Posts by slimboyfat

6

acts 13:12 "Jehovah" or the "Lord"

by enoughisenough in

acts 13:12 nwt......at the teaching of "jehovah"....i was reading in acts and the apostles were teaching about jesus, and so when i saw the word "jehovah", it seemed out of context with the other context in acts.

( i think there may be some instances where the name jehovah may fit into acts--but the jury isn't in on that ) i went into bible gateway which lists how the verse is translated in other versions and the several others i read all translated "the lord" ( not all capitols so meaning jesus) which i think is more fitting with the context.

i really need to get another bible besides the nwt...i keep thinking i may end up with my dad's large print bible.

slimboyfat

Could be - it looks like a case that could go either way. New Testament scholar James Dunn categorises it as an ambiguous use of kyrios that could apply to either God or Jesus. The NWT study Bible makes a reasonable case for their inclusion of Jehovah in the verse based on the context:

In the preceding two verses, Kyʹri·os occurs twice. In both cases, it refers to God and can be viewed as a substitute for the divine name. (See comments on Acts 13:10, 11) The expression “the teaching of Jehovah” is synonymous with “the word of God,” used at Acts 13:5. That verse says that when Paul and his companions arrived in Cyprus, they “began proclaiming the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.” As a result, the proconsul Sergius Paulus was “eager to hear the word of God.” (Acts 13:7) So it is natural to conclude that after witnessing what Paul said and did, Sergius Paulus was astounded at what he had learned about Jehovah God and the teaching originating from Him. Some translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures into Hebrew use the divine name here. So in view of the context and the background of the expression and the ambiguity of the term Kyʹri·os, the divine name is used in the main text.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

slimboyfat

Nah I don’t think the thread will be done until his channel is. At current rate of attrition that could take a few years, but he might give up earlier if the relentless decline gets to him. I suppose it depends what we mean by “give up” because I suspect he’ll keep his Patreon page open so he can keep raiding the bank accounts of any who forget to close their Patreon subscription long after he has all but given up and moved on. Maybe we should define “giving up” as below 50 patrons and/or fewer than 1 video a month, or something like that. If we agree a definition of collapse of his channel maybe we could run a prediction pool on that too - say put me down for February 2026.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

slimboyfat

Minus -33 down to 474 just to give him a good fright. 🦇 👍

36

Did anyone really enjoy assemblies?

by SydBarrett in

jw
friends

the twickenham post made me think of this.

i have a few jw family members on facebook and being summertime, their pics of the convention have shown up in my fb feed.

along with their comments about "i wished it would never end" or "what a glorious weekend".

slimboyfat

I liked the book releases best. They are really missing something without the book releases. I guess they want to save money, but they are probably underestimating how much it motivated people to attend all the sessions and speculate on what themed talk was a book title.

69

Where Does Watchtower Doctrine Contradict Scripture?

by Vanderhoven7 in

here are some areas that i have found:.

not only is watchtower eschatology offbase, which is not critical, but so is watchtower soteriology … which is critical.

the bible says not to put trust in men who cannot save.

slimboyfat

Phil 2.11 says that everyone bending their knee to Jesus is “to the glory of God the Father.”

I’ve yet to read any statement in scripture that even hints that worship of God is “to the glory of” an another. Clearly Jesus is distinguish from God in this verse because worship to God is his alone by right, whereas bending the knee to Jesus is for the purpose of elevating Jesus’ God and ours.

God is the source of everything and the rightful recipient of worship.

Jesus is God’s Son through who God created everything and through whom he will reconcile all creation. Thus all honour and praise to Jesus is, as scripture plainly says, “to the glory of God the Father.”

Paul spells out the difference between God and Jesus extremely clearly again in 1 Cor 15.27 and 28:

27 For “God has put all things in subjection under [Jesus] feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

slimboyfat

I think that website scrapes the data from the Patreon site, so if it is no longer available on Patreon then the graph site might stick at the last known count of 508

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

slimboyfat

It looks like the patron number has been removed from LE’s Patreon account?

I guess he didn’t enjoy the monthly speculation about how far his support would drop, or the reminder that his boost from the begging video was only temporary.

69

Where Does Watchtower Doctrine Contradict Scripture?

by Vanderhoven7 in

here are some areas that i have found:.

not only is watchtower eschatology offbase, which is not critical, but so is watchtower soteriology … which is critical.

the bible says not to put trust in men who cannot save.

slimboyfat

The Watchtower magazine bases its articles on Bible teaching. If you are questioning that then you are undermining the basis for believing it is the truth. Honestly, sometimes I think this discussion forum is beginning to develop apostate leanings. 😁

54

Is AI going to change the world?

by Reasonfirst in

jw
friends

had lunch with a friend, whose a lecturer in the accounting dept.

of one of australia's best universities.

he told me he expects to lose his job at some point in the next 5 years, as the accounting dept, will disappear, as all accounting will be done by ai programs, so why teach it.. if his fears are correct, that means that any profession that involves the mind, may one day face the same future.

slimboyfat

I got a lot of wrong answers from ChatGPT too.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6003458855927808/frustrating-discussion-chargpt

1. Do you think AI gave better or worse answers to your questions than the average human? The percentage of humanity who could give the correct answer to the first question for example must be exceedingly tiny. The fact that we are testing it out on obscure pieces of knowledge already is testament to how far it has come. AI is already better than the average human in general, and better than specialists in some particular areas. That already makes it useful before the weak points are improved.

2. Have you tried the same questions on GPT 4? Do you think you will get better answers? Because ongoing improvements are substantial. The “hands” problem in early AI image generation has already largely been fixed, for example. (See above) GPT 2 apparently spat out nonsense most of the time. If the trajectory of improvement continues then most of the issues you highlight may be resolved relatively quickly. People have also reported substantial improvements in output if you adjust the prompt slightly. For example, you could try prefacing your maths question with the stament: “answer the following question as if you are a mathematics professor”. It sounds stupid but it makes a difference.

3. I think it’s fundamentally a mistake to assume that AI that makes errors is neither useful, nor a threat. AI could still be issuing “wrong” answers to basic questions right up to the day that it devises a new way for killing all humans on the planet in short order. It is apparently already very good at suggesting new pathogens, toxins, other weapons, and methods of delivery. Even if it’s singing the wrong lyrics to “Eve of Destruction” while doing it, we could all still be dead.

54

Is AI going to change the world?

by Reasonfirst in

jw
friends

had lunch with a friend, whose a lecturer in the accounting dept.

of one of australia's best universities.

he told me he expects to lose his job at some point in the next 5 years, as the accounting dept, will disappear, as all accounting will be done by ai programs, so why teach it.. if his fears are correct, that means that any profession that involves the mind, may one day face the same future.

slimboyfat

My own experience of Midjourney is that it has improved over the past few months. At first it made a terrible mess of human hands, but the latest images I have asked it to produce include pretty good drawings of hands. The fuzzy details are beginning to get clearer and the images are more and more accurate and usable. As it is the images that Midjourney and other programmes produce are useable and are already replacing the labour of artists.

Take this image from a few weeks ago. I asked for a depiction of Joseph teaching Jesus how to be a carpenter. This was one of the results. The hands look pretty good.