Posts by JosephMalik

8

Conference Call in 15 mins - some here may like to listen

by Gayle in

the watchtower organization is very much aware of what is going on in their false religion.

too many witnesses no longer believe their teachings to be biblically correct.

an intensive effort to discover disloyalty, subversion, and those causing divisions is now taking place.

JosephMalik

Leer,

You can listen in to the conference call for free and check it out simply by downloading PalTalk and setting up your password account. Then go to all rooms, Religion, Christianity, SixScreensoftheWatchtower which should show up around 7PM Eastern Time, This way you can also text some listeners on it with you or just ignore the comments and listen in to the show. Since it goes on and on for some 5 or 6 hours sometimes this is a good way to get familiar with it. Now there are bugs from time to time and sometimes the servers bump you off or the site goes down for similar reasons but stay with it and it will be back up. Log back in if you have to. Long sessions like this are not immune to servers doing maintennance on Saturday night or our hitting the wrong keys accidentally. You can also type in questions to the moderator (Barb) and she will ask them for you when or if she gets a chance. Not so easy with everyone trying to say something.

Now if you want to personally participate then you need a telephone with cheap long distance rates. Now if you do not have that, you can Google and download the program called Skype and they have very cheap long distance rates to private phones. And this service is free if you talk to other Skype users so it is a great way to keep up with friends and family as well. All you need to talk is a cheap microphone plugged into your sound card. A best buy or Radio shack item. It has a Keypad on your screen for making calls. You can set up conference calls with it that way.

Usually their is a program of some sort every Saturday, starting at Six thirty or Seven PM Est. Richard Rawe hosts one every other week. And their are other programs on different days and times with Mary Agular, but I do not think her program is on PalTalk. Hope this information is helpful to you.

Joseph

37

What did Jesus mean by "this generation"?

by Doug Mason in

by looking at every occasion that jesus used the expression "this generation", it is possible to work out what he meant.. i have listed these occasions, along with some questions, at:.

http://www.jwstudies.com/this_generation.pdf.

i am interested to know what you think.. doug.

JosephMalik

Pretty simplistic. Everybody makes it more complicated than it is.

Flipper,

Not so fast. This generation is the same as the times of the Gentiles in Luke. They are as much a part of this sign as this generation. We do not have one without the other. And they the Gentiles have been around much longer than the first century, have enslaved the faith in the past, were battled with constantly,were doing it at the time of our Lord, and are still around doing it today. The faith as we know it would no longer be continued by the Jews after our Lord died but by Christians, the new Jerusalem into which all were now invited and which while not so obvious to Jews at the time took its place before God allowing faithful ones to enter as a bride. They are in the Jerusalem that would be surrounded by their enemies and in jeopardy just before our Lord returns and our Lord restores it to its rightful place. None of this happened in 70CE. That was just another war that did not bring an end to Judaism or even threaten the extinction of holy ones at the time and our Lord told them about it outside of this prophecy. So it was covered in other texts. That event in 70CE is not part of any sign that would foretell the presence of Christ and anyone fleeing to the mountains at the time like some did to Masada did not fare well did they? Bad advice? No, just bad interpretation of what our Lord was really saying to us.

Joseph

37

What did Jesus mean by "this generation"?

by Doug Mason in

by looking at every occasion that jesus used the expression "this generation", it is possible to work out what he meant.. i have listed these occasions, along with some questions, at:.

http://www.jwstudies.com/this_generation.pdf.

i am interested to know what you think.. doug.

JosephMalik

I am certainly of the "great tribulation" is on the way, there is no way is has come to pass already.

