--The Hebrew word 'Shekinah' is never mentioned in the Bible.
--Anytime the scriptures refer to an actual presence, face, descending of god...the word Shekinah is used.
halcyon
JoinedPosts by halcyon
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The Shekinah: The New Name for God?
by cameo-d inthe hebrew word 'shekinah' is never mentioned in the bible.. the shekinah is said to be the "majestic manifestation of god which has descended to dwell with mankind.".
the shekinah appeared as a cloudy pillar in the day and a fiery pillar at night.
the nation of moses was led by the shekinah for 40 years.. the word shekinah is taken from passages referring to god dwelling in the tabernacle among the people.
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halcyon
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Nov 15 WT - stumbled over a teaching? There's no where else to go!!!
by truthseeker ini just read the nov 15, wt - what a laugh.. so they admit some leave over their teachings and then they say there's no where else to go.
what a joke - they are liars.. .
was it a problem with a teaching?.
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halcyon
This sentence got me:
It may be possible to help them realize that failure to preach the good news has resulted in the loss of joy. (Matt. 28:19,20) So, then, what would be the wise course for them to take?
Um, NOT. How about a tremendous gain of peace? Hate, hate hate the loaded word "wise" surrounded by "what would be the ____ course to take?" -
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Paul and Jesus
by Slappy inmaybe it's just me, but lately it seems like there is a trend (well, moreso than usual in any case) of saying that paul is somehow of a different mind than jesus and that the teachings of the two contradict each other.
while i can see where having a jw background can easily bring this type of thinking around, most especially since they extol the teachings of paul and completely ignore christ, most of you are no longer under the power of the watchtower...er, you aren't are you?
and as such, you should be free of most, if not all, of the brainwashing to occurrs.
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halcyon
I believe it's not just JW (or JWD), but there have been a number of secular books published (that I've seen) that say Paul contradicted Jesus.
I had come to the same conclusion myself, with no outside influence of any known kind (I always avoided religious reading/listening after I faded), which makes it even stranger for me to now see this concept widespread whereas it wasn't anywhere on the radar even twenty years ago that I can tell.
My logic tried to work it out that how could we be following Christ and still be under so many Jewish restrictions, when Christ fulfilled the law, and I could only figure that it came from Paul's writings, so I concluded that it was possible that Paul was the foretold apostasy that would rise, rather than the third century church. Because Churches seem to be structured around Paul's teachings. Without any writings after the gospels, what would Christianity look like today? Paul's teachings, the Church through the ages, and all Christian denominations today look too similar and interconnected. JW is even too close to the way the churches do things for my comfort. SO, without any real study, I came to the conclusion that it was *possible* for a sincere man to still end up being the beginning of the Apostasy.
I believe if a man is too self-serving, it would be too easy to identify him as a wolf in sheep's clothing. He can be completely sincere and well-meaning, and still lead people down the wrong path. Don't we all know that!
I'm not really saying one way or another, because I haven't done the study required. I'm just saying 1) it's weird that everybody's coming to the same thought, seemingly independently, or else secular reasoning is making its way into our collective thought processes one way or another, and 2) I'm not convinced, just because Paul seems so sincere and turns our attention to the Lord, that he couldn't still innocently lead the whole group astray. -
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 09-28-08 WT Study (SUCCESS)
by blondie in*** km 3/06 p. 1 par.
(mark 4:26-29) let us now consider three more of jesus' illustrations-the mustard grain, the leaven, and the dragnet.
when the wts says "god's people" do they mean anyone other than jws?.
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halcyon
To me this article explains what some might question: "But, I'm not seeing an increase. If anything, it seems people are being thrown out left and right, and baptismal groups are getting smaller each year!"
"oh, but see, you don't need to SEE the increase. It might even seem like a decrease, but rest assured, it's not what it looks like. It is what WE SAY it is." -
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"Blessings"----Did You Believe If You Were "Bad", You'd Get No "Blessings"?
by minimus ini know a lot of witnesses that believe if something good happens----it's an indication of jehovah's blessing and if bad things continue to happen----either you're not getting jehovah's blessings or you might have demons.
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halcyon
I believed half of it ... I think it was more superstition than anything, when I look back on it.
I believed "blessings" came to all good people, whether we could see it or not. Blessings weren't always obvious. Blessings had nothing to do with money or prosperity, it was more about being provided what you needed when you needed it the most, or even random good things happening to you that you didn't expect.
I did, however, expect to be struck down with Bad Things the moment I ever did something Bad. I was always tying in negative events to things I may have thought or done. I was CERTAIN that if I ever did something really bad, that somehow Jehovah would cause elders to stumble upon me at that very same moment and catch me, or else if I managed to get away with it, somehow a video would surface somewhere, like an unnoticed security camera video or something, showing me doing whatever it was. Or maybe at the Final Day, everyone would assemble in front of a large video screen and watch a movie of all the Bad Things I have done in my life, and then I would be led off to the firing squad. THAT though kept me the pure little witness I always was.
