has anyone come across this line of research on the new testament?
i stumbled upon it today researching the divine name, and textual criticism of the nt.
it seems that the peshitta is an aramaic translation that has been handed down through the centuries without the controversies of the greek translation.
Fatima? Are you kidding me? It's an hoax from 1917 that can be exposed by reading the Catholic Church's own documentation. Read "Fátima nunca mais" and the recent "Fátima S.A." ( in portuguese ) by catholic priest Mário de Oliveira and you will be thoroughly convinced of the abhorrent fraud that was perpetrated in 1917 and continues to be perpetuated.
Eden
Magnum - the fact that humans now have the ability to virtually wipe out their (and many other) species. That, to me, is the best argument for those who believe these are the last days.
Planet Earth and the universe have had the ability to virtually wipe out all life and they have done it a few times already - at least five times already. Those are called "extinction events". It's not a credible argument, I'd say.
Remember that End Times theologies in the linear time predate Christianity (Zoroastrism), and are also found in Judaism, Islam, Ba'hai and Rastafarianism. Plus, "End Times" of cycles of time are also part of faiths such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Mayan and Norse mythologies.
Eden
i had a discussion with an elder recently.
it was interesting in a macabre sense.
we were outside the kingdom hall on a nice sunny day recently.
Paul took a jewish sect of deluded followers of a dead rabbi and, with considerable mixing of greek philosophy, transformed it into "christianity".
Read James D. Tabor's "Paul and Jesus - How the apostle transformed christianity", and it'll become crystal clear.
Eden
there were always all types of speakers in the org.
myself, growing up a "witness", must have heard all types of talks, and given by all manner of speakers, especially on sundays, when almost every week we would get a "visiting" brother giving the public talk.. sometimes, you would have a "great" speaker, all fluent and animated.
other times we would get a comical speaker, one who would maybe purposelly get a few laughs outta the audience.
This one I didn't witness, so I may be reproducing a JW urban legend, but here goes. In my country, soccer is the king of sports. Three local teams are arch-rivals, and people follow them, sometimes with an irrational passion. To the point that usually exhortations from the platform must be given to ask for moderation and "neutrality" and "avoidance of idolatry".
Well, this elder was delivering the public talk. It was a hot day, no A/C, so the doors and windows of the KH were opened. At the same time, a big match between two of these major teams of the league was going on, and some neighbour of the KH had the game loud on the radio. At some point, one of the teams scored a goal and the reporter on the radio screamed "goalllllllllllll!!" The speaker excitedly bursted: "goallllllllllllllllllll !!!!!!! Goal, goal, goal, brothers!!!!!!!!!" Obviously, his favorite team had just scored. The audience looked at him in shock. When he realized what he had just done, he gatherd his papers, apologized, and left the platform. He was removed from Elder after this.
Eden
there were always all types of speakers in the org.
myself, growing up a "witness", must have heard all types of talks, and given by all manner of speakers, especially on sundays, when almost every week we would get a "visiting" brother giving the public talk.. sometimes, you would have a "great" speaker, all fluent and animated.
other times we would get a comical speaker, one who would maybe purposelly get a few laughs outta the audience.
I remembered a second episode: this young MS was all puffed up because he thought a lot of himself, he always enjoyed looking like a smooth gangster from the 1920's, complete with hat, tie and scarf to match etc. He was a decent speaker, but at one time he was the guest speaker at our KH and his speech was a bit over the top, too confident, too authoritative for his age, as if he was a DO speaking ... It was oddly uncomfortable, but ok, bearable. Until ... about half way to his public talk he freezes. He starts looking at his papers and mumbles, hesitates and panics. He realized that there were a couple of pages missing! Then he leaves the plattform, goes to his seat, looks inside his briefcase, finds the papers, goes back to the plattform, and carries on. But the rest of his talk was a disaster, he lost it completely, very nervous, many mistakes, awful. We all thought that he deserved the lesson.
Eden
there were always all types of speakers in the org.
myself, growing up a "witness", must have heard all types of talks, and given by all manner of speakers, especially on sundays, when almost every week we would get a "visiting" brother giving the public talk.. sometimes, you would have a "great" speaker, all fluent and animated.
other times we would get a comical speaker, one who would maybe purposelly get a few laughs outta the audience.
When I was a teen, a local older single brother who was working on the contruction of the local Bethel (and later went on to be a special pioneer) gave a public talk that left everyone blushing.
At some point he began explaining that lesbian sex is condemned by the Bible because obviously isn't natural because during sexual relations one of the women must take on the role of a man ... Wtf?
Later he also told an experience where two single young Witnesses were secretly having sex, and they thought they wouldn't be discovered because he would (quote) "take his penis out before he climaxed". However, one day, he was so carried away that he didn't "take his penis out in time" and she ended up getting pregnant, they were discovered and disfellowshipped. The very conservative audience was blushing with the graphic descriptions offered from the plattform. A real "WTF?" moment, if I ever recall one.
Eden
after some considerable thought i have decided that i will no longer post on this forum because i want to return to jehovah.
thank you for all the kindness and many interesting discussions over the years.
i wish you all well in the future and the decisions you make.
Welcome back, sbf!
Eden
our former loving brothers and sisters have been instructed to think that, jesus likely spoke a form of hebrew and a form of aramaic.
(aid to bible understanding-103-105).
of course, there is no way to demonstrate the truth of that assertion or any other assertion about the languages that the common people of the land spoke.
"HER" computers?
"Caleb" is/was female? That's new to me.
Also, found this at the profile: "CalebinFloroda left the building. I've taken over her body. She is mine now. Long live the republic."
What???
Eden
i'm thinking about trying out a new hobby.
in my country there are plenty of places that are geologically suitable for the presence of gold nuggets.
in fact, several gold mines have been historically explored from the days of the romans until present day.. at the same time, i love archaeology and history and there are many possible unexplored archaeological sites near me that might merit a superficial survey.
Simon, Canada shares many geological features with my country, especially the quality of superficial quartzite veins on granite outcrops. (Where gold is usually trapped) Perhaps you might as well give it a try ...
Eden
according to one source on a western european 'apostate' website, the org's plan is to abandon the name "jehovah's witnesses" in the future, and replace it with "worshippers of jehovah.".
http://www.bruderinfo-aktuell.de/index.php/fixnews/#comment-4313 .
the gist of the account appears to be a repeat of rutherford's re-branding and debunking of old predictions made by the previous shower of fakers.
Datsun rebranded to Nissan ; Phillip Morris rebranded to Altri ; AIG Retirement rebranded to Sagepoint Finantial; Apple Computer rebranded to Apple.
There are usually three main reasons for a corporate rebranding:
1) Elimination of a negative image
2) Attempt to recuperate market share
3) Effort to stay relevant
In 1931, Rutherford rebranded the Bible Students into Jehovah's Witnesses because his organization was struggling to remain relevant after the massive dissent following the death of Russell and the 1925 fiasco.
84 years past, and the time is ripe for another rebranding, because certainly the WTS has too many skeletons in the closet and too much of a negative public image to keep dragging behind them - blood issue, refusal to salute flag and participate on military service, paedophilia scandals, annoying evangelizing tactics, false predictions, refusal to celebrate birthdays and hollidays, family breakups, shunning ...
Eden
