Posts by lrkr

4

The Dead Sea Scrolls - did the Qmran sect influence Jesus and the early Christians?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

the small sect that lived in the qmran area (and who 'owned' the documents known as the dead sea scrolls), is important if we want to understand the religious thinking in the form of judaism practised in the first century ce, and therefore the starting point for the development of early christianity.. what did jesus know about the essenes who were at least in some sort of association with that sect?.

if early judaism was truly monotheistic, how can we relate some of these thoughts to that concept?.

from document iiq17 viii: "they bless and praise the god of gods ..." (note the translators(geza vermes) use of a capital g, why did he decide to use a capital.

lrkr

The Essenes were an apocalyptic Jewish cult. Believed in a universe of good vs. Evil, a coming final battle, and victory to the forces of good.

Very much like the Jesus cult.

Instead of saying the Essenes influenced the Jesus cult, I would say that the Jesus cult and the Essenes were similar products of the religious thought pattern of their time.

A Jewish nation that had been dominated by Rome and it's agents for a few hundred years that was looking for a savior/messiah/general to lead a successful revolution.

76

In one sentence, can you pinpoint a single event that woke you up?

by Brian J in

my turning point: serving on a child abuse judicial case.

.

lrkr

Up at 11:30 PM. Young child and wife asleep upstairs, and I'm adding up service reports that are clearly faked and mean nothing. Pointless. And on a deadline. WTF- and I don't mean Watchtower Farms.

10

Calling All Watchtower Historians ... What was the V.F.V.?

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

in the may 27, 1942 edition of the consolation, the watchtower society devoted several pages to the controversy surrounding the burial of joseph rutherford.

in several sections, they write about "the opposition" in vague terms without much specificity as to who these other groups of people were who were supposedly persecuting them.

one section refers to a group called v.f.v.

lrkr

Damn. I'm giving a dollar for the VFW poppy every time now. (Jk- I already do)

13

Watch Tower Farms

by Lost in the fog in

i know that the farms have been around for decades but i was wondering if the watch tower farms ever abbreviate their name simply to wtf?

.

lrkr

20 years ago every branch, etc had a three letter identifier. BKN, WTF, AND PAT.

WTF was changed to WAL I think.

27

It's hard being bisexual and being a jw

by Sally fields in

i've been bi for a long time but i know it's wrong if you want to be a jw... .

lrkr

Sally, you said, "Yeah i do . Like I believe the bible prophecies are probably true and the history aspects ."

Look a little deeper. Read books by Bart Ehrman, Ray Franz, carl orloff Johnnson, etc

Start with "Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. Here's a link: http://manybooks.net/pages/painethoetext03twtp410/0.html

There is no reason to be conflicted. The "prophecies and history " aren't true!

84

Spirit Channeling at Wallkill's Bethel

by Marie33 in

look what an ex-bethelite has to say about the spirit channeling he saw first hand up at wallkill:.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfmqnzbyrko.

now i believe rayven's story of horror at brooklyn bethel:.

lrkr

Typical of Bethel. One guy is a self righteous asshole, the other is probably artistic and suffers from delusions of grandeur. Both a bit nuts.

No conspiracy. Just the human psyche under strain.

I was at Wallkill too. Didnt know either guy, but the personality types ring true.

48

Adam and the Dinosaurs

by The Real Edward Gentry in

jw
friends

here is a fascinating subject.

according to the bible , one of adam's first assignments was to name all the animals including the sea creatures and dinosaurs of course.

we don't know how long this took but, as all witnesses know, the time period is crucial in working out the timing of armageddon).

lrkr

So, if it took 50 years and the timing is crucial to knowing when Armageddons coming.....

2025? 1975+50???

Just playing along.

13

GRACE? GRACE? What the F*** is GRACE? Jehovah's Witnesses have no idea!

by TerryWalstrom in

i think all of us ex-j-dubs have had the --i'll call it a privilege--to exchange views with others who think differently than we do.

we encounter "christians" from mainstream churches.our dialogue is sort of...like speaking to martians.sooner or later, an ex-dub smacks into a wall.

that wall is a subject which is never spoken about or taught by the gb or watchtower with any candor.

lrkr

I noticed this too when I left.

Grace is such a beautiful, spiritual, light concept.

Undeserved kindness is very guilt ridden and legalistic. Even Calvinist.

But I'm an atheist now- so I think it's all bs!

14

question from readers: with all the animal sacrifices, wouldnt the temple smell worse than a stockyard?

by nowwhat? in

with all the cattle, sheep and others wouldn't they be shitting and peeing all over the place?

along with the gallons and gallons of blood being drained and then the flesh being burned as well.

wouldn't the stench be unbearable?.

lrkr

The book Zealot by Reza Aslan has a great description of the disgusting, fetid experience Jerusalem must have been. Stockyard doesn't begin to describe it.

23

2 questions about Warwick

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

i have two questions about warwick.

see the picture included.

1) at the other side of the lake you see other buildings.

lrkr

IBM has buildings all throughout the Hudson Valley. That facility is like many others- nice, and empty!