shepherdless

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Posts by shepherdless

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  65

  Now Canada's Turn

  by newsheep in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  just got a phone call this morning from a very upset anointed brother.

  he said he didn't believe me when i told him about the pedo problem and selling off of halls.

  he said he was disgusted with the watchtower and had to go to a special meeting last night.

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  shepherdless

  Last year, there was a leak of a lengthy internal financial webinar, that gave a substantial amount of info on the Borg’s financial woes. Some analysis of it by Cedars is here:

  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9r-4ToC8_fA
  

  That video analysis is over an hour long, and I am not sure everything in it is correct. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Borg has some significant financial problems, the cutbacks to date have not been enough, and the only strategy seems to be to keep selling what they can, in the hope that it buys them some time to increase revenue (ie increase donations). Late in one of the video extracts, the accountants are asked if the current round of sales will solve the problem. The oblique answer was gold!

  This thread suggests that not only are the asset sales continuing, but they are, if anything, a little more frantic in going about it.
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  17

  Jewish God Yahweh Originated in Canaanite Vulcan, Says New Theory

  by greek in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the cult of yhwh as god of metallurgy originated among semi-nomadic copper smelters between the bronze and iron age, suggests biblical scholar: and he was not worshipped only by jews.. https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.magazine-jewish-god-yahweh-originated-in-canaanite-vulcan-says-new-theory-1.5992072.

  according to amzallag, long before becoming the deity of the israelites, yahweh was a god of metallurgy in the ancient canaanite pantheon, worshipped by smelters and metalworkers throughout the levant, not just by the hebrews.

  where did the yhwh cult originate?

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  shepherdless

  I have been doing a bit of reading myself, particularly inter linear versions to work out what the early books of the bible actually say. (I don’t know why, given I think it is all complete fiction.).

  My amateur research causes me to broadly agree with Phizzy. I would go further and say that Elohim means “gods”, not “God”, and read that way, many passages make more sense. I note from a brief check on the internet that Jews agree that Elohim is a plural term (El is the singular), and Jews don’t really have a great answer why a plural term is used. The exact same word (Elohim) is used to describe other gods in the first of the 10 commandments, but a slightly different word is used to describe a statue to be worshipped, or a “molten god” etc. Further, whenever there is a phrase in English such as “Lord thy God” it seems to be always YHVH El (ie the singular El, not the plural Elohim).

  Add to that, some other observations, eg Balaam is sent on his way on his talking donkey by Elohim, but later stopped by YHVH; and Abraham is told to sacrifice Isaac, again only to be stopped by YHVH. It seems to me that early Judaism was not monotheistic at all; it is just that YHVH became the national god, and those passages became slanted towards a monotheistic interpretation, over time.
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  17

  Jewish God Yahweh Originated in Canaanite Vulcan, Says New Theory

  by greek in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the cult of yhwh as god of metallurgy originated among semi-nomadic copper smelters between the bronze and iron age, suggests biblical scholar: and he was not worshipped only by jews.. https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.magazine-jewish-god-yahweh-originated-in-canaanite-vulcan-says-new-theory-1.5992072.

  according to amzallag, long before becoming the deity of the israelites, yahweh was a god of metallurgy in the ancient canaanite pantheon, worshipped by smelters and metalworkers throughout the levant, not just by the hebrews.

  where did the yhwh cult originate?

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  shepherdless

  Smiddy:

  Isn`t Adonai the name for the Almighty God of Creation in the Roman Catholic Douay Version of the Bible ?
  One other thing to consider the words lord and Adonia both mean Baal.
  Could they be both one and the same ?

  I am no expert, but for most of Catholic history, the official bible was the Latin Vulgate, which translates Elohim as “Deus” (ie God) and YHVH as “Dominus” (ie Lord). Adonai and Baal are Hebrew words. I think Adonai is usually translated as “Dominus” (ie Lord) as well.
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  14

  Is there any appointed one disfellowshiped?

  by Roxie in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was wondering... are here people who used to be appointed ones and left the jws?

  if yes: what was the reason you left and do you believe in god now?

  i am just curious.

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  shepherdless

  There was a poster a while ago on another site (JW Recovery which is no longer available) and also on exjw reddit. He considered himself anointed for about 5 years. He had quite an interesting story and explanation about his journey to that delusion, and how he worked it out.

  He went by the name “goat bone” or “goat_bone” or something like that. You could search exjw reddit. I don’t think he has posted for a while, unless I missed it.
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  7

  End of Financial Year; 12 congregations disappear

  by shepherdless in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  some happifying news.

  nett 12 more congregations in australia have disappeared.

  around 3 months ago, a search of the australian charities commission website would show the following registered as charities in australia:.

