Posts by EdenOne

53

Please explain God's wisdom in Judges19;22-30

by jam in

the just of the account, two people enter a city and can not .

find lodging.

an old man invite them to stay with him (levite).. this is so weird, all the men of the city come to have sex with.

EdenOne

I have to concur. Judges chapter 19 to 21 is a propaganda piece written in support of a monarchic system in Israel. In short, is saying: "Look at what happened when there was no King in Israel [i.e. no centralized, unified authority] and everyone was doing what they felt was right in their own eyes [i.e. near anarchy], which resulted in useless wars and massive loss of lives and the near extinction of the Benjaminite tribe".

Although there might have been some truth in the events described [a sexual crime that triggers a civil war in Israel between Benjamin and the other tribes] , the account actually puts Yahweh in a terrible light, for He is consulted in an oracle three times, endorsing the 11 tribes to go to war against Benjamin, and the first two times the Israelites suffer terrible defeats, only coming out victorious after the third strike, and even then, the deaths on the confederated army are vastly greater than the deaths on the Benjaminite side.

Eden

30

Memorial Musings

by undercover in

jw
friends

a few things noticed in last nights annual, jesus who?

gathering:.

1: only one scripture from the gospels was read or cited.

EdenOne

Same outline and same illustration here in my part of the world (Western Europe). I also noticed the heavy emphasys on Jehovah rather than in Jesus, whose memorial we were supposed to be observing.

Eden

36

The Ray Franz Movie

by RayPublisher in

been wanting to talk about this for a while... three years ago on this forum my friend cedars brought this up.

let's do it!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sykaxxpyos.

EdenOne

It's a GREAT idea - but very, very hard to execute.

Perhaps you could reach a much broader audience if you could make a movie, not about Ray Franz per se, but about the rejection of religious bigotry.

If you could then pick up a couple of other case-studies, dealing with the catholic church and another from the protestant field, then combining it with Ray Franz's history, THEN you would reach a much much vaster audience.

Here's an example on the catholic field: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinthe_Loyson

Eden

14

East of Eden & Other Great Books

by SecretHeart11 in

given my new, unincumbered state of mind, i am rereading a few favourites and ones i haven't read before.

i'm reading east of eden again and have hey, nostradomus!

and 1984 next on the list (never read it!).

EdenOne

1984 is a dense book, but well worth the reading, and it will leave you scratching your head because the resemblances between the police-state described there and the WTS organization is mind-blowing.

Eden

12

Its Official - DO arrangment has been done away with

by Justnowout in

letter to be read at next weeks service meeting.

EdenOne

That's Old light already :P

Our current CO will only complete 2 rounds in our circuit then will stop because he will have reached 70 by then.

Eden

16

Apostate NT Canon

by Pterist in

jw
friends

as mentioned in july 15th 2013 watchtower "the apostasy started in the first century and flourished by the fourth century" or words to that effect.. as i was reading ff bruce's "the bible canon" ($14 kindle ver.

on amazon) i was very surprised to read that there are no original nt documents from the first century, just copies of copies of copies of many documents from that period.

apparently the 27 book nt canon was not set until about the fourth century by trinitarian church fathers.

EdenOne

Someone (I think it was Searcher) mentioned in another thread the case of Matthew 28:19:20, regarding the command to baptize "in the name of the father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit". The oldest extant copy of Matthew dates to the 4th century. However, earlier church fathers from the second century quoted from Matthew and this 'trinitarian' formula isn't mentioned, thus, it was added sometime later to suit the trinitarian agenda. We never see the apostles doing anything in the name of the "father, son and HS". We only see them baptizing in the name of Jesus.

Therefore, how much more of the gospels and the Pauline letters, among other writings, have been corrupted, or written deceptively to suit a certain agenda? Until original manuscripts are found - if ever - we will never be entirely sure.

Eden

11

"Scriptural" Baptism

by NeverKnew in

i was told that jws baptize in the name of the father, son and the holy spirit.

i asked if it was done exactly as stated in the bible to be sure i was hearing the answer correctly.

the response i got was "yes!

EdenOne

Most interesting.

Marked.

Eden

55

A medieval question for you, if you believe in god....

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

many ancient believers of god used cognition to 'think' their way from belief to atheism.

what initially seems a silly question to reason over, can actually destroy a whole theology.. here is a question made famous by 'saint' thomas aquinas, believers in a almighty god with unlimited ability, please have a think about this..... the omnipotence paradox:.

"could an omnipotent being create a stone so heavy that even he could not lift it?

EdenOne

The concept of a God that doesn't fit the "omnipotent" trait simply means that God is much different than humans have imagined him to be. Personally, I don't have any issues with a God that is neither omnipotent, omnipresent or omniscient.

Eden

19

Finally

by Old Goat in

http://www.lulu.com/shop/b-w-schulz/a-separate-identity-organizational-identity-among-readers-of-zions-watch-tower-1870-1887/paperback/product-21541658.html.

dr. de vienne tells me there are some problems with ebook formatting and it will be released later.

until they review the advanced copy, it is only available on lulu.com.

EdenOne

Can someone please provide a link for the e-book version (when and if it becomes available) ?

Eden

107

Will firing the DOs be the first step to a new Watchtower?

by Juan Viejo2 in

against my better judgement, i've decided to share the following as a response to guy pierce passing and the announcement of the elimination of district overseers later this year.. late in january (2014) i got an email from one of my contacts (a fader) who served at bethel for several years, but is no longer at wt hq.

he still has a lot of close contacts within the service department and in other departments at patterson and knows people in all of the ny offices.

i kept this email set aside on a flash drive and haven't shared it with anyone - figuring i'd publish an article about it later this year when i had more time to do it right.

EdenOne

If "annointed" = "appointed", this begs the questions:

Take, for example, Cornelius. Was he "annointed" with the Holy Spirit? I think we can agree that he was. Was he "appointed" for something back then?

Or those women who received the Holy Spirit: Were they also "appointed" for something?

And since when can you read ANYWHERE in the Bible that the 144.000 are "annointed", or that it is the annointing with the Holy Spirit that sets them apart from all others as a group?

Makes no sense to me.

Eden