Forscher

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Posts by Forscher

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  8

  Forums

  by peggy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was wondering if you all use other forums or just this one.

  i have three that i check into on a daily basis.

  i found a web site for sexual exploitation by the helping professions.

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  Forscher

  I frequent several.
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  11

  Berry girls case: Analysis of case law favorable to the WTS

  by loveis in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  ok, just to play devil's advocate for a minute here (or, now for our weekly session of classroom law on court tv .

  posted below is a past new hampshire supreme court case that is very favorable to the wts position in the berry girls' case, and has surely been cited by them big time in their briefs (it was mentioned briefly by wts lawyer donald gardner in the audio, which has been posted on these boards several times, of the oral argument session before the nh supreme court.

  laws 1971, 531:2. in 1973, the penalty section was amended to provide that a violation would constitute a misdemeanor.

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  Forscher

  One interesting thing I noted was that most of the applicable case law dates back to an era when extremely conservative courts across the country had a hands-off approach to business liability (since most of the cases involved businesses) and pretty much let them get away with murder (such as hiring goons to break up union rallys etc...).
  
  That attitude started to change after Roosevelt's court-packing attempt in the 1930's and the Supreme Court started to take a more liberal stand in the matter (that is a more pro-worker and consumer stance). Some would say that New Hampshire needs to bring it's liability laws up to date.
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  30

  Obesity vs. Smoking - which is worse?

  by Why Georgia in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  when i was going to the kingdumb hall people were being actively disfellowshipped for smoking because it was bad for you and an insult to jehovah.. how come nobody disfellowshipped the 400 pound sister who brought her own chair or stood in the back because she couldn't fit in her chair?.

  why didn't anyone disfellowship the bookstudy leader for looking pregnant when he obviously wasn't.. why is cigarette addiction bad but not food addiction.. just wondering?

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  Forscher

  OOps!!! I meant to say metabolic diseases where I only said metabolic.
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  30

  Obesity vs. Smoking - which is worse?

  by Why Georgia in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  when i was going to the kingdumb hall people were being actively disfellowshipped for smoking because it was bad for you and an insult to jehovah.. how come nobody disfellowshipped the 400 pound sister who brought her own chair or stood in the back because she couldn't fit in her chair?.

  why didn't anyone disfellowship the bookstudy leader for looking pregnant when he obviously wasn't.. why is cigarette addiction bad but not food addiction.. just wondering?

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  Forscher

  Actually one can be Df'd for Gluttony. It is among the sins which are condemned strongly enough to merit Df'ing. The problem, according to some of the Watchtower material itself, is that obesity is not in and of itself proof of gluttony. Some people are obese due to genuine medical problems and will be obese whether they eat normally or even diet. So what has to happen is that the elders have to have witnesses to the actual gluttony. Or, an elder who wishes to Df an obese person has to get two other elders who will agree that the person is a glutton.
  
  I know, An elder once tried that number on me. I suffer from one of those rare metabolic and have copies of the testing that proves it! So he didn't get very far with that one!
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  14

  Ladies and Gentlemen, Your True God, "El/Yah"

  by ColdRedRain in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/el_(god) .

  in the tanakh ?elohim is the normal word for a god or the great god (or gods).

  but the form ?el also appears, mostly in poetic passages and in the partiarchal narratives attributed to the p source according the documentary hypothesis.

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  Forscher

  Greetings Narkissos!
  
  If you will check some of the earlier posts, such as Peacefulpete's, you will find that the argument that was being made was that the use of "'el" for "God" in some of the psalms was being cited to prove that the Canaanite 'El was the origin of the Hebrew god. That line of reasoning comes from certain scholars who believe that the Israelites never invaded the land of Israel as mentioned in the Bible, but rather grew from the existing Canaanites in the land. I don't buy that modern theory.
  
  I do agree with the obvious that the hebrew word most used for "God" is the plural of majesty "'elohim." Unger & White note that while it is regarded as the plural of 'eloah by most scholars they also point out that the nature of the linguistic relationship between the two is difficult to determine (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words 1985 Ed., pg 97).
  
  In regards to the use of the word "'el" as a name in the middle east, the same authors mke the following observation "In the ancient world, knowledge of a person's name was believed to give one power over that person. A knowledge of the character and attributes of pagan 'gods' was thought to enable worshipers to manipulate or influence the deities in a more effective way than they could have if the deity's name remained unknown. To that extent, the vagueness of the term 'el frustrated persons who hoped to obtain some sort of power over the deity, since the name gave little or no indication of the god's character. This was particularly true for El, the chief Canaanite god." (pg 96.)
  
