Posts by TheOldHippie

11

Hebrew translations

by showme in

i first bought a comparative study bible along with the new world translation, so i could compare the differences.

my question though is this.

how can i find a version that might contain the original text, side by side with english translation, or some thing simular.

TheOldHippie

I don't quite get this - you refer to Kingdom Interlinear, but in case you don't know, the KI is a GREEK-English New Testament. The heading refers to HEBREW translations ..........

35

Neanderthals Not Human!

by metatron in

scientists have concluded that neanderthals were not the same species as modern.

humans.

they were a separate species entirely.. www,ananova.com/news/story/sm_365081.html.

TheOldHippie

Milton Henschel and Carl Sagan hand in hand.

35

Neanderthals Not Human!

by metatron in

scientists have concluded that neanderthals were not the same species as modern.

humans.

they were a separate species entirely.. www,ananova.com/news/story/sm_365081.html.

I read some papers a couple of years ago, from Spain I think, that modern man relics were older than those from Neanderthals in some regions, indicating they had lived side by side for quite some time, and also other threads of evidence pointing to their mingling, breeding, whatever, melting into one race.

What I hate? When people make fun of what people earlier believed, and brag that "Now we know how it is, what it is like, now we have the 100 % truth, no further evidence is needed" - and then, say in 10 years' time, theyare ones who will look rather stupid, because then new things will have been unearthed or discovered.

We don't know for sure now, it's an ongoing process, we might have an overall picture, but suddenly something is discovered that overthrows much of it.

31

is this acceptable punishment for kids of JWS?

by phillipau in

i am not a jw myself but i am wondering if this is the proper punishment for kids of jws ?.

my 2 neices are aged 12 &10 their step dad and mother are practising jw,s and the step dad thinks this is acepptable punishment for these girls.

he pulls down their knickers and hits these girls with a belt untill there are welts on their backsides.

TheOldHippie

While admitting that people not always behave "like they wought to do", I will just say that

hawgRyder, you are way out of line with your comments. I think, in all honesty, that I perhaps 10-15 times have seen kids been taken hard by the arm and let out of the hall into the library, and perhaps 4-5 times I know they have been beaten - and I am here speaking about 2 or 3 kids and a period of close to 30 years. Not that those things should have happened either, but my experiences are a far cry from what you claim is universal. And in those instances I have witnessed, the ones in the congregation who saw or heard it, shook their heads and at times have spoken together that such things should not take place, thatthe parents ought not to be allowed to do so.

Undisfellowshipped, I justwant to point thatyour quotes are between 40 and 50 years old, and that quotes from recent years would give another picture. I guess most kids growing up in whatever environment 50 years ago, were slapped attimes, but now that is rarly to be seen. In my country, it is forbidden by law, and Witnesses follow that law. 50 years ago it was not. The Bible has not changed, but common sense and decency has won.

1

Follow-up on the Australian Ram

by TheOldHippie in

if you want to repel evangelists, become one of the flock.

january 28 2003. by andrew masterson.

let us now praise famous sheep.

TheOldHippie

If you want to repel evangelists, become one of the flock

January 28 2003
By Andrew Masterson

Let us now praise famous sheep. News emerged in the South Australian District Court last week of an incident involving a farmer, a Jehovah's Witness, and a ram.

It seems that the Jehovah's Witness, doing the rounds in the Adelaide Hills one day, decided that the caution "Private - Keep Out" nailed on a farm gate did not apply to toiling proselytisers. Entering, thus, into trespass, the uninvited visitor promptly encountered the farm's pet ram, moving at high speed, forgiveness not in his ruminant heart.

Despite mounting a spirited defence with a briefcase full of Bibles, the JW nevertheless got a rude shock, a broken shin and, quite possibly, an urgent desire to take the Lord's name in vain.

Now, it would have been nicer, of course, if the man's injury had been less severe, but it's possible to view the sheep's involvement in the matter as an ovine expression of a human desire.

It is one of life's nagging problems - working out how precisely to deal with the periodic arrival on one's doorstep of people who feel that the only way to secure their own place in Heaven is to try to flog you a ticket for the journey as well. Some folk opt for the smart-arse defence and attempt a spirited assertion of some of the more glaring contradictions in the Testaments. This is a no-win tactic, however, since people convinced of their own salvation are, by definition, blind to the inconsistencies of faith.

");document.write(" advertisement"); } } // -->

	advertisement

	advertisement

Simply slamming the door shut is undignified. My mother, many years ago, used to thrust a poker through the letter-slot and demand the religionists decamp. This was certainly effective, although the possibility of subsequently encountering a personal injury civil action was worryingly high.

Dire consequences, too, were implicit in the strategy employed by two Melbourne men a couple of years ago. They courteously invited their visitors inside and offered them - in the spirit of politeness - some lovely homemade biscuits. They failed to mention, however, that the warm and enticing cookies contained rather a lot of cannabis.

My own last encounter was with two lovely old biddies intent on selling copies of Watchtower. They were polite, but persistent, and seemed unwilling to believe that the nice man on the other side of the flyscreen door really did want them to leave. Only when the nice man declared himself, in suitably Saxon terms, to be an atheist and invited the pair to make closer acquaintance of his bull terrier did they finally admit defeat.

Forced into making veiled threats, I felt diminished by the experience and was depressed for hours afterwards.

