onacruse

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Posts by onacruse

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  12

  In Memory of Quantum R.I.P.

  by D8TA in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  " if i'm going to hell, i'm taking you with me.

  oh dear board, i offer my sincerest apologies ... but if one has to go, then do it with bang!

  what's "fair is fair" and i accept all responsibility for this post.

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  onacruse

  D8: Need your address to send bill for ER treatment of my busted gut after LOF re: your last post.
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  18

  Any martial artists?

  by gsx1138 in

  1. social
  2. physical

  martial arts is the one thing the elders and i verbally sparred over for about 5 years.

  it wasn't until i got df'd that i was able to attend an "official" class.

  i had trained vicariously for about 4 years with a friend of mine who was a student of isshinryu karate.

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  onacruse

  Diary entry (in bold): "don't make gsx1138 mad. If do, quickly get Bruce Li doll and wave in his face."
• 
  12

  In Memory of Quantum R.I.P.

  by D8TA in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  " if i'm going to hell, i'm taking you with me.

  oh dear board, i offer my sincerest apologies ... but if one has to go, then do it with bang!

  what's "fair is fair" and i accept all responsibility for this post.

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  onacruse

  D8TA blowing smoke from gunbarrels,

  Done killing his quota of squirrels,

  Nothing but love for the likes of Quantum,

  Hoping he'll find someone who wants him.
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  5

  Gasp! My dad stepped inside church

  by Cath in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i went to my non jw nephews wedding very recently which was held in a church and imagine my surprise when i saw my jw dad standing in a side aisle waving to me.

  i had to pinch myself.

  needless to say he didn't remain indoors for the ceremony but i didn't think even walking into a church was allowed.

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  onacruse

  Dakota: the 6/15/02 WT had similar comments in QFR re: "If someone commits suicide, would it be advisable for a Christian minister to give the funeral talk?" It is "judged" to be a conscience matter, with many of the same caveats in the w74 you posted.

  Cath: More and more such issues (e.g. voting, alternative military service, allogenic blood transfusions), previously ruled by WTS as UNCHRISTIAN, are now moving into the "individual conscience" category.

  Especially during the last 5 years many JWs have already been moving in the same direction. Almost a grass-roots rebellion.

  Pigs may never fly, but there is always hope that people will get their wings
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  11

  Fred Franz, still alive and running the show.

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  fred franz, still alive and running the show.

  how so?no he's not been ressurected and taken to heaven to direct gods affairs on earth.but it is his bible that forms the basis for what witnesses believe and teach.

  many people point to franz as the sole author of the new world translation (with help from others) he decided how "gods inspired word" should read to people today.what is truth and what is false in the witness mind is all down to fred franz.

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  onacruse

  I agree with Larsguy that the NWT is "basically" as good a translation as many others, EXCEPT for hundreds of passages where it supports WTS doctrine by departing from good translation principles.

  Metatron's example of the use of "Jehovah" in the NT is a case in point. Any evidence derived from the Septuagint (LXX) is only circumstantial at best. True, some of the writers of the NT favored the LXX translation of the original Hebrew even when the LXX did not provide the most accurate rendering. However, the majority of the NT quotes of the OT ignore the LXX altogether and are direct translations of the original OT Hebrew. So the LXX was by no means universally accepted as authoritative, and it is a great extrapolation to assume that the VERY few extant LXX fragments that preserve the tetragrammaton suggest a general use of the divine name by first-century Christians. Furthermore, there is not ONE, NOT A SINGLE ONE OUT OF NEARLY 7,000 Greek manuscripts (or fragments thereof) of the NT that have anything but kurios (Lord) or theos (God) in the text, even where the OT text has the tetragrammaton. Now, if first- and second-century Christians used the divine name as a matter of course, then wouldn't the copyists of that same period have caught on and seen to it that their copies included the divine name? If God was concerned that His name be so preserved, then wouldn't He have made sure that at least some textual evidence remained as proof? Including even, perhaps, a hint about the proper pronunciation of that name?

  So, then, what purpose is served by the NWT to deliberately mistranslate some 230 times in the NT and foist the name "Jehovah"? Instead of showing respect for God and concern about His name, NWT actually shows disrespect for Him by perverting the clear historical and textual evidence that Christians very quickly, almost immediately, dropped the use of that name and reciprocally referred to "God" as "Lord" and "Jesus" as both "Lord" and "God." Those titles became virtually interchangeable, and strongly suggest the Deity of Christ. Of course, WTS will have nothing of that, and the NWT is used to muddy the waters on this fundamental doctrine.

