Posts by metatron

48

Essay by Barbara Anderson: "What's in a Name?"

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

whats in a name?

posted on april 15, 2014 by barbara anderson http://watchtowerdocuments.org/whats-in-a-name/ .entry-meta-icons .entry-meta .

.entry-header one morning at bethel in 1989, after the usual text discussion before breakfast, there was an announcement to the staff about the legalization of jehovahs witnesses in poland.

metatron

JW.borg?

It keeps you young, Barb, doesn't it? !!!!!

I'm sure we can count on Witness youth to dutifully read the magazines online, once they're finished gaming and downloading porn.

Thanks again

metatron

29

CANDACE CONTI & THE NEW CONTRIBUTION DEMAND

by The Searcher in

when the org lost the candace conti case, the court ordered (pending the appeal) that the org would have to deposit several million$ as security.

the puzzling thing is, the org got a bond company to put up the millions, thereby incurring heavy interest charges.

i've always wondered, 'why?????????'.

metatron

Can anyone answer why they used a bond company, if true? Is there some legal reason? Or are they truly broke?

Beth Sarim sez there is a freeze on KH construction. WTF? And they're demanding contributions for building?

metatron

48

Essay by Barbara Anderson: "What's in a Name?"

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

whats in a name?

posted on april 15, 2014 by barbara anderson http://watchtowerdocuments.org/whats-in-a-name/ .entry-meta-icons .entry-meta .

.entry-header one morning at bethel in 1989, after the usual text discussion before breakfast, there was an announcement to the staff about the legalization of jehovahs witnesses in poland.

metatron

Clear and articulate. Thank you!

One question: What situations exist at present in which the WTS exploits this popular ignorance of their true identity? Are there any?

metatron

5

"Gospel Writing" -An Excellent Book

by metatron in

jw
friends

"gospel writing" by francis watson is an excellent book that examines (across 600+ pages) the process by which the gospels were written and the process by which they came to be accepted as canonical (as holy writ).. that's really a main point of the book - that there were many written gospels used and quoted by early christians and the 4 we have today were only accepted as 'word for word' inspired thru time as believers came to think of them that way.. a quote: "no religious, philosophical, or literary text enters the world with the label "canonical" already attached.

canonical status is a matter not for authors but for readers; it arises not from composition but from usage.

" (page 3).

metatron

"Gospel Writing" by Francis Watson is an excellent book that examines (across 600+ pages) the process by which the Gospels were written and the process by which they came to be accepted as canonical (as Holy Writ).

That's really a main point of the book - that there were many written Gospels used and quoted by early Christians and the 4 we have today were only accepted as 'word for word' inspired thru time as believers came to think of them that way.

A quote: "No religious, philosophical, or literary text enters the world with the label "canonical" already attached. Canonical status is a matter not for authors but for readers; it arises not from composition but from usage." (page 3)

He provides evidence that Matthew was written because many Christians weren't happy with Mark's abrupt, choppy style. Luke put together a Gospel that often interprets Jesus' words instead of just quoting them - and lots of early Christians had real problems with John and Revelation.

Some early comments about Mark were especially stunning - as with the claim that Mark put it together and Peter didn't endorse it or condemn it (!!! whatever, I guess!)

The only reason we have a fixed (and semi-coherent) canon of scripture today is because some church leaders 'kicked a$$ and took names' to make sense of it all and keep the Really Weird stuff out. Like the (very early) Gospel of Thomas..... And they had to 'duke it out' to get some stuff accepted like Revelation. It was a social or political process in the proto-catholic church, not books handed down from heaven.

Remember one thing: if apostasy took off with the death of the apostles, then the "apostates" selected the books that make up the Bible - and there were lots of books and Gospels to choose from.

metatron

27

New NWT - what's the REAL reason?

by wallsofjericho in

one thing i have learned over the years is there is a clear, distinct purpose to everything the wts does.

everything is done to accomplish a defined purpose.. did they really print millions of new bibles just to be more accurate?

after decades of toughting how much better the nwt was than any other bible?.

metatron

I think it allowed them to 'save face' in regard to some really poor translations. In particular, the 'mentally diseased' rendering could have become a problem.

Consider the example of what happened to the Aid book, years ago. Their greatest scholarly work was created by a prominent apostate (Ray Franz) and that was such an embarassment that they had to re-edit the book and release it under a different title. Not much was changed but they spent a lot of time and money on it.

metatron

8

How far behind the Watchtower is on child abuse reform compared to the Catholics

by besty in

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/11/qedcplwxs0ljsg3jk6zyhp/story.html.

pope takes responsibility for child abuse scandaltalks of sanctions; victims groups call for actionby john l. allen jr. | globe staff april 11, 2014pope francis asked forgiveness for the child sexual abuse scandals in the catholic church on friday, the first time hes done so as pope, and also said the church must be very strong in responding to the ongoing legacy of that crisis, including imposing forceful sanctions.. in remarks during an address to a french child protection group, francis said he took personal responsibility for what he described as the evil of child sexual abuse in the catholic church.. i feel called to take upon myself all the evil that some priests many, many in number, though not in proportion to the totality to take it upon myself and to ask forgiveness for the harm theyve done, for the sexual abuse of children, the pope said.the church is aware of this harm, he said.

its a personal and moral harm, but by men of the church.

metatron

Amen and amen

metatron

58

Evidence of Jesus being Married?

by cantleave in

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/jesus-wife-fragment-is-not-a-fake-scientists-claim-9253395.html.

a harvard professor is claiming a fragment of papyrus seemingly mentioning that jesus had a wife is an ancient document and not a forgery, following a series of tests.. the text is written in coptic and contains a dialogue in which jesus refers to "my wife.

