Posts by searcher

24

Is it official policy that elders MUST advise the parent to report abuse?

by Must obey! in

notwithstanding the plain fact that the watchtower's heinous "two witness" rule is obviously flawed (scripturally and in terms of natural justice), it seems to me that as long as the elders are advising the parent/caregiver to go to the authorities in every case where an accusation of child abuse has occurred that this is sufficient for the elders to discharge their legal duty, shouldn't it?.

i have heard rumours that this is in fact the official current policy (since when i don't know) of the society: that they tell the elders to advise the parent/caregiver to inform the authorities of alleged child abuse.

but how firm is this policy?

searcher

What many miss seeing is that in non - reporting states, it is Priest/Minister - Penitent information that need not be reported.

Which means that, if someone approaches an Elder and says "I have abused a child" then the Elder need not report because he has been approached in his capacity as a Priest/Minister.(I have abused... is a confession)

HOWEVER

If someone approaches an Elder and says "I have been abused" then the Elder has been approached in his capacity as a COUNCELOR, and councilors HAVE to report, (I have been abused is NOT A CONFESSION, it is a plea for help).

32

Without using the Bible.........

by searcher in

.

.......prove that the bible is true.. .

searcher

I have no problem with the thought that there may be a creator, after all, if a creator cannot be proven to exist then he/she or it equally cannot be proven to not exist.

My problem is with the creators believers, many (most) of whom seem to have a mission to compel others to believe, and would kill or torture to acheive that, if given the power, this has been proven by history.

All based on a book that cannot be proven to be true.

32

Without using the Bible.........

by searcher in

.

.......prove that the bible is true.. .

searcher

The books of the Bible contain prophecies about events in the future of when it was written.

But what is the proof that the prophecies were written before the events came to pass?

The Bible was written over a very long time, so someone later could well have believed they were written before and so would have continued the belief by their writings.

After all, it is not that long ago when people believed the Earth was the centre of the universe and that the Earth was flat.

If belief in something is all that is needed to make it true then people are free to believe whatever they want to.

(Good news for Santa Claus and the Faries hm?)

32

Without using the Bible.........

by searcher in

.

.......prove that the bible is true.. .

searcher

My boss once asked me to research the internet and compile a list of mermaid facts.
This, as well as your request, isn't possible.

I can think of several Mermaid facts.

Some people genuinely believe Mermaids exist..............Fact.

There are stories about Mermaids.............Fact.

Neither of which prove or disprove the existance of Mermaids but they are facts in and of themselves.

My purpose in keeping the topic as vague as it is was to encourage people to write of the bible based on how they view it, and the reason for 'without using the bible' was to prevent the circular reasoning that has been mentioned eg, onacruse wrote

It had never occurred to me (until a few years ago) the absurdity of taking what a book says about itself as proof of anything!

Some interesting replies, thanks to all who participated in the thread.

32

Without using the Bible.........

by searcher in

.

.......prove that the bible is true.. .

searcher

Can you prove that the diary of Ronald Reagan is true without using the diary of Ronald Reagan?

I have never read it but I would start by looking at what others of the same time and place said to see if the accounts matched up.

32

Without using the Bible.........

by searcher in

.

.......prove that the bible is true.. .

searcher

.......Prove that the Bible is true.

Anyone?

53

How do angels and demons influence mankind?

by onacruse in

wts publications, and indeed virtually all religions on this planet, assert that angels and demons have regular influence on mankind, on individual human beings as well as on the general course of human events.. but i've never read anything specific about how they supposedly accomplish this.. do they tweak our neurons?

do they fiddle with our hormones, thereby making us feel good or bad about a certain course of action?

do they inject thoughts into our brains, perhaps in such a subtle way that we think those are our own thoughts?

searcher

I find it impossible to believe that man is just some sort of mindless puppet, standing around waiting to be possesed and controlled by warring 'puppet masters' (Angels and Demons).

As if the governing body wasn't enough.

True, am glad I was never a JW.

53

How do angels and demons influence mankind?

by onacruse in

wts publications, and indeed virtually all religions on this planet, assert that angels and demons have regular influence on mankind, on individual human beings as well as on the general course of human events.. but i've never read anything specific about how they supposedly accomplish this.. do they tweak our neurons?

do they fiddle with our hormones, thereby making us feel good or bad about a certain course of action?

do they inject thoughts into our brains, perhaps in such a subtle way that we think those are our own thoughts?

searcher

I find it impossible to believe that man is just some sort of mindless puppet, standing around waiting to be possesed and controlled by warring 'puppet masters' (Angels and Demons).

16

An apparent drift in WTS dates

by Doug Mason in

according to the wts library cdrom, the watchtower, august 1 2005, page 12 provides a table of the kings of judah and israel.. i decided to reproduce the table and add two columns.

my first additional column shows the conventionally accepted date and the second additional column shows the difference between the wtss date and the conventional date for each listed king.. as expected, since the final event listed is the destruction of jerusalem, that difference is about 20 years.

i had expected this difference would be maintained throughout the table.

searcher

*celebrated WT scholars* I love that joke :D Doug, Interesting chart.

28

NWT translation of Daniel 1:2 and 607

by behemot in

do you know why the nwt starts verse 2 of daniel ch.

1 with the words "in time..." which are not in the original hebrew text nor in any of the english translations i checked?.

has it to do with supporting their 607 b.c.e.

searcher

celebrated WT scholars

You will get no answer because there is no answer, it's just an element of humor injected into the post.