  Other examples include John 14:14 and Hebrews 1:6. The Wescott and Hort text at John 14:14 is transliterated in The Kingdom Interlinear as "if ever anything you should ask me in the name of me this I shall do." What does the NWT do about this clear invitation by Jesus to pray to him? The second "me" is conveniently and surreptitiously dropped, and so the NWT reads "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it." Hebrews 1:6 in The Kingdom Interlinear (up through at least the second printing) translates "...let all God's angels worship [Jesus]." That rendering was soon changed, and current editions of the NWT read "...let all God's angels do obeisance to [Jesus]." In defense of the NWT, it is true that there are a few later textual variants of John 14:14 that omit the second "me," and the Greek word for "worship" in Hebrews 1:6 can sometimes mean something less than what we today consider to be worship.

  I cite these last two examples only to illustrate the predisposition WTS has to use the NWT as a tool to promote their own doctrine. That most of these doctrines predate the NWT does not absolve WTS of guilt for now promoting the NWT as the best translation on the planet, an assertion that 99.9% of JWs accept without question. For myself, I never once in 40 years heard any JW use another translation except where its reading was essentially in harmony with the NWT.

  PS: I found The Jehovah's Witnesses' New Testament (Robert H. Countess; Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, 1982) to be a very good source of info about the NWT.

  Edited by - onacruse on 12 July 2002 19:14:25
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  5

  It's Slide Show Time!!!

  by invisible in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  beautiful pictures from where i live, only takes a few seconds to load, please enjoy!!.

  http://www.cornishlight.co.uk/higres.htm.

  more sunshine please!!.

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  onacruse

  Nice pics! Liked the ruined farmstead in Bodmin; reminds me of some places I've visited in eastern Oregon.

  What's with the St. Ives boats in the harbour? Tsunami?

  Thanks! Craig
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  20

  If Ray Fanz had never.....?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if ray fanz had never left the watchtower and written his book would you be here now?.

  if not, is that worrying for you?

  how many here worked out it was not the truth alone without the aid of a specific book and how many needed franz's work or someone elses?.

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  onacruse

  I was first df'd in 1980 for apostasy (prompted by 1975). Not much thinking involved, mostly an act of protest. I was out for about 2 years, and first read COC in 1985. Actually, it made me so angry I almost got sick, and I threw it away. I still had hopes that WTS would change and just didn't want to believe what Ray said.

  My wake up call started in the early 90s, when I went to college for retraining. Had to take those pesky elective courses (you know, sociology, philosophy, all that "worldy" garbage) and hoped for nothing better than to get them over with. Boy, were my eyes opened! Like you put it: "a broader outlook and level of knowledge about the world in general." Always thought I was reasonably intelligent; little did I know what a narrow, shallow-minded viewpoint I'd grown up with.

  The "generation revelation" was my last straw, but this time my decision to leave (for family's sake, tried first to just fade) was based mostly in seeing that WTS is just another mind-control religion like so many others, and that the history of those other religions gives little hope that WTS will ever fundamentally change.

  I have no doubt that I would have left for good 20 years ago if I knew then what I know now. And yes, I got another copy of COC: this time I'm gonna keep it .
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  32

  Youths - How Will You Waste Your Life?

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this was a bi-fold leaflet given out at the uk district conventions (and only available at the dc).

  i guess the throw-away size stuff is handier to ... well, throw away).

  edited by - simon on 11 july 2002 16:41:33.

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  onacruse

  "Once you look inside, there's nothing there."

  Gosh, wonder who else that might apply to?

  "But first, you must qualify to be in God's service."

  Gosh, wonder who might be the qualifying agency?

  "In time, you will be moved to make a dedication..."

  Gosh, wonder if that includes a vow to WTS?

  Simply incredible how such noble investigations/goals are spin-controlled toward being a JW. Simply incredible that I swallowed the same pablum for most of my life. Simply incredible that so many are escaping this mind control.
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  14

  My thoughts about the board today [:)]

  by Joyzabel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this has been a good day.

  it warms my heart and brings a tear to my eye as i sit and read through so many good threads here on the board today.

  i love to listen to janhs brilliant mind and his thought process: .

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  onacruse

  YOU ARE SOOOOOOO RIGHT! I've needed a place like this so long, and so badly. Done some good posts (I think), some not-so-good posts (I know), but no rejected posts!

  Frequently feel like a lurker!

  Blessings.
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  16

  Elders and Culpability Revisited

  by dungbeetle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  elders and culpability revisited.

  since the issue keeps coming up no matter what (watchtower ingrained in all jws the position elders had and how no one should question the elders.

  on the other hand, we should all turn in errant publishers).. i would like to say first that i have said some harsh words on the subject, to amazing and to marvin shilmer and to jst2laws and hillary_step (i read the book "into thin air" and i know what that means now!!).

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  onacruse

  LoneWolf, point well taken. Would be a fool not to exercise careful selection (read "judgement") of those I can trust. Spent 40 years self-confidently judging non-dubs, the word "judgement" now sticks in my throat. Got to get a balance.

  DB, apologize if I misunderstood. Deeply respect the human empathy of your post.

  Thanks to you both!

  Edited by - onacruse on 11 July 2002 14:17:5