Excellent work Doug, as usual. You just do what you feel most comfortable with. We'll all still follow along. The visuals are a vital part in your presentation, and should not be compromised.
Cheers
moggy lover
JoinedPosts by moggy lover
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Onscreen Critique, October 1 Watchtower, "When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?"
by Doug Mason ina few weeks ago, i provided a critique of the october 1, 2011 watchtower article when was ancient jerusalem destroyed: part 1.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/215458/1/critique-of-the-october-1-watchtower-articlewhen-was-ancient-jerusalem-destroyed.
i have produced a different critique of that same article.
while the earlier critique was designed to be printed, this version is designed to be viewed on a computer screen.
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Zambian population explosion and Watchtower growth
by slimboyfat ini saw an article on the bbc sayng that zambia has one of the fastest growing populations of any country on earth.. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15433140.
i thought that was interesting because zambia also has an unusually high proportion of jws.
if zambia's population ever does reach 100 million on current trends that could include something like 2 million practising jws and 7 million at the memorial.
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moggy lover
Hmmm.
That means that the Watchtower is just keeping ahead of its averages in that country. From 1975 to 2010 they have lowered their ratio by 4 points. Not Holy Spirit spectacular, not exactly staggering, more a plodding, bureaucratic oozing forward.
It makes one think along the lines of, if they can make such minuscule gains in an Internet poor country like Zambia, what a monumental task they must face in Internet rich nations like Japan, Korea, and all the other developed countries.
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Zambian population explosion and Watchtower growth
by slimboyfat ini saw an article on the bbc sayng that zambia has one of the fastest growing populations of any country on earth.. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15433140.
i thought that was interesting because zambia also has an unusually high proportion of jws.
if zambia's population ever does reach 100 million on current trends that could include something like 2 million practising jws and 7 million at the memorial.
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moggy lover
Hmmm. I am obviously mistaken, and my memory ain't so good.
I did my research using the 1974 YB, and don't know where I got 1:52 from. I thought it was from Zambia, because I definitely recall that country having the lowest ration of publishers:population. I am pretty certain that whatever the 1975 YB says would be correct.
I might have got the 1:52 ratio from some other stat connected with the Watchtower. Soooooorrrrry.
Come to think of it, I don't have the YBs anymore, but SBF, can you check the YBs and see if there is a column that gives this ratio? I seem to recall vaguely that earlier YBs used to publish this figure.
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Zambian population explosion and Watchtower growth
by slimboyfat ini saw an article on the bbc sayng that zambia has one of the fastest growing populations of any country on earth.. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15433140.
i thought that was interesting because zambia also has an unusually high proportion of jws.
if zambia's population ever does reach 100 million on current trends that could include something like 2 million practising jws and 7 million at the memorial.
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moggy lover
Brings back memories!
I recall, back in 1975, when I was "in" and full of zeal for Watchtowerism, making a ratio chart of how the religion was doing in various countries. Zambia was top of the list at 1:52 in that country. Statistically speaking, each Zambian Watchtower follower would only need to speak to 52 people to give the entire population a "witness". If the ratio has fallen to 1:83, as Gayle has mentioned, it means that they are falling behind, rather than advancing.
I was also astonished to read how well the SDAs are doing in that country. They now have 471,000 believers, and with more than double the number of baptized each year in relation to the Watchtower, they will simply keep pulling ahead. I think that a simple stat like that of the number of Bahais in the country shows that Watchtower statistics can be impressive only in isolation.
When compared to the diligence of others they really are just about below average.
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Max Larson's Replacement?
by moggy lover indoes anyone have an inside scoop on who will replace larson as prez?.
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moggy lover
Does anyone have an inside scoop on who will replace Larson as Prez?
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moggy lover
The only real significant change is, I believe, in the cover. Hitherto the covers were a generic pattern with the Watchtower logo of a watchtower on which was surmounted the contents for that issue. There was a certain sense of foreboding about this dark design.
Now the covers are more user friendly with line drawings of people, all with forgettable faces and all enjoying the convivial association of jeeehover's people.
The inclusion of an "archive" section is quaint, but later issues will no doubt clarify.
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Good to study JW past .... New "Writing Archives" under direction of the Writing Committee
by wannabefree inyes friends, it is important to understand your rich spiritual heritage as jehovah's witnesses, and so you don't have to look at old publications on your own or refer to worldly sources, the organization is pleased to select for you the history as we want you to have it and you can get it in your current watchtower.. from january 15, 2012 watchtower pg 31-32. the governing body is keenly interested in.
our theocratic history.
in commenting on the.
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moggy lover
Hmmmmm....
Something wrong with me downloads, methinks. I can't get this issue.
The jw.org site does not have the Jan 15 2012 Watchtower. The latest they have is Dec 15, 2011.
