hi everyone,.
i am a new poster who is putting off their own personal story of finding this site for a while..... i find alot of people here utterly fascinating, and would like to know..... exactly what is everyones professional field of work?.
i would like to be a full time poster on this forum, but alas, the $$$$ are quite light in that field of work.. apologies if this has been asked before.. just curious.
I am recently retired, but worked at a Nuclear Fuels Plant. Mostly worked with Nuclear counting systems. Spent the last year programming the Plant's Incinerator where Nuclear waste was burned for compaction. Also author of the book Beyond the Watchtower available on my web page.
Joseph
remember me?
i posted once before in november of .
once a year, or should it be celebrated weekly, even daily, like some.
Should the Memorial be celebrated once a year, or should it be celebrated weekly, even daily, like some other churches? I think when Jesus said keep doing this in memory of me, he didn't mean once every year? I say that because, according to Acts 2:42 and 20:7 says they not only celebrated the Memorial, but they did it on a weekly basis. For the people who respond, I'm going to give you a topic which you can give your opinions on. Should only certain people be allowed to partake of the "emblems"? I guess I'll hear from you soon.
DaveyJones,
Consider the evidence first:
2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
And
20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
This has nothing to do with the memorial. It is simply a common practice at the time. The disciples even preached in synagogues and most kept the Law of Moses as well. It would be years before such practices were finally purged from the faith.
But maybe this verse allows for frequent use?
1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord‘s death till he come.
Well the word “often” must be understood in context with what is being discussed. And that something is the “cup of blessing” discussed earlier by Paul which is the third cup of wine consumed at Passover. This is a specific reference to Passover not some weekly or random observance. Notice:
10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
So you may get different answers on this but it always was an anniversary or yearly observance and should remain as such.
Every dedicated disciple should partake and did partake. Some of these Paul was criticizing because of their abuse of this observance and not because they were not qualified or authorized to partake. Some Christian Jews were still keeping the Law and expanded this observance to much more than what was intended during such an observance. Others were doing something else and arriving drunk. They should have had their meal at home before such a memorial Paul said and they should not attend in a drunken state. There were problems with this observance then with such differing views just as there are different problems now. Bottom line is observing this Lord’s evening meal correctly and at the right times is your responsibility and something you will have to resolve for yourself. Perhaps this will help in that regard.
Joseph
just a quick note...well it didn't end up very quick:).
i posted about my internal struggle with belief in god a few days ago.. unfortunately, with my job and family i am often so busy i can't get to this board for days at a time.. i just saw that there were many responses to my posting.. i want to say thanks to those who offered encouragement and some very good points to think about.. at this time i remain an agnostic with atheistic days.
but if i do settle on a belief in god i can only believe in a simple form of worship, i know i will not be able to accept any "holy" book or traditional form of religion.
I sometimes feel that if there is a God, he is looking from heaven shaking his head and saying, "why didn't you just love one another, be tolerant of one another?
For truly, if there is anything we can be judged on without more specific and clear communication from God, it is only the Golden Rule.
Dobby,
This is the basis for resurrection and salvation and always was, not biblical knowledge.
Joseph
no teaching in the bible is clearer, more consistent, than the one which teaches that women are inferior to men.
below i show that it is taught that the woman was created from man, for man, that man is the glory of god, but woman is not.
furthermore, the evangelist paul says that he'll not abide women teaching men, and he refers to genesis to explain why.
Concerned Momma,
Yes, that is pretty much the way it was with the Jews in particular but that is not the way it was intended to be in the faith. Our Lord changed that and in the case of the woman (first woman used in the ministry by our Lord) at the well rubbed it in the faces of his own disciples since she was a Samaritan at that. They had the same problem and it would take some years to get it out of their system.
You know how threads work here with information quoted and responses given. Well many of Paul's letters are like this board. He quotes or refers to their views and then responds and refutes or supports them. Just because a texts says "I" does not mean the comment represents Paul’s view. It could be a quote from a letter of theirs as in 1 Cor. 7:1. You must follow the story and the responses to such comments to get the real context and thought. Paul mostly fought with Jews in his letters. It was so bad that there was little time for encouragement. In short the faith was a mess because of such people and Paul spent most of his time trying to straighten it out.
Joseph
i understand from a 1981 edition that paul wrote hebrews.. not so, i understand that its style is different from paul's letters and that early church fathers say that barsabbas(sp)alias joseph, a levite from cyprus(hebrews does mention the jerusalem temple).
i humbly suggest that the wt buys a niv study bible and toss all those factually inaccurate sources out of the window
Paul did not write anything over a few words because his eyes were bad, but Paul did commission the documents to be written by Luke and others or dictated such letters. Hebrews was written because of what happened to Paul when James nearly killed him in Jerusalem and it was directed at such Christian Jews as James and the Apostles that still kept the Law.
