Posts by barry

1380

The Gentiles Times Reconsidered--Again but this Time By Using the Bible

by thirdwitness in

think about this: if seven times mean only 7 years then daniel could have simply said 7 years.

why does daniel specifically use the word 'times' rather than years?

as we have already shown daniel used the word for 7 times instead of 7 years.

barry

Gday Thirdwitness, I havent replied to any of youre posts until now so welcome,

Im an SDA and there are some similarities with in biblical interpretation with the JW positions.

Many SDAs interprete Daniel 8.14 with Daniel 9 requireing the day for a year principle to arrive at 1844

Also the three and a half years is applied to 538 to 1798 the dark ages useing the day for a year principle.

More informed scholars see no necessity to use the day year principle in Daniel 9 because in the context of this chapter the caculation is 7 times 70 years. In fact the SDA bible commentry as well as other good commentries say the day year principle is not required here.

The year day is used pragmatically.

In predictive prophecy the year day principle is not used if it looks silly. eg when Jesus said he would die and in three days he would raise it up the principle is not used. It isnt used with the three and a half years by the JWs but is used by the SDAs with the SDA interpretation. It isnt used with the millenium because the interpretation would seem too long.

Suffice to say Im an SDA who couldnt go along with such an inconsistant and strange rule.

28

Are JWs Not Too Smart? Pros and Cons...

by Seeker4 in

in alanf's thread on whether or not thirdson (or whoever!

) is a gb apologist, there are several posts discussing the intelligence of jws.

on that subject, this is what i observed from over 30 years as a jw:

barry

Ive heard it said only inteligent people can be brainwashed so that would mean JWs are rather smart.

34

Baptized July 05. Left Dec 05.

by Moomin in

i have been lurking on these forums for about 6 months and thought it was time to join in.. i was a child/teen when i first became introduced to jehovah's witnesses through my mum who studied for a while but never fully committed.

i had a study and attended some meetings but it all petered out by the time i hit my late teens and we moved to another town.. for the following 10 years i just lived my life how i pleased.

got married etc.

barry

Gday Moomin, Youre in the right place here, people here have a wealth of information about theWT Society

22

Jesus said his load would be light, the Witnesses made that load very heavy

by free2beme in

jw
friends

i always remember being told that the load jesus expected of his people was not something that should be a burden and basically if you think about the core to christianity, it is not.

basically, jesus said to love one another and to treat others how you would want to be treated and to respect the life you have.

i don't ever remember jesus saying, "have 5 meetings a week, two assemblies a year and one convention.

barry

Its strange teh WT is very much like the religion they criticise the most the Catholic Church. At the time of the reformation the protestants were thought of as liberals because they beleives they could never get to heaven by works and the Catholics said protestiam was a good religion for the dying but impossible religion if a person wanted to live the christian life.

22

Jesus said his load would be light, the Witnesses made that load very heavy

by free2beme in

jw
friends

i always remember being told that the load jesus expected of his people was not something that should be a burden and basically if you think about the core to christianity, it is not.

basically, jesus said to love one another and to treat others how you would want to be treated and to respect the life you have.

i don't ever remember jesus saying, "have 5 meetings a week, two assemblies a year and one convention.

barry

Its strange teh WT is very much like the religion they criticise the most the Catholic Church. At the time of the reformation the protestants were thought of as liberals because they beleives they could never get to heaven by works and the Catholics said protestiam was a good religion for the dying but impossible religion if a person wanted to live the christian life.

23

TITHING approaches!

by hamsterbait in

jw
friends

in the sep 1 witchtower, p25.

there is an illustration (i assume of an anonymous israelite) vowing "i shall without fail give the tenth of 'it' to you" , at the point in the study where we are told that ornary folks gathered outside the temple when incense was being offered up.

(he has already given the tenth of something - "it's" running down the end of that phallic looking thingie.

barry

If the WT society wants to start tithing they should first encourage their members to get a good education and so get well paying jobs. tith on $10,000 is only $1,000 per year whereas tith on $100,000 is $10,000 a year also the person on $10,000 a year really cant afford to tith anyway. As they say you cant get blood out of a stone.

The SDAs tith and they also encourage higher education that seems to be a balanced approach.

42

Boycotting Israel

by Crumpet in

i see that quite a few are following the dreadful attacks in lebanon.

today i went swimming to cool off with mr c and we were discussing what ways we could make our disapproval and anger at israels actions felt, besides being human shields.

(mr c reckons i'm big enough to stop one missile, but would be pretty useless after that.

barry

Hezbolla doesnt have a problem with voilence they use civilians to protect their missiles and when the missiles are destroyed along with the civilian population they use it as a publicity stunt. I know this because of Islamofasists here in Australia all have told me 'We dont have a problem with voilence.

So you people like to be manipulated do you? Israel has the right to defend itself and has the right to destroy the missiles even if they have women and children as human shields. Does Hezbolla care about civilians their rockets are to exclusively target civilians because they arent accurate.

15

Lets go to the church but stand outside

by Wordly Andre in

i am so sick of this!

i have a split family, some non-jw and some jw, and ever since i was a young kid, ive noticed this silly fear of entering a church, i remember i must have been about 9 years old when my uncle died and my family went to the funeral, but we stood outside, and even at that young age i remember it felt wrong, like we were disrespecting my dead uncle and his family.

like ive wrote on this board before, i told my parents when at 15 i didnt want to go to meetings anymore and was never baptized, when i was 18 my great uncle died and at the funeral i went into the church for mass, when it was over i walked outside all the rest of my family were outside waiting, they all gave me dirty looks like i was just caught with a prostitute.

barry

When I met my first wife she had been studying for two years with the witnesses. I asked her to come to services at my church and to my amazement after the service i happened to put my arm around her and found she was shaking like a leaf out of fear.

Thats probable why Im still here at this site and its not only what the WT writes about weather or not its OK to go to a church but what is instilled into the mind by constant teaching about the churches and how evil they are weather you go there or not.

39

my story

by jaberwalkie in

jw
friends

this is a difficult thing for me to do, i used to be a jehovahs witness 20 years service as a pioneer.. last thursday it was announced from the platform at my local kingdom hall that i was disfellowshiped.. it was a bit of a shock.

i still have a deep sence of anger at what happened to me and its so unfair.. it started 3 years ago when i began to feel ill and i missed a couple of meetings.

the elders were wonderful and came round and cheered me up.

barry

Gday Jabbawalkie, It beats me how they can get away with that rubbish, maybe they are on a power trip but stick around many people have similar stories and can empathise with you.

348

National Healthcare for the USA

by sammielee24 in

jw
friends

just an fyi for anyone interested - there is a major drive on to push the bill forward for national healthcare in the usa.

you can sign the petition by going to http://www.onecarenow.org/.. it has gone through one part of the process last year and now the push is on to get it moved to the next level - it is backed by over 400 groups including the uaw i believe.

it is no longer if it happens, it is only a matter of time as to when it happens.

barry

ultimately the best system is the most efficient one [thats not the most efficient at extracting money out of hard working individuals] and usually private enterprise is the system is the most efficient and provides the standard of living to which we have all become accustom. The important thing is to recognise and be accepting where governments can be efficient to provide good outcomes. .