Posts by Midget-Sasquatch

29

Have you ever seen anything strange in the sky?

by JH in

jw
friends

just a while ago, i was looking at the clouds in the dark sky, and i saw a rotating pattern of lights, moving clockwise going left, then moving counter clockwise and moving right.

it did that for a while, going back and forth maybe 10 times.

about 100 lights made up this rotating pattern.

Midget-Sasquatch

I can't say I've ever seen something that I thought was extra-terrestrial or experimental craft.

But what was sort of nifty was this one time when I saw three seagulls, that at first, I didn't recognize as such. It was a clear blue sky and the way the sun was reflecting off of them made me think these were metallic objects. If you were seeing them from the same angle and position you'd swear they were metallic as well. The maneuvers were beautiful (to me at least) so I rode further ahead. At a certain point there no longer were the reflections and I could make out they were birds.

7

Attention fellow Ontario Apostates

by SickofLies in

jw
friends

i just wanted to give a big hello to everyone i haven't met on this board, i have not posted here for almost two years now i think.

i just wanted to let everyone know i am going back to the truth and i'd like you all to join me, there is no denying that jehovah's witness are the only true organization inspired by god and wait, what am i saying?.

i want to invite fellow apostates to come join me this weekend at the world conference on religion where i will be giving my experiences going from a jehovah's witness to an atheist / humanist.

Midget-Sasquatch

Well I'm definitely within driving distance but I'm scheduled to work. Blasted call center hours!

I hope your education at Mac is going well and that it'll serve you smashingly. You've gotta rub it into the dubby faces how much benefit there is in it.

You'll do great, I'm sure. Do you think you'll record it and youtube it?

22

Attn: JW's and Bible Students - Lets Discuss John 1:1

by lovelylil in

this verse came up on the thread about whether or not jesus is michael the archangel.

i wanted to discuss it in further detail on a new thread because i think raised on the other thread was an important point about how jw's and bs translate john 1:1.

1in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the word was god.. as we know the nwt adds an "a" to say "and the word was (a) god, when there is no support for this in the ancient greek manuscripts.

Midget-Sasquatch

That leaves options numbers two and four are what we are left with. Unfortunately there is nothing in the text of the verse to definitively guide us as to which option to use. So of necessity one ends up falling back on one's theology as a guide.

I agree that one can't get get anything definite from just that one verse. But reading the entire Gospel of John can give us a better understanding of its theology rather than our own. Now the opening of the gospel may not have been written by the same author as the rest of it, but I think its safe to assume that if that non original opening was incorporated then it must have been in line with the author's views.

Many mystics love the gospel of John. Especially since it also alludes to humans (the believers) being able to commune, live within the Divine and have the Divine live within them. If one reads the whole gospel from that angle and then consider how the author may have understood that prologue...your option 4 seems a very good fit. Jesus is divine. But from one possible perspective derived the gospel of John, the godhead would be more than just 3 persons.

72

Doctorinal Question: JWs teach Jesus is Micheal the Arc Angel.....

by Lady Liberty in

dear friends,.

i have a question for you... the jws teach jesus is micheal the arc angel right?

so here is my question...according to the jws..is jesus a god or a angel??

Midget-Sasquatch

Narcissos

I really like that analogy of the bridge since it stresses what shouldn't be lost sight of, that Jesus is "the Way" as G.John puts it. I think the Atonement doctrine plays a large part in the emphasis being put on natures. But without that element, I think Jesus could serve that function of a bridge by being just divine enough and just human enough to close the gap between the two. In my tangential way of thinking, I'm reminded of the Buddhist Path of Transformation and how that leads to one's enlightenment.

glenster

Seeing the early Christians beyond the Bible as witnesses in a court case, the
mainstream view has the stronger case, too. When it's clear which view of the
two the writer had, very early ones had the mainstream view and with better
connections (taught by John, knew Peter and Paul). The Arian view shows up in
the late 200's and it only referred back to Lucien of Antioch as the founder.

Yeah, some of today's mainstream views on the nature of Jesus can be seen in some early christian writings. Especially the 2nd and 3rd century christian writings. But I wouldn't say that the Arian stance was necesarily later. The Ebionites viewed Jesus as being wholely human and its very likely that these Jewish Christians are among the earliest branches of christianity.

Lovelylil

I can see how you interpret the elevation of Jesus especially if one refers to the idea of the Kenosis of Christ beforehand. I'm sure you too can see Phil's interpretation of Hebrews. Without any other Pauline material, this one strikes me as saying that Jesus was elevated in status, overall. Adoptionist teachings were held by a fair chunk of christians.

18

Ever had the "privilege" of ...

by Frequent_Fader_Miles in

... attending an international convention?

.

was it a total waste of time and resources, or did you actually gain something from the experience?

Midget-Sasquatch

I went to the special convention held in Montreal back in 1985. The dub functions were dreary as always but Montreal itself was wonderful. My being only a very young teen at the time sort of limited what I could do but I loved spending time in old Montreal.

72

Doctorinal Question: JWs teach Jesus is Micheal the Arc Angel.....

by Lady Liberty in

dear friends,.

i have a question for you... the jws teach jesus is micheal the arc angel right?

so here is my question...according to the jws..is jesus a god or a angel??

