Posts by Phizzy

21

Who invented the seven -day week??

by jam in

jw
friends

i remerber reading somewhere, our week of seven days.

has no astronomical basis.

it does not divide exactly into.

Phizzy

Who invented the 8 hour working day ? I can just about manage it, but it is WAY too long , if like me you are bored at work.

16

Religion v. Spirituality

by Shanagirl in

jw
friends

there is not one religion, but hundreds.

there is only one type of spirituality.

religion is for those who want to continue rituals and the formality.

Sounds good Shana, but coming from a JW background, I really do not know what "spirituality" actually is. When I have observed the ones described as "spiritual" in the JW's, they have been people working hard at door to door work and that kind of thing, but not what probably you would call spiritual.

The people who I have observed elsewhere who describe themselves as spiritual strike me as being, pardon the phrase, but "up their own arse" !

Someone who comes over to me as at peace with the "Cosmos" if you like, and therefore spiritual, is the Dalai Lama, but I cannot explain why that should be.

Maybe it is because he believes inspreading love and compassion ,rather than a religion ?

45

Why didn't Jehovah ??

by Phizzy in

as jehovah said to the israelites "you are my witnesses" and was happy to let them get on with things without major interference by him, he must have broadly approved of what the nation was doing, until jesus came and changed things.. for hundreds of years before jesus the jw's (israelites) had decided that the name of god was too holy to pronounce.

had he been upset by this he would have sent a prophet to sort this out, but no, it continued as practice,for 200 years at least,and remained uncondemned by jesus.. if jehovah had really wanted his people to use his name, would not a prophet, at least would not his son, have said so ?.

Phizzy

Interesting TQO,

If Jesus was reading from the Septuagint, in Greek, how exactly would he have pronounced the divine name ? The greek of his day had no H sound and no W sound. Are you going to argue that he would have known the correct pronunciation, in Hebrew, and " read" that out loud ? Switching from Greek to Hebrew for the one word ?

It is possible I suppose, but surely as that seems not to have been the practice of the day, would that not have caused a furore bigger than some that he did cause ?

45

Why didn't Jehovah ??

by Phizzy in

as jehovah said to the israelites "you are my witnesses" and was happy to let them get on with things without major interference by him, he must have broadly approved of what the nation was doing, until jesus came and changed things.. for hundreds of years before jesus the jw's (israelites) had decided that the name of god was too holy to pronounce.

had he been upset by this he would have sent a prophet to sort this out, but no, it continued as practice,for 200 years at least,and remained uncondemned by jesus.. if jehovah had really wanted his people to use his name, would not a prophet, at least would not his son, have said so ?.

Phizzy

Thanks for posting TQO, you seem to have cut and pasted most of your reply, but you do not say from where ?

I was not concerned with the pronunciation of YHWH, I was simply making the point that use , or non-use, of some form of the name was not taught by Jesus or the Apostles, so use of it does not impart any Kudos to the JW religion over other religions that do not use it.

Many would argue that if Jesus read from the Septuagint that the name would not have been in his copy, only indications to say "Lord", and he would have been an accurate reader would he not ? That too is a diversionary thought, we cannot know for sure that Jesus was even fully literate.

220

2011 Watchtower publisher statistics with analysis

by jwfacts in

the 2012 yearbook has released the publisher statistics for the 2011 service year.

a scan of the report can be found at http://www.jwfacts.com/images/2011-publisher-report.pdf and i have started updating the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.

as expected, it is following on from similar trends to the last 15 years.

Phizzy

Thanks Simon, math is not my strong point, by any means, but I interpret your figures as meaning that the number leaving, for whatever reason, is HUGE !

Am I right ? I mean, if the WT had that number of people staying, they would be a much larger religion today.

And what occurs to me is that, the vast majority of those leaving are people who have lived the "truth", believed it, preached it and supported it an all ways.

Yet they have found it wanting,deficient, not what it says it is, that makes me think deeply about my commitment, is it misplaced ?

I still err on the side of thinking that the religion has something of value, perhaps another JW reading this could explain why all these people have left, and why, perhaps they are wrong in their thinking ?