Joseph
joseph f. alward, posted the following:.
i believe there are many on this forum who are not aware of the many online bibles from which they could almost effortless copy verses to paste into their arguments.
when one refers to a particular verse in a particular book, few readers have the patience to go seach through the whole book.
You can get the apocrapha in KJV or RSV as well as the entire bible and helps at: http://www.onlinebible.org
Joseph
no teaching in the bible is clearer, more consistent, than the one which teaches that women are inferior to men.
below i show that it is taught that the woman was created from man, for man, that man is the glory of god, but woman is not.
furthermore, the evangelist paul says that he'll not abide women teaching men, and he refers to genesis to explain why.
The choice seems clear: those who believe--indeed, know--that the woman is not inferior to man cannot also believe that the Bible is the word of God; one of the beliefs has to be given up.
Joseph,
You are giving the bible a bum rap and especially the Apostle Paul. I pondered over this for years myself as it made no sense whatever and did not agree with what our Lord taught. But finally I came to realize that Paul was responding to the teachings of Jewish Christians that had carried over their old doctrines into the faith. They even wrote him as shown in 1 Cor. 7:1 and Paul responded to their views even quoting from their letter. This Paul also did in many of his other letters as the problem in other places was similar. They are not Paul's teaching's, but Jewish teachings that Paul is refuting. You must study the argument to understand this. Paul was on the side of women against heavy odds and strong opposition from men like James and it took years and many letters on his part for him to purge such doctrines from the faith.
Joseph
" (isaiah 60:3) who are the 'kings' referred to here?
(isa.
13:19, 20;14:22, 23) [weekly bible reading; see ip_1 p.188 pars.
It was as if Saul, by his vision of Jesus’ heavenly glory, had been granted the honor of being born, or resurrected, to spirit life ahead of time.
NickL,
The correct answer is not even given to 26 on the list. The real reason Paul said this is to demonstrate to all that He is the 12th apostle not Matthias. Apostles of Christ can only be selected by Christ, not by His followers as they attempted to do. They can appoint as many apostles as they want to represent themselves but only Christ can appoint an apostle to represent Him and be one of the 12.
Joseph
this is my first post.
i was a witness from 1971- 1976.even though i was able to get out with no trouble (i moved to another town), i have always believed that it was the "truth".
a few months ago, i started viewing jw sites on the internet.
Jerome, in the fourth century, wrote: There is no reason to believe that Matthew did not quote the passages as they were written in the Hebrew text from which he quoted..
Dungbeetle,
This is a good example where we should not believe everything we read even if the source is closer historically to the event in question. Looks real scholarly and impressive but? There is plenty of reason to believe that Matthew did not quote the passages as they were written. Why? Because Matthew used the expression “Kingdom of Heaven” where Luke who claimed accuracy in Gospel in identical texts used the expression “Kingdom of God.”
Matt. 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the <b>kingdom of heaven</b> is greater than he.
Luke 7:28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the <b>kingdom of God</b> is greater than he.
Also compare Matt. 19:14 with Mark 10:14 and Luke 18:16. If Matthew a Levi would not even use the term God in such a phrase when quoting our Lord directly by what standard would we expect him to use the literal name of God when quoting from the Hebrew text? Jerome must have missed such facts. Sure, it is self evident that he followed Jewish practice of the time and avoided the term God as much as possible, but should anyone think that our Lord did that? Who then is wrong Matthew or Luke and Mark? There are many examples where the Apostles and disciples when quoting our Lord did not always quote exactly and sometimes paraphrased what He said in entire paragraphs. We should be aware of such facts as this does affect doctrine considerably in some cases such as when the Gentile Times begin and end.
Joseph
you a right to start a crusade and the right to get a life and still feel free to write and talk as you please specially if the writting and talking is going to help someone.
then a sucker is born and the cycle start all over.. being realistic the usa has been trying to nock down a regime in cuba for half a decade... besides writting and talking against it.
anyway what goes up must come down, but for more than a millenium this law hasn't aplied to some churches, catholic.. why do i care about this anyway?.
Well, first of all, the intention is not to knock down the Watchtower. We simply try to simply shine a bright light on their stupidity, so that the crumbling from within continues.
I like this the best. It is a ministry and helps those seeking the truth.
Joseph
