flamegrilled

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Posts by flamegrilled

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  22

  The BRAIN is awakening! Don't ignore it!

  by Tech49 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  something happened recently, and i thought i would share a few comments.

  first, lets set the stage..... if anyone is familiar with current events in the pacific northwest, you may have heard of the death of a beautiful young lady, whitney heichel, a short while ago.

  in short, whitney was a young sister that was kidnapped and killed by a "congregation" friend.

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  flamegrilled

  I agree with Oubliette. I don't believe that there is any reason to doubt that what was said was 100% genuine.

  That has no bearing on whether it is true or not.
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  49

  I lost my pet today...

  by tooktheredpill in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  she was a 12 year old maltese.

  the best pet in the world.

  my wife and i never had kids, so she was our only daughter.

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  flamegrilled

  Very sorry to hear that. I love my animal friends, and the deep pain of losing pets is somthing that I have also had to go through a couple of times. Maltese are very cute and smart dogs. I bet she was lovely.

  From time to time my wife and I will sit down with a glass of wine and go through some old photos of our pets. Now that the worst of the sadness is past it really does help us to remember the good times, and the good life that we gave them. I hope that when the immediate pain subsides a bit you will also be able to find happiness in remembering how good you were for her as owners, and how good a baby she was to you.

  FG
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  25

  NEW ARTICLE - Commentary on Daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4.

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ive just published on my website a commentary on daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4, concerning nebuchadnezzars dreams of the statue and the great tree.

  its titled: the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.

  (click the title for link).

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  flamegrilled

  Hi Eden

  One can hardly claim that the Babylonian empire was the "golden standard" or the "height of glory" of all the world powers that ever existed since antiquity until our days

  I agree with that, but on the other hand would you say that human rulership has been steadily improving over the last 2500 years, or steadily declining? And here I am talking from a theocratic point of view only. (Not a JW view, and not a secular point of view.)

  Now that doesn't mean that the decline has to be linear. There have been better and worse rulers in each worldly governmental power. None would be completely effective and some would be downright horrible. But if you drew the whole thing out, like you might graph a share price now, it might be a line with peaks and troughs, but always on the decline. But a dream that showed a stock market x-y graph wouldn't really fit well in the Hebrew/Aramaic scriptures, so instead a dream that simply shows base materials of diminishing value is understandable to any audience.

  That's the way I see it. But I remain open to persuasion.

  FG
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  84

  100 things I learned from watching "The Prodigal Son" DVD

  by Perversion of a truth in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  these are things that were said or insinuated, i start with the first 15.

  enjoy!!.

  1. working for a corporation in the city makes you fall out of the truth.. 2. if you become inactive or leave jehovah you will make your whole family sad and ruin everything.. 3. all worldly people cheat.. 4. all worldly people curse.. 5.

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  flamegrilled

  Weird ... why did my no.23 entry (between maninthemiddle and sir82) get deleted???

  It wasn't anything bad.
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  25

  NEW ARTICLE - Commentary on Daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4.

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ive just published on my website a commentary on daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4, concerning nebuchadnezzars dreams of the statue and the great tree.

  its titled: the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.

  (click the title for link).

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  flamegrilled

  Hence, since from God's point of view no government is "gold", the fact that the statue of the dream has Nebuchadnezzar as the "gold head" can only be understood as his reign being the apogee of glory of the Neo-Babylonian empire, represented by the statue in its entirety. The succession of increasingly poorer materials represents its decadence.

  I don't follow the logic.

  Why "since ... can only be understood ..."?

  Surely the exact same argument applies whether it is Nebuchadnezzar followed by his human successors, or Nebuchadnezzar's empire followed by the successive empires?

  Either way the succession of increasingly poorer materials represents a moving towards something inferior that would ultimately be removed.
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  25

  NEW ARTICLE - Commentary on Daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4.

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ive just published on my website a commentary on daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4, concerning nebuchadnezzars dreams of the statue and the great tree.

  its titled: the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.

  (click the title for link).

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  flamegrilled

  Eden

  But whether it's Nebuchadnezzer's rulership personally or the national rulership, it's still a head of gold. So the same argument applies against seeing it that way from God's point of view.

  I agree that historically it appears to be true what you say about how they treated God's people, but all of those nations suppressed their absolute freedom to worship as God intended. So I don't think the whole thing is about how hostile they were on a scale of 1-10 against God's people, but rather the quality of human rulership in relative terms only.

  Surely no human government is GOLD from God's POV so this all has to be relative in some way. Don't you think?

  FG
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  25

  NEW ARTICLE - Commentary on Daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4.

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ive just published on my website a commentary on daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4, concerning nebuchadnezzars dreams of the statue and the great tree.

  its titled: the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.

  (click the title for link).

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  flamegrilled

  Hi Eden

  I've reread your reply more carefully and I understand what you are saying now about the Hebrew and Aramaic. Nevertheless "olam/elam" in relation to kingdom/kingship only has those two instances in Daniel as far as I can see. (There are some toadies in the intervening chapters who say "live forever" to their kings but obviously that is just their custom rather than anything prophectic).

  I just don't see sufficient evidence that the prophecy is not messianic when that is what it appears to be. I totally respect your line of reasoning, but there just seems to be too much weight on the other side of the scales.

  Even if the gold is from God's standpoint I think it can still be understood as the "best" human government was ever going to achive, and it would decline from there.

  Ultimately the gold is proven to be perishable, and the mountain that fills the whole earth is supreme. So regardless of the material and regardless from whose standpoint, there is a clear winner that is shown to be of more enduring value.

  That's the way I see it anyway.

  FG
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  25

  NEW ARTICLE - Commentary on Daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4.

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ive just published on my website a commentary on daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4, concerning nebuchadnezzars dreams of the statue and the great tree.

  its titled: the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.

  (click the title for link).

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  flamegrilled

  Hi Eden

  Here I am not nit-picking - only seeking to understand.

  You said ...

  Therefore, you shouldn't limit the scope of "olam" to the aramaic variation of "elam".

  Why would the scope of the Aramaic be limited at all if it is truly synonomous with the Hebrew?

  Do you see what I mean?

  FG
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  25

  NEW ARTICLE - Commentary on Daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4.

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ive just published on my website a commentary on daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4, concerning nebuchadnezzars dreams of the statue and the great tree.

  its titled: the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.

  (click the title for link).

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  flamegrilled

  Hi Eden

  Was scratching my head as to whom your comments were directed until I saw your edit.

  You've raised quite a few points. I have company right now, but will try to reply more fully later.

  But in the meantime I'm just wondering why you focus on Hebrew "olam", and say we shouldn't confuse with Aramaic "elam" when the available text is Aramaic?

  Or am I missing something?

  FG
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  25

  NEW ARTICLE - Commentary on Daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4.

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ive just published on my website a commentary on daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4, concerning nebuchadnezzars dreams of the statue and the great tree.

  its titled: the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.

  (click the title for link).

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  flamegrilled

  Vidqun - very interesting.

  EdenOne - even though I disagreed with you I appreciate you stimulating some new thought on this passage.