Posts by fulltimestudent

174

The Bible is NOT Error-Free

by FusionTheism in

for many christians, the bible is viewed as the 100% error-free, perfect book straight from god, where every single word was carefully chosen by god for a reason.

but, usually, when you have a discussion on the topic, these christians will end up saying that only the original copies written directly from the hands of the prophets and apostles were error-free, and all manuscript copies since then are subject to copyist mistakes and other errors.. since zero original copies are in existence, how do we know the originals were error-free?

why should we think the originals should be error-free to begin with?

fulltimestudent

FusionTheism: I view the Bible as containing the Gospel Message of salvation, and the teachings of Jesus, which are infallible,

Why do you think the gospel accounts are infallible?

These accounts were written some 30 + years after the events they purport to recall. Can you recall accurately the content of talks you heard 30 years ago? They are also filtered not just through the memory of the authors, but through their subsequent experiences in teaching. And, it is believed that some of the authors were not eye-witnesses of the events they describe.

The content of most of Jesus' teachings merely mirrored Jewish beliefs of that time (compare the gospels to the documents that make up the Dead Sea Scrolls). And then there is the problem of his expectations, clearly expecting the promised kingdom to come in his time. (Luke 21: 33)

5

Fair warning-Image (avatar) change

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

time for an image change - hence a new avatar..

fulltimestudent

Time for an image change - hence a new avatar.

4

Revelations only book with specific warning about change.

by umbertoecho in

revelations seem to be the only book out of the supposed 66 books in the bible that has a specific warning about taking or adding one word to " this prophecy".

i am curious as to what others make of this.

i have looked at a few bibles, the last chapter and verses 18-19, state this warning.

fulltimestudent

umbertoechoan hour agoRevelations seem to be the only book out of the supposed 66 books in the bible that has a specific warning about taking or adding one word to " this prophecy".

Have you ever wondered why an author may feel it is neccessary to add those words to his imagined writings?

12

are ministryideaz apostates?

by sneekyapostate in

are ministry ideaz book binders apostates cos its plastered all over the net haha?.

ministryideaz.com - meeting & service supply.

.

fulltimestudent

I've been out of this mob (jws) for many years, so I've got no idea who makes and supplies this stuff.

But it does look like stuff that used to be made and supplied by the Madzay family, who came from Cleveland in the USA. They came to prominence in WW2, by smuggling WT literature into Canada by speedboat, and became very close to Knorr and Franz.

Here in Australia, Dave Madzay was once Assistant Branch Overseer, but liked a drink or two, too often through the day, got picked up one night by the police for D.U.I. and was removed from his positions. Out of Bethel, he drank more and went out in a blaze of glory one night, when he mistakenly filled a kerosene heater with petrol. Bad mistake!!!!

Just did a search for madzay, cleveland - and whacko!!

the search link was described as:

Madzay Color Graphics - madzay.com‎

Adwww.madzay.com/‎

Products for Jehovah's Witnesses Calendars, Organizers, Book Covers

link: http://www.madzay.com/?gclid=CNOQt4-on8YCFRMDvAodoqEFOQ

Obviously, a younger, brighter (no funnies) generation is in control.

3

Do we need a 'Head Office' any more

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

lacking access to good scholarship, jehovah's witnesses and their watchtower society waste tens of millions of dollars (or, is it billions) building new head offices in the usa and other places - all at the very time that advances in it technologies, etc, are raising doubts about the wisdom of having a traditional head office.. reference: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/time-to-dismantle-the-canberra-head-office-20150619-ghrq9l.

fulltimestudent

Lacking access to good scholarship, Jehovah's witnesses and their Watchtower Society waste tens of millions of dollars (or, is it billions) building new Head Offices in the USA and other places - all at the very time that advances in IT technologies, etc, are raising doubts about the wisdom of having a traditional Head Office.

