schnell

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Posts by schnell

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  32

  Beardless Jesus. Why?

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  beardless jesus in watchtower publications between 1930s and 1960s.

  a simple detail 'deliberately' left out.

  the question is why?.

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  schnell

  Jesus Christ is dolphin smooth.
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  31

  Occupations that will disappear

  by joker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  while growing up in the cult one thing that always bothered me was the way witnesses could forecast jobs/occupations that we're going to vanish in their new world.. for example, we would usually discuss at saturday night wt studies how doctors, nurses, funeral directors, and soldiers would go the way of the dodo.

  i always found discussions like that just so strange.. in hs, i mounted an unsuccessful effort to enter veterinary sciences, the big answer was always "why" it won't be needed after armageddon 😝😜.

  does anyone have their own story about professions that the witnesses believe will not be needed after the big a ?.

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  schnell

  Yes, why pursue something that interests you and is needed right now? It isn't as if the WTS would ever request help from individuals who have graduate degrees.

  Anyway, when I was a reserve firefighter, I had an admittedly senile elder tell me it may affect my privileges if I carried a weapon. So that was silly.

  I'm just glad nobody asked if I had to take an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States of America... *shrug*
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  22

  For those that read the bible, does the true message of scripture still come through in NWT?

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my active and in jw wife is up for reading bible together.

  thing is she wants to use nwt.. i have problems with that translation as you my imagine.. just wondering if you thought the true message of the bible will shine through the deliberate tampering of the nwt?.

  i know many people here don't like or want to read the bible and think it's rubbish anyway, so if that's you, you can save your comments :-).

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  schnell

  Hey NikL, I don't know about you, but this book is new to me:

  New World Translation: A Reliable Bible Version?, Gary F. Zeolla.

  https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=ZELGDQAAQBAJ

  Reading through it now.
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  32

  Beardless Jesus. Why?

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  beardless jesus in watchtower publications between 1930s and 1960s.

  a simple detail 'deliberately' left out.

  the question is why?.

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  schnell

  @Saethydd, but not against booze. Hey-ooooooh.

  
  
• 
  32

  Beardless Jesus. Why?

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  beardless jesus in watchtower publications between 1930s and 1960s.

  a simple detail 'deliberately' left out.

  the question is why?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  
  
• 
  32

  Beardless Jesus. Why?

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  beardless jesus in watchtower publications between 1930s and 1960s.

  a simple detail 'deliberately' left out.

  the question is why?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  For them it was propaganda. However, that obviously was not the only beardless portrayal.

  

  
  
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  4

  Prayer vs. Meditation

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  whenever i prayed, it was always done consciously and ostensibly to another person -- a higher, spirit person -- called jehovah.

  the subject was always something about me, even if it was for someone else.

  if i prayed to thank jehovah for my meal, it was about me.

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  schnell

  Whenever I prayed, it was always done consciously and ostensibly to another person -- a higher, spirit person -- called Jehovah. The subject was always something about me, even if it was for someone else. If I prayed to thank Jehovah for my meal, it was about me. If I prayed to ask Jehovah to help someone else, I would perhaps feel guilty if I did not do so even though I believed Jehovah already knew what was needed, and thus it was about me. If I added at the end about the kingdom coming as in heaven also upon earth, I did so because I believed I should and I wanted the new system, and thus it was about me. All of this, every shred of it, is conscious effort and ultimately self-centered, and this carries a negative connotation and guilt to the god I'm praying to.

  When I meditate, I usually close my eyes. Sometimes I open them. I focus on breathing. I count my breaths. In a few minutes, my mind and body have calmed down. I feel a smile. I feel my place in the space where I'm sitting, and I notice things. I at first try to squelch all my thoughts, and focus on breathing. At some point though, I let them off the leash and my thoughts go absolutely wild. Then I bring them back in and focus some more. All of this is ultimately self-centered, except there is no guilt to that connotation whatever. It's mindfulness, really. Indeed, I am quite happy to be myself.

  A final note: If I am in a group that insists on having a prayer before a meal, I have noticed that I survive the night perfectly in tact no matter what it is I'm thinking of during the obligatory prayer. No lightning, no leprosy. Hilarious.
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  123

  Why do some Jehovah's Witnesses choose to be atheist or agnostic?

  by Cassaruby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .

  .. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .

  from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.

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  schnell

  
  
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  6

  Hope deferred

  by life is to short in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  proverbs 13:12 "hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

  i have heard this before from dave ramesy about finances and how if you can never see an end in sight to get out of debt, if you always are making nothing to live on and getting nowhere with no hope of it ever changing, you just give up.

  thank god's it's friday and oh god it's monday breaks your spirit.. i was reading this book by henry cloud and he expounds on this and says "there are few sicknesses of the heart like hope deferred.

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  schnell

  My favorite was when they'd say we shouldn't pursue our dreams and businesses and ideas in this system, since we can do that in the NEXT system...

  Living for the future. That's all that is.
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  24

  Scriptures rarely mentioned

  by dothemath in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a couple of examples of scriptures hardly ever quoted is 1 tim.

  2:12- "i do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence".

  or verse 11- "let a woman learn in silence with full submissiveness.".

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  schnell

  @fastJehu, but was anyone there to hear it? Did it make a sound? :P