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  shepherdless

  Since I last reported on this, about 3 months ago, the number of congregations in Australia have dropped further, from 775 to 769.

  From a quick check, I can identify 9 further congregations that have been voluntarily deregistered. I presume 3 were formed from the ashes, to give an overall decrease of 6.

  The 9 voluntary deregistered congregations are;

  Cheltenham ((VIC)

  Cootamundra (NSW)

  Hastings (VIC)

  Mount Lofty (SA)

  Robinvale (VIC)

  Tom Price (WA)

  Warwick (WA) (wrong Warwick, unfortunately)

  Weipa (QLD)

  Whishart (QLD)
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  11

  HOW MUCH OF THIS IS BELIEVABLE

  by Hairtrigger in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/ossuary-james-0012181.

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  shepherdless

  Most experts think the ossuary itself is genuine, but many of them think the inscription is fake. Scientific analysis can’t conclusively date when the inscription was added.

  While archeologically very interesting, I don’t think it changes much, as most atheists would concede that Jesus (the person) probably existed, and was executed by the Romans.
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  10

  Tottenham through to the Champions League final !!!

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. current

  f**kin yeah - get in!!.

  spurs came back from 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate to win the second leg against ajax 3-2, going through to the final on away goals.. lucas moura completed his hat-trick and scored the winner in the 5th minute of stoppage time.

  well done to the manager and all the players for never giving up.. #coys .

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  shepherdless

  As someone else said on another website, expect the first side to be 0-3 down to win the final.
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  4

  My thoughts over "this Generation" as a Jew would understand it

  by Aleph in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i saw the video over the word "generation" and how you david s explained it.one thing for sure, is david doesn't understands at all how hebrews sees and understands things.let me explain...middle asians from antiquities, and hebrews saw things, in a complete different way than europeans are perceiving times and events!we, as modern europeans, we see the future in front of us, past in our back, right ?....

  for the jews it s the contrary.how come ?well, for a jew they think past is in front of them because they can see it.future is in their back, as they can't see it.same thing for a generation.generation are seen from the perspective of the people who lived but died until a certain point, not the contrary as europeans sees the generation from a date of birth.

  now really you can have a complete understanding of this when the bible says :" the date of death worth more than the date of birth"....again, you can judge not from how a person was born, but from what he had done in his life, same will apply for a generation.also as the wt stated well that the things described by the "sign" of the parousia were chronological, and happening in a certain order, the verse that talks about the genea is located not directly in reference of the parousia, but in the text referring to the great tribulation.

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  shepherdless

  Someone told me the other day that he heard from a Muslim that they consider 120 years to be one generation.

  I am guessing that SBF doubts that this is true, but is just reporting what he was told.

  Just out of curiosity, I decided to check this out. I actually know quite a few Arabs, who are reasonably well educated and speak Arabic as a first language, and I was pretty certain I knew the answer, but I thought I would check. I asked a professional English/Arabic Muslim translator (who wears an abaya). I first asked “how long is a generation”, got a strange look, and then had to explain that someone on the internet is suggesting a generation is 120 years, perhaps in an Islamic context. This normally friendly person looked at me as if I was stupid or something. The Arabic word for generation means pretty much exactly what the English word means, and there is no magical 120 years. Arabic (which is the language of Islam) also has separate words for “decade” and “century”. Of course the Islamic Hijra calendar is based on a lunar year which is about 10 days shorter than a Gregorian year, as well. Conclusion: bullshit.
  
  
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  15

  Shepherds !

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  just stumbled upon this .found it so appropriate for the jdubs n wbts ,so sharing.. zing.

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  shepherdless

  Precisely!
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  24

  Australian ABC News article on JW incest victim

  by shepherdless in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i am surprised nobody else has posted this yet.

  a lot of people in aust will read this.. “incest victim turned lawyer speaks out on reporting violence and sexual abuse”.

  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-08/incest-victim-to-honours-law-graduate-shelly-triumph-over-abuse/10978530.

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  shepherdless

  I am surprised nobody else has posted this yet. A lot of people in Aust will read this.

  “Incest victim turned lawyer speaks out on reporting violence and sexual abuse”

  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-08/incest-victim-to-honours-law-graduate-shelly-triumph-over-abuse/10978530

  Article begins:

  ”After enduring years of secrecy and betrayal, Shelly Rose Braieoux finally dug deep within herself and picked up the phone.

  Having grown up with parents who were strict Jehovah's Witnesses, she remembers being taught to fear outsiders.

  Making a report to the police, an elder told her, would "bring reproach" upon Jehovah's name.“