Spectrum

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Posts by Spectrum

• 
  160

  Laughing laughing laughing

  by darcy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wow.. so, you know i'm an active witness, very active.

  hah.

  and i'm not laughing at y'all, but wow, i can't believe how extensive this is.

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  Spectrum

  Darcy,
  Welcome, hope you stay around long enough.
  
  
  JWs with your open mind are usually don't last very long in the org either by choice or by being forced out. Since you have a healthy curiosity eventually you will read about their false doctrines and will find yourself in a dilema, do I stay or do I go. Maybe their puritanical existence will help you decide to stay.
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  51

  what is the definition of a christian?

  by sinamongurl in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what does christian mean anyway?

  doesnt it mean a follower of christ.....a man?

  arent "we" supposed to be followers of god and not man?

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  Spectrum

  Rex,
  
  "Jesus is God: He claimed to be God; He made Himself equal to God; The Messiah expected by the Jews was God;"
  
  Where do you get your information from? The Jews were not expecting God they were expecting another Moses-like figure. I read Romans chapters 5-8 and the gist of it is God is number one and Jesus is through whom you need to go to gain God's grace.
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  14

  millions now living will never die?

  by headmath in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i always found that line confusing, look at this:.

  quote.

  1920 "based upon the argument heretofore set forth, then, that the old order of things, the old world, is ending and is therefore passing away, and that the new order is coming in, and that 1925 shall mark the resurrection of the faithful worthies of old and the beginning of reconstruction, it is reasonable to conclude that millions of people now on the earth will be still on the earth in 1925. then, based upon the promises set forth in the divine word, we must reach the positive and indisputable conclusion that millions now living will never die.

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  Spectrum

  If this is the case with Russel/Rutherford then I see analogies with Christ/Paul.
  
  It's always been the case where someone starts something then someone else comes along and changes it. This is a sure sign that it is man made.
  Islam, American constitution, even Akhenatan tried it.
• 
  22

  Disaster : ( My niece wants to get baptised soon.

  by Spectrum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how do i stop her?

  she's is only 16 and is bent on getting baptised.

  i know for a fact she is doing it for show, to show that she is a mature sister.

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  Spectrum

  That's a good point. She'll probably think that the God is testing her and the Devil is making me say these things.
  
  However I haven't told her not to get baptised at all but to wait until she is 25 when she'll be mature enough to make an informed decision.
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  146

  Extra training ... so you know that shooting babies is WRONG ?!?

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  how dumb and pathetic.. no extra training should be necessary for even slightly trained and disciplined soldiers.

  i guess it is for some of the rabble that the us call "troops" though.. of course the real problem is not just those on the ground that have committed the latest attrocity.

  it is the chain of command that tried to cover it up and all the way up to the president who sanctions bombing of civilian targets with nothing more than rumour for "intelligence".. from now on america, you are on your own.

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  Spectrum

  Bush comes across as a donkey. Are most Americans embarrassed by their global representative?
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  43

  Let cut JWs some slack on Christ's status. They might be right.

  by Spectrum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the alternative light i have received regarding early christianity has made me wonder whether jws have unwittingly got it right regarding the status of jesus.

  a lot of strong criticism is made on this forum about jws sidelining of jesus in preference for jehovah the jewish god.

  they have been equated with judaism because of their lack of inclusion of christ in their worship as well as their draconian code of expected conduct.

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  Spectrum

  No this thread is not meant to be about the trinity, it is about whether christ deserves the level of importance Christendom has given him versus JWs.
  
  For me the trinity is a closed issue as it is a concoction of the Catholics and Orthodox and quite unbiblical.
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  43

  Let cut JWs some slack on Christ's status. They might be right.

  by Spectrum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the alternative light i have received regarding early christianity has made me wonder whether jws have unwittingly got it right regarding the status of jesus.

  a lot of strong criticism is made on this forum about jws sidelining of jesus in preference for jehovah the jewish god.

  they have been equated with judaism because of their lack of inclusion of christ in their worship as well as their draconian code of expected conduct.

