does anybody know how jehovah's witnesses reconcile the contradictions between the stories of jesus' birth as found in matthew and luke?
when i was a jehovah's witness, i wasn't even aware of this contradiction; i simply thought that all of it happen—namely that there was a census (luke 2) and the slaughter of the innocents (matthew 2) simultaneously.
but at the time i didn't know that the census took place in 6 ce and that herod the great died in 4 bce, thus placing those birth stories 10 years apart in time.
By the way, under the Mosaic law the punishment for getting Mary pregnant, while engaged to Joseph, was death.
Now I understand why Jesus was so forgiving of the adulteress in John 8:1-11. He must have known that he was the product of an illicit relationship.
By the way JWleaks, that was funny.
next time a jw says that to me, i will ask him to read the following from "what does the bible really teach":.
watchtower itself uses this illustration.
so why is it that they throw apostates out of the congregation?.
I think the rebellious student has proven the teacher wrong many a time. Start your sampling at JWfacts.com
It is rebels that, by definition, bring change. Imagine a world without the Renaissance, or the Reformation, or the Enlightenment, or the Industrial Revolution, or the Scientific Revolution, or the American Revolution, or the French Revolution, or the Russian Revolution, or ancient Athens, or Socrates, or Spinoza, Descartes, Voltaire, Einstein etc, etc..............
i have often seen many categorise the organisation in different ways.
some say cult, some say high control religion.
cult or high control religion?.
There's no difference, cult or high control organization. One maybe slightly more euphemistic, but they mean the same thing. Same can be said of "God's prophet" and "God's mouthpiece". Same shit.
i was working today and my brain was working in circles like it often does and i started wondering about what i was always told about people like methuselah in bible times, and their incredibly claims of longevity.
i've tried researching things but have a hard time getting through all of the bible thumpers to some real evidence, and figured that some here may be more informed or have done the research previously.
so, did people really live longer way back when?
Assyrians scribes are well known for assigning long, long reigns to their kings the farther they went into the past. Considering that writing was a relatively late invention, scribes had to rely on oral traditions containing lots of gaps that were filled by exaggeration, myths and legend. Of course, the Watchtower uses this fact to say that Assyrian chronologies are unreliable, especially when used to prove historical dates such as the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 bce. However, Assyrian records are unreliable only for a much earlier period, not for the first millennium bce. The inconsistency is that the Watchtower considers the myth and legend of Genesis as literal. It's a double standard. "The Assyrians exaggerate longevity in the distant past, but... well... Hebrews... they provide accurate accounts"
exjw's of a certain age will remember randy's site well.
freeminds was instrumental in waking me up along with ray franz's books.
if net soup and armageddon okies mean nothing to you you're probably under 30.. whatever caused randy to post what he did recently is something i can only guess at but it won't be what i remember him for.. randy, i wish you well and thank you for all you've done over the years .
Not from the generation of Randy and yet I got to meet him in Santa Monica three years ago in an independent theater that was showing the movie "Truth be told". After the movie ended, he was surrounded by lots of people interested in talking with him. He actually was more popular than the director of the movie, who also stayed after the movie. It was then that I realized that Randy was well known and respected.
Thank you Randy for being instrumental, just like Raymond Franz, in raising "apostates" of great caliber who have passed on TTATT to me and many others, thus diminishing the power of the cult leaders. The success that we "apostates" see in the latest declining numbers of the Watchtower is due to your hard work. Thank you sir!
after much research and prayer i am returning to being a jehovah's witness i can find nothing that eliminates them from being god's directed people , in the end they will reach the end of there journey despite mistakes and errors just like the israelites entered the promised land , thanks for your input and all the best on your personal journey ☺.
midnight..
You go back to the cult at a time when many are leaving it for good. This is not like the stock market where, in order to be successful, you are supposed to be a contrarian. Suit yourself. Freedom is not for the weak.
so my parents continue to pester me about getting baptized.
the other day my dad told me that i was old enough to make a decision, and was wondering why i wasn't ready (assembly is in a few weeks) so i told him calmly that i have many doubts and if i were to get baptized it has to be 100 percent my idea.
he was a little annoyed by this, and now wants to study the "is there a creator that cares about you" book (which is complete bs) with me.
@ blackwolf:
I'm not just going to go along with whatever he wants (and I'm definitely NOT going to get baptized), but I'm not going to start an argument either.
Your own approach is better than what many of us have suggested. You decided for a good compromise between defiance and submission, without giving up important principles. You are almost ready to live life on your own terms. Your voice sounds much stronger and mature than it did when you started posting a while ago. I am happy to see you mentally liberated from the influence of the cult and getting ready to move on.
10 pm est on arts and entertainment channel.
where leah began with the idea of just a few shows, i think she is now taking this on for "as long as it takes".
she is in that mode of being outraged that what she believed in so long is such a lie she wants to shout it from the rooftops, and get people to notice.
@No Apologies:
"Their beliefs and tactics have been documented and publicized for decades."
and should continue to be documented and publicized for few more decades... until the last cult is extinguished, until no one falls for their BS.
the numbers don't lie... definitely slowing down!!.
in the 40´s the average growth per year was 20%in the 50´s it was about 10%they had four decades of solid 5% per yearnow the average for the past 16 years has been 2%.
maybe in the future it will be 1% or 0 or even negative????.
That is a statistical fact.
Knowing how to type "statistical" doesn't mean you understand statistics.
I will use an analogy to illustrate. Let's say ten people are killed per year in a city. If that city were New York it would be insignificant, a very, very tiny percentage of the total population. NY would be an extremely safe city, possibly the safest city in the world. What if ten people are killed in a town of 100 people. That's the same number of people, but it's 10 % of the population. That city would be extremely unsafe.
You see percentages are everything. Absolute numbers don't mean much, unless you have context. Percentage is the context
the reality that all of us ultimately must face is that we get older and our bodies, and our minds eventually fail us.
i have seen this first hand in my family, in the jw community, and in the ex-jw community.
it is simply a sad part of the human condition, as is physical, emotional, and mental illness.
Time to look for Biblical guidance:
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a
person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will
accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them
under the sun. Ecclesiastes 8:15
