Narkissos
JoinedTopics Started by Narkissos
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19
"Grace" and "post-modernity"
by Narkissos ini was thinking today (again, for i may well have already written something similar before) that if one word of christian theology has any chance to survive into (and, perhaps, past) the so-called "post-modern" era that would probably be "grace".. i wrote "word" rather than "concept" or "notion" because "grace" is not easily reduced to a single meaning.
in the bible the hebrew and greek words usually translated as "grace" ("undeserved kindness" in the nw overtranslation) happen to fall both sides of an unlikely semantic "border," between aesthetics ("grace" = "beauty") and ethics ("grace" = exception to, or excess over, "justice").
and in christian tradition too the idea of "grace" has been construed in a number of ways.
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32
The pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton according to GĂ©rard Gertoux
by Narkissos insome time ago i stumbled across a book by french author gerard gertoux, about the pronunciation of the tetragrammaton.
the book was also published in english (cf.
the author's site at http://gertoux.online.fr/divinename/) .
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105
What kind of atheist are you?
by Narkissos inchief rabbi leon ashkenazi said: "the difference between an atheist christian and an atheist jew is that an atheist christian does not believe that god exists, while an atheist jew believes that god does not exist.".
i'm not so sure about the jewish-christian borderline, but i love the nuance.. so which sentence suits you better?.
"i don't believe that god exists.".
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22
American Lawyers: Help on DF case!
by Narkissos inin a current european case, the wt lawyers refer to a judgment by the court of appeal of new jersey (nyc congregation of jws vs. mrs janice paul, # 819f.2d875, june 10, 1987) about the supposedly non-discriminatory character of the wt disfellowshipping arrangement and the related (shunning) instructions to its members.
according to them, in this case an exjw sued the congregation for slander, breach of private life, fraud and insult as a consequence of her disfellowshipment.
the court decided that the shunning of a disfellowshipped person was protected by the first amendment of the us constitution guaranteeing freedom of worship.
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55
Nothing.
by Narkissos inperhaps this paradoxical "topic" is one with which we here have dealt a little more, or a little more consciously, than the average population.. we used to have our heads full of beliefs (which we called "truth") in every direction: on theology, on cosmology, on paleontology, on past history, on so-called prophetic future, on heaven above, on earth, on she'ol beneath.
on many things -- current events, traditions, other peoples' beliefs and behaviours -- we had strong opinions which were directly or indirectly (the famous "conscience" matters) part of the same deal.
and of course our life was filled with activities and relationships, a community of "friends," people to "help" or "teach," etc.. then, gradually or suddenly, we came to suspect, often with a measure of terror, that all of this was not what we had thought and might sooner or later turn into... nothing.. this "nothing" is perhaps one of the most scary thoughts to people contemplating leaving the org one way or another.
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86
Death: Friend or Foe?
by Narkissos inthe jw and the (pseudo?
)scientific "hopes" of individual "everlasting life" (which have been connected on a couple of recent threads) have at least something in common: they all seem to take for granted that death is a bad thing.. as amazing as it may be to you, this amazes me so much that i don't know even where to start.
of course death hurts in reality when you lose people you love, or in imagination when you anticipate your own extinction.
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5
Anarchism and Christianity
by Narkissos in.
nietzsche wrote anarchists and christians were of the same kind, because of their rejection of reality (as he saw it).
he hated both and was at the same time fascinated by both.. french author andre malraux wrote that jesus was the only successful anarchist.. french essayist jacques ellul, who was a protestant and is still very influential in the "alternative movement", wrote an essay entitled "anarchy and christianity", where he tried to show the convergence and difference between the two ideologies.. what do you think?
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44
Is the NWT the best...
by Narkissos inwt publication ever?.
or the worst?.
: in nwt i include the "study editions" with cross-references and footnotes, and the kit..
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49
What were your reasons for becoming a JW?
by Narkissos inreasons, not excuses -- even valid ones (like, "i was ignorant, depressed, fooled").. yours in the sense that you can still own (to) them -- even though you now know the "answer" was wrong.. this obviously applies to those who became jws -- hence mostly not born-in, although some of the latter might admit to having chosen the jw way for themselves at a certain stage of their childhood or teenage years.. this question is triggered by a previous conversation with purplesofa on another thread:.
i think most of us that came in and not born in were searching.
our hearts were pure in our search.
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18
WT typology and the NT
by Narkissos inthis is a question that came to my mind from a couple of recent threads.. we are all familiar with the traditional wt use of typology on ot material (you know, ot characters and events being "types" of modern-day wt features and history, the latter being "antitypes" of the former).
i'm not sure whether this interpretive method has been strictly restricted to ot texts (in fact i don't think so, because i doubt there has been much methodological thinking about it), but it seems to me that it has been only rarely applied to the nt.
and i am wondering why.