One of the most fascinating facts about the Gospels is the specific mention of a family relationship, between John the Baptist and Jesus, in only one of them.
cellomould
JoinedPosts by cellomould
-
14
New book on early Christianity
by careful ini'm not quite sure that this post fits under jws/wts since they do not keep up with real biblical scholarship, but i don't know where else to post it.. thomas a. robinson (university of lethbridge) has just published a book through oxford university press on the earliest christians, entitled who were the first christians?
: dismantling the urban thesis.
for some years the idea has dominated scholarship that christianity grew strongly at first in ancient cities like rome, alexandria, and corinth; the notion has been largely influenced by wayne meeks' (of yale) thinking in his book the first urban christians (1986).. i once saw a member here cite meeks' idea of how many christians existed in the roman empire.
-
-
-
332
The most successful teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses and an amazing new book on the divine name
by slimboyfat injehovah's witnesses have had to revise their chronology and various doctrinal interpretations due to events and scholarly corrections.
but the one teaching where they have been consistently ahead of the curve is the importance of jehovah's name.. .
i'm going to run through a (necessarily selective) timeline of jw events and scholarly publications that demonstrate the phenomenal success of this teaching in the last days.
-
-
cellomould
"Call him louder"
Mendelssohn's "Elijah" uses the name "Jehovah"
1846
It's a very good piece of music, and I highly recommend it. I just don't take it literally.
-
7
New baby on the way... and transfusions
by Anony Mous init's been a while since i posted life updates.
this time we are having a baby boy come along in a few months.
off course nothing is ever easy, my wife is extremely anemic to the extent we are being referred to a hematologist for iron and/or packed red blood cells and potential full blood transfusions.
-
-
cellomould
Congratulations on the new baby!
Our son was born 2 months prematurely, so I had plenty of anxiety about the potential for (further) complications. It was a very stressful time, and just when we thought the worst was over, I experienced egregious harassment at work. If I could do anything differently, I may not have disclosed any info about the changes in our family status to my employer.
They are not supposed to get medical records from the insurance either.
Oh, on the non-JW side of our family, someone who worked at the hospital (not in the ICU where our son was) gossiped about our lack of visitation (we visited every day almost without exception).
There is enough crazy in our society without JW blood issue craziness, so good luck and trust your instincts about when to disclose medical info.
cell mould
-
9
A disturbing reaction.
by longgone inearlier today i was listening to a you tube video about brain plasticity, how our minds aren't hardwired, and that by changing the way we think it can make actual physical changes in the brain.
which is cool for many reasons.
one in particular for me and likely any ex jw is that the way the wts has programmed us, especially those born in, can eventually get past it.
-
-
cellomould
Something that really helped me in the past was a book called "Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman. I am actually reading another of his books now (which he coauthored) called "Primal Leadership". I am still in the process of allowing myself to be a person of inlfuence, truly knowing my intentions are good, etc.
-
11
The Last Episode Of This JW Life Is Out Now
by dubstepped inthe last episode of my story on thisjwlife is out now.
after leaving the cult of jehovah’s witnesses we learned even more eye-opening things about it.
then we applied the same scrutiny to the book that everything we ever believed was based on.
-
-
cellomould
Simon, it's been a very long time...thanks for all you do!
-
11
My head hurts
by Akid48 inso i still have to go to meeting etc and my head hurts its just im trying to wake up and the teachings are getting shoved back in my head or with field service im giving people papers i want to rip it in my hands.. now its like i need a smoking break i have to just walk out the kingdom hall and get my mind back together.. just something thats new for me.
-
-
cellomould
Hey @Akid48
I have to confess: I still occasionally have dreams that I have to go out in "field service" despite that I don't believe at all what is printed on the literature I am giving to people. They aren't awful dreams, just very annoying. I have been away from the KH and everything else JW for many years. However, I should also mention that it was a young person (just a few years younger than I was, at the time) whom I met in field service that helped open my mind to the fact that I did not have to believe the JW teachings anymore.
After that conversation, I wrote down the young person's address and intended to return after doing a little research, so I could preach to them again. However, I was not to return. My research began with some bible reading, and somehow I read enough, without the assistance of JW literature, that I doubted more and more. Most importantly, I was doubting the literal flood account of Genesis. It took me about a week to decide I had done enough research that I couldn't believe the JW's literal biblical interpretation.
I read a few really good books and for the first time, read information at websites related to Christian theology. My belief system changed so quickly, when I finally dared to make my own decision as to what I believed.
I was a young adult when I left the JW faith, so I do recommend great caution in disclosing doubts to any JW believer, whether or not they are an active JW.
btw: do those @'s actually tag someone, to notify them?
cellmould
-
11
The Last Episode Of This JW Life Is Out Now
by dubstepped inthe last episode of my story on thisjwlife is out now.
after leaving the cult of jehovah’s witnesses we learned even more eye-opening things about it.
then we applied the same scrutiny to the book that everything we ever believed was based on.
-
-
cellomould
Thanks dubstepped
-
11
The Last Episode Of This JW Life Is Out Now
by dubstepped inthe last episode of my story on thisjwlife is out now.
after leaving the cult of jehovah’s witnesses we learned even more eye-opening things about it.
then we applied the same scrutiny to the book that everything we ever believed was based on.
-
-
cellomould
I love podcasts...thanks!
Since we haven't been acquainted, I'll go for brevity with my introduction:
I joined this site in late 2001, having the good fortune to have experienced, prior to Sept 11, 2001, complete and sudden cessation of desire to associate with JWs in their chosen venues. I have decided to start sharing again on this site after many years of inactivity. No, the JWs did not reclaim me. They may have tried, but the end result was just that I got really, really angry. The really hot topic for me, in real life #IRL, since I have not been posting here, has been sexual abuse. It has happened to many people I know, and a few people very close to me.
Thanks for sharing your podcast and I will be a subscriber!
cellomould :)
-
64
How many times have you said goodbye to the forum?
by wanderlustguy ini think i'm at like 5 or something...i think.. just disappearing without saying goodbye counts.. .
so here we go.... .
wlg - 5.
-
-
cellomould
did you notice that I just started posting again recently, Scully? All I can say is --- I hardly recognize any of the participants here anymore. Which means that a lot of people are out engaging in life and having a great time?!
-
7
The Bibles source, have you bothered to look for yourself?
by blueviceroy inthe bible came to be as the result of scholars desire to compile a complete understanding of humankind at the time ( or so i have gathered in my search ).
it's foundations lie in judaism , has anyone bothered looking at the actuall root documents and attempted to gain some insite there?.
i have been searching for the roots of modern religion , it's always been a hobby but i'm begining to get a little more serious as i uncover more and more.. we have a rich and varied pool of documents that are left out of the bible and should be perused with the same intent as the bible is studied , finding some truth .. accepting what our culture has assimilated for us as is , well , thats not in anyones best interests , not if you value truth and genuine understanding.
-
-
cellomould
I have a couple of books about and containing text from the apocryphal books that are an interesting read.
If you would like to peruse the contents and/or see reviews, here are the links at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Christianities-Battles-Scripture-Faiths/dp/0195182499/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1449150-5747132?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193969810&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Scriptures-Books-that-Testament/dp/0195182502/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-1449150-5747132?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193969810&sr=8-2