Paul, Miller of the 1800's, Martin Luther, Freddy Franz, Charles Russell, Garner Ted Armstrong, they all thought the End was going to come any moment. It's a movement generated by the disenfranchised and minority oppressed to keep the numbers stable. It certainly has a way of making the person making the current prophecy feel quite imporant in the cosmic scheme of things, as if it all came down to them in their lifetime. Apocalyptic mentality pervades all of society these days, unfortunately.
euripides
JoinedPosts by euripides
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A Brief History of the Apocalypse
by Country Girl inreading this really fascinated me in that it makes you realize how minute the jws are in the history of apocalyptic cults, and how narrow one's world can become when one is living within the prism of such a mind-bending cult, in comparison to the largest religions of the world, and what small parts these cults play in the grander scheme of things, whatever that is.
here is the introduction, and link: .
http://www.abhota.info/end1.htm.
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Who is the new President of the Watchtower Society? And are there 7 new org
by booker-t ini have been wondering who is the president of the watchtower society?
my mother told me that milton henschel died in 1993 and i have not heard of anybody ever replacing him?
my mom also told me that the society has 7 new corporations within the watchtower society.
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euripides
Governing Body and 1960's TV, what a combo! Jackie Coogan was, in fact, one of the Anointed.
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Perfection
by Deputy Dog inperfection
after a discussion with a couple of current jws, it's come to my attention that my conception of perfection in "the kingdom" is very different from theirs.
on pages 188 & 189 of the knowledge book, we see the society's (or artist's) conception.
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euripides
He was heavily implying that Earth would become very much like the Federation, and we would meet other races that Jehovah had created on other planets.
Me personally, I'm waiting for Captain Picard and Number One to contact me and tell me I'm done here and can beam back to the Enterprise!
Seriously, JWs may as well be living in a fictional television show. Images of perfection and the "New System" are strange products of unbridled fantasy, akin to UFO art and Unicorns. Speaking of which, why not ask next time you're talking to them where the UFOs and Unicorns are in the illustrations, or if Dodo's and Unicorns made it on to the ark?
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The Divine Name That Will Endure Forever
by undercover inthe divine name that will endure forever .
that's the name of a brochure by the wts that tries to impress upon us why what god's name is and why we should use it.
we all know that jehovah's witnesses use the name "jehovah" for god in all their bibles and publications.
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euripides
Thus it is evident that the original pronunciation of God's name is no longer known. Nor is it really important. If it were, then God himself would have made sure that it was preserved for us to use. The important thing is to use God's name according to its conventional pronunciation in our own language.
That's just about the weirdest nonsequitur I've ever read in a WT publication. "It's really important to God that we attempt to mispronounce his name because use of his name is so important, even though He didn't make sure we know how to pronounce it." Say What?
Jehovah is no longer the conventional pronunciation anyway. Will they become Yahweh's witnesses anytime soon? Hell no, it's too expensive to change the name legally and change all the letterhead!
Somebody asked about the appearance of the Hebrew letters in Greek. The Greeks did see it when a Hebrew text was being quoted and some even thought it was pi-iota-pi-iota, not understanding the Hebrew letters, or Pipi. So God's name was Pipi, pronounced Pee-pee, as in Peepee God. Er, what is important is that we try to pronounce it wrong, right?
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Church Recommendations?
by sandy ini never thought i would be looking for a new church but i am.
does anyone have any recommendations?.
i am looking into the unitarian church.
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euripides
By the way, Unitarian Universalists are descendents of Unitarians, but Unitarians are strictly speaking Christians who reject Trinitarian doctrine, while Unitarian Universalists (the much more common, and also often referred to as Unitarian) have members who could be Christian, Jewish, atheist, Moslem, Buddhist, Hindu, etc.
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Church Recommendations?
by sandy ini never thought i would be looking for a new church but i am.
does anyone have any recommendations?.
i am looking into the unitarian church.
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euripides
Sandy, I am a member of the Unitarian Universality Church. You can read the principles and beliefs at http://www.uua.org/aboutuua/principles.html. What I love abnout my church is that it is not any particular religion and has no creed, honestly, within those seven guiding principles people are free to believe and explore as they choose. I teach a Bible class at the UU church twice a month, it's mainly an academic approach but I'm trying to get more useful analysis and create a safe space in which people can explore the way they relate to Bible texts without being coerced or threatened by them. Many people who participate in the class have expressed their gratitude for the class and I think our minister is a wonderful and kind man who appreciates everyone's right to express their own views without fear of reproach. The community is what we're after mostly anyway and I'm glad to have a place to go where I can grow spiritually as a person as well as have my own ministerial outlet to help others. If church is for giving you an occasion for inner reflection (and that doesn't have to be its goal but its what I look for, among other things) then I can say I really appreciate the church I belong to. Interestingly, some people have told me they joined the church because they wanted to continue to take my class (even though it is open to the whole community, theoretically).
