Posts by NikL

18

The Russian letters

by purrpurr in

so all the jw's i know are practically wetting their pants in excitement over the russian letters they are sending out.

they seem to have this insane idea that putin's office will be pulled sky high with all these letters and they have this image in their imaginations of him having to open and read every letter (!).

also all the jw's i know have all put their name and address on the letter... which couldn't have any repercussions of course (!

So according to the bible, "believing" is enough to have everlasting life.

by NikL in

i am certain this has been brought up many times before.

according to john 6.... 44 no man can come to me unless the father, who sent me, draws him,+ and i will resurrect him on the last day.+ 45 it is written in the prophets: ‘they will all be taught by jehovah.+ everyone who has listened to the father and has learned comes to me.

46 not that any man has seen the father,+ except the one who is from god; this one has seen the father.+ 47 most truly i say to you, whoever believes has everlasting life.+.

NikL

Wow! I didn't realize it was covered so many times. I am not surprised though.

I am afraid that most music like that leaves me a bit flat these days since I've heard them so many times in a work environment.

Bit ironic really, I got into radio because I loved music so much and now 35 years later I hardly care about it.

25

Two (circumstantial) lines of evidence for the real motivation behind the Russian lobbying?

by doubtfull1799 in

1. in bro sandersons latest video (in which he shows a very impressive skill with russian) he mentions two likely results of the imminent russian ban: the liquidation of the branch office and its assets, and the individual brothers capacity to worship freely.

no prizes for guessing which one gets mentioned first!.

2. why have the gb never attempted in the past, and are not interested in attempting now, such a letter writing campaign in other communist countries where the work is under similar restrictions, like china, or vietnam?

NikL

Yeah, it's all about the dollars...or rubles in this case. There is property and assets at stake.

I mean, they went for years under ban in the Soviet Union and it didn't STOP their activity.

Like I told my wife, it's just stuff. We can't take it with us anyway right?

Thing is, if you look at the Russian laws on hate speech and extremist groups, JWs fit the bill.

26

Russia and the letter writing

by Listener in

this is the whole of the instructions that the watchtower gave jws when writing to russian officials -.

content • you are writing to the official to request his intervention.

express the hope that the russian authorities will stop the legal action being taken against the branch office and the congregations in russia so that our brothers and sisters can continue to gather peacefully for christian meetings without interference.

NikL

@Richard Oliver...

If you look at the laws that Russia has put in place as to what is "hate speech" and "extremist". You will see that JWs do fit the criteria in essence, breaking the law.

I concede your point as to Paul.

26

Russia and the letter writing

by Listener in

this is the whole of the instructions that the watchtower gave jws when writing to russian officials -.

content • you are writing to the official to request his intervention.

express the hope that the russian authorities will stop the legal action being taken against the branch office and the congregations in russia so that our brothers and sisters can continue to gather peacefully for christian meetings without interference.

NikL

I asked my wife yesterday, how is this remaining neutral?

She of course had no answer for me.

The other thing is,this may backfire.

If those are the only instructions they are giving, imagine brother or sister "wrong in the head" writing Putin,..."you better not ban the witnesses or Jehovah is going to step in and destroy you and all of those that support you. Your carcasses will be left on the ground for birds to eat and me and mine will be living forever in a paradise while your bones decay under my front lawn".

8

Pretend to honour principles, but make laws instead!

by doubtfull1799 in

this from the latest watchtower question from readers:.

"how a christian chooses to protect him- self, his family, or his possessions is, of course, largely a personal matter, as is his choice of employment.

that said, bible principles reflect god’s wisdom and his love for us.

NikL

That's new to me.

I know many JWs around here that own guns.

Are they now going to crack down on that I wonder?

17

So according to the bible, "believing" is enough to have everlasting life.

by NikL in

i am certain this has been brought up many times before.

according to john 6.... 44 no man can come to me unless the father, who sent me, draws him,+ and i will resurrect him on the last day.+ 45 it is written in the prophets: ‘they will all be taught by jehovah.+ everyone who has listened to the father and has learned comes to me.

46 not that any man has seen the father,+ except the one who is from god; this one has seen the father.+ 47 most truly i say to you, whoever believes has everlasting life.+.

NikL

Never would have pegged the early Christian writers as Journey fans...

LOL I am a Radio DJ Vidiot. I get your joke!

17

So according to the bible, "believing" is enough to have everlasting life.

by NikL in

i am certain this has been brought up many times before.

according to john 6.... 44 no man can come to me unless the father, who sent me, draws him,+ and i will resurrect him on the last day.+ 45 it is written in the prophets: ‘they will all be taught by jehovah.+ everyone who has listened to the father and has learned comes to me.

46 not that any man has seen the father,+ except the one who is from god; this one has seen the father.+ 47 most truly i say to you, whoever believes has everlasting life.+.

NikL

Great comments here. I love this sort of dialogue. So much more interesting than ANYTHING I've head at a kingdumb hall EVER.

17

So according to the bible, "believing" is enough to have everlasting life.

by NikL in

i am certain this has been brought up many times before.

according to john 6.... 44 no man can come to me unless the father, who sent me, draws him,+ and i will resurrect him on the last day.+ 45 it is written in the prophets: ‘they will all be taught by jehovah.+ everyone who has listened to the father and has learned comes to me.

46 not that any man has seen the father,+ except the one who is from god; this one has seen the father.+ 47 most truly i say to you, whoever believes has everlasting life.+.

NikL

The Bible also says that "Faith without works is dead"

And those works are?

17

So according to the bible, "believing" is enough to have everlasting life.

by NikL in

i am certain this has been brought up many times before.

according to john 6.... 44 no man can come to me unless the father, who sent me, draws him,+ and i will resurrect him on the last day.+ 45 it is written in the prophets: ‘they will all be taught by jehovah.+ everyone who has listened to the father and has learned comes to me.

46 not that any man has seen the father,+ except the one who is from god; this one has seen the father.+ 47 most truly i say to you, whoever believes has everlasting life.+.

NikL

I am certain this has been brought up many times before.

According to John 6...

44 No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him,+ and I will resurrect him on the last day.+ 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by Jehovah.+ Everyone who has listened to the Father and has learned comes to me. 46 Not that any man has seen the Father,+ except the one who is from God; this one has seen the Father.+ 47 Most truly I say to you, whoever believes has everlasting life.+

The word translated "believe" in verse 47 is πιστεύων

47 ἀμὴν Amen ἀμὴν amen λέγω I am saying ὑμῖν, to YOU, ὁ the (one) πιστεύων believing ἔχει is having ζωὴν life αἰώνιον. everlasting.

Yet the NWT translates the same word differently on a much more famous scripture which we all know...

16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son,+ so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.+

16 Οὕτως Thus γὰρ for ἠγάπησεν loved ὁ the θεὸς God τὸν the κόσμον world ὥστε as-and τὸν the υἱὸν Son τὸν the μονογενῆ only-begotten ἔδωκεν, he gave, ἵνα in order that πᾶς everyone ὁ the πιστεύων believing εἰς into αὐτὸν him μὴ not ἀπόληται might be destroyed ἀλλὰ but ἔχῃ may have ζωὴν life αἰώνιον. everlasting.

Faith and believing are not the same thing and it's not even what they're own interlinear says!

I am no student of Greek but the scriptures seem to be pretty clear.

Whoever believes is eligible for everlasting life.