Posts by careful

12

Why was corruption of scriptures not prevented?

by anointed1 in

many bracketed portions in the scriptures, influence of foreign myths and unscientific teachings … etc show that scriptures have been corrupted.

even when they are not corrupted, religious teachings have often no effect even on direct disciples (when jesus was teaching, his immediate disciples were thinking about who was going to be first in the organization—something that happened in all religions which led into their infighting and divisions).

at the same time there are many good people among materialists, why?

careful

For a theist, I do not see how meteors crashing into planets belittle anything about the Creator. Phenomena like meteors, black holes in space, erupting volcanoes, vicious and/or poisonous animals, destructive storms/tornadoes, and so on, are all part of the Creator's handiwork, correct? Ignoring such common phenomena or downplaying them is precisely the sort of thing that has historically turned off thinking people to belief in God. Before using such reasoning as the order in the natural world to argue for the existence (or even the benevolence) of God, should you not prepare an answer for the contrary data as well?

At least one person above has assumed you were once a Witness who left, like so many (though not all) here. I do not know your personal history, but if that assumption is so, and if you found out how corrupt the WT organization is, then why would you want to imitate the shallow reasoning that they display in arguing for divinity by some supposedly positive facets of creation while ignoring other facets of nature that do not fit in their/your model?

12

Why was corruption of scriptures not prevented?

by anointed1 in

many bracketed portions in the scriptures, influence of foreign myths and unscientific teachings … etc show that scriptures have been corrupted.

even when they are not corrupted, religious teachings have often no effect even on direct disciples (when jesus was teaching, his immediate disciples were thinking about who was going to be first in the organization—something that happened in all religions which led into their infighting and divisions).

at the same time there are many good people among materialists, why?

careful

I'm not sure how your post stays on the topic of your title—you seem to wander off quite a bit as the post goes along(?)—but as for your title, it is important that believers recognize the human element in the writing of scripture, something the WTS and other religious conservatives do not really do. Even if one wishes to view the content of the Bible as divine, the books themselves were written and preserved down through time by very fallible human beings. That is a weighty factor in the corruption you bring up in your title.

Your other points seem a bit "corrupt" themselves: when the meteor that crashed into what is now rural Arizona many years ago and destroyed the lives of countless pretty, fragrant plants, innocent "nice" animals, and perhaps humans, was that an example of that object of space "keeping to their orbits just like vehicles follow lane-discipline on a busy express highway (as though submitting themselves to some unseen authority)"? Examples of other natural phenomena behaving in unpleasant ways (lions brutally tearing apart deer or other "nice" prey, poisons of certain reptiles and insects slowly tormenting those infected with their toxins to death, erupting volcanos scorching all beings in their paths, naturally occurring toxic gases choking animals and humans, and so on) can also be cited. The natural world is full of such things. What sort of "unseen authority" do these things demonstrate?

BTW, I am a theist/believer, a deeply thinking one.

17

Is the watchtower preparing the rank and file here?

by Thisismein1972 in

http://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/28736-that-most-beautiful-of-2015-videos-is-now-live/.

above is a link (if you can stomach it) from jwtalk.

have a look at the comments.

careful

A few thoughts:

1. Perhaps this phrase "The Storm" for Armageddon is based on Prov. 3:25 and the thought in Job 38:22-23?

2. One thing these WT videos have done is depict more graphically than ever before what the official line is on how Armageddon will come, and what the new order will look like. For example, the much discussed Bunker video shows what they think the end of this world will be like, even if just partially. Then the vid linked here helps us see how they think the world will be like afterward—a diet almost exclusively of fruit (VERY heavily doted on in the vid). Not only was merely one loaf of bread shown, but no veggies at all, and, of course, no meat. A friendly elephant and giraffe are there but no playful hyenas, Gila monsters, or wolverines! Black mambas, crocs, polar bears, bull sharks—are they all supposed to eat hay?

11

How long until some of the Biblical apocrypha will be inserted into the WT teachings?

by nonjwspouse in

i have read through some of these, though not in complete, but enough to see some of these writings could fit into the wt views, such as arian beliefs of jesus.

it would also help separate themselves quite a bit from "christiandom" and their bible.

the "new light" of books not accepted in the canon.

careful

Not quite sure what you mean by Apocrypha. Do you mean the books of the Septuagint that are not accepted in the canon by traditional Jews and Protestants, but are by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox churches?