If you want to know more you can message me offlist. I'd be happy to talk to you about it.
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Review: Draw Close to Jehovah Book
by Sirona ini read the draw close to jehovah book because a jehovahs witness told me that it had some ?deep?
spiritual information in it.
the book appears, at first glance, to be all about knowing jehovah god and his attributes.
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euripides
BroBennett, you write
God's name is Jehovah in English and the name means, causes to become. It is funny that the only religious group that uses the correct name is Jehovah's Witnesses.
There are several points to be made here, hopefully without totally hijacking the topic. "Jehovah" is probably one of the more erroneous attempts at a transliteration of the Tetragrammaton. To explain, when German scholars saw the vowel quantities for the word Adonai beneath the YHWH in the Hebrew text, they mistakenly assumed those were the correct vowels points, when in actuality they are placed there to remind the reader NOT to attempt to pronounce the name. And as J is pronounced like Y in German, the German scholars used Jeh- as the first three letters, pronouncing it "Yeh-". Putting aside the rectitude (or not) of the taboo of pronouncing the name, what is certain is that the correct pronunciation is lost, although the best guess is probably Yahweh, based on its cognate with the verb TO BE in Hebrew. As far as the critical (non)issue of using a mistaken anglicization, first off, one would have thought that something so important would not just be accepted because of slavish devotion to a pronouncement by a misinformed former WT president 74 years ago. "Jehovah" was not coined by J.F. Rutherford or any other Jehovah's Witness, as the name was in Christendom for years before that. As such, the name's legacy is either one of erroneous anglicization, or quaint adherence by one religious group whose leadership no longer grasps the isolating nature of calling themselves by an anachronistic rendering. Further, this name never appeared in the Greek text, so the Tetragrammaton is only one name of the Israelite God (of many others) in the Hebrew Bible. So much for this being the "correct name." Besides which, there certainly are other groups in the World Empire of False Religion" who use the name Yahweh, as in "Yahweh's Assembly" etc. Yet that can't identify them as the true religion any more than use of an error can identify the so-called true (and mutually exclusive) religion.
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What's the deal?
by kwintestal inwith the bible god and genitals?.
we had a mini-discussion about this in chat last night.
what are your thoughts?.
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euripides
Like Narkissos pointed out, a woman accidentally touching another man's genitals breached ritual cleanness or purity, as the ultimate desecration/pollution would involve a woman's betrayal of her husband's control over her physical contact. Contagious, or tactile, issues are notoriously ritualistic and tightly controlled. Recall the case of Uzzah who was struck dead for touching the ark in an effort to steady it (1 Chron 13:9,10) No such converse law existed for a man touching female pudenda, you will note. But the heightened ritual obsession had less to do with a sublimated sexual perversion than it had to do with a tribal society's stringent religious code of ritual purity vs. uncleanness and probably not a little to do with woman's place as property in the larger scheme of things.
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Cretans always lie, said the Cretan
by euripides intitus 1:12,13 from the nasb .
one of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
" this witness is true.
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euripides
I agree with you Narkissos...2 Timothy is anomalous in places for several reasons, and I suspect from a slightly later date than 1 Tim and Titus. In reflection, it is difficult to grasp how Paul could have developed these quirky preoccupations with organizational issues and quasi-etiquette while he ordinarily has his eye on big picture issues and eschatological panic. Af far as the provenence of Titus, I would reject Rome in favor of more Eastern realms, probably Antioch or Asia Minor, maybe Smyrna in light of Polycarp's style and concerns. Would anyone care to argue a pseudepigraphical effort on the part of Polycarp?
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JW Killer Disputes 90 Year Sentence!
by Voyager inhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/north/chi-0412030347dec03,1,3768774.story .
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/north/chi-0412030347dec03,1,3768774.story .
30 f hello, towerwatcher.
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euripides
I know restrictions on social activities ordinarily should lead to homicidal behavior, so what's the court's problem?
Seriously, pro se (self represented) litigants seldom stand a chance, particularly when they argue mental illness and excesive sentencing. Perhaps he is capable of lucid intervals? Perhaps he should just start studying the WT again.