i used to comment here many years ago when i had an interest in biblical research in relation to jehovah’s witnesses.
these days my biblical research is little concerned with jehovah’s witnesses.
i feel my time is better spent researching the diachronistic development of the biblical text and ascertaining what the biblical writers and editors intended in the times in which they lived.. i have recently placed a summary diagram for a paper that i have written with original research entitled the narrative structure of the hexaemeron on academia.edu.
I've tried to follow this thread. It's definitely complex. Everyone who's contributed to it is obviously very smart and knowledgeable.
As a person who has faith in the scriptures, how should I approach this subject? I thoroughly believe that God created the universe and planet Earth. Whether it was done in a literal 6 days as we humans understand a day to be, is all together a different story.
What should I look for in these types of papers and analysis?
https://youtu.be/-yvykw37rzo?si=vwokohrdq2b53fmh.
by now, it should be painfully obvious that we live in a post tonny morris era where the floods of organizational changes have become possible and a new version of the religion, some have called it warchtower 2.0 is emerging with a soft approach to disfellowshipping practices across the board for all those sinners.
nevertheless 3 groups of people will still be targeted for harsh excommunication, we know the first two well :csa perpetrators and apostates.
R Frantz -That is why in 2024 , this group, those who scheme to end their marriage have now become top priority target for long and harsh disfellowshipping, as severe as those who are accused for apostasy.
What do you think? Have ou witnessed that in your congregation? What does the future hold for jw divorces
Restrictions that may or may not be imposed on a schemer will eventually be lifted. Dealing with restrictions for some time doesn't sound too bad in comparison to pre JW Lite.
It doesn't seem like JW is trying to zero in on these specific offenses, rather the change in rules is more focused on keeping members. However, it is very clear that it has never been easier to exit a marriage in JW than now, regardless of the reasons.
and as a reminder to all my atheist friends, here's a list of 12 facts on the resurrection most scholars (skeptic, jewish and otherwise) agree to.
2000 years ago a man announced that he would be killed and while he was dead, he would resurrect himself from the dead.
just wow!.
Christ is risen 🙏🏻🌅
as there has been some discussion calling bs on this topic, .
i will paste the text from my 10 year plan post and i will critically evaluate how i feel things will turn out.
i will add bold italics my thoughts.. the governing body has a 10-year marketing plan to remodel the organization to become closer to a mainstream christian religion.
If we assume that the JW org is operating as a business, then it is actually more likely that there are multiple plans. Short term, long term and very possibly 10 year plans.
i ran across this piece of history again and thought i'd share it before i forget it again.
we discussed the story in mark featuring the image of caesar on a coin as setup for the famous line, "give caesar's things to caesar...".
the writer was apparently unaware that the roman coinage circulating in judea did not have the usual image of caesar but rather depicted barley or palms and such and was often minted in judea.
Indeed, these are very interesting facts.
i ran across this piece of history again and thought i'd share it before i forget it again.
we discussed the story in mark featuring the image of caesar on a coin as setup for the famous line, "give caesar's things to caesar...".
the writer was apparently unaware that the roman coinage circulating in judea did not have the usual image of caesar but rather depicted barley or palms and such and was often minted in judea.
However, coins with Caesar's image did exist. Is this what I'm understanding? Produced by Herod no less? So there is at least a possibility that events transpired as the Bible states it.
looks like the early christians believed jesus when he warned about hell over 40 times.
why don't the jw's do the same?.
from “the epistle of barnabas” (70-130ad).
Imagine Jesus Christ instructing one of his disciples to pick up his pen and scroll and telling him to draw this diagram.
Now imagine him pointing to the spot where the condemned are burning alive and him saying "this spot right here, this is where ALL of you will go if you so much as think about stepping out of line..do you understand??""...
....oh wait, he didn't do any of this.
as there has been some discussion calling bs on this topic, .
i will paste the text from my 10 year plan post and i will critically evaluate how i feel things will turn out.
i will add bold italics my thoughts.. the governing body has a 10-year marketing plan to remodel the organization to become closer to a mainstream christian religion.
The Revelation prophecies and Isaiah and Daniel prophecies will be completely rebranded and diluted to refer to more "faith strengthening" lessons on how Jehovah would help his people during the Last Days and into the 1000 year reign of Christ.
This study project is happening as we speak
Will you share a detail or two on how a prophecy will be retaught here?
Rebranded and diluted seems to indicate that nothing new will appear in these books.
regarding the poster from jw headquarters, who claimed that the gb would eventually loosen the rules regarding sex.
the question is, is there really a bible rule explicitly prohibiting sex without marriage?
because this would be the only possible reason why loosening those rules would even come up in a discussion.
I see no moral issue involved in the intimacy of two consenting single people in love. I do see a moral issue in marital rape or any other form of abuse within a marriage.
It could be argued that marital rape is indeed sexual immorality.
regarding the poster from jw headquarters, who claimed that the gb would eventually loosen the rules regarding sex.
the question is, is there really a bible rule explicitly prohibiting sex without marriage?
because this would be the only possible reason why loosening those rules would even come up in a discussion.
Kerry - If a unmarried person engages in sex before marriage, then they are not keeping "their own future" marriage bed pure, nor are they honoring the institution of marriage, it is sexually immoral.
Then such a person doesn't engage with a married person and simply doesn't get married, thereby eliminating the risk of an 'impure bed'.
You are assuming that "sexually immoral" automatically means all sex outside of marriage. This is debatable based on the Bible itself.
I'm not convinced you're wrong, just convinced that this verse is not saying what you're saying.
