asking jehovah’s witnesses to interpret specific passages is a great way to demonstrate their interpretive abuse.
got any clear examples?.
Vanderhoven7:
Here is some of the fine spiritual food the Watchtower was dispensing in 1919
Interesting… The list that followed was almost entirely copied without attribution from my page at https://jeffro77.wordpress.com/index/jehovahs-witnesses-and-1914-2, re-ordered but verbatim down to the specific punctuation.
Also plagiarised in the original order (by year abandoned) on a Quora post.
the following is from the latest study watchtower july 2025, study article 28, paragraph 17:.
each christian must make up his or her own mind about whether to accept or to reject these fractions.
we may find it a challenge to understand this matter fully, but making decisions like this is part of the load that each of us must carry.
raymond frantz:
Duran , if you noticed ,they never talk about blood transfusions anymore.
Nope. Meeting Workbook for January 2025 addresses blood transfusions, with a link to a video about transfusions. They wouldn’t be still pushing members to contact a HLC if everything were a ‘conscience matter’.
Lesson 39 of their current ‘Bible Study’ textbook specifically address blood transfusions, and is required subject matter for all new or prospective members.
The reduced language around transfusions is about PR, not a shift in practice.
the following is from the latest study watchtower july 2025, study article 28, paragraph 17:.
each christian must make up his or her own mind about whether to accept or to reject these fractions.
we may find it a challenge to understand this matter fully, but making decisions like this is part of the load that each of us must carry.
The use of blood fractions being a ‘conscience matter’ has been JW policy for at least 35 years. See The Watchtower, 1 June 1990.
for believers of god and christ, it seems that it should be obvious that babylon the great of revelation should be all religions and spiritual practices associated with the one true enemy of christ...the devil, satan, the snake etc.
essentially any group or individual practicing and promoting witchcraft, sorcery, devil worshipping etc.
all things practiced in ancient babylon (the nation presumably used as the model for the one in revelation).. or is this too simple of an explanation?.
You’re not good at this. Maybe just stop.
At least he honestly quoted that I specifically referred to superstitions about magic. But it seems he still can’t separate fantasy from reality.
for believers of god and christ, it seems that it should be obvious that babylon the great of revelation should be all religions and spiritual practices associated with the one true enemy of christ...the devil, satan, the snake etc.
essentially any group or individual practicing and promoting witchcraft, sorcery, devil worshipping etc.
all things practiced in ancient babylon (the nation presumably used as the model for the one in revelation).. or is this too simple of an explanation?.
His selective (and poorly cited) disjointed quotation of some poetry from Isaiah 47 (part of 'Isaiah' starting at chapter 40 that was actually composed towards the end of the exilic period) is meant to bolster his tenuous connection between 'magic' in ancient Babylon with his tedious claims about 'pharmakeia'. But superstitions about 'magic' were commonplace and not in any way unique to Babylon, nor did they originate there. (He already shot himself in the foot before by alluding to the Canaanite superstitions about magic practiced by Manasseh.) Revelation mentions pharmakeia in passing rather than as a way to identify 'Babylon the Great'. It's primary meaning is the administration of drugs or poisons, and its use as a metaphor in the NT period is well attested.
This is getting boring. Magic isn't real. Separate to illusion (sleight of hand etc), belief in 'magic' is rooted in superstition, historically (and in the case of some like Halcon, still) used as a way to control the ignorant through fear.
for believers of god and christ, it seems that it should be obvious that babylon the great of revelation should be all religions and spiritual practices associated with the one true enemy of christ...the devil, satan, the snake etc.
essentially any group or individual practicing and promoting witchcraft, sorcery, devil worshipping etc.
all things practiced in ancient babylon (the nation presumably used as the model for the one in revelation).. or is this too simple of an explanation?.
O...K...
If non sequiturs are your goal, you're nailing this.
for believers of god and christ, it seems that it should be obvious that babylon the great of revelation should be all religions and spiritual practices associated with the one true enemy of christ...the devil, satan, the snake etc.
essentially any group or individual practicing and promoting witchcraft, sorcery, devil worshipping etc.
all things practiced in ancient babylon (the nation presumably used as the model for the one in revelation).. or is this too simple of an explanation?.
Wow 🤦♂️
for believers of god and christ, it seems that it should be obvious that babylon the great of revelation should be all religions and spiritual practices associated with the one true enemy of christ...the devil, satan, the snake etc.
essentially any group or individual practicing and promoting witchcraft, sorcery, devil worshipping etc.
all things practiced in ancient babylon (the nation presumably used as the model for the one in revelation).. or is this too simple of an explanation?.
Superstition followed by a non sequitur (or a false equivocation if you incorrectly think 'pharmakeia' means 'worship' or 'spiritual opposition') doesn't actually build a case for your position.
for believers of god and christ, it seems that it should be obvious that babylon the great of revelation should be all religions and spiritual practices associated with the one true enemy of christ...the devil, satan, the snake etc.
essentially any group or individual practicing and promoting witchcraft, sorcery, devil worshipping etc.
all things practiced in ancient babylon (the nation presumably used as the model for the one in revelation).. or is this too simple of an explanation?.
Any idea what Manasseh did?
I've already touched on that. Manasseh practiced a form of Canaanite worship (which included child sacrifice), because the Jews were originally Canaanites. It wasn't Babylonian religion, and the Babylonians didn't practice child sacrifice. But keep digging. 🥱
for believers of god and christ, it seems that it should be obvious that babylon the great of revelation should be all religions and spiritual practices associated with the one true enemy of christ...the devil, satan, the snake etc.
essentially any group or individual practicing and promoting witchcraft, sorcery, devil worshipping etc.
all things practiced in ancient babylon (the nation presumably used as the model for the one in revelation).. or is this too simple of an explanation?.
The other scriptures that you 'want' to refer to are further superstitious attempts to frame what happened due to 'divine punishment', but they are ad hoc rationalisations retroactively presented as 'prophecy'.
Any idea what Manasseh did?
The Israelites were, in reality, originally just another one of the Canaanite tribes, and it is unsurprising that they practiced the same types of religious practices (which weren't Babylonian). Gradually, the Jews diverged into a form of monotheism, elevating their local deity from among the Canaanite pantheon. None of this is actually why Babylon destroyed Jerusalem though.
