Posts by oppostate

59

John-1-1-Colossians-1-16-all-other-things - Part 2

by Wonderment in

continued from part 1 (http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5097191899136000/john-1-1-colossians-1-16-all-other-things):.

the nw translation and some of its unique renderings, like john 1.1- "a god," and colossians 1.16 - "all other things," have been consistently at the top of the most debated topics here in this forum and elsewhere from the beginning.

the anger felt by detractors of the nwt rendering of john 1.1 (a god) has diminished considerably if compared to the furious debates surrounding the verse that raged on during the 1950 thru 1970s.

oppostate

The whole deal with the Trinity concerns the essence of being.

The orthodox belief in the Trinity teaches that Jesus is God, and JW's will agree that Jesus is a divine being. The orthodox Church Fathers' opinions differed and at the two extremes we may think of Athanasius and Arius and their ideas.

My understanding is that the essence of the Divine Being is like, (if I may use the illustration), an amount of water, the water of life--and that the son is poured as a cup of that water, it is separate, only a cup of that essence, but having the same source. The Holy Spirit is like a stream of this water. It flows from the source; it has power. But it is of the same essence even when it is sent forth to accomplish something.

If the Father is the essence and source of this water, people may have seen Jesus, and felt the power of the Holy Spirit, but we aren't close enough to God, we are separated from the essence of life, the source. Jesus was the cup that was poured out on behalf of humanity to bring them closer to the Essence of life.

Anyway, that's my understanding, and all the quibbles and quarrels between trinitarians and unitarians has become a lot of noise to me.

50

WT claims to have completed "Peak Construction Phase of New World Headquarters"

by wifibandit in

https://web.archive.org/web/20151210004420/http://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/united-states/jw-headquarters-peak-construction/.

http://imgur.com/a/dbsqt.

are they just moving the goal posts now that 2016 is almost upon us?.

oppostate

What an ugly set of buildings.

Soviet era style indeed.

And the guard tower in the middle

looks a lot like an airport's traffic

control tower, are they putting in

a small private airport for the GB?

55

"High" education

by Esmeralda001 in

did any of you guys disregard the wt recommendations and pursue a career.

if you answer "yes": was your journey easy?

are you happy with the end result?

oppostate

I studied with JW's while at college getting my BA. I also did get "High" as a lot of college students do while in college. It was tough academic work but I loved the challenges.

During summer breaks I worked with brothers who had businesses washing windows, shampooing carpets, cleaning/polishing supermarket floors, painting, etc. I asked myself if I could drop out of college and own my own business of that sort that so many brothers were into.

My parents (non-JW) dissuaded me from that notion, and urged me to finish my schooling and then decide. Best advice I could have gotten about making this life's decision.

After graduation I tried cleaning jobs, sales jobs, and then teaching. I stuck with teaching and got my Masters in Ed. Then my Doctorate's Degree. I'm still teaching and shudder at what my life would have been today if I had dropped out of college to clean windows and supermarket floors for little pay and no health insurance or retirement plan.

The only ones I know who did well with their own cleaning businesses are those who hired other witnesses to work for them. They've taken early retirement, and have moved away from New England to North Carolina and Florida where they own their own homes to "auxiliary pioneer" where the need is greater, thanks to the sacrifice of those they'd hired for years at minimum wages without benefits.

14

I found the WTBTS 990-T's Income Tax Returns for 2010-2013, and it shows their book value of all their assets

by LevelThePlayingField in

there are two sources online to get these pdfs.

https://www.citizenaudit.org/111857820/ lists 2010-2013 ( i would prefer this link because it's the most up to date).

http://www.guidestar.org/viewpdf.aspx?pdfsource=0&ein=11-1857820 lists 2010-2012. book value of all assets at end of year: (can be found on the 990-t for on top left on 1st page).

oppostate

@LevelThePlayingField

Thanks for the site and info. Great resource.

