schnell

Joined

• started 65 topics
• posted 1,117 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by schnell

• 
  35

  How long did people like Methuselah really live?

  by dubstepped in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was working today and my brain was working in circles like it often does and i started wondering about what i was always told about people like methuselah in bible times, and their incredibly claims of longevity.

  i've tried researching things but have a hard time getting through all of the bible thumpers to some real evidence, and figured that some here may be more informed or have done the research previously.

  so, did people really live longer way back when?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  It is claimed that some of these old time counters did not grasp the "0" concept, well here they added one, 96.9 years is not far fetched, what is a zero among friends anyway?,
  

  I would like to point out, in addition to the problem of sexual maturity that someone else mentioned, that if you're dividing all the ages by 10, what you're implying is that Adam was created just shy of 166 years before a global flood. Humankind, in that model, is less than 4700 years old.

  Nope. I mean, I get that it's a myth, but even as a myth... Just nope.
• 
  18

  JW.org as a Prank Tool

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the moment i saw the "request a study" form on the site, i thought, "umm, that could be a bad thing.".

  but to date, i have heard of only one case where it was used for less than genuine purposes.

  that was in the case of a "game developer" who was selling crappy asset-flips on steam.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  On that note, I remember when they started pushing the site and they were so, so proud that they were getting so many hits from China.

  ...

  Anyone who has run a website would know what was really happening (i.e. bots), but they were certainly proud of it.
• 
  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 :-).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  To name an example, words like grace are so present in this NIV Bible, and I think the replacement in the NWT of grace for 'undeserved kindness' really is a shame. It does not read the same, and to me it feels like the meaning also changes somehow.
  

  @Yesu Kristo Bwana Wangu, I agree, and I debated this with a JW yesterday online. He insisted that "undeserved kindness" is the same thing and that we DON'T deserve it. It seems pathological that he would prefer this, but he probably doesn't see it that way.
• 
  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 :-).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  Yeah, use a couple translations and compare. Do some "horizontal reading". Give her a taste of what the others say, and you might dispel a few notions about the NWT.
• 
  35

  How long did people like Methuselah really live?

  by dubstepped in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was working today and my brain was working in circles like it often does and i started wondering about what i was always told about people like methuselah in bible times, and their incredibly claims of longevity.

  i've tried researching things but have a hard time getting through all of the bible thumpers to some real evidence, and figured that some here may be more informed or have done the research previously.

  so, did people really live longer way back when?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  Isn't it funny how God told man to be fruitful and become many, and yet the patriarchs had heirs only very late in life?

  Isn't it just a little funny?
• 
  18

  JW.org as a Prank Tool

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the moment i saw the "request a study" form on the site, i thought, "umm, that could be a bad thing.".

  but to date, i have heard of only one case where it was used for less than genuine purposes.

  that was in the case of a "game developer" who was selling crappy asset-flips on steam.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  I personally received a slip from an elder to go to someone's house who requested a study online. So apparently that's how it works. (I didn't do it.)
• 
  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.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  so how would you explain a talking snake?????
  

  I would be completely surprised if it didn't have to do with the zodiacal sign of Scorpio, which has not only been pictured as a scorpion but as a serpent and an eagle.

  Another instance: In Revelation, there are 4 angels standing before God. One is a man, one is a bull, one is a lion, and one is an eagle. Now go look at a circular diagram of the Zodiac.
• 
  35

  How long did people like Methuselah really live?

  by dubstepped in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was working today and my brain was working in circles like it often does and i started wondering about what i was always told about people like methuselah in bible times, and their incredibly claims of longevity.

  i've tried researching things but have a hard time getting through all of the bible thumpers to some real evidence, and figured that some here may be more informed or have done the research previously.

  so, did people really live longer way back when?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  The genealogy in Genesis doesn't need to be taken seriously, particularly when certain characters have names of gods.

  There are other religious traditions where men are said to live for thousands of years, so 969 is somehow modest. I have wondered, though, if there is some weird symbolism about these numbers (in which case it is all the more foolish to add them up and calculate the year of Adam's creation). That, I have not yet looked into.
• 
  18

  JW.org as a Prank Tool

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the moment i saw the "request a study" form on the site, i thought, "umm, that could be a bad thing.".

  but to date, i have heard of only one case where it was used for less than genuine purposes.

  that was in the case of a "game developer" who was selling crappy asset-flips on steam.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  The moment I saw the "Request a study" form on the site, I thought, "Umm, that could be a bad thing."

  But to date, I have heard of only one case where it was used for less than genuine purposes. That was in the case of a "game developer" who was selling crappy asset-flips on Steam. His address information was leaked and a couple of Dubs were sent to pay him a visit. He complained about it online. (And the weird thing is, I might actually know those brothers because I lived nearby and had a few friends there.)

  Have there been other cases like this? If prayers really work to attract Witnesses to your door, why does the Borg need a website function that's so prone to fraud?
• 
  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.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  schnell

  Cool! I read Campbell as well as Manly P. Hall, and I've touched on Jung as well. I totally get the metaphorical aspect. The Power of Myth marked the very moment when I realized I don't believe in a personal god.

  A little bit of philosophy makes one an atheist. A bit more, aaand ya know.

  I totally get the metaphor of the monomyth (birth, youth, adulthood, death...), and I wrote in a reply just last night quite directly about this.

  There's absolutely a place for rationalism. I do consider myself a rationalist, naturalist, and not a spiritualist. However, as Campbell alluded, we lose some of the experience with that too. It's a two-edged sword.