Earnest

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Posts by Earnest

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  25

  It begins norway no money for wt because of shunning

  by Yomama in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  organized shunning will stop when money stops.

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  Earnest

  The statement on the government website for Oslo and Viken follows:
  

  Jehovah's Witnesses Denied State Grants for 2021

  The County Governor of Oslo and Viken deny the Jehovah's Witnesses state grants for 2021 on the basis of the society's exclusion practice.

  After receiving notifications from former members regarding the exclusion and exclusion of members, the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs has asked the County Governor of Oslo and Viken to review Jehovah's Witnesses' own accounts and publications. In this review, the County Governor has uncovered several violations of the Religious Communities Act.

  Right to free opt-out

  The exclusion practice means that members are refused contact with registered members. This will also apply to members who have voluntarily left the religion. In practice, this means that those who opt out cannot have contact with family and friends in the congregation. In our opinion, this prevents the right to free withdrawal, and is in violation of Section 2 of the Religious Communities Act.

  Exclusion of children

  The religion also allows for the exclusion of baptised minors. This means that children can be excluded if they violate the rules of the religious community. We believe this is negative social control and violates children's rights. Uninjured (udøpte) children who violate the rules of the religious community may be subjected to social isolation. This is also perceived as negative social control and violation of children's rights. Such treatment of children is contrary to Section 6 of the Religious Communities Act.

  The County Governor's discretion – the supervisory authorities may refuse grants

  Jehovah's Witnesses have defended the exclusion practice on several occasions. The denomination has detailed rules for how members should practice exclusion and social isolation towards these groups. The rules are notified to members, among other things, through books and study articles. We have assessed the offences as systematic and intentional, and have therefore chosen to refuse grants. This is in line with Section 11, third subsection of the Religious Communities Regulations. Read more in the attached decision.

  I will post the "attached decision" in a separate post.
  
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  4

  James Arjuna

  by jhine in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  real long shot here, has anyone come across a james arjuna ?

  he's a " scientist " jw who disses evolution and is really full of venom .

  i just wondered if anyone actually knows him , he's american and a real charmer .

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  Earnest

  I don't know him from Adam, Jan, but his LinkedIn profile says he has a certificate of completion of several aspects of printing processes, electrical and electronics engineering from San Jose State University, 1966-1970. Whatever he learnt in engineering he seems to have applied to building hot tubs. I would hardly call him a scientist despite the high opinion he has of himself. I do not think he is representative of Jehovah's Witnesses in general, only of himself in particular.
  
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  16

  1975 and so on.

  by zachias in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yes i was there.. when we were all told.. 1975 is the time.

  i was new to the jw thing but i knew then "that no man knoweth the day nor the hour....".. https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5647286362177536/1975-on.

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  Earnest

  Smiddy3 : I didn`t know back then that this was the second time the JW`s had said 6000 years of human existance had lived on Earth ,there was a much earlier one .

  The 1973 book God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years has Approached, p.206, says :

  • It is true that the editor and publisher of Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence calculated ... that the date of the first man's creation by Jehovah God was in the year 4128 B.C.E., which meant that six thousand years of man's existence on the earth ended in the year 1872 C.E., as calculated by Russell and his associates ... Two years, however, were allowed for the innocence of the perfect man and woman in the Garden of Eden before sin entered, and hence the year of sin's entrance was calculated as 4126 B.C.E. This resulted in their calculating six thousand years of sin as ending in 1874 C.E., in which year also, in the autumn, the seventh millenium began ...

  This was first published by Russell in The Three Worlds in 1877, although at that time he thought the 6,000 years ended in autumn 1873 C.E. Nelson Barbour, a Second Adventist, was largely responsible for the contents of the book.
  
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  18

  Article to discuss or argue over: Buddha, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammed: Larger-than-life historic figures or largely legends?

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've posted a link to an article that contains important food for thought.

  as we search for information to free our minds and hearts of cult-like thinking which entails being able to critically think, we need to ponder research that is available to help us to make important decisions.

  we need to allow ourselves to consider other possibilities, something that jw’s are discouraged from doing.