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  Spectrum

  The alternative light I have received regarding early Christianity has made me wonder whether JWs have unwittingly got it right regarding the status of Jesus.
  
  A lot of strong criticism is made on this forum about JWs sidelining of Jesus in preference for Jehovah the Jewish God. They have been equated with judaism because of their lack of inclusion of Christ in their worship as well as their draconian code of expected conduct.
  
  According to this website (and I don't know how much of an authority this person is on the Bible but he seems to know his stuff).
  http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/paulorigin.html#paul
  The more authentic followers of Christ headed by James (possibly Jesus's biological brother) maintained intacked the Mosiac Law ie draconian conduct. I'm not sure if they gave Jesus a divine status possibly not. I think the question of Christ divinity came up much later possibly in the 2nd or 3rd century from Pauline Christianity which incidentally opposed the more direct linage of Christ's doctrine as practised by the followers of James in Jerusalem. If all this is true then Paul is the heretic and to a large extent it exonerates JWs relegation of Christ and promotion of Jehovah. And by extension their anti-trinitarian stance is correct. Even the early Christians couldn't figure out what status to give Jesus.
  
  
  Judging from what I learned recently I think we should cut JWs some slack on the Jesus issue.
  We can't cuss them one minute for sidelining Jesus and the next criticise Paul as having altered the course of true Christianity.
  
  The problem I see here is JWs accept Pauline Christianity which is why I opened with the word unwittingly.
  So basically they got Christ's status correct but for the wrong reasons.
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  10

  I wish my father was alive...

  by kerc in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  he wasn't the typical elder.. dad was a gifted man, highly intelligent...very analytical.

  i remember when my jw sister married a no-good jerk, while everyone told her she should stay married because of how holy it all was, dad was the first one to tell her to get a divorce.

  he was the one who, when my sister was df'd and a while after reconstructed her house (which was in rather bad shape), dad took her and her children to his house to live there while the new house got built.

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  Spectrum

  Sounds like you had a special dad. I lost my dad too and often find myself saying, I wish he was still alive, if only to get another chance to appreciate him properly.
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  23

  Will Jesus Recognize you? an illustration used at an assembly:sheep/wolves

  by lostlantern in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the puppy wolf thought about the fence, and how he'd never been on the.

  the farmer heard his.

  he puppy you raised.

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  Spectrum

  Here's a thought, get this,
  
  If this farmer was teleported back to the time of the OT Israelites would he be pointing his gun at the jews about to slit the throat of his beloved sheep and BANG?! Would jehovah strike the farmer with a bolt of lighting for stopping his bloodthirsty ceremony, or would he thank him for saving the sheep? Does the wolf then represent the Jews?
  
  Jehovah wants the wolf to kill the sheep because he designed the wolf that way. So why is the silly farmer getting in the way of God's ecological set up?
  
  Why do Christians hate wolves so much? They are majestic animals.
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  20

  For our Biblical experts: Artaxerxes reign began in 474 BCE?

  by sir82 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a question for leolaia, peaceful pete, narkissos, and/or any others who might know this:.

  in this week's "what does the bible really teach" book study lesson, the appendix that is covered talks about the famous "70 weeks of years" prophecy of daniel 9:25. the society claims that the "69 weeks" runs from 455 bce to 29 ce, coinciding with jesus' baptism.. they derive the 455 bce date as "the 20th year of the reign of artaxerxes".

  they claim that "historians agree that" artaxerxes began his reign in 474 bce.. i did a quick google search, and found absolutely nothing even remotely hinting at 474 bce as a beginning date for anyone.

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  Spectrum

  Unfortunately I don't have the web link but I've read that historical scholars have a blind spot when trying to date mesopotamian events between 350BC and about 750BC. Apparently they can't even date Alexander the Great properly despite having left a legacy of cities all over the middle east. Modern understanding is built on unreliable ancient documents followed by bodged jobs by victorian scholars who were trying to make a name for themselves.
  
  Don't know how true all this is though.