Posts by moggy lover

23

News flash !!!!!! ......"Blondie completes another year "

by caliber in

jw
friends

it's her birthday folks ... let her know how you feel !.

.

How do you respond to the JW statement: "The First Century had congregations, preaching, Elders, Servants, C.O.'s, and so do we!

by BonaFide in

jw
friends

well?.

.

bf.

moggy lover

Did the 1C AD have congregations? Yes. So that is not the right question. The right question to ask is:

How were the congregations arranged? Were they hierarchical as the Watchtower congregations are today? No. There is every evidence in the NT that each congregation was an independent unit with its own locally elected elders. The congregations were scattered communities of believers in Christ whose common bond was a love for each other that came as a result of being "in Christ"

Did they have elders? Yes. But again the question is: How were these elders appointed?

At 1 Tim :1-7 Paul gave an outline of what qualified a man to be an elder. These instructions were given to Timothy, who was himself an elder evidently in the city of Ephesus. [1Tim 1:3] so that when he came to appoint them he would know what these qualifications were. In turn, as this letter was distributed among the congregations, the local elders would have these instructions. To conclude that Paul was an elistist member of a "GB" is an absurd allusion that has no reccomendations from the NT. Timothy himself had been appointed by the older men of his congregation by the laying on of hands [1 Tim 4:14]

He was not:

1 Appointed by a "Governing Body" centrally set up in one location, evidently in Jerusalem. We know that Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD and the Christians were thus scattered from there. As near as we can determine, the first letter to Timothy was written about 63-65 AD and the second about 65-67 AD [NASB Study Bible Notes] So the "GB" if there was one, would have been rather busy at this time trying to preserve itself rather than keep tabs on a youngster from Ephesus.

2 Appointed by a traveling overseer representing a "GB" on the recommendation of the local body.

Did they have Deacons? Yes. And evidently Deaconesses to. [Rom 16:1] Phoebe is referred to as a "minister" [NASB, NW "T"] "Deaconess" [CB Williams NT] The word is the feminine form for the male "ministerial servant" at 1 Tim 3:8, which is why the NASB Study Bible says: "When church related as here, the term probably refers to a specific office, ie a woman deacon or deaconess." [page 1658]

Did they preach? Yes. But:

1 There is no evidence whatsoever that it was incumbent on all in the local congregation to evangelize. Eph 4:1 specifically says that Christ gave some to be evangelists.

2 When giving the qualifications for elders and deacons in the local churches Paul pointedly ignored the preaching work, emphasizing instead the empathy the prospective elder had for the fellowship of believers. Elders were not for the purpose of making converts, but building up the local fellowship.

3 There is not a single instance where people became believers as a result of a door-to-door ministry. Every time we see Paul or Peter or even Phillip preach, it was always in the open, in the public. The early Christians only came to people's homes when invited to do so. [Acts 10:24, 16:34] They never entered a home uninvited. Using texts such as Acts 5:42 and 20:20 is straining the plain meaning of the text. The idiom used for "From house to house" actually is better translated as "privately".

Hope this helps.

14

A New English Translation of the Septuagint - Book Download link

by VM44 in

a new english translation of the septuagint.

oxford university press | 2007-11-02 | isbn: 0195289757 | 1027 pages | pdf | 6 mb.

translated from the hebrew between the third and first centuries b.c., the septuagint became the bible for greek-speaking jews and was widely cited by early christians.

moggy lover

I am having the same problem in trying to open the file. Evidently it is in a zipped form that requires a program that I do not have.

Cheers.

14

My thoughts on the memorial.....yea I did go

by Soledad in

jw
friends

it was dull.

i could have sworn that i heard the same talk 20 years ago.

witnesses look tired, bored, lifeless.

moggy lover

Very well written post. Keep up the good work.

14

Help Needed for articles involving Re-Creation...

by Tuesday in

hi folks,.

i don't have access to a wt library cd-rom, so i was wondering if i could get some assistance.

the theory of resurrection, where every single part of a person is re-created (their memories are remembered by god, they are then re-created into a re-created body), someone from my youtube channel challenged me regarding articles in the wt or awake that state this.

moggy lover

The Watchtower system has an extremely well tuned editorial policy that sifts out any offending terminology, or phraseology that are likely to embarrass the leadership. Hence you will not find, especially among the later issues of Watchtower publications such words as "recreate" or even the latest stumbling block for the GB: "the generation of 1914" [Since 1995, the words "generation" and "1914" are never permitted to be in congruity]

However there is the occasional slip, and in connection with what you asked, I can only find one time when the word "recreate" slipped past the editorial oversight committee. This was the 1977 publication "Life Does Have A Purpose" which on page 175 makes this comment:

"God will accurately recreate each individual with his entire life pattern"

Hope this helps.

22

What was the accepted translation before the NWT?

by tenyearsafter in

i seem to be drawing a blank, but i can't recall what the the "accepted" translation for jw's was pre-nwt?

if it was the kj or one of the other translations favored by christendom, how did the wts work around the translation errors "corrected" by the nwt?...john 1:1, extensive use of jehovah in nt, etc.

