Posts by Bobcat

38

Need a Game Plan

by bafh in

i'm not sure what is going on at the convention, but i just got a desperate call from a friend wanting me to attend sunday's morning session.

last weekend, my mom invited me too.instead of saying something like, "i'm sorry, but i have no intention of going back," and having them completely freak out - i agreed to go to the sunday morning session.

any recommendations?

Bobcat

Sunday morning has a symposium about things to look forward to in the new system. Each part of the symposium features a talk with a demonstration, usually a family or friends sitting around discussing various aspects to be looked forward to.

One group of 5 young men were discussing what they will do or what kind of house they want to live in. There was a lot of emotional appeal to the whole symposium.

I'm going by memory, but there were 7 or 8 parts to this symposium: Perfect health, peace between humans and animals, no more Satan, "new scrolls" (Searcher would be cringing - their reasoning was quite lacking), the "pure language," serving God perfectly, (there might be a couple others).

One sister who had attended a couple weeks earlier described Sunday morning as a sort of Pièce de résistance .

The public discourse (Earth's New Ruler - Who Really Qualifies?) was given by Kenneth Flodine, introduced as a "GB helper." The drama Sunday afternoon was a curious theatrical production that was shown over the large TVs and produced by the Society. It used stage props such as you would see on a stage. The final 50 minute talk was given by Anthony Morris (of the GB) via tie-in from Atlanta. It rambled a bit. But he does have a sense of humor.

On a side note, the Atlanta DC had a weather emergency right at finish time Sunday (I think it was a T-Storm with tornado potential). They asked the audience to stay in the building for 20 minutes after the final prayer until it passed through.

Bobcat

28

WHEN WAS THE VERY LAST ARTICLE ON BLOOD IN EITHER THE WATCHTOWER OR THE AWAKE?

by steve2 in

there's been a buzz on this forum - on and off but currently on - that there has not been an article in any watchtower publication on the blood ban for a while - which feeds speculation that the organization is distancing itself from this doctrinal absurdity.

does that mean there's been nothing mentioned about the blood doctrine for months or years?

specifically, when did the watchtower last mention the blood ban?

Bobcat

Missed you Marvin. Always enjoyed your posts and blog.

Bobcat

24

Anybody can get the financial records of the WT!

by EndofMysteries in

the wt is nonprofit, if the below information is true, then any volunteers to getting it, scanning, and posting it online???

i found this when searching if nonprofits had to disclose their financial records to the public.

question: .

Bobcat

Go to www.guidestar.org and search for "Watchtower." The results say that as a "Church" it doesn't have to report. But there is an interesting review someone made. Also, Freeminds comes up as a result of the search for "Watchtower."

13

Colossians 1:15,16 all (other) things

by truthwillsetyoufree in

this thread isn't meant to go into discussing how deceptive the society has been over the translation of this passage of scripture as that has been done many times on here.

what i want to know is this - the society has inserted the word other in the collosions verses and the one in philippians (above every (other) name).

they've done this for doctrinal matters.

Bobcat

Wonderment:

Thanks for the link. Interesting reading.

Bobcat

12

Chautauqua Salute makes a comeback at the Indianapolis Regional convention 7/13/14

by dropoffyourkeylee in

as the regional convention ended in indianapolis, mark sanderson invited all the international delegates to come out onto the field for the final song.

as they walked out, they all held a white handkerchief aloft as they waved.

some in the audience waved a white cloth in return.

Bobcat

It is interesting that it is a "salute" of sorts to a person. Saluting is (or was) frowned on by the witnesses. Military saluting (to higher ranks) is viewed as idolatrous. And tipping of the hat to a lady was also viewed as giving undo attention to her. It would be interesting if future magazines that report on this describe it as some sort of 'send-off' by the crowd for the GB speaker, as if it was spontaneous.

18

New Light from 2014 Convenetion re Dancing

by Haupi33 in

jw
friends

now it's okay for the rank & file to dance and do the twist before the program starts.

check out the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzaw1xe8q70.

