmas is Over this year BUT......

  by Adonai438 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  should it be a holiday for christians to celebrate?

  christians do not refuse to honor jesus just because of pagan roots, since these pagan roots have no.

  the church did not choose december 25th because it was an ancient heathen holiday, but.

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  anewperson

  CHRISTMAS -- THE REAL TRUTH: More recent scholarly studies prove that Christmas Tree is from the Tree of Eternal Life (Ge 2:9, 3:22) depicted in church plays of the Middle Ages, not Luther or Druid tree-worshippers, although outdated articles for example in World Book Encyclopedia still repeat the legends and Luther may have originated the use of candles attached to Christmas trees. The giant cedars of Lebanon used to build the temple at Jerusalem themselves had bright green needles with tan-colored cones, and John 10:22-3 says Christ visited the successor temple during the Jewish "Festival of Dedication," namely Channukah, during winter. Also called the Festival of Lights, it had singing, the carrying of tree branches, homes filled with lights and joy. Celebrated 8 days each time, its date varies yearly but the first Channukah was December 25, making it an even more likely source for the December 25 celebration than Rome's Saturnalia which came later in the month. Some believe Christ was actually born about Oct 1, which would mean Mary conceived 9 months previously, that is about or on December 25. Indeed count 9 months backwards from October to see for yourself. As to Santa Claus, no, he did not come from a vaguely known Asian god who descended chimneys to bring gifts or Siberian wizards but instead the Christian Nicholaus a famous gift-giver in Turkey in the Middle Ages.

  In fact Christ himself was wrongly attacked as a "glutton and drunkard" simply for believing in a good time (Mt 11:19). He once turned water to wine at a wedding party in Cana (Jn 2:1-11), told followers to invite needy persons to parties (Lu 14:13-14), and accepted gifts including expensive nard oil. Interestingly, Revelation 1:14 even describes the resurrected Christ's hair as like "white wool" or "snow," his cloak was scarlet-colored (red with a bluish tinge--Mt 27:28), and white symbolized purity. True, all that just coincidentally reminds one of Santa Claus, but do note that the earliest Christians enjoyed balanced merriment at "love feasts" (Jude 12), the angels celebrated Christ's birth (Lu 2), and Job's children had enjoyed birthdays (Job 1:3, 3:1, 3).

  Most Christmas trees are topped by a star remindful of the Christ star. According to John Mosley's The Christmas Star (1985) from September 3 BC to June 2 BC Jupiter, known as "the royal planet" passed Regulus "the king star" in the constellation Leo, reversed then passed again, turned and passed a 3rd time. By June 17 Jupiter and Regulus were so close they seemed a single star when seen by the eye. This then is one intriguing possible source for the Christ star in the Bible.

  Before Christ's birth unspecified men called "magi" in Biblical Greek came from the East first to Jerusalem (Mt 2:1-2) then went on to find the Christ child in Bethlehem. Some translations render the word magi as astrologers because its root like the word "magician" is linked to the idea of being a person of great might but although magi may refer to people who try to predict the future by observing the stars, using omens and consulting spirit beings as forbidden by God at Deuteronomy 18:10-12, it can also refer to people who worked to predict future weather patterns, good times to plant and harvest, buy and sell crops, etc via careful observation of the clouds, stars and other natural phenomena and with very little to absolutely no special focus on the occult at all. So for solid reasons some Bible translations continue to translate magi as simply "wise men" or "stargazers" and this is also supported by the Bible’s positively saying they brought gifts for Christ then also protected him by leaving without telling his location to King Herod who wickedly desired to slay him.

  Those who kept their families from celebrating Christmas should not be condemned if they acted out of lack of accurate knowledge in the past but also no one should claim that those who do celebrate the birth of Christ are out of harmony with the Bible even as the preceding information proves. Please read and meditate on what Paul writes at Colossians 2:16. . . . . . . The writers are part of a nonprofit mostly house-and-computer-based fellowship of Christians called Jah Christians, part of the international Free Christians movement which emails the Free Christians Newsletter for free to interested persons in all belief systems. We are seen at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jahchristian, or contact jahchristian@yahoo for a free subscription today:
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  21

  Do they bug people?

  by bluesapphire in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have heard comments in the past about people being bugged, telephones, homes, cars, etc.. does anyone really know this happens or is it apostate urban lore?