And now, well heck, I've done enough Bad Things to make a body of elders faint, and yet I feel I receive almost more blessings than I ever have in my life, AND direct answers to prayers. Sure, bad things happen too, but I'm now convinced that A) I'm not alone in the universe and I'm not on God's "Bad Side", and B) Life in all its imperfection is stunningly Beautiful, even the bad things, because of the freedom we have to be HUMAN, and C) I really am superstitious and always have been. :) -
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I think the GB vote in elections
by Amha·aret inhubby gladring and i were having a chat in the car recently.
we got to talking about how america is such a fertile breeding ground for nutjobs and their nutjob "religions" - no offense to any yanks but it is true!.
we were talking about it coz of the upcoming us elections and how all the candidates are professed christians whose religious views and practises are as scrutinised as anything else during their campaign.
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halcyon
Does anyone know if anyone's ACTUALLY investigated whether they do or not?
I had this thought yesterday, and thought if some reporter pored through voting records and found a couple names and proof that it's them, what a Great Schism the publication of that information might actually cause in the congregations.
It is REALLY seeming to be more than just coincidence, actually. -
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A question about the pagan origins of the Watchtower
by Tired of the Hypocrisy ini asked another question at yahoo answers.
please go check it out and make a response if you like.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ag6q9svzvdcj4j.b6jvbeujty6ix;_ylv=3?qid=20080925045941aayllip.
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halcyon
Dude, I LOVE the "Valueless Propaganda" video!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gosh, what's so amazing about this site, is that it's not showing me anything new. It's just proving that I'm not crazy when I had the exact same thoughts years ago!! -
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A few questions for all you experts from my long JW meeting yesterday
by AuntBee inhere are a few things that were said that seemed kind of dubious to me.
(i had a meeting with 2 women that came to the door - full story in the thread "i received the knock...").
they baptize in the name of the father, son and holy spirit.
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halcyon
My take on where the ladies were probably coming from. All references to "I" in the following pertain to what the ladies might have been subconsciously thinking. Items in parentheses are MY personal thoughts.
1) They baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy SPirit.
--Hear someone tell you from the platform that this is done. Of course if you hear it from the platform, you believe it. Then at an actual assembly, sit there and let the actual words wash over you, because you're not really listening to the words said, you're just waiting to hear how loud the little group of people is going to be when they say "YES!"
(wait a minute, though ... when they've got you by the nose and they're actually about to dunk you under, do they say it then? I can't remember.)
2) THey don't discourage college.
--Don't try to go and you won't be discouraged. But it's a really bad idea, btw.
3) The GB (FDS) is really not that big of a deal in dictating their lives, so why do i keep pressing that point?
--again, don't try to do anything you've heard you shouldn't do, and it's no big deal. Really, it isn't. They really stay off your back as long as you're obedient, so what's the problem?
4) The 'door to door' hours are really not that big of a pressure or legalistic deal - after all, some are sick in bed and can't do it at all! --
--"We're engaged in a volunteer work ... " (THAT Is one of the big things that got me thinking. Okay, if it's really a volunteer work, I'll quit volunteering. Now what? ... anyway, I don't know how someone could miss this one. The School and Service Meeting have turned into one big sales training class.) Anyway, one could think "it's not a big pressure. I have my routine and nobody bothers me. Sure they tell us to do more, but that's for other people. As long as I'm seen twice a week and turn in my slip, there's no pressure.
5) THe Society encourages people to study the BIble on their own without publications or FDS guidance , people CAN come to the Truth just by reading the Bible on their own without the FDS.
--yeah, I've heard this said, too, so it must be true. I'm sure someone is doing it, somewhere. So yes, it can be done! But I just choose to use these books because it's easiest to go with the flow. Everybody else is doing it exactly this way, and this is the only thing I'm trained to do, so why would I want to do it differently? It would be really really hard to just use the bible anyway, I don't know it well enough to prove all the doctrines from it! But I'm sure some do, so yes, it can be done. -
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Seasons
by mrsjones5 inaccording to the watchtower, will there be seasons on paradise earth?
i wonder cuz i just ran across this scripture genesis 8:22: "while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.
" the only pictures i have seen of watchtower paradise is of spring, summer, and maybe fall...never winter.. anyone?.
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halcyon
so then India will still have the monsoon season (it's the physics of their location, unless the mountains crumble or the earth stops spinning there's nothing that can possibly change that) ... deserts will still be deserts (again, topography and physics!) ... hurricanes and tornadoes will still have to happen (they spread energy and heat) ... lightning storms ...
Did you know that snowstorms can kill just people too? It's not just hurricanes and tornadoes. -
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halcyon
Didn't we sometimes have YMCA dormitories available to stay at for some assemblies back in the 70s?