prince harry and meghan markle, the duke and duchess of sussex, have stepped back from royal duties and moved to an exclusive enclave of california and into a £11 million mansion (i guess they're slumming it, lol).
they have recently made several pod casts, featuring themselves pontificating on a range of subjects - blm, 'structural racism', the environment, etc.. while they're free to make whatever content they wish, it does seem ridiculous.. why should i treat harry or meghan seriously?.
take meghan.
The opinions offered by this pair are worth no more than the opinions of any other "Celebrity" persons. Yet the general Public gives weight to such pronouncements, with little thought or analysis, and without considering the words of people who actually are Authorities on the matters under discussion.
People prefer the Encyclopaedia Kardashian to real valid thought and opinion.
are jehovah`s witnesses guilty of committing the unforgivable sin ?.
“i am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of christ.
but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
" I guess you would have to believe that Paul was legit in order to believe his writings, and therefore believe the “unforgivable sin” exists "
And you would have to believe he was legit to accept HIS version of the G.N as being the definitive one. He introduces elements to his version of the "Gospel" that we do not find in the purported words of Jesus. But , Paul wrote before any of the 4 Gospels were written, and we have no huge dispute with what he says, even in Acts, where he meets with the Church in Jerusalem, including James.
So I guess it is legit for Christians to accept the writings of Paul. For me he is the Founder of what we call Christianity today, it is his Theology that dominates the thinking of all the Christian sects. Whether this accords with the actual teaching of Jesus we will never know, we do not have any reliable record, that we can be in any way sure of, of what Jesus actually said !
i belong to a group (best description that i can think of) that specialises in sharing academic papers.
ok, sometimes that provides me with all kinds of interesting material pertinent to my research interests.
but, sometimes, (and since i have not read all of it, i'm assuming its fair dinkum, genuine research) something turns up (not among my usual research interests) that blows my simple brain.. anyway, after a brief examination, my conclusion is this: i think charlie russell would have gone gaga over this research.. the author has named his paper, .
Thanks FTS, I have to go out soon, ( bloody women, can't stay in if the Sun is shining), so will look more in to this later, what I do remember from my own researches some years ago in to this was that the consensus among Scholars was that YHWH without doubt came in to the Canaanite Pantheon, and was not a Deity invented by them, though of course with them he was a minor god, along with his "wife" or consort Asherah, this being before Israel was melded into a Nation.
Most Scholars I read seemed to be cautious about actually saying YHWH arose in Egypt, stating that "he came from the South" , from memory this caution arose because the linguistic link between the tetragrammaton was not attested to fully, without doubt. ?????
only the pagans burned their bodies and criminals not worthy of burial were burned.
the point is they use the same type of reasoning as to why we can't do other things such as birthdays.
toasting etc.
As with all who pretend to live by the Bible, with the J.W's it is a " Pick and Mix" approach, and ignore the bits that are hard, but enforce all kinds of shit rules on people based on the bits we pick out.
It simply does not work ! If it is the Word of God, it is all or nothing, not just pick what you like, ignore what you don't.
the media like cnn msnbc, nytimes, etc.
have incentives to scare the public and encourage lock down--blame trump.. democrats also have incentives, to lock down the country—blame trump.
there were incentives for hospitals to report every death as a covid death------30,000 us dollars funded from the government for every covid death reported by any hospital.
One Doctor ? what is his Degree in ? Virology ? Epidemiology ? No ? What a surprise. he risks very little in the way of reputation for his 15 minutes of fame does he ?
A Worldwide Survey of Doctors treating Covid , a few months ago, only found that 37% believed that hydroxychloroquine was the most effective treatment, only 37%.
stumbled upon this article - not that the wt society ever highlighted the date of 1975, but that was brothers running ahead... .
w68 8/15 pp.
494-501. https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1968602#h=1:0 .
" There must of been a money making scheme behind the 75 thing for WT. Or something up to no good."
I don't think it was a calculated thing, by " The Society", I think they were borne along on the waves of enthusiasm of Mad Freddy Franz, who backed the date, and dropped broad hints in a talk that HE was convinced it would be " the End of the System of Things" by October 1975, though he laughed, and said " But we are not SAYING...." Imagine how that ramped up expectation ! The Oracle had spoken ! But much like the Oracle of Delphi, you could not trust the words, they could mean more than one thing.
It had the effect of reactivating many in the late 60's and early 70's, and it brought in converts, a good number from both groups drifted off when expectation was unfulfilled.
False Prophets by any measure !
stumbled upon this article - not that the wt society ever highlighted the date of 1975, but that was brothers running ahead... .
w68 8/15 pp.
494-501. https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1968602#h=1:0 .
I was worse than you Smiddy3 ! Born in, in the early 1950's, I didn't actually leave until just over a decade ago ! VERY silly me. The 1975 thing was not made a great thing of in my Congregation, virtually ignored, so it had only a minor effect upon me.
But, I am sure it added to my Cognitive Dissonance, so did contribute to my eventual Freedom. I have found out since that even nearby Congregations did go over the top, one guy sold up all his considerable property holding and his business and went off and Special Pioneered, he left a few year after '75, and is still bitter about the money lost. Had he held on to, and expanded his property Holdings, as he had planned, he would be a multi Millionaire today. Likeable guy though, and still keeps tabs on what J.W's are up to.
2020-10-02--remote volunteers and expert computer programmers needed.. .
reply below if you want me to ride my bike over to your place.. petra!
The JW Org has some barefaced cheek doesn't it ? dissuades their members from getting an education , then canvasses for those who did to help them out with their Skills Shortage. Surely, logically, such people should not be "in good standing" ? Apart from the rare individual who joined with the skills.
it so happens that my grandfather and i share the same birthday; -- this month.
i lived with him from 1930 to ~ 1947. so, following the parenting pattern in our family, he would be born, be alive by ~ 1880, the same age as the "watchtower magazine" , therefore, you could say, we both lived in the wt era, right ?
dare we say we belong to the wt generation,?.
" The Bible seems to be filled with mystery and unproven stories."
Not one Bible Book was written to be taken totally literally, the Bible is 99% Fiction. There is little "mystery" in it when you read about the Writers' time, thinking, and their motive for writing the Book, or part of a Book , there are at least two authors in Isaiah for example.
When you start taking parts of the Bible literally, you are in deep water. It is like reading a Story about King Arthur, and some of "Merlin's" Prophecies about him, and believing the Story is literal, and the prophecies will come true !
new--2020-october--shepherd the flock of god--elder manual.
new--2020-october--addendum to elder manual.
2020--october-s-147-e--announcements and reminders.
I notice in the new "Flock" book that when it comes to a paedophile moving Congregations, the Elders are supposed to 'phone the Legal Dept.
Nothing about warning Parents in the new Congregation. Why do they allow these monsters in their midst anyway ?