I remember a WT QFR back in the 50s or 60s that asked whether Jehovah had a hand in restoring the temple during the Maccabean revolt in the 160s BC (recorded in 1 and 2 Maccabees). Freddie Franz wrote the reply, clear from his strange writing style. What he said was that the temple had to be standing in order for the prophecies about Jesus to be fulfilled. I don't recall him citing or quoting any specific passages from 1 or 2 Macc., but it may be the closest the WT publications have come to utilizing the Apocrypha in any sort of "positive" way. I also remember reading in the WT publications, much later than the above QFR, some author putting down some of the elements in the book of Tobit as superstition. The context was a general condemnation of the Apocrypha as a whole.

You seem to think that there are some passages in the Apocrypha that the GB could use "to keep up the Organization and the $ flowing in." What part of the Apocrypha do you have in mind that would help them do this???

15

So when will the Society produce a comedy video on JWorg?

by stuckinarut2 in

so according to 1 tim 1:11 jehovah is supposed to be a "happy god".. so when will we see "his people" produce a comedy video of some sort for the website?.

if you could propose an idea or storyline, what would it be?.

careful

Stuck, what have you been smoking?

32

Have any ex-jws considered joining the Bible Students?

by Rainbow_Troll in

their fundamental beliefs are much like jehovah's witnesses sans the paranoia, authoritarianism, stifling rules, and end-times enthusiasm.

you don't even have to become a bible student to be saved, you could be an idol worshipping heathen and still get resurrected in the milenium.

if i still believed in the divine inspiration of the scriptures, i would be a bible student.

careful

Thanks, Vdh7, for the info. So is Jim Penton in Illinois? I had heard that he had moved to Mexico and then back to Canada.

12

Article: A Look at Canada's 12 Most Wanted Fugitives (Look who is #2)

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/a-look-at-canadas-12-most-wanted-fugitives.

december 6, 2016. by sam cooley.

careful

Might the guy be dead, having been killed by someone who had personal vendetta against him for hurting some kid who was dear to the killer? Or perhaps McLean just pissed off the wrong criminal in the shadowy world of fugitives?

32

Have any ex-jws considered joining the Bible Students?

by Rainbow_Troll in

their fundamental beliefs are much like jehovah's witnesses sans the paranoia, authoritarianism, stifling rules, and end-times enthusiasm.

you don't even have to become a bible student to be saved, you could be an idol worshipping heathen and still get resurrected in the milenium.

if i still believed in the divine inspiration of the scriptures, i would be a bible student.

careful

SBF, if you look at this link from four years ago and scroll through it, you'll see multiple announcements of local and national meetings here in the USA:

http://www.bbschurch.org/news/2012/Mar_2012.pdf

It looks like they are doing at least moderately well. They are definitely Bible Student types, even with Russell's cross and crown logo.

45

Why Did JWs Abandon Brooklyn for the Sticks?

by Room 215 in

i may have missed this, but can anyone tell me what was the pretext the gb concocted to justify their abandonment of a perfectly suitable, high-profile, high-visibility complex in what is arguably the world's greatest metropolis for the bucolic isolation of upstate new york.

any how does the move square with their purported belief in the imminence of armageddon?

.

careful

As others have said, money was obviously a factor—leaving the city has been a real money maker for them. Likely another factor was the success (in their eyes) of Wallkill and Patterson. So why not finish the NYC exodus?

36

WTBTS' corrupt translation - to elevate elders!

by The Searcher in

the wt march 2017, p.11, par.

13 quotes ephesians 4:8 as saying, "the bible refers to them as 'gifts in men.

however, the org's own kingdom interlinear translation (and every other bible translation) gives a truthful translation of the verse: .

careful

Thank you, Searcher, for this post. Knowing that Fred Franz loved to take an oddball position with some frequency, I checked some of the lesser known translations since others have stated in their replies that they checked the major ones. The only ones I could find without "to" were a small group (Stevens, Way, Schonfield) who rendered the verb as "bestowed" and therefore used "on" or "upon" for the English preposition instead of "to," but that rendering means the same as "gave ... to." I can only wonder what was going through FF's mind back in the late 1940s, long before the WTS had the "elder arrangement," when he came up with this translation. The natural way to take the dative case here is as an indirect object with a verb of giving, "to...". Chalk up another mystery of the ever eccentric FF...

It is of interest that the revisers of the NWT let his rendering stand.

As for your statement,

These couldn't be the gifts which Paul spoke about at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, could they?

don't you think the following verse (11) in Eph. 4 is germane? "He gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelizers, other as shepherds and teachers." That is, of course, the same concept as at 1 Cor. 12:28, right?