34 I tell you the truth, this generation[ a ] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

Interesting footnote in the NIV :)

Footnotes:

Matthew 24:34 Or race

Chalam or Stephen,

True the great tribulation has not come to pass already and we all have been living in it since birth. If we drop the idea of a fulfillment in the year 70 just because it seems to fit the description given by Luke we would learn that the great tribulation (Matt) or affliction (Mark) began with sin and ends or reaches its worst part or the part that interests us when our Lord returns in the clouds with his angels. This is not a game where we can match a word used in other texts to get the answer in time as if such a method has merit in this case. This is also true of the expression this generation. Each text has its own application. All this has been called the Gentile Times in Luke which term simply embraced the descriptions given in Matt and Mark regarding this generation. When during these Gentile Times (another use of words describing the same this generation) occur? Well we will have to wait and see but since our Lord has not returned yet we know that this tribulation is still ongoing and/or the Gentile Times are still with us as is the race of Israel along with other races that that make up humanity derived from Adam. Simply looking at the word in Strongs we get:

AV-generation 37, time 2, age 2, nation 1; 42

1) fathered, birth, nativity
2) that which has been begotten, men of the same stock, a family
2a) the several ranks of natural descent, the successive members of a genealogy 2b) metaph. a group of men very like each other in endowments, pursuits, character
2b1) esp. in a bad sense, a perverse nation
3) the whole multitude of men living at the same time
4) an age (i.e. the time ordinarily occupied by each successive generation), a space of 30-33 years

So while the word generation could mean a few short years, it can also mean a long time even going back to the garden of Eden itself and continuing while we search for its conclusion. Each text in which it is used has its own application and context (surrounding texts) that determine which definition is meant. In this case since we have multiple and parallel Gospels that discuss it using different words and historical markers like the words in Daniel so because of this we can exclude things like 70C E which most seem to like but confuses the literal and human return of Christ in the prophecies and replace it with an invisible and non-human presence the way the WT and some others do.

Joseph

12

Do we receive our teachings from any Man?

by wannabe in

do we receive our teachings from any man?.

there are many varied religions on this earth, at this present moment in time, of which, their religious leaders, teach their adherents, god's word.

because they are so varied, ones teachings at times clash with the others, and they are not in harmony, one with the other.

JosephMalik

But at least you can compare your thoughts with scripture even with all its faults in translation and tampering. The errors of Man as you call it will show up in such an investigation and the control of man is taken out the the equation. It is amazing what you will find this way and realize how bad most doctrine is.

Joseph

12

Do we receive our teachings from any Man?

by wannabe in

do we receive our teachings from any man?.

there are many varied religions on this earth, at this present moment in time, of which, their religious leaders, teach their adherents, god's word.

because they are so varied, ones teachings at times clash with the others, and they are not in harmony, one with the other.

JosephMalik

What this amounts to is; do your own work. Use the material of others to see options and errors you may be making or to be sure you understand the subject from many points of view, but correct such works as needed and correct your own work as well as you mature. Most of what you learn from others is more likely to be wrong rather than right anyway. The WT teaches that Judas was not there but he was. They teach to observe on Nisan 14 but it should be 15. They teach it only lasted less then 24 hours but at least two afternoons were involved. They teach heaven for some when the Bible teaches that our Lord comes back here to rule. Wrong wrong wrong. So teach only what you can prove and keep investigating the rest. Little by little you will be able to do better than all of them. After all you are a disciple of Christ and not some denomination.

Joseph

24

What Came Down From Heaven?

by snowbird in

deputy dog has been persistent in asking that question.. the bible's answer from a translation at one time favored by jw's:.

john 1:1in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the word was god.

1:2the same was in the beginning with god.

JosephMalik

My take on what came down from heaven is life: http://home.earthlink.net/~jmalik/beytrin.htm#_Toc244666001 It is there in the texts and important to the God that permitted this to take place for us. Matthew traced our Lord's life back to Abraham, Luke traced it back to Adam the Son of God, John completed this investigation and completed the genealogy lists by traceing it back to the Word in John 1:1.

Joseph

32

Women as second class citizens

by iMARX in

i don't know about anyone else, but even when i was 14 or 15 i had an issue with the fact that women are weaker vessels than men and we are to be submissive to our "head" of the house etc.... people just assumed i was a moody teenager trying to be cool by disagreeing with those scriptures but i was a feminist in the making.. i even asked an elder's wife about it and i said to her: "you're a headstrong woman, how do you feel about this?

do you think you should succumb to paul's every word and do as he says all the time??".

she replied: "i hate that scripture too sarah.

