Bungi Bill

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Posts by Bungi Bill

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  77

  Interpret John 1:1 by John 1:1.

  by towerwatchman in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  interpret john 1:1 by john 1:1. .

  the greek language has the definite article which has approximately thirty variations, is translated into english as “the”, and points to an identifiable personality, someone we have prior knowledge of.

  but the greek language has no indefinite article corresponding to the english “a”, or “an”.

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  Bungi Bill

  An interesting take on what seems will always be an everlasting point of contention!

  Certainly, almost all scholars are in agreement that the NWT's rendering of the second part of the statement as "and the Word was a god" is taking excessive liberties.

  However, determining what the Bible writer actually meant in John 1:1 does require more than a superficial understanding of the grammatical structure and nuances of the Koine Greek language - particularly as to how this relates to the use (or not) of the definite article.

  For example, Daniel Wallace, in his Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, includes an complete 50 pages dealing entirely with just with the use of the definite article. (This section is entitled "The Article - Part 1"). Furthermore, he then goes on with a further 15 pages that apply directly just to John 1:1. The outcome of this dissection of that verse is very much one of "nature and essence" rather than identity:

  - i.e. The Bible writer is here saying that "The Word" is of the same nature and essence as God, but he is not saying that "The Word" and God are one and the same being (not in this verse, anyway!).

  Given this, it would seem very few translations of The Bible render John 1:1 correctly. Most render the second part as ".... and The Word was God." According to most informed commentators of the Bibilcal Languages, that is no more correct than the New World Translation's "and the Word was a god".

  Just saying, anyway! (Certainly don't intend to re-open the 2000 year old dispute over whether or not God is a Trinity)

  
  
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  22

  A major misadventure!

  by Bungi Bill in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi, everyone.. i haven't posted here much in quite a while, but having just been laid low by injury, i'll likely be a frequent visitor for some time to come!.

  two weeks ago, i was involved in a workplace accident that left me with my lower l.h.

  leg fractured in three places (the tibia and fibular both broken clean through, plus another crack in the "neck" of the fibular for good measure!

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  Bungi Bill

  At my next hospital appointment, which is scheduled for next Tuesday, they will be fitting me out with a fibreglass cast of the type commonly referred to as a "moonboot". After that, I ought to be able to venture a bit further outside the house (to say nothing of being able to take a proper shower!).

  Fortunately, the pain has been controllable with nothing more than paracetamol and asprin. (Except immediately after the injury occurred - when the paramedics administered a double-shot of morphine before the rescue operation commenced!) I have been also given a supply of something more potent, a type of synthetic codiene. However, that stuff plays havoc with ones intestinal tract, so I try to avoid having to use those tablets!

  My employer has been wonderfully supportive, to the extent of this morning sending one of the junior staff around to mow my lawns. A full accident investigation has been initiated, both internally (as per company requirements), and externally (as per statutory requirements).

  I had managed to last 62 years without ever breaking a bone, despite having played rugby football, crashed motorbikes and been thrown from horses. Just goes to show that - like most cliches - the one about there "Always Being a First TimeFor Everything" is quite true!
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  22

  A major misadventure!

  by Bungi Bill in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi, everyone.. i haven't posted here much in quite a while, but having just been laid low by injury, i'll likely be a frequent visitor for some time to come!.

  two weeks ago, i was involved in a workplace accident that left me with my lower l.h.

  leg fractured in three places (the tibia and fibular both broken clean through, plus another crack in the "neck" of the fibular for good measure!

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  Bungi Bill

  Hi, everyone.

  I haven't posted here much in quite a while, but having just been laid low by injury, I'll likely be a frequent visitor for some time to come!

  Two weeks ago, I was involved in a workplace accident that left me with my lower L.H. leg fractured in three places (the tibia and fibular both broken clean through, plus another crack in the "neck" of the fibular for good measure!) I came away from the orthopaedic ward with a steel rod driven down through the centre of the tibia bone, and a series of steel pins driven through the bone at each end.

  The surgeons tell me that it will be three months before I am able to place my full weight on the leg, and up to six months before I can walk again on it comfortably.

  So I guess I am going to be "hors de combat" for quite some time - with little to do but chat on social media!
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  46

  How many years did you waste away in the Org?

  by Tallon in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in my case; 27 years.

  7 of which were as a ministerial serpent ... sorry, i mean 'servant' ;).

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  Bungi Bill

  TBL - which translates as "Too Bloody Long!"

  While not exactly "In Da Troof" for all of that time, I was definitely influenced by the utterances and mores of the WTS / GB / Jehovahs Witness Theology / Mad Rantings of "Crazy Fred" Franz for a total of 28 years.

