Posts by Midget-Sasquatch

16

Jesus Baptism

by Nosferatu in

i've been thinking about the whole baptism issue, and it doesn't make any sense.

jesus was baptized.

why did jesus have to get baptized?

I?m with you on there being a link with the Essenes. They had some interesting ways of applying OT prophecies to themselves didn?t they? Almost WTS like. Another thing I find persuasive is that in their Manual of Discipline there was a passage on how their ritual of baptism was specifically for remission of sins, and an initiation that set themselves onto the path of salvation....much like John?s baptism and that of the early Christians. The Gospels must have been addressing some bit of actual history.

Narkissos

Thanks for that link to Price?s essay. I enjoyed that thought experiment of his. I never gave much thought to that notion of Jesus being the ressurrected baptist. Interesting idea.Christ a mythical figure created by some of John?s followers after his death.....Hmmmm. Well whether it was John's followers or followers of an actual man Jesus, that got the buzz going on in Palestine, we can thank Paul for alot of the other mythology that developed.

Nosferatu

Thank you for the great thread topic. I never know what curiosities can end up being clues or fossils of some reworked history. I appreciate all the input.

16

Jesus Baptism

by Nosferatu in

i've been thinking about the whole baptism issue, and it doesn't make any sense.

jesus was baptized.

why did jesus have to get baptized?

Midget-Sasquatch

Narkissos:

Nice job on laying out the different ways the NT Gospels portray the link between Jesus and John's movements. I think it strongly suggests rivalry between the two groups and how proto-orthodox christians tried to convince the other side to join them/prove they were superior.

To anyone:

Were Jesus and his early followers a splinter group from John's movement ? Josephus (though not the most accurate historian) did say the Baptist was very popular - but said no such thing about the Christians.

20

Weird DREAMS ...

by frenchbabyface in

jw
friends

.... weird dreams.

i'm afraid to think that some particular dreams have a meaning, it's like my intuition talking to me.

i do not always understand their meaning from the start, but later it happen that i can see exactly what they meant (one lately was quiet interesting to realised about the why's and the what exactly).

Midget-Sasquatch

FBF,

From my experience, most of my dreams weren't telling me anything. If I were you, I'd consciously think about something totally different as you're in bed about to sleep. Something pleasant or fun for a while. If you get that weird dream repeatedly though, then it's likely to be something really important to you. And what I find is tat with each repeat of the dream I get other details that help me work out what its all about.

17

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 11-14-04 WT Study Highlights

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the 11-14-04 wt study (october 1, 2004) highlights

review comments

tender affection and love.

Midget-Sasquatch

ALANF

I think you've gotten to the root of why shunning is so easy for them. It was a bit of the converse with me.Since my early teens I knew I didn't believe or fit in with JWs. The cool rebellious teens who also thought it was all bunk didn't take to me. That left the true believers. I decided not to get really close with any of them though. I wanted to spare myself the pain of losing friends once I left the Org. If I knew I would eventually settle on the "fading" approach, I would have been a bit more closer with some of them. Even then only to a point, because my true feelings would have brought me before a Judicial Committee.

17

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 11-14-04 WT Study Highlights

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the 11-14-04 wt study (october 1, 2004) highlights

review comments

tender affection and love.

Midget-Sasquatch

PRESTON

I completely understand how upset you must have been to have that family turn on you so quickly. I was so irate that I was thinking what a #$%^&*@ ungrateful bunch of $%^* #$^%$*)!!!!!. But then Blondie's insight tempered my anger. Its sad how the ORG can manipulate people, keeping them hooked, getting them to burn bridges with good people on the outside, so that they're stuck inside.But I'm sure that in their hearts they at least know you sincerely cared, and that they weren't a means for you to rack up some brownie points with the CO and the BOE.

49

DESCRIBE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

by minimus in

jw
friends

describe a jehovah's witness.

Midget-Sasquatch

Sorta like the GB describes them but modified to fit reality.

http://www.brock.ac.uk/minisites/blacksheep/images/fleeced/cover1.jpg

64

James 4:5 -- A Quote From a Lost Apocryphal Scripture

by Leolaia in

in defense of its fundamentalist approach to the bible and especially its belief that the bible is the word of god and inerrent, the wts frequently quotes from 2 timothy 3:16: "all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness".

we must've heard this scripture thousands of times as witnesses.

the words from eldad and modad quoted in hermas, vis.

Midget-Sasquatch

Leolaia

Thanks for your answering my question so thoroughly! I too urge you to try for publication in a journal like Narkissos suggested. I realize academia is your passion, but with your gift for assimilating detail into coherent plausible wholes, you'd have made one super @$$-kicking police detective!

64

James 4:5 -- A Quote From a Lost Apocryphal Scripture

by Leolaia in

in defense of its fundamentalist approach to the bible and especially its belief that the bible is the word of god and inerrent, the wts frequently quotes from 2 timothy 3:16: "all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness".

we must've heard this scripture thousands of times as witnesses.

the words from eldad and modad quoted in hermas, vis.

Midget-Sasquatch

Deputy Dog:

I recall that the bishops Athanasius and Eusibius did write up lists for what works to include as canonical. In part, as a response to illegitimize sects, like the Marcionites.

Whatever may have been included in the agenda at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, I don't believe there is any confirmation that an official ruling on those lists were made. Athanasius may have pushed his lists then...thats something you can check up on...but I'm pretty sure the Council really just focussed on weeding out the views of Arius (i.e.Jesus was a creature) - and finding textual support for the now orthodox view of the nature of Jesus (i.e god in flesh).

64

James 4:5 -- A Quote From a Lost Apocryphal Scripture

by Leolaia in

in defense of its fundamentalist approach to the bible and especially its belief that the bible is the word of god and inerrent, the wts frequently quotes from 2 timothy 3:16: "all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness".

we must've heard this scripture thousands of times as witnesses.

the words from eldad and modad quoted in hermas, vis.

Midget-Sasquatch

A Paduan:

It wasn't Earnest, but me who thought you were talking about the trinity.

In the case of John 7:38, I would say that Exodus 17:6 belongs to a range of many texts which contain one small feature of the logion in John 7:38 -- in this case, it would be the pouring of water from a source for people to drink.
I thought the obvious part was about striking the rock three times

I honestly read the above as your implying that the water from the rock was actually about water coming from God (hitting the rock 3 times as a veiled allusion to the triune God.) At least thats how I thought you were trying to argue a similarity. What then was the connection you were making? You'll have to give me more info.

Do you consider it likely that Clement simply read the Epistle of James?

Just considering those two works alone, then yes that sounds reasonable. But it wouldn't explain how Hermas uses a very similar phrase to that in James 4:5, but then states its source to be the Book of Eldad and Modad. She is making tenable links between several works (not just James and Clement) and doing so with a very simple connection among all of them - one common source that provided much of the relevant detail.

40

They say they won't publish the Awake anymore???

by under74 in

my sister has a co-worker who's studying with jws.

he told her today that he was being told the the wt society was going to stop printing the awake this month.

and stop other publications soon.

Midget-Sasquatch

I can still walk through some JW circles, and the elder (former bethelite who still has ties with people in Georgetown) and 2 MS (who have sons in Georgetown) have never mentioned anything about it.

This would be so big that they would have either sent a letter to all congregations or have an article in the kingdom ministry explaining the changes and why they would be 'spiritually' beneficial. Then again, maybe I'm too 'spiritually weak' to deserve this kind of info.