last saturday morning, i answered a knock at my door to see a man standing next to a young boy who handed me a pamphlet posing the question, "how do you view the bible?
would you say it is (1) a book of human wisdom?
(2) a book of myths and legends?
Stephane writes: The Interlinear bible shows that Rev 7:15 uses "naō" for temple while Luke 1:9 uses "naon". The logic of the OP is flawed.
No. The Greek word for "sanctuary" has slightly different forms, which depends on the grammatical case in which it is used. I also have used this line of reasoning with JW's...
several years ago unless i was dreaming i read a watchtower quotation that effectively said that they would execute us as disfellowshipped individuals if the law would allow.. was i dreaming?.
Several minutes ago unless I was dreaming I read a watchtower quotation that effectively said that they would execute us as disfellowshipped individuals if the law would allow.
I read the Watchtower quotation several minutes ago. On this site.
so my mum died from mild form of lukemia which can simply be treated with a blood transfusion each month.
to me this was a watchtower assisted suicide.
the liaison elder encouraged her to "stay strong" and said a prayer.
[old post 13.05.2010]
It is not a likely scenario. However, purely as idle musing...
What is published in The Watchtower is viewed by many Witnesses as the very words of Almighty God. The directives of the Governing Body are viewed as "Law" by many/most Elders. The Society has been very adroitly conditioning its followers to accept its interpretations unhesitatingly. Those who are viewed as "strong" Witnesses are those who question nothing.
The Society would first need to prune the Witness ranks of people who would vocalize their doubts regarding the Society's teachings and directives. The silly interpretation of the "Generation" would be followed by other such nonsense designed to remove independent thinkers. The Society would also need to pare the number of "weak" (nominal) Witnesses who could derail the scheme by their reluctance to follow the Society's every command.
The remaining Witnesses would be conditioned over a period of time to accept the idea that faithful death is preferable to life in "Satan's System of Things." Watchtower articles would revisit such scriptures as Psalms 116:15 ("Precious in the eyes of Jehovah is the death of his loyal ones.") and Luke 9:24 ("For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his soul for my sake is the one who will save it.")
Then, when extreme world conditions warrant it (war, pestilence, famine), an announcement would be made that all Witnesses (and only Witnesses -- the Faithful--) would be meeting on a specific day for a most special declaration of New Light from the Governing Body.
On that day, the CoBE would read an official letter from the Society stating that 'the Faithful Slave now understands that the Great Crowd's coming out of the Great Tribulation (Rev. 7:14) will occur today!!! The New Light given by Jehovah is that the "New Heavens and New Earth" of Revelation 21:1 are literal and already existing, and that Jehovah's people will be spared the evil coming upon the entire inhabited earth by being "transferred" as was Enoch. "And Enoch was no more, for God took him."!!! (Gen. 6:24).
Game over.
My speculation (based solely on my relatives and the people in the congregation I last attended): 20% of current Witnesses would drink...
i couldn’t help but watch the “bunker video “again.
i learned that once they are in the bunkers they will need to get the attendance numbers from the different groups that are in hiding during the “great tribulation.” chris and wife risked their lives going to the different groups and getting the numbers and putting them on slip of paper which he then handed to brother brown.
of course these numbers would have to be kept track of so they could make a full report back to the headquarters.
What I found difficult to fathom was the fact that the "Bunker" video showed that adherence to the direction of the Governing Body did the Witnesses no good whatsoever... I don't understand why the WTS wanted to portray it that way.
i am not going to delve into the opinions and information provided by the good folks on this forum on matters of health and science in another post.
instead i want to make clear that the wtbts provided a fountain of information on this subject.
feel free to add any other misinformation you received.
Clayton J. Woodworth?
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jehovah-s-witnesses-use-bible-victim-shame-sex-abuse-survivor-n916326jehovah's witnesses 'use the bible to victim-shame,' sex abuse survivor says.
on the heels of a $35 million jury award to a woman who alleged the congregation mishandled her childhood abuse, other survivors say there's a pattern of cover-ups.
by elizabeth chuck / oct.07.2018 .
courtesy of a redditor:.
https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-jehovah-s-witness-sex-abuse-case-underscores-church-s/article_fddc41e5-536b-5843-af30-200cc14892d8.html.
montana jehovah's witness sex abuse case underscores church's worldwide reckoning.
But a senior official in the New York headquarters named Gary Breaux said in a morning worship video posted online that the church would never abandon the prerequisite for others to witness abuse before a religious judicial committee is formed to handle the matter.
"Christ Jesus establishes that there has to be two witnesses," he said. "The scriptures are very clear.
"We will never change our scriptural position on that subject."
Question for Gary Breaux: Are you also claiming that Jesus Christ requires there be two (or more) witnesses for you to REPORT it to the superior authorities?
at matthew 28:16, the alleged "faithful slave" changes the number of people whom jesus invites, from 11 to over 500 - in order to "prove" that men, women, and children were commanded to preach.*.
3 - “jesus’ 11 faithful apostles...went to a mountain in galilee to meet the resurrected christ!....“upward of five hundred brothers” may have been present on that occasion.” (or may not!).
other disciples are there too, about 500 of them,.
"... and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that he appeared to upward of five hundred brothers at one time..." (1 Cor.15,5.6)
That's where they find the reference to "500"; but as waton stated, there is no indication that they had a "service meeting".
jesus christ, the son of the most high god, jehovah has this to say: "if the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
if you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own.
now because you are no part of the world, but i have chosen you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38,39
The quoted Scripture explains why no Christian would fear being disfellowshipped for "apostasy against the Organisation".
The reason I rejected the Watch Tower Society was the numerous false prophecies and the repeated lies they promulgated regarding the Watch Tower Society's history. (Cf.1 John 2:21)
robert h. countess and john 1:1 in the nwt, part iirobert h. countess made the case in his book that the nwt ‘formulated their own principle’ on the article.
under summary and conclusions, he stated: “chapter four’s conclusions regarding the handling of [theós] indicated that nwt’s translators poorly understood the greek article, and that their principle [theós]=‘a god,’ [ho theós]= ‘god’ is not legitimate.” (p. 92) is countess conclusion correct?this is what the nwt actually said after observing that both moffatt and goodspeed rendered john 1:1c in their translations as “divine.” “careful translators recognize that the articular construction of the noun points to an identity, a personality, whereas an anarthrous contruction points to a quality about someone.” in making this statement, the nw translators also had in mind the grammar by dana & mantey, in which they stated: “when identity is prominent, we find the article; and when quality or character is stressed, the construction is anarthrous [without the article].” (p. 138) also: “there are no ‘rules’ for the use of the article in greek, but there is a fundamental principle underlying its significance – as we have seen in the foregoing section – and this gives rise to a normal usage.” (ibid, p. 141) nowhere did the nwt ever affirmed that this meant [theós] without the article is always equivalent to = ‘a god,’ and [ho theós, with the article is always to be understood as = ‘god.’ even the wts would have to agree with countess that such principle is “not legitimate.” colwell first published his book in 1982, and by then the watchtower had made their position clear enough.
in 1975 the wt wrote: “this does not mean, however, that every time an anarthrous noun occurs in the greek text it should appear in english with the indefinite article.
John 15:1b would appear to violate Colwell's "rule"...
