In Paul's day a woman's wearing/not wearing a head covering had social meaning for people inside and outside of the congregation. In most western lands today (the main realm of Christendom) it has no meaning except to JWs. In fact, to see a woman suddenly put on a head covering for no apparent weather-related or fashion-related reason might seem a bit irratonal.
Posts by Bobcat
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49Head covering for women--how did you feel about this? Men? Women?
by humbled inthinking about how this felt awkward to some of us women when a bible student noticed something was "up" if a baptised brother sat in on a study.
had to reference 1 cor.
11:1-16.. i wonder if this irked any while you were still in?.
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49
Head covering for women--how did you feel about this? Men? Women?
by humbled inthinking about how this felt awkward to some of us women when a bible student noticed something was "up" if a baptised brother sat in on a study.
had to reference 1 cor.
11:1-16.. i wonder if this irked any while you were still in?.
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 02-23-2014 WT Study (MEMORIAL1)
by blondie incomments you will not hear at the 02-23-2014 wt study (december 15, 2013, pages 17-26)(memorial).
refer to the above sites to see full articles.
review comments will be headed by comments.
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Bobcat
By the way, it is not too hard to establish this:
- 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2 refers to the Corinthians meeting schedule - "On the first day of every week." Note that the rNWT takes out the phrase "at his own house" which is in the old NWT and makes nonsense of the verse. (Other translations here.) If you were setting something aside "in your own house," you would not need anyone to tell you which day of the week to do it. The Corinthians were to set a contribution aside "on the first day of every week" because that was the day they met together.
- 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 describes "divisions" that exist among the Corinthians when they "meet together." Thus, due to these "divisions," Paul says in verse 20, 21: "When you come together in one place, it is not really to eat the Lord’s Evening Meal. 21 For when you eat it, each one takes his own evening meal beforehand, so that one is hungry but another is intoxicated." (See here for alternate renderings.) Paul is saying, in effect, that their divisions negate their eating of the Lord's Evening Meal, since the Lord's Evening Meal represents something completely contrary to the "divisions" and lack of concern for each other among them at their meetings.
- Paul's explanation of the LEM in verses 23-32 is to remind them of how the symbols of Jesus' body and blood, given "in your behalf" and "on the night he was handed over," represent the antithesis of their divisions among themselves. And to eat the LEM while showing such unconcern for their brothers will bring "judgment" upon themselves.
- Paul concludes the discussion in verse 33 by again showing that this was something they were doing regularly: "Consequently, my brothers, when you come together to eat it, wait for one another." "When you come together" refers back to when "you meet together" (verse 17), "when you come together in a congregation" (verse 18) and "when you come together in one place" (verse 20).
I used this same reasoning on an elder. All I got was silence. But it turns all the hair splitting of the WT study article (regarding Nisan 14 or 15) into nonsense. Not only did Gentiles for many centuries (and especially during the dark ages) have no way of establishing which day of the Jewish month it was (such as is discussed in the article), but they had no need to do so in the first place.
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 02-23-2014 WT Study (MEMORIAL1)
by blondie incomments you will not hear at the 02-23-2014 wt study (december 15, 2013, pages 17-26)(memorial).
refer to the above sites to see full articles.
review comments will be headed by comments.
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22
What was your mild superpower?
by sparrowdown ini am in awe of the level of intelligence, wit and funnybones that alot of you posess.. which made me wonder, did you have a mild superpower while you were in?
for instance was it giving talks, commenting, research?
maybe it was pissing people off (a much underated skill).
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Bobcat
LoisLane:
I feel for you. I also learned that as far as the WT goes, you are only as good as your last deed, your last comment, your last talk, your last opinion. Whatever you did/say/think last is how the WT views you. Many years of past loyalty, good deeds, etc, mean nothing if your most recent one does not conform to the party line.
Take Care
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33
Letting JESUS refute the Watch Tower blood policies
by Terry inletting jesus refute the watch tower blood policies.
the watch tower bible and tract society represent itself as christian.. it represents its theology and policies as direct from jehovah god through his son, jesus christ.. further, the governing body of this corporation interposes itself between the mediator, jesus, and the rest of jehovah's (christian) witnesses for the purpose of "feeding them (spiritual) food at the proper time.. the official word of jesus christ is represented in the watch tower's policy on blood transfusions.. in 1998 this statement was made:.
jehovah's witnesses do not accept whole blood, or major components of blood, namely, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma.
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Bobcat
Eden:
As for sources, heres one:
The Psuedo-Clementines and the Apostolic Decree, A. F. J. Klinj, Novum Testamentum 10 (1968): 305-12.
Here is what I could find available on Google Books for starters.
The BECNT-Acts commentary (Darrell L. Bock, p.509 has this textual note for Acts 15:20:
- Codex D lacks the reference to things strangled, possibly because it was redundant to a degree with animals not drained of blood. Codex D also adds a negatively expressed version of the Golden Rule - "Whatsoever things they do not wish for themselves, do not do to others." (in Judaism, b. Sabb. 31a and Tob. 4:15). This move to have the decree be more ethical than ritual may reflect a shift of concern at the time of the Western text (Bruce 1988a: 296). Yet another, earlier MS, p45, lacks any reference to immorality, making the decree almost exclusively ritualistic.
