"American Atheists’ Statement on Meeting with Biden Administration":
Disillusioned JW
JoinedPosts by Disillusioned JW
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70
Report Card : How’s President Biden Doing?
by minimus ini give him an f for falling down on the job..
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Degree of Effectiveness of JW Letter Writing Form of Witnessing
by Disillusioned JW ina newspaper article quotes a jw as saying "every (letter) i put in the mailbox, i feel, 'ah, this could reach somebody.
'" the article also quotes her as saying "we are accomplishing even more now than we were door-to-door because this way everybody in the house gets a chance to pick up that letter and respond to it.
it just feels good.
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Disillusioned JW
I see a number of posts on jehovahs-witness.com that say the Covid-19 vaccine causes diabetes, such as the above post by WTWizard, but my research about the vaccine is that it does not cause diabetes. My research even says that people with diabetes should get the vaccine since people with diabetes are at a much higher risk of severe complications if they later get infected with Covid-19. I intend to get my first shot of the vaccine (one by Moderna) before the end of this month.
Regarding the spread of the virus by letter writing, the scientific evidence is that the virus doesn't survive long on paper. Regarding licking stamps, many USA stamps are now the self-sticking kind (they are pealed off a sheet of paper/plastic and then adhered to an envelope).
Phizzy, I am very surprised by your claim of "The Org evidently does not want new recruits, it wants to shrink to a core of loyal JW's ...". I find it very hard to believe that they have no desire for new recruits, however maybe obtaining new recruits is now a low priority for them. But, interestingly I see that the Mormon (both men and women) missionaries are out in public witnessing to people. I asked one for how long did the LDS suspend such preaching/witnessing activity due to Covid-19 and he said for only about two months in the year 2020.
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Degree of Effectiveness of JW Letter Writing Form of Witnessing
by Disillusioned JW ina newspaper article quotes a jw as saying "every (letter) i put in the mailbox, i feel, 'ah, this could reach somebody.
'" the article also quotes her as saying "we are accomplishing even more now than we were door-to-door because this way everybody in the house gets a chance to pick up that letter and respond to it.
it just feels good.
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Disillusioned JW
A newspaper article quotes a JW as saying "Every (letter) I put in the mailbox, I feel, 'Ah, this could reach somebody.'" The article also quotes her as saying "We are accomplishing even more now than we were door-to-door because this way everybody in the house gets a chance to pick up that letter and respond to it. It just feels good." An online version of the article appears at https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/507924-406294-no-knocking-for-jehovahs-witnesses-in-beaverton-due-to-covid-19 and another link is at https://pamplinmedia.com/bvt/15-news/507924-406294-no-knocking-for-jehovahs-witnesses-in-beaverton-due-to-covid-19. I added the bold facing for emphasis in the above quote.
Do you folks think the letter writing form of witnessing reaches more people than the door-to-door form of witnessing? If it does, it might stimulate growth in the JW religion.
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123
1969 "fact": You will never grow old in this present system of things
by Ding inawake!
"if you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things.
because all the evidence in fulfillment of bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years... therefore, as a young person, you will never fulfill any career that this system offers.
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Disillusioned JW
I think the 1-1-89 Watchtower (that said in this Twentieth Century) mentioned the missionary work instead of the general preaching work, coming to an end by then.
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123
1969 "fact": You will never grow old in this present system of things
by Ding inawake!
"if you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things.
because all the evidence in fulfillment of bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years... therefore, as a young person, you will never fulfill any career that this system offers.
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Disillusioned JW
Magnum, I am sad to that you work so many hours. I don't know how a human body can take that much work; I know mine can't (or at least I very strongly don't think it can), especially if with the amount of commuting time you claim to have. If I were to work that many hours per week I think I would drop down dead within a few months or so.
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List of Critical WTS Teachings
by Vanderhoven7 ini sent a list of statements about current wts teachings to a friend who is being carefully recruited by a seasoned witness.. hi em..... just a quick summary of what all “good” jehovah's witnesses believe...even though some of these things witnesses are not always willing to be transparent about.
this is your crash course.
i have quotations for every item listed if you want or need them.. witnesses believes that:.
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Disillusioned JW
Here is the thing, each of the items listed are things that were taught in WT/JW literature that was offered to the public in the 1970s and/or 1980s (and later years), so why would a JW be ashamed to admit those teachings? Back when I was a JW I would not have been ashamed to tell them, for I was offering Watchtowers to the people which contained study articles saying those things I was offering various books which taught such things. Not all of those things were in every issue of the WT, but some WT issues would teach some of the things and others would teach some of the other things; a collection of WT literature taught all of those things. For example, The Babylon The Great book and the Then is Finished the Mystery of God book were offered door to the public for a period of time, and studied in congregation Book Studies in JW homes, for a period of time, and those who studied the Bible with the JWs were invited to attend those meetings.
