I did a search on that statement, and several "ministry" websites have copied it, but there is no original author mentioned. I foolishly thought someone might be out there updating & waiting for the name of just one JW with a post-graduate degree in Biblical languages. Although it's kind of an interesting thought, it just looks like some text that lame "pastors" cut & paste.
InterestedOne
JoinedPosts by InterestedOne
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No JW's w/ post-graduate degree in Biblical Greek/Hebrew?
by InterestedOne indoes anyone here have info regarding the validity/invalidity of the following statement i read while browsing:.
"as far as we have been able to determine, no baptized jehovahs witness has ever been awarded a post-graduate academic degree by an accredited institution in the field of biblical greek or hebrew.
this is rather startling in a religious sect of approximately six million people who pride themselves on being zealous students of the bible.
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No JW's w/ post-graduate degree in Biblical Greek/Hebrew?
by InterestedOne indoes anyone here have info regarding the validity/invalidity of the following statement i read while browsing:.
"as far as we have been able to determine, no baptized jehovahs witness has ever been awarded a post-graduate academic degree by an accredited institution in the field of biblical greek or hebrew.
this is rather startling in a religious sect of approximately six million people who pride themselves on being zealous students of the bible.
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InterestedOne
Does anyone here have info regarding the validity/invalidity of the following statement I read while browsing:
"As far as we have been able to determine, no baptized Jehovah’s Witness has ever been awarded a post-graduate academic degree by an accredited institution in the field of Biblical Greek or Hebrew. This is rather startling in a religious sect of approximately six million people who pride themselves on being zealous students of the Bible. One would be hard pressed to find any Christian group of similar size that could not boast of at least a half-dozen or so persons with advanced academic degrees in fields relating to Biblical languages. It is, of course, possible that there are Jehovah’s Witnesses with advanced degrees in Greek and Hebrew that we do not know about. If you know of any such persons please contact us immediately and we will gladly post a correction (as soon as we are able to verify their degrees by contacting the academic institution in question.) " -- I read this at the following page: http://www.spiritwatch.org/jwnwt.htm
I'd like to know if there is any credence to this statement or if it's just hot air.
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Who Owns Kingdom Halls & Land?
by InterestedOne ini was just in a service meeting where the elder announced that the kh had been sold.
he gave the dollar amount and said it would be split between the two cong's currently meeting in it.
the cong i attend will move to another location which currently has a building with another cong in it, but there is also enough open space on the plot of land to build another edifice.
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InterestedOne
I see. That makes sense. The elder made clear that the money would go to the new building and that members should not think they can stop contributing to pay the month-to-month utility bills for the space they will temporarily share with the other cong. He said we don't want to be an embarassment to the other cong by letting the lights or gas get turned off.
Based on the other thread, it looks like the WTS would get the money as the "parent" organization if my cong were to be dissolved.
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Who Owns Kingdom Halls & Land?
by InterestedOne ini was just in a service meeting where the elder announced that the kh had been sold.
he gave the dollar amount and said it would be split between the two cong's currently meeting in it.
the cong i attend will move to another location which currently has a building with another cong in it, but there is also enough open space on the plot of land to build another edifice.
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InterestedOne
I was just in a service meeting where the elder announced that the KH had been sold. He gave the dollar amount and said it would be split between the two cong's currently meeting in it. The cong I attend will move to another location which currently has a building with another cong in it, but there is also enough open space on the plot of land to build another edifice. The elder said the money would go toward building the new edifice. My question is this: Do the local cong's own the land and the buildings, or does the WT Society?
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Are JW's coached to be vague?
by InterestedOne ini recently emailed my jw friend a couple of questions about jw beliefs, and she gave a generic, vague response that did not answer my questions.
are jw's coached to answer in vague terms?.
i have been attending the tm "school," and although i see the "demonstrations" teaching jw's to give misleading opening lines at the door and canned answers to questions, my friend's response was not exactly canned.
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InterestedOne
Thank you, AnneB, for that insight. Do you have a link to the info about the circumstances surrounding the "Women Deserving of Respect" article? I googled it but only found a bio of Barb Anderson on Freeminds with a brief mention of the article. I'd like to hear more about what went on.
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Are JW's coached to be vague?
by InterestedOne ini recently emailed my jw friend a couple of questions about jw beliefs, and she gave a generic, vague response that did not answer my questions.
are jw's coached to answer in vague terms?.
i have been attending the tm "school," and although i see the "demonstrations" teaching jw's to give misleading opening lines at the door and canned answers to questions, my friend's response was not exactly canned.
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InterestedOne
Thanks anyway I have the new manual. Do you have want to reference a relevant section that discusses this topic?
Did you mean to post this to a different thread? Speaking of the manual, I would really like to receive a PM to the link.
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Are JW's coached to be vague?
by InterestedOne ini recently emailed my jw friend a couple of questions about jw beliefs, and she gave a generic, vague response that did not answer my questions.
are jw's coached to answer in vague terms?.
i have been attending the tm "school," and although i see the "demonstrations" teaching jw's to give misleading opening lines at the door and canned answers to questions, my friend's response was not exactly canned.