If Witnesses, Mormons, and other evangelists, such as mobile phone salespeople, provided some notice then things would be different. Forewarned, you could answer the door wearing a Charles Manson T-shirt, carrying a copy of Aleister Crowley's The Book of the Law in one hand and a dead chicken in the other, with Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare blaring out of the stereo. Or you could answer the door dressed as a Teletubbie, gently cradling a tissue box full of chopped liver. Either strategy would work.

This is wishful thinking, however. Evangelists never publish their travel schedules. God's shock troops, like all good soldiers, prefer to retain the element of surprise. This, of course, puts the innocent householder at intentional disadvantage, leading to all sorts of regrettable outcomes, such as ruined risotto, missed wickets on the telly, and cold fish and chips.

Perhaps, then, the Adelaide Hills ram has a lesson for all of us. When theology fails, try farm-yard impressions. The next time the Saints come marching in, try to meet them in the garden. Lower your head, scrape one foot in the dirt, emit a fearsome bleat (which is the tricky part), and charge. The chances are they'll be out of the gate, hurling gospels in self-defence, long before you make contact.

Word will no doubt then spread along the goddist grapevine that the bloke at Number 42 is odd, cranky and, quite possibly, needs shearing. With any luck you'll be marked down as an unrepentant bestial sinner and thenceforth left alone.

OK, it's not a particularly graceful way of repelling boarders, but it's a devil of a job, and somebody has to do it.

10

Preview of German TV programme

by izobcenec in

http://dyninet.wdr.de/inetepg/objektezursendung.asp?sendung=1212650&bookmark=http://www.wdr.de/epg/sqlepg/f0216t.html&pos=24

english translation with altavista:.

wdr.

TheOldHippie

Speaking German, I take the liberty of translating "correctly":

End of silence - sexual abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses - a film by Monica Schick and Gaby Fuest.

With the arrival of Bill Bowen at Frankfurt Airport hope comes to the life of a 17 years old Jehovah's Witness. He is the founder of a US organization, "Silent Lambs", and brought the sexual abuse among Jehova's Witnesses into the public. And he promises to help Jutta. She had to keep quiet, in order not to disrupt the reputation of the Witnesses. That is what the Elders demanded from her, when she asked for help, because her father abused her. He also was a Witness, one held in high esteem within the congregation. In stead of help she was threatened. Other women tell similar stories: They were not believed, and told that those who sought assistance from outside of the congregation, would be thrown out of the brotherhood. The offenders could keep on abusing.

An insider, an earlier Elder from the USA succeeded in the impossible: He gave the women courage, and they managed to break their silence. His self-aid-group "Silent Lambs" has become a starting point and hope for victims also from Germany. Some he stopped from committing suicide, as Jutta. Of her and others, who no longer keep quiet, tells the film by Monica Schuck and Gaby Fuest.

64

How Do You Feel About President Bush?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i like him, but he makes me a little nervous.

TheOldHippie

He looks like a cowboy, and when he opens his mouth he utters sheet stupidity and ignorance. I like him NOT, and the thought that he supposedly is leading the USA and its arsenal of arms, makes me not a bit, but a LOT nervous. The most ignorant one among the presidents the country has had in my lifetime, and considering the other ones that says a lot. I hope someone could stop him - somehow ............

19

Public Talk Déjà vu

by NewYork44M in

several weeks ago i sat through the public talk and could not believe the lack of substance of the talk.

it was filled with worn out bromides and illustrations that we have all heard hundreds of times.

i was embarrassed for the speaker and flabbergasted that the audience could actual sit through such nonsense.. thenabout half way through the talk, i realized that i recognized the talk.

TheOldHippie

Jokes are strange, Farkel, in the sense that different congregations react so differently. I also always tried to come with some jokes or ;"lighter stories" to ease it all up a bit. Some congregations would laugh wholeheartedly, 100 % of the ones present, at other places some would laugh and others not, at other places some would smile, and then some places there would be that deafening roar of silence and stern faces and a long time till the next invitation.
I made the whole circuit convention laugh for quite a long time once, thru a word/name-game or whatever (a Bible person having the same name as a shipyard here), all except for one person - the DO; he was frequently making jokes and was/is a very friendly guy, even now he has recently written me a very nice and compassionate letter - but I obviously climbed a fence I should not have; HE was the one to make jokes, NOT the other speekers ..........

65

Strangest thing you were called on the carpet for.

by Icansaylucky in

i would like to hear some of the strangest or most ridiculous thing you got in trouble with the elders for.

here is mine.. back in the early 70's i was married at the age of 18, typical witness thing to do.

my husband who was 6 years older than i ruled me like a overly strict father.

TheOldHippie

Not "carpet", but anyway: I visited some friends in Germany and was at the book study. A boy aged some 15 gives an answer, it is not quite correct, and the book study conductor takes off his glasses, looks at him and says in a harsh voice: "Don't irritate me with wrong answers!"

One red-faced youngster sits oh so quiet for the rest of the meeting.

43

BIG SURPRISE at upcoming International Conventions

by Smiles in

has anyone else been told about this...... word out of hq bethel has it that the upcoming special international conventions will contain some kind of major information or releases.. we know the gb has been rather quiet the last couple years after their 'reorganizing'.

perhaps because they are facing the sex abuse scandal..... but also likely they have been working on some fancy surprises for the upcoming special international conventions, to excite their masses......... and also try to detract them from the scandals.

it would be good timing of their part.. this should be interesting......... .

TheOldHippie

International conventions always are accompanied by some "major" releases, like the "history book" or other things like that. Stating some "major" publication will be issued is a prophecy of the same kind as "2003 will bring trouble in the Middle East" or "2003 will bring problems within the Royal family of Britain".