Posts by TerryWalstrom

7

"Scum, roosters, jackasses, harlots, s.o.b.s" hate speech by JW's the reason for their "persecution"???

by TerryWalstrom in

from the online journal yad l'achim .

http://yadlachim.org/?categoryid=203&articleid=577.

in the above article jehovah's witnesses and the jews, a great many controversial issues are placed squarely in the spotlight of history.

TerryWalstrom

The article gave the JW Org a real bitch slap.

I'm posting it on Facebook.

7

"Scum, roosters, jackasses, harlots, s.o.b.s" hate speech by JW's the reason for their "persecution"???

by TerryWalstrom in

from the online journal yad l'achim .

http://yadlachim.org/?categoryid=203&articleid=577.

in the above article jehovah's witnesses and the jews, a great many controversial issues are placed squarely in the spotlight of history.

Note that Yad L'Achim was formed in 1950 with the stated goal of to "help new immigrants to the newly born country, and to help them find a suitable religious framework. Over time the founders were disturbed by emerging missionary efforts in the new State, and then later by assimilation. It then turned a major part of its activities to combating these two issues."

This group (responsible for the above article) is disturbed by the efforts of outside Christian missionaries to 'intrude' upon Jewish society in an effort to proselytize them. It is little wonder Jehovah's Witnesses have come under scrutiny with a view to undermining their claims of self-righteousness.

So, this is the inborn 'prejudice' behind the writing of this article.

7

"Scum, roosters, jackasses, harlots, s.o.b.s" hate speech by JW's the reason for their "persecution"???

by TerryWalstrom in

from the online journal yad l'achim .

http://yadlachim.org/?categoryid=203&articleid=577.

in the above article jehovah's witnesses and the jews, a great many controversial issues are placed squarely in the spotlight of history.

TerryWalstrom

From the online journal YAD L'ACHIM

http://yadlachim.org/?CategoryID=203&ArticleID=577

In the above article JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES and the JEWS, a great many controversial issues are placed squarely in the spotlight of history.

This article is arguably the first time the curtain has been pulled back from the standpoint of Jewish opinion squarely confronting Jehovah's Witnesses claims of 'persecution.'

I strongly urge everybody to read the contents in great detail.

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Example:

"In 1938, in yet another of their official publications in Germany, the true attitude of the sect to the Jews came loud and clear. Under the headline 'The Jews in Palestine' they write that Jews’ “eyes are blind and their ears are deaf to God’s truth.”(49) They explain that the Jews will never succeed in returning to Palestine because it is against the will of 'Jehovah'. And anyway the Jews belong to “organization of the Devil”. (49)

And the declaration ends:
“The Jews are the epitome of the fact how terrible it is not to be under Jehovah’s blessings. Separated from God’s grace, they are restless here, too. Sowing the wind they are reaping the whirlwind! Just how long?”(49)

A clearer example of deep theological anti-Semitism is hard to imagine."

Another example:

'The Encyclopedia of the Holocaust' describes the behavior of members of the sect in the camps:
“… they refused to cooperate with other illegal political groups, to try to escape or to rebel against SS… in the end the SS exploited this unusualbehavior of the 'Bible Students'” for their own benefit. For example, by the orders of Heinrich Himmler, they were allowed to gather mushrooms and fruits outside the camps, because there was no danger of them trying to run away or to attack members of the SS. As a result of this policy change by SS, the conditions of“Bible Students” in the camps improved."(32)

The truth is that the moral conduct of 'Jehovah’s Witnesses' in the camps did not differ from conduct of other non-Jewish prisoners – some of them behaved like human beings and others not at all. This is how they are described in a book 'Face to Face with Nazis – fighters tell their story' (published by the 'Association of Invalids of War on Nazism' in cooperation with 'Yad Vashem') by a Jew who was together with them in the concentration camps:
“In the camps in Poland they did not always behave according to their teachings. They served the cruel Nazi enemy very well with everything connected to murdering the Jews.”(53)
The writer of these lines could not have known what were the teachings of the sect. If he had known, he would’ve understood that they behave totally “according to the teachings.”

