Justin

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Topics Started by Justin

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  2

  The wisdom of Edward

  by Justin in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i've been reading edward gibbon's the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire, and his assessment of the prophet mohammed makes me wonder about some of the religious personages with whom we have to deal.

  it possess the question whether or not a religious leader or founder must be categorized as either good or evil, or if there is a gray area on which we cannot be quite precise.

  without saying too much, gibbon found it necessary to address the founding of islam because this led to the fall of constantinople and the eastern empire long after the western empire had collapsed.

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  Too good?

  by Justin in

  1. social
  2. humour

  the gb member said to the apostate: "you know what happens when you're too good to people?

  you get a swift kick in the a .

  s." the apostate replied, "you're not talking about me, are you?

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  New Dance Craze

  by Justin in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  doin' the watchtower wiggle

  i'm doin' the watchtower wiggle, i don't worship ereshkigal.. old light, new light, what's the latest truth tonight?.

  i play by the rules, 'cause i ain't no fool.

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  What if . . .

  by Justin in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the wts had continued to keep older publications (russell, rutherford, etc.

  ) in print for those who wanted to do historical research?

  it seems that people are now learning about "old light" and doctrinal changes when they begin to become disillusioned, but if they knew about these matters when they were still zealous jws, perhaps they wouldn't be so shocked later.

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  The Original Jehovah's Witness

  by Justin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  judge rutherford did not name the watchtower adherents "jehovah's witnesses" until 1931, but a jehovah' witness was referred to by pastor russell in the third volume of the scipture studies, thy kingdom come.

  it was the great pyramid!

  in chapter 10, "the testimony of god's stone witness and prophet, the great pyramid in egypt," on page 320, russell commented on the findings of early pyramidologists:a few years after prof. smyth's return [from visiting the pyramid], came the suggestion that the great pyramid is jehovah's "witness," and that it is as important a witness to divine truth as to natural science.

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  What is orthodox Christianity?

  by Justin in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  we frequently contrast what jehovah's witnesses believe with orthodox christianity (or what they call "christendom").

  but what does orthodox christianity look like if allowed to stand on its own, not defending itself from outside attack?

  the archbishop of canterbury (rowan williams) recently gave his own description to a group of non-christians - his audience being at the islamic university in islamabad.

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  An Unlikely Story

  by Justin in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it was in the midst of the 1930's, and judge rutherford was being driven in his limousine down a dusty country road in the midwest of the usa.

  passing through a small town, he came upon a donut shop and asked his driver to pull over, for the judge was quite hungry.

  as they were sitting at the table with their donuts and coffee, the judge spotted a catholic priest with his roman collar at another table.

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  Raising the Standards

  by Justin in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i remember back in the '70's, when the co visited, he stated from the platform that there were people working at bethel who had been there for many years and who had initially started, not because they were interested in the truth, but because they wanted some means of support.

  (not, of course, that they would make good money, but at least have room and board.

  ) now the society had gotten wise to them and made all the bethelites take a written examination on the basic beliefs, and the ones who flunked were dismissed.

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  24

  "God is Love"

  by Justin in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  after my thread on seminary education, i am doing one more about liberal clergy.

  my previous thread dealt with the idea that their education seemed incompatible with their calling, and this naturally led to the possibility that they may hide an underlying skepticism from their parishioners.

  in this thread i am asking why many of them present a god whose love goes beyond that of the biblical god or even the god of traditional theology.

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  20

  Seminary education

  by Justin in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  as has been demonstrated on this forum, the only two positions regarding religion which are logically consistent are fundamentalism and unbelief (whether of the atheist or agnostic variety).

  an in-between position, though some of us would like to hold it, is not logically persuasive.

  yet, that is exactly the situation which is produced in mainline (or "liberal") seminaries today.

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