Posts by Splash

I can find only one recent mention of Islam in a bad light - from about 20 years ago.
It associates Muslims with Babylon the Great and says it will be judged by God.

*** w96 4/15 p. 11 pars. 2-3 Why Worldly Religion Will End *** (edited)

However, someone might ask, ‘How can you say that Babylon has fallen, when religion seems to be flourishing in so many lands?’ Catholicism and Islam claim over one billion believers each. Yet, to what degree does all this religion exert a positive influence on the conduct of these billions? Has it brought real peace to Jews and Muslims in the Middle East? Has it led to harmony between Hindus and Muslims in India? And, more recently, has it prevented Serbian Orthodox, Croatian Catholics, and Bosnian Muslims from pursuing “ethnic cleansing,” plundering, raping, and slaughtering one another?

3 From God’s viewpoint, the religious support by the masses does not alter one inescapable fact—all religion is on judgment before God. Babylon the Great, as evidenced by her history, deserves to be judged adversely because “her sins have massed together clear up to heaven, and God has called her acts of injustice to mind.”

Splash

48

Is The Governing Body Afraid To Slam Muslims???

by minimus in

jw
friends

they boldly spoke against the catholics.

.

i'd love to see them rail against the muslims..

Splash

(double post)

140

How do we set up a "Used New Bike Fund" for Terry?

by BucketShopBill in

jw
friends

is there any way we can try to start a crowd-fund to help terry get some wheels quicker than he currently can?

with craigslist and a couple of bucks from a few members we can help terry get moving.

does anyone have any ideas how we can do a "theists for terry" bike fund raiser and challenge the atheists to a bucket-head challenge?

Splash

I recently saw on a "very pro JW forum" a discussion about tablets.
One brother from Africa asked the other brothers there if anyone could help him out with a donation of a tablet since he did not have the money to go and get one.
His comment was ignored by every successive poster.

The Bible says - (Psalm 37:21) "The righteous one is generous and giving."

The WT says - w02 7/1 p. 30 Walking in Jehovah’s Paths Brings Rich Rewards
Responsible Christian giving includes sharing the good news with others. We also show that we are responsible by contributing to the worldwide Kingdom work. Gerhardt, an elder, explains that he and his wife increased their contributions significantly after visiting an assembly in Eastern Europe. "We saw that our brothers there have so little in a material way; yet they appreciate our Bible literature so much," he says, "so we decided that we wanted to give as much support as we could to our needy brothers in other lands."

Splash

26

How many use iPads or tablets in your cong?

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

a question for those that still attend meetings.... how many use tablets or ipads in your hall?.

i did roving microphones this week, and i counted 43 people (variety of ages) out of an audience of 98!.

just curious....

Splash

SHOULD WE READ THE BIBLE ONLINE?

NO - w02 6/15 p. 15 Follow the Royal Pattern [Box on page 15] "In Our Hands"
"If we want . . . a concordance to the Bible, we can find no better medium than the Internet. But if we want to read the Bible, to study it, think about it, reflect upon it, we should have it in our hands, for that is the only way of getting it into our minds and our hearts."—Gertrude Himmelfarb, distinguished professor emeritus, City University, New York.

YES - jl (2012) What Is God’s Will?
Learn about us online. Visit the official Web site of Jehovah’s Witnesses at www.jw.org. There you can read the Bible online and view or print out many of our publications in over 400 languages.

Splash

10

Interesting query and reply about THE CROSS on Bart Ehrman's blog

by Terry in

kleenmaint july 5, 2014. dear bart:.

i couldnt find a topic on josephus so i hope you see my question.

in your book did jesus exist on page 59 you quote (antiquities 18.3.3).. both this quotation and the more conservative version that seemed more plausible as his original writing have one very fundamental flaw that you didnt mention.

Splash

PSacramento The Epistle of Barnabas (respected enough to be included in the Codex Sinaiticus) states that the cross Jesus was crucified on was in the shape of the letter "TAU", "T".

Would that be a sTAUros then?

