Posts by Yerusalyim

56

The Name Jehovah

by ruffian in

jw
friends

please can someone shed light on the claim that when the bible was originaly written it had the name jehovah in it over 7000 times but it was changed because of superstition?

how do you dispute it?

exactly where did they get that crazy version of their bible anyway?

Yerusalyim

YOU KNOW,

You said

That is foolish reasoning and just plain wrong. The Douay was translated at a time when Biblical scholarship was at a low point. It was a hastily thrown together translation that was motivated by the desire of the Vatican not to be upstaged by the upstart Chruch of England that came out with the King James Bible in 1611.

I hope you won't try to claim that the NWT has anywhere NEAR the scholarship that the DR translation has. Ruffian is right though, the Revised Standard Version (Catholic Edition or not) is one of the very best translations out there. Ruffian, the New Jerusalem is also a very good, very SCHOLARLY translation. However, remember, even when reading from Torah, or Nevi'im, or Kethuvim, the Jews said LORD or EL, or ELOHIM, and not the Divine name.

yeru

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato

9

How much do members of the governing body make?

by Preston in

jw
friends

just a simple question although i would also like to know if they have any sort of salary, or if there truly is evidence that they do make personal use of the voluntary contributions from the flock.

please understand that i am skeptical and i would like anything that can be baked up.

thank you for any information!

Yerusalyim

OK, the society is a corporation, and the GB generally speaking, own stock, what do the dividends pay? Everytime a GB member is out and about, how much money is in the envelope handed to them? Are they getting FILTHY rich, I doubt it, but POWER has generally been more intoxicating and corrupting than money anyhow. Besides, the Corp also pays for their trips to exotic lands for visits to local congregations. and then at the end of their service, there's Patterson.
Yeru

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato

44

a woman's right to choose.....

by peaceloveharmony in

jw
friends

hey everyone, i was hesitant to post this article i read because abortion debates can turn so ugly so fast.

so i thought about it for and decided i should post it because it is important for those of us who value the right the choose to be aware of what that really means here in the us.

this article is from the weekly alternative newspaper here in the minneapolis/st.

Yerusalyim

OK, let's hear from the loyal opposition. I FULLY beleive a woman has a right to choose when it involves her own body. The problem with the abortion issue it that it also involves the body of the baby. If we're talking Rape or some such issue, no opposition here, though even then the baby is not at fault, and the few rape victims I've talked to who became pregnant and had the baby don't regret it at all. When we get into the issue of partial birth abortions, etc I should hope that these would be IMPOSSIBLE to get.
A woman's right to choose should be at the sex act, and should end when a second human life is involved, that of the baby. What we need is more resonsible sex, not more access to abortion.
Just my humble opinion.

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato

14

A Letter to the Elders

by AngelofMuZiC in

jw
friends

dear fellow board members,.

my mother is still a member of the org, and as i see it, fully intends on remaining a member.

she does not agree with everything the wts says, (the elders don't know that) and she has told me that she would never disown me for them, nor have they asked her to.

Yerusalyim

Angel,

Nice letter,hope it works. Are there no Senior Citizen's Centers in your area to help Mom with doctor trips, etc? In my Mom's Catholic Parish of some 400 Families, people are always helping one another out in this way. My mom has been taken to appointments when my dad is out of town. My mom sits with another parishoners disabled daughter, sometimes over night, when He is unable to care for her, even though one son left the Catholic faith. Yep, they need to show a bit more of this "love" they keep talking about, that, or get your mom to a REAL Church that will meet her spiritual and physical needs.

Just a thought.

YERU

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato

17

Graven Images

by ruffian in

jw
friends

maybe some of you are familiar with the study guid that the j.w's brought to me.

its called "what does god really require of us?

" in chaper 2 they mention graven images.

Yerusalyim

Time to clear up misconceptions. The Catholic church does NOT encourage worship of statues or saints, in fact such would be considered a GRAVE sin by the Church. The statues and crucifixes do, however, serve as a focus for us in prayer, etc. YOU KNOW the prohibition against graven images is CLEARLY a prohibition against WORSHIPPING such images. Which we do NOT. IN "prayer" to the saints we are simply asking the saints in heaven to agree with us in prayer and is absolutely NO DIFFERENT than me asking one of YOU to pray for me. As far as expecting some "magical blessing" from kissing a cross or picture of a saint, Yes that would be absolutely ridiculous and I know of NO CATHOLIC who expects such. However, just as love drives one to kiss a picture of a relative, so to with crosses and statues, etc.
Yes indeed certains saints are said to be Patrons of certain things, SO WHAT.