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  anewperson

  btttt
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  37

  JEHOVAH APPROVES BLOOD & GIVES PICTURES...

  by hawkaw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah god does allow natural whole blood transfusions.

  and he provides pictures.

  click here and read the this important essay at one of the following locations:.

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  anewperson

  Email a copy to Wayne and Lee of ajwrb.org & tell us what they say if anything about this.
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  Russian JWs Meet With Council Of Europe Politicos

  by MadApostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  russian jws continue to rely on satan's politicians from the council of europe, rather than jehovah, to intercede with their own government.. .

  20-23 november [2001].

  parliamentary assembly monitoring co-rapporteurs visit russia.

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  anewperson

  Thanks for the post Cow-Boy.
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  2

  Who was disfellowshipped tonight?

  by biblexaminer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay.

  who was disfellowshipped tonight?

  if you were, email [email protected] and talk to me.

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  anewperson

  DFing is usually done on a Thursday or Wednesday night. Ask then.
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  31

  The Trinity: to believe or not to believe?

  by speechless in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this question applies to those exjws who are at peace with god:.

  do you now believe in the trinity?.

  for myself, it took awhile for me to accept the trinity doctrine, but i finally came to believe!.

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  anewperson

  GOD’S NATURE: TRINITY, THE ONENESS PENTECOSTAL VIEW, UNITARIAN OR ANOTHER? The Trinity teaching is that there is one God (here meaning Godship, see Romans 1:20) consisting of 3 distinctively different but equally divine persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

  A second view of God’s nature is the Oneness view held by many Pentecostals in particular. Back in the 3rd century Sabellius a Libyan priest in Rome taught God is one person who manifested himself and performed in the form of the Father (Jehovah) as creator, next as Jesus the Son who performed as our savior atoning for sins, and later as the Holy Spirit working to transform our lives, although of the three manifested forms Jesus is is the ultimate expression of God, which means Jesus is Jehovah or the Holy Spirit

  As alluded to, this teaching by Sabellius called modalism died but began again in the 1800s in the American Holiness movement and entered the Pentecostal movement April 15, 1913 at Los Angeles when R.E. McAlister did not baptise not in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit but only in the name of Jesus (Ac 2:38), as he viewed Jesus is God Almighty Himself rather than only God’s distinctively different Son.

  The Oneness teaching is now often called "Jesus Only" theology since it claims Jesus is the ultimate and only Person in the Godhead and that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are merely names, modes, offices or forms of Jesus. The United Pentecostal Church and many smaller groups called Apostolic churches teach it, thus forming the Oneness Pentecostal movement which also teachs God’s name is Jesus and requires baptism for salvation. Oneness Pentecostals often claim other churches teaching the trinity are actually teaching polytheism, that is that there are multiple gods.

  Via the Word Faith Movement, the modalism teaching has begun to replace the trinitarianism of some traditional Pentecostals. The Assemblies of God rejected the modalism or Jesus Only belief, in 1916 requiring adherence to the Trinity concept so that 156 pentecostal preachers formed a separate Oneness group.

  Views called Unitarian may vary but in general it is that there is God Almighty, His son Jesus Christ, and God’s holy spirit, that the three are totally different as persons or entitites (holy spirit being God’s power rather than a person) and differing in power and age although one in purpose. Among groups with the view are Unitarian Universalists and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

  So, should you base your fellowshipping with only persons of a certain view about God, or should you base it on love? The Bible itself says that the strongest bond is love. Christ pointed out the greatest commandment is to love God and fellow humans. In fact God provides for us all, both good and bad. Hebrews 6:1-2 tells the simple basics for being a Christian, and Romans 14:1-5 says to allow peaceful persons even skeptics freedom to differ in views.

