MerryMagdalene

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Posts by MerryMagdalene

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  9

  MySpace Blog Group: Jehovah's Witnesses—Doctrinal Analysis

  by AuldSoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i have just created a myspace blog group and posted my first ever blog!.

  here's the group: jehovah's witnessesdoctrinal analysis.

  and here's my first blog: jehovah's witnessesjudicial committees.

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  MerryMagdalene

  AuldSoul... trying to orient myself now to the world of blogging and blog groups...it's new to me.

  And good suggestion YC!

  ~Merry
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  21

  Comments You Will Not Hear at the 1-15-06 WT Study (Adaptable)

  by blondie in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  comments you will not hear at the 01-15-06 wt study (december 1, 2005 issue, pp.

  27-31)(adaptable).

  review comments will be in red.

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  MerryMagdalene

  Thanks again, Blondie! I really appreciated your including the fallacies they speak against but use constantly.

  ~Merry
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  10

  1John 5:7

  by Kristofer in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  1 john 5:7 - for there are three that bear record in heaven, the father, the word, and the holy ghost: and these three are one.

  is this verse completely merged with verse 8 in the nwt?

  how is this overlooked?

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  MerryMagdalene

  I'm no Bible scholar at all, but Robertson's Word Pictures says this:

  1Jo 5:7

  -

  For there are three who bear witness

  (

  hoti treis eisin hoi marturountes ). At this point the Latin Vulgate gives the words in the Textus Receptus, found in no Greek MS. save two late cursives (162 in the Vatican Library of the fifteenth century, 34 of the sixteenth century in Trinity College, Dublin). Jerome did not have it. Cyprian applies the language of the Trinity and Priscillian has it. Erasmus did not have it in his first edition, but rashly offered to insert it if a single Greek MS. had it and 34 was produced with the insertion, as if made to order. The spurious addition is: en to¯i ourano¯i ho pate¯r , ho logos kai to hagion pneuma kai houtoi hoi treis hen eisin kai treis eisin hoi marturountes en te¯i ge¯i (in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth). The last clause belongs to 1Jo_5:8 . The fact and the doctrine of the Trinity do not depend on this spurious addition. Some Latin scribe caught up Cyprian’s exegesis and wrote it on the margin of his text, and so it got into the Vulgate and finally into the Textus Receptus by the stupidity of Erasmus.
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  33

  Pre Armageddon Preparation.

  by Clam in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  are there jws who prepare for the tribulations they assume are around the corner?

  when i visted the us once in 1999 i met a few guys who were expecting a global meltdown due to the millenium bug.. as a consequence they had generators, guns, ammo, tins of food, bottled water, fuel, all kinds of stuff to help them through a civil disorder situation.

  does anyone know or remember any jws who have prepared like this?

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  MerryMagdalene

  Seems like the Mormons in general put their money where their mouth is a lot more so than JWs when it comes to preparation for their "new system".

  There's the reason why--all that money the R&F would be spending on personal survival preparations would decrease contributions to the WWWW (how many Ws is that supposed to have again?).

  The impression I got growing up was two-fold: there was nothing we could do to ensure our own survival, not even through faith and obedience to God who actually only had to make sure a few token survivors just barely got through, yet everybody was desperately working their butts off for the WTS in hopes of assurance that somehow they would be among the Millions Now Living [who] Will Never Die, smiling their way, untouched, through the destruction of Armageddon and walking blissfully into Paradise.

  That's what I love about the Org, the way they foster two opposing mindsets and somehow make them happily co-exist.

  ~Merry
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  16

  Loyalty and betrayal

  by Narkissos in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  those are serious issues in the mind of any (future) xjw.. actually we're on an exceptional spot in life to ponder on the pitfalls of "loyalty" and the heartbreaking necessity of some "betrayal".. we can rationalise it by saying we are loyal to a higher instance (god, the "truth" or whatever).

  yet the feeling (and sometimes guilt) of betrayal may be lingering in our minds.. may i remind those few lines from friedrich nietzsche (thus spake zarathustra):.

  when zarathustra had spoken these words, he paused, like one who had not yet said his last word; and long did he balance the staff doubtfully in his hand.

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  MerryMagdalene

  I will be re-reading this wonderfully thought-provoking thread when my little one is asleep and not chanting "Everybody likes Balto?" in my ear. LOL

  I very much appreciate what I could take in of the views and experiences expressed here so far. Thanks all.

  ~Merry
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  5

  Need Help with letter to the Media

  by DevonMcBride in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can someone point me to one of the links that has letter/press releases written to the media about the blood issue and the misrepresentation of the blood brochure?

  recently, through some connections, i was able to get hold of the direct e-mail address of a well-known anchor on cnn.

  i won't tell you who it is but he has "hint" "hint" premature gray hair.. .

