Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  10

  SOLA SCRIPTURA VS THE MAGISTERIUM

  by Nicholaus Kopernicus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the reinvention of the magisterium.

  in catholicism, the magisterium is the authority that lays down what is the authentic teaching of the church.

  for the catholic church, that authority is vested uniquely in...... a) the pope and.

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  Half banana

  An interesting comparison and another example of the permanently changing structural conflicts inside the WTBTS.

  I have been watching their unbounded admiration for the RC Church grow, like them, becoming hierarchical (in 1985). Until they were busted by the Guardian Newspaper for belonging to the UN as a NGO, it seemed they had their sights on emulating the Catholics for the purpose of prestige and influence not to mention wealth, to be big hitters on the religious scene. That has been quashed, the bad publicity and court cases and money grabbing are all indicators of decline, dreams of Catholic power have faded. Anyway a doomsday cult is by definition limited to a minor player, condemned as a thorn in the side of orthodoxy.

  Another point which can be made about their 'sola scriptura' is that they use the Bible only to validate themselves and their own viewpoint. Beyond that gaping flaw is the intellectual weakness of the org only making internal comparative scriptural references for decidedly, they never look to test for the authenticity of the texts by investigating the origins, sources and editing history of them. They make the gross mistake of all Bible based religions in believing the Catholic Church's lie that it is the inerrant word of God.
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  49

  Phone call straight after the Royal Commission

  by umbertoecho in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  straight after the commission ended today within minutes, the phone rang.

  it was one of the people who are working on it.

  firstly she established if i was alright and did i want to talk.. i said i was too tired and unhappy that geoffrey jackson managed to do some preaching....she said they were aware of that.

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  Half banana

  How interesting Defender, the Jdub’s response was due to the Watchtower issue rose tinted spectacles and mental lobotomy performed at their baptism.

  What they didn’t notice was the smug self righteousness in GJ, his playing to the witness crowd and his lies. The Jdub expected truthful answers, therefore interpreting uncritically GJ’s replies to be such. Jdubs have no sense of critical thought, they are happy to be dumb sheep.

  What struck me was that people who lie only do so to cover their shame. It made me see evidence for the first time that the GB are driven to lying which means they are ashamed of their role, belief or stance.

  Is this because they actually know their teachings are fatally flawed and that they are mere imposters?
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  8

  Mr. Geoffrey William Jackson = Humpty Dumpty

  by kepler in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  when i use a word, humpty dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, it means just what i choose it to mean neither more nor less.. .

  the question is, said alice, whether you can make words mean so many different things.. .

  the question is, said humpty dumpty, which is to be master thats all.

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  Half banana

  Vicious buggers back then weren't they?
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  3

  My Capstone Essay-

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've had approval for the topic of my capstone essay (which is supposed to demonstrate how far i've travelled in my years of study.. after some negotiation, the unit convenor has approved the topic as: "an investigation of hellenic influences on representations of divinity in daniel 7.".

  he was kind enough to suggest that i may find some interesting thoughts in this book, the human and divine in history: herodotus and the book of daniel by paul miskanen.. some may recognise the topic as similar to a thread i started some four months ago, "polytheism in the book of daniel, a late second temple religious document.

  that thread* had some interesting reactions, it was based on an idea in a book by jewish scholar, daniel boyarin called, the jewish gospels: the story of the jewish christ.

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  Half banana

  I think that the importance of the medium of theatre is greatly underplayed in the historical transmission of cultural belief. The christ cults used it to disseminate the story of "the man who overcame death" (according to JM Robertson) and the gospels can be argued to be transcripts of contemporary theatre on exactly the same theme. An example being the events leading up to the death of Jesus are telescoped down into one continuous narrative taking place in an unreasonably short period of time...just as it would be if it were in a theatrical presentation.
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  11

  Judgement

  by davidmitchell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://jwleaks.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/2015-ewhc-1722-qb.pdfjust had a look at this 2015 legal judgement.

  one of a number of things that caught my eye was the statement in (11) that "the organisational structure of jehovahs witnesses is modelled on first century christianity as described in the bible".er, hardly.

  try acts 2: 44-45"all the believers were together and had everything in common.

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  Half banana

  A key point you make Eden on liability. Had they not become an "organised religion" or technically a "hierarchical" religion in 1985, (which was for the purpose of total control over both its membership and the KH ownership); perhaps they could have passed the blame on to the individual congregations where the abuse took place.

  If this is really so then their greed for property and control has come back to bite them in the bum. The complete lack of care for the abused and by prioritising their selfish concern for protecting their name is their downfall. I hope the victims in this case get compensation.