@sir82

The PA Corp is "Watch Tower" with a space. The NY one is "Watchtower".

http://pdfs.citizenaudit.org/2015_08_T/11-1753577_990T_201408.pdf

Old CO Rokus just about had a tantrum because the local BOE didn't know the difference.

But not just NY there must be dozens of WT corps in the States. Like in FL and in CO, etc.

https://www.citizenaudit.org/?q=WATCHTOWER+BIBLE+AND+TRACT+SOCIETY

Then there's the...

RELIGIOUS ORDER OF JEHOVAH (sic) WITNESSES

and the...

CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

And there's all kinds of charities, insurances, funds, foundations and trusts at:

https://www.citizenaudit.org/?q=Jehovah%27s+witnesses

49

Elder's letter requesting details of solicitors, barristers and accountants

by jwfacts in

there was a letter sent to elders in australia on 18th november 2015 asking for details of publishers that are solicitors, barristers and accountants.

what would be their motive for these details?

the rest of the letter outlines 8 specific pieces of information to compile and send to bethel's legal department, and reiterates to collect the information only be "as you understand, without consulting the publisher.

oppostate

Hah! It makes me laugh! You should had heard the comments at yesterday's WT study about how bad a secular education is.

And like with everything else they probably want them to work pro bono! The hypocrites!

10

First ever Anti-Jihadist Arch in Spain

by oppostate in

.

carrefour inaugurates the first anti-jihadist arch in spain.

carrefour inaugura el primer arco antiyihadistas de espana .

oppostate

jamon iberico, Iberian ham, (and jamon serrano) it's like prosciuto, cured, not baked or cooked.

1

Demonizing for fun and profit: Dehumanizing the dissenters

by oppostate in

"i hold it to a sign of great prudence in men to refrain alike from threats and from the use of insulting language, for neither of these things deprives the enemy of his power, but the first puts him more on his guard, while the other intensifies his hatred of you and makes him more industrious in devising means to harm you.".

niccolo machiavelli.

demonizing the "apostate" on social media by gledson marques.. .

oppostate

http://facebook.com/gledson.marques.tj
is dead.

long live
https://www.facebook.com/dz7art?fref=ts
the fear mongering on social media continues.

Maybe it was the negative comments. Maybe it was the pressure from elders to "cool it down". But some JW's are like trained attack dogs, ready to bite and tear at the targets of Momma WT's displeasure. Where's "let your light" shine Loesch talked about?

37

An elder bought my son a suit

by Clambake in

i guess being two months old and coming to the kh in his onesee was kind of offensive .

how rude of me.

i am thinking about returning to him.

oppostate

1

Demonizing for fun and profit: Dehumanizing the dissenters

by oppostate in

"i hold it to a sign of great prudence in men to refrain alike from threats and from the use of insulting language, for neither of these things deprives the enemy of his power, but the first puts him more on his guard, while the other intensifies his hatred of you and makes him more industrious in devising means to harm you.".

niccolo machiavelli.

demonizing the "apostate" on social media by gledson marques.. .

oppostate

"I hold it to a sign of great prudence in men to refrain alike from threats and from the use of insulting language, for neither of these things deprives the enemy of his power, but the first puts him more on his guard, while the other intensifies his hatred of you and makes him more industrious in devising means to harm you."

— Niccolò Machiavelli

Demonizing the "Apostate" on social media by Gledson Marques.

Monitoring one's facebook page to combat "bad associations".

Watch out for "false brothers and apostates"
http://facebook.com/gledson.marques.tj

"Watch out for false prophets!" from Gledson Marques (JW).

Do you sense the irony?

10

First ever Anti-Jihadist Arch in Spain

by oppostate in

.

carrefour inaugurates the first anti-jihadist arch in spain.

carrefour inaugura el primer arco antiyihadistas de espana .

oppostate

Carrefour inaugurates the first anti-jihadist arch in Spain

Carrefour inaugura el primer arco antiyihadistas de España