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JWD oldtimers
by Gorb inhi friends,.
are here still some oldtimers from the earlier jwd time?
gorby .
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Disillusioned JW
I know what JW means but what does JWD mean?
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5
On the Deuteronomist history (And the majority of the prophets) A shocking discovery this morning
by HowTheBibleWasCreated inevery now and then i come ac ross a person in ancient times that blows my mind.
for instance at one time i agreed with many that in 175bce antiochus place a statute of zeus in the temple and nothing was there before.
but lo and behold several sources from then claim that before zeus was an idol of set-typhon in the temple (synchronism) it was really judas maccabee and his family that were the original 'deuteronomists' (not josiah).
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Disillusioned JW
Thanks for your reply. The verses you mentioned, 1 Samuel 24:16 and 1 Samuel 26:17, are important. 1 Samuel 26:21 (NASB - Updated) says 'The Saul said, "I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will not harm you again ... and verse 25 says 'Then Saul said to David, "Blessed are you, my son David; you will both accomplish much and surely prevail.' ..." That latter verse is definitely one I remember reading a few days ago when I was reading the surrounding verses to the account in chapter 28 about Saul going to the medium of Endor! [I specifically remember reading the words "... you will both accomplish much and surely prevail ..." of 1 Samuel 26:25.]
Thank you for referring me to chapter 26 since that helped me to find the verse I had earlier read which clearly said David is the son of Saul.
1 Samuel 17:15 about David feeding (or tending to) Saul's sheep reminds me of John 21:15-17 where, according to the according to the account, Jesus tells Peter to feed/tend and shepherd the figurative sheep of Jesus.
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5
On the Deuteronomist history (And the majority of the prophets) A shocking discovery this morning
by HowTheBibleWasCreated inevery now and then i come ac ross a person in ancient times that blows my mind.
for instance at one time i agreed with many that in 175bce antiochus place a statute of zeus in the temple and nothing was there before.
but lo and behold several sources from then claim that before zeus was an idol of set-typhon in the temple (synchronism) it was really judas maccabee and his family that were the original 'deuteronomists' (not josiah).
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Disillusioned JW
Correction: In my prior post where I said "... the son Jesse ..." I meant to say "... the son of Jesse ...".
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5
On the Deuteronomist history (And the majority of the prophets) A shocking discovery this morning
by HowTheBibleWasCreated inevery now and then i come ac ross a person in ancient times that blows my mind.
for instance at one time i agreed with many that in 175bce antiochus place a statute of zeus in the temple and nothing was there before.
but lo and behold several sources from then claim that before zeus was an idol of set-typhon in the temple (synchronism) it was really judas maccabee and his family that were the original 'deuteronomists' (not josiah).
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Disillusioned JW
Regarding me a few days ago thinking I had read the Bible say David was a son a Saul, I think that I had misread a verse while skimming quickly through the book of 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel 16:20 (NASB - Updated Edition) says "Jesse ... to Saul by David his son." The reference to "his son" is speaking of the son Jesse, but perhaps it could be argued that the Deuteronomist modified that verse to have it say (or seem to say) that David was the son of Jesse instead of Saul.
HowTheBibleWasCreated, is there a verse in the Bible which says, or implies, that David was the son (not the Son-Law) of Saul? If so, what verse is it?
Thanks for mentioning that Eupolemus wrote that David was the son of Saul. That was new information to me. Today I searched for details about that and the following are some things I found.
http://graceandknowledge.faithweb.com/Eupolemus.html says: 'Moving on to what Eupolemus had to say about the reign of Saul’s successor David, it is noteworthy that Eupolemus calls David the “son” of King Saul rather than “son-in-law.” A later manuscript of Eusebius’ Praeparatio Evangelica, shows an alternate reading here of “son-in-law,” but that is most likely a scribal gloss that brought Eupolemus’ text back into explicit accordance with biblical history. It is possible that when Eupolemus called David the son of Saul, he only meant that David was Saul’s successor and had a familial relationship with him (along the lines of Daniel 5:13, where Nebuchadnezzar is said to be the “father” of his descendant and successor Belshazzar son of Nabonidus – cf. Baruch 1:11). Another hypothesis is that it was Polyhistor who mistakenly called David the son of Saul as he quickly scanned Eupolemus to make an epitome of his text. However, Wacholder proposed (pages 130-131) that Eupolemus may have intentionally altered the relationship of David and Saul in order to elide the historical accounts of David’s rivalry with Saul and Saul’s son Ishbosheth. As we shall see, Eupolemus adopted a rather free approach to interpreting and relating Israel’s history.'
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/