rocketman

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Posts by rocketman

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  62

  The status of women in early Christianity

  by Leolaia in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the watchtower society maintains a very strict gender dichotomy in its organization.

  this is news to no one.

  although men -- in many cases, unqualified men -- are expected to reach for advancement within local congregations (e.g.

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  rocketman

  I bookmarked for further study a couple days ago and I'm still working my way through it. Fascinating topic and presentation Leolaia.
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  27

  DO YOU BLOG?

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just started doing this (blogging) and it is not unlike writing a diary put into public view.. there a zillions of these things floating around out there.

  many are extremely inventive, artistic, interesting and startling.. however, most are utterly inane!.

  sturgeon's law at work.

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  rocketman

  Well whaddya know....I am blogging again....

  http://www.blogtext.org/rocketman
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  36

  This takes balls....

  by chrissy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...and considering i don't have any, it is surprising that i found the nerve to post my photo as my avatar!

  i was leery to use my photo thinking someone i knew could catch on to my new apostate antics.

  so, i couldn't decide what to use.

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  rocketman

  Cute pic!

  ...Appreciates Pretty Blondes Class....
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  46

  I'm new here

  by Apostanator in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this is the first time i feel comfortable posting something.

  i've been a lurker for over a year and i must say there are a lot of courageous people here who left the watchtower.

  thank god for the internet and sites like this.

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  rocketman

  Welcome to the board....nice to see you've been helped by reading us over the past year.
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  23

  Genesis 6:2 - The "sons of God"

  by rocketman in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  while reading the niv study bible recently, i came across some interesting notes on genesis 6:1-4, concerning the situation before the flood in which the "sons of god saw the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.".

  from what i had always understood (mainly by reading wts literature) these "sons of god" were angels that sinned by taking the daughters of men as sex partners.

  however, the niv study bible, and some other bible commentators, mention that there were other possibilities:.

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  rocketman

  Excellent clarification Leolaia. Clearly, the weight of evidence favors an interpretation of Genesis 6:2 as referring to angels as the "sons of God". Thank you.

  Kind of makes me wonder how bible commentators miss the mark on this, but as you allude to, they seem to be following a more "Christian" interpretation.

  The NIV Study Bible was not dogmatic on any one interpretation but simply pointed to the others as possible understandings of the verse. Interestingly, in its introduction to Genesis, the NIV Study Bible points to numerous similarities between the events recorded in Genesis and their similarity to ancient mythological and secular accounts from Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Canaanite writings.
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  23

  Genesis 6:2 - The "sons of God"

  by rocketman in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  while reading the niv study bible recently, i came across some interesting notes on genesis 6:1-4, concerning the situation before the flood in which the "sons of god saw the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.".

  from what i had always understood (mainly by reading wts literature) these "sons of god" were angels that sinned by taking the daughters of men as sex partners.

  however, the niv study bible, and some other bible commentators, mention that there were other possibilities:.

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  rocketman

  I checked Leolaia's posts and did find this thread, which comments somewhat on the matter.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/68556/1.ashx

  In her thread the basic assumption that seems to be made is that Genesis 6:2 refers to angels, in conjuction with 2 Peter and Jude. I'd like to see what she thinks of the other possibilities mentioned in the NIV Study Bible. Calling Leo!
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  23

  Genesis 6:2 - The "sons of God"

  by rocketman in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  while reading the niv study bible recently, i came across some interesting notes on genesis 6:1-4, concerning the situation before the flood in which the "sons of god saw the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.".

  from what i had always understood (mainly by reading wts literature) these "sons of god" were angels that sinned by taking the daughters of men as sex partners.

  however, the niv study bible, and some other bible commentators, mention that there were other possibilities:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  rocketman

  While reading the NIV Study Bible recently, I came across some interesting notes on Genesis 6:1-4, concerning the situation before the Flood in which the "sons of God saw the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose."

  From what I had always understood (mainly by reading WTS literature) these "sons of God" were angels that sinned by taking the daughters of men as sex partners. However, the NIV Study Bible, and some other bible commentators, mention that there were other possibilities:

  1. That the "sons of God" referred to in Genesis 6:2 were actually decendants of Seth who chose to marry decendants of Cain. Some of the reasoning on this (from what I've gathered from a couple of online Bible commentaries) is evidently based on Hebrew writings stating that Seth's decendants took to living in a mountainous area, while the decendants of Cain took to living in a valley area. In time, according to these stories, the Sethites took some of Canaanite daughters as wives. The idea of sons of Seth as "sons of God" comes primarily from Genesis 5:26, which states that after the birth of Seth's son Enosh "At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD". Though the WTS has always postulated that this was a derogatory type of name-calling, the NIV and other commentaries seem to portray it in a positive light.

  2. That the "sons of God" may refer to men of some 'royalty' at the time, who, taking after the boastful Lamech (Genesis 4:19-24), carried on polygamy and established harems for themselves.

  Included in the above reasoning is the assumption that angels could not have desired the daughters of men, with the verse at Matthew 22:30 (Jesus' words that the resurrected will be like "angels in heaven" and thus not be married).

  However, the NIV does point to Jude's words in Jude 6,7 concerning angels that "did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home" as possibly supporting the idea that it was indeed angels who were referred to in Genesis 6:2. On the other hand, it can be noted that Jude does not specifically state what these angels did, and some commentators offer that their sin took place when they joined Satan's rebellion at an earlier time.

  While fallen angels are also mentioned at 2 Peter 2:4, again their specific deeds are not mentioned. Despite the fact that the next verse comments on the judgement of God in Noah's day, again most commentators' works that I've checked do not make an association between the two. So I'm not totally sure whether 2 Peter 2:4 confirms the supposed angelic act of cohabitation with the daughters of men recorded at Genesis 6:2. WTS literature of course always makes the association between the two verses.

  I'm continuing to research this matter. Any thoughts or research or comments from anyone would be greatly appreciated!
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  21

  Why The Watchtower Wants Your Children ( 6/15 WT)

  by metatron in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  the most recent watchtower contains study articles that address the growing alarm.

  of the governing body that the organization may be losing the next generation of jehovah's .

  witnesses.

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  rocketman

  The religion doesn't work for young people. What does it offer youths? A book now and then? A few YPA articles in the Awake!?

  All the while, these same kids are told to avoid this, avoid that, don't see this movie, don't associate with those people, etc....a never-ending list of don'ts.

  A start in the right direction would actually be for them to imitate the churches a bit (of course, they never would do that) and start up things like youth groups and, for the younger, Sunday schools or something similar for kids.

  And while I seriously doubt they'd ever consider relaxing the rules on sex, they ought to trust their youth more and stop trying to crush even the smallest initiatives in opposite sex dealings.
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  43

  Why did you leave?

  by greendawn in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if someone asked to state briefly why you left the jw brotherhood what would you say?

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  rocketman

  If I were to put it to a one-word answer, it would be: extremism.

  The WTS and the jw religion is in my view extreme in virtually every facet of life. They are today's Pharisees.
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  45

  Music that debases

  by katiekitten in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  which albums did you throw out after that landmark talk at an assembly round about the mid 80's?.

  i got rid of:.

  elo (widely regarded as having back tracking on one song).

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  rocketman

  I didn't throw anything out. But most of what I owned, by Billy Joel, Elton John, The Eagles, Genesis etc, was pretty tame.

  The ridiculous over-reaction of the WTS and many jws to pop/rock and many other music genres has never ceased to amaze me.