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InterestedOne
On a related issue - whenever I've found a "problem" with their literature or what they say; always the same lines of defence
1. "prove it" - and you have to prove it from their writings. (Did that with the volcanoes; thanks to Jwfacts)
2. "it's not important; what is important is. . . " anything else
3. If you don't let them get away with 2., poison the well "we know you can't trust that person/website/book". Also mention of satan, opposers, apostates.
4. finally, shoot the messenger "you don't really want to understand, do you?"Anyone else experienced this?
I've experienced all four. In addition to these, when I present problems to my JW friend, she says, "I hope you apply the same scrutiny to other groups that you hold the Witnesses to," as if I'm somehow being -more- critical of JW's than anyone else. It's basically an attack on my character, as if I'm not being fair. The funny thing is that I -am- being fair. I'm applying the same intellectual standards I would apply to anything I read or hear. These are challenging people to deal with because, while they heavily criticize other groups, if I apply the same standards to them, they switch and appeal to pity, like I'm being mean to them.
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Are JW's coached to be vague?
by InterestedOne ini recently emailed my jw friend a couple of questions about jw beliefs, and she gave a generic, vague response that did not answer my questions.
are jw's coached to answer in vague terms?.
i have been attending the tm "school," and although i see the "demonstrations" teaching jw's to give misleading opening lines at the door and canned answers to questions, my friend's response was not exactly canned.
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InterestedOne
The specific questions I asked her (which I also posted to the beliefs & practices section a couple weeks ago) were regarding page 18, par 7 of the Sept 15, 2010 WT study ed for Nov 8-14. The author refers to the "one association of brothers," and says that "nowhere else can we hear the sayings of everlasting life. - John 6:68"
I asked my JW friend to please tell me if the "one association of brothers" is referring to the group known as "Jehovah's Witnesses" directed by a group of men calling themselves the "Governing Body" with office headquarters in Brooklyn, NY who publish their statements through the nonprofit corporation called the Watchtower Society.
I also asked how the author could possibly say that "nowhere else" can people hear the sayings of everlasting life when the teachings of Jesus have been publicly available in the Bible for longer than JW's have been around. Anyone can hear the teachings of Jesus regardless of whether or not they have any encounter with JW's. The only way I could see the author's statement making any sense is if he/she believes that the JW leaders possess extra sayings from Jesus beyond what is in the Bible, and thus these extra teachings would only be heard in their group. I asked "Do you believe your leaders possess extra teachings from Jesus beyond what is in the Bible?"
Her response began by saying, "Jehovah's Witnesses believe what the Bible teaches." She said plenty of people "heard" Jesus teachings, but what does it take to really benefit from them? Then she gave a bunch of extra background info about the context of John 6:68 & how people thought Jesus was promoting cannibalism, etc. She explained how Peter put "whole souled" faith in Jesus teachings. She then said, "Likewise today, JW's put whole souled faith in those exact same teachings. That's why that statement could be made in the article."
She did not answer my question about the specific identity of the "one association." She just said "Jehovah's Witnesses," which to me could mean anyone who believes in Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, but is not necessarily part of the organization based in Brooklyn, that has appropriated the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" for itself. I wanted to clarify if the author was specifically referring to the WT Society, but she never said one way or the other.
Secondly, she didn't answer whether or not JW's believe their leaders possess extra teachings from Jesus beyond what is in the Bible. Instead, she chose to bring up a shade of meaning in the word "hear" as "to benefit from." She then went on to say that the author meant that JW's follow Jesus teachings. She is implying that the author meant noone can "hear" the teachings of Jesus except by being part of the group that follows his teachings.
To me, this feels like she is playing with the language, but maybe I'm missing something.
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Are JW's coached to be vague?
by InterestedOne ini recently emailed my jw friend a couple of questions about jw beliefs, and she gave a generic, vague response that did not answer my questions.
are jw's coached to answer in vague terms?.
i have been attending the tm "school," and although i see the "demonstrations" teaching jw's to give misleading opening lines at the door and canned answers to questions, my friend's response was not exactly canned.
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InterestedOne
I recently emailed my JW friend a couple of questions about JW beliefs, and she gave a generic, vague response that did not answer my questions. Are JW's coached to answer in vague terms?
I have been attending the TM "school," and although I see the "demonstrations" teaching JW's to give misleading opening lines at the door and canned answers to questions, my friend's response was not exactly canned. It was carefully written in a way that avoided the questions yet appeared to address them. It reminded me of when a reporter asks a politician a direct question, and the politician starts talking but not really answering the question. From what I know of my friend, she is not all that saavy in these techniques (thankfully), and I wonder where she is learning to do this. I wonder if she gave my questions to an elder and had him write the response. Is that possible, or is it more likely that she wrote it herself using a technique she has been learning through some part of the organization I'm not familiar with?
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Thinkers? No, Thanks!
by VM44 inthinkers?
no, thanks!norman hovland.
to most of us it is of course quite obvious why the watchtower society prefer their "faithful" to have as little education as possible, but it is still very rare to see this expressed so blunt and honest as here:.
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InterestedOne
OMG. Change the words and say a "lecturer" said them. Ugh. Thank you for looking at this closely. As you noted, they subtly change the tone of what the original author was saying. Are there more examples of this type of thing in current WT literature, or have they wisened up?