Phizzy

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Posts by Phizzy

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  2

  Lost Gospel Series

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i thought it would be fun to take a brief look at various gospels in use by christians of the first few centuries ce.

  one each week.

  a few weeks back i posted regarding the egerton gospel which i cleverly misspelled edgerton gospel.. for now consider the oxyrhynchus gospel 840:.

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  Phizzy

  Thanks PPete ! fascinating !

  The Oxyrhynchus Papyri is a huge collection, much of it yet to be transcribed, and translated, a job that will not be completed in our lifetimes. It is hugely important because of all the secular stuff in the collection, of huge interest and use to Historians, and the Biblical stuff, of interest to Scholars, and us of course !

  What a great idea ! bringing to us a chunk each week ! Thank you for your work, I wonder what new treasures will surface as the work of studying the Papyri continues !
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  8

  Do or Do not Do

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  " (greece; 4th century bce)

  " (greece; 5th century bce)

  2nd century bce.

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  Phizzy

  Just to repeat what PP said at the end of his O.P, as this surely is the best version of the Golden Rule :

  " "Do Unto Others as They Would Have You Do Unto Them."

  ... take time to learn about your neighbor's tastes, their mood, their needs, their principles before you start "doing" things "unto them." Treat others the way they want to be treated."

  Well put, P. Pete !
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  48

  2024 when will Witnesses admit they are wrong???

  by Witness 007 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  1914 generation is long gone.

  1975 was a joke 40 years ago.

  i know of many witnesses still hanging on for armagedon but when will they give up?

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  Phizzy

  The G.B and its predecessors never admit they were wrong, they may only have a "clarified understanding", according to them.

  Individual older J.W's now suffer from the "Sunk Cost Fallacy" and allied false reasoning, and also many have an ingrained sense of Pride.

  It takes humility to admit you have been wrong all your life.

  1914 will become "The Elephant In the Room" for the G.B, gullible J.W's will follow that lead. I do not expect a mass waking up, even less a mass exodus. But soon, only those older ones, over 50's etc. will be in the majority by a long way. The young will continue to leave as they have done, the young that remain will not be there because of belief, but only for family and social reasons.
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  18

  Were JW Celebrities Ever An Asset To The Organisation?

  by NotFormer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just wondering if the rich celebrities that occasionally were aligned with the wt gave enough to the 'tower to be a worthwhile presence within the organisation?.

  my gut instinct is: "no".

  i imagine that the jackson family gave a fair bit, but it was obviously never enough to buy michael the right to be held as being in good standing.

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  Phizzy

  I have never joined in with the idea that Celebs, are something special, but even the Org. as has been pointed out in this thread I guess, thought they were, special enough to mention them, as some kind of validation at least.

  My old man set me on that road to reasoning they were not special,or superhuman or something, when I was very young.

  He spoke out against the practice of when a G.B member took to the Platform at a big Convention, the audience would clap them vigorously , before they had spoken a word, dad said that was idolizing them.

  Later in life I saw first hand how J.W's sucked up to, and fawned over, prominent Bethel guys, and how those guys, and the G.B are the same, absolutely LOVED the adoration !
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  10

  "Beast" Memories

  by NotFormer in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i've been crapping on the wt a lot lately, which sometimes seems a bit unfair to me, especially since i was never in, therefore i don't really have a dog in the fight.

  to provide a bit of balance, i'll reminisce about the rampant prophecy speculation going on in mainstream christianity (i refuse to use the wt's pejorative term: "christendom", especially since by definition, they're part of that classification 🙄) in the 70s and 80s.

  to be fair, the churches themselves had been around long enough to realise that end times interpretations are like arseholes, everybody has one.

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  Phizzy

  Is " hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia " ( an irrational fear of the number 666) the longest word in the English language ? It is certainly the longest word to ever grace the pages on here !

  That fear runs deep in Society, they had to change the number on a local 'bus from 666, people complained, thought it would bring evil down on the 'bus, but it ran for many months, until some wag at the 'bus company added an emoji to the sign displaying the number, the emoji was a Devil face, complete with horns ! LOL.
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  23

  Observations/Questions from forum newbie

  by Obrien in

  1. forum
  2. suggestions

  i joined about 5 days ago and have some observations/questions.. does anyone notice the profile update doesn't seem to work?

  i like reading some of the profiles, most accounts don't have them and maybe that's because the tool doesn't function anymore?.

  also i've been noticing a diverse number of subjects which made me think of the categories of people on here.

