Not likely the same congregation, Stan. In the reading this morning she says they lived in Moseley, probably Sparkhill, and so she would have attended the Moseley congregation. She describes it as "an old building in a shabby part of south Birmingham [which] is cold and damp with hard seats, paraffin heaters, crackling lights. We sit in rows of six and it begins with a song ... Two hours on a Thursday, two hours on a Sunday."
Earnest
JoinedPosts by Earnest
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Without Warning & Only Sometimes
by Earnest inanother biography will be published on 18th august 2022 - without warning & only sometimes by kit de waal who writes about her childhood in a mixed-race family in 1960's birmingham (uk).
it is not only about jws but her "descriptions of church meetings are deliciously evocative" (the guardian 08/12/22) :.
“time does not pass.
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Earnest
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Without Warning & Only Sometimes
by Earnest inanother biography will be published on 18th august 2022 - without warning & only sometimes by kit de waal who writes about her childhood in a mixed-race family in 1960's birmingham (uk).
it is not only about jws but her "descriptions of church meetings are deliciously evocative" (the guardian 08/12/22) :.
“time does not pass.
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Earnest
Another biography will be published on 18th August 2022 - Without Warning & Only Sometimes by Kit de Waal who writes about her childhood in a mixed-race family in 1960's Birmingham (UK). It is not only about JWs but her "descriptions of church meetings are deliciously evocative" (The Guardian 08/12/22) :
“Time does not pass. The clock does not move … I live with the dread that one day when my young muscles rebel, can take no more stillness and the brutal confinement of my very self, I will stand and strip naked and burst out of my skin. Not today, please not today.”
BBC Radio 4 will be reading exerpts from it each day this week (Monday - Friday, 15 - 19 August at 9:45 BST) and repeated (Tuesday - Saturday, 16 - 20 August at 00:30 BST).
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Dr. Bart Ehrman Live Webinar Did Jesus Call himself God?
by Diogenesister inthere's a live webinar with dr. ehrman on the subject of the divinity of jesus.
folks will be able to put questions directly to dr. bart, the cost is $14.00 with the webinar covering the following topics:.
• soon after jesus’ death, his disciples claimed that he was god .
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Earnest
Disillusioned JW, the link you provided to the Cista Mystica website is no longer accessible, but I was able to access the same material here. It maintains that the term 'christian' does not occur until codex Alexandrinus, which it suggests may be later than the 5th century C.E., and that prior to this the term 'chrestian' was invariably used.
However, P72 (also known as P.Bodmer.VIII) is a manuscript dated to the third or fourth century which contains the two letters of Peter. At 1 Peter 4:16 he writes "But if he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame ..." and P72 renders this as "ei de xristianos me eschunestho", so it is not true that the term 'christian' only occurred much later. You can actually see the manuscript on the Vatican Library website here, with 1 Peter 4:16 at the top of p.19.
Why then, is there early use of the term xrestianos? In the book Lettered Christians: Christians, Letters, and Late Antique Oxyrhynchus, 2012, by Lincoln H. Blumell he explains (p.37):
While the epithet "Christian" certainly appears to have been derived from the word "Christ", to an outsider who might not have been necessarily familiar with the association [of Christians] it sometimes appears that it was taken to have an association with the adjective xrestos (good) ... it is not always clear if such a distinction is being made consciously or whether it is simply a mispronunciation.
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onacruise - Craig Mills 1952-2011
by Lady Lee ini was given the link to a bit of information regarding on old poster/moderator of this forum.
i was not sure of the validity of the information so have been trying to find out if it is true.. earlier today craig's estranged wife, kate, (bikerchic) confirmed that craig died at his home on aug 10, 2011.. i am sure that many people here remember craig's time here and how he went out of his way to offer support to posters, even calling them, to give whatever help he could as they adjusted to their post-jw lives.. i know many people here will grieve his loss.. --------------.
ps i tried posting this earlier but the computer i was working with would not allow the posts.
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20 Things I Don't Understand about Jehovah's Witnesses
by Vanderhoven7 ini don’t understand how jehovah’s witnesses can rightly claim:.
that less than 150,000 faithful christians existed prior to the 20th century....when allegedly millions were martyred during the first 3 centuries of the common era alone.
unique ability to interpret scripture...when interpretation of prophecy has been 100% wrong for over 130 years.. .
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Earnest
Vanderhoven7 : Why not between 1916 and 1943?
It is true they don't have a clue exactly when it happened, only that it must have been after the war in heaven, and before the great crowd was identified.
The terminus post quem of 1914 is because the war that broke out in heaven (Rev.12:7) did not include the holy ones, unlike the later battle with the nations (Rev.17:14), and so it is inferred the first resurrection had not yet occurred.
