I don't think Jesus taught anything ethical that one could not find among the philosophers and rabbis, if one were educated enough and willing to draw eclectically from the various belief systems. It’s the ethical stuff I appreciate the most. However, Jesus fundamentally was an apocalyptic teacher. Sure there’s a certain appeal to the teaching that the last will become first, that the meek, the lowly, the poor, the uneducated, the women, etc. will inherit the earth. But it’s all based on the idea that the end of the world was coming within his generation and that some of his followers would be alive when the divine Son of Man from the book of Daniel came from heaven and that they would be judged based on how they lived in response to his message (esp. by how they treated those in need (Matthew 25:31-46). Note that they are not judged based on their belief in Jesus’ sacrifice for their sins.)—Mark 8:38. I realize that the later tradition, after people thought Jesus rose from the dead and, in doing this, began the defeat of the wicked cosmic forces which marks the beginning of the End, identifies Jesus with the Son of Man figure, but I think passages like the one in Mark indicate that Jesus thought otherwise. Anyway, my point is that Jesus’ message and the “Gospel” of the other early Christians was fundamentally apocalyptic. This is slowly modified in the tradition as the End kept delaying. I would hope that I would not be drawn in by another apocalyptic prophet.
veradico
JoinedPosts by veradico
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48
Would you have followed Jesus
by JH inif you could have been one of the apostles, would you have given up everything you have today to follow jesus?.
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Pan's Labyrinth
by Mystla inhas anyone here seen this movie?
if there has already been mention of it, i'm sorry, i've been afk off and on quite a bit the last month or so and have missed a lot of threads.. this is one of those hard to categorize movies.
it's a fairy tale.
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veradico
I love mythology, and Pan’s Labyrinth is absolutely saturated with it. I saw it as a progression from Norse (magical world-tree being consumed by chthonic symbol—in this case a horned toad, not a serpent), to Greek (Persephone—two grapes (instead of pomegranate seeds)=two fairy heads), to Christian (she joins her Father on the three thrones after her sacrificial death) mythology. The satanic villain’s weakness is “pride,” and he is unable even to see Pan. I think having an omniscient narrator at the beginning and the end is meant to imply that there is something trustworthy in mythology; it’s not just a story we use to comfort ourselves and to give a meaningless universe a sense of meaning.
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Why is the "Faithful and Discreet " parable literal when others are not?
by RULES & REGULATIONS inin the 10/1 1998 watchtower study article titled,''jehovah,a god merciful and gracious'' there is a footnote that reads:.
parables and other illustrations related in the bible did not necessarily take place in actuality.futhermore,since the purpose of these stories is to teach a moral lesson,there is no need to seek a symbolic meaning in every detail.. matthew 24:45-47, in the new world translation, reads "who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time?
happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so.
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veradico
I think the language of the QFR article revising the closing of heaven in 1935 opens the way for them to say that the FDS parable is not literal but rather applies, the degree depending on the authority, to all those in leadership positions in the official Oragnization. It might even open up the way for 144,000 to become figurative as well. None of this will change the way people are treated by the Organization, but it will make their doctrines less irrational.
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Did the heavenly calling cease in 1935? Not anymore!
by AnnOMaly inwatch out for the questions from readers in the may 1st 2007 watchtower.
"when does the calling of christians to a heavenly hope cease?
" it's a good'un.. included are the statements:.
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veradico
A few of them are cynical bastards, but I tend to think that most of them are deluded by their own stories. Apart from the removal of the 1935 doctrine, the article collects together various notions that already existed in order to express a new perspective within the range of the traditional language. Technically, people have always been allowed to partake, and, technically, Witnesses should never judge each other. That’s not so very new, though it’s nice that the people who do partake should not be picked on in the future. What is markedly un-Witness-like about the tone of this article is the putting down of the anointed in a context in which the organizational roles (esp. the GB) are praised. The anointed finally have been detached from the organizational leadership in language the way we already know they are in fact, and everyone has been told that their loyalty goes, not to the anointed (i.e., the FDS class—which has been an increasingly fuzzy concept), but to the Organization. They are getting rid of the laughable doctrines that they used to support their authoritarianism without discarding the authoritarianism itself. They are changing the packaging, but they are preserving the true essence of the religion they love so well.
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I Lost Everything Today
by compound complex indear friends,.
i just received a call from a concerned jw friend about what is going on behind my back.
a dfd friend whom i've been supporting through his mental distress and suicidal tendencies has done me a very strange turn.
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veradico
I think you should put this under "Friends" not "Entertainment." I'm so sorry. Just say this person made all this up. If you can stand it, I think it's more noble to stay in an authoritarian organization you don't believe in for the sake of your friends and family than to martyr yourself. If you are going to leave, make it be on your terms because you simply can't stand it anymore. Backing down and lying is not bad if the people who you are interacting with do not deserve the truth. To put it bluntly, lying is better than suicide, though both can have their place. I wish you all the best.
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300 The Movie
by lonelysheep inanyone planning to see this one?
i enjoy that type of stuff (battles, greek/roman anything).
on another note [and my main reason for posting this.
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veradico
I enjoyed it as well. I went with the other folks in the Classics Department of my university. The fact that it looked like the graphic novel come alive was great; the fact that it sounded like a graphic novel was unfortunate. The Battle of Thermopylae is a wonderful story: a small force, doomed to lose, against a greater; the rational West against the superstitious East; free men against slaves; treachery; sacrifice. The film does not add any new themes that the ancient Greeks did not talk about (except for the romance), but I fear that the story could be used to manipulate people politically: "All they needed was more troops. The West stands for beauty, health, rationality, freedom, but the East stands for people whose bodies mortify because of either neglect or decadence and who are enslaved to tyrants and a primitive faith."
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QFR: "Never has a woman given Jehovah perfect obedience"
by Inquisitor inquestions from readers w07 jan 15 p.30.
in what sense did the congregator find only "one man out of a thousand" but not "a woman among all these"?
- ecclesiastes 7:28. the answer is written out in 3 paragraphs.. paragraph 1: placatory remarks to show that jehovah god is not chief misogynist.. paragraph 2 & 3:.
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veradico
I was in a snack/break room in my university library the other day, talking on my cell. I happened to glance up at the magazine rack. Lo! and Behold! Some good little Jehovah's Witness had put the Watchtower and Awake! mags in with the others. Anyway, I now know what the title of the Wt with the QFR article on "Never has a woman..." is. The title is "Man and Woman: A Dignified Role for Each." I'm surprised the title didn't stay in my memory more accurately. The idea that people's roles should be determined by arbitrary biological factors that have nothing to do with their ability or desire to fill such "roles" is just silly.
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shun the non-believer!
by veradico inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5im0ssyyus .
this is great!
can someone make this clickable?
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veradico
I love the way they nag him, shun him, promise him the world...and then give him the true reward for his faith.
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Has anyone ever submitted a "Question from Readers"?
by M.J. in...and had it printed, perhaps?.
just wondering.
what's the process on doing this anyway?
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veradico
When I first began questioning things, I sent in a few questions since the publications did not seem to address a lot of the things I was curious about. Most of my questions they refused to answer, but they advised the elders to speak to me because my questions indicated that I was in trouble spiritually.
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shun the non-believer!
by veradico inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5im0ssyyus .
this is great!
can someone make this clickable?
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veradico
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus
This is great! Can someone make this clickable?