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  Phizzy

  " you have pity for people still there " I have pity, and empathy for those still there, to a degree, as it took me until I was virtually an old man to wake up, due to having been born in.

  But really, anyone still in must be experiencing Cognitive Dissonance at a much higher level than I was all those years ago, and yet that level I had back then moved me to use the Internet to research , and wake up properly,

  It is the usual thing that Cult member do, with those still in, you make a feeble excuse, and put those nasty thoughts way to the back of your mind, and say you will "wait on Jehovah" or some such, a crying shame, because Freedom of Mind awaits, and is just a few clicks away on your computer or phone.

  I still have hopes for some of those I love, family and old friends, that they WILL wake up soon !

  Maybe we will have some more newbies like O'brien soon ?
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  23

  Observations/Questions from forum newbie

  by Obrien in

  1. forum
  2. suggestions

  i joined about 5 days ago and have some observations/questions.. does anyone notice the profile update doesn't seem to work?

  i like reading some of the profiles, most accounts don't have them and maybe that's because the tool doesn't function anymore?.

  also i've been noticing a diverse number of subjects which made me think of the categories of people on here.

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  Phizzy

  " I don’t think anyone could prove to me that God doesn’t exist.. "

  Nobody who is not a Theist has an obligation to do this, it is Theists who make a claim, the Burden of Proof is entirely upon them.

  But with a Massive claim such as a god or gods exist, we rightly expect there to be Massive, irrefutable Evidence to back such a claim. There is Nada, Zilch, absolutely Zero evidence of any quality. Hence we can rightly say in this case, Absence of Evidence is Evidence of Absence.

  So every realist who can think, should be a non-theist of some stripe.
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  78

  How can Babylon the Great be the WORLD of false religion?

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  (revelation 17:5) “babylon the great, the mother of the prostitutes (plural!

  ) and of the disgusting things of the earth.”.

  btg is spotlighted as being the principal "disgusting thing" which affects christians & christianity, with other lesser "prostitutes" in the background... (revelation 18:4) “get out of her, my people, (christians) if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.".

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  Phizzy

  I think PioneerSchmioneer makes a good point or two that we Armchair Scholars should take note of, that a true open minded view of what is being studied has to be based upon our own properly done Critical Analysis, i.e we really read the material, use our own Critical Thinking skills, and then our doubts or previous bias are either confirmed or we change our view.

  Just back to the Thread Title , without going in to my opinion on the 1st Century identity of B the G in the mind of John of Patmos, J.W's and other people misinterpreting Scripture, miss the point that every Bible Writer insists his predictions will be fulfilled shortly after the time in which he wrote, "John" in The Revelation makes this plain, to look for a later fulfillment than that "short time" is plain silly, IMHO.
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  12

  Update on Russian ban

  by raymond frantz in

  1. social
  2. current

  https://www.jwupdates.com/post/four-jehovah-s-witnesses-sentenced-to-seven-years-each-in-russia.

  the following is an update in relation to the russian ban on jehovah's witnesses as it appeared on reuters on the 30th january .

  jan 30 (reuters) - a russian court has sentenced four jehovah's witnesses to seven years each in prison after finding them guilty of coordinating extremist activities, according to a spokesman for the religious group.. .

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  Phizzy

  It is an interesting situation though, because under the Russian Law proscribing Extremist Groups, the J.W. Org. ticks all the boxes !

  So no appeal will work, and the Org. will not take it to a Court like the E.C.H.R, because they would lose, mind you, they have been silly enough to do that sort of thing before.

  Crying "Religious Persecution" and "Human Rights" will not wash, no Group has the Right to ignore other Human Rights, such as Freedom of Conscience, and Freedom of Religion, the Right to Family Life etc. Human Rights always come way above Religious Belief and Practice in Law.

  Claiming it is their Religious Right to Shun because it is "based on their view of the Bible" has no more strength in Law than something based upon the Quran.
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  16

  2024 Addendum to Shepherd The Flock Book-and February S-147-Announcements And Reminders!

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  2024-01 addendum to shepherd book.. 2024-02-s-147-february announcements and reminders.. .

  zipped folder.. .

  https://www.filemail.com/d/mcrweztlglnoheb .

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  Phizzy

  As I said in my Post above, the Org. may also be concerned that if they encourage the Dubs to be Official Collectors, those Dubs will be easily proved to be Legal Agents of the Org, which leaves the Org. open to being sued if donations went missing ! or if one of those Dubs committed some other Crime while wearing official I.D.

  It is always about the Org. avoiding all responsibility for what Dubs do, and hence, as usual, it is all about the $$$.