11

Why I became agnostic after leaving the Watchtower

by donny in

one of many things that led me to agnosticism after leaving the jw's was the cognitive dissonance i encountered with those in the mainstream churches, especially the really conservative ones.

these types would scream out in protest (rightly so) on all of the current atrocities going on in the world regarding islam and its radical extremists, but then justify the savage murders and slaughter perpetuated by israel in the old testament.. often i would take these passages and replace the names and places of these scriptures with current ones.

for example 1 samuel 15:3 reads "now go, attack the amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them.

TerryWalstrom

As a sidebar. . . my grandparents reared me and told their story of the Great Depression, and how it was Hoover that ruined the country. I never questioned any of it because, after all, they had lived through it. It was many years later I started reading about Herbert Hoover.

The man donated every paycheck he earned in government to charity. He had only been in office eight months when the Stock Market crashed. Within the space of 4 years he was able to balance the budget, enact the WPA to employ thousands, built the Hoover Dam, and taxed the rich by increasing their burden from 25% to 63%.

So, why was Hoover so hated? It turns out he was completely on the side of PROHIBITION of LIQUOR!

As the economy crashed, more and more unemployed Americans sought solace in alcohol--but--they were truly angered when it was snatched from their grasp--and who to blame?

I only mention the above because it took me a long time to realize my view of the world and how it worked was shaped by the people who reared me. Like most honest, hard-working people, they were filled with misconceptions about damned near everything---including God.

By the time I met the fellow who introduced me to Jehovah and his surly band of half-Wit-nesses, my proper knowledge of God and the Bible had been crippled to the point of misunderstanding the difference between reality and nincompoopery.

My grandfather's number one goal in life was said to be, "To find the only true religion."

That false premise was passed on to me, alas!

Like Donny, I think most of us travel the path until the path leads to nowhere. Possessing a modicum of intelligence we stop and scratch our head in wonderment. "Does this road lead nowhere at all but circles?"

Sanity only commences when we are able to lend a strong dose of skepticism to EVERYTHING we hear--and especially from those whom we trust!

62

NAILING DOWN the fraud of John 1:1 by demonstration

by TerryWalstrom in

call me crazy, but i love to watch seminary classes when sharp teachers are in charge of the instruction.. in the following video, the teacher really nails jehovah's witnesses on john 1:1 with utter simplicity.. begin at 1 hour and 20 minutes in.. i've never seen or heard of this before.. .

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_5qkj7tmbg.

TerryWalstrom

James White (adjunct professor of Greek, Hebrew, systematic theology) discourages his students from using Interlinears by saying, "If you can't read Greek, an Interlinear won't do anything to help you, but if you do read Greek, you'll never need one."

With arguably sound insight, teachers who teach NT Greek view Interlinears as a do-it-yourself-kit for crackpots eager to invent their own theology. I must say, the history of the Watchtower Organization seems to prove the rule on that one!

3

FUN with (Bible) numbers! Or, how an obsession with gematria steered the writing of the Bible

by TerryWalstrom in

first: what is gematria?.

answer: interpreting the scriptures by computing the numerical value of words, based on those of their constituent letters.. greek and hebrew did not use a different system for their alphabets and their numerals, but the letters of the alphabet played double duty, so that each letter had a numerical value.

one pay-off of that system was that every word had a numerical value, discovered simply by adding up the letters.

TerryWalstrom

The vast majority of Bible scholars do not agree with the Mythicists in saying Jesus did not exist. The so-called New Atheists are pushing a bit too hard (over-reaching) in insisting on this conclusion.

By getting out ahead of the historical and scholarly community they are marginalizing themselves as reverse Fundamentalists, don't you think?

I don't think Ehrman has ever said he thought Jesus was not a real person. Has he? If so, where?