Splash

14

Numbers 5:11-31. How does the society make application of this ridiculous scripture?

by stuckinarut2 in

if you haven't read it yet, please do so.

numbers 5:11-31. this is a scripture that is as stupid as the "medieval witch trials"!.

it is also so degrading to women, and shows how the bible views them as mere property that can be treated as just possessions.. i would love to see how the wt tries to use this passage and make a modern day twist (as they try to do with so many other passages!).

Splash

This is so much like occult shamanistic magic - the sort of thing you would expect to find being done by a witch doctor.
If a JW was watching a film and this sort of thing happened, they would feel like they had to turn it off to protect themselves from demons.

(Numbers 5:23-26)

23 Then the priest should write these curses in the book and wash them off into the bitter water.
24 He will then make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse will enter into her and produce bitterness.
25 And the priest should take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand and wave the grain offering back and forth before Jehovah, and he will bring it near the altar.
26 The priest will take a handful of the grain offering as a token offering and make it smoke on the altar, and afterward he will make the woman drink the water.

Splash

21

TTATT in a Can... Now on Google Sites

by ILoveTTATT in

jw
friends

i found a way to get the entire spreadsheet into google so that people can take a look at it.... i also made a spreadsheet that shows the doctrines with most # of changes, ranked from most to least:.

https://sites.google.com/site/laverdadtj2/number-of-changes.

Splash

It's protected and requires me to submit a request to view it.

I shall not be doing that.

Splash.

56

My JW mom is now willing to "listen" to our side...Need advice pls

by 2pink in

jw
friends

my husband and i (both born in jws with extended family all "in" except for one of my sisters who left when we did) left the church 5 years ago.

we did not fade, we just didn't believe it anymore, told our families so and left.

obviously, big drama in our family after this, messy feelings, etc.

Splash

And be prepared for all of the stock responses:

"Even the Apostles made mistakes"

It is true that the Apostles sometimes made mistakes. Does that mean that it is ok to make mistakes? No.
Is it also okay for other religious leaders to make mistakes, since the apostles made mistakes? No.
And Harold Camping getting the dates wrong for the end of the world in 2012, is that also ok? No.
It is fallacious to think that an act is acceptable just because someone else engaged in it.

The point is, that since a JW accepts that the Bible is infallible (w10 9/1 p.12), they also accept that the apostles did not make mistakes when putting doctrine into writing. It is impossible for God to lie.

"The Truth doesn't change, only our understanding of it changes"

The Truth isn't being called into question, it's why we are not teaching the truth that is.
Is it acceptable that our teachings of the Truth are not the truth?
If our teachings are from Jehovah, why are they different to what is actually the Truth?
Is this a valid statement for when Churches change their teachings too?
The congregations are told that we are given food at the proper time. What is proper about serving spiritual food that is not truthful?

"It's better to make mistakes and stay on the Watch, than fall asleep"

Actually it's better to stay on the watch and not keep raising false alarms which can be just as dangerous as falling asleep, as made famous by Aesop's Fable of the Boy who Cried 'Wolf!':

*** g93 3/22 p. 3 Why So Many False Alarms? ***
THE story is told of a boy who watched the sheep of the villagers. To stir up a bit of excitement, one day he cried out, "Wolf! Wolf!" when there was no wolf... So it has become with those who proclaim the end of the world. Down through the centuries since Jesus’ day, so many unfulfilled predictions have been made that many no longer take them seriously.

Does the failure of such predictions to come true convict as false prophets those who made them, within the meaning of Deuteronomy 18:20-22?

We have been on the watch for over a century. A real Watch has many shifts so the watchmen do not fall asleep or make bad judgement calls from tiredness and false expectations.
What would you do with a smoke detector that constantly gives off false alarms?
What would you do with an unreliable Watchman? What did the Israelites do?
Is it correct to 'stone' (penalise / disfellowship) those who expose the false alarms?

