Posts by never a jw

77

New LDC Meeting KH Video

by wifibandit in

been away from the site for a few days...because i have been busy getting these!!!!!!

(pixel, thank you!

) they did not make it easy, plus technical difficulties.. for the main attraction:.

never a jw

new mantra:

rejoice, re-adjust, think in agreement, live peaceably [shut up and obey]

Lots of things to comment on, but what made me stop the video and take notes is how one of the speakers tries to clean up after the governing body embarrassing displays (go to 37:50).

" we know our brothers [in the GB] even when they are frustrated and say things, sometimes they don't really mean it the way it sounds, and we have to make allowance for their frustration as well".

They know (the business people and real leaders behind the WT) that the GB members are a liability.

36

performance improvements have been made to make things slicker.. the "remember me" issue should now be fixed.. sign-in captcha can be affected by ad-blockers so consider disabling those.. sign-in email is case-sensitive - until i update this consider using your forum username instead.. ie stalls on "queued for processing" when posting a topic or reply but the post has been made (just navigate to active or refresh the topic if replying).. i will be working through issues today and contacting anyone who had sign-in issues to check if they still have problems.. many thanks again for your patience while we work through these teething problems..

never a jw

Either I am a creature of habit or the new format is not as appealing to the user. I like seeing all at once several threads' titles as I did in the home page of the old format. Now I have to do some extra clicks to find what's going on, one thread/topic at a time.

Thank you Simon for your hard work, but I have to voice my opinion. I like the old format better. I am not sure if I will adapt to the new format enough to visit and post as much as I did before. I have my doubts, I had this experience in a different website and I never visited that site again. Not a threat, only feedback

13

RNWT Bible Needs to be Revised Again!

by The Searcher in

i'll restrain myself from commenting on jw.org's perversion of this scripture - i'll leave that to others.. however, for lurkers and active witnesses here, why not ask one of your local glorious ones to explain how these non-scriptural words found their way into the silver sword, but don't appear in the original greek, or even in the kingdom interlinear.. (2 corinthians 9:13) "through the proof that this relief ministry gives, they glorify god because you are submissive to the good news about the christ, as you publicly declared, and because you are generous in your contribution to them and to all.".

https://www.blueletterbible.org/bible.cfm?b=2co&c=9&t=kjv#s=t_conc_1087013.

.

never a jw

Agree with leaving quietly. The essence of all the translations that I have read is similar to the WT's translation. They added words to emphasize their main goal (preaching). Bad translation, but not in the category of corruption or perversion of scripture quite yet.

19

The best book on biblical archaeology I've ever read

by marmot in

i'm referring to "the bible unearthed : archaeology's new vision of ancient isreal and the origin of its sacred texts" by israel finkelstein and neil asher silberman.

i think it should be required reading for anyone who deigns to defend the historicity and literal interpretation of the bible.

(i'm looking at you singlecell).

never a jw

The book is much better than blindly following the biblical interpretation of fundamentalists religious leaders, but I think is a commercial book designed for the masses with a fair amount of speculation. I enjoyed much more the Introduction to the Hebrew Bible by John J. Collins and the lectures on Introduction to the Old Testament by Yale On Line (free) with professor Christine Hayes (she is very, very good). They take a broader scope (archaeology, Near East religions, paleography, the Bible text itself), and provide explanations that make you feel that you understand a lot better the Bible as a whole, the Bible writers motives, the Bible times and the relation of the Hebrew Bible to other Near Eastern religions.

52

Steve Pinker ... evidence on the surprising decline in violence

by digderidoo in

jw
friends

this is an interesting lecture.

one that flies in the face of current jw and i assume most non jw thinking.

evidence shows that when examining history mankind was more violent over the centuries than they were during the 20th and 21st century.

never a jw

I study the Bible (old testament) and know it better than most Christians. it's an admirable achievement of the Hebrew/Jewish/Israelites people to keep a long enduring identity that no other group in the history of mankind has ever pulled off. In a historical context it's a book worth studying. But as a moral guide is anticuated, and as a source of divine revelation... well...it amounts to superstition.