"karen king, a professor at the harvard divinity school, writes in the harvard theological review that the papyrus is almost certainly a product of ancient christians and probably dates to eighth-century egypt, based on carbon dating and chemical tests on the ink.. none of the testing has produced any evidence that the fragment is a modern fabrication or forgery, prof king and her team concluded.. the fragment, which has some legible lines on the front and on the back, contains the words: jesus said to them, my wife .... she will also be my disciple.. james yardley from columbia university, and alexis hagadorn from columbia university libraries, used a technique called micro-raman spectroscopy to determine that the carbon character of the ink matched samples of other papyri that date from the first to eighth centuries ce.. malcolm choat from macquarie university examined the fragment at hds and offered an independent assessment of the handwriting.. prof king first announced the existence of the fragment in september 2012, at the international coptic congress in rome, where she dubbed it "the gospel of jesus's wife.".

metatron

http://ntweblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/did-jesus-have-house-in-capernaum.html

Jesus owned a home.

As for the married part, I always wondered about this. The lack of sexual behavior reported in Jesus' life was doctrinally bizarre. You have the Son of God supposedly tested thru the whole human experience but no sex.

What's the most prominent big sin category amidst Christians? Sex, sex, sex.....

This omission - in which no explanation is even attempted in the Gospels - should cause people to question their accuracy. To me, it's just too glaring.

metatron

324

Is this new donation arrangement for real?

by nugget in

just read a post on jwsurvey about the new donation arrangement.

congregations are to pledge a monthly amount to be sent to the society to fund the building of assembly halls and kingdom halls.

congregations who already have a loan from the society will no longer have to pay back the loan but the amount pledged should not be less than the current monthly repayments to the society.

metatron

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-credit-card-balance-2014-4

Check it out. It ain't just Witnesses that are broke. This is some serious stuff.

Juan, be careful. I have noticed a certain "tendency" to gradually and slowly attack people who appear on this site with critical information - ending in the poster getting discouraged and going away -which fits the interests of the Watchtower.

This happened with "Maximus". It was done to Barb Anderson too. Coincidence? Maybe.... maybe not. I know this - that the NSA and CIA monitor the internet and try to influence threads away from certain dangerous topics such as 9/11 or secession talk.

If the government does this, the Watchtower might do it too, within their own sphere of topics.

This is a guerrilla war. It will never stop until the evil centralized power is drained away or collapses. Godspeed to that.

metatron

324

Is this new donation arrangement for real?

by nugget in

just read a post on jwsurvey about the new donation arrangement.

congregations are to pledge a monthly amount to be sent to the society to fund the building of assembly halls and kingdom halls.

congregations who already have a loan from the society will no longer have to pay back the loan but the amount pledged should not be less than the current monthly repayments to the society.

metatron

Speculation? Conjecture? So what?!!!!

The trends are consistent. Cut and cut and cut. Layoff and show Watchtower workers the door. More facades and fake-atude while Witnesses take pills, mourn their kids lost 'to the world', struggle with chronic illness and wonder how they will pay their bills.

So, you crypto-apologists wanna throw cold water on these changes? Feel free.... but as someone who has long desired to see this family-hostile cult broken and wrecked, the trend is my friend.

metatron

324

Is this new donation arrangement for real?

by nugget in

just read a post on jwsurvey about the new donation arrangement.

congregations are to pledge a monthly amount to be sent to the society to fund the building of assembly halls and kingdom halls.

congregations who already have a loan from the society will no longer have to pay back the loan but the amount pledged should not be less than the current monthly repayments to the society.

metatron

Warehouse has a point, to a degree. There's much to speculate about....

I think the 'redtape' argument is probably valid and could damage this whole program. A congregation wants new stuff but can't save for it and must remit all such funds for the 'common good'.

That sort of thing failed all over Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. You collectives need to hand it over in the name of the State.....

I see lots of opportunity for slack hands, excuses, and half-hearted "enforcement" of this. Consider how the elders rush to get their neglected shepherding done before the CO shows up.......

Even funnier, I can imagine how elders could get personal requests for money tossed back in their faces - "I can't afford it but I know that Jehovah has blessed you with prosperity, Brother KGB".

A Witness can always tell themselves that Jehovah will pay for it and His Organization is invincible so someone else will pay....

That's what happened to food service and most books......

metatron