45

Why didn't Jehovah ??

by Phizzy in

as jehovah said to the israelites "you are my witnesses" and was happy to let them get on with things without major interference by him, he must have broadly approved of what the nation was doing, until jesus came and changed things.. for hundreds of years before jesus the jw's (israelites) had decided that the name of god was too holy to pronounce.

had he been upset by this he would have sent a prophet to sort this out, but no, it continued as practice,for 200 years at least,and remained uncondemned by jesus.. if jehovah had really wanted his people to use his name, would not a prophet, at least would not his son, have said so ?.

Phizzy

Thank you Neon, that is my point, and one I wish I had made when I was talking to a very mature sister, I think she is around 70 years old and was born in, and she was trying to "help me with my doubts" and I shot a few of her reasons that JW's were the true religion down by comparing with other religions. For example, world-wide preaching etc

She came back with, several times, "but they do not use God's name " . At the time I had not thought it through, and I simply had to agree with her, but of course, if it was no great thing to the Apostles and to Jesus himself, it cannot be an identifying mark of the "true" religion today !

If there is a next time, she won't get away with that bit of false argument !

11

Shouldn't we all aim to be inspired by God?

by Listener in

reading comments on this forum makes me think about so many facets in understanding god's word and how he works.

i was very puzzled as to why djeggnog had so much trouble in trying to explain the difference between being guided by god's holy spirit and being inspired.

he stopped posting when he was cornered on this.

Phizzy

Where does the idea that scripture is inerrant come from ?"It is clear.... that the Bible is accurate..." (from the O.P)

From just a little reading of old posts on here it seems that is a big claim.

7

Christmas - why do so many celebrate Jesus, and so few celebrate religion?

by Fernando in

having been out for around 2 years now, i've been pondering the universal popularity of christmas (jesus) as compared to the general unpopularity of (sectarian) religion.. my thinking on the unpopularity of religion is based on passive and low "church" attendance, where the only ones who actively and unreservedly promote and celebrate religion are those that are part of the ruling religious hierarchy which satisfies their lust for power, authority and glory.. do most of us at some level get it that jesus was/is anti-religion and that is why the religious establishment and leaders had/have him killed off (matt 23 esp v15)?.

your thoughts and perspective on this will be much appreciated and a big help in my research (sociology of spirituality, sociology of religion).. .

Phizzy

Tim Minchin and Prof Brian Cox have done a song about enjoying Christmas whether you beleive in Jesus or not, I think most people will go along with that.

Normal people that is, not JW's.

45

Why didn't Jehovah ??

by Phizzy in

as jehovah said to the israelites "you are my witnesses" and was happy to let them get on with things without major interference by him, he must have broadly approved of what the nation was doing, until jesus came and changed things.. for hundreds of years before jesus the jw's (israelites) had decided that the name of god was too holy to pronounce.

had he been upset by this he would have sent a prophet to sort this out, but no, it continued as practice,for 200 years at least,and remained uncondemned by jesus.. if jehovah had really wanted his people to use his name, would not a prophet, at least would not his son, have said so ?.

Phizzy

Thanks, yes I have read that "J" was invented by an RC monk in the 14th century.

What my question really was trying to get at was, JW's today make much fuss about their use of the "Divine name" ,even if their version of it is a bastardisation.

Surely if Almighty God had wanted His Witnesses, His people to use His name in whatever form He would have said so ?

It would seem from His silence in those centuries before Jesus, and Jesus not explicitly teaching about it, that He does NOT want His name spoken in any form !

45

Why didn't Jehovah ??

by Phizzy in

as jehovah said to the israelites "you are my witnesses" and was happy to let them get on with things without major interference by him, he must have broadly approved of what the nation was doing, until jesus came and changed things.. for hundreds of years before jesus the jw's (israelites) had decided that the name of god was too holy to pronounce.

had he been upset by this he would have sent a prophet to sort this out, but no, it continued as practice,for 200 years at least,and remained uncondemned by jesus.. if jehovah had really wanted his people to use his name, would not a prophet, at least would not his son, have said so ?.

Phizzy

As Jehovah said to the Israelites "you are my witnesses" and was happy to let them get on with things without major interference by him, he must have broadly approved of what the nation was doing, until Jesus came and changed things.

For hundreds of years before Jesus the JW's (Israelites) had decided that the Name of God was too Holy to pronounce. Had He been upset by this He would have sent a Prophet to sort this out, but no, it continued as practice,for 200 years at least,and remained uncondemned by Jesus.

If Jehovah had really wanted His people to use His name, would not a prophet, at least would not His son, have said so ?