ElderBerry: Are you beginning to see the difference between PIMA and your approach where you decide what is definitely true or not?
I am seeing the difference between dogma and thinking for one's self.
i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
ElderBerry: Are you beginning to see the difference between PIMA and your approach where you decide what is definitely true or not?
I am seeing the difference between dogma and thinking for one's self.
(apologies for the typo in the title.
"teaching" should read "teachings".
i misread vanderhoven7's most recent post as being the above.
I agree that there is no hell for the dead; that death is a state of nonexistence and that 'hell' is a metaphorical reference to the final fate of all people.
i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
ElderBerry: It’s all a matter of opinion what are bad ideas.
No, it's not.
If it is then your replies are, themselves, criticisms of opinions and therefore... arrogant.
Are you beginning to see the problem with your approach?
rowan williams, the former archbishop of canterbury gave an interesting answer to the somewhat stark question, what’s the point of us existing?
as a christian, my starting point is that we exist because the most fundamental form of activity, energy, call it what you like, that is there, is love.
that is, it’s a willingness that the other should be.
The world exists because God desires that there be an other, and so love is fundamental to that.
Maybe it exists because god loves to create universes. Maybe the development of life is incidental to his love of creation; an interesting but ultimately discarded artifact of his fondness for causing worlds to form from the expansion of a singularity (or twirling them into existence out of thin air, if this is his preference).
At the same time, a being who is utterly unlike us might create universes and worlds and people without a shred of motivation. Perhaps this is god's true nature-- he wishes universes into existence, then loses them in the clutter of his home, where they tumble about until they run out of energy and disappear in a puff of magic.
i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
It's not arrogant to point out bad ideas, explanations, lies, policies, and so on. Otherwise, it would be arrogant to point out anything, at all. If that was the case, the term 'arrogant' becomes meaningless.
i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
Allow me to repeat: Not knowing the ultimate answer is no reason to accept bad explanations.
You do not need to "know the entire truth" to recognize a bad apple. You still know many things that are true, and are able to recognize lies and bad policies. Which is how people can criticize JW light.
i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
ElderBerry: as if you have the truth and you know everyone else is wrong?
That's not what he is saying. If the WTS does not live up to its stated ideals, then it is wrong. If a group of men claim to have god's explicit support, but their words and actions don't show it, then it is natural to want to avoid them. This has nothing to do with whether the ultimate truths about the universe are knowable.
Not knowing the ultimate answer is no reason to accept bad explanations.
🤦♀️this 25 million different languages thing is getting ridiculous.
this link is hilarious!
they've only gone and translated into jamaican patois and boy this isn't just translation, they're literally using slang....what next?
I'm thinking of that scene in the movie Airplane, where the white woman offers to help translate from English to Jive.
the wts has used to above terms, over the years, some more preferred in certain time periods.
more though, but these occurred to me first.
also the terms "new world" and "new world order" have been used by some us presidents and other leaders..
WingCommander: Growing up in the 80's thru 2000 it was always "The New System of Things."
Same here, I always heard it referred to as "the new system" (in Spanish, El Nuevo Sistema). I don't recall ever hearing it referred to as a new order or new world order. When Bush made reference to "a new world order," our JW ears perked up because it sounded a bit like the new system. We just saw it as yet another confirmation that The End was Just Around The Corner.
Narrator: The end was not just around the corner.
this image is from "the watchtower" july 2024 (study edition):i can't figure out what that object is that is between the sleeping apostles.wath is it?
a stick, a scroll of the scriptures?
....
slimboyfat: It takes a long time to produce an image like that and a lot of people are involved in the process.
I like the thought that someone was asking them to edit that part, and each time they changed it they made it look more and more like a penis, and finally the editor decided not to mention it anymore because he was afraid they would wonder why he was so fixated on it.