Reference: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/time-to-dismantle-the-canberra-head-office-20150619-ghrq9l

35

David Splane: The Catholic Church brought the Gospel into China!

by FusionTheism in

quotes from the new david splane "1900 years" video:.

"the catholic church took the preaching work more seriously than the reformers... who brought the gospel into china?

... it was the catholic church.".

fulltimestudent

I suspect that Splane was talking about the later missionary work of the Catholic order, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), it was far more successful and was able to colonise (in a religious sense) Korea, which remains the most Christianised East Asian country with about 30% of the population claiming to be Christian.

Almost simultaneously with the Jesuit mission, Dominican Catholics were working in the south, from their base in the Philippines. You can still find Catholic churches in the south of China that date from that era. It was conflict between the Dominicans and Jesuits that eventually led to another ban on Christianity by the Qing Emperor Kangxi.

A Wikipedia entry notes:

Kangxi was also fond of the Jesuits' respectful and unobtrusive manner; they spoke the Chinese language well, and wore the silk robes of the elite.[15] In 1692, when Fr. Thomas Pereira requested tolerance for Christianity, Kangxi was willing to oblige, and issued the Edict of Toleration,[16] which recognized Catholicism, barred attacks on their churches, and legalized their missions and the practice of Christianity by the Chinese people.[17]
However, controversy arose over whether Chinese Christians could still take part in traditional Confucian ceremonies and ancestor worship, with the Jesuits arguing for tolerance and the Dominicans taking a hard-line against foreign "idolatry". The Dominican position won the support of Pope Clement XI, who in 1705 sent Charles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon as his representative to Kangxi, to communicate the ban on Chinese rites.[13][18] On 19 March 1715, Pope Clement XI issued the papal bull Ex illa die, which officially condemned Chinese rites.[13]
In response, Kangxi officially forbade Christian missions in China, as they were "causing trouble".[19]

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_Emperor - under the sub-heading, Christianity

It can be argued that more advanced western astronomical technology(as in the above illustration) was the specific area that interested the Imperial court.

In other areas of technology, China was in advance of the west, as John Hobson demonstrates in his book, "The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation," and the Jesuits channeled this technical information back to Europe.

An example, the French King Louis XIV, in 1685 sent six Jesuits to China, specifically to act as, what we would now call, 'commercial spies.' The French Academy of Science drew up a long list of topics for them to explore and send back as information about (including) scientific, military, agricultural and manufacturing subjects.

35

David Splane: The Catholic Church brought the Gospel into China!

by FusionTheism in

quotes from the new david splane "1900 years" video:.

"the catholic church took the preaching work more seriously than the reformers... who brought the gospel into china?

... it was the catholic church.".

fulltimestudent

From Fusion Theists post:

"The Catholic Church took the preaching work more seriously than the Reformers... Who brought the Gospel into China? ... It was the Catholic Church."

If you could read the text on this stele, it would be obvious that David Splane's understanding of 'who did what in China,' is seriously mistaken.

The above stele, which is dated to 781 CE records some details of the previous 150 years of a certain church's history (which takes us back to the early 7th C.CE). The church referred to is NOT the Catholic Church, but a West Asian church, often called the Nestorian church, but likely more accurately, "The Church of the East."

There is sufficient evidence to indicate the the Church of the East was quite active. Here's another image:

File:Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 061.jpg

which is often interpreted as a Palm Sunday celebration in a Church of the East. (Some scholars dispute that interpretation).

However, it may be that this form of Christianity did not endure, as during the Anti-Buddhist proscription, which also banned certain other religions, including the Church of the East, circa 845 CE, a monk reported to his patriarch (986 CE):

Christianity is extinct in China; the native Christians have perished in one way or another; the church has been destroyed and there is only one Christian left in the land.

However, China is a big place with many different peoples, and that statement can also be disputed.

