Gopher

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Posts by Gopher

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  40

  Did You Ever Hear An Elder or Bethelite's Comments That Made You Question ??

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  years ago, the society's speakers used to give many off the cuff statements.

  a lot of personal opinions and questionable remarks.. anything ever stand out for you in this area?.

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  Gopher

  Many circuit overseers are highly questionable too.
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  45

  Seven Headed Wild Beast officially no longer represents UN?

  by donuthole in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  according to a new "bible questions answered": " the wild beast with seven heads introduced at revelation 13:1 represents the worldwide political system.".

  i know that they have quietly been backing away from the un identification for awhile.

  is this feature on jw.org a new official teaching, or just a spin for the sake of the public?.

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  Gopher

  The wild beast is the Watchtower Society and the 7 heads represent the entire Governing Body.
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  36

  Does anyone know the curent understanding on Chess for JWs?

  by BU2B in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i seem to remember chess was frowned upon by some jws.

  is this like the oral/anal sex policy?

  just ignore it and hope it goes away...

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  Gopher

  They did have one article on chess in the 3/22/1973 Awake saying chess is a war game and that the readers of the magazine need to be cautious when considering playing it.

  Later (I don't remember the year) they had an Awake article covering games in general, and chess was mentioned in a favorable light there.
  
  As far as I know, they have had no comment on chess since the 2nd article. So their latest word is that it's okay for "Christians". (Of course, they are free to change their mind again and decide to take away another innocent pastime.)
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  45

  Seven Headed Wild Beast officially no longer represents UN?

  by donuthole in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  according to a new "bible questions answered": " the wild beast with seven heads introduced at revelation 13:1 represents the worldwide political system.".

  i know that they have quietly been backing away from the un identification for awhile.

  is this feature on jw.org a new official teaching, or just a spin for the sake of the public?.

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  Gopher

  In the quote box below I pasted what the WTS had taught about the 7-headed beast. It is from page 235 of the "Revelation Climax" book. It says that the UN is an "eighth king" that springs from and derives its power from the 7, the 7 representing the motley collection of world rulerships currently in existence.

  I see no change from that in the jw.org quote you posted.

  "And the wild beast that was but is not, it is also itself an eighth king, but springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction.” (Revelation 17:11) The symbolic scarlet - colored wild beast “springs from” the seven heads; that is, it is born from, or owes its existence to, those heads of the original “wild beast . . . out of the sea,” of which the scarlet-colored wild beast is an image. In what way? Well, in 1919 the Anglo-American power was the ascendant head. The previous six heads had fallen, and the position of dominant world power had passed to this dual head and was now centered in it. This seventh head , as the current representative of the line of world powers, was the moving force in establishing the League of Nations and is still the major promoter and financial support of the United Nations. Thus, in symbol, the scarlet-colored wild beast—the eighth king—“springs from” the original seven heads. Viewed in this way, the statement that it sprang from the seven harmonizes well with the earlier revelation that the wild beast with two horns like a lamb (the Anglo-American World Power, the seventh head of that original wild beast) urged the making of the image and gave it life.—Revelation 13:1, 11, 14, 15.
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  78

  Can you prove Jesus existed outside of Bible (so called) evidence?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i thought i'd done a thread on this before but can't find it.. so.

  did jesus actually exist?.

  without using the bible i'd like to see obvious proof..

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  Gopher

  If there were a miracle-working preacher claiming to be a king living in the Roman Empire, certainly there would be more than scant or nonexistent evidence in the records of the empire. Other information and records such as business transactions performed during that time in the empire have been found and preserved, but nothing about Jesus as Bart Ehrman noted.
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  12

  Status quo? Or tell ttatt?

  by ILoveTTATT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  supposing i can pull off moving to the other city without the elders successfully finding me and forcing me to go to a jc or something.... should i ever tell my mom ttatt?

  or should i let sleeping dogs lie?

  it is extremely unlikely that dad will tell her ttatt... he prefers, 99% of the time, to not say anything rather than fight.

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  Gopher

  
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  7

  We want to thank everyone.....

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we want to thank all of you who have subscribed to our youtube channel and watch our videos...in just 4 months your response and support has been overwhelming and we have reached 500 subscribers!!!

  so we humbly thank you all..

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  Gopher

  What YouTube channel is that? (Sorry I missed the boat.)
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  15

  Dissolving a congregation?

  by bornintoit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was a member of a congregation in brooklyn, n.y. prospect congregation to be exact.

  in early 2000.it was dissolved.

  i never found out why.

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  Gopher

  About 33 years ago a congregation with territory partly in North Minneapolis and partly in the suburbs dissolved, with many of the suburban congregants (mainly white) being sent to another suburban congregation, while the Minneapolis congregants (majority black) were sent to a previously all-white congregation on the north side.
  
  The scuttlebutt was that the dissolved congregation had a rift along racial lines. I was in the previously all-white congregation. At first, all the new members (mainly black) had the habit of sitting on one side of the hall, and the older (white) members sat on the other side. It was as if an invisible line had been drawn among this group of "Jehovah's people". Then one of the black elders got up in front of the hall (during a "special needs" service meeting talk) and poked fun at racial stereotypes. After that, the people intermingled more and the invisible line was erased.
  
  The black elder who gave the special little talk left the organization within about a year and a half of giving his talk and resumed his successful blues-music career.
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  17

  The Truth No one Wants To Hear

  by maccauk11 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the truth about messiah and what he acheived in the 1st century is something millions of believers in christ refuse to accept namely the historical record of things all fulfilled in that momentous 1st century.it is rejected because the -isms, man made doctrines, theologies, false teachings etc etc that abound since then and so millions have allowed themselves to be brainwashed,conditioned into.

  the reality is so simple if one lets messiah remain with his intent and meaning.

  but if we change his own words, we become divided.

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  Gopher

  "The Truth That Leads to Eternal Confusion". (Wasn't that also the name of a WT Society book a few decades ago?)
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  21

  Fish With Feet

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jan/13/tiktaalik-fossil-fish-four-legged-land-animal.

  had gills and lungs, too.. can you say 'missing link'?.

  metatron.

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  Gopher

  "Satan the Devil" put those in-between fossils there so that scientists can fool us.