Where did you guys access it from?
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Curious: How Does 1 Tim 6:4 Appear in the Interlinear Greek (aka "purple bible")?
by DarioKehl inwe've all seen the line-by-line comparison of john 1:1 with the addition of "a god" when "was god" is visible in the left margin under "theos" in the infamous grimace/barney/grape crush purple bible book.
i'd check for myself, but unfortunately, i hastily rid my house of all things wt in a purging fit while beginning my fade.
and let me tell you, the fire was spectacular!
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moggy lover
1 Tim 6:4 in KIT:
"He has been made to smoke, nothing knowing well, but being diseased about seekings and word fights, out of which [things] comes to be envy, strife, blasphemies, suspicions wicked"
In Marshall's Interlinear:
"He has been puffed up, understanding nothing, but being diseased about questionings and battles of words out which comes envy, strife, blasphemies, evil suspicions"
The word in dispute in this context is "noseo" a verb meaning, according to the Complete Word Study Dictionary of the NT [by Spiros Zhodiates]:
"From "nosos" a sickness. To be sick, delirious. It is used metaphorically, meaning to have a sickly longing for something, to pine after, dote on".
The Watchtower rendering of "Mentally diseased" is probably an over translation, made to envision opposers to Watchtower teachings as not just wrong, but also to be wrong due to a mental aberration that refuses to acknowledge the Watchtower leadership as theological supremos in terms of ultimate truth.
Does this word carry a connotation of "mental" ailment in that the person is considered to be clinically insane? Or is it being used purely metaphorically for those who treat the apostle's instructions lightly?
Thayer suggests: "Metaph. of any ailment of the mind, and when used with "peri" [a word meaning "about" as in 1 Tim 6:4 - my own comments] means to be taken with such an interest in a thing as amounts to a disease, to have a morbid fondness for"
In this respect a perfectly good English equivalent for the Greek would be "being obsessed"
Naturally in the hermetically sealed world of exclusive Watchtower values, they have it both ways:
1. When they have an obsession over trivials such as whether Jesus died on a cross or stake, or where a comma should go, or where even the indefinite article is placed, it is theological rectitude.
2. But when opposers rightly excercise the option of presenting an alternative view to Watchtower absolutes, they are seen as being obsessed.
Go figure.
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moggy lover
It is true that VAT 4956 is a copy of an original document, and the Watchtower leadership has often cited this fact as a reason for questioning its veracity. But this need not be a valid reason, but rather it is a futile ploy to undermine a text that proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the Watchtower teaching on this subject is utterly false and without any true foundation.
Doubtless there are several archaeological documents, not just of the Bible, but secular notices as well, that are copies of an original, yet no one in their right mind would question these documents simply on the basis of the fact that they are copies. The question that requires investigation is whether the document in hand is an accurate copy of its original.
Several stele or pillars had notifications carved into their columns which were copies of each other. Finding one such stele would be as valuable as finding the one that was supposedly the original.
Indeed, Watchtower apologists using such "reasoning" would be hard pressed to provide a reason for studying the current Watchtower magazine they have on hand, since it is but a copy of an original which is placed somewhere in the bowels of the Watchtower HQ.
No one has the actual original $ 50 bill printed by the mint. All of us have copies. [Some, like the leaders of the Watchtower have more than others!] Now some of these bills may be fraudulent because they may be counterfeit, but exacting tests would prove this one way or other. If the information available on the bill is incorrect even by so much as a millimeter, then proof is there that it is a fraud. A very good fraud, but fraudulent all the same.
What AOM has done is shown us how this invaluable document has stood the test of the most severe examination and has been vindicated in all its aspects every time. Therefore, whether an original or a copy, the information garnered from its writing is accurate.
It is this issue that the Watchtower and its apologists must address.
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According the WT, how many comings or returns of Christ are there?
by cyberguy inaccording the wt, how many comings or returns of christ are there?
and the follow-up question is: how many comings of christ are actually indicated in the scriptures?
(yes, we can debate for days, needlessly, concerning the 1914-calculus, but the truth is so much simpler than this!
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moggy lover
How did we ever believe this, or even come to accept this?
The only way, and it is a persuasive way, for the Watchtower writers to convey this nonsense to their followers is to express their theology in inverted commas. Jesus' coming is somehow different from Jesus' "coming".
Take a dose of paraphrase, add disingenuous argumentation, stew this in a theology of innovative improvisation, garnish with "inverted commas" and you have:
Food at the proper time!
Then as dessert, a bowl of peaches and cream mixed with chicken vindaloo and sushi [its all the same context m'lady]
And to finish of this "proper food" a nice hot cup of invisible Turkish coffee.
Aaaaaaah, I miss those banquets.