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  MerryMagdalene

  Link to sample media release: http://www.jwtruth.com/articles/BloodMediaRelease.aspx

  ~Merry
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  3

  Bible Doctrines or Commands of Men

  by MerryMagdalene in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was thinking of creating a research resource list based on this bit from the "religion" section of the wts book reasoning from the scriptures:are all religions acceptable to god?

  mark 7:6,7: "he [jesus] said to them [the jewish pharisees and scribes]: 'isaiah aptly prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written, "this people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are removed from me.

  it is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach as doctrines commands of men.

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  MerryMagdalene

  I was thinking of creating a research resource list based on this bit from the "Religion" section of the WTS book Reasoning From the Scriptures:

  Are all religions acceptable to God? Mark 7:6,7: "He [Jesus] said to them [the Jewish Pharisees and scribes]: 'Isaiah aptly prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are removed from me. It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach as doctrines commands of men." ' " (Regardless of whom a group profess to worship, if they hold to doctrines of men instead of the inspired Word of God, their worship is in vain.)--p.323

  I find the following list of JW doctrines important to explore as to whether or not they are Bible doctrines or commands of men because disagreeing with any one of them is a DFing offense and will cost a JW their family, their friends, and often their self-esteem and belief in a loving God. On the surface they can appear to the uninformed to be exactly what the WTS claims, but when you dig deeper that illusion is stripped away. Links to actual research and reasoning on these is provided as there is way too much information to include in a simple list like this. Care to contribute?

  *Refusal of Blood Transfusions and Medical Use of Blood (except for certain "fractions")http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/16/103257/1.ashx
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/103578/1.ashx
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/103620/1.ashx

  *Accepting 1914 as the End of the Gentile Timeshttp://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/95644/1.ashx
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/55372/1.ashx
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/10674/1.ashx

  *Absolute obedience to the Governing Body of the WTS who represent the 144,000-member Faithful & Discrete Slave "class" used by Jesus to feed his modern day sheep, whether they be right or wronghttp://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/94276/1.ashx
  http://www.freeminds.org/fishin/ideas.htm
  http://www.silentlambs.org/gbcontrol.htm
  http://www.equip.org/free/DJ555.htm

  *Belief in the Invisible Return and Presence of Christ in 1914http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/98235/1.ashx

  *Insistance that Jesus Died On a Stake Rather than a Crosshttp://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/92381/1.ashx

  *and numerous other rules and regulations which can be found in their elders' "secret" handbook:
  http://dbhome.dk/carlo/

  ~Merry
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  43

  Email from Stephen Bates regarding Quotes website

  by IT Support in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i received this email from stephen bates, journalist on the guardian (london) newspaper, a few hours ago:

  dear ken,.

  a few months ago you emailed me about the watchtower suing a canadian website.

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  MerryMagdalene

  Thanks IT. Saved that link to my favorites so I can keep an eye out for the story here and there.

  ~Merry
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  11

  Another "pinata" article? (embalming)

  by AlmostAtheist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on the watchtower's site right now, there is yet another article that has arbitrarily decided that a pagan-originated, false-religious practice is okey-dokey for christians.

  this time it is embalming.

  the article is here: http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2002/3/15/article_01.htm.

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  MerryMagdalene

  I've got your "scripturally, then" right here (grabs Bible, conveniently laying across crotch)--and in one fell swoop can prove embalming is scripturally ok and birthdays are not: Ecclesiastes 7:1. It's a death thing, baby. Death is better than birth. Pagan death stuff ok, pagan birth stuff not ok. Got it

  Except in the case of cross v stake, wherein although both may be considered pagan devices, the stake is still preferable to a cross, because...because...it has been scientifically proven by vampire hunters throughout the ages that stakes kill but crosses only wound and frighten

  On a side note, it warms my heart to see, thanks to Scholar JW and PMJ, that Witnesses have taken the counsel in Ecc. 7:3 to heart as well, "Better is vexation than laughter, for by the crossness of the face the heart becomes better." Thanks for the vexing

  ~Merry
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  25

  Is it always ethical to try to help someone get out?

  by wanderlustguy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is it ever better or ethical to let someone go on believing in the truth even though it is a lie?

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  MerryMagdalene

  All your thoughts on this has certainly given me a lot more to mull over...even more than I already was

  My mother has been a baptised JW for something like 55 years now. I was raised as a 4th gen JW but left and am DFed. She is not supposed to have anything to do with me, yet she does on a limited basis, and I know it plays havoc with her, pitting her maternal instincts against her WTS-trained conscience.

  But I don't know how to do this dance any more. I don't know how to go on walking on eggshells to maintain this bizarre shadow-relationship with her, yet I know she is probably psychologically fragile. I just want my momI want to be able to talk openly with her, share honest thoughts and feelings and information.

  And the more I say about this, the more I realize I just sound like a baby, and it's time to grow up, accept things as they are, and leave it alone. Damn. I hate this farce

  ~Merry