3

FUN with (Bible) numbers! Or, how an obsession with gematria steered the writing of the Bible

by TerryWalstrom in

first: what is gematria?.

answer: interpreting the scriptures by computing the numerical value of words, based on those of their constituent letters.. greek and hebrew did not use a different system for their alphabets and their numerals, but the letters of the alphabet played double duty, so that each letter had a numerical value.

one pay-off of that system was that every word had a numerical value, discovered simply by adding up the letters.

TerryWalstrom

First: WHAT IS GEMATRIA?

Answer: interpreting the scriptures by computing the numerical value of words, based on those of their constituent letters.

Greek and Hebrew did not use a different system for their alphabets and their numerals, but the letters of the alphabet played double duty, so that each letter had a numerical value. One pay-off of that system was that every word had a numerical value, discovered simply by adding up the letters. In Greek, for example, the six letters in the name Jesus, Ιησους , add up to 888.

Or another example: in Hebrew, the three letters in the name “David” (ancient Hebrew did not have vowels, only consonants), D-V-D were worth 4-6-4, so that the name added up to 14. That may have been significant for the genealogy of Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 1:1-17), since, as Matthew presents it, Jesus, the “son of David” had a genealogical tree that can be organized around the number 14: between the father of the Jews, Abraham, and the greatest king of the Jews, David, was 14 generations (Matthew tells us); between the greatest king of the Jews and the most significant disaster of the Jews – the Babylonian exile – was 14 generations; and between the most significant disaster of the Jews and the messiah of the Jews, Jesus, was 14 generations. 14-14-14. This may seem like a miracle. And for Matthew it probably was. *Possibly* (this is one theory) he latched on to 14 because it is twice the perfect number, 7 (so doubly perfect). Or possibly it is because this is the genealogy of the son of David, whose number is 14. (In either case, the reality is that to get to 14-14-14 Matthew had to drop several names out between Abraham and David; moreover, unfortunately, in the last set of 14 there are in fact only 13 generations named!)

An even more clever use of numerology is in the ….

An even more clever use of numerology is in the non-canonical letter of Barnabas, one of the Apostolic Fathers. I think we may all be glad that Barnabas did not finally make it into the canon of Scripture as one of the books of the New Testament, even though there were church writers who thought it *should* be included (it can be found, for example, in the famous Codex Sinaiticus from the fourth century, as one of the books of Scripture). It is a virulently anti-Jewish book. Written around 130 CE, the entire point of the letter is that the Jews have rejected God going all the way back to when Moses was given the Law on Mount Sinai, which is why he smashed the two tablets of the law into smithereens: that showed that the Jewish people had broken/smashed the covenant just as soon as they got it. And since they rejected God and his covenant, God rejected them. They are not the people of God and never have been. It is the Christians who are the people of God.

Because the Jews rejected God, they never understood the laws that Moses gave them. The Jews wrongfully imagined that God meant these laws – for example about keeping the Sabbath and eating kosher foods – to be kept literally. For Barnabas that’s ridiculous. What the Jews never understood was that God meant the laws to be taken figuratively.

That is true, for example, of the law of circumcision. The Jews are foolish to think that God wants his people to cut off the foreskin from the penises of their newborn boys. Circumcision is not about the literal cutting of the flesh. Then what is it about? It’s about the cross of Jesus as the way of salvation. And always was.

How does Barnabas get to that somewhat unusual interpretation? He points out that in the Hebrew Bible Abraham, the father of the Jews, is the first who is ordered to perform circumcision (Genesis 17). And it is Abraham who brought salvation to his nephew Lot, who had been taken captive by an army of hostile forces. How did Abraham do that? He took 318 servants with him, whom he had circumcised (says Barnabas), and with that small (circumcised) army, set Lot free.