Bobcat

Look at their shirts. They all have convention badges on. But it does look 'Christendom-ish.'

13

Colossians 1:15,16 all (other) things

by truthwillsetyoufree in

this thread isn't meant to go into discussing how deceptive the society has been over the translation of this passage of scripture as that has been done many times on here.

what i want to know is this - the society has inserted the word other in the collosions verses and the one in philippians (above every (other) name).

they've done this for doctrinal matters.

Bobcat

Here is a list of occurrances of "all" / "every" (Greek πᾶς, Strong's 3956) wherein the NWT (not the revised one) has "other" inserted with it:

Mt 6:33; 26:35; Mk 4:13, 32; Lk 11:41, 42; 13:2, 4; 21:29; Jn 2:10; 10:29; Rom 8:32; 1Co 6:18; 12:26; Php 2:9; Col 1:16, 17, 20

If you have access to the WTLibrary, just copy the line and paste it into the search box of the WTLibrary and it will create a listing of those verses. In many cases English idiom allows for it. Lexicons also define πᾶς (pas) as "each, every, any" "all," "any and every," "whole," "every kind of, all sorts of." (All these definitions were given in Bauer's 3rd edition Lexicon - BDAG, pp. 782-84)

Note that in some cases the NWT has brackets "[ ]" around "other," and in some cases it doesn't. The more recent versions of the NWT (2006 and later) have the brackets removed entirely.

I think the arguments for and against "other" in Colossians would have to be classified as theological arguments. The language itself, both Greek and English, allow for it as one possible way of translating it.

Bobcat

17

God supported Neco instead of His faithful king

by opusdei1972 in

if you read the chapter 23 of the book of 1 kings, you will note that josiah was one of best kings of judah.

he did many good things in favor to yahweh-worshipping.

let's read:.

Bobcat

I posted some research about this question here, here, and here. All three links are to different posts on the same thread. These include a number of links to research material on the subject.

A footnote in one of the references (NAC-Chronicles commentary, p. 385) says:

According to 1 Esdr 1:28, Jeremiah also warned Josiah against going into battle, but this could only be a later historian's speculation on the basis of [2Chronicles 35:] 25

Both the NAC commentary and the ISBE encyclopedia mention that Josiah may have in fact hurt the Assyrian effort against Babylon by delaying the Egyptian's march to Carchemish.

This reference addresses Neco's claim to have been sent by God. Josiah, for his part, might have been reminded of Hezekiah's dealings with Assyria and the claim of Sennacherib (Isaiah 36:10).

Bobcat

45

"New Book" God's Kingdom Rules

by booker-t in

i heard that on sat the jws released a new book at the convention god's kingdom rules.

is it a verse by verse of ezekiel or daniel?

does it mention the "overlapping generation"?

Bobcat

marked

31

Large scale War in the Middle East

by designs in

is this spreading conflict, war, in syria and iraq, inevitable and some argue necessary.. new leaders rising with napoleon size ambitions, old monarchies trying to hold on to power.. religious ideologies and groups challenging one another.

battles for natural resources and redrawing lands and boundries.. are there parallels to wwi and wwii..

Bobcat

Is this spreading conflict, War, in Syria and Iraq, inevitable and some argue necessary.

I agree it is, to some extent, inevitable, as a result of the waning of US military power and economic influence (and by extension, Western influence as a whole). Some of it seems to be the result of US efforts to hold on to the power and position they had. And some of it the result of other nations and factions seeing an opportunity opening up for them.

The order of the world is changing. The post-WWII pax-Americana may be coming to an end. I don't see any other nation (at the moment, China included) that is interested (or capable - at this time) in becoming the world's 'policeman' (or that even wants to be).

Focusing on the Middle East, some of the conflict may be related to the US' effort to hold on to the 'petro-dollar,' and some on religious aspirations.