I know about Enuma Elish but never read it. I have, however, read the Ugaritic texts. It's all quite similar, it's all loaded with superstition and mixed with history. Regarding Gods and men doing fantastic (literally belonging to fantasy), read the Bible beginning to end: deluge, exodus, Samson, David, Saul, Solomon, Jesus, the apostles, and the main character, Jehovah (the mixture of Canaanite Baal and El). It's all superstition, no better, no worse than the Homer's Iliad or Virgil's Aeneid. Try reading biblical scholarship from highly respected scholars such as Frank Moore Cross, Hebrew Epic and Canaanite Myth.

52

Steve Pinker ... evidence on the surprising decline in violence

by digderidoo in

jw
friends

this is an interesting lecture.

one that flies in the face of current jw and i assume most non jw thinking.

evidence shows that when examining history mankind was more violent over the centuries than they were during the 20th and 21st century.

never a jw

What did produce the enlightenment? The printing and distribution of the Bible

Maybe. As people got to know the bible they realized what a book of superstition and contradictions that was. Then, that's when great thinkers started turning away from it. Check the views on religion of Diderot and most of the Encyclopedie writers, Voltaire and Rousseau included.

52

Steve Pinker ... evidence on the surprising decline in violence

by digderidoo in

jw
friends

this is an interesting lecture.

one that flies in the face of current jw and i assume most non jw thinking.

evidence shows that when examining history mankind was more violent over the centuries than they were during the 20th and 21st century.

never a jw

Christianity produced modern science ... Keppler, Nicholas of Cuza, etc.

Similarly, Western legal conceptions.

We have modern science despite Christianity. Without Christianity we would have have built on the achievements of the Greeks and the Romans (the Arabs, the Indians, the Chinese too). Instead, we got Christianity and set us in a stagnating path for a 1,000 years until the Renaissance when the Greeks thought and art were brought back. Almost 2,000 year wasted. Quite pitiful that there are people who are just as superstitious as the civilizations of Bible times.

29

Could the allowance of blood fractions be curtailing the growth of the religion?

by Apognophos in

so, imagine that you're just a regular joe who's not familiar with the witnesses and is looking for the answers to life, the universe, and everything.

you hear a knock at your door.

before long, you are studying with a jehovah's witness.

never a jw

I asked the question from an elder/cicuit overseer substitute: Where in the Bible can you find support to accept fractions? He said, "I will get back to you". Two and a half years later and I am still waiting. The mind of JW's must be filled with contradictions and yet they manage to be very patient, and continue waiting on Jehovah, in most cases until their final demise. They certainly have been trained to be the most patient people on earth!

17

Can your pervert the meaning of scripture even more...

by never a jw in

for a while i have shaken my head after learning how jw's interpret (rather corrupt the meaning of) matthew 8:11. i thought it couldn't get any worse.

i was wrong.

the following is an extract of the march 2015 watchtower in pg 27. the writer is explaining the meaning of mathew 25:31-46. enjoy!.

never a jw

Ann,

All this within the same magazine that writes about no more types and antitypes. Someone inside Bethel is laughing all the way to the bank.

One of my brothers actually has 5 years of college. Granted that his career, architecture, is very technical and is not necessarily a preparation to spot watchtoweresque B.S., you would think that he is not the kind of guy the watchtower would trap in the cult. But he joined the religion when he was over 40 and today he is deep inside, so deep that even though he knows about many of Rutherford's "shortcomings", he uses as a defense that he believes in the Bible, that Jehovah used Rutherford, despite all his faults, to guide the spiritual Israel, that the name JW's, and that the preaching work are proof of his religion being the true religion. Oh my, the power of cults!

17

Can your pervert the meaning of scripture even more...

by never a jw in

for a while i have shaken my head after learning how jw's interpret (rather corrupt the meaning of) matthew 8:11. i thought it couldn't get any worse.

i was wrong.

the following is an extract of the march 2015 watchtower in pg 27. the writer is explaining the meaning of mathew 25:31-46. enjoy!.

never a jw

This WT writer must have written this article under duress from the GB.

The interpretation of Matthew 25:36-45 is so conspicuously twisted that sometimes I feel that closet apostates write this stuff to cause JW's to awaken, serving thus a double purpose:

flattering the megalomaniacs in the governing body, who in turn keep the writers in their jobs,
writing outrageously corrupted interpretations of the bible to awaken the few that are not complete zombies