The terminus ad quem of 1935 is discussed in the same Watchtower article, para, 10,11. As the identity of the great crowd was revealed in 1935, the first resurrection must have already occurred (Rev. 7:13,14).
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20 Things I Don't Understand about Jehovah's Witnesses
by Vanderhoven7 ini don’t understand how jehovah’s witnesses can rightly claim:.
that less than 150,000 faithful christians existed prior to the 20th century....when allegedly millions were martyred during the first 3 centuries of the common era alone.
unique ability to interpret scripture...when interpretation of prophecy has been 100% wrong for over 130 years.. .
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Earnest
Vanderhoven7 : Yes, the current teaching is that the Apostle Peter and the rest of the anointed who died were raised to heavenly life in the spring of 1918.
The current teaching is that the first resurrection began sometime between 1914 and 1935. Could it have been in the spring of 1918? The Watchtower of January 1, 2007, p.28, para.12 says :
That is an interesting possibility. Although this cannot be directly confirmed in the Bible, it is not out of harmony with other scriptures that indicate that the first resurrection got under way soon after Christ’s presence began.
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Jesus is Michael the Archangel
by Fisherman inonly jesus has the power and authority to defeat satan and kick him out of heaven:.
“now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our god and the authority of his christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our god.”.
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Earnest
Thanks for that, TD. Would you be willing to identify the reference works so I could consult them myself.
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Jesus is Michael the Archangel
by Fisherman inonly jesus has the power and authority to defeat satan and kick him out of heaven:.
“now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our god and the authority of his christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our god.”.
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Earnest
TD, you can always be relied on to produce a thoughtful post. There seem to be two possible categories for the dative of the εν phrases, either instrumental or associative. If it's instrumental then the Lord has the voice of the archangel, he calls out the commanding call and he descends with God's trumpet. If associative then he descends in association with these things.
The grammar does not rule out an instrumental interpretation. For example, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers says:
Probably, therefore, the “shout of command” is uttered by the “leader of the angels;” and the trump (called “the trump of God” because used for God’s purposes) is blown to summon the mustering hosts. In favour of supposing the Lord Himself to utter the cry, may be adduced John 5:25; but, on the other hand, it suits the dignity of the scene better to imagine the loud sound to come rather from one of the heralds of the great army.
So the choice naturally follows theological bias.
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Jesus is Michael the Archangel
by Fisherman inonly jesus has the power and authority to defeat satan and kick him out of heaven:.
“now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our god and the authority of his christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our god.”.
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Earnest
Sea Breeze : Of course there was [uncertainty about who Jesus was in the first century] .... UNTIL he stated on several occasions that he would die and resurrect himself after three days....and then did it.
This quite ignores the substance of my post that Jesus was viewed as "the angel of Jehovah" in Jude and elsewhere. But, to address your point, John makes quite clear that when Jesus said (John 2:19,21) "in three days I will raise [the temple of my body] up", he was using a figure of speech, as he then wrote "when he was raised up [not 'when he raised himself up'] from the dead, his disciples recalled this". Scripture is quite clear (e.g. Galations 1:1) it is "God the Father who raised him up from the dead".
Jesus is either using a figure of speech or he is God the Father, and sits at his own right hand (Ephesians 1:20). No in between here.
Fisherman : You can read [Daniel 10:13] that [there are other "foremost princes"] but in harmony with all the other scriptures, the verse is not implying that there are many archangels.
I'm not so sure about that. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says that the Lord will descend from heaven "with an archangel's voice", not "the archangel's voice" which you would expect if there was only one archangel. Jews at the time of Christ believed in several archangels. For example, the War Scroll from Qumran (1QM 9.14-16) names four - Michael, Gabriel, Sariel and Raphael. 1 Enoch 20 lists seven. The fact is that while scripture only refers to one archangel by name, there is nothing to rule out there being more than one and Daniel 10:13 seems to support that.
You say that "there is no other conclusion because Michael defeats and evicts Satan and only Jesus can do that". Disillusioned JW came up with an interesting suggestion that "maybe Michael the Archangel is the angel of Jesus Christ, an angel directly under the command of Jesus Christ". That would meet your objection, wouldn't it? All I am really saying is that we should not go beyond the things that are written, and while there are good reasons for identifying Jesus as the archangel Michael, it is not explicit in scripture and so should not be a core belief.
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Dennis Christiansen release
by riblah indoes anyone know exactly how/why he was arrested?
i know it was for practicing the religion, but did he and others totally ignore the law in russia and continue meeting openly and going door to door or were they trying to avoid detection?
did the gb instruct people there to either stop or continue activities there after it was outlawed (i'm sure there's nothing in writing)?.
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