Posts by glenster

37

How do you explain...

by AwSnap in

1 samuel 19:9?

i thought god didn't commit evil...and this also appears to be predestination, no?

that was the new world translation.. the new international bible says:.

glenster

P.S.: otherwise, at I Sam.16:14 you have the Lord doing the holy hokey pokey.
(You put your spirit in, you take your spirit out,
you make your spirit shake, and you turn it all about....)

37

How do you explain...

by AwSnap in

1 samuel 19:9?

i thought god didn't commit evil...and this also appears to be predestination, no?

that was the new world translation.. the new international bible says:.

glenster

"So, er, Glenster...are you agreeing with me? 1 Sam 16:14 also appears to
show that the evil spirit belonged to the LORD."

No. I Sam 16:14 is more clear that His own spirit was a different one. (Also
see 1 Cor.5:5) 1 Samuel 19:9 refers to this with "from," which indicates God
sent the other spirit.

"It is not that Jehovah actually sent...."

It says it was from God, which implies "sent."

18

Evidence In Favor Of Bloodless Surgery Mounts

by Bangalore in

evidence in favor of bloodless surgery mounts.. .

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/281102.

bangalore.

glenster

^ No. What I have on that is on pp.11-42 at the next link.
http://glenster1.webs.com/gtjbrooklyn11.htm

37

Why the abuse in religious organizations?

by PSacramento in

i have often wondered why the many issues of child abuse and pedohilia in religious organizations.. a friend of mine mentioned that they are not alone of course, many cases in other sectod too, but it seems to be out of whack in religious organizations.. i think that it may be a two fold issue:.

1) many people have these horrific tendacies and know it, many try to find solice or a solution for them in religion ( self control and such), they fail because rather than dealing with the problem they try to "control" it, in other words they try to contain it and dominate it instead of fixing it.. some may believe they are cured, only to fall "from grace" as it were.. 2) some are sub-consciously or perhaps even consciously attracted to "professions" that will alllow them to exercise those tendancies.. religious organizations tend to not be the best palce for people with these issues, there is a tendancy to "ignore" the problem raher than fix it, a tendancy to not seek professional help because it is a sign of lack of faith.. pedophiles need to be helped, for the sake of all, they need to be treated even sequestered from the possibility of commiting these horrific acts.. for their own good as well as for the sakes of children.. thoughts?.

.

glenster

37

How do you explain...

by AwSnap in

1 samuel 19:9?

i thought god didn't commit evil...and this also appears to be predestination, no?

that was the new world translation.. the new international bible says:.

glenster

"To me, 'allowing a place for the Devil' is a bit different than someone
sending their evil spirit upon me."

To me, too. If He just allowed it to go somewhere, it might not have gone
where He wanted it.

"God does not HAVE a 'bad' Spirit... or any 'bad spirits.' Well, then, I am
simply not understanding since the scripture says 'an evil spirit from the LORD'
(or 'Jehovah'sbad spirit came to be on Saul')"

See I Sam 16:14: "But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit
from the Lord troubled him."

51

From Noah's Ark to Australia - Awake! Jan. 8, 1969 pp. 5-8

by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

so, how did the kangaroos get from noah's ark to australia?

i'd never found any references in watchtower litteratrash, until i stumbled upon this farticle "from noah's ark to australia" in the 1969 awake bound volume.

most of it is wordy and rather pointless, so i only typed two middle subheadings for consideration:.

glenster

There is a mantel over the Earth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOHFd8ieZeU

37

How do you explain...

by AwSnap in

1 samuel 19:9?

i thought god didn't commit evil...and this also appears to be predestination, no?

that was the new world translation.. the new international bible says:.

glenster

I think it's meant as the flip side of the Holy Spirit dwelling in someone
who's in God's favor. Saul had fallen out of favor with God, so Saul was sup-
posed to be tormented for having done that (1 Sam.16:14-16). (Also see 1 Cor.
5:5)

11

Jehovah and Satan and universal sovereignity - so what?

by DrJohnStMark in

what really is the biblical support for this major doctrine of the wt society?

when i was still a pioneer, we met a young lady at her door, crying and holding a small disabled baby, asking for an explanation.

my friend, it was his turn at the door, started to mumble something about universal sovereignity.

glenster

For your God concept to be credible, you have to have the same world whether
there is a God or not--children born with disabilities, starvation and poverty
in the 3rd world, people who die in unfortunate ways anywhere in the world, that
everyone dies, etc. It can't be an all-beneficent God concept or we'd all live
in heavenly circumstances forever.

