Posts by TerryWalstrom

9

MASTER'S THESIS on Charles Taze Russell's sources and ideas

by TerryWalstrom in

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a226955.pdf.

click on the above link and have a most enjoyable read!.

below, the opening paragraph.

TerryWalstrom

The worldwide web is like an archeology dig. You never know when something will surface which lends another layer of understanding to what is already known.

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Finklestein: Perhaps thats why he proclaimed himself a Freemason for intensionally moving away from mainstream Catholicism, even criticizing its teachings, they were nevertheless his own albeit influenced proportionately from other sources such as Pyramidology.

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I find this site to be exceptionally persuasive in addressing the issue of MASONIC connections to Russell. Check it out:

http://pastorrussell.blogspot.com/2008/09/was-charles-taze-russell-mason.html

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Doug Mason: Russell was absolutely determined that Lev 26 showed that in 1914, the Jews would be restored to become the world's dominant nation, to being restored to God's favour, I recognise, of course, that this lies outside the scope of the thesis you uncovered.

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This site is a treasure trove, Doug

http://wtarchive.svhelden.info/archive/en/publications/1910_CR_Jewish_Hopes.pdf

http://wtarchive.svhelden.info/english/books-and-tracts/

22

Hope y'all in Texas are doing OK !

by Simon in

some terrible flooding happening there.. i never realized that texas was so prone to serious floods and flash-floods because of the geography and weather.

it tops the stats nearly every year for flood fatalities.. stay safe, stay dry if you can and don't take any chances.

water is unbelievably powerful - whatever vehicle you have it can sweep it away like a twig.

TerryWalstrom

I've lived in Fort Worth, Texas way long. This last month has been quite an adventure.

The pattern of daily storms reminds me of tropical islands. You wake up to hard rain which eventually slacks off around noon. The clouds remain threatening all day. The thunderstorms and lightning return just after dusk and hit harder and harder through midnight.

Rinse and repeat.

I keep an eye on my weather app on my iPhone. That way I can get out on my bike almost every day. There are usually at least four hours of non-rain.
A night or two ago, we had hailstones aplenty for the better part of an hour.

Many low-lying areas in the city flood quickly. The sewer system is overtaken and gorged almost instantly. The poorer areas such as where I grew up on the south side of Fort Worth don't have paved streets or any sewer runoff in place. Every man and beast for cover!

If I wanted this much gloom I'd be living in Seattle :)

This too shall pass.

9

MASTER'S THESIS on Charles Taze Russell's sources and ideas

by TerryWalstrom in

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a226955.pdf.

click on the above link and have a most enjoyable read!.

below, the opening paragraph.

TerryWalstrom

Gene Ahlstrom wrote this thesis.

University at Santa Barbara 1990. I just stumbled on to it today.

It is for the purpose of comparing Russell's thought on restoring the primitive church pre and post 1900, contrasted and compared with the layers on top wrought by subsequent Watchtower leaders.

9

MASTER'S THESIS on Charles Taze Russell's sources and ideas

by TerryWalstrom in

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a226955.pdf.

click on the above link and have a most enjoyable read!.

below, the opening paragraph.

TerryWalstrom

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a226955.pdf

Click on the above link and have a most enjoyable read!

Below, the opening paragraph

5

On Bart Ehrman's Blog+John's use of an early 'Signs document'

by TerryWalstrom in

the land of judea?

he then did signs in judea (3:22).

i think the greek is saying that this healing was jesus second sign, and he did this one after he had come from judea into galilee.

TerryWalstrom

Jesus is just a form of Joshua (Yeshua) and Greek is yay-soos, Iesus).

It was a common name. The thing is, determined minds have poured so much 'meaning' over so many thousands of generations of interpretations, extrapolations, and such--it is like a pointillist painting. You have to back up and look at the BIG PICTURE to actually see anything. When you get too close it is all reduced to splotches of color.

5

On Bart Ehrman's Blog+John's use of an early 'Signs document'

by TerryWalstrom in

the land of judea?

he then did signs in judea (3:22).

i think the greek is saying that this healing was jesus second sign, and he did this one after he had come from judea into galilee.

TerryWalstrom

I like the following quotation: "To those who understand, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't understand, no explanation is possible."

When it comes to religion and 'truth' and all that numinous miasma of miniscule misery, I say--there is no 'there' there.

But--there sure are a lot of highly intelligent people attracted to sorting it all out and making something out of it.

Pattern-seeking humans can really cook up a pot of stew--can't they? :)

4

EVASION is necessary when FACT aren't on your side. Just ask the Watchtower leaders. . .

by TerryWalstrom in

if you have the facts on your side, you go with the facts.. if you are wrong you change your mind (the intellectually honest course of action.).

however--what if you are not intellectually honest?.

you evade!.

