Euphemism

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Posts by Euphemism

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  50

  Can God exist outside of time

  by setfreefinally in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

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  some say god exists outside of time and space therefore he can predict the future.. any comments?

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  Euphemism

  Having been a lurker here for a while, I have a great deal of regard for AlanF, and I would rather be on his side in any discussion! But with all due respect, I would disagree with his position.
  

  The key point is that a God who is "outside time" does not make predictions. One could say that this God knows what we will do before we do it; we could also say that this God knew what everyone in the Universe would do, before it was ever created.But both of those statements are missing the point... because they're still applying temporal terms to God.

  In other words, the spacetime continuum, as AlanF aptly pointed out, appears static to God. But this is not because it is static, but rather because God can see all points of time at once. Not only "can," but "must" and "does". Because if God were to make a choice to see some things at one time, and not at another, that would imply that he was inside time!

  I hope that this makes sense. It's a concept, like hyper-dimensionality, that can only be described logically, but cannot be grasped intuitively, because humans have no experience of being outside time.

  I also don't claim that this concept is provable, by any means. I simply claim that it's not falsifiable. Whether one actually believes in free will and in prophecy are entirely separate questions. :)
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  67

  Adventures at the District Convention

  by RunningMan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, after a 15 month absence from the kingdom hall, i once again found myself in the biggest kingdom hall of all the district convention.

  as in previous years, the material presented was dull and repetitious, so once again, i was forced to provide my own entertainment.

  so, like last year, i am pleased to present a further installment to my assembly adventures, called:

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  Euphemism

  ROFL! I can't believe that the obvious meaning of "The John Class" never occurred to me!
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  14

  State Capitals Quiz

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  http://www.maps.com/learn/games/capquiz2.html

  you got 5 out of a possible 16 answers correct.. not too bad for a canadian

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  Euphemism

  10/16... but I never actually took American Geography.
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  2

  Politcal fundraisers

  by freedom96 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  regardless of your political afiliation, here is a question for you.. lets say that for $1,000 a plate, you were able to have dinner with your presidential candidate.

  you would have dinner with perhaps a few hundred up to one thousand others.

  you would enjoy a fine dinner, hear a couple of speeches, and get to meet your candidate.. would you do it?.

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  Euphemism

  No way! I don't have that kind of money.
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  18

  Stay "in" and help...or get out no matter what the cost?

  by onacruse in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  chester

  that which is made crooked cannot be made straight.ecclesiastes 1:15 .

  you raise a very good question.

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  Euphemism

  Before I read Crisis of Conscience, I thought about staying and trying subtly to promote reform. I do agree with onacruse that the WTS will undoubtedly change over time.

  But I decided that I simply couldn't advocate that anyone join--or stay in--the WTS. I see so many people whose lives are being messed up by WTS rules, I can't conscientiously put myself in the position of being these people's spiritual advisor, and not pointing out the most obvious solution to their problems... leaving the dubs.
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  5

  The Watchtower Society and the Bulgarian connection - hypocrisy in action?

  by joe_from_kokomo in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  friends: .

  i was shocked to learn yet again of more hypocrisy on the part of the wts with regard to human rights agreements in bulgaria.

  from what i have learned from a july 2000 article on the uk guardian newspaper web site and from subsequent info found on the association of jws for reform on blood web site, .

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  Euphemism

  As far as altnerative service... I'm afraid you're a little behind the curve, Joe. The Watchtower "legalized" alternative service back in '96.

  As far as blood... I guess that explains why they changed it to be handled by disassociation, rather than disfellowshipping. They can thus claim that there aren't any sanctions... that rather, the individual voltunarily withdrew. It's a ridiculous distinction of semantics, but somehow the governments seem to swallow it.
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  25

  Were You Ever A Bible Student???

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did you consider yourself a real student of the bible, one who regularly read the scriptures, with a view to helping others learn the "truth" of god's word?

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  Euphemism

  As a dub, I read through the Bible several times. Whenever I did the Bible Highlights, I prided myself on picking my points based on my own reading of the text, rather than lifting ideas from the Watchtower. And in fact, most of the conclusions I came to about the wrongness of the Society's doctrines, I came to on my own, without recourse to "apostate" texts. So yeah, I definitely thought I knew the Bible.

  I'm now finding, however, that I know nowhere near as much as I thought I did. Even though I was reading the Bible for myself, I was still seeing it through WTS lenses. So I've got a lot of catching up to do.
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  23

  Do You Have the "I Was Just A Publisher" Mentality?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .....and that's why i hate, dislike, can't stand, anyone that used to be an elder???

  ..........after reading so many "bad elder" stories, i can understand why some might feel that they were just one of the rank-and-file and were treated poorly vs. someone like an elder that could have authority and try to intimidate those that they felt they could push around.

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  Euphemism

  My father was a prominent elder. I was a ministerial servant, on the privileges fast track, and close friend with several elders. So no, I didn't look at the elders as some separate, despicable breed of people.

  Even when I was a loyal dub, however, I realized that most of them were unqualified.
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  24

  1914, how does the Watchtower calculate this ???

  by run dont walk in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay i haven't been to a meeting in 15 years and my memory has slipped on this one, so to the best of your knowledge how does the watchtower come up with 1914.. i understand the 607 bce jerusalem thing, (which we know is wrong more like 587/586).

  i understand the gentile times / seven times thing that gives you 2520 years ( 7 x 360).

  i understand the day for a year calculation.. but the part i don't get is why only 360 days for a year and not 365 or 365.25, you can't calculate only 360 days a year through history because it would throw everything off.. hey maybe the watchtower will get "new light" on this and change it to 365 , it would give them an extra 35 years to work with ????.

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  Euphemism

  The deal with the Babylonian king who went nuts is where they get the seven times, alluded to in the first post of the thread. :)
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  36

  Do we suck in JW's unawares?

  by jgnat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  by title of this forum: jehovahs-witness.com, and the open registration: ...everyone welcome!

  do we suck in jehovah's witnesses unawares?

  by its ip address alone, are we being deceptive?.

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  Euphemism

  Is there a listing of the district overbeers? How can I find out which district I'm assigned to? Or can I purchase an overbeer at my local liquor store?