glenster

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Posts by glenster

• 
  11

  They can explain EVERYTHiNG...

  by AwSnap in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  1 samuel 31:4 & 2 samuel 1:10. i asked a jw about these two scriptures.

  they looked it up & said, "well, obviously, the amalekite was lying!

  what are your thoughts?

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• 

  glenster

  
  2 Samuel 10:18 (New International Version)
  "18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their
  charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. [a] He also struck down
  Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there."

  "1 Chronicles 19:18 (New International Version)
  18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their
  charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach
  the commander of their army."
  
  One theory is the bigger number is due to scribal error in Hebrew with the
  dots that indicated how many thousands and were put over letters.
  http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/542
  http://www.carm.org/bible-difficulties/joshua-esther/how-many-charioteers-were-killed-700-or-7000

  Another theory is that the Hebrew word eleph can mean thousand or unit (as in
  family, tribe, clan, cattle, etc.--Judges 6:15; 1 Sam.10:19-21,18:51, etc.)
  700 charioteers could be referred to in the other verse as 7 military units of
  charioteers. This theory holds that a scribe would be unlikely to to confuse
  the number 100 with 1,000. See other examples of the same difference at the next
  link.
  http://www.specialtyinterests.net/hebrew_numbers.html
  http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:rhYmbVqRG80J:www.bsmi.org/download/kimble/Alleged%2520Discrepancies%2520in%2520the%2520Bible%2520-%2520Kimble.pdf+2+Samuel+10:18+1+Chronicles+19:18&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj6splPzMNloLsHkxjchXH04VUsS2W9lrTHA0C-hZFDY9C8AqzlfdmQAu540yFewETkXcLkihSufMJhm_82PizVwUJWnVEF8TqOSZ6pduwSsafzZuhbeuLuBVajWFRQ9DKsMqlz&sig=AFQjCNFg66-c6ebVbDf8e3BgSPVx1MwK6w

  Another theory is that David got the credit as the leader for the charioteers
  his army killed, and both passages in the Greek Septuagint indicate that 1,000
  chariots and 7,000 horsemen were captured. The smaller number in Hebrew could
  refer to part of the larger number--those who were killed outright in the
  battle, and the bigger number in later Hebrew could add those who died later as
  a result of the battle. The later deaths could be due to a forceful stop to an
  uprising on the part of those captured and/or due to the fact that in most wars
  there are greater deaths from wounds leading to fatalities or fatal illness apart
  from the battlefield. The later Greek then used that number for both passages.

  (I made the latter part of the last one up myself. Worse than a quick death
  in those wars was to linger and develop some form of ailment, like rickets, then
  die, which was all the more terrifying to the townspeople.)
• 
  10

  What did the Bible mean re: worldliness?

  by greenie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topic was broached in another thread (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/184175/1/please-help-re-objections-to-thanksgiving) and i was interested in expanding more on it.

  i am no bible scholar and view the bible as - gasp - more of a guidebook than literal one, but my impression has always been that the worldy bunch involved non-christians (personally i'd say non-religious ones, no offense anyone!

  )or pseudo religious ones that were unethical and/or immoral.

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• 

  glenster

  An unbiased outlook I recommend on the "hooray for us--bash them" syndrome:

  Some people get 'centric when they perceive they're in a group and rationalize
  "We're the good ones and others are crazy or stupid and cause all the trouble in
  the world." They may do it over a belief or non-belief view, race, gender,
  sexual orientation, nationality, age, income level, political party, etc.
  They'll only be friendly to those of their own classification, walls of aliena-
  tion go up, they distrust or even hate who's on the other side, and that's when
  jets fly into skyscrapers, Stalin had people persecuted or killed, people got
  burned at the stake, most ethnic groups when they 1st came to the US had high
  crime rates, etc., till they assimilated, etc.

  You've heard it said that nothing has caused more unnecessary hurt or death in
  the world than religion." But I say this is a better overview:

  Take the 'centric people that were on the offense in religious war, but not
  those on defense or the believers who wouldn't take part in such a thing,
  add the 'centric non-believers who persecuted or killed like Stalin, but not
  those on defense or the non-believers who wouldn't take part in such a thing,
  add those 'centric about race, etc., who lynched African Americans or threw
  them off slave ships, regarding them as chattel, when the food got low, etc.,
  but not those who wouldn't take part in such a thing,
  and nothing has caused more unnecessary hurt or death in the world than people
  who get too 'centric.

  I think that focuses more wisely on the problem and doesn't mischaracterize a
  lot of nice people.

  The irony of the outlook that lumps it all on all the believers is that it's
  the very sort of 'centric view that causes those problems.
• 
  13

  Evolution to be taught in primary school.

  by Caedes in

  1. social
  2. current

  about time.. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/nov/08/evolution-primary-school-curriculum-education.

  .

  the schools minister, diana johnson, has confirmed the plans will be included in a blueprint for a new curriculum to be published in the next few weeks.. it follows a letter signed by scientists and science educators calling on the government to make the change after draft versions of the new curriculum failed to mention evolution explicitly.. if only i had been taught evolution at primary school it might have helped me to realise exactly how much rubbish my parents were spouting.. i would love to know how 'faith' schools are going to get round this?.

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  glenster

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaching_evolution
• 
  13

  Biblical Archaeology Kit for JWs

  by leavingwt in

  1. social
  2. humour

  rush on over to jwr and order your "biblical archaeology kit for jws", while supplies last.