Take Care
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33
Letting JESUS refute the Watch Tower blood policies
by Terry inletting jesus refute the watch tower blood policies.
the watch tower bible and tract society represent itself as christian.. it represents its theology and policies as direct from jehovah god through his son, jesus christ.. further, the governing body of this corporation interposes itself between the mediator, jesus, and the rest of jehovah's (christian) witnesses for the purpose of "feeding them (spiritual) food at the proper time.. the official word of jesus christ is represented in the watch tower's policy on blood transfusions.. in 1998 this statement was made:.
jehovah's witnesses do not accept whole blood, or major components of blood, namely, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma.
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Bobcat
I argued something similar here, although I didn't reference the Western Text tradition. The existence of the Western Text tradition shows that the original decree had lost its meaning as Christianity aged. The WT has tried to resurrect it and enforce it in a setting completely foreign to its original intent.
Thanks for bringing this up Terry.
Take Care
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The Annual Meeting Quote
by confusedandalone insomeone told me today that at the annual meeting something was said along the lines that, we do not need to be like the boreans and search that everything is true because we know we have the truth.
can anyone confirm this?.
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Bobcat
". . . because we know we have the truth. Can anyone confirm this?"
See this thread. The Society doesn't want you confirming anything. They've already done so.
Take Care
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Can you solve this math riddle?
by moomanchu inhttp://www.wimp.com/mathriddle/.
i got it before they gave the answer.. how about you?.
i also thought the ending was interesting as regards the "truth"..
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Bobcat
This really explains a lot of the WT's problem. They don't allow anyone trying to disprove the ideas they come up with.
Even before I saw the video (in the link above), I was thinking about this when I overheard my wife reading the Daily Text for today (3/5/2014) I pasted the text below, but my comments and links are interspersed in italics:
- *** Text for Wednesday, March 05, 2014 ***
The words are made secret and sealed up until the time of the end.—Dan. 12:9.
Today, we can grasp the meaning of prophecies (Confirmation bias as in the video above, but in reality, simply an assertion.) that remained a “secret” for ages but are now being fulfilled in this time of the end (They are, of course, assuming "the time of the end began in 1914, but see here and here for Bible view). These include those found throughout the Scriptures, especially in the Gospels and the book of Revelation. Jehovah has even helped us understand events that we could not see with our eyes (More confirmation bias via simple assertion based on their own opinions)—the enthronement of Jesus (The Society says in 1914, the Bible indicates sometime around Jesus ascension in 33 AD; see here for various verses concerning when Jesus began his rule, and here for how parousia or "presense" is spoken of in relation to Jesus, and here regarding the phrase "The Kingdom of God/Heaven has drawn near"), the war in heaven, and the hurling of Satan down to the earth (The Society believes sometime after 1914, but see here towards the end of this post for what Jesus indicated). (Rev. 12:7-12) God has also given us insight into the meaning of what we can see (Again, more confirmation bias, but simply asserted based on their own opinions)—wars, earthquakes, pestilences, food shortages (The Society takes these to be part of "the sign," in contradiction to what Jesus said - see here), as well as godless people who contribute to these “critical times hard to deal with.” (2 Tim. 3:1-5; Luke 21:10, 11) (The Society takes 2 Tim 3:1-5 as only being fulfilled in modern times. See here for the Society's view, but below for how the context disagrees with the WT.) How grateful we are that “the helper,” God’s holy spirit, has been sent to guide Jesus’ followers “into all the truth”! (John 16:7, 13) May we always treasure “the true knowledge” (See here for the problem with the NWT rendition of Daniel 12:4, "the true knowledge) and unselfishly share it with others!—Dan. 12:4. w12 8/15 1:7, 8
- With regard to 2 Timothy 3:1-5, the Society argues that these could only refer to some then future time, namely, since 1914. But note in the context: Paul tells Timothy (in verse 5) to "turn away" from the ones described in verses 2-5. Also, in verses 6-9 Paul describes men "from among these," that is, the ones described in verses 2 thru 5, and in verse 9 Paul says "they will make no further progress," indicating such ones were already active. All this confirms that Paul saw himself and Timothy in the midst of the "last days" he referred to in verse 1.
Most of the Society's effort is spent in telling others that they are right, and preventing others from analysing whether they are acually right or not.
Take care
- *** Text for Wednesday, March 05, 2014 ***
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Jesus washing feet in underwear or naked?
by John_Mann injohn 13:4,5. got up from the evening meal and laid aside his outer garments.
and taking a towel, he wrapped it around his waist.. after that he put water into a basin and started to wash the feet of the disciples and to dry them off with the towel that was wrapped around him.. .
the wt "translates" himatia as outer garments but some other translations says just clothes.. if he were wearing just an underwear, why wrap a towel around the waist?
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Bobcat
It was the outer clothing Jesus took off. The towel was for drying the disciples feet. Jesus was (perhaps intentionally) making himself look like a servant to press his point about humble service.