Posts by Pants of Righteousness

17

two Jehovahs Witnesses were paid millions to restrict WA blood transfusions

by Watchtower-Free in

source: supplied.

Pants of Righteousness

There is more information on the Patient Blood Management (PBM) here:

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/how-two-jehovahs-witnesses-were-paid-millions-to-restrict-wa-blood-transfusions/story-fnhocxo3-1226921294173

It's worth noting that under the program "Certain patients at Fremantle Hospital, where the PBM program was piloted, are restricted to one unit of blood at a time regardless of whether their doctor recommends more than one unit."

So when dealing with a dieing Witness needing a transfusion, these guys would push the doctrine of abstaining from blood (well, of course there's fractions ...), but are being paid millions to promote a program that only seeks to restrict the use of blood to one unit at a time.

76

Humans have been on the earth for 6,000 years?

by make yourself in

so i just heard this today at the meeting.

honestly i've never really paid much attention too it, but i know it's out of place.

can anyone shed some factual and historical light on this subject?

Pants of Righteousness

In 2013 the British Museum hosted an exhibition of Ice Age Art. All the works on display were older than 20,000 years, and all art is the product of the structure and organisation of the modern brain.

From the British Museum web site:

"Through archaeological evidence from Southern Africa, we can ascertain that the modern brain emerged just over 100,000 years ago with the appearance of art and complex behavior patterns. This exhibition will demonstrate how the creators of the work on display had brains that had the capacity to express themselves symbolically through art and music."

https://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/news_and_press/press_releases/2012/ice_age_art.aspx

The British Museum is rather venerated in the Org with Society approved tours - pretty sure this exhibit (like plenty of other items on display) would have been off the itinerary. Maybe they tried to hide it behind a sign saying 'Beware of Leopard'.

25

British museum bible tours

by inbetween in

visiting london years ago i had the chance to participate on a bible tour arranged from bethel.

what i remember, it was one out of 12 topics, and a brother or sister served as a guide, showing particular objects related to bible accounts.. at that time, i was quite enthusiastic about it, thinking i learned something valuable.. .

now, being awake to ttatt, i wonder what real scientific value those tours served.. or rather it raises the suspicion, that those tours are for visiting witnesses in order to distract them from many other finds in the museum, that would disprove either the bible or their own theology.. anybody ever made such a tour ?.

Pants of Righteousness

I've been to the British Museum twice. The first as a gullible twit who dutifully took the WT sanctioned tour. The second time I was somewhat better prepared to check things out for myself.

It was interesting to watch them in the Babylonian rooms. With bibles out, the guide spent an inordinate amount of time explaining one of the exhibits, then guided the group on to the next room - walking past, among other things, an artefact with explanatory notes placing Neduchadnezzer's 10th (?) year to a date incompatible with WT chronology.

47

Elder and CO just dropped by....

by El_Guapo in

jw
friends

i haven't been to a meeting in over a year, and as you know as soon as you stop attending meetings/fieldservice the "conditional" love becomes more apperant.

the coordinating elder starts off by saying how much he loves and misses me, etc.

i ask him, when was the last time you called or texted me?

Pants of Righteousness

I have heard that when the CO enquired during the scheduled elder's meeting what had happened to me when I became inactive, they initially had no idea and then said that they thought I had moved - which I hadn't. CO then proceeded to castigate the elders and started to cry. CO turned up at my house with a trainee CO the next day with a gushing letter saying how much he and the congregation missed me. Surprisingly, I am still inactive.

Pants

20

Assembly resolutions - did anyone ever take them seriously?

by LogCon in

is there any site that has the assembly resolutions for download?.

Pants of Righteousness

Always thought these were rather pointless. One year there were 7 resolutions back to back, mainly involving the Revelation book. They were mostly long winded and I'm sure by the time they got to the 6 or 7th they would have already forgotten the earlier ones. I think they were later published in the Watchtower.

Of course, any resolution was a fait accompli and more about emotion and groupthink.

11

Has anyone ever read "The Woman In White" by Wilkie Collins?

by Berengaria in

i finished it this afternoon, and can't stop thinking about it.

.

amazing, just amazing.

Pants of Righteousness

Hi

A 'yes' from here too. If you liked Woman In White you might also like Collin's later work The Moonstone.

