I especially like the Revised English Bible, which came out in the 1980's as an update to the New English Bible.
For the NT reading, I like J B Phillips, though a paraphrase.
which english translations of the bible are you favorites, and why?
my favorites include the (english) revised version bible (of 1881-1885) and its apocrypha (of 1898), the american revised version bible (of 1898, it close to the american standard version), the american standard version bible (of 1901), the new american standard bible - updated edition, the new revised standard version bible with the apocrypha, the complete bible: an american translation (it includes the apocrypha), and the twentieth century new testament.
i also use others beside those.. they are my favorites because i consider them to be highly accurate, and also they are either very literal (but not so literal as to be hard to understand) or they use functional equivalence.
I especially like the Revised English Bible, which came out in the 1980's as an update to the New English Bible.
For the NT reading, I like J B Phillips, though a paraphrase.
the emphasized bible (rotherham) is now included in the wt library under "other bibles.".
therefore it joins kit, kjv, asv, & the bible in living english in such group.. any thoughts?.
The Rotherham is on the JW app now, I just noticed.
the emphasized bible (rotherham) is now included in the wt library under "other bibles.".
therefore it joins kit, kjv, asv, & the bible in living english in such group.. any thoughts?.
Awesome, I am both pleasantly surprised and shocked. The connection that JWs will latch onto mainly is that Rotherham elected to use the Divine name Yahweh in the Old Testament. I think they used to sell a non-WT printed Rotherham's at the back counter in the old days, before the donation arrangement. The copy I have is more recent and I do like the version, though the language is dated now and a bit hard to follow for contiguous reading.
I just looked at the WT online library and the Rotherham version they have there doesn't have either the Introductions or Appendices, which are really interesting and an education in themselves. Also, Rotherham's is the best I have seen for grouping the text so that the poetic passages are clearly identified, (indentations, etc) and the online copy is unfortunately missing these features. On the other hand, the online copy omits the various different fonts, italics and emphasis marks, which I always found more aggravating than helpful.
can anyone remember the reasoning the watchtower gave for jesus speaking these words?
if you have a reference that would be even better!.
The comparison between JWs and Docetism has been made before. I used to have a copy of an old anti-Russell tract from the pre-1914 days in which the author railed against Russell for preaching that the body of Christ dissolved after the death. He called it blasphemy that Russell taught 'the Annihilation of Jesus Christ'. There are still some evangelist faiths which criticize the JWs for denying the 'bodily resurrection of Christ' and draw the parallel to Docetism.
maybe someone can help me here:when i got baptized at age 23, an elder dropped a bombshell on me.
he said that the new testament wasn't written for the great crowd (me).
he said that it only applies to the anointed, and "by extension" the nt applies to the great crowd.
I think we should ask Simon to put another option to click, so we have
Like, Dislike, ????What????
maybe someone can help me here:when i got baptized at age 23, an elder dropped a bombshell on me.
he said that the new testament wasn't written for the great crowd (me).
he said that it only applies to the anointed, and "by extension" the nt applies to the great crowd.
The two- class Christianity is a WT construct, so the question is moot.
why was there no official arrangement before 1952 to disfellowship people?
was there a different procedure with a different name?
was no one committing disfellowshipping offenses?
Good thread to bring up.
I don't have any inside information, but I think disfellowshipping was 'on the books' previous to '52, but seldom used in the US. I would guess that part of the reason disfellowshipping took off was the post war expansion which brought different needs and the organization didn't have a way to control it. Gilead started in the late '40's and they started to have conversions of a lot of different backgrounds from the various countries they sent missionaries to. Polygamy, voodoo, you name it. They got themselves trapped into the practice of ruling on disfellowshipping matters that they would have been better not commenting on or making rules about.
i keep hearing that the watchtower org is going to be around forever because of the many other religions that have been around a long time.
but i disagree because the wt is not like other religious cults.. the watchtower's breath of life is dependent on the last days that started in 1914. .
you can’t change 1914 without a death blow to the entire organization.. the watchtower's 2nd reason for staying alive, is it's continual urging that the life saving preaching work of warning people is the most important work ever.. but- it's very obvious to many, even the old ones that instead of speeding up the work------the work is slowing down to a drip.. comment by former believer; .
I think virtually all printed literature is on the way out, at least in any country or area where people have internet and technology.
we had a fancy dress up party in our congregation.
elders special pioneers and many others came, though some came as cowboys and pirates with guns and swords which was not in line with the watchtowers "beat your swords into plough sheers.
" some sisters were belly dancers....yes they exposed their stomachs.....shock horror!
In our area (midwest US) there was a crackdown around 1995-2000 or so against all large parties. The 'open invitation' that had been the practice for years seemed to break down. There was a large party here that drew people from 500+ miles away; mostly young guys cruising for chicks, from what I heard. Nobody had any idea who they were. A few bad events like that and they just shut them all down.
latest advice for jw parents: if your kids get disfellowshipped, fight the urge to blame yourself.
yes, great advice.
if your clueless, underage child is struggling in life, don't blame yourself, stop thinking about it and move on.
The best thing parents can do for their children is to NOT raise them as JWs. Leave the damn religion and give them a chance in life.