Posts by no-zombie

84

Zechariah 12:10 Corruption in the NWT

by Sea Breeze in

here's a question for those who still support watchtower on this forum.

why did watchtower leave out the word "me" in zech.

zechariah 12:10 reads like this: .

no-zombie

Sea Breeze,

while I do understand what you are getting at in your question (the implication being here that that God and Jesus are the same person, which is a kind of proto-Trinity concept) and while I acknowledge that many English translation of this verse does use the word me in this verse, at the same time, and equal number of good Bible translations do not use the word me in that verve, but prefer instead to go with a phrase similar to the one.

This is because both understandings could be right.

However as far a I understand, the English translation of the Greek Septuagint (which the gold standard) does use the expression the one. Which would support the position of the NWT.

7

NOT on JW.org. Massive growth of new congregations in Africa? Really?

by Balaamsass2 in

lady shares her experience attending a "jehovah’s witness church after accepting an invitation from one of their members".

a nigerian lady shares her unexpected and comically awkward experience attending a jehovah’s witness service for the first time after accepting an invitation from a persistent male friend, who was a member of the church.. a nigerian lady shares her unexpected and comically awkward experience attending a jehovah’s witness service for the first time after accepting an invitation from a persistent male friend, who was a member of the church.. .

she shared a video detailing her experience, with a caption that read;.

no-zombie

While I'm sure that the hope of the Governing Body was a publisher increase, driven through the efforts of their RTOs, digital access in the African continent is quite restricted to regional centers. Even past magazine articles has admitted the cost of have a data plans are beyond most people living in rural areas.

That being said, the poor and the despite will always look at any floating object to take hold of. Thus we shouldn't write-off the Organization in those countries.

Although I do expect the churn of people in and out of the congregations to be higher than the west, once they begin to realize that being a Witness is going to hinder putting food on their tables.

9

I asked A.I. (GEMINI PRO 2.5) to research Jehovah's Witnesses and make an analysis

by Terry in

jw
friends

self-description of gemini pro 2.5 ai tools, like gemini pro 2.5, use advanced algorithms to analyze data, summarize findings, and even generate written content based on learned information to streamline complex information, making it more accessible to a wider audience.. link to this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x64fbp1upkhqzwvmqhw6hn_2b6tqn06rv8mt3v5dalo/edit?usp=sharingthe evolving truth: a chronological analysis of doctrinal development in jehovah's witnesses' teachings.

introduction.

jehovah's witnesses, a millenarian restorationist christian denomination, emerged in the united states during the latter half of the 19th century, primarily from the teachings of charles taze russell.

no-zombie

Thanks Terry for your original post.

But it is quite interesting when you reflect on how each new president 'flavored' the organization. And while we may focus on the work or Russell and Rutherford, I sort of feel that Knorr gave us the true face of the religion. Not that younger people could connect back to those days, though.

Now we have the Governing Body, whose early generations were more like the leaders of the past. But as soon ones like Losch, Herd and Splane get their heavenly reward ... I'm guessing the GB will become quite vanilla and rather quickly slip into 'care taker' mode.

34

Remember Hour Quotas?

by blondie in

jw
friends

hour quotas timeline.

back in the old days long before 1952.

“after staying in our ‘home’ for two days we decided that if we were going to meet our quota of 140 hours for the month.

no-zombie

In our hall, that board would be wheeled out onto the platform at the end of every month, to compare the congregation's averages with that of the national averages. Sometimes we were on par ... sometimes not.

But for us, it disappeared around the mid 70s.

12

Christians and War and the Role of Conscience (a work in progress)

by Terry in

christians and war and the role of conscience ______________ christian integrity vs duty to superior authority from the federal government’s povthe u.s. government saw jw’s as one group within a larger group of men refusing military service within existing law - for reasons of deeply held convictions.

we jw brothers weren’t the only ones affected, as evidenced by this list.. quakers.

jehovah’s witnesses.

no-zombie

Sea Breeze

Sadly whether you 'believe' it or not, government power and authority has always been through use of the military. And a simple google search quickly shows how many times in American history the army has called out to attack its own citizens, proving it. Lest I remind you of what happened on the 4th May at Kent State University in 1970.