  .

  http://www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=5249#p69216.

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• 

  glenster

  I already have the Stetson fedora. It's like the one my Dad used to wear.
• 
  34

  GOOGLE EARTH

  by snowbird in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  a dear poster .

  i had no idea that you could enter an address and actually get a picture (not a diagram) of the area.. this is awesome and scary!.

  agreed?.

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  glenster

  
  "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City": the Ocean View:

  Go to the Google Search engine and put in "710 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, FL."
  Click it, "Street view," and "Full screen." Click to look a bit S (or wherever
  it is in relationship to the camera at the time) to see the Avalon, which the
  Ocean View is based on. I'm not sure which had the idea for the car in front of
  it first. The Deacon/Beacon and Colon/Colony are a bit to the N.
• 
  10

  What did the Bible mean re: worldliness?

  by greenie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this topic was broached in another thread (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/184175/1/please-help-re-objections-to-thanksgiving) and i was interested in expanding more on it.

  i am no bible scholar and view the bible as - gasp - more of a guidebook than literal one, but my impression has always been that the worldy bunch involved non-christians (personally i'd say non-religious ones, no offense anyone!

  )or pseudo religious ones that were unethical and/or immoral.

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• 

  glenster

  For a collection of the scriptures about it, see 1/3rd down the page at the
  next link.
  http://gtw6437.tripod.com/id19.html

  It means to sin by not believing in God or being unethical. It doesn't mean
  a ban of "things" (as in "offered to idols") per se or a ban on holidays or a
  ban on being a civil service dentist or such.
• 
  5

  Monkey Blood!

  by cameo-d in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i always wondered what the + was for.. .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nypedlqnfa.

  .

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• 

  glenster

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

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

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_genome
• 
  11

  They can explain EVERYTHiNG...

  by AwSnap in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  1 samuel 31:4 & 2 samuel 1:10. i asked a jw about these two scriptures.

  they looked it up & said, "well, obviously, the amalekite was lying!

  what are your thoughts?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  glenster

  According to Google:
  http://www.carm.org/bible-difficulties/joshua-esther/who-killed-saul-saul-or-amalekite

  Ask me anything--absolutely anything.

  The meaning of life:
  The meaning of life is exactly...and not one little bit more or little bit
  less, but exactly...what you think it means, and what I think it means or anyone
  else thinks it means or even God thinks it means doesn't make any damn differ-
  ence. You might think 2 and 2 is 4 or think it's 5, but if that's what it means
  to you, that's what it means to you, and that's the meaning of life. It takes
  less time to explain than how to build a bicycle. So don't go looking for a
  Swami on a hill, now you know.
• 
  30

  Please help re:objections to Thanksgiving?

  by M.J. in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what are the standard jw objections to thanksgiving?

  do they claim there is any kind of a scriptural basis for condemning it?

  i plan on asking someone about this and i'm curious what types of reasoning they might try to throw at me.

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• 

  glenster

  The JWs leaders use expanded ideas for what Biblical "worldliness" is, beyond
  not believing in God and being unethical, for the "only rule makers of a literal
  144,000" stance (for playing prophet). Since there's no end to what in the
  world that expanded version could be imagined as meaning if you include govern-
  ment involvement and the things of other kinds of worship (some worship nature--
  that's everything, and hard to avoid), their effort is to define their exclu-
  siveness by making distinctive extra-Biblical rules about which other things are
  too worldly and which other things aren't.
  http://glenster1.webs.com/gtjbrooklyn5.htm

  The validity of the rules bank on the validity of the JWs leaders' claim of
  their exclusive right to make rules, which is meant to be defined by the validi-
  ty of the rules.
• 
  20

  Started reading Crisis of Conscience

  by KingDavidwasframed in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i was referred to the above mentioned book but never thought it necessary before to read.

  i am starting the 3rd chapter now and all i can say is wow!

  what happened to me has happened to many.

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• 

  glenster

  
  I like RF and found some insider information good for my research in his two
  books, which I read back when they came out (I haven't seen the latest edi-
  tions). Some basics I remember are that he's a nephew of FF, was in the writing
  dept., then, for about nine yrs., was a GB member. He did some research that
  conflicted with the policies (regarding 607 BC, etc.), was put out, was disfel-
  lowshipped from going to Kingdom Hall after about a year (wondering if the
  problems would be resolved?), then wrote his two books.

  I'm not disputing any specific information, and I hope nobody thinks I'm being
  unreasonably cynical, but I always had something nag at me about it. The story
  has it he was a well-researched and sincere WT writer and, for nine years,
  sincere GB leader. That last combination of words don't go together--in my re-
  search, I haven't found a sincere period of JWs leaders, let alone can I imagine
  it's possible if they're well-researched about the JWs leaders' distinctions.
  The research material would indicate the JWs leaders' distinctions are wrong so
  would be insincerely manipulated by JWs leaders. A handful of sections in my
  web site about the JWS leaders are about authors complaining that their material
  was misused and such. I started realizing it right away when I began research-
  ing the JWs leaders' distinctions, so 9 years seems like a long time.

  Assuming he didn't spend 9+ yrs. getting coffee for the others, can someone
  more familiar with it than me explain that? Did they tend to have him write
  about conventional things and put others in charge of writing about the distinc-
  tions or--?