Apognophos

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Posts by Apognophos

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  72

  A "My Book of Bible Stories" tale that I've always hated

  by JimmyPage in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've always hated story #53: "jepthah's promise".

  i always felt sorry for the daughter who had to spend the rest of her days at the tabernacle because her father made a numb-nuts promise to god.

  who did he think he was, making promises for other people?

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  Apognophos

  It's true, the ancient Hebrew is alarmingly brief and simple when you read a direct translation. Reminds me of Japanese, actually. Much of every sentence is inferred rather than verbalized.

  Then, to make matters worse, you're looking at an ancient language where word meaning has shifted in the modern form, and some words are hapax legomena only translateable by guesswork, and on top of that, the text often shows the hand of two or three groups involved at different times in editing or compiling the stories.
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  31

  JWs and Exclusivity

  by Don Schneider in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jesus, mark 9-40 (nwt).

  the jehovahs witnesses assert exclusivity.

  that is, they are the only true christian faith.

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  Apognophos

  Interesting thread. Welcome, Don. I and a number of others here are in fact active Witnesses, which is to be contrasted with believing Witnesses. Our actual beliefs range from "the Society has most things right" to "total atheist".

  I suppose the Society's explanation of Jesus' words makes sense, as long as one accepts that Jesus would make a statement that was very temporally limited: 'Whoever is not against us is for us... until such time as the first Christian congregation is established. Then whoever is not for us is against us.'
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  90

  Killing In Self Defense

  by Cold Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the man was moving around in the darkness of j's home with a gun.

  he was certain j. and his family weren't there, but he was wrong.

  when a door suddenly opened and a dark figure fumbled for the hallway light, he had only a moment to act.

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  Apognophos

  Are you saying that a JW has the right the defend his home and use deadly force?

  The Society didn't say that; they said a person might die unintentionally from injuries sustained if a brother defends himself, and this would not place bloodguilt on the brother. That's different from saying that a brother can set out to use deadly force in self-defense, which could be extended to justify war.
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  16

  Folks, The Word Is "Syncretism" ( Or Why I Agree With The Governing Body)

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Apognophos

  It could be simply convergent evolution.
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  72

  A "My Book of Bible Stories" tale that I've always hated

  by JimmyPage in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've always hated story #53: "jepthah's promise".

  i always felt sorry for the daughter who had to spend the rest of her days at the tabernacle because her father made a numb-nuts promise to god.

  who did he think he was, making promises for other people?

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  Apognophos

  I also feel some confusion over this account. You'd think if it was an actual human sacrifice then it would be stated a bit more explicitly. It feels like a story that was softened in the process of writing it down in the text that eventually became part of the Bible.
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  73

  Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime (NYTimes)

  by NewYork44M in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse
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  Apognophos

  The sex drive is the strongest drive in an animal, isn't it? Besides maybe protecting offspring and self-preservation. So maybe #3. Well, imagine being the poor sucker whose genes tell him to be attracted mainly to kids.

  That being said, the conscience should prevent them from acting much on that instinct because they should know that it's damaging to children and deeply upsetting to parents.

  It's my personal suspicion that pedophiles who actively molest children are actually a combination of pedophile and sociopath.

  However, to some degree they are probably also rationalizing desperately in order to be able to fulfill their basic instincts. Humans are remarkably good at rationalizing behaviors that come from deep-seated needs. So it could be that the inner conflict between conscience and pedophiliac instinct sometimes results in a deadening of the conscience, in effect making someone who was not born with sociopathy into a functionally sociopathic person.
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  17

  Watchtower April 15, 1928

  by pixel in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  my first post.

  i'm new posting, but i feel like i now everybody here since i have been reading this forum since last year.

  ok. to the thing: i would like to know if somebody here has a copy of the watchtower april 15, 1928 page 162, where it talks about that the bible has mistakes.

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  Apognophos

  Wow, this is new to me. Thanks for bumping, Mr.Pickles, and welcome. However it doesn't seem to me that the writer in the WT was saying that the enemy says this. They wrote "as every one knows". There are no quote marks to indicate that it's a statement attributed to some "enemy".

  The only way I can understand the Society making this remark is if they mean that the modern translations of the Bible texts contain errors. The fact that the Society had not made their own translation yet would mean that this was in reference to Christendom's translations, which would make it a consistent statement with later criticisms of those translations.
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  31

  Bible Students

  by lambsbottom in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible
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  Apognophos

  ptt7000, you're right, my post was not worded the way I meant it to be. The comment "look, they have all the printing presses and are still publishing Studies in the Scriptures, etc.!" was meant to refer to the Society back when Russell took it over. I know the Society has long since stopped printing those.
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  34

  AGM 2014 Detailed Highlights - including talks summary.

  by Da.Furious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it is more likely to be one attack under different names.. gog of magog is not satan but a coalition of nations.

  1. what do talents represent?

  so who has the 5 talents?

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  Apognophos

  "In the past we said 1919. And then will be great tribulation. If we look at the context in Matthew 24:3 and what was the disciples question. Jesus answer is found in rest of Matthew 24 and all of 25. All of these scriptures are talking about his coming at great tribulation."

  So the master is yet to come and all of the scriptures in Matthew 24 and 25 are talking about his coming at the great tribulation - but they continue to preach that Jesus was enthroned as king in 1914. ????

  Actually it sounds like they're moving away from 1919, slowly. This does not affect 1914, which comes before 1919 :0) As you know, the 1914 prediction is based on 2520 years after 607 BC. In WT theology, Jesus' coming is different from Jesus' presence, which still begins in 1914.
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  22

  jw.org has an Armageddon countdown card on it. seriously.

  by rebel8 in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Apognophos

  Actually, the timing is slightly more interesting than that, rebel8. Armageddon was predicted for something like 10/1-2/1914, but someone here has posted that this date on the Jewish calendar is 10/6/2014. I haven't confirmed that myself.