And while the US military may swear allegiance to defend the Constitution, who is their supreme commander? The President of the Unites States not the Congress. Supporting this with a practical example is, despite the presence of the War Power Act of 1970 (which requires the US President to get Congressional support for a declaration of war) we see that it has actually been violated many times by sitting Presidents, without legal prosecution. Thus showing that even in America, the true application of the Bill of Rights, like the right of free assembly and the right of due process ... is at the whim of ... the State.

12

Christians and War and the Role of Conscience (a work in progress)

by Terry in

christians and war and the role of conscience ______________ christian integrity vs duty to superior authority from the federal government’s povthe u.s. government saw jw’s as one group within a larger group of men refusing military service within existing law - for reasons of deeply held convictions.

we jw brothers weren’t the only ones affected, as evidenced by this list.. quakers.

jehovah’s witnesses.

no-zombie

Let no-one misunderstand that the sole purpose of the army is the protection of the state ... not its citizens.

In addition, as the state has the monopoly of legalized violence, it is the state that decides what is a just war, not its people.

However what an individual may choose to do (or not do) is up to him and his personal conscience ... and with all decisions a man makes, there are consequences (good or bad). And as such, he should not complain when he finds himself in a muddy trench or behind prison bar.

26

It’s now official - The Governing Body Members are called for Legal Deposition in a Major Court Case Against Jehovah’s Witnesses!

by liam in

it’s now official - the governing body members are called for legal deposition in a major court case against jehovah’s witnesses!

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1ke6cgh/its_now_official_the_governing_body_members_are/.

recent court documents show that members of the jehovah’s witnesses governing body — including former member tony morris — have been officially subpoenaed to give sworn testimony regarding cases of sexual abuse in new york and how the organization dealt with (or essentially hid) them.

no-zombie

Liam,

Do you have a date when we should expect to see some fireworks?

15

Bible Reading Schedule, Dumbed Down?

by Slidin Fast in

jw
friends

has any body noticed that the bible reading schedule has been reduced to one chapter per week.

does any one know if this is a policy change or something temporary?

at this rate the complete cycle will take 22 years plus..

no-zombie

Judging from the very poor participation rate in question and answer parts, I can only conclude that very few members of the congregation (Elders and Servants included) don't prepare for the meetings unless they have a part. Thus it makes no differences to the publishers if the GB assigns 5 chapters to read per week ... or just one.

Few will doing it anyway.

72

Did the Fred Franz style of writing cease after he died?

by SydBarrett in

jw
friends

i was completely out by 1991 and 1989 would have been the last time i had to attend regularly.

that over the top franz writing style was still there in the 1980's although i've heard he wasn't actually doing much writing by then.

but his style was definitely picked up and imitated for many years beyond its wacky, outlandish peak of the the 50's - 70's.

no-zombie

I don't know why anyone argues with aqwsed12345, when its clear they are using an AI text generator.

72

Did the Fred Franz style of writing cease after he died?

by SydBarrett in

jw
friends

i was completely out by 1991 and 1989 would have been the last time i had to attend regularly.

that over the top franz writing style was still there in the 1980's although i've heard he wasn't actually doing much writing by then.

but his style was definitely picked up and imitated for many years beyond its wacky, outlandish peak of the the 50's - 70's.

no-zombie

From 1975 to 1980, when the Governing Body became a more functional reality, it seems that the passions of individual members (as expressed in Watchtower study articles) became more diluted. However I think that from about the 2000s most of the topics covered on the Sunday meetings were in fact, reprints ... barely updated to include newer statistics.

But after the Simplified Edition was rolled into the normal Watchtower study magazine in 2019, it was clear that beside being written for 14 years olds, we had now entered into a form of JWLITE, were any real or deeper explanation of doctrine had slipped away.

And today it is quite common to find 25-30% of your study article, to be 'experiences' or long (but highly juvenile) illustrations.