  But regardless of our imperfect understandings about God, surely the main thing overall about God's nature is not His age or power or substance, but His love. This, not a group of rigid beliefs, is the "narrow" road that all too many do not trod well. If we really think about it, it is incredible that God loved us so much that He sent His only born son so that "all" people might be saved rather than die forever. (Jn 3:16) jahchristian at hotmail.com
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  5

  23 Years Later, My First Sheperding Call..........

  by YHWHWho in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recently while passing by my front door i observed 2 witness's coming to my door, as well as a whole mini van packed with more.

  apparently it was again time to do the 5 year service of the town i live in.

  well, me being me, i continued on and plopped down on the couch and grabbed the remote.

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  anewperson

  When they come be nice & get their names then look up their addresses in a phonebook later & quietly send them a copy of one or both of these things below (smiling). Don't argue, just be polite. If you really want to liberate even more go to a meeting once or twice to get even more names of local JWs to educate:

  SHOCKING FACTS TOLD OUT OF LOVE TO THE CONGREGATION & PUBLIC: The Watchtower Society (WTS) over Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) cover up child molestation & let pedophiles go door-to-door http://www.silentlambs.org. They say God opposes the UN but until exposed in 1991-2001 were a formal UN associate not just to use the UN's library as proved if you read the Nov 22, 1998 Awake magazine closely. ( http://www.freeminds.org) 1 Cor 6:1 only says judge "trivial" things as in business, James 2:4-13 calls judging harmful, & Paul says the "majority" (2 Cor 2:6) followed his advice to shun a wrongdoer, meaning a minority chose not to & yet he nowhere condemns them, yet the WTS has formal Judicial Committes destroying families via numerous formal renderings of disfellowshipment (shunning).

  Acts 15:20 says abstain from blood but 1 Sam 14:32-5 says Saul's army ate unBLED meat to not starve & no verses show God not forgiving them. Christ says God also forgave David's eating temple holy bread & that God wants Mercy Not Sacrifice. (Mt 12) The May 22, 1994 Awake tells of 26 JW kids who died without transfusions, & by common sense in massive bleeding as in car wrecks blood expanders won't save lives http://www.ajwrb.org. An estimated 3 JWs die daily earthwide from the WTS’s unscriptural policy! (Blood On The Altar by David Reed) Why must anyone's children, grand-children etc be endangered or destroyed so easily? JWs can form independent groups independent from the WTS but united by LOVE ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jahchristian), join another group or decrease donations & other support. Please make & use copies of this for years ahead. It was written out of love for our JW families & friends as well as those of the general public - yours too!

  LOVING OUR JEHOVAH'S WITNESS FAMILY & FRIENDS, we're informing the Congregation & Public with documentated facts exposing misleadership by Watchtower Society (WTS) heads over our JW loved ones: Christ said families would be divided by some members doing good & others doing wrongs but never ever advocated destruction of families. 1 Cor 6:1 only says judge "trivial" things as in business, James 2:4-13 calls judging harmful, & Paul says the "majority" (2 Cor 2:6), followed his advice to shun a wrongdoer, meaning a minority chose not to & yet he nowhere condemns them. So we ask why the formal Judicial Committes destroying families via numerous formal renderings of disfellowshipment (shunning)? Acts 15:20 says abstain from blood but 1 Sam 14:32-5 says Saul's army ate unBLED meat to not starve & no verses show God not forgiving them plus Christ (Mat 7) says God also forgave David's eating temple holy bread & that God wants Mercy Not Sacrifice. The May 22, 1994 Awake tells of 26 JW kids who died without transfusions, & by common sense in massive bleeding as in car wrecks blood expanders won't save lives (ajwrb.org). An estimated 3 JWs die daily earthwide from the WTS’s unscriptural policy (Blood On The Altar)! Why should our kids, grandkids etc be endangered?

