Posts by Phizzy

8

2 Peter and Jude and 1 Enoch

by Parallax in

i'm new to the forum and i have a question about what was said in a 16-year-old thread at this forum.

a poster by the name of leolaia said.... the author of 2 peter did not recognize that jude 6 was an allustion to 1 enoch (just as he did not realize that jude 9 was an allusion to the assumption of moses and thus rephrased it incoherently in 2 peter 2:11), or he may have objected to the enochic reference (just as jude 14-15 was omitted in 2 peter 2).

in either case, the author overlooked the enochic allusion and instead recognized the passage as an allusion of hesiod and thus embellished the passage from jude with an allusion to hesiod's tartarus.. .

Phizzy

Welcome to the Forum Parallax !!

I think it is great that you are reading the Posts of the truly great, erudite and Scholarly "Leolaia" ! When I first joined here, it was she who helped to add to my Education, in many ways, opened my eyes to the truth about the Bible, and its real place in Literature, and explained SO much.

She spurred me on to study more deeply the whole of the Bible, as a serious Student, with an open mind, having thrown away my "J.W Specs" that make a believer approach the Bible in a childish, and ignorant way.

You will have many hours of joy and illumination if you read as many of her Posts as you can !

Please tell us a little of your story, without revealing details that will identify you , if you prefer, Happy Reading !

55

2022-Secret Watchtower Disfellowshipping Reference Manual.

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

massive new document written by wt, 837 pages, meant for arguments vs officials and media to defend the disfellowshipping arrangement.

found in the casefile in norway.

meant to be secret.. .

Phizzy

The mere size of this Volume is very telling, they devote all those pages to show how to get rid of someone, but how many pages do they devote to REAL Shepherding Work ??

Hardly any ! yes, there are the odd phrases here and there, but some of them are not really Shepherding, they are encouraging Elders to Bully, as in the oft used phrase: to " Spiritually adjust" a person.

Do you know, I am beginning to think the JW org. is a Cult !

20

NWT Revisions

by Jeffro in

there is mention on a wikipedia article that there was a 2006 revision of the nwt.

is this true?

what differences are there?

Phizzy

There always a lot wrong with the NWT right from the start, but generally, considering they had no Scholars expert in the field of producing a new version of the Bible, they did well, often many renderings being better than rival versions. It was not therefore though a true "Translation", and still is not. It is a work based on the work of other Translators.

A couple of things that were wrong were its initial slavery to the concept of rendering the Bible "literally", often idioms etc from the originals were given as near to the original words as possible, and thus were ponderous and hard to read in English, but also the method lost the sense of the original idiom.

The second, and more important, and in fact dishonest error, was to change the meaning of the words in the original language, to suit their Theology. Of course many other versions are guilty of this too !

It is a pity that the latest Version does little to improve it as contender in the market for "Recommended Good Version" .

3

What's going on with Emma Raducanu?

by LoveUniHateExams in

so, emma raducanu was knocked out of wimbledon yesterday.. she won her first round match, and lost in the second round.. i wasn't expecting her to win the whole tournament, but i did kinda hope she would make it through the first week.. so, what's going on with her?

is she not fully fit?.

or maybe her body is not yet ready for the full pro circuit?

Phizzy

Just 19 years old still, a good Athlete too, but winning at the top level consistently will only come in future years.

Every Match, and especially the losses, is something to be learned from. Many eventual top stars took a few years after winning a big event, to do their "Apprenticeship" and then be able to win and stay at the top level.

She seems to be committed to sticking to Tennis, though other career moves have been offered. She recently dropped sponsorship from some sources, to concentrate on her game.

I am sure that with the right team around her, putting in the work, and being determined to win, she will do well, and have a long and illustrious career in Tennis,

7

Rates of PIMOs in bethel as apposed to R&F

by joe134cd in

with all the bethel leaks.

i started to think about the levels of pimos with in bethel as apposed to the rank and file.

would there be higher rates of pimos bethel due to seeing the more unsavoury side of it.

Phizzy

I think seeing the unsavory side of the WT by living in Bethel has been an eye opener to many, but many of these still believe it is Jehoobers org. and put it down to "imperfect men".

We had a lad from our Congo 30 years or so ago, go the Bethel, when he had been there for about a year, he said to me, "There is nothing Spiritual there". To my knowledge he is still a J.W. I think many are like this, eyes partially opened, but they do not look further in to it.