But sadly, David Splane's understanding of the history of Christianity in China is in serious error

6

Growing up gay in North korea

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

how do you know you're "gay", if you've never heard of "gay?".

does something exist if there is no word to describe it?

consider the experience of jang yeong-jin.. .

fulltimestudent

kaik: Having many visits to Italy, this is very common for all southern European countries, and Romania. In Sicily young men walk hand in hand as nothing happens, and it predates Christianity to the time of the Roman Republic.

Thnx kaik, for sharing that item of information. So it may be that male/male intimacy (in the sense of 'touch') may be more natural than the artificial rules imposed by some Christians, in our anglosphere culture.

6

Growing up gay in North korea

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

how do you know you're "gay", if you've never heard of "gay?".

does something exist if there is no word to describe it?

consider the experience of jang yeong-jin.. .

fulltimestudent

Heaven: How does the suppression of information and knowledge benefit the world?

It doesn't! But I doubt that is an issue for the NK elite. They, are creating a 'make-believe' world, for the people they rule over. And because there is no other source of information to listen to , the people believe it, even if sometimes reality intrudes.

Think of our own experience, for whatever reasons (a desire to live in the NW, or perhaps a fervent love for God) we wilfully believed a load of rubbish (other Christians also do that) and ignored the other sources of information we had access to. We lacked the ability to assess and compare the information conflicting ideas. So don't be too hard on the NK people.

Heaven: There is absolutely no point to living a miserable life because of this.

I agree--absolutely! But also think of the anti-gay Christians that preach hate and who want to make the lives of gay humans difficult (even miserable) to punish them for not believing the same things they (the anti-gay Christians) believe.

And think of how conflicting it must be for a young person (girl or boy - and born naturally same sex attracted) raised as a jw. and taught by his loving parents (and who loves his/her parents in return) that he must hate the feelings that are naturally present in his mind/body.

13

Pudong, Shanghai - From the 1990's to now.

by fulltimestudent in

in 1989 pudong looked like this:.

and about the same time, like this:.

in the early 1990's some of the first high-rise office blocks were built, and i recall an article in a sydney newspaper poking some fun at the "stupid chinese," because these office blocks had hardly any tenants.. not so long before that, pudong, on the wrong side of the huangpu river, had been paddyfields and shantys, where the poorest people lived.

fulltimestudent

the lecture I've booked for tonite, looks at 'value' in the context of urban change. That's related to the change in (social) 'values.'

.

PUBLIC LECTURE: MIDDLE CLASS AND THE PRODUCTION OF VALUE IN CHINESE CITIES
18 June 2015
Performing Civilization.
Middle Class and the Production of Value in Chinese Cities .
Luigi Tomba (Australian Centre on China in the World)
China’s rapid urbanization is both an economic and a political project. On one side it promotes a rebalancing of the Chinese economy towards a consumer society; on the other it engineers the new affluent groups as exemplars of China’s new social and political order.
This talk investigates the practical and material consequences of the government’s discourse of a “civilized” middle class on China’s urban governance and addresses the significance of stratification and segregation for the overall project of governing Chinese cities. The discourse and practices it produces are functional to the creation of “value.” Urban renewal and the rebranding of traditional urban centers as postindustrial and global metropolises rely heavily on the promotion of “middle-class” exemplarism. In this process two different types of “value” are created. By targeting the middle class as a potential buyer, the state increases the value of its land-use rights, thus making it more attractive for local authorities to redevelop traditional, dilapidated industrial areas, to rebrand them as “middle class paradises.” Also, the educated and affluent groups inhabiting the new compounds become exemplars of a self-responsible well-behaved and “high-quality ” citizenry that embodies the values of the civilizing project on which China has embarked.

Speaker:
Dr Luigi Tomba is a political scientist and the associate director of the Australian Centre on China in the World (Australian National University), where he conducts research on urban politics and urbanization in China. His most recent book is The Government Next Door: Neighborhood Politics in Urban China, (Cornell University Press, 2014). He was until the end of 2014 the co-editor of The China Journ