?.

moggy lover

Hi, 10YA: Here are the readings:

Jo 1:1 a The text itself: "In the beginning was the Logos and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God".

The Interlinear: "In a beginning was the Word and the Word was with the God and a god was the Word". [My mum's old copy has a neatly underlined notation saying "compare with original" in the margins.]

Jo 8:58: "Indeed I assure you, Before Abraham was born, I am he"

Acts 20:28: "Take heed to yourselves therefore and to All the FLOCK, among whom the HOLY SPIRIT made you Overseers, to feed the CHURCH of GOD which he acquired by the blood of his own" [The capitals are in the original and refer to a glossary at the back of the book where these words are defined.]

Rev 19:1 "After these things, I heard a loud voice as of a great crowd in HEAVEN saying: "Hallelujah! the SALVATION and the GLORY and the POWER to our God"

Hope this helps.

22

What was the accepted translation before the NWT?

by tenyearsafter in

i seem to be drawing a blank, but i can't recall what the the "accepted" translation for jw's was pre-nwt?

if it was the kj or one of the other translations favored by christendom, how did the wts work around the translation errors "corrected" by the nwt?...john 1:1, extensive use of jehovah in nt, etc.

?.

moggy lover

According to the testimony of my mum, the Watchtower followers in the early years evidently went through three phases:.

1 In the early years, prior to 1902, the Watchtower followers did not really do any mass evangelism, since this was considered the province of "colporteusrs" or full time reps of the Watchtower. These used the KJV, with Watchtower authorized "explanations" printed at the back like an innocuous appendix. This appendix/explanation contained the Watchtower Received Interpretations of texts such as Jo 1:1, 20:28, etc.

2 From 1902, the Watchtower followers used a sort of Hybrid Bible. They used the KJV for the OT, but stitched to it was the Emphatic Diaglott, the translation of the NT that Russel purchased in that year.

3 In 1944, the Watchtower purchased the printing rights to the ASV Bible, which naturally was better for than the KJV, since this version used "Jehovah" consistently in the OT. Now they carried a new kind of Hybrid Bible. It had the ASV OT, and neatly stitched into it was the ED for the NT.

About the only people who were pleased with this arrangement were the book binders who were kept busy keeping up with the changing light of the Watchtower. Nice little earner for some.

16

NEW VIDEO: Randy Watters, Free Minds

by V in

wholely upgraded production and big help from our awesome volunteers.

enjoy!.

http://www.vimeo.com/3845629.

moggy lover

Excellent production. Score one for the good guys.

Will you be formatting the video at some later time so that it could be downloaded to a hard drive, like the others?

38

Paradise Won't Be "Instant"

by cameo-d in

i have heard that "paradise" will be achieved gradually; that it will take all of the thousand years to reach that state of perfection.. .

now, while you may be convinced that it will take all that time to bring the earth back to it's pristine state....suppose it applies to humans as well?.

imagine this scenerio: wounds and broken bones heal slowly and gradually; your bags and sags are still there, but since you have seen results of other people, you hang on that the promise will be for you, too.

moggy lover

The nightmare I used to have was that the "new system/order/world" [or whatever the latest nomenclature is] wasn't just going to be a tyranny, but that it was going to be a bureaucratic tyranny. Petty bureaucrats themselves, the current Watchtower leadership love the existence of files and chits, and memos all signed, counter-signed, filed, refiled, circulated, lost, found, refiled again, recirculated, discussed, categorized, in and endless and meaningless cycle and all sufficient to keep even the most abject clerk deliriously happy.

Remember that the "new system,etc" is going to be merely an extension of today's Watchtower arrangement. Hence, who you marry, where you live, how many children you can have, what job you will maintain, the clothes you will wear, will all be determined according to applications signed in triplicate, with several counter signatures, which will then have to be categorized, filed, discussed, processed, circulated, discussed with even more files and then, in the sufficiency of time they will slowly grind their way upward through the bureaucratic chain to be further discussed, added to with even more memos, addendums, riders, circumlocutions, till they reach the top where even further cogitations will be processed, appeals lodged, with sub-sections filled with relevant by-laws needing further clarification being sought, and on and on and on.

By the time an unequivocal decision is made, Satan will be let out of his restraints, making his alternative not so bad an idea after all.

It is not the meek, but the Watchtower bureaucrats who will inherit the earth, and swords won't be beaten into ploughshares, but into pens and reams and reams and reams of paper.

26

IF YOU STILL READ THE BIBLE WHAT VERSION DO YOU READ??

by Ohio Nana in

i have my jw bible but also have the good news bible that was used at the lutheran church i went to for about 8 yrs back in the 80's.. one (jw)is hard to read and understand some of the books and the (good news)other is to easy and leaves somethings out, well the jw one does to.. .

o.n..

moggy lover

NASB