But why were there 318 of them? Barnabas indicates that it was because of the symbolic value of that number. In Greek, the language in which Barnabas was reading the Scriptures, 318 is made by the letters tau-iota-eta, like this: Τ-Ι-Η. That is significant for Barnabas. Highly significant. What is the tau in the shape of? A cross. And what do iota-eta signify? As it turns out, they are the first two letters in the name Jesus, ΙΗΣΟΥΣ. And so 318 refers to the “cross” of “Jesus.” That is how the father of circumcision brought salvation to his nephew Lot. The people of God are not those who have their penises mutilated. They are those who believe in the cross of Jesus. Jews never understood that, and so are lost. Only the followers of Jesus understand it.

And it was all written in the Jewish Bible. Which means Jews never understood their own Scriptures. For Barnabas, the Old Testament is not a Jewish book and was never meant to be. It is a Christian book, and only those who are followers of Jesus can understand its real, symbolic, and true meaning.

Aren’t numbers wonderful?

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Note: the above is culled from Bart Ehrman's Blog. http://ehrmanblog.org/creative-uses-of-numbers-in-scripture/

51

EXPERTS ONLY! A Pop Quiz on (current) Watchtower teaching

by TerryWalstrom in

pop quiz on jw (current) teaching.

1. was jesus 2nd coming in 1914?.

2. is jesus 2nd (parousia) presence the same thing as his coming?.

TerryWalstrom

TDa day ago

Old Light: The Great Tribulation had three phases beginning in 1914 as the pivotal marker which identified the start of the “Great Tribulation”. This tribulation was interrupted in 1918. They had taught that (phase three) the Great Tribulation would end at Armageddon.

Terry,

This view was dismantled in the article Peace with God amid the "Great Tribulation" in the January 15, 1970 issue of The Watchtower. where they admitted that a 51 year gap in the tribulation was unreasonable and wouldn't actually benefit the "Elect" at all.

_____________________

Ever heard the song, "Everything old is new again" ?

51

EXPERTS ONLY! A Pop Quiz on (current) Watchtower teaching

by TerryWalstrom in

pop quiz on jw (current) teaching.

1. was jesus 2nd coming in 1914?.

2. is jesus 2nd (parousia) presence the same thing as his coming?.

TerryWalstrom

millie: is there any way to fix the right margin?

I don't understand. Try CTL while hitting the minus button a few times CTL- - -

51

EXPERTS ONLY! A Pop Quiz on (current) Watchtower teaching

by TerryWalstrom in

pop quiz on jw (current) teaching.

1. was jesus 2nd coming in 1914?.

2. is jesus 2nd (parousia) presence the same thing as his coming?.

TerryWalstrom

Here is what I'm going to do right now.

This compilation of recent CHANGES in teaching apply to most (not all) of the questions above. I'll let you look it over for reference before giving specific answers to each numbered question above.

When did the inspection and cleansing work take place?

Old Light: 1918 / 1919

New Light: 1914 / 1919 - During that period, Jesus and his Father came to earth while they conducted the processes.

Who is the Faithful and Discreet Slave? When was its origin?

Old Light: All anointed Christians had been under the umbrella title of Faithful and Discreet Slave. The GB was the representative of the larger FDS body, beginning at 33 C.E. Jesus and the members of FDS, including who were already in heaven (known as The Kingdom of God), provided information to earth through its earthly representative, the Governing Body.

New Light: The GB limits the meaning of “Faithful and Discreet Slave” to itself. The first appointment took place in 1919. At that time the slave was appointed “over the domestics” to give them “food at the proper time.” The GB removed the other spirit-anointed from the “Slave” class.

Who were the ‘domestics’ the slave was appointed over? When did it occur?

Old Light: Previously, the term “domestics” meant only the spirit-anointed. This meant that the Governing Body was responsible for feeding just the members of the 144,000 who were living on earth beginning in 1919.

New Light: The GB has now expanded the “domestics” to include the “great crowd” class in 1919.

When are the beginning / end of the Great Tribulation?

Old Light: The Great Tribulation had three phases beginning in 1914 as the pivotal marker which identified the start of the “Great Tribulation”. This tribulation was interrupted in 1918. They had taught that (phase three) the Great Tribulation would end at Armageddon.