48

"Jehovah God"

by Jeffro in

the expression "jehovah god" has always seemed strange to me.

even when i was a jw, i found the term awkward, and never used it myself.

both words are nouns intended to be synonyms of each other, unless the name "jehovah" is being used as an adjective, which is also weird.

Phizzy

Let's remember in the case of the O.T the writers, who were the Jews that came to Judah after the Babylonian Exile, they may have incorporated, and edited and redacted earlier Works, but they are the Writers.

They were well aware of the other gods worshipped by the people they settled back among, and they were trying to establish Yahweh as their god, with no other to be worshipped. So the text they came up with made it clear, not only that it was Yahweh that was being written about, but that he was THE god to worship. Obfuscating the truth that Yahweh was adopted quite late into the basically Canaanite Pantheon their Israelite ancestors worshipped.

20

NWT Revisions

by Jeffro in

there is mention on a wikipedia article that there was a 2006 revision of the nwt.

is this true?

what differences are there?

Phizzy

" Many readers on this site know that the WT has on many occasions revised the text of some of their publications without saying in the publications that it is Revised. Examples of numerous such revisions have been documented on this site. "

One stark example of this, and a blatantly dishonest one, is where, in the Bound Volumes, they have changed something embarrassing, to hide it, that they did say in the actual magazine we got.

They had to do a special Print Run with the dishonest new version, then Bind that in to the Volume !

I showed one such example of this to a guy who came round to "Shepherd" me shortly after I left, and he said " I see nothing wrong with that " !!

10

Watchtower's NEW Legal Learning Studio

by Newly Enlightened in

https://youtu.be/qn4z2uzsabm.

Phizzy

I imagine that any learning is focussed upon learning various National and International Laws, but in looking for ways to circumvent those Laws, in a way that does not result in the W.T losing Court Cases, and paying costs and perhaps compensation to Victims of what they do.

Hardly showing respect for "Caesar's Law" is it ?

It is exactly the same as smart-arse Lawyers and Accountants who circumvent Tax Laws, i.e. Morally Wrong.

540

Simple Question Re 1914

by Slidin Fast in

wt claims that satan was thrown out of heaven in october 1914 precipitating ww!

and the end times.

a small problem with that is ww1 started on july 28th 1914 whilst satan was still in heaven picking his nose.. how did we not see this and waste years of precious life?

Phizzy

This >> " but face it: the wt prediction game as inspired truth, or a spirit directed group is over. "

The WT./Org. "predictions" have failed over the years, very consistently, I cannot think of ONE that came true as they expressed it, if you take the prediction in full.

Exactly the same applies to the Bible itself. Not one came true of the real predictions, not one.

If they were a "spirit directed" group, they would know how to read the Bible like adults, i.e. Taking proper note of the context, the time in which the writer lived, the time of writing, the culture of the day, the Theology of the time, and the Agenda of the writer etc.

They do none of these things, one of the chief errors is not acknowledging WHEN a work was written, Daniel being written in the mid 2nd Century BCE. for example, not Centuries before that time, as it pretends, or that the Gospels were all written after 70 C.E, apart from some of the earliest Gospel, Mark, where even that was edited and added to after 70 C.E, and so on.

To approach Bible interpretation in a childish and totally non Scholarly way, means they cannot ascertain what the Holy Spirit is directing them to do, the Bible, as they admit, being their only source of "Spirit direction".

The 1914 teaching has been 100% demolished, very ably by Jeffro, and many others, it needs no further attention, the same with any J.W teaching, they are not teachers of Truth.

19

Beards- just told by an elder

by dothemath in

i know this subject has been talked about lots over the years, just thought i would share a recent finding from canada.. while visiting with a group of friends, an elder (don’t recall how the subject came up) mentioned the local body had voted to allow brothers with beards be allowed to give talks from the platform.

(it was a very close vote).

the direction given was for each congregation to decide for themselves if that is now acceptable.. so some congregations will be for, and for many it will not.. it’ll probably be a long time before we see any pictures on the watchtower where they’re allowing this though..

Phizzy

" Would not raise an eyebrow around here ".

They are a parochial lot, the other side of the Big Pond, Canada not SO bad as the insular, ignorant (generally) USA.

I wore a beard for many years here in the U.K, in the 70's and 80's, while serving as a M.S. and giving P.Talks, home and away. I have a letter from the org. about 74 ? saying that it was a decision for local Elders, and that they cannot make Rules about Dress and Grooming for the Worldwide "Brotherhood" as a whole ! They seem to try to do that though, don't they ?