fahrvegnugen

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Posts by fahrvegnugen

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  64

  Pray for death of Apostates

  by tsarina in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm new here, so please forgive me if i'm getting this all wrong.. i read on one of the web pages that the society has written "we should pray for the death of apostates".

  i think this was a 2000 watchtower, but to be honest i was so shocked at reading it that i forgot to make a note.. .

  can anybody enlighten me please??

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  fahrvegnugen

  One man's abuse is another man's "rod of reproof." One man's abuse is another man's "rebuke." One man's abuse is another man's "inculcat[ion]." And in addition to these forms of abuse, there are those who either sexually abuse or protect sexual abusers from criminal consequences of their heinous acts.

  I take it you didn't serve as an elder for long, if at all.

  On your first point: If spanking constitutes child abuse, then you can label 90% of the country as "nasty child abusers," not just the Witnesses. They are no better or worse than any other group of the population in this regard.

  Secondly, I never served as an elder. I was a MS and pioneer. But that is irrelevant, since anyone who has actually been a JW for any length of time knows that word always gets around in the congregation regarding any serious improprieties. Spend one day driving around in a cargroup full of pioneer sisters and you will know everything there is to know and more.

  I stand by what I said. Yes there have been incidents of sexual abuse, etc. among JWs just as there have been among any other group. But to claim that this is somehow typical of Witnesses or that they "hate children" is just patently false.
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  64

  Pray for death of Apostates

  by tsarina in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm new here, so please forgive me if i'm getting this all wrong.. i read on one of the web pages that the society has written "we should pray for the death of apostates".

  i think this was a 2000 watchtower, but to be honest i was so shocked at reading it that i forgot to make a note.. .

  can anybody enlighten me please??

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  fahrvegnugen

  Well Gary I also had 30 years experience with them--all from the inside and I can honestly say that I never knew anyone who hated children or even any children who were abused. Are there cases of it--of course. And just like the Catholic Church, the organization should be held accountable if they didn't fulfill their duty to protect victims.

  But to characterize the Witnesses as a whole as 'nasty people who abuse children' is factually, demonstrably incorrect. At least it's not true of the ones I knew--and that was a hell of a lot of 'em.
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  7

  How many languages?

  by cheeseman in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  was there really just one language before the tower of babel shinanigans?.

  what do scholars make of this?

  cheers.

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  fahrvegnugen

  Yay!!! Happy Festivus, PP :)

  Yes, I love it! "A Festivus for the rest of us."
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  21

  The Logos and Theos in John 1:1

  by stev in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  title: an examination of canon liddon's bampton lectures on the divinity of our lord and saviour jesus christ.

  author: [voysey, charles], 1828-1912.

  making of america books

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  fahrvegnugen

  
  TD--Not sure if I understand you here. Are you claiming that this passage as diagrammed in this introductory grammar to NT greek somehow settles the issue of whether the predicate noun--theos--is used qualitatively or not?

  If so, I would humbly suggest that you are mistaken. There is nothing illustrated here that speaks to that issue at all, other than the fact that they give the standard English translation as one would expect them to do since this is an instructional grammar and not some sort of an in-depth commentary on the book of John.

  In fact, in their comment they clearly state that the fact--logos--is accompanied by the definite article shows manifestly that it is the subject whereas--theos--is a predicate noun. Although they don't comment on the fact, this clearly leaves open the possibility that it is qualitative in nature. This takes us back to where we started--there is no smoking gun in this passage--it can be translated either way. One has to examine the context and make a determination as to what the author intended.
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  64

  Pray for death of Apostates

  by tsarina in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm new here, so please forgive me if i'm getting this all wrong.. i read on one of the web pages that the society has written "we should pray for the death of apostates".

  i think this was a 2000 watchtower, but to be honest i was so shocked at reading it that i forgot to make a note.. .

  can anybody enlighten me please??

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  2. 
  3. 
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  fahrvegnugen

  There's not a doubt in my mind. This is a religion of child haters.

  
  

  
  Yeeesh! Try the decaf next time.

  Seriously folks, I know we all have our legitimate gripes against the Witnesses, but some of the comments I read here are a bit over the top. I can't think of anything I experienced growing up as a Witness which would lead me to believe this was a "religion of child haters." More like a bunch of well-meaning but misguided do-gooders.
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  41

  Tears, Outrage After Teacher Denies Santa Claus's Existence...

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  onder if the teacher is a jw.

  http://www.ldnews.com/fastsearchresults/ci_3334327.

  grinchy remark sends kids home in tears.

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  fahrvegnugen

  I think the cultural custom of convincing children that Santa Claus exists, to the point where they are emotionally devastated when learning the truth, is one of the stupidest practices of all time. I have no sympathy for the custom whatsoever and I applaud this teacher being willing to risk the wrath of misguided parents.
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  13

  Need help with this…..

  by JackC in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey everyone.

  im 35, have been a witness for 30, baptized at 19, married at 22 and now have 3 kids.

  my wife and i are leaving and are considering all the options.

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  fahrvegnugen

  I'm with Drew on this one. Those who make a big angry scene when they leave just end up reinforcing the Society's stereotype of "apostates" as unbalanced, angry people who went off the deep end. Leave with grace and dignity,and you just may give something for others to think about.
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  39

  Dumbing down of WT literature can be measured mathematically.

  by hamsterbait in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  every magazine on the news stand is very carefully aimed at a target market.. .

  it has long been known that how information is presented makes a big difference to who will read it.

  you will agree that the ny times or scientific american are more erudite than the national enquirer or the toronto star.. .

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  fahrvegnugen

  I would contend that the literature has become progressively dumbed down over the last several decades. Go back and browse through some of the old books from the 70s and earlier especially the ones dealing with prophetic parallels--these were not for the simple-minded. I know because I studied many of them in depth--from the Studies in the Scriptures on down. This style of book pretty much ended with Fred Franz. Since then it's been mostly fluff with some occasional older stuff mixed in.
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  3

  Bible Study Statistics

  by TheListener in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've always thought that a meaningful statistic, that isn't specifically reported by the society is the percentage of bible studies that get baptized.

  there is a steady downward trend of those studying getting baptized.. here is the u.s. and world statistics since 1990 for the number studying vs. the number baptized:.

  (honestly i can't figure out how to format this stuff very well).

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  fahrvegnugen

  There is definitely a percentage of bible studies that fit into that category. During my 6 years of pioneering, I had a mixed lot. Some were "seekers," some were mentally "slow" and others were just plain lonely. My favorite study would fit into this last category. The guy had been an engineer for Lockheed. After he retired his wife divorced him and the guy was left with nothing to do but sit around and grow old. We used to have 2-hour studies where the subject matter would wander all over the map. The guy could talk the legs off a chair, but was an enjoyable conversationalist. He eventually got baptized after I had moved out of the area, but I don't think he stuck with it for more than a year or two.
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  101

  Napoleon Dynamite = CRAP!

  by sonnyboy in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  my gawd.

  i noticed that the movie got decent reviews and i didn't really hear anything bad about it, so i gave it a chance on hbo tonight.. .

  these stupid ass reviewers got duped.

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  fahrvegnugen

  Great movie!

  Best line: "I caught you a delicious bass."