"We need to rely on the Slave for our understanding"

Does that mean we must not look into things for ourselves?:
"Do not put YOUR trust in nobles" - Psalm 146:3
"when he entered the house Jesus got ahead of him by saying: "What do you think, Simon?" -Mt 17:25
Jesus asking them "What do YOU think?" - Matthew 18:12; 21:28
"Now the latter were more noble-minded than those in Thes·sa·lo·ni′ca, for they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures" (Ac 17:11)
"keep testing whether you are in the faith " 2Co 13:5
"present your bodies...a sacred service with your power of reason" Ro 12:1
"think so as to have a sound mind" - Romans 12:3
"go on perceiving what the will of Jehovah is" Eph 5:17
"make sure of the more important things" Php 1:10
"make sure of all things" 1Thes 5:21
"we request of YOU not to be quickly shaken from YOUR reason nor to be excited either through an inspired expression or through a verbal message or through a letter as though from us" 2Th 2:1, 2
"God gave us not a spirit of cowardice, but that of power and of love and of soundness of mind." 2Tim 1:7
"I am arousing YOUR clear thinking faculties by way of a reminder" 2Pe 3:1
"test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God" 1Jo 4:1
"he has given us intellectual capacity that we may gain the knowledge of the true one" 1Jo 5:20

"Those references you are using are old!"

All of these WT references are from Jehovah's channel - do you believe the FDS are Jehovah's channel? If so why would you dismiss something as old? The Bible is old, do we dismiss that?
One day in the future, today's teachings will be old. Will you one day dismiss these the same way as you are dismissing the other 'old' teachings? If so, why not just dismiss them right now?
The Society will themselves often refer to early WT references such as these. Do we dismiss those also?

"Wait on Jehovah"

'Wait on Jehovah' is an excuse for inaction, or to avoid discussing something. It's an attempt at ending the conversation.
Typically it is used when the credibility of the Watchtower Organization or the leader’s authority is in question.
When some completely incomprehensible new understanding (which is going to be changed in the next Watchtower) is published and people express their concern, they are asked to "wait on Jehovah". What they are being told to do, in fact, is stop thinking and stop asking questions that cannot be answered.

The Society take action when they need to, like going to court. Are they waiting on Jehovah?
Wait on Jehovah often really means Wait on the Society.
What is the difference between "obey without questioning", and "Wait on Jehovah"?
When someone says "wait on Jehovah", what they really mean is "wait on the GB", forgetting that Jehovah and the GB are quite different.

Splash

56

My JW mom is now willing to "listen" to our side...Need advice pls

by 2pink in

jw
friends

my husband and i (both born in jws with extended family all "in" except for one of my sisters who left when we did) left the church 5 years ago.

we did not fade, we just didn't believe it anymore, told our families so and left.

obviously, big drama in our family after this, messy feelings, etc.

Splash

Your mum must be uncomfortable about something. You should find out what this is.
Tell her that the religion as it exists today is not the same one she was baptised into, because there have been so many changes. Even the ministry has changed from teaching people about God, to advertising a website.
(For a list of changes either look here on jw.net, or here on jw.org)

The WT have condemned themselves:
-- WT 5/15/76 p.298 "It is a serious matter to represent God and Christ in one way, then find that our understanding of the major teachings and fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures was in error, and then after that, to go back to the very doctrines that, by years of study, we had thoroughly determined to be in error. Christians cannot be vacillating - 'wishy-washy' - about such fundamental teachings. What confidence can one put in the sincerity or judgment of such persons?"

They claim to be the mouthpiece and channel of God providing food at the proper time. What is proper about serving such bad food that they have to keep removing items off the menu?.

One example is how the decreasing number of memorial partakers was proof that we are close to the end. Now the numbers have climbed higher than at any time since 1960, so what does that do to their 'proof'?

If you don't want to focus on one topic, you can ask your mum to give you one teaching that has never changed, just to emphasize that they are all under constant change. If she says hell fire, immortality of the soul, paradise earth, or the trinity have never changed, tell her that these teachings were established before the F&DS were appointed in 1919, then correct your question to "What teachings from the F&DS (since 1919) have never changed, since only the F&DS are approved by Christ?"
There are none.

As the first WT quote I pasted says, How can you have confidence in that?

Splash