TD

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Posts by TD

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  14

  The Greeks had a word for it, but the Watchtower didn't

  by Nathan Natas in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i recall as though it was only 60 years ago, sitting in the kingdom hall on those horrible chairs, learning of the four forms of love: agape, philia, storge and eros.. the watchtower never mentioned pragma.. pragma: this is a committed, compassionate love that often grows as two partners continue to cherish and care for each other.

  this type of love is associated with being together for a long time.

  in some cases, the passion of eros can grow into pragma over time, this forging a lasting bond.. i think i know why; the watchtower isn't into committed, compassionate, cherishing and caring, are they?.

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  TD

  Agape = unconditional love

  That definition is more theological than linguistic, I'm afraid.

  The JW claim, (which I heard a gazillion times as a teenager) was that ἀγάπη was a "principled love", as in a higher, more pure form of the emotion.

  The word actually means love as a general principle, which can be used in any number of ways.

  Pederasty, for example, was common in Ancient Greece and ἀγάπη was the word used to describe affection within those relationships.

  So maybe it's better that the JW's no longer frame entire arguments around preferential definitions.
  
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  22

  Join JW's or DIE - soon!!!

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  w72 10/1 p. 607 - "they (jw's) know that soon now all who are not true worshipers of jehovah (jw's) will be destroyed.".

  how quickly half a century passes by!

  2 peter 3:8 - "...one day is with jehovah jw.borg as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

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  TD

  ---Struggling to think of a single adult I knew in 1972 that has not passed away...
  
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  30

  Pyramid shaped table

  by MissDaSilva in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  TD

  I'd point out that Freemasonry borrowed it's symbols from Christianity and not the other way around.

  It's child's play to show that every Christian religion has used the symbols that xJWs identify as Masonic and that some still use them today
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  30

  Pyramid shaped table

  by MissDaSilva in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  TD

  There's some very good information about the JW's online.
  

  There's also a lot of garbage that no scholar who has ever studied the movement accepts.

  The alleged connection to Freemasonry has been debated here a time or two over the years.
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  12

  John 13:35 Mistranslated?

  by KerryKing in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  disclaimer!

  i am not a bible translator not do i speak ancient greek or hebrew.. john 13: 35 nwt : 'by this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves '.. (curiously, this verse is not listed in the nwt index under the word 'disciples'.).

  the biblehub interlinear reads : ' by this will know all that to me disciples you are if love you have among yourselves '.. could it actually mean, contrary to all bible translations, that it is jesus himself, and not people in general, who identifies his disciples because they show love among each other?.

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  TD

  Perhaps it's the dative possessive that's throwing you off KerryKing?

  (Or more precisely, the generic way it's indicated in English interlinear text.)
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  13

  70s Cartoons

  by NotFormer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there're the obvious ones, like the smurfs.

  although why still escapes me.

  was it because of the magic, that they were "magical creatures", that there were wizards, etc?.

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  TD

  The "Satanic Panics" of the 1960's and 80's didn't actually originate with the JW's themselves
  

  The 1960's belief that unclean spirits could be brought into your home via inanimate objects seems to have been triggered by a 1957 book by a French Monsignor on the dangers of the spirit world. The idea spread across denominational lines and even into pop culture via movies like Rosemary's Baby. The JW's were more enthusiastic in spreading these "Demon stories" than most, but they were hardly alone.
  

  The hysteria of the 1980's was very similar, only in this case the trigger was a book by a Canadian psychiatrist entitled, Michelle Remembers. This book told the story of a woman's childhood abuse at the hands of a satanic cult using the discredited practice of recovered-memory therapy. As a consequence, the idea that an organized conspiracy of satanists were targeting children via cartoons like The Smurfs also crossed denominational lines and found fertile soil among the JW's.
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  543

  Encouraging scriptures for the day

  by Kosonen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello my friends,.

  here are some encouraging scriptures for the day:.

  revelation 21:2 i also saw the holy city, new jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from god and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.. hebrews 11:10 for he (abraham) was awaiting the city having real foundations, whose designer and builder is god.. revelation 21:24 and the nations will walk by means of its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.. revelation 22:1 and he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, flowing out from the throne of god and of the lamb 2 down the middle of its main street (of the holy city).

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  TD

  “She has fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen, she who made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality!”

  You're familiar with the goddess Dea Roma, right? You're aware that she was a female personification of Rome? You're aware that the Jews of the time period hated Rome and called it a second Babylon? And that they especially hated Dea Roma and called her the mother of prostitutes?

  How would the target audience have interpreted the label, "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots"? Would they have perhaps interpreted it within the social and political context in which it was written?
  
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  7

  there is a spirit in various religions that confirms they are true to people

  by enoughisenough in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i just watched youtube warwick pimo -2 videos which i will link if you care to watch them for context.

  he shows clips of various people starting to get involved in various religions and they are all saying basically the same thing- a feeling coming over them and that is how they knew they had found the truth...very interesting!

  the first experiences are of jw, but other religions follow if you watch the 2 videos.

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  TD

  In the LDS faith, a person's testimony can be anything from a rush of emotion, to a providential coincidence, to a supernatural experience.
  
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  68

  Are Atheists Hypocritical in Celebrating Christmas?

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  richard dawkins revealed that he celebrates christmas on radio four's today programme.. here is is quoted as saying: .

  'i am perfectly happy on christmas day to say merry christmas to everybody,' dawkins said.

  'i might sing christmas carols - once i was privileged to be invited to kings college, cambridge, for their christmas carols and loved it.

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  TD

  No, because partying, decorating trees and giving presents has nothing to do with pretending to be religious.

  --Or sipping Glühwein in Germany, or dressing up as Krampus to frighten children in Austria, or putting your shoes out for Stekkjarstaur, Hurðaskellir, and the rest of the yule lads in Iceland, or swinging at a Piñata in Mexico, or putting Nisser figurines in you window in Denmark, or barbecuing fish and shrimp on the beach in New Zealand, to setting off fireworks in El Salvador, the observances are pretty far removed from American fundamentalism.
  
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  68

  Are Atheists Hypocritical in Celebrating Christmas?

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  richard dawkins revealed that he celebrates christmas on radio four's today programme.. here is is quoted as saying: .

  'i am perfectly happy on christmas day to say merry christmas to everybody,' dawkins said.

  'i might sing christmas carols - once i was privileged to be invited to kings college, cambridge, for their christmas carols and loved it.

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  TD

  Fair point, Jan, but I think a comparable Christian parallel would be taking Communion or something equally serious.

  Even the Christmas carols, like the one that gets stuck in my head every time I watch Three Days of the Condor, aren't a statement of faith to an unbeliever --No more so than singing The Legend of John Henry's Hammer would be.