Earnest

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Posts by Earnest

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  2

  Peter Bridle & Fred Smedley

  by Paul Bonanno in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is there anyone from south africa who remembers peter bridle or fred smedley?

  do you have any pictures of them?

  they were missionaries..

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  Earnest

  The 1999 Yearbook, pp.162-168, reports that they were British graduates of Gilead who were assigned to Nyasaland/Malawi in 1949. There is no mention of them in the 2007 Yearbook which reported on South Africa.
  
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  Controversy Early Day's Watchtower

  by vienne in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  some of you may be interested in this: https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-watch-tower-and-koreshan-unity.html.

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  Earnest

  Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Annie. I was amused that Ulysses Morrow wrote about his conversion to the Koreshan belief of a hollow earth from a previous "flat earth" belief. As "Jerome", the writer of the article says, Russell must have breathed a big sigh of relief when they parted company.
  
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  Memorial Prep question

  by ExCircuitOverseer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so are individual witnesses being told to prepare bread and have wine on hand for the zoom memorial?

  are they saying it’s “vital” or is it just a “suggestion?” .

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  Earnest

  The Watchtower of December 15, 2013, page 24 para.7 says :

  As there was no need for augmenting or fortifying the value of Jesus’ blood, the wine used is not a type fortified with brandy or spices. Plain red wine should be used, a homemade wine or a commercial wine, such as Beaujolais, Burgundy, or Chianti.

  
  
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  Accepting the reason why the Watchtower Corporation and its top leaders are endeavored to brainwash people

  by Rocketman123 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  taking a close look at the operation of the jws religion you can observe technics of brainwashing orchestrated through the literature the wts publishes for its members such as the watchtower .. everything these men have done had calculating agendas, which were to firstly attract attention to the literature they published, to cultivate power toward themselves, to intentionally take control over people's lives and of course draw in money.. brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques.

  brainwashing is said to reduce its subjects' ability to think critically or independently,[1] to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds,[2] as well as to change their attitudes, values and beliefs.

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  Earnest

  I remember that thread, TD, and fail to understand the difficulty in accepting the obvious inconsistency. Even now I fail to understand the insistence that Russell was right about 1914 when it requires such convoluted justification as overlapping generations to keep it above water.

  You mention the book "1984" by George Orwell in your previous thread and I do wonder about those who are so certain about other forms of Christianity and even evolution when I consider your comment :
  

  Jehovah's Witnesses don't appreciate this at all and vigorously deny it, but a lingering question remains: If you were no longer the master of your own mind, would you actually be aware of it? How would you even know?
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  Newly discovered Dead Sea Scrolls with the tetragrammaton within the Greek text

  by dropoffyourkeylee in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  big news from israel, some previously undiscovered dead sea scrolls have been found with portions of the ot in greek.

  it says the name of god is included in hebrew letters within the greek text.. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/world/middleeast/dead-sea-scrolls.html.

  "the new fragments contain verses from zechariah 8:16-17, including part of the name of god written in ancient hebrew, and verses from nahum 1:5-6, both from the biblical book of the twelve minor prophets.".

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  Earnest

  Ding : If it was important to include the Hebrew Tetragrammaton in the Greek text, why didn't the New Testament writers do it as well?

  The fact that the tetragrammaton was included in the Greek text of the OT is a strong basis to accept that the New Testament writers did it as well, especially when quoting from the OT. None of the extant mss/papyri of the NT are earlier than the second/third century CE by which time the tradition of using the nomina sacra had developed.
  
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  Watchtower Change On Origins from 42,000 Years to the "Day Age" Theory

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  does anyone know when and how the change took place?

  is the "day age" theory still the current position of watchtower?.

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  Earnest

  The importance of the year 1975 was based on the idea that the seventh day was 7,000 years and that in 1975 there were 1,000 years to go (the millenium). When nothing happened it was clear that either the chronology was wrong or that a creative day was not 7,000 years (or both). It was only after 1975 that the lengths of the creative days became blurred.

