I have no comment on The Triniry, but I liked that phrase "...a willingness that the other should be..." calls to mind 'live and let live', 'Do unto others as you would have then do unto you', 'God is Love'....I came to believe that He being complete in himself and happy wanted others to be as well Why that purpose was disrupted by confict and pain, I don't know, and can accept that perhaps we never will. But just to exist is, to use an overworked JW word "a privilege'. I do not defend the Watchtower errors, but it was through that group that I came to know God through His word and came to know the love that sets fear aside..
HereIam60
JoinedPosts by HereIam60
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27
The point of existence and how it refutes the Trinity
by slimboyfat inrowan williams, the former archbishop of canterbury gave an interesting answer to the somewhat stark question, what’s the point of us existing?
as a christian, my starting point is that we exist because the most fundamental form of activity, energy, call it what you like, that is there, is love.
that is, it’s a willingness that the other should be.
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16
New World, New World Order, New System of Things
by blondie inthe wts has used to above terms, over the years, some more preferred in certain time periods.
more though, but these occurred to me first.
also the terms "new world" and "new world order" have been used by some us presidents and other leaders..
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HereIam60
'Forward You Witnesses' was "revised" several years ago. The lines containing "new order" now say...."Go tell far and wide that the paradise is near...And that soon all its blessings will be here..."
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What is this?
by Achille inthis image is from "the watchtower" july 2024 (study edition):i can't figure out what that object is that is between the sleeping apostles.wath is it?
a stick, a scroll of the scriptures?
....
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HereIam60
moomanchu....I"m not sure what it's from originally. I think it was a visual from a video. It'supposed to be the Good Samaritan tending to the Injuries of the wounded Jew after he took him to the inn. It recently appeared in some online comments
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MEMORIAL TALK TRAINING VIDEO 2025 -PART 1
by raymond frantz inhttps://youtu.be/4upzvonzg10?si=1bdvv6qzcuj2fo6s.
oh, the joys of being one of jehovah’s witnesses, where you get to learn that heaven is a vip lounge for exactly 144,000 people—and sorry, everyone else, you're stuck in the “earth forever” section.
yep, you get to mow grass in paradise while the chosen few float around in immortal glory.
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HereIam60
The idea of heaven or hell, with earth as a testing ground always puzzled me, so the Witness view, man was made to live on the earth made sense, scripturally and reasonably. The idea of places in heaven was promised by Jesus to his apostles. So it came to be, when asked "Are you going to Heaven?".. (I seemed to encounter a lot of young evangelicals)...my reply would be " I don't think anyone is Going to Heaven, they have to be Taken there by God, so if he chooses to do that then yes, but it's not for me to decide, nor in my power. Besides where are we living now? Where did God put Adam and Eve to live?...
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What the new JW light position really is 👍
by ElderBerry ini’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
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HereIam60
Watchtower has always operated by using plenty of words yet keeping things only vaguely defined. They've said they "are neither inspired nor infallible" but how do they define inspired? They say they are "spirit directed'...yet I don't recall hearing it put as " holy spirit directed'. The ongoing (for centuries), doctrinal debates among all sorts of religious people, admittedly deep thinkers, show that no one has complete or absolute understanding. And yes, within any sort of framework, including JW, people can and do disagree and protest, but of course also take the consequences.
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What are some of the more exceptional self-authenticating claims made by Jehovah’s Witnesses?
by Vanderhoven7 inlet's start the ball rolling with two connected claims.. the religion of jehovah’s witnesses is the one true religion.
all other religions are satanic, including all the churches of christendom..
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HereIam60
It's been pointed out before, but Geoffrey Jackson's comment can be taken more than one way. He did not say it would "be" quite presumptuous to think they were the only spokesman God is using, but that it would "seem to be", in other words 'To an outside observer it might be viewed as presumptuous, but to us it is not..'...also whatever happened to " the annointed remnant"...the term seems to have gone totally out of use..?
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New World, New World Order, New System of Things
by blondie inthe wts has used to above terms, over the years, some more preferred in certain time periods.
more though, but these occurred to me first.
also the terms "new world" and "new world order" have been used by some us presidents and other leaders..
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HereIam60
When I was first coming in , in the 1980s there was a lot of 'conspiracy' talk among some evangelical and political groups to beware and fight against a forthcoming "New World Order - One World Government'. Which is why I think Watchtower has stepped away fom using those specific phrases. It's more common now to hear " The New System" or "" New Earth". Though the Bible version still used is, of course, 'The New World Translation'...
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What is the current Watchtower "rent charge per publisher" for Kingdom Halls in the USA???
by Balaamsass2 ini was following a few threads in reddit from current pimo jws complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments".
third gen and i have been out pomo for a while...so how much is this charge now?
could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month?
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HereIam60
It used to be that periodic, but not frequent, talks were given about the uses to which donations were put, the good they were doing etc. and it was simply left at that. Now it's much more blatant. At our Hall we were recently informed, after a letter from "The Branch", that our Kingdom Hall Operating Fund, the amount to be kept on hand, was below the amount suggested by he Organization, and the brothers were " just putting it out there". Of course the congregation made up the shortfall and this was acknowledged. They used to say "We will never beg for, or solicit funds..." they may as well add "...until we do." A big thing is still made of 'no collection plate is passed', but collections are certainly taken, literally. When on the broadcast of March 2015 Steven Lett said 'More money was going out than coming in..." I was screaming (in the back of my mind) "If that's true, it's because they (GB) have mismanaged it, and proven themselves neither faithful nor discreet with the Master's belongings...
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What is this?
by Achille inthis image is from "the watchtower" july 2024 (study edition):i can't figure out what that object is that is between the sleeping apostles.wath is it?
a stick, a scroll of the scriptures?
....
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HereIam60
It's from last year's (July 2024) Study Edition Watchtower article "Keep On Guard Against Temptation" One of a series of 3 illustrations depicting Jesus telling the apostles to 'Keep on the watch', their falling asleep, then abandoning him. I would agree that the object in question is the sword Peter used to strike off the ear of the high priest's slave (Matthew 26), but as drawn it does resemble something else...
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Will They Change the Memorial Talk This Year?
by raymond frantz inhttps://youtu.be/o5almnehew4?si=kdgrjgbiutjkvcxe.
i’m hoping the memorial talk will be different.
change the talk!
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HereIam60
I don''t recall 'born again' being referred to in previous Memorial talks, but I could be wrong. Watchtower usually avoids using the term. I remember never being able to understand the explanation of it given in the old Reasoning book. Some people use being 'Born Again" in reference to repentance over past sins, and beginning a new way of life. JW teaching seems to refer to it as Jehovah granting a person a "spiritual" nature so as to be able to enter heaven as the scripture says "flesh and blood cannot inherit it" (1st Corinthians 15:50). They say Jesus was 'born again' at his baptism, in that he was born on earth fully human, but his spiritual 'nature' was restored when holy spirit came down upon him. (or so I understand...!)