JosephMalik

VIII,

Well I suggest that they get out. The WT can not cure them when sick, raise them from death or forgive their sins. They do not know what the scriptures teach but insist they do. Who needs them?

Joseph

32

Women as second class citizens

by iMARX in

i don't know about anyone else, but even when i was 14 or 15 i had an issue with the fact that women are weaker vessels than men and we are to be submissive to our "head" of the house etc.... people just assumed i was a moody teenager trying to be cool by disagreeing with those scriptures but i was a feminist in the making.. i even asked an elder's wife about it and i said to her: "you're a headstrong woman, how do you feel about this?

do you think you should succumb to paul's every word and do as he says all the time??".

she replied: "i hate that scripture too sarah.

JosephMalik

BabyGirl30,

Suggestions are not commandments and we have to look at the reasons for them: What I had to say about them is:

COLOSSIANS 3:18; TITUS 2:5; 1 PETER 3:1-6

These verses deal with subjection in the home or as an example to others and do not delegate women to a secondary position in the Faith. Such subjection is natural, good behavior and does not imply blind obedience or inferiority. In the case of 1 Peter 3:1-6 it is actually a request to women to relinquish their freedom in the Faith so as to win over their unbelieving husbands. The issues such women were faced with are familiar ones. The apostle Paul fought them constantly. It was a case of not picking on an open wound even though such women had the freedom to do so. Peter used Sarah as an example and thus did not associate this thought with the law or regulations of the Jews or Jewish Christians who supported such theology.

And we have examples in scripture where women were not expected to consider such behavior. We even have examples where women prophets tried to protect Paul from his own brothers when he went to Jerusalem to confront them as they were wrong. So they did the right thing even though Paul had to go anyway to resolve the problems in spite of such good advice given to him by women. It is not just reading the verses, it involves thinking them through and that is why we have such a mess.

Joseph

32

Women as second class citizens

by iMARX in

i don't know about anyone else, but even when i was 14 or 15 i had an issue with the fact that women are weaker vessels than men and we are to be submissive to our "head" of the house etc.... people just assumed i was a moody teenager trying to be cool by disagreeing with those scriptures but i was a feminist in the making.. i even asked an elder's wife about it and i said to her: "you're a headstrong woman, how do you feel about this?

do you think you should succumb to paul's every word and do as he says all the time??".

she replied: "i hate that scripture too sarah.

JosephMalik

Why women in this time in the world are willing to be treated like crap I will never understand. Oh, because Paul said so?

VIII,

Well I looked at all this years ago and found out that Paul did not say so. Denominations interpret his letters like he did and it may sound like he did to you unless you read the text that follows more carefully. If we really pay attention to what Paul is doing in his letters we will learn that he was putting down the Corinthians and others that were doing this. He had to mention it or quote them in order for us to know what he was talking about but then Paul would put such thinking down. Hard to see in scripture but listening to audio tapes helped. I know and it took me a long time but you can do the same if you pay attention to what Paul is doing. More information in the document Beyond Watchtower Doctrine that downloads with the book at: http://home.earthlink.net/~jmalik/btwbook.html Very few women ever came to realize that Paul was their friend as he went to bat for them against entrenched traditions of men.

Joseph

204

Examining Scripture to see if Jesus was, and is, God.

by jonathan dough in

i'll start with john 14:8-10. .

scriptural support for the triune nature of god, and the gradual recognition that jesus christ, the word incarnate (john 1:1), was and is god, can be found throughout the bible.

the evidence is abundant and unfolds like a flower, foreshadowed in the old testament and revealed in the new testament.

JosephMalik

Jonathan,

The intended post on I AM did not complete but anyone that would like to see it can go to: http://home.earthlink.net/~jmalik/beytrin.htm#_Toc244665984

Joseph