Ya'll need to STUDY the Catholic Faith before making ridiculous comments about it (YOU KNOW, I'm looking in your direction).

Yeru

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato

14

A CRUCIFIX

by ruffian in

jw
friends

they must have felt very uncomfortable in my house what with all my graven images and wooden crucifix.

this is the story they presented to me- .

"suppose you had a beloved son.

Yerusalyim

I seem to remember Paul writing somewhere about boasting of NOTHING but the Cross of Christ. Does too much to me sound like he detested it. The JW proposition is ridiculous, The Cross of Christ is once shameful, now glorious.

FRED I would LOVE to see what documents you've researched to come up with the conclusion that Jesus died on anything other than a common "T" shaped cross. This was the single most common form of execution in the provinces for slaves, thieves and trouble makers. Crucifixion was so common in Jerusalem that they had permanent scaffolding set up upon which to afix the Cross beam. This is attested to by among other's Josephus. Further, had Jesus been crucified in the manner indicated by the Society, he would have expired in less than half an hour. Freddie, Look up the drawings of Lepidus touted by the society, they are misleading unless you see the actual drawings.

All My best

Yeru

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato

25

Proof Please!

by Francois in

jw
friends

the other day someone made a reference to "mountainous" proof of the existence of an historical jesus.. refusing to suffer fools gladly, the poster was challenged to produce this "mountain" and i haven't heard a peep of it - not that i'm surprised.

a bb friend with whom i carry on a regular private correspondence reminded me of this challenge, and i was wondering if the "mountain" or even a hillock is ever going to be forthcoming?

come on rex, where is it?.

Yerusalyim

FARKEL and Francoise,
As to the Lazarus issue, there is a town in Israel/Palestine that even the Muslims call Lazarus, it is the town where our dear friend Lazarus was ressurected. As to why it's not mentioned in historical records, hmmm, lets see, perhaps it was due to the fact that the scribes were oppossed to the ministry of Jesus and weren't going to give him any free press as it were.

As to Jesus being an actual historical person, I've never read any serious historian who doubts that Jesus actually lived.

Aside from Josephus, Philo, Tacitus and a few others mention him. an Edict from the Emperor Claudius in the AD 40's evicts all Jews from the city of Rome in connection with a certain Chrestus (a corrupted for of CHRIST). There are also 8 or more seperate contemporaries who write about Jesus at seperate times and locations who we read in the bible, and innummerable writings from the 1st Century about Jesus that didn't make it in the bible. There is as much historical evidence for Jesus as there is for Gaius Marius, or most other figures from Roman History (including Ceasar Augustus). Even the Jewish Talmud attests the the fact that Jesus existed. Nope, I've never read a serious historian that casts doubts as to the existence of Jesus, only on whether or not he was anything more than a marginal Jew.

Yeru

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato

13

JUSTICE #14 - Caring for the Needy - Not!

by Amazing in

jw
friends

caring for the needy not!

when i first became a jw in the late 1960s and all the years thereafter, the watch tower society would frequently boast about the loving care and concern that jws show among themselves, providing for the needy during disasters, even helping the world.

the society would publish in the magazines, or comments at conventions about how the world observed our efficiency and overwhelming spirit of giving.. what about the rest of the year?

Yerusalyim

ITGUY,
Besides what the COP just said, I'm not talking about just in disaster situations. What of the millions starving in the US and abroad? Where are the soup kitchens in NYC? Where are the food pantries open to all comers in the inner cities, or even the rural areas? Where are the shelters so the homeless have a safe place to sleep at night? THIS is the kind of Charity that is all too glaringly missing in DUBland.

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato

13

JUSTICE #14 - Caring for the Needy - Not!

by Amazing in

jw
friends

caring for the needy not!

when i first became a jw in the late 1960s and all the years thereafter, the watch tower society would frequently boast about the loving care and concern that jws show among themselves, providing for the needy during disasters, even helping the world.

the society would publish in the magazines, or comments at conventions about how the world observed our efficiency and overwhelming spirit of giving.. what about the rest of the year?

Yerusalyim

OK HUMBLE,

So why is the Society only helping other JW's, I don't remember reading in the scriptures that we are only to assist those of our own denomination. Why no soup kitchens are food pantries or shelters or corporate donations to those doing so?

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato

10

Your Caption Desperately Needed!

by Englishman in

jw
friends

.

your caption please!.

englishman.. ..... fanaticism masquerading beneath a cloak of reasoned logic.

Yerusalyim

I thought you said pigs don't fly.

YERUSALYIM
God is truth, and light his shadow.

Plato