Posts by FadeToBlack

12

Special Meeting Newburgh, NY Assembly Hall

by XBEHERE in

jw
friends

a friend of mine called me yesterday and he told me about a special meeting up at the assembly hall in newburgh, ny regarding the warwick project this passed saturday that all elders and ministerial servants living within a 55 mile radius were invited to.

he told me a lot of stuff but the gist of it was:.

1. volunteer to work.

FadeToBlack

I'm with you DOC except that Yahweh seems to be a bit unpredictable. Or perhaps the 'holy spirit' is a bit of a wild-card. You would think, the unchangeable 'rock' would just tell it like it is and leave it at that. Why all the adjustments? Maybe the GB have a bad connection and sometimes they get it wrong. They did not seem very sure when they embarked on this project.

70

JW morale reaching new low

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

many friends i've spoken with are becoming discouraged.

because of this it's becoming tempting to privately share my views with friends, but i know this is still too dangerous.

most witnesses in my circle are intelligent free thinkers.

FadeToBlack

But it is coming up again in the January edition. I just got my copy in English yesterday and already marked up the 2 offending paragraphs. I am going to use if for discussion with the wife. Plus we get a bonus timeline in the same issue that again shows the 'flood' occured in 2370BCE and then only 100 years later the buggers were already building the tower of Babel. So they all moved from Ararat to plains of Shiinar and breeding like rabbits, managed to build cities and civilizations with enough support to embark on this project. Not bad!

In the same timeline, they did not want to 'speculate' on what year Adam and Eve were ejected from Eden so they did not post a date.

28

A real difficult congregation???

by quellycatface in

myself and my family have had some odd experiences in our current congregation.

i have'nt been to meetings since september because of this.. 1. the co told the elder who was studying with my husband that he was doing it as an "academic exercise.

" my husband is very intelligent, been in the military, has a degree and a masters and a good job.

FadeToBlack

So, quellycatface: where is the love that Jesus said would be an identifying mark of his people? Not at the KH, that's for sure. To be fair, I met some great people in my 30+ years as witness, but looking back, I'm sure they were just great people to begin with, not because they were JW's. Don't go anywhere near the Ministry 'school'. It will only add to your discomfort and stress levels.

Just keep asking questions. You will find lots of ammo and ideas here.

13

Leaps of Logic

by FadeToBlack in

from the march 1, 2010 wt:.

is the bible the word of god?.

all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.2 timothy 3:16, 17.. .

FadeToBlack

@notsurewheretogo: that one is absolutely, hands-down the ultimate wake-up call for any still in with a few non-borg dominated brain cells. If that didn't make someone ask questions, nothing will. At least about doctrine. But some, like my wife are not so concerned about 'facts'. For her and others it will be something else that stirs that other side of them to action.

For those interested in non-JW ideas about where the bible and specifically the Hebrew/OT text came from, I can recommend an older book I just finished recently. It is titled: Who wrote the Bibel? Author Richard Elliott Friedman. Originally published in 1987 with 2nd edition in 97. Great explanation of how the text was really a product of its time and how its non-inspired authors still managed to produce something quite remarkable (although admittedly not something people living many centureis later should be using to make major life decisions). Very accessible read for those of us who did not get to go to Harvard.

13

Leaps of Logic

by FadeToBlack in

from the march 1, 2010 wt:.

is the bible the word of god?.

all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.2 timothy 3:16, 17.. .

FadeToBlack

@Phizzy: agreed. If as the WT says, we were already in apostacy mode by that time, how could 'they' have decided what is canonical and what is not? Maybe one day we will have a NNWT that includes letters from the GB 2.0. Sadly, even that would not be enough to wake up some people.

13

Leaps of Logic

by FadeToBlack in

from the march 1, 2010 wt:.

is the bible the word of god?.

all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.2 timothy 3:16, 17.. .

FadeToBlack

@Gopher: yes, even when I first started studying (30+ years ago) I noticed the 'my opinion' thing going in in the writings attributed to Paul. Shame on me for not paying more attention. How could an opinion be inspired? Perhaps that is why I never realy got into anyting written by Paul. Too formalistic.

13

Leaps of Logic

by FadeToBlack in

from the march 1, 2010 wt:.

is the bible the word of god?.

all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.2 timothy 3:16, 17.. .

FadeToBlack

@RobCrompton: if I understand you correctly (my English skills are fading living in a non-english speaking country) are you saying that the Septuagint included apocryphal books? And that this is the version early christains would have been familiar with (at least Greek speaking)?

13

Leaps of Logic

by FadeToBlack in

from the march 1, 2010 wt:.

is the bible the word of god?.

all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.2 timothy 3:16, 17.. .

FadeToBlack

From the March 1, 2010 WT:

Is the Bible the Word of God?

“All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.”—2 TIMOTHY 3:16, 17.

WHAT a powerful expression by the apostle Paul on the excelling value of the Bible! He was, of course, referring specifically to that part of the Bible available to him at the time—the writings that people sometimes refer to as the Old Testament. But in principle his words apply with equal force to all of the Bible’s 66 books, including those written by Jesus’ faithful disciples in the first century C.E.

Really, 'in principle'? To be honest, when I first saw that they even admitted that Paul was refering of course to the Hebrew scriptures/OT I ran into the living room and showed it to my wife. She was like: so? To me it was amazing because I always hated when JW's quoted the verse at the door to prove the bible was god's word-> see, it says so here at 2 Tim 3:16.

But then (thanks to the logic folks here) I saw for the first time the text in bold above. In principle. No further proof or explanation necessary. We said so... To me it was just more evidence that JW's are not even reading their own literature. What would a normal, fairly well educated individual think when/if they read such a statement (in principle)?

Please feel free to add you own 'leaps of logic' you have found recently. I need some for FWN...

1

WT Online Library?

by FadeToBlack in

i was starting to compile a list of some of my favorite 'bait-and-switch' topics between the public edition of the wt and the members-only study edition when i noticed that it appears that the online library at jw.org only seems to allow searching from the public edition.

is this the case, or am i just missing something?

i know we can download the study editions but they don't seem to be available to search.

FadeToBlack

Just updated to say I was wrong. They are also available in search. Now, back to the collection. Need more topics for next Family worship night.

1

WT Online Library?

by FadeToBlack in

i was starting to compile a list of some of my favorite 'bait-and-switch' topics between the public edition of the wt and the members-only study edition when i noticed that it appears that the online library at jw.org only seems to allow searching from the public edition.

is this the case, or am i just missing something?

i know we can download the study editions but they don't seem to be available to search.

FadeToBlack

I was starting to compile a list of some of my favorite 'bait-and-switch' topics between the public edition of the WT and the members-only study edition when I noticed that it appears that the Online Library at jw.org only seems to allow searching from the public edition. Is this the case, or am I just missing something? I know we can download the study editions but they don't seem to be available to search. Need to check the last CD my wife brought home to compare.