  As you can see, that pretty much disposes of the argument that was being made here by PeacefulPete and the originator of this thread.
  
  In Christ
  Forscher
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  12

  3 year old nephew has "bad dreams about Jehovah punishing him"

  by mkr32208 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we watched my 3 year old nephew today.

  the wife and i took him and my two daughters (1 and 3) too the zoo.

  while we were driving home he was talking to my daughter in the back seat and started telling her about this "bad dream" that jehovah was punishing him "like david" my wife (dubber) was trying really hard to get him to stop relating this story (i've told her the kids will not be raised at witlesses!

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  Forscher

  If its the same "warning examples for our day" that I have, its not a cartoon about David and Noah. It is a drama centered on when the Israelites were poised to enter the land of Canaan under Joshua and fell into sin. It carries a strong message about obedience without question.
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  14

  Ladies and Gentlemen, Your True God, "El/Yah"

  by ColdRedRain in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/el_(god) .

  in the tanakh ?elohim is the normal word for a god or the great god (or gods).

  but the form ?el also appears, mostly in poetic passages and in the partiarchal narratives attributed to the p source according the documentary hypothesis.

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  Forscher

  Give me a break! El is a generic word for "god" which appears as a cognate in virtually all semitic languages. The fact that the Canaanites used this word in reference to any god does not prove the point. That is about like saying that the use of God as a name for Jehovah by trinitarians today implies a pagan origin for him. I just don't buy it.
  
  What I do buy is that Abraham came from Ur, and that among some oh the Els worshipped there was an El named Jehovah (in IMHO the modern rendering of YHWH as Yahweh is not based on reliable scholarship. The scholars have been trying to reduced Jehovah to just another Canaanite deity and siezing on a similiarly named diety in Canaan in their attempt to debunk God's word). I also buy that Jehovah was the "El" who Abraham worshipped. The rest is history.
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  9

  Who was Charles T.Russell really?

  by anonymouslyyours in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  let me know what you really think and who he was...and i will inform you.

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  Forscher

  I am examining his writings as well. I think that he and his study group were blessed by stumbling on to some truths. However, when he tried to go beyond that, CTR got caught up in some of the speculation of his time. He appears to have been a humble man and was humble enough in the last edition of the second study in the scriptures to admit that he was wrong in his prediction that the big A would come by 1914. That and the fact that he blew his fortune putting his money where his mouth was is really impressive to me. After all, how many famous religious figures have done that? They usually make their fortunes promoting their views!
  
  As for Rutherford, my take on him was that he was an unscrupulous man with a lot of ambition. It was most unfortunate that he found a vehicule to realise those ambitions through the WTBTS Corp.. The damage done because of that man and HIS legacy is incalculable!
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  10

  What Isaiah 11: 6-8 mean?

  by male30baroda in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  isaiah 11:6-8 asv ?

  and the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

  (7) and the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

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  Forscher

  Okay, here goes.
  
  In my studies on other views, I've seen that many do indeed accept the thought that there will be people on the earth during the Millenial reign of Jesus Christ. If you've read the "Left Behind" series, you've seen that line of thought portraid with some differences from the JW thinking. It would be reasonable to think that during that period, one could see Isaiah's prophecy literally fufilled.
  
  One thing to keep in mind about commentators, such as Crossan, who teach that many Bible books where written many years later and by persons other than the known authors are not believers. They view the Bible as merely the product of men who were not under any divine inspiration and only reflect the circumstances of the times in which they alledge these later authors wrote. Such doubt limits their view to the earthly, the materialistic, and makes their speculations of little or no value to believers. So one would want to excersize care about accepting their so-called expertise on spiritual things.
  
  By the way, please don't take that last statement to disparage the non-believers here. It is just my personal opinion as one who is still a believer (in the exostence of God), even though I am now unplugged from the collective. As the German name I have chosen for my identity implies, I am re-examining what I believe in regards to what God's word says. I respect the rights of others in that respect, even if their experiences lead them down the road of disbelief.
  
  Christian love to all
  Forscher
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  35

  Benny Hinn - DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?

  by William Penwell in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  just watched a documentary about benny hinn ministry, i can't believe anyone is that gullible to believe this crap.

  not only is he a fraud but he is also a crook, taking money from poor susceptible people.

  he also sure likes to live the high life to.

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  Forscher

  IMHO if God is powerful enough to creat the universe, then miracles would not be beyond his abilities. However, it is another thing altogether to say that Benny Hinn has God's authority to perform miracles or do anything else.