Midget-Sasquatch

I'm wondering: How much of the divine nature do archangels possess? Is it much more or no different from that possessed by other angels? If no different, then how can Micheal the Archangel AKA Jesus merit to be worshipped? If more, aren't archangels still decidely inferior to Yahweh? I don't think they were viewed as gods like the sons of El would have been for ancient isrealites. Angelic christologies have a certain appeal, but viewing archangels as inferior to the divinity would be sticking closer to the mythological framework that spawned them and from that angle I can see the stance that Jesus would have to be "more" than Micheal.

But isn't the concept of the Divinity in the Gospel of John more inclusive than that held by Jews around the intertestamental period? Weren't the first century christians (not just those of the Johanine community) expecting that many of them would to some extent be bestowed with the divine nature? Christians hope they'd be judging the angels. So just how divine would these changed humans be? If humans could have this hope extended to them though, then why not to an archangel? Maybe Jesus was Micheal and he shared greatly in the divine nature, so much so that over time he became ever more godlike. Origen came up with something along that line.

Personally I think the writings of Jude and Revelation demonstrate that Jesus and Micheal were construed as different beings.

24

..Your Best Bargain!..

by OUTLAW in

jw
friends

i`ve got a nice gym up here at the ranch..rows of dumbells.a few barbells.lots of free wieghts..and..a few machines.....my hand is healed up from being crushed in the ranch gate and i wanted to get back to working out.....i needed a new bench press.something a little more up to date..so..i headed for civilization......canadian tire had a nice one for $149.95..walmart had one better for $89.95..$89.00 for a bench of that quality??

!..........so..i went and got a shopping cart,so i could put the boxed up bench press,in it..i went to pick up the box..i could barely lift it!..it was like it was bolted to the floor.....was i so out of shape from not working out,i couldn`t lift the bench i wanted to exercise on???..lol!

!.....i managed to get the box waist high and almost into the cart..but not quite..the box is resting on the edge of the shopping cart and moving away from me..now i`m chasing a shopping cart down the isle trying to get the frigg`n box into it.i looked like an idiot!..lol!

Midget-Sasquatch

My Best (and unfortunately my only) Bargain was an Amiga A3000 from a flea market for $20 CAN. It had the full 16 MB of ram (don't laugh, it was alot for the machine in its day ). It also had a video toaster card in it but no software. Since that computer only had the 2.04 ROM in it and the A3000 I already had was upgraded to 3.1, I just to as much ram from it and put it into mine. I saved myself $100 just on the zip ram. And I then sold the A3000 with the video toaster card for $200 to a company in Toronto that sold these things at the time. Those guys probably sold the card for that amount alone but I wasn't really an ebayer at the time.

36

Wish me well on my Greek exam

by truthsearcher in

jw
friends

as some of you know, i have been taking koine greek classes.

it is very challenging but i am starting to understand the language (which is a pretty cool thing).

i am writing an exam on monday, so you can think of me sweating it out!

Midget-Sasquatch

Everyone knows what works best for themselves as to retaining what they've learned, so don't mess with a strategy that works. But in case you have nothing really worked out, I've found that breaking things up into 45-50 minute study sessions with 10-15 minutes break in between each session is effective.

Just get a good night's rest and I'm sure you'll do great. I wish you the best and admire anyone who goes back to school.

27

DO JWS BELIEVE IN HYPER-EVOLUTION?

by badboy in

jw
friends

for there to be such variety of animals,wouldn't their have to be hyper-evolution?.

some animals in the same species have different numbers of chromosomes.. it is reckone that only 6 genetic changes(nucleotide?

) can happen in a generation, otherwise genetic instability would occur..

Midget-Sasquatch

The WTS has to concede that microevolution is real. Its a cold hard fact evidenced by the emergence of drug resistant strains of bacteria and viral mutations. Most of the jws I've talked with about this aren't phased at all about it and often retort "well they're always bacteria or viruses....its not like they evolved into another kind of creature".

Blasted ambiguous "kinds". Makes them completely stop any further thought on comparing rates of change that are empirically calculated with living species and what would be required from a post flood radiation. Sounds like that video on youtube is awesome at hammering that point. Too bad it takes forever through dialup so I won't personally see it.

28

The psychological effects of faking dubism

by LtCmd.Lore in

jw
friends

well, i've known the truth about the witnesses for over two years.

and i've been pretending to be one ever since.

i'm sure most of us did that for a period of time, some longer than others.. i think it has changed my personality, especially since i've been a teenager the whole time.. .

Midget-Sasquatch

You've done a great job detailling its effects. I can only add that, personally anyway, there's also negative repercussions on how I view myself. Lying and not having the courage of my true convictions. Can I even use the word conviction to anything I think if I never really stand up for anything?

Having to fake believing this stuff for family etc leads to a quieter, calmer life, but I also deal with my ever growing lack of sincerity and genuineness, and that makes it all seem like an empty life really. Hmm, I'll stop being like Marvin the Dub Robot now. Although alot of dubbies strike me as being just as depressing.

You've got an excellent attitude though. You're basically a survivalist and planning an exit strategy that will get you where you really want to be. Keep on doing whatever you're doing.