  Whatever, the WTBTS does not resemble anything like the conventional view of primitive Christianity.
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  24

  Is Satan really a liar, and the father of the lie?

  by Israel Ricky Gonzales in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  5 for god knows that in the very day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like god, knowing good and bad.. .

  genesis 3:22. jehovah god then said: here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad..".

  for god knows that in the very day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like god, knowing good and bad.?.

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  Half banana

  As you say Giordano,Christianity as represented by the NT, is a fusion of Hebrew and just about every pagan belief and Greek philosophy going at the time. They were never coherent then... you just needed your partizan faith!

  And that's why it is possible to discuss Bible doctrines INTERMINABLY, as in two thousand years, and still arrive at zero conclusions.
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  11

  Judgement

  by davidmitchell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://jwleaks.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/2015-ewhc-1722-qb.pdfjust had a look at this 2015 legal judgement.

  one of a number of things that caught my eye was the statement in (11) that "the organisational structure of jehovahs witnesses is modelled on first century christianity as described in the bible".er, hardly.

  try acts 2: 44-45"all the believers were together and had everything in common.

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  Half banana

  That's the next step Doc, they share their valuables with the GB but not among themselves. Yuck.

  Even the writings in Acts (mostly spurious) are probably in praise of a mythical time when they all shared things in common. Since the Bible is a fourth century compilation, they were already fictionalising a sublime past which did not happen. Most of the various Christ cults in the early centuries were drawn from the poorest of society and the few wealthier members could show charity notably by sharing in the form of supplying food and meals for all associates of their particular cult (and hence the ready connection of loyalty to a particular cult and its food supply as played upon in the illustration of a faithful and discreet slave).
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  3

  My Capstone Essay-

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've had approval for the topic of my capstone essay (which is supposed to demonstrate how far i've travelled in my years of study.. after some negotiation, the unit convenor has approved the topic as: "an investigation of hellenic influences on representations of divinity in daniel 7.".

  he was kind enough to suggest that i may find some interesting thoughts in this book, the human and divine in history: herodotus and the book of daniel by paul miskanen.. some may recognise the topic as similar to a thread i started some four months ago, "polytheism in the book of daniel, a late second temple religious document.

  that thread* had some interesting reactions, it was based on an idea in a book by jewish scholar, daniel boyarin called, the jewish gospels: the story of the jewish christ.

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  Half banana

  I will look forward to a summary of your essay (if not the whole thing!). I think the choice is excellent, an area I would love to investigate in depth myself. It is a critical area of study capable of busting anyone's trust in the divinity of scripture.

  So much of adventist and therefore JW belief comes from Daniel and the facts as you have mentioned about the Persian and the Hellenic world is very germane to the development of messianic belief. It links the middle second century BCE Greek philosophical view with the NT world. Not surprising then that the nominally Hebrew Daniel is more accessible and less alien to Greek Christianity. After all it was Greek philosophy and NOT JEHOVAH which gave us the 'logos' which is central to Christianity along with much else from that era.

  Keep us informed!
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  30

  Life after the witnesses, friends, faith etc

  by Theburstbubble in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi everyone, this is my first post so go easy on me :) i have been a witness all of my life (i'm 37) and truly believed it until 3 years ago.

  my husband and i had become spiritually weak and over time i began to question more and more until i came to the conclusion that the witnesses were not the true religion but just one of many religions and that if god is there then there are many paths to get to him.

  anyway, i've battled with keeping going as my husband still believed and i didn't want to be in a divided household as we have a young daughter and thought it would be very confusing for her (and us).

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  Half banana

  Hi Theburstbubble, lovely to have you here! When the bubble burst you never need to get trapped inside another one!

  It really does take time to get the brain rewired after being a JW but eventually the old proddings fade away and you can be true to yourself and your immediate family.

  I found it surprising how very good friends shunned me after leaving but then if their friendship was conditional on the imagined requirements of an invisible sky god, I'm sorry for them... but there are plenty of happy sensible contented non JWs out there who are good company.

  Hope it goes well with you and husband in the beautiful real world.
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  19

  Anyone seen this new "Bad Association" video at the Convention yet?

  by WingCommander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read on another thread (on another forum) where someone mentioned a truly guilt-inducing, cringe-worthy, "bad association" video that was played at this summers rc's.

  here is how that person described it:.

  "the video about "bad association" was really weird.

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  Half banana

  I think even a brain-dead Witness will spot that this is the lamest of lame stories!