the new midweek meeting has been running for a month now.
here are my thoughts on how it is going so far:.
1) elders are looking frazzled from being on virtually every meeting and having to prepare unfamiliar formats for items.
Tech49:
Now let's follow along with our "Bible Study" from the Faithful book, about things that might have, could have, probably did, and evidently took place.
My wife and I went over this book together at home. I thought it was a fairly 'safe' one. But the plethora of weasel words was just overwhelming. It has more of the writing format of a newspaper opinion page.
By the way, Tech49, I think of you every time the FX channel plays the movie Oblivion, which they've been doing recently.
Bobcat
given: the prophecy is true.. what did jesus mean?
i have an app that alerts me of any earthquake all over the world.
since i got the app, it is one earthquake after another all over the world.
The problem is the WT interpretation of Matthew:4-7 -
(Matthew 24:4-8 rNWT) . . .In answer Jesus said to them: “Look out that nobody misleads you, 5 for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for these things must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. 8 All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.Jesus is telling his disciples in this passage that they shouldn't take these events as an indication that the "end" was near. Wars, famines, epidemics and natural disturbances, like earthquakes and bad storms, were often taken as indications that God (or the gods) were upset and about to exercise their wrath. Jesus is saying not to let these events sway them in that way - the opposite of what the WT has been saying.
Compare this also with the horseman of the apocalypse in Rev 6:1-8 (war, famine and pestilence). In Rev 6:9-11 the martyrs ask when divine justice will be executed. Instead of being pointed to the wars, famines, and pestilences just foretold, they are pointed to the need for additional martyrs. In this instance also, the wars, famines, and pestilences did not indicate how near they were to a divine reckoning.
I might also mention that the events of Matthew 24:4-35 were promised to take place within "this generation," the generation of Jews referred to in Mt 23:36. So any attempt to apply these words to some future generation would be arguing against the context. (And notice that there is no mention of earthquakes as a result of the ride of the horseman in Rev 6:1-8.)
Bobcat
it embarrassed me.
when i was young my folks made me wear one and i opened it up and took the paper out making it look like it fell out.
after my folks ask what happen i said i dont know.
Yes, travel to a distant city and put a sign on oneself announcing that you are from out of town. Wouldn't want the muggers and pickpockets to have to wonder around confused. That wouldn't be very Christian. :)
Bobcat
so we had brother losch visiting our special assembly day which was weird in itself.
he's not a very good speaker and seemed like he was in dire need of a nap or something.. anyways just a few observations from the assembly program.
theme: imitate their faith.
But expenses for this one day were almost $24,000
I was curious, how many were in attendance? Was this a rented facility or a WT owned one? And how in the world does a one day assembly rack up $24,000 in expenses? And why aren't the brothers in charge of these things being 'fired' for their incompetence? (Actually, the only ones who would be 'fired' would be the conscientious ones who complained about this.)
The money-grubbing nature of the WT just keeps being exposed.
Bobcat
this is a scripture that was used a lot during the 70`s & 80`s proving that the end was so close,and it was to culminate in a grand influx before the great tribulation.
" it will be in those days that ten men out of all the languages of the nations will take hold,yes ,they will actually take hold of the skirt of a man who is a jew,saying,"we will go with you people for we have heard that god is with you people.".
when you look at the reality of the situation in this day....,their seems to be a marked decline in worldly converts in christendoms lands.....,mainly baptisms coming from young born ins,..... and certainly no marked increases from either asian, oriental, or other non christian lands,that would seem to indicate another failed prediction/prophecy we can credit to the f&ds class.
Smiddy:
Here is some research I did on Zech 8:23 and Isa 45:14. This link is to another board. I have the same reference material posted here, but ever since the new format I haven't been able to locate it via the search function.
The gist of it is this: Paul alludes to Zech 8:23 and Isa 45:14 at I Cor 14:25. His alluding to it indicates that he understood those verses to having a fulfillment with the influx of Gentiles into the Christian congregation, with the congregation being in the place of the Jew in the prophecy of Zechariah.
Curiously enough, the NWT places Zech 8:23 and Isa 45:14 in the reference column at 1 Cor 14:25. But I could never find any WT commentary that makes any application of those verses to 1Cor 14:25.
In WT theology, Zech 8:23 is applied to the great crowd which survives the still future great tribulation, and thus, from the WT viewpoint, Zech 8:23 and Isa 45:14 could never have fulfillment in the 1st century.
Bobcat
i could not find mention of this before.
i was reading genesis 8:22 in the niv and was surprised i had never noticed that this verse gives the impression that the earth will not remain forever.
genesis 8:22 stated by god after the flood, when promising to never again destroy all living creatures.. as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.
Interesting. The old NWT has the more literal rendering. The new one is more interpretive.
Bobcat
i wold love to see all the worlds leader proclaim "peace and security" soon, loud and clear.
that wold make all jws go totaly nuts.
they would all run around and yell "now it's coming, now it's coming!".
some participants in this forum often bring up their criticisms of bible versions of not sticking to the original scriptures.
a few individuals have claimed that a word-for-word translation is absolutely necessary.
the answer is not that simple.
Thanks Wonderment and Vidqun for your posts.
I'm with you Vidqun. I prefer the FE with footnotes for study purposes. They are, in a way, like a lower level programming language. More work is needed, but the end results can be much better. (Assuming, of course, that one is willing to put in the extra effort.)
At the same time, I can see the usefulness of one translated more loosely. My wife and I used to read just the Bible together. We would take turns. She would read and follow from the NWT (the old one) and I would do the same, but with the NIV.
Always, she would have to ask me how the NIV was worded on various verses. In other words, the NIV would tend to always explain a difficult passage in the NWT. But I never noticed the other way around. The NWT was usually too literal (some would say "wooden.") Still, I liked the fact that long-forgotten idioms were carried over in the NWT. It sometimes required going to commentaries to get the sense, but over the long haul the extra study was worth it (to me, anyways).
Bobcat
the old nwt contained a byline that indicated westcott and hort was used in the translation of this bible.
(they are not mentioned in the 2013 release) but you and i both know that their wordings in scripture remain in the new release.. if you check their background, you will find some serious issues with these translators which the society used.
has anyone googled wh for their spiritual qualifications to include them in the nwt??
some time ago, i wrote an extensive article on shunning and published it on my website.
since that website had views on doctrinal matters that no longer reflect my current stand, i took the website down.
however, my views on this matter are still current, and for the benefit of everyone here, i'm going to post the article here.
marked
Nice article, Eden.
Bobcat