TerryWalstrom

I'm willing to go the 'whole nine yards' and say they're self-deluded because they are

under the umbrella of Jehovah's approval as an organization. Or, so they imagine.

This makes them loyal to the conceptual fiction necessary to keep air in that balloon.

Just the murky silliness alone of 'progressive truth' is enough for most JW's to wave away discrepant historical ineptitude and retitle it Old Light.

But let's be vigilant: THESE AREN'T FACTS they're spouting, merely convenient DESCRIPTIVE evasions.

If you call something "old light" let's hear you justify that it was every 'light' at all!

A missed forecast of rain is a sunny day: is it THAT kind of light?

4

EVASION is necessary when FACT aren't on your side. Just ask the Watchtower leaders. . .

by TerryWalstrom in

if you have the facts on your side, you go with the facts.. if you are wrong you change your mind (the intellectually honest course of action.).

however--what if you are not intellectually honest?.

you evade!.

TerryWalstrom

IF YOU HAVE THE FACTS on your side, you go with the facts.

If you are wrong you change your mind (the intellectually honest course of action.)

However--what if you are NOT intellectually honest?

You EVADE!

Evasion is, in ethics, an act that deceives by stating a true statement that is irrelevant or leads to a false conclusion.

Watchtower leaders resort to the following:

1. Truth is 'progressive.'

This is an absurdity. Something which matches reality exactly is 'true' no matter how you misunderstand it at first.

Facts are always facts. Ignorance is a state of 'not knowing' and knowledge is progressive. So, Watchtower teachings which change over time are evidence of WRONG UNDERSTANDING.

Ex: "the Lord's second presence began in 1874." Watchtower 1922 Mar 1 p.73
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2. Revisionism: "changing what was said to be correct by altering the words or by removing any trace of the counterfactual elements."

3. "Poisoning the well" is a rhetorical device where adverse information about a critic is presented to an audience with the intention of discrediting or ridiculing everything that the target person has to say. (Ex: "Mentally diseased apostates.")

4. We're only human--(false humility)

"Many had emphasized the year 1925 as the date, and then when that date did not materialize the date was moved up to 1932. Again, 1932 came and "Christendom" was not destroyed.... Because men (--what men? Who exactly?) tried to fix the date when God would destroy modern Nineveh and God did not back up their prophecy... is that any reason to be peeved?" Watchtower 1938 Feb 15 p.55

5. Pretending to take responsibility while only clouding the issue with vague language. ("Out of zeal and enthusiasm for the vindication of Jehovah's name, Word and purposes, and the desire for the new system, some of his servants have at times been premature in their expectations." Watchtower 1979 Jul 1 p.29 How Jehovah Guides His People.)

10

Wanted to Share a Watchtower Quote with you

by FusionTheism in

just thought this was interesting and wanted to see all of your thoughts and opinions on it.. watchtower, november 15, 2014, simplified study edition, pages 11-12:.

9 let us examine the words of three brothers who for many years have worked closely with members of the governing body.

one brother mentioned: while this has indeed been a unique privilege of service, the close association has from time to time revealed that, although spirit anointed, these brothers are imperfect.

TerryWalstrom

https://archive.org/details/BirthOfTheNationFromMarch11925Watchtower

READ THE SOURCE (ABOVE) ONLINE

20

MAD MAX FURY ROAD

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

i went to see the new mad max movie last night: "fury road.".

this post-apocalyptic world is not recycled gray, it is blazingly colorful australian desert terrain with wide shots that will stop your heart.have you ever seen an heironymous bosch painting of hell with its where's waldo panoply of brutish, demonic, figures inflicting torments willy-nilly as far as the eye can see?

well, fury road makes bosch look like a knit-one-purl-two doily maker at a sunday brunch.. director miller has thought about this movie, planned it, sketched it, worked it, perfected it millisecond by millisecond before scene one was ever shot.one second of onscreen activity has more interesting business happening than two hours spent by a voyeur in a nudist colony of playboy bunnies.. what is watching this film all about?

TerryWalstrom

I don't know what sort of relationship Gibson and Miller may or may not have--but--it might have revived Mel's stagnant career.

If I had to guess, I'd say with all the money riding on this one, George Miller dared not risk the public ill will Mel Gibson has accrued due to his public drunken rants about "Jews."

Not to worry--this is Charlize's flick for the most part. Mel would have seemed tired and puffy alongside her in his post-alcoholic apocalyptic condition.

I can't believe I didn't see it in 3-D. But, I couldn't get in. Seats were sold out.