Posts by careful

29

Relaxed rules toward oral sex?

by Socrateswannabe in

these people won't state anything definitively, but here's an excerpt from the study article entitled "making christian marriage a success", in the august, 2016 watchtower.

it does make me wonder.. although the bible does not provide specific rules about the kinds and limits of love play that might be associated with natural, sexual intimacy, it mentions displays of affection.

(song of solomon 1:2; 2:6) christian marriage partners should treat each other with tenderness.

careful

Chook,

What publication is that from, CO Guidebook, Branch Organization, or what?

14

New book on early Christianity

by careful in

i'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.

careful

Cold Steel: yes, that price is a bit out of my budget, but there is a library copy I can get a look at in a couple of weeks. Then I'll know more about it. My OP was based on some junk mail I got about it. I was hoping that perhaps someone else here has read it.

Earnest: yes, those archaeology books follow Meeks' thesis, since as noted above, it's held sway for 20 years now. Thanks for the links.

14

New book on early Christianity

by careful in

i'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.

careful

I'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. For those who care about such things here's a blurb on Robinson's book that challenges the old view of Meeks:

"It has been widely assumed that there were 6 million Christians (or 10% of the population of the Roman Empire) by around the year 300. The largely-unexamined consensus view is also that Christianity was an urban movement until the conversion of Emperor Constantine. On close examination, it appears that these two popular views would nearly saturate every urban area of the entire Roman Empire with Christians, leaving no room for Jews or pagans.

In Who Were the First Christians?, Thomas Robinson shows that scenario simply does not work. But where does the solution lie? Were there many fewer Christians in the Roman world than we have thought? Was the Roman world much more urbanized? Or, is the urban thesis defective, so that the neglected countryside must now be considered in any reconstruction of early Christian growth? Further, what was the makeup of the typical Christian congregation? Was it a lower-class movement? Or was it a movement of the upwardly mobile middle-class? Arguing that more attention needs to be given to the countryside and to the considerable contingent of the marginal and the rustic within urban populations, this revisionist work argues persuasively that the urban thesis should be dismantled or profoundly revised and the growth and the complexion of the early Christian movement seen in a substantially different light."

57

interesting EX-CO AMA ( Ask Me Anything) over on exjwreddit

by Diogenesister in

ex-circuit overseer here, ama.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/6usaky/excircuit_overseer_here_ama/.

careful

Thanks for the post—informative stuff.

61

Set the record straight!

by Colinconfused in

i would like to state publicly, on this forum, i no longer hold the views i had a year ago.. with much thought, research, study and logical examination i have come to a better understanding of my beliefs and where i stand on all these issues.. i'm very happy to announce i have returned to healthful teaching of the holy scriptures and i firmly believe that the governing body of jehovah's witnesses is the faithful slave.. sorry if i have contibuted to any kind of stumbling and know that if i can turn things around then there's hope for all who come to there sence.. phill4:6,7.

careful

half B: I don't know about the BOE reading posts on this forum, but I think it is standard procedure for the one under their "guidance" to post some sort of retraction as "evidence" of repentance and thus not getting DFed.

61

Set the record straight!

by Colinconfused in

i would like to state publicly, on this forum, i no longer hold the views i had a year ago.. with much thought, research, study and logical examination i have come to a better understanding of my beliefs and where i stand on all these issues.. i'm very happy to announce i have returned to healthful teaching of the holy scriptures and i firmly believe that the governing body of jehovah's witnesses is the faithful slave.. sorry if i have contibuted to any kind of stumbling and know that if i can turn things around then there's hope for all who come to there sence.. phill4:6,7.

careful

DOC probably has it right.

"I would bet that someone discovered the dude on this site and he has had to backpedal and "reaffirm" his conviction for the GB/F&DS. Let's face it, once one domino falls, you can't keep the others from following."

Years ago SBF signed off here with a statement of WT loyalty to placate the local BOE. He returned to the forum some months later, of course. Once you've partaken of the TTATT, it's really difficult, if not impossible, to go back to la-la land.

22

More Brooklyn properties sold

by recovering in

and the money keeps rolling in.

http://nypost.com/2017/08/16/jehovahs-witnesses-sale-of-brooklyn-buildings-nets-millions/.

careful

Thx for the report. Does anyone know if this is the last of the WTS property to go?

1

Motivation for the cart work?

by careful in

could the experience related on p. 6 of the 2009 "bearing thorough witness" about god's kingdom book (the so-called acts commentary) be a motivation for the cart work?

it relates: .

"in the far north, witnesses in alaska take advantage of a unique opportunity to preach during the summer tourist season.

careful

Could the experience related on p. 6 of the 2009 "Bearing Thorough Witness" About God's Kingdom book (the so-called Acts commentary) be a motivation for the cart work? It relates:

"In the Far North, Witnesses in Alaska take advantage of a unique opportunity to preach during the summer tourist season. When warmer whether brings cruise ships loaded with visitors of many different nationalities, local Witnesses station themselves on the dock with an attractive display of Bible literature in a wide variety of languages" (my emphasis).

Does anyone have any inside knowledge of whether this played a role in the cart work? Perhaps they expanded on what they felt was a good idea from Alaska?

332

The most successful teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses and an amazing new book on the divine name

by slimboyfat in

jehovah'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.

careful

Perhaps those who are so opposed to SBF's thread here should get a copy of Shaw's book and read it...?

30

Finds in Jerusalem shore up biblical account of Babylonian conquest (586 BCE date)

by Hecce in

this is a nice article about archaeological finds, what caught my attention is the use of 586 bce as the date for the destruction of jerusalem.. according to biblical descriptions, in 586 bce, the babylonian king nebuchadnezzar vanquished the judaean king zedekiah and razed his capital city, jerusalem.

the babylonian captain of the guard nebuzaradan was dispatched into the city, where, as told in the book of jeremiah, he “burned the house of the lord, and the king’s house; and all the houses of jerusalem, even every great man’s house, burned he with fire.”.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-jerusalem-finds-shore-up-biblical-account-of-babylonian-conquest/.

careful

Hecce,

Thanks for the links and comments.