  There is an interesting article in Awake! of 9/22 1986 which discusses "Scientific Dates for Prehistoric Times".
  
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  An exchange with a JW about the blood doctrine.

  by Giles Gray in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i recently had an online exchange with an active jw about the blood issue.

  he originally wanted to talk about the potential dangers of transfusions but i pointed out that the risks of transfusions have nothing whatsoever to do with the reason that jws reject blood, and therefore i didn’t see any value in debating that topic.. not able to let it go, he then insisted that the blood mandate was a common theme throughout the bible, quoting acts 15:29.. it’s been a while since i looked into the subject, and i admit i’m now a little rusty when it comes to recalling where to find biblical quotes, but i remembered that there are passages in both the new and old testaments that, when read in the context of the time they were written, call into question the watchtower’s rendition of acts 15:29.. i offered to do some bible research and get back to the jw, suggesting that rather than letting our discussion become combative, we could have an informative and interesting exchange of ideas.

  i reassured him that i was not looking to undermine his convictions, in fact i was more than happy to be corrected if my thinking was wrong.

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  Earnest

  stan livedeath : Didnt former member Cofty write the same thing a year or 2 back ?

  St George of England : "Former Member"? Have I missed something?

  cofty stopped posting about four months ago, saying :

  "I can't no longer be part of the irrational and hateful environment that has come to dominate this forum."
  
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  35

  An exchange with a JW about the blood doctrine.

  by Giles Gray in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i recently had an online exchange with an active jw about the blood issue.

  he originally wanted to talk about the potential dangers of transfusions but i pointed out that the risks of transfusions have nothing whatsoever to do with the reason that jws reject blood, and therefore i didn’t see any value in debating that topic.. not able to let it go, he then insisted that the blood mandate was a common theme throughout the bible, quoting acts 15:29.. it’s been a while since i looked into the subject, and i admit i’m now a little rusty when it comes to recalling where to find biblical quotes, but i remembered that there are passages in both the new and old testaments that, when read in the context of the time they were written, call into question the watchtower’s rendition of acts 15:29.. i offered to do some bible research and get back to the jw, suggesting that rather than letting our discussion become combative, we could have an informative and interesting exchange of ideas.

  i reassured him that i was not looking to undermine his convictions, in fact i was more than happy to be corrected if my thinking was wrong.

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  Earnest

  Bobcat : ... does anyone know where the article is wherein WT encourages JW healthcare workers to report blood use (or other WT health infractions) by other JWs to their elders?

  You may be thinking of the article "A Time to Speak" - When in the Watchtower of September 1, 1987, pp.12-15. However, the illustration given in that article is on abortion not blood use, although clearly the same principles would apply.

  Atlantis had a post on the article here.
  
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  Magadan

  by molybdenum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it seems that g. jackson got confused during his presentation relating to jesus and his going to magadan.

  ( check out lloyd evans "magadangate") but the jw community seems very hesitant and quiet on this apparent "faux pas".

  has anyone had any feedback from jw's that you know on this or are they just sweeping it under the carpet as being nothing of particular note?.

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  Earnest

  molybdenum : are they just sweeping it under the carpet as being nothing of particular note?

  So, Geoffrey Jackson conflated the account of the feeding of the 4,000 in Matthew 29 and the feeding of the 5,000 in John 6. So what. He made a mistake. What a fuss about nothing.
  
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  JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES: THE EFFECTS OF MILLENARIANISM ON THE MAINTENANCE OF A RELIGIOUS SECT.

  by carod2000 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  dear,.

  i am doing research on the history of jeovah's witnesses and would like to know if any of you have this research work to share: .

  jehovah's witnesses: the effects of millenarianism on the maintenance of a religious sect.

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  Earnest

  You can order a copy of Curry's dissertation here for $41.