jwfacts

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Posts by jwfacts

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  21

  I can't believe I told somebody

  by Nellie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had a chat with an old jw friend ... although i always knew that she was cool.

  anyway, i told her to check out this site and i told her about franz' book and now she's checking us out.

  welcome her friends ... she's "mydiscount"

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  jwfacts

  welcome to the board, glad to see you are moving on.
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  44

  Jesus no longer really "a god"?

  by M.J. in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i saw the latest wt magazine released this week.

  i don't have it on me but on the cover it asks the question, "is there only one true god?".

  skimming the story inside i noticed they quoted the verse in isaiah where it mentions there is only one god and there never was or will be a god alongside him.. "hmm," i wondered, "how will they reconcile this with john 1:1?".

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  jwfacts

  OhHappyday,

  In case you are unaware, Jesus was worshipped as a god until the 1950's, so a lot has changed. In fact the WTS charter still, to this very day' states that the purpose of the WTS is to promote the worship of Jesus. I recommend that you read the information at http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/worshipjesus.htm for a list of articles to look at.

  It is hypocritical for a religion to have such a major change in doctrine and then say they have never had significant doctrinal changes.
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  15

  Part A: The Missing 200-Years

  by Amazing1914 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  part a: the missing 200 years

  the watchtower society has written a lot since its inception in 1878.

  it has zeroed in on religious history and doctrine to make its case that such religion is false and thus concluded that the watchtower society must be true.

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  jwfacts

  I am looking forward to your posts. What I have found when reading about that period is that much that the WTS claims was introduced around 325 by Constantine was commonly being taught shortly after Jesus died. They want to make Constantine and the Roman Catholics look like the apostasy, when in reality much of what was formalised in Constantines time was being taught all along by the Ante Nicene Fathers.

  At http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/antenicene.pdf there is an article by Michael J. Partyka that quotes some of the early Fathers from this time as to how Jesus was regarded, quite different to the way the Watchtower quotes them.
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  6

  I need to vent !!!!!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrr !!!

  by young hearts, be free.. in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wow!

  i can't believe just how irritated i got reading some of things on here today-i've been away for a few weeks, and now the anti-jw sentiment is flooding back .

  i called my dad a few minutes ago to have a chat, and after all was said and done and we'd spoken about work, life (mine's fantastic btw) etc he tells me that "he thinks that what i need is some spiritual direction and belief in my life" !!

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  jwfacts

  I have learnt to steer away from discrediting the bible with my family as it makes them think i am insane or unspiritual. So I stick to discussions on why JWs are not following the bible, not directed etc. There are endless things to talk about from the bible that totally destroy any faith in the WTS.
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  34

  Will DA'ing myself be better for my children's future?

  by indoubt in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  background

  i have been fading away, and considered fully "inactive" for over 2 years now.

  my wife is still a very active jw, and she brings my 2 children (5 & 3) to the meetings and service on a regular basis.

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  jwfacts

  Corn, it is good to see you are moving on. Six months is not long, so there is no rush to push your wife, as she makes a new circle of friends being part of the congregation will be less important. I agree with what you say, the best way to help children is to let them have normal friends, they quickly see that these are as nice and worthy of Gods love as JW kids.

  Cybedyne, one of the difficulties I had, and then my daughter has had (and most JWs) is that they do not know that other doctrines are better supported biblically than what is in the Watchtower. When i learnt and then started to explain to my daughter other viewpoints she started to realise that the WTS does not even teach what the bible says. Once a person knows that the WTS is not directed by God and reads the bible again it is amazing how it takes on a different meaning.
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  79

  John 1:1 in Coptic Translation

  by slimboyfat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  apparently there has been quite a stir in jw apologetic circles recently about the translation of john 1:1 in the early sahidic version of john.

  i don't know if this has been discussed here before - if someone could give a link to a previous thread they know about on the subject that would be great.

  here is what i gather: .

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  jwfacts

  The quote is "It is noteworthy that Coptic was the first language the New Testament was translated into that has the indefinite article;"

  not that it was the first language translated.

