Posts by Midget-Sasquatch

57

What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed

by yaddayadda in

as part of my journey into scrutinising the evidence for and against the reliability of the gospels, i've just finished reading "a new perspective on jesus - what the quest for the historical jesus missed" by james d.g.

dunn (phd, university of cambridge).

(have so far also read n t wright's "who was jesus" - and now making my way through "the incredible shrinking son of man" by r m price - so far it's disappointing.

Midget-Sasquatch

PeacefulPete,

Thanks for all the different leads you gave on the legendary material surrounding JtB. I'll have to take a more in depth look into all of that and the "book of John" by the Mandeans.

What does Duncan say, if anything, about the Gospel of Thomas? There we just have the sayings collected together without any surrounding story, legends, miracles. The Gospel of Thomas has its own bias (gnostic slant) too though, so we're probably really not any farther ahead with knowing what any historical Jesus actually believed.

If I'm not mistaken, aren't there a couple of examples where different NT gospels have the same basic saying but in different settings? Making it possible for the readers to reach different slants on the saying. Makes you wonder whose views we're actually getting.

Too bad some other logia were apparently lost.

53

There IS a New Revelation Book!!!

by OpposerSupreme in

yes, the km lists the changes, but i went to service meeting last night, played dumb, and asked the lit servant what book would be studied when the bible/teach book is finished...

i now have a new, crappy, perfect-bound softcover copy of the "2006 printing" of the revelation book--not "revision", not "revised edition", but "printing".

the gall of these arrogant sacks at bethel, i tell ya....my housemate and i spent about two hours going through the old and the new side-by-side and, thus far, have found several flubs that contradict the changes made in the new book whilst leaving others on the same topics undone elsewhere.

Midget-Sasquatch

Well I can finally confirm part of OS' post:there are 2006 printings of the Revelation Book with all the revisions included. I'm happy that OS and daniel-p can provide us with a more or less accurate heads up on some things. Thanks guys.

I hope you all can understand why I was being kinda doubtful. The lit servant at the congregation I'm stuck in, didn't ask anyone to bring in the old book. So that part of the post still sounds off to me.

Here's a scan of one page where the whole paragraph was changed (paragraph 28) as proof:

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/2905/newrevks2.jpg

That lit servant also went ahead and ordered enough of these new books so that each pub had a new copy. No-one put in for such an order. Almost all were surprised about this.

I'm surprised that the lit servant and the PO actually kept quiet that these books would be available.

57

What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed

by yaddayadda in

as part of my journey into scrutinising the evidence for and against the reliability of the gospels, i've just finished reading "a new perspective on jesus - what the quest for the historical jesus missed" by james d.g.

dunn (phd, university of cambridge).

(have so far also read n t wright's "who was jesus" - and now making my way through "the incredible shrinking son of man" by r m price - so far it's disappointing.

Midget-Sasquatch

Peaceful Pete,

I can only think of two passages that fit in with the idea that Jesus was a resurrected John. The first one where Herod is said to have worried whether Jesus was the Baptist come back from the dead. I wonder if Herod was purposefully chosen to somehow distance prospective followers from the idea. The pious wouldn't gravitate to ideas supposedly held by those who hadn't really "gotten it" and of his sullied character. The second one, less explicit: where Jesus asks his disciples who people think he is and they list off the Baptist as well as Elijah, etc. But again, the idea is clearly lumped in with other ideas that were believed to be "off". Are there any others?

2

Public Talk Outlines Online?

by mavie in

jw
friends

can they be found online?

Midget-Sasquatch

Reexaminer's Webpage has an awesome collection of them.

http://www.reexamine.org/index.php?title=Public_talk

23

What was the Average Attendence at your Kingdom Hall?

by jayhawk1 in

jw
friends

i don't think we ever had more than 75 for an average attendence at the local kingdom hall.

i was driving by there the other day when the thursday meeting was going on and it appears based on the cars that there is still about 75 people attending.

when i drive by churches of similar size [meaning the church building is about the same size (square footage) as a normal kingdom hall] there seems to me many more people, perhaps 110 or more attending.. i'm just curious if it seems to be a practice to keep jw congregations to around 75 to 100 people or not.

Midget-Sasquatch

In the english one I've been a part of in the last few years, its supposedly high 70s with a publisher count in the low 90s...with Sundays the recorded numbers even reach the mid 80s ...they count those tied in by phone. On many holiday weekends though you find it dropping down to the high 50s - low 60s.