  Significantly, these included my formative years. (While not a "Born In", I was introduced to this nonsense by a newly-converted grandmother while I still an early-adolescent).
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  28

  Were You Ever A True Believer?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was raised in the religion and for the most part believed that my religion was truth.

  i recognized some mistakes were occasionally made but felt that nobody is perfect.

  then i smartened up and realized how dumb so many of the beliefs are....was there ever a time that you truly believed you had the "truth"?.

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  Bungi Bill

  I now regret to have to say that there was indeed a time in which I swallowed the whole thing:

  - "Hook, Line and Sinker" as the saying goes, and did believe everything that that lot told me.

  Looking back, it is difficult now to identify when exactly the realisation began to alter - but the fuse was probably lit by the failure of 1975. Even so, it was a bloody long fuse!
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  16

  " We don't need no university education"

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i left school at 16, because i was studying and getting the best " university education" in the world.

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  how did the theocratic ministry school benefit you?.

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  Bungi Bill

  As a young person, I was plagued with shyness - almost to a crippling degree. There were a number of reasons for that, which I don't intend to elaborate on here. However, I can say that the Theocratic Ministry School did at least help me overcome this difficulty.

  Bill
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  3

  To any of you in New Zealand

  by Bungi Bill in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi, everybody - i am just briefly calling by.. to those of you in new zealand, i have recently "crossed the ditch", as local vernacular has it!.

  this move has been entirely employment driven, and i am working for a power distribution company in the eastern bay of plenty region.. bill.

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  Bungi Bill

  Hi, everybody - I am just briefly calling by.

  To those of you in New Zealand, I have recently "Crossed the Ditch", as local vernacular has it!

  This move has been entirely employment driven, and I am working for a power distribution company in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region.

  Bill.
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  21

  THE SHADOW OF 75 still hangs over us all . . .

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  few of your are old enough to have been there, i suspect.

  i had been in prison two years as a jw conscientious objector when the exciting news about 1975 spread like wildfire.. .

  i was paroled from prison in 1969 and immediately began pioneering.

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  Bungi Bill

  Hi, folks, just briefly calling in!

  Terry, so very, very true.

  Certainly by the time midnight rolled around on the 31st of December 1975 (if not before), everybody from Crazy Fred downwards had developed a collective case of amnesia about this date.

  What a contrast this was to the situation of the previous nine years - when the arrogant #%^&s even reckoned they had that scripture about "nobody knows the day or the hour" covered. One of the many magazine articles that were written about this date in 1968 specifically warned us that this was "no time to hide behind" that passage of scripture.

  If this wasn't putting themselves above the bible, then I don't know what is!

  Bill.
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  9

  Finally time to move on

  by Bungi Bill in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have finally reached the point where i can forget that i was ever involved with such a $!%* cult as jehovahs witnesses.

  (a situation that has taken over 20 years to achieve).. this discussion board certainly helped in this process, and i want to thank everybody for their support over the time that i have been a member both of this site and the old www.jehovahs-witness.com website (where i used the acronym reefton jack).

  it is now, though, time to move on with my life, so i will say my farewells to everybody.. bill .

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  Bungi Bill

  I have finally reached the point where I can forget that I was ever involved with such a $!%* cult as Jehovahs Witnesses. (A situation that has taken over 20 years to achieve).

  This discussion board certainly helped in this process, and I want to thank everybody for their support over the time that I have been a member both of this site and the old www.jehovahs-witness.com website (where I used the acronym Reefton Jack).

  It is now, though, time to move on with my life, so I will say my farewells to everybody.

  Bill
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  26

  How was it when you were a JW as a kid?

  by nevaagain in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  whats worse than being an adult jw?

  when i was a kid i always had a bad concience all the time.

  i believed i would not survive armageddon for the fact that i didn't like going to service and i didnt like going to the meetings.

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  Bungi Bill

  I was eight years old when my grandmother began that part of the JW indoctrination process that they like to call the "Free Home Bible Study".

  At his mother's insistence, my father attended parts of a few assemblies,including the public talks. Significantly, he picked up immediately that it was pointless bringing children along to such events (this was about the time the "Babylon the Great" book was released) - as the content was clean over their heads. Was he right about that!

  Nonetheless, my father was placed under much pressure from his parents to bring us three children along to the meetings. Luckily for us all, he resisted.

  For that, I can't thank him enough!

  I wholeheartedly agree with his later description of the JW routine of five meetings a week (as it was then), plus Circuit Assemblies, District Conventions, Special Assemblies, International Assemblies etc - with mandatory attendance of both children as well as adults - as "inhuman."

  Bill.

  PS: How I managed to get snared in when a teenager is another story!