  Members are told report on each other though the Bible condemns busy-bodying. Page 302 in the Daniel book and pages 88 and 651 in the Proclaimers book show photos of the Knights Templar swords and the cross-with-crown-and-wreath used by Masons who sometimes use "Theocratic Warfare" tactics to change members' personalities on early WTS’s literature. Some old WT books also have the winged sun god Ra on front covers - never a Christian symbol. Nor are regular JWs allowed to read Judicial Committee "sin files" on themselves, many not knowing they exist; often with misinformation.(photos: freeminds.org) See also picture of Pay Attention To Yourselves And All The Flock book on p 232 of the Insight book that elders have but which non-elders are not allowed to read.

  Christ was likely born about Oct 2, so why ignore his being conceived 9 months earlier was in late December? Why insist Christmas is from the pagan Saturnalia when John 10:22-3 says Christ also celebrated the Festival of Dedication or Lights, i.e. Hannukah, which first began Dec 25 but has varied since because lunar-based? Job 1:3, 3:1 & 3:3 show Job's kids celebrated birthdays if you read all 3 verses to see day of birth is meant. Didn't angels celebrate Christ's birth? Santa is from Nicholas, a Christian, not a wizard or pagan god. Why call compromises holidays that attacked & replaced paganisms? Doesn’t Colossians 2:16 say let none judge you about a holiday. WTS heads say the Trinity is believing Father, Son, Spirit are 1 "identical" person yet most churches accept it as 3 totally different entities or persons forming 1 "Godship" (Ro 1:20), Son & Spirit sharing inherited age, power, knowledge from God just as an acorn may be only 1 day old but also have its genes inheriting its ancestral oak tree's age, capacity & information. Human remains & inscriptions show archaeologists the stauros was a cross not stake, Dr F Zugibe's research shows suffocation would be in minutes if on a stake but in hours if on outstretched cross per Lu 23:44 & Mat 27:45-6. Leaders call a cross is a repugnant murder weapon but Paul said boast in it as a symbol of resurrection over death. (Ga 6:14, 1Cor 1:17-18)

  Elders often hide local scandals. Leo Greenlees was a child molester fellow Governing Body members over JWs reassigned but never disfellowshipped (excommunicated) in the 1980s (jehovahs-witness.com in the archives, etc), & to date child abuse by Watchtower Society (WTS) associates is still officially covered up, causing costly destructive court costs and reproach including articles in Christianity Today, Dateline NBC investigations etc. For copies of letters to Bodies Of Elders regular members aren't shown including on child abuse see: http://www.silentlambs.org, freeminds.org, observer.org. JWs' kids & grandkids deserve to be safe. Some members in such coverup places complain of physical harassment (poking, shoving etc), hints that "Jehovah’s eyes are everywhere" & elders detailing their most private conversations & bedroom doings with their own marriage mates. WTS articles told elders not to “police” bedrooms in 1978 but later in a talk (but not in writing) in 1983 told regular members "The Practice" of some marital intimacies can lead to Expulsion. (discussed on Jehovahs-Witness.com) Some regular JWs absent that evening have been "expelled" (harassed/trained) without clearly aware why. Contrast this to the pedophilia coverups. "Insight" book articles are on all Bible books except Song of Solomon/Canticles which has much positive marital imagery contrasting with the Gov Body’s views of what is “holy.” Instructed to keep such things "in-house" when asked most elders deny the 1983-onwards policy to protect the Gov Body. WTS heads teach God does not like the UN but until exposed 1991-2001 the WTS was a formal UN associate, not just a UN library card user as claimed. Read the Nov 22, 1998 Awake magazine very closely. Also http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00577

  This is to help our JW family & friends but exposes the misleadership over our loved ones! They are told they must not read this material if given it by hand, but when e/mailed it most do quietly read it, some exit, most feel angry at first then quietly decrease donations to the WTS etc, if not baptized a JW stay that way etc. Some form nonWTS groups or are independent Christians noting when Paul said there's only "1 faith" the WTS didn't exist so true Christianity is all true Christians over the centuries. If a JW this may be from family or friends though originally from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jahchristian