Apognophos

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Posts by Apognophos

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  7

  Heroes of the Bible

  by Oubliette in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the thing that first attracted me to a study of the bible was what i got from reading the gospel accounts of jesus.

  i was a teenager at the time attending a private religious school.

  (i was going there for sports, not religious reasons).. in our religion 101 class, we were required to read all the gospels.

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  Apognophos

  Indeed, and where is our modern-day Jesus to counter them? Is there any man that can call out these guys in a public way on their hypocrisy? It doesn't seem that anyone is capable of doing so.

  Though, for that matter, it's possible that there was no Jesus either, and he simply represents a dissenting movement within Judaism, as a sort of rhetorical model for reformed Judaism. So in that case, we don't have the right to expect a modern-day Jesus to drive the credit-card changers out of the conventions. We should instead expect a splinter group like Pauline Christianity or the Gnostics to show up on the scene.
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  21

  The Revamped Organization

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with the release of the new bible, i can pretty much say that the wt religion is no longer the same religion that i left 17 years ago.

  it's bizarre.

  they have a different bible, a different song book, a different "youth" book, a different "great teacher" book, and the "live forever" book is gone.

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  Apognophos

  The religion hasn't changed, nor has the organization, just the literature. If you grew up 30 years earlier, you would have been saying this 30 years ago. If 70 years earlier, then 70 years ago. "We don't even use Studies in the Scriptures anymore!"
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  6

  The motives behind Genesis (and the rest of the Bible)

  by DeWandelaar in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was in thinking mode this morning and since i am writing a roman based on a part of the genesis account i suddenly came to a weird sort of motive of the writer of genesis.

  going beyond a blogpost of adamah about the true meaning of the tree of knowledge i come to the following conclusion:.

  the writer of genesis wants to promote obedience at cost of knowledge.

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  Apognophos

  I somewhat agree with the OP, but I think it misses the mark as far as the real message of the Garden of Eden tale. You have to logically ask what the "evil" was in the phrase "knowledge of good and evil" when the first and only immediate result of eating the fruit is that Adam and Eve became conscious of their sexuality and thus covered themselves up.

  When Adam and Eve didn't know they were naked, this was likely in reference to the mindset of a child. Children don't know they're doing anything wrong until adults start yelling at them to put on their clothes and teach them to be ashamed of nudity. Since the Jews stigmatized human sexuality more than their contemporaries, it would make sense if, in their creation myth, the original man and woman were sinless because they did not think about sex. They would reproduce, of course, but with no sinful thoughts in their minds -- more like empty-headed animals just fulfilling their instincts.

  It was when they began to have an unhealthy view of each other (a "craving" for the man, or a desire to "dominate" the woman), that they came to know evil.
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  18

  Women are NOT allowed in the faithful & discreet slave class!!!

  by bytheirworks in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if the "faithful & discreet slave" are no longer the 144,000 but only 8 men... isn't this a huge stepback for jw women's rights?.

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  Apognophos

  It never made sense to me that women could be in the 144,000, thus God was saying they would serve as kings in heaven one day, and yet the Society did not see fit to allow them any privileges in this system. They don't even outrank the dweebs serving as ministerial servants and passing mikes around!
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  6

  Talk with my parents!

  by Kool Jo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

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  hey folks...had a skype conversation with my parents (hard-core, extremist jws)...and the cult still has a tight grip on them....like others on here, youre perhaps just watching your parents, growing older, giving to the cult more and more....with nothing in return.. they were happy to tell me how theyre enjoying their new bibles and how this provision is fantastic and show jehovahs blessings blah blah blah.. we then spoke about how their congregation will be getting a new khall, although many persons in the congregation didnt agree with its location.

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  Apognophos

  To be honest, your parents don't sound like "hardcore" JWs, judging from that conversation. Seemed pretty reasonable.
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  35

  Anticipating future changes in the organisation - crystal ball gazing

  by yadda yadda 2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i posted the comment below on another thread on elders stepping down.

  although i left the jw's years ago, i still hold a fascination for the evolution of the religion and am curious on what future trends and developments may occur.

  so i thought i would start a thread on what future changes you think will occur in the organisation as the years go by, either doctrinally or organisationally:.

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  Apognophos

  That last point is a good one. But I would suggest that the easiest solution to the rise in partakers is to stop publishing the number :-) Of course, some JWs will notice its absence and wonder about it, but especially with the recent revelation that some anointed will still be on earth when the end comes, the rank and file are already primed to not care whether the number is going up, down or sideways. So I predict (ah, here's my contribution to the thread) that they are shortly going to stop putting the number of partakers in writing.
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  62

  Mark Sanderson - Why Is the Newest GB Member Suddenly So Prominent?

  by Oubliette in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've noticed something that is very odd even by wt/gb standards.

  why is mark sanderson suddenly so prominent in all things wt/jw?.

  others have commented on the obvious narcissism of the gb pushing themselves to the fore recently, in particular after their huge doctrinal change at proclaiming themselves and only themselves as the faithful and discreet slave.. this is clearly true as evidenced at the agm, not only throughout the agm, but also in the video that was featured as part of that meeting.

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  Apognophos

  I think I get what you're saying now. I was objecting to what I thought you were implying, which is that he was "dominant", not just "prominent" (noticeable). I guess what you're really suggesting is that you expect him to occupy a sort of "newboy" lower rung in the GB for a while, where we hardly even know he's there.

  In that case, I agree with dropoffyourkeylee's suggestion that this is part of an overall shift in making the GB more visible.
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  15

  Looking at the new NWT app

  by stillin in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i always read the reviews.

  i've never seen so many exclamation marks!!!.

  any chance of downloading spyware into my computer?.

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  Apognophos

  It's not that unlikely. We already have mobile apps that help us meet people around us based on common ground (like that they're running the same app). In that scenario, you could have an app (or a plugin for a "meet people" app) where you can choose to check a box called "Former Jehovah's Witness", and if your phone/watch/neuroimplant detected someone near you broadcasting the same info, you could choose to meet each other.
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  4

  The "Glorious Eight" (GB) are mighty proud to be . . .

  by bats in the belfry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .. .. watchtower's "first kings"..

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  Apognophos

  I'm assuming they named the street themselves because they're building it out to a main road. Interesting point about the name.
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  35

  Anticipating future changes in the organisation - crystal ball gazing

  by yadda yadda 2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i posted the comment below on another thread on elders stepping down.

  although i left the jw's years ago, i still hold a fascination for the evolution of the religion and am curious on what future trends and developments may occur.

  so i thought i would start a thread on what future changes you think will occur in the organisation as the years go by, either doctrinally or organisationally:.

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  Apognophos

  Personally I find it hard to imagine any of the larger changes suggested here. Why? Because any changes should be able to fit in with the idea of "new light". Larger changes like the teaching of "two hopes", and dropping the cross and Christmas, were introduced many decades ago. Now, the Society is well over a hundred years old and it's a different story. How could they possibly justify dropping, say, the teaching of the 144,000 after saying it was correct for most of a century? Depending on whether we're talking about the basic treatment of it as a literal number, that's something that goes back even farther than 1935. It would be tantamount to admitting that our "precious spiritual heritage" was worthless.