made by bob dylan and far-famed with the fantastic guitar playing of jimmy hendrix, "all along the watchtower" has been leaving great signatures in the pop history.
i want to have a chance to drop my own interpretation.
reading the below, you may need to take into consideration the fact that i'm not a native speaker in english.. [all along the watchtower] written by bob dyan - full lyrics.
I don't think this song has anything to do with JWs. The use of the the word Watchtower is a coincidence. Unless there's any evidence for a link?
Conceptually Hotal California is a better fit, although neither is that "about" JWs, except in the eye of the beholder, as far as I know
..........however, it seems that this practice [theocratic warfare] is seeping more and more into regular witness life.
in fact, one speech outline for the upcoming 2017 circuit assembly appears to directly encourage witnesses to lie to the general public about watchtower’s teachings on homosexuality............. http://jwsurvey.org/mind-control/upcoming-2017-jw-assembly-encourages-witness-youths-to-lie-about-homosexuality.
nb this is a month old.. if it has been previously posted and i missed it, sorry .
There is something really obnoxious with the idea that JWs treat homosexuals equally with single heterosexuals because both are in the "same position" of having to abstain from sex. The fact is single heterosexual JWs can find partners if they are willing and able whereas homosexual JWs can't. Even if they are not in a position to do so, single heterosexual JWs can at least dream about finding a partner. Even the dreams of homosexual JWs, even if not acted upon, are deemed sinful in themselves. The idea that this constitutes equal treatment is risible.
the statement in the article "who is leading gods people today?
" in the feb 17th study edition of the wt is very interesting.. it states: ""the g.b.
is neither inspired nor infallible" ..we can err .in doctrinal matters....".
Could be. They've got to drop 1914 at some point, right? On the other hand, having read this forum since it started in 2000, I have got 1914 correctional fatigue at this point. It's been predicted so many times.
One time in the early 2000s in particular someone pointed out that 1914 hadn't been quoted in the WT for something like 6 months or more. But it was as if bethel was reading the forum, because there was a spate of 1914s after that.
Plus the comment might not mean anything, other than that GB like to assert their authority just for its own sake sometimes. Remember the WT a few years ago that said: be ready to following directions from the WT even if they appear to make no sense from a human standpoint. That was a pretty suggestive statement, but not much has come of it, so far.
As for what changes are likely, their history shows they only makes changes when events make the change necessary (dropping generation first time in 1995), legal challenges (selling literature or food at conventions) or if there is a financial motive (dropping district overseers and reducing magazines).
They've dug their heels in over blood and seem intent on simply waiting until new technology and medicine solves the problem for them. Plus shunning has been ramped up not scaled down.
They are much more likely to drop 1914 or the 144,000 teaching than they are to drop shunning or the blood ban in my view. Doctrinal changes like 1914 and 144,000 would be cheap to make and they would actually make sense, which is an unexpected bonus from this organisation.
If they do drop 1914 they'd need to revise even their Bible, now that they included 1914 in a picture in there as well.
having seen many, many people leave the org over the years, i have to say that, when it comes to married couples, it's almost always the man who makes the first move to leave.
conversely, when it comes to being converted into the witnesses, more often than not it's the wife who joins up first.
although that wasn't the case with my own parents, my father became converted and my mother followed very reluctantly..
I was going to link the same book TD posted, co-auothored by Steve Bruce, world expert on secularisation. They present various social factors that account for the fact that women are significantly more religious than men. That being the case it's no surprise women tend to join JWs more often and are more reluctant to leave. Even among religions, which are generally weighted toward women, women are particularly over-represented among JWs.
1st corinthians 15 12-17. but if it is preached that christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even christ has been raised.
and if christ has not been raised, your faith is futile... .
Whatever you think of Christianity, Tom Wright is a very engaging writer who manages to tell the story of Jesus like no one else. I have read some shorter books by him but have not got round to reading his book on the resurrection. This brief video shows that he argues the enlightenment is a parody of the real turning point in human history which was the resurrection of Jesus.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Resurrection-Son-Christian-Origins-Question/dp/0281055505/
More on resurrection and paradise earth.
i stumbled across something the other day that made me sit up because it seemed to perfectly describe a feeling i experience from time to time that apparently isn't uncommon.. it's called autonomous sensory meridian response or "asmr" and is a kind of tingly feeling on/in your head.
you can read about it here:.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/autonomous_sensory_meridian_response.
Let me file this under, "weird things I would never have heard about were it not for the Internet".
I got online in 2000 and I'm still half expecting the Internet to be a passing phase and for reality to return to 1990s "normal" at some point.
1st corinthians 15 12-17. but if it is preached that christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even christ has been raised.
and if christ has not been raised, your faith is futile... .
The reason I argued that the feasibility of a resurrection is bound up with the existence or otherwise of God is because I believe the two things are logically linked for the reasons I have given. I am sorry you see this as a nefarious plot. I see it as clarifying the issue.
To me it seems pretty simple: a material universe without any supreme being is one in which a resurrection is very unlikely. Whereas a universe caused by a supreme being is one where a resurrection is entirely possible. Therefore the feasibility of a resurrection hangs on the existence or otherwise of God.
To me it's as if you want to exclude God by the back door. First you want to establish that a resurrection certainly could not have happened. Having conceded that, the other person has already entered with you into a purely material conception of reality that excludes God. So the discussion is over before it began.
1st corinthians 15 12-17. but if it is preached that christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even christ has been raised.
and if christ has not been raised, your faith is futile... .
Your argument that there certainly was no resurrection rests on the assumption there is no God.
Whereas belief in the resurrection rests on the view that God exists and resurrection is a plausible act for such a being.
So I suggest that the argument ultimately turns on whether God exists or not.
Unless you argue that even if God exists then it would have been impossible for him to resurrect Jesus? I doubt you would argue that.
So yes, "if God" is the key question, I would say.
1st corinthians 15 12-17. but if it is preached that christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even christ has been raised.
and if christ has not been raised, your faith is futile... .
Oh I forgot the main difference (I'm tired):
If we allow for the possibility of their being a God, there is plausible explanation for why he might want to perform a resurrection, whereas there is little reason to suppose he'd be interested in creating a typing penguin.
The (or an) explanation for why God intervened to resurrect Jesus is to give mankind hope that death need not be the end, suffering can be reversed, God values us as individuals and ultimately will not forget us. Whether we agree with that story or not, we should acknowledge that it speaks to deep aspects of our human nature, and our concerns, in a way that a hypothetical typing penguin simply does not. (Unless I'm missing out something terribly dramatic and meaningful in the typing penguin scenario)
1st corinthians 15 12-17. but if it is preached that christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even christ has been raised.
and if christ has not been raised, your faith is futile... .
There are circumstances surrounding the idea of the resurrection that make it unlike a typing penguin. Such as:
1. The amazing fact of consciousness and the natural question of what becomes of it at death.
2. The course of human history including the history of the Jews and the rise and dominance of Christianity.
3. The very fact that anything exists at all and forces us to confront either a material universe from nothing or a material universe produced by something or someone outside of space and time.
4. The fact that billions of humans over thousands of years have found the Christian story of resurrection meaningful and compelling.
It's a bit silly to compare an idea with the history and reflection on being and consciousness as the resurrection has, with the likelihood of a typing penguin.