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  Earnest

  Sea Breeze, you wrote:

  The Nazareth Inscription is almost certainly authentic ... It was also almost certainly issued by the Emperor Claudius and most likely in 41 AD ... It is nearly certain that it was King Herod Agrippa I who wrote the letter of inquiry to the Emperor Claudius ... It is also nearly certain that it was in response to Agrippa’s letter of inquiry that Claudius wrote an imperial rescript ... It is also nearly certain that it was King Herod Agrippa I who...had the Nazareth Inscription posted in Nazareth ... Claudius almost certainly turned to his friend Agrippa I for advice and information ... it seems nearly certain that it was at this same time that Agrippa I wrote his letter of inquiry to Claudius, and Claudius consequently wrote his rescript letter ... it was almost certainly [Agrippa] who selected Nazareth as the site for the posting of the Nazareth Inscription.

  That's almost certain then. Except other scholars have concluded otherwise. It was dated to :

  30 – 28 B.C.E.

  Hieronymus Markowski, «De Caesaris graeco titulopalaestino», Posnan 1936,128-137.

  Augustus

  • · Franz Cumont, Un rescript impérial sur la violation de sépulture, Revue Historique 163 (1930) 241-266.
  • · Giuseppe Corradi, Un nuovo documento Augusteo Mondo Classico 1 (1931) 56-65.
  • · Raphael Tonneau, L ' inscription de Nazareth sur la violation de sépultures, Revue Biblique 40 (1931) 544-563.
  • · Jacques Zeiller, L'inscription dite de Nazareth, RecSR 21 (1931) 570-576.
  • · Salvatore Riccobono, Fontes iuris Romani antejustiniani. Pars prima: Leges, Florence 1941, 414-416.
  • · B. Agouridis, Τυμβωρυχία έν Παλαιστίνη επί Αυγούστου, Θεολογία 23 (1953) 122-131.

  Tiberius

  • · Edouard Cuq, Le rescrit d' Auguste sur les violations de sépulture, Revue Historique de Droit Francais et Etranger IVe sér., 11 (1932) 109-125
  • · Leon Herrmann, Chrestos; témoignages païens et juifs sur le christianisme du premier siècle (Collection Latomus CIX), Brussels 1970, 12-15.

  Caligula

  • · Gaetano de Sanctis, Il rescritto imperiale di Nazareth, RPAA 7 (1931) 13-17
  • · Stephan Losch, Diatagma Kaisaros.Die Inschrift von Nazareth und das Neue Testament. Eine Untersuchung zur neutestamentlichen Zeitgeschichte, Freiburg 1936.

  Claudius

  Margherita Guarducci, L' inscrizione di Nazareth sulla violazione dei sepolcri, RPAA, 17 (1941/42) 85-88.

  Nero

  Marta Sordi, L'Edit de Nazareth et la politique de Néron a l'égard des chrétiens, ZPE 120 (1998) 279-291

  Vespasian or Titus

  V. Capocci, Per la data del rescritto imperiale sulla violazione di sepolcro recentemente publicato, BIDR 38 (1930) 215-223.

  Hadrian

  Frank E. Brown, Violation of Sepulture in Palestine, American Journal of Philology 52 (1931) 1-29.

  Septimius Severus

  John Sylvester Creaghan, Violatio sepulchri. An Epigraphical Study, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. Princeton Univ. 1951.
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  18

  Article to discuss or argue over: Buddha, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammed: Larger-than-life historic figures or largely legends?

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've posted a link to an article that contains important food for thought.

  as we search for information to free our minds and hearts of cult-like thinking which entails being able to critically think, we need to ponder research that is available to help us to make important decisions.

  we need to allow ourselves to consider other possibilities, something that jw’s are discouraged from doing.

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  Earnest

  Sea Breeze : But Ceasar issued an unusual type of edit (The Nazareth Inscription) reserved for special problems to make it illegal to steal bodies from tombs shortly after the Resurrection.

  It is unclear which Caesar issued this "edict" and when it was issued. In an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 30, April 2020, scientists established that the marble came from the Greek island of Kos. They propose that "the edict was issued by Caesar Augustus in response to the desecration of the grave of a famous tyrant from Kos named Nikias [who died c.20 B.C.E.], a theory which more logically fits with the provenance of the marble and the events of that time."

  Palaeographically, it is dated between 50 B.C.E. AND 50 C.E. and so could have been a result of the disappearance of Christ's body, but it seems unlikely to me that Pilate would have informed Caesar of his incompetence in guarding the tomb.
  