New Light: The Great Tribulation begins at a future time “when the United Nations … attacks Christendom … and the rest of Babylon the Great.” (Note: ‘Attack’ means a nonviolent attempt to curtail and eliminate all religious activities throughout the world.)

What is the difference between the ‘presence’ of Christ and his ‘coming’?

Old Light: the Watchtower Society has taught the two-stage: “a presence [parousia] to be followed by a “coming” [er-kho-mai] for judgment scenario. Russell taught that the secret parousia (“presence”) had taken place in 1874 which was to be followed by a 40- year period of harvest. Russell taught that when this harvest terminates in 1914 an unprecedented peace would descend on earth under the auspices of the Zionists. For about 56 years, the WTS taught that the parousia had taken place in 1874.

New Light: From about 1930, the organization has claimed that the parousia (“presence”) took place in 1914 (replacing 1874) with the (er-kho-mai) to take place in the very near future.

When and how is the parable of the Ten Virgins and Talents fulfilled?

Old Light: The GB previously taught that the parables of the Virgins and of the Talents relate to Jesus’ past “coming” in 1918.

New Light: The Watchtower magazine of July 15, 2013 states it has moved events from 1918 to a point in the future. This movement includes the positions of the Parable of the Virgins and the Parable of the Talents, which relate to Jesus’ future judgment during the future Great Tribulation, which is associated with Jesus’ future “coming-arrival”.

Is the future “coming” of Jesus at the Great Tribulation visible or invisible?

Old Light: Previously, the GB linked the “coming-arrival” to the invisible inspection in 1918 and to the appointment of the slave over all things in 1919.

New Light: Having moved the “Great Tribulation” into the future, the GB links it with the future literal visible “coming / appearing” of Jesus. The GB now says that it is at this time that the Slave (the GB) will be happy if they are found to be doing the right things. The GB affirms that it now teaches that Matthew 24:30, 42, 44, 46, 47 and 25:31 refer to the future time of judgment during the future Great Tribulation.

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When is the judgment of sheep and goats to occur?

Old Light: The GB writes that the organization had previously thought and taught that the judging by Jesus took place “during the entire period of the last days from 1914”.

New Light: The GB now places the judgment totally in the future, linking it to their future start of the “Great Tribulation.”

At Armageddon, what is the disposition of the anointed?

Old Light: The Watchtower, May 1, 1942, page 133 article unequivocally states that the anointed (remnant of his ‘little flock”) will definitely survive Armageddon and spend some time on earth following its conclusion. The Watchtower magazine of August 15, 1990 said they did not know whether some will survive the great tribulation and live on earth.

New Light: The Watchtower, July 15, 2013, page 8, the GB now says that it “appears” all anointed ones will go to heaven before Armageddon breaks out. This ‘adjusts’ all previous adjustments.

How long has Jehovah had a ‘channel of communication’ with his faithful Christian worshippers?

Old Light: "Throughout the centuries there have always been truth lovers. To mention just a few: John Wycliffe (c. 1330-1384) and William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536) furthered the work of Bible translation even at the risk of their life or freedom. Wolfgang Fabricius Capito (1478-1541), Martin Cellarius (1499-1564), Johannes Campanus (c. 1500-1575), and Thomas Emlyn (1663-c. 1741) accepted the Bible as God's Word and rejected the Trinity. Henry Grew (1781-1862) and George Storrs (1796-1879) not only accepted the Bible and rejected the Trinity but also expressed appreciation for the ransom sacrifice of Christ. Although we cannot positively identify any of such persons as "the wheat" of Jesus' illustration, certainly "Jehovah knows those who belong to him."" Jehovah's Witnesses-Proclaimers of God's Kingdom p.44

New Light: The GB says there was no “organized channel” from 101 CE to at least 1914, due to apostasy.

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There are a some specific doctrinal changes spelled out in the March 15, 2015 Watchtower (the “Study Edition” available on the JW.ORG website).

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