Pants

38

Something the "Watchtower" left out

by Doug Mason in

the october 1, 2011 watchtower article when was ancient jerusalem destroyed?

includes the following statement.. .

there is also strong evidence from cuneiform documents that prior to the reign of nabopolassar (the first king of the neo-babylonian period), another king (ashuretel-ilani) ruled for four years in babylonia.

Pants of Righteousness

Thanks Black Sheep

Legal and Commercial Transactions Dated in the Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods—Chiefly From Nippur, by A.T. Clay,1908 PDF

If you check page 4 of the above you have a table with the earliest and latest dated tablet for each king. For the neo-Babylonian period, it gives as the latest dates:

Nabopolasar 21 Years 2 Months

Nebuchadnezzar 43 Years 5 Months 9 Days

Amel-marduck 2 Years 5 Months 17 Days

Nergal-shar-usar 4 Years 1 Month 2 Days

Labashi-marduck 2 Months 27 Days

Nabonidus 17 Years 9 Months

Pants

38

Something the "Watchtower" left out

by Doug Mason in

the october 1, 2011 watchtower article when was ancient jerusalem destroyed?

includes the following statement.. .

there is also strong evidence from cuneiform documents that prior to the reign of nabopolassar (the first king of the neo-babylonian period), another king (ashuretel-ilani) ruled for four years in babylonia.

Pants of Righteousness

Thanks for this Doug.

224

When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed? Why It Matters - What the Evidence Shows

by wannabefree in

obviously 607 is a problem, watchower coming out full forces on this one in the latest public edition.. http://download.jw.org/files/media_magazines/wp_e_20111001.pdf.

Pants of Righteousness

From the Leo Depuydt reference (underlined section quoted in WT).

Page 105

A. Is the Canon True

"It is assumed here that the Canon is true. No one has, to my knowledge, refuted any aspect of the Canon on good grounds. On the other hand, to demonstrate the Canon's accuracy positively would not be easy. In the vast network of facts and inferences making up first millenium BCE chronology, the correctness of the Canon is at certain crucial junctures simply accepted as an axiom. To locate those junctures would be no small feat. It has long been known that the Canon is astronomically reliable. Observations dated according to it can all be authenticated. But this does not automatically mean that it is historically dependable."

Page 106 - context of quote after discussing matching a date of an eclipse on 16 July 523.

"The fact that this Greco-Egyptian date from the Almagest, which dates according to the Canon, can be matched with Babylonian date in a Babylonian document adds little for the astronomer, but a great deal for the historian. It does much to guarantee that the portion of the Canon from the Persian period onward is reliable. As regards the earlier rulers, the Canon would need to be compared with the cuneiform record on a reign by reign basis, considering all the dates in the literary and non-literary sources, to establish if, and where, the Canon conflicts whith cuneifrom sources. Agreement seems to be the rule, but this would have to be confirmed".

Has anyone been able to find a full copy of the reference containing the Christopher Walker quote?

Pants

224

When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed? Why It Matters - What the Evidence Shows

by wannabefree in

obviously 607 is a problem, watchower coming out full forces on this one in the latest public edition.. http://download.jw.org/files/media_magazines/wp_e_20111001.pdf.

Pants of Righteousness

Looking forward to some analysis on this article. Initial observations:

- Willing to use clay tablet BM 33066 to support date of Cyrus' death, even though it contains 'some errors' and relies on astronomical positions. No mention of VAT 4956 that provides observations from Nebuchadnezzar's 37th year / 18th regnal year in 587/6 B.C.E, exactly in the same year as does Ptolemy's Canon.

- No mention of Tyre's 70 years or why they are treated differently. " It must occur in that day that Tyre must be forgotten seventy years, the same as the days of one king.” (Isaiah 23:15a) According to the Isaiah book , "the island-city of Tyre is not subject to Babylon for a full 70 years, since the Babylonian Empire falls in 539 B.C.E. Evidently, the 70 years represents the period of Babylonia’s greatest domination—when the Babylonian royal dynasty boasts of having lifted its throne even above “the stars of God."

- Josephus is quoted as saying Amel-Marduk ruled for 18 years. This was the length he gave in Antiquties of the Jews. However, in his final book (Against Appion), he gave the length as 2 years, as per Berossus.

Pants