Posts by Bobcat

31

the Witch of Endor

by Magnum in

1sa 28:3-25 (nwt - not revised version).

7 finally saul said to his servants: seek for me a woman who is a mistress of spirit mediumship, and i will go to her and consult her.

then his servants said to him: look!

Bobcat

Magnum:

I had an interesting experience with this passage while in the earlier stages of waking up.

I had the Bible Highlights on the TMS a few years back when it was covering this part of the Bible. During my lunch break at work I decided to get the part out. But I only had my Bible with me, no WT reference material, and no memory of what the WT view of this material was.

So I prepared it and came to the definite conclusion that God (or an angel - a good one) was the entity speaking to Saul via the witch.

To my surprise, when I got home and looked up WT references on it, they had reached the very opposite conclusion.

In the end, I decided not to comment on this pericope. But it definitely had a part in opening my eyes to the fallibility of the WT.

If you are interested in my reasoning, I have it saved in a Word file. I can paste it here.

Bobcat

19

Blondie's Highlights in February 22, 2015 WT Study (FACING THE END)

by blondie in

paragraph 1.

paragraph 2.

paragraph 3.

Bobcat

millie210 ('thoroughly modern,' no doubt!):

The Beroean Pickets site has some very interesting Bible discussions (that aren't enslaved to the WT view of things). I believe a JW just waking up, or even just exploring the possibilities, will find the site a very comfortable fit. It is a bit 'tamer' for such a person than this site. The wide openness of this forum is probably daunting for some (JWs) who are new to open discourse (IMO anyways).

I should have added the link to the discussion forum - here.

nonjwspouse:

I only recently (in the last year) started posting there. It has much that fits my interest. I guess I missed the evolving view that took place. I agree that it must have been fascinating to watch.

Bobcat

10

Do the Chinese think they will soon take over the World? This is an official response

by fulltimestudent in

lot's of people believe that china will soon be a super-power.

while its true that roughly 400 million chinese have attained a living standard approximating the usa, there is still another 700 million who have not.. every year, some 100 million chinese take overseas holidays.

and, many millions of chinese live overseas, either as students or as representatives of chinese companies.. but of the 700 million who have not achieved something like western prosperity, some 90 million still live in poverty, leaving 610 million struggling between poverty and a low level of prosperity.. until they can live more comfortably, the chinese government must focus on building a more prosperous nation.. .

Bobcat

An interesting look at how much of a threat China poses to US hegemony from Forbes magazine - here.

And another interesting perspective from "World Beyond War" here.

Bobcat

19

Blondie's Highlights in February 22, 2015 WT Study (FACING THE END)

by blondie in

paragraph 1.

paragraph 2.

paragraph 3.

Bobcat

Here is another look at this study article from a different perspective.

Bobcat

45

"Whilst the bible is important, the Watchtower is God's main way of communicating with people today"

by stuckinarut2 in

yes, i'm not kidding!.

this gem was stated today in the talk!

(shortly before i walked out).

Bobcat

I have a merged PDF file of all the public talks from 1 to 178 and 188. I did a search for "watchtower" in the text of the file. The statement presented (or anything even close to it) I could not find.

Perhaps the speaker was 'paraphrasing' an idea that he got from the outline, whilst saying he was quoting it.

Bobcat

24

No... I wasn't mind controlled

by Zoos in

thou shalt not stay at a hotel that is not on the rooming list.

work prevented me from attending our assigned district (regional) convention so i arranged my schedule to attend in a different city/weekend.

i know that's not a problem, brothers and sisters do it all the time.

Bobcat

They don't want you going to outside vendors for food because it affects their negotiations with the arena owners.

Vendors inside the arena say they are unfairly left out when the agreement between the Society and the arena authorities says inside vendors can't open shop during the DC. But then these same vendors see JWs go to outside vendors for lunch and complain. So the Society 'solves' the problem by barring JWs from going to outside vendors. When JWs go anyways it makes the negotiations for the arena more difficult for the Society.

It works the same way with the hotel lodging list.

Everything the Society does/negotiates is mainly in their own interests, but spun to JWs as an obedience issue and as something done for them.

Bobcat

24

A brazen falsehood in this week's Watchtower study! (week of Feb 9 - 15, 2015)

by Island Man in

on page 13 of the december 15, 2014 watchtower (study edition), the first 2 sentences of paragraph 10 say:.

"the symbolic separating of fish does not refer to the final judgment during the great tribulation.

rather, it highlights what would happen during the last days of this wicked system.".

Bobcat

Island Man:

I posted some research on this parable here. You are seeing it correctly. The WT article is nothing but assertions. I get the feeling that they have abandoned any attempt at providing any reasons for the conclusions they hand out.

I posted about the 'growing seed' parable (Mk 4:26-29) here.

Bobcat

21

Noah preached 100-120 years and no followers. What the hell was he preaching?

by James Mixon in

let me see if i have this straight.

we are to believe noah preached over a 100 years with 0 effect.. the bible records that lamech, noah's father had sons and daughter's but the number is not included.

to have a plural number of brothers and sisters, there would be at least four siblings, two brothers and two sisters.. my folks had 6 kids and 90 years later there are over 100 family members.. some say based on what's written in gen.6:3, noah preached anywhere between 100-120 years.

Bobcat

Much of the idea of Noah being a "preacher of rightousness" comes from Jewish tradition: See ; Ant 1.3.1; Jub. 7:20-29; Sib. Or. 1:128-29; 150-98; cf. 1 Clem 7:6; 9:4

The idea of him carrying out a systematic preaching campaign is solely the WTs.

Bobcat

10

Do the Chinese think they will soon take over the World? This is an official response

by fulltimestudent in

lot's of people believe that china will soon be a super-power.

while its true that roughly 400 million chinese have attained a living standard approximating the usa, there is still another 700 million who have not.. every year, some 100 million chinese take overseas holidays.

and, many millions of chinese live overseas, either as students or as representatives of chinese companies.. but of the 700 million who have not achieved something like western prosperity, some 90 million still live in poverty, leaving 610 million struggling between poverty and a low level of prosperity.. until they can live more comfortably, the chinese government must focus on building a more prosperous nation.. .

Bobcat

I think China would be more than happy if the US would be reduced to being an equal . Not that the US is superior in everything, but China sees the US acting and thinking that way.

One thing that I think China has to face and deal with is a looming ecological nightmare from their rapid economic expansion. I believe this is maybe their greatest looming problem.

Another problem China would face if they wanted to be a global hegemon like the US is their location on the map. The US is geographically located in such a way that enhances its global position in the world.

Bobcat

30

I just had a thought about the new KH design

by JeffT in

i've been trying to figure out the purpose of the new (bland, commercial style) building that the gb is pushing.

it is not a design that attracts attention, nor does it offer a lot in future resale value.

it will be more difficult to build than the wood residential style buildings, meaning they can't use their cheap unskilled labor force for a lot of the work.

Bobcat

The way the Org used to be this would be out of the question. The thought of using a "dedicated" building for some secular use would be tantamount to blasphemy. (And as far as I know, they still have 'dedication' ceremonies after they build these things. Which raises the question; if the building has been dedicated to God, how could they turn around and sell it? But I digress . . .)

I think Searcher has a good point also. When you open something up for the public, especially in Western land, you become liable to the various civil rights laws, some of which are anathema to the WT.

Bobcat