  Regardless of whether verses such as this and others claimed Jesus to be either 'God' or 'a god', both options left Jewish Christians in the predicament of reconciling monotheism with now having two different gods.
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  39

  beards not a rule but!!!

  by frogit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4666132.stm .

  this caught my eyes and reminded me when as a ministerial servant that we had to go into the back room for instructions from the po (not very clever man), he tried his best to explain to us ms and elders about the wearing of beards in the congregation.

  he must have gone on and on for 30 minutes about not having beards, but kept impressing that this was not a rule, but beards should not be worn, but its not a rule, just dont expect to have any privileges if you grow one on your face and wear it (sounds like you wear it like a tie he he) but we are not making it a rule, just dont wear a beard.

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  jwfacts

  Welcome James, great first post.

  That answer the brother gave is wrong on several levels, it constantly shocks me how JWs believe the stupid things they say. For one, the person was trying to compare the inspired Mosaic Law with an uninspired Watchtower implication. For another, Jesus was always pushing the bounds of the Mosaic Law, showing that principles were more important, such as when he picked grain on the Sabbath. And the Pharisees hated him for it, as do the elders and GB when someone is not a obedient to the letter of their law.
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  33

  Noah's Ark.- Kangaroos

  by Stewart75 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  f(l)ood for thought,.

  if god had organised for each pair of species into noah's ark prior the flooding which destroyed many in wildlife.

  i wonder if any of australian animal species like kangaroos, wombats and emus were also included?

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  jwfacts

  They must have been salt water fish, cause all the fresh water ones died when the salt from the seas flooded the lakes. And then all the fresh water fish re-evolved after the flood, that is the salt water fish that got stuck in fresh water ponds after the water dissappeared.
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  44

  Birthdays banned in 1951?

  by M.J. in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just want to share what i've uncovered on this and verify my conclusion!.

  it was my impression that birthdays were banned shortly after christmas was in 1926. the proclaimers book is very vague about this, implying that the ban shortly followed the christmas ban.

  i searched the 1940s watchtower magazines and uncovered this blurb in the jan 1, 1940 watchtower, p. 16, under "field experiences": cleveland, ohio: "pardon me for intruding on your precious time, but i just cant help letting you know how much i appreciate the phonograph which came to me on the morning after the 8th, which was my 80th birthday.

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  jwfacts

  Here is the 75 Yearbook quote. Notice how it makes it sound like they happened virtually the same time. It says Christmas in 1928, ... Next was Christmas.
  
  It should say, 'next, several million birthday celebrations later...'
  
  
  Yearbook 1975 p.147
  “What caused the Bible Students to stop celebrating Christmas? Richard H. Barber gave this answer: “I was asked to give an hour talk over a [radio] hookup on the subject of Christmas. It was given December 12, 1928, and published in The Golden Age #241 and again a year later in #268. That talk pointed out the pagan origin of Christmas. After that, the brothers at Bethel never celebrated Christmas again.”
  “Did we mind putting those pagan things away?” asks Charles John Brandlein. “Absolutely not. This was just complying with new things learned, and we had never known before they were pagan. It was just like taking a soiled garment off and throwing it away.” Next, birthday celebrations and Mother’s Day were discarded—more creature worship. Sister Lilian Kammerud recalls: “How readily the brothers all dropped these holidays and admitted they were glad to be free. New truths always make us happy and . . . we felt we were privileged to know things that others were ignorant about.””
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  33

  Noah's Ark.- Kangaroos

  by Stewart75 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  f(l)ood for thought,.

  if god had organised for each pair of species into noah's ark prior the flooding which destroyed many in wildlife.

  i wonder if any of australian animal species like kangaroos, wombats and emus were also included?

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  jwfacts

  The flood happened only 4000 years ago, so the marsupials all got from the ark to Australia without leaving any offspring behind on the way, or mutated rapidly once here.
  BTW I heard that kangaroos are really good swimmers, and Tasmanian devils are great at sailing. Noah built them a little sailing boat to get across in.