In my area, about a decade ago, they split one larger congregation (it had about 130 publishers) into two (with some redistributing of publishers from yet other congregations). A practical cutoff even supported by sociology. Apparently 150 is the largest group size people can comfortably be in and keep decent tabs on everyone else. Its always about control isn't it?

On a happier note, at least two congregations have been deleted in my area in the last few years. Boundary changes and publisher shuffling were made to keep the number in each congregation looking "stronger". Hehe.

5

Reexamine.org is being raided!

by jpcbs in

someone is going through and deleting some of the most important and incriminating material like the "pay attention..." book.

i know the site has not been updated in a while.

can anyone get ahold of the administrator to undo the changes?

Midget-Sasquatch

I've just visited the site and I've been able to access several pages of the Pay Attention to the Flock book. Maybe it was being put into a different directory and when you checked the correct link wasn't yet set up.

I've had some quirks with the site, like when I tried to contribute something and got a message that uploading was unavailable. But it then worked fine for others.

12

Watchtower and Jonestown Drawing Comparisons

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

paradise

when first meeting jehovah's witnesses, the message is one of hope .

and peace.

Midget-Sasquatch

Why would the parasitic WTS kill off the rank and file (the host) and destroy its cash flow? I think there are now a significant number of higher-ups in the WTS, that don't believe its spirit-directed, don't believe in anything probably, and are only interested in making an easy comfortable living.

46

Let's All Say "Thank You" To The People Who Run This Site

by Arthur in

jw
friends

i realize that threads like this have been done before, but i don't think that it hurts to do one again.. i personally appreciate this website so much.

it has been an absolute treasure-trove of information, research material, emotional support, and simple enjoyment.

and, it's free of charge!

Midget-Sasquatch

Mille Grazie! to Simon and all the mods.

91

Evolution still bugs me

by Geronimo in

i know there are a lot of threads on evolution and creation and i've read a few here and there.

how can complex systems arise of themselves in the face of entropy?

one evolutionist book i read used snowflakes to show this is possible.

Midget-Sasquatch

I enjoyed reading your digressions. They were thoughtful.

I'll try to answer some of your questions to the best of knowledge and ability.

What is non-coding DNA?

Sequences of DNA that apparently do not code for any enzyme or proteins. It looks like they just take up space presently, so they're often also called "junk DNA".

Why is antifreeze protein a new function? Is this a recent development in fish?

2nd ? first: As far as I know, there are two different versions of this protein, one in some antarctic and another in some arctic icefish. Both are estimated to have come about millions of years ago. One earlier than the other (can't remember which).

Scientists now have a very good idea of how one of them came about. The ends of the sequence are made up of the code for another enzyme (one from the pancreas). But its central part , the one that actually codes for the ice-binding function, is from junk DNA. So at least a part of this gene is from material that had no apparently known function. De Novo creation of code.

Is this the same type of fish that doesn't have hemoglobin in its blood due to the high oxygen content of arctic waters?

You've got it. As a group the icefish don't have hemoglobin, but I don't think all of them have the antifreeze protein though.

You'll have to verify all of this however, you know.

I agree with you that looking at the evolution and trying to trace how new genes arise is fascinating and much more relevant than going on and on about entropy. I think that these sorts of findings make a stronger case for evolution.

53

There IS a New Revelation Book!!!

by OpposerSupreme in

yes, the km lists the changes, but i went to service meeting last night, played dumb, and asked the lit servant what book would be studied when the bible/teach book is finished...

i now have a new, crappy, perfect-bound softcover copy of the "2006 printing" of the revelation book--not "revision", not "revised edition", but "printing".

the gall of these arrogant sacks at bethel, i tell ya....my housemate and i spent about two hours going through the old and the new side-by-side and, thus far, have found several flubs that contradict the changes made in the new book whilst leaving others on the same topics undone elsewhere.

Midget-Sasquatch

Well, I'll refrain from saying all of this is a load of crock, ONLY because the congregation I'm at is consistently behind in getting all the most recent books, BOE letters, letters to the congregations etc. So MAYBE there are these new prints of the book with the changes, which haven't made their way to the Golden Horshoe. But I'm not holding my breath and will once again very much appreciate any scans of it.

I still don't buy that the lit servant asked for the book back. In fact, at our hall its been quite the opposite for at least two years. Publishers have been trying to dump their older books at the KH and its been announced to please stop doing that.