Posts by Rattigan350

73

this week's wt study

by thedog1 in

i conducted the wt study tonight on higher education.

i wondered what the reaction of the bros and sis would be.

there was no deviation from the idea that a university education is not a good idea.

I work 4 out of 5 Sundays, not yesterday. I went with my wife. The meeting was hard to stomach. The speaker talked about disfellowshipped family members and not associating with them. Making a good name with God because someone who lived over 4000 years ago, Nimrod, and is perceived as bad, said they were going to make a name for themselves.

Then the Watchtower was the same propaganda as always. That is all that it is propaganda.

The New World (coincidentally) Encyclopedia defines propaganda as:

Appeal to authority

Argumentum ad nauseam: Uses tireless repetition. An idea once repeated enough times, is taken as the truth. Works best when media sources are limited and controlled by the propagator.

Appeal to fear: Appeals to fear seek to build support by instilling fear in the general population

Demonizing the “enemy”: Projecting a person or idea as the "enemy" through suggestion or false accusations.

And many others. That could a whole thread on this subject.

My wife has the movie Swing Kids and has seen it many times. I try to use that as reasoning.

When Christian Bale's character is lured by the Nazi's giving him a motorcycle, and his accepting their propaganda, shows how JWs like to think that

their getting stuff and going to assemblies is the same way.

36

Prepare for meetings??

by Jen1 in

do you prepare for meetings?

if i go i spend a few minutes underlinging my books/watchtower.. i have noticed that those who do the micks especially notice when your stuff is not underlined, and comments are made after the meeting, not so gentle hints, about study and preperation!

in other words i am being told off, its usually the ones who are highly critical of everything i do, sometimes their whole family seems to be straining to see if my stuff is underlined, i know this because i heard the daughter to family wisper her watchtower is not underlined!.

Rattigan350

Many many years ago when I was dating my JW wife, after one meeting she complained that I had not underlined my Watchtower, and that people

notice things like that. I commented, better than others did. I told her that I never write in my books.

That should have been my sign to run from her as it was a sign of a miserable marriage ahead to where someone cares more about what the people think than the reality of a mate.

And she has a million pens of different colors to underline and she spends time before getting dressed on Sunday morning preparing and then makes her and us late. Go Figure.

10

Something Is Screwy With WT's New Bible!

by JW GoneBad in

not sure if this has already been brought up.. it appears that the verses in matthew 21:29 and matthew 21:30 have been transposed from one translation to the other.. the 'old' nwt in vs 29 & 30 states:.

'in answer this one said, "i will sir, but did not go out"'.

verse 30 reads: 'approaching the second, he said the same.

Rattigan350

"Offering a new reading in the NWT Revised Edition is no guarantee that the new reading order is correct and the older one is wrong. It's a difficult choice to make for the translator when there are a few options available and not one of them is definite."

Which is exactly the problem with anything non-confirmable before our time.

20

Who is the faithful and discreet slave?

by wearewatchingyouman in

when i discuss things with my father regarding whether a governing body is needed for christians one theme that is constant with him is "if it's not the gb who is the faithful and discreet slave - who else is giving food in these days to god's people?".

i've been working on a response to this for the last couple of months and am just curious as to who christians who are ex-witnesses interpret the faithful and discreet slave to be, and the parable in general.. .

i guess i'm just looking to round out my argument and have a few different angles.

Rattigan350

"who else is giving food in these days to God's people?""

Why do we need food at all? Then the response would be, that we need physical food to live.

Jesus' sacrifice atones for our sins. Not food based.

My problem is that they base everything on one scripture, which we don't know they full context. There may be more or less

that Jesus said about that.

Should we care about what the master says more than what a slave says?

8

My little guy asked me why I don't go to the meetings

by SnailsPace2 in

i just wanted to share a cute story about my 6 year old.

he has been asking me why i haven't been going to the meetings recently.

i couldn't avoid it any longer so i sat down with him and told him that mommy has learned some things from the bible that is different from what the meetings teach.

Rattigan350

So your answer was to lie to him?

"some things that are said at the meetings isn't from the Bible but 8 men who live in New York City made it up"

That is not true. And that is not the reason to not go to meetings.

What is taught there is true. The problem is that the purpose of what is taught there is focus on them to where our lives mean nothing. They have a tract or invitation campaign and people quit jobs and give up overtime and education to do that. Thus they are simply deliveryboys.

The theory is that people doing what is right by Christian standard will survive armageddon. But what happens to those who die at armageddon? They are dead, unconscious. But then so are all of those who died for the past 6000 years. So they are spending all of their conscious time now so as to not be unconscious in the future by that event. Those who died will be resurrected. Why can't we spend our time enjoying life now and survive Armageddon. And is better than or. I don't think that God will punish people for wanting to live above poverty and not be focused on meetings and field service. Organizational things are all about the organization.

23

Have JWs and other Christians completely missed the point of Matthew 24:4-8?

by Island Man in

many people think those verses are suggesting that the wars, earthquakes, food shortages, etc are all a sign that the end is imminent.

however, a careful examination of the context seems to suggest that jesus was actually forewarning his followers not to draw such a conclusion from such events.

see this interesting article on the subject:.

Rattigan350

To ask whether anyone missed the point, one must know the point as a reference.

What makes your reference any better than anyone elses?

9

"Worship that God Approves" chapter 15

by A.proclaimer in

jw
friends

this is the title of the 15th chapter in the "what does the bible really teach book".

so i have to study this book and am doing it with an elder.

after taking long breaks inbetween the study, this is the chapter that is coming up.

Rattigan350

The best way to deal with this is by asking: How can God disapprove or approve the things that we do, to where he will take action sometime based on those actions, but he lets the Phillippines and other places get destroy by storms, not for what they did. Is that so arrogant to think that we matter that much to where God is watching what we do, and that we have his attention, but he does not are about what else is going on?

Changing doctrines and 1914 are off the subject. Stick to the subject and inquire as to why worship that he does approve has not saved anyone,

people have died over the past 6000 years.

74

Kingdom Hall Weddings - November Kingdom Ministry

by BluesBrother in

if this has already been posted up - then i missed it.. this question box left me .

.

Rattigan350

What got me was that we couldn't practice the wedding vows before the wedding because if we said them, we would be married at that time.

25

My Mom Wanted To Know If I Would Ever Consider Going Back.... Guess what I said....

by minimus in

jw
friends

never!!!

!.

Rattigan350

Their concern about going back is about a social thing. The social thing would be fine if they would get rid of the 2 hours of religion.

12

Acts 20:28

by never a jw in

acts 20:28 nwt.

pay attention to yourselves+ and to all the flock, among which the holy spirit has appointed you overseers,+ to shepherd the congregation of god,+ which he purchased with the blood of his own son.

king james and other translations.

Rattigan350

"It's simple if you really believe what John 1:1 says in a real bible."

The real Bible? That was a history account that John wrote. First one must question, how did he get that information and is it accurate?

If it is inspired of God, then why write something that would create controversy over thousands of years? Why not make it clear so it can

not be questioned?

John 1:1 is a big joke. So is using Zech 12:9 and Heb 1:8

"and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son"

They pierced Jehovah by killing his son by ignoring the prophesies that Jehovah gave.

Heb 1:8 is Paul's application of the Psalms. First, where does one get Jesus is God from that mess of quotes. And whoever said that Paul knows what he is writing about. He is not Jesus, does not know what is what.