i don't know whether anyone here has encountered a program called e-sword (with the hyphen in it like that).
it is bible study software that lets you install literally dozens of different translations of the bible to compare, plus dictionaries, maps, and commentaries (including historic commentaries like the ones ray franz describes in coc).
you can install both modern and historic translations, plus versions of the original greek and hebrew manuscripts as well as the latin vulgate and greek septuagint translations.
Witnessgirl, all I can say is wow, I learned so very much by reading your post and am not only impressed by your knowledge of Biblical manuscripts and language, but your ability to put your thoughts to paper.
Appreciate your willingness to share your thoughts on this, am looking for any direction to get my wife thinking about the problems in the organization and this may be another direction I can think about taking.
was wondering since this an election year in the us, if the wts has been reinforcing its position on the voting ban...i thought it recently had become a matter of conscience, but tonight my wife was talking about how she realizes there is a need for governments, but there will be only one government which will bring peace.
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i asked her about selecting the government and she said that there will always be people who vote and they can select the governements since overall government really does not matter.. i am guessing that she has spent more time with the pesky sister in her free time than i had previously thought.
Was wondering since this an election year in the US, if the WTS has been reinforcing its position on the voting ban...I thought it recently had become a matter of conscience, but tonight my wife was talking about how she realizes there is a need for governments, but there will be only one government which will bring peace.
I asked her about selecting the government and she said that there will always be people who vote and they can select the governements since overall government really does not matter.
I am guessing that she has spent more time with the pesky sister in her free time than I had previously thought
my wife has recently been contacted by a pesky meddling sister about restarting a bs that she stopped almost a year ago and she is going to be attending the assembly in hampton, va in a couple of weeks.. i have no idea what these are like, and was wondering if you all could provide me some read ahead material so i know what areas they will hit on, as well as be able to prepare me for her attitude and mood on her return, not only each evening, but also after the event is over.
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kurtbethel, appreciated the visual, really does not look all that exciting....
Sasha, will make sure she is 'lovebombed' at home on her return as well!!
i believe that it is fear of impending armegeddon that is the 'gravity' that is acting on my wife by the jws, and i know a lot of that is due to the media and the portrayals of the current world conditions.
she has asked me about the lutheran view of armageddon, which frankly i am not sure of, since it is not a focal point of the faith (so i need to do some homework on this) and also she keeps bringing up the paradise earth doctrine, and asks me if 'jehovah' did not mean for man to inhabit the earth, why was it created.
what would her come back (or should i say the jw comeback) be if i pointed her to the many places in the bible where it talks about a new earth, the destruction of the present earth and similar?
Sending to the top one more time, any resources or commentary on this doctrine of theirs would be very helpful, for example, scripture to refute or support, other organizations with similar thinking, where they derived this doctrine from and any thoughts why this has become such an appealing cornerstone of the faith.
my wife has recently been contacted by a pesky meddling sister about restarting a bs that she stopped almost a year ago and she is going to be attending the assembly in hampton, va in a couple of weeks.. i have no idea what these are like, and was wondering if you all could provide me some read ahead material so i know what areas they will hit on, as well as be able to prepare me for her attitude and mood on her return, not only each evening, but also after the event is over.
.
bttt
my wife has recently been contacted by a pesky meddling sister about restarting a bs that she stopped almost a year ago and she is going to be attending the assembly in hampton, va in a couple of weeks.. i have no idea what these are like, and was wondering if you all could provide me some read ahead material so i know what areas they will hit on, as well as be able to prepare me for her attitude and mood on her return, not only each evening, but also after the event is over.
.
I guess it will be interesting to see how much she takes in, she is one semester from an associates degree, about three from a bachelors degree with the desire to go on to additional education.
Is there anything I can do prior to the assembly to prime her expectations so she will be able to 'separate the wheat from the chaff' and see through a lot of what they are saying. What questions can be asked to get her thinking, to get her to see that what is being said is fabricated by some folks in Brooklyn, not biblical?!?!?
i believe that it is fear of impending armegeddon that is the 'gravity' that is acting on my wife by the jws, and i know a lot of that is due to the media and the portrayals of the current world conditions.
she has asked me about the lutheran view of armageddon, which frankly i am not sure of, since it is not a focal point of the faith (so i need to do some homework on this) and also she keeps bringing up the paradise earth doctrine, and asks me if 'jehovah' did not mean for man to inhabit the earth, why was it created.
what would her come back (or should i say the jw comeback) be if i pointed her to the many places in the bible where it talks about a new earth, the destruction of the present earth and similar?
bttt
i believe that it is fear of impending armegeddon that is the 'gravity' that is acting on my wife by the jws, and i know a lot of that is due to the media and the portrayals of the current world conditions.
she has asked me about the lutheran view of armageddon, which frankly i am not sure of, since it is not a focal point of the faith (so i need to do some homework on this) and also she keeps bringing up the paradise earth doctrine, and asks me if 'jehovah' did not mean for man to inhabit the earth, why was it created.
what would her come back (or should i say the jw comeback) be if i pointed her to the many places in the bible where it talks about a new earth, the destruction of the present earth and similar?
I believe that it is fear of impending Armegeddon that is the 'gravity' that is acting on my wife by the JWs, and I know a lot of that is due to the media and the portrayals of the current world conditions. She has asked me about the Lutheran view of Armageddon, which frankly I am not sure of, since it is not a focal point of the faith (so I need to do some homework on this) and also she keeps bringing up the Paradise Earth doctrine, and asks me if 'Jehovah' did not mean for man to inhabit the earth, why was it created.
What would her come back (or should I say the JW comeback) be if I pointed her to the many places in the bible where it talks about a new earth, the destruction of the present earth and similar??
my wife has recently been contacted by a pesky meddling sister about restarting a bs that she stopped almost a year ago and she is going to be attending the assembly in hampton, va in a couple of weeks.. i have no idea what these are like, and was wondering if you all could provide me some read ahead material so i know what areas they will hit on, as well as be able to prepare me for her attitude and mood on her return, not only each evening, but also after the event is over.
.
I have read on this site about a new push against education, is this lifted up at all at the convention?? Her somewhat full time job is now supposed to be attending college to earn her degree, and she is very driven towards this, will be interesting to see if there is also a changed attitude on this as well.
I think part of the link of her going to this is the pesky sister having stopped by when she was home, but also she talks a lot to a jw sister of hers (relative) that I believe has recently attended the DC in CA and is most likely enthusiasitic.
There are a lot of issues with her family, the parents have been disfellowshipped and it sounds like her father is trying to maintain his association, but her mother is off and running!
i posted this on another thread but it really got me thinking about how the wts could really do this:.
the wts needs to stop spending so much cash.. they have real estate but once sold and the proceeds used it offers no more value.. they need to simplify, simplify, simplify (and isn't that the mantra they recite each time they make an organizational change?).
they could: push more and more printing to the individual publishers in order to cut down on printing costs (this may only apply to developed countries but it still would result in significant savings).
When I first learned a bit about the JWs, I too was quite surprised that tithing is not an encouraged practice. A year or so ago my jw sympathetic wife attended a Lutheran church service with me and the sermon was about tithing and she was really put off by that, even though the practice is taken directly from the Bible. I worked with a hunger ministry for a few years and one of the ways they were able to succeed was to get farmers to plant extra or leave spaces unharvested, which is also a practice direct from the Bible.
If they want to quickly increase the money coming in, tithing would be a method, but how do you spin that with new light when you have so frequently bashed other religions for overtly collecting donations?