The Bible God has God provide everything so have God's prerogative (or sover-
eignty) but was never meant as an all-beneficent God any more than the writers
ever thought we all live in heavenly circumstances on Earth. The best you can
do is be glad of your chance at life and what you found in it whether you be-
lieve in God or not--if you add God like Job, you're glad of Him for providing
the chance to do that. The Devil's stance in the story is to not even do that,
which isn't an outlook I'd recommend whether you believe in God or not.

I would take Genesis figuratively for theological teaching, and some of these
things seem to be matters of interpretation. But I disagree that the story has
it that the Devil told Eve the truth: God tells Adam and Eve they'll die if they
eat of the tree and the Devil lies to her that she won't--she'll be a god. The
Tower of Babel can be interpreted as God preventing people from creating some-
thing better than God with a tower to their own virtue only if you think they
had a chance to. It's about people putting more stock in selfish human pride
than the God who gave them the world to be that way in (not that they'd actually
build a tower so high they'd go to heaven and be better than God--how would you
provide eveything after it's already been done? They'd just run into thinner
atmosphere and be very cold like on a mountaintop) and God interrupting the
folly of it by letting them prove it: people are so prone to being 'centric they
can't get over unimportant differences.

I also don't see the merit of the contention that for someone to think that
they'll be shown right even if they let someone have their say with an opposing
stance (as God lets the Devil, as adversarial lawyer, do in Job) proves insecur-
ity or tyranny--I'd think it would prove the opposite. Otherwise, having people
die whichever way for committing to the opposing stance (notably in stories in
which God makes His presence clear with interventions) would be God's preroga-
tive, not a false assumption of it on His part. Rebelling against the source of
life, whose making His presence known, isn't a good strategy....

The tower builders' and Devil's stance in those stories isn't just a stance
about God but that people should consider themselves as paragons of virtue or
such. People aren't all-beneficent, either, or there wouldn't be the list of
links of people getting too 'centric about belief or non-belief choices at the
next link. (I could have added equally long lists of people causing grief due
to getting too 'centric over matters of race, nationality, income level, age,
etc.)
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklyn43.htm

So much concern might be given to complaining that God's not all-beneficent
that people may forget to try to see it the other way around, too. (Think of
George Burns in "Oh, God": "I look down, I can't believe the filth.") Would
you want all of them to live in your house forever? Whether you believe in God
(and a Babel tower builder or a Devil whose argument is that people should con-
sider themselves the ultimate) or not, it's a pretty disappointing show that
even with whatever towers or knowledge of good and evil, common human selfish-
ness is unfortunately all-too appropriately named. Crime isn't just a result of
people not knowing better (from trees of knowlege of it or anything else), but
what's worse is that even if they do, human selfishness has too many act self-
ishly anyway.

7

French court convicts Church of Scientology of fraud

by Gayle in

http://www.cnn.com/2009/world/europe/10/27/france.scientology.fraud/index.html?eref=rss_topstories "the plaintiffs focused their complaints on the use of a device that scientologists say measures spiritual well-being.

" glad they got caught on this.

of course, the watchtower measures their members' 'spiritual well-being' by how many meetings they attend and the amount of hours they report.

glenster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_in_France

20

Bible Research help needed.

by cantleave in

my wife and i want to start looking afresh at the bible, go back to basics as it were.. what have people here found to be the best approach?.

what translations of the bible would you reccomend (i have the nwt).

what commentaries / texts have people found most useful?.

glenster

The public library interlibrary loan system is free, too.

There are some free Internet Bibles, etc., at the next link:
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklyn6b.htm