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  5

  Changed my avatar-And how did the Romans Execute You?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  been meaning to do that for a while - and just saw an article in bar (see below) and thought - that's how i feel today (grin) i've had the flu for 2 weeks and feel really pissed off.. sunday before last, my friend visiting from china, calls up and says come to dinner tonite, meet me at darling harbour.

  so did that, and even though we could've walked to the restaurant he'd selected in about 15 minutes, he decides (he's rather wealthy) we should take a water taxi to circular quay (for those who know sydney).

  i protested, as i knew it was expensive - $70 for a 10 minute ride.we're no sooner in the boat, than it starts to rain like hell, and before the boatmaster could get the curtains down, i was soaked on one side.

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  Earnest

  In 2018 English archaeologists unearthed a skeleton at a Roman settlement in Fenstanton, almost 1,900 years old, with a nail through the heel bone, suggesting the man was crucified.

  There is a report by Albion Archaeology, who carried out the archaeology, and a detailed report can be read here. It says, in part :

  While this cannot be taken as incontrovertible proof that the man was crucified, it seems the only plausible explanation – making it at most the fourth example ever recorded worldwide through archaeological evidence. Crucifixion was relatively commonplace in Roman times, but the victims were often tied to the cross rather than nailed, and if nails were used then it was routine to remove them afterwards. Only one other example has been found with a nail surviving in situ through the bone, discovered at Giv‘at ha-Mivtar in north Jerusalem during building work in 1968; skeletons with a similar hole have also been found at Gavello in Italy and at Mendes in Egypt, but without a nail in place and with doubt over how the holes had been formed.

  
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  38

  Recent Annual Meeting - Asking for Clarification

  by truth_b_known in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  would someone in the know please clarify for me some alleged comments given from the governing body at the recent/yet to be streamed for the rank and file annual meeting?.

  it is my understanding that samuel herd basically tells the rank and file that old light is new light and the new light of july, 2013 is now old light.

  to be specific, herd states that the official stance on whether or not the annointed remaining on earth, to include the governing body, will all be in heaven prior to armageddon.. at this same annual meeting tony morris iii tells those in attendance that stephen letts' statement that "we're living in the final part of the last days, undoubtedly the final part of the final part of the last days!

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  Earnest

  There was a thread in October on the Annual Meeting.
  
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  18

  Child pornography should NOT be automatically handled by a judicial committee

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  new information added to the "shepherd the flock elder's book" .

  they have updated their policy on viewing child pornography.. from a congregation standpoint it is not viewed as child sex abuse and is something that should not be automatically handled by a judicial committee.

  it states that a person viewing child pornography should be strongly counseled.

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  Earnest

  hoser : I would think other countries have their own laws.

  Correct. Wikipedia shows legal/illegal status by country.

  In the UK all forms of child pornography (real or fictional) including possession is illegal. This includes real and fictional "indecent pseudo-photographs of a child", who is defined as anyone under the age of 18. The argument that you can legally view child porn on the internet without downloading it is a fiction because the action of viewing it automatically downloads it and you are guilty of possession while it remains there. Just don't do it.
  
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  22

  Request----Federal Post Office Inspector!

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  atlantis:.

  do you have a copy of a letter that was sent out by a congregation overseer, with a complaint from the federal post office inspector, concerning letters being sent out by jw's?.

  yes, i have it, but very few people show any interest in the letters anymore.

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  Earnest

  Bill Covert : So did the GB come to a come to Jesus moment and decide out of the goodness of their hearts forgive those loan?

  Probably not. But they may well have concluded that expecting the congregants to continue to pay a loan for a building which was no longer theirs (after the transfer of ownership to the Kingdom Hall Trust) would be a pill too hard to swallow for many.

  To say that the "main evidence of wickedness" is based on "elementary deduction" is not evidence at all.
  
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  22

  Request----Federal Post Office Inspector!

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  atlantis:.

  do you have a copy of a letter that was sent out by a congregation overseer, with a complaint from the federal post office inspector, concerning letters being sent out by jw's?.

  yes, i have it, but very few people show any interest in the letters anymore.

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  Earnest

  Bill Covert : The main evidence of wickedness is the forgiving of K. H. loans, as the government put a cease and desist on the loan program.

  Hi Bill, can you provide any further information (documentation) regarding this "cease and desist on the loan program" ?