BluesBrother

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Posts by BluesBrother

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  35

  Refuting the Alleged Evidence of Jesus' Resurrection

  by truth_b_known in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  in the past few months there have been a few debates on this site over alleged evidence of the resurrection of jesus.

  this can be a hot topic as most would agree that without the resurrection of jesus there would be no christianity.

  i am not so sure of that, but i am more sure that dr. gary habermas' minimal facts approach to the resurrection has no evidentiary basis.. here is a 22 minute video on the topic.

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  BluesBrother

  I accept the resurrection of Jesus as the basis of Christianity. As Paul wrote “ If Christ were not raised up your faith is useless ……we are men to be pitied” ( 1 Cor. 15 . Summary of it)

  Such an event, however, is not supportable by historical evidence. He died as a criminal with no official record. His resurrection was only seen and accepted by his followers so is not in any secular history. Contemporary writers like Josephus and Tacitus comment on his living and gaining followers but not being raised.

  So , I see it as a matter of faith. We “ walk by faith, not by sight “ .
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  5

  Different versions of the NWT?

  by HowTheBibleWasInvented in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  having noted in the last 3 days a romour of a new revisal of the nwt etc i thought i would see if i have all the nwts in my collection:.

  1. christian greek scriptures.

  4. job- song of solomon.

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  BluesBrother

  I think we have covered them all. When I was young I really wanted that big compilation of the Hebrew and Greek scriptures, we called it a Jumbo Bible, but it did not stay in print long and was replaced by the famous bright green NWT of the whole bible.

  I still use my maroon de luxe 1980’s NWT . I much prefer it to the 2013 revised text.

  Personally, I would be surprised if they revised it again so soon, but….you never know.
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  32

  Who are the 144,000? Considering the immediate context of Revelation chapter 7

  by raymond frantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  who are the 144,000?

  a critical examination of the teaching of the 144,000 from the perspective of an ex jx considering context and other references .this is from a series of videos called new light where i scrutinise all the major teachings of the watchtower.. https://youtu.be/aaseuzr-sxs.

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  BluesBrother

  Revelation is a book of signs and symbols. Why select that number to be literal when all around it are considered symbolic?
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  22

  Lies, Damn Lies.

  by Lost in the fog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/home-and-garden/jehovahs-witnesses-to-resume-in-person-services-opt-not-to-resume-door-to-door-ministry/ar-aavnxv0 .

  so apparently robert hendricks the spin doctor of the wt society has been proudly telling news channels how wonderful the wt org has been during the 2 years of the pandemic, checking in with each and every member to meet their needs on a weekly basis.. except, based on the comments of former jw friends on facebook, it's news to most of them since they are screaming out that they were totally neglected by the elders/ms throughout most of that period.

  a couple even said that because of being ignored by the congregation during this time, that they have walked away completely.

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  BluesBrother

  I have said before, particularly in the first year of lockdown that my wife was totally forgotten by he cong. It is only because she upped and complained that she now gets occasional phone calls

  That direction to elders to keep in touch was certainly given in the beginning but did they do it? No way!

  To my mind the problem starts at the top. When I was an elder we did get told to shepherd our groups. However we had much stronger direction to put in good hours in the Ministry, so shepherding often slipped.

  Elders need to be like managers and accountable for seeing and helping their group members.
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  10

  Minions - new Smurfs?

  by Festus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a friend of mine told me that her witness relative from west coast had reacted to minions (child animation) in a same way that some jdubs reacted to smurfs.. aka she claimed that minions are "from satan".. has anyone else heard this?.

  well i guess harry potter, lotr etc has received similar recption....nothing new in that sense..

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  BluesBrother

  Very wise Blondie..... Mind you , I would not put it past some JW extremist to say this, but we should not judge an organisation by its nuttyist member.

  BTW it is great to see you on here. I see now that I have missed your recent posts .
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  6

  Damned if you do, damned if you don't - Religious Shunning and the Free Exercise Clause

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  damned if you do, damned if you don't: religious shunning and the free exercise clause.

  https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=3827&context=penn_law_review.

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  BluesBrother

  I skipped to the conclusion, which said…….

  “When courts ignore the free exercise rights of individuals and look only at the religious claims of groups, they elevate the group's religion over the individual's religion. This is a dangerous path to follow. It gives religious groups virtually unfettered coercive power over their members and former members and blocks dissent and doctrinal development.”
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  10

  Alan F

  by scholar in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have received news of the passing of alan fuerbacher today having just turned 70 years of age.

  alan was an earlier and frequent poster on this forum and was a strident critic of wt bible chronology.

  i enjoyed the continuous debate on matters relating to 607 bce and will miss his intellectual contributions and his scholarship even though i disagreed with much of his contributions on this subject.

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  BluesBrother

  If scholar is late , then I am nowhere because this is news to me…..sad news at that.

  Alan F was a hero to me when I first dropped out of the WTS and found this forum. Alan was a towering presence with a great intellect and turn of speech . I learnt a lot. I did not always agree with him but I could still respect him.

  The ding dong debates with Scholar about things made great reading…

  Alan F ….. gone but fondly remembered.
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  9

  Announcemt regarding meeting attendance.

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm sick, i can't attend meetings.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/tk715p/march_19_announcements_if_you_want_to_get_out_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3.

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  BluesBrother

  How do you know if you have been exposed to Covid? The man on the bus might have it , maybe.

  Interesting that they specify a proper N95 mask. Are the attendants going to send them home if their mask is not correct? ... it’s a good excuse not to answer up .

  Seems they are trying to both be careful and still have people together... That cannot be done, it’s one or the other.
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  44

  Miniimizing 'Punishment' - marrying a non-JW

  by doasthouwilt in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  i’d like to marry my best friend of 30+ years, turned ‘secret’ girlfriend of 1 ½ years who is a jehovah’s witness, born into it, baptized and an active ‘pioneer’.

  our marriage would happen prior to letting any of her jw friends and cohorts know that we are together.

  once married she may simply come forward and ‘admit’ or we may wait until it’s found out – one way or the other, the reason for this marriage is not customary – i am hoping that by doing so she can avoid being ‘marked’ or possibly ‘disfellowshipped’ once our relationship is no longer a secret and due to our already being married at that point, there can be no notion from society elders about her ending the relationship.

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  BluesBrother

  There is something very wrong about this . We are told this lady is living a double life as a respectable JW but having also a sexual relationship with her fiancé . She is lying to all her friends and ministers .

  Should she marry she will continue lying to them by denying the prior relationship.

  That is no basis for a happy life , even if she gets away with it.
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  21

  Was 536 the Worst year in history

  by pistolpete in

  1. social
  2. current

  jws believe that today, the time we live in is the worst time ever in history.

  i know cause i just had a jw tell me yesterday this was the case.

  he pointed to covid, the russian-ukraine war, the high gas prices and the food shortage happening.

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  BluesBrother

  I have had conversations with dub relatives along similar lines . They know that these times are the worst because they hear it from the WTS on their Apple IPad . They see shocking images from Ukraine on their massive televisions and worry that if the price of petrol gets worse they might have limit the use of their car.

  All these things were not available to people like us even a few years ago... and they think times are bad! This takes nothing away from the real suffering of those in Ukraine and Yemen , and other such places . Even so , the world has suffered worse things in the past . It is all about what is shown to you .