While I consistently been a word-for-word translation guy through most of my life (thus favoring the 1960s NWT), more recently I've come to the centered conclusion around 2 Timothy 2:14 which says ... 'Keep reminding them of these things, charging them before God as a witness, not to fight about words, a thing of no usefulness at all'
Why?
Because even extremely loose translations like the Good New Bible, do contain sufficient truth to obtain a reasonable relationship with the Almighty ... and (as I previously mentioned) the drilling down to understand Hebrew and Greek nouns is fraught with practical uncertainties.
However, just as William Tyndale correctly said that "a plow boy" should be able to understand God's word, I expect that the real author of the Bible would understand that the scriptures would ultimately be translated into other languages by amateur linguists. Just a Jesus' own words was paraphrased by the Apostles at different times in the Gospels.
And while I hate to say it in this context ... maybe in the end, it's the thought that counts.
no-zombie
JoinedPosts by no-zombie
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Zechariah 12:10 Corruption in the NWT
by Sea Breeze inhere'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: .
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no-zombie
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Zechariah 12:10 Corruption in the NWT
by Sea Breeze inhere'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: .
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no-zombie
Sea Breeze
Any translation task is difficult to get right, as there are many linguistic, cultural and historic factor at play. Even dating texts is highly debatable. Its actually recognized as an independent study called paleography ... proving that moving the Bible from one language to another is highly complex and often subjective.
A number of respected publications that I own, that have helped me come to this understanding, I've listed below for your consideration, namely ...
Scribes and Scholars: A guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature by Reynolds and Wilson
Guardians of Letters: Literacy Power and the Transmitters of Early Christian Literature by Haines-Eitzen
The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins by Hurtado
Inside Roman Libraries: Book Collections and Their Management in Antiquity by Houston
Books and Readers in the Early Church: A History of Early Christian Texts by Gamble
Ante-Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life before Constantine by Snyder
However if you original thought is based up on the whether Zech 12:10 supports the Trinity, my final argument against that view, is based upon the Jewish messianic expectations and identifications. Jews in the first century were expecting a man like King David not God personified. And this view is clearly amplified by all the Christian texts before Constantine, particularly those of the early church up to 200-250CE
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Zechariah 12:10 Corruption in the NWT
by Sea Breeze inhere'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: .
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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.
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NOT on JW.org. Massive growth of new congregations in Africa? Really?
by Balaamsass2 inlady 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;.
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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.
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I asked A.I. (GEMINI PRO 2.5) to research Jehovah's Witnesses and make an analysis
by Terry inself-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.
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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.
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Remember Hour Quotas?
by blondie inhour 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.
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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.
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Christians and War and the Role of Conscience (a work in progress)
by Terry inchristians 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.
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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.
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Christians and War and the Role of Conscience (a work in progress)
by Terry inchristians 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.
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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.
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It’s now official - The Governing Body Members are called for Legal Deposition in a Major Court Case Against Jehovah’s Witnesses!
by liam init’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.
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no-zombie
Liam,
Do you have a date when we should expect to see some fireworks?
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Bible Reading Schedule, Dumbed Down?
by Slidin Fast inhas 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..
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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.