for many years i have sought to understand how the bible was put together.. thus my name on here.
i started out more or less in line with what many schoolars felt in both old and new testament studies and over the year my notes have flucuated with dates and probable authorship.
a few years ago i slid into minimalist or copenhagen school understanding of the texs but still retained a slight historicity of the prophets.
As I said in my comment above, the Israelites were not in reality "Victors" in any way, and the "History" parts of their writing are deliberate Fiction to give a glorious past for the Nation to be proud of, a bit like the Nazis re-writing of German "History".
So yes smiddy, "wannabe" INDEED ! but not writing truth.
for many years i have sought to understand how the bible was put together.. thus my name on here.
i started out more or less in line with what many schoolars felt in both old and new testament studies and over the year my notes have flucuated with dates and probable authorship.
a few years ago i slid into minimalist or copenhagen school understanding of the texs but still retained a slight historicity of the prophets.
It is my intention to cover a similar area of Study as you have carried out HTBWC, but I have too much on my plate at present, with other projects, plus a Uni. Course.
I am aware that most of the stuff presented as History by the Hebrew writers is very far from accurate, or what we actually call "History" today, the motive for writing a lot of it was to build a narrative that would serve to help the building of a Nation. Hence a lot of grandiose claims are made, as to the Conquest of Canaan, the size of David's and Solomon's Kingdom etc, easily refuted, along with fanciful stuff, like the Sun standing still. I guess many of the Writings fall in to different genres, but many "historical" details are known to be inaccurate, or doubtful, and contradictions as found between Kings and Chronicles for example do not help !
One Book that is known to be what you could almost term a fraud, is the Book of Daniel, pretending to be written in the 6th Century BCE and actually written in the mid 2nd Century BCE. The writer gets historical details wrong. It was written as a political Tract for its time, thinly veiled as an Apocalyptic Prophesy from centuries before, but no doubt the intended audience recognised it for what it was.
As I often maintain, the Bible is over 90% Fiction.
for myself i just try to avoid them intentionally maybe see them once every couple of years on average.
they used to be easy going but over the last 10 years or so they got more cult like and distant and i'm really not bothered by that, maybe a bit.
they stick to their own or other members like they are their family so, its makes it unattractive for myself to connect and reach out to them anymore.
I have decided recently that I will have no voluntary contact, or conversation, with any JW, even if they are family. I have disassociated THEM if you like, yes, necessary family business will have to happen.
But NO JW is welcome in, or will gain entry to, my Home. Family or not. They really are beyond the Pale as humans. They are Toxic, unprincipled, ignorant and hateful individuals, maybe not deep down in their genuine personality, but that is what they are all the time they are in the Cult.
They can Sod Off, and when they get there, they can Sod Off some more.
matt 5:27 “you have heard that it was said, ‘do not commit adultery.’ 28 but i say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.. this means that even before someone commits an act that is considered a sin or wrong but does think about it, that person actually already committed that sin or trespassing.. now read this:.
rom.
5:12 so then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law.. this means that there was already sin in the world before adam and eve actually ate the fruit.
A totally mythical story, and obviously allegorical, does not merit such analysis as you subject it to, and you cannot sensibly look to it for guidance or illumination on matters like the subject of "Sin".
I appreciate the thought you have put in to your Post, but would suggest you study the evolution of the idea of Original Sin, and the matter of whether Sin exists in reality.
a month ago it might have been questionable.
not now.
after bader’s death and biden’s inability, this shouldn’t be close.
I don't see a win for Trump being done fairly or democratically, I see that when the first Votes are counted he may in fact come out the Winner. The next day, Postal Votes are to be counted, the majority of these could well be for Biden, and then would give him the overall win, but the postal Votes will be discredited, and then burned.
A challenge can be mounted in the Supreme Court, now heavily weighted in favour of Trump, but anyway, too late once the postal Votes are gone.
A possible Scenario ? We shall have to wait and see.
brian, former bassist of the shadows, was a sincere jw, he passed away today.
rip brian..
From Wiki " In April 1962, at Bennett's suggestion, Locking was himself invited to join The Shadows to replace the departing Jet Harris. Stylistically, Locking had a solid "less is more" approach, which was the obverse of Harris's adventurous hard-driving style. The Shadows' sound changed as a result. Locking played on some of their best known tracks, including "Dance On", "Foot Tapper" and "Atlantis". He also played the harmonica in live shows and on his signature album track, "Dakota". He appeared in the 1963 Cliff Richard film, Summer Holiday.
After being in the Shadows for only eighteen months, Locking left to pursue his activities with the Jehovah's Witnesses. He remained on the music scene at a more compatible pace and was invited to play double bass on Donovan's first recording session. He briefly played with the Shadows again five years later while his successor John Rostill was in hospital. In later life Locking was a regular guest playing at Shadows fan clubs across the UK and abroad. He was also frequently invited to perform with various Shadows-style bands.
He reprised his role in the Wildcats at Marty Wilde's 50th Anniversary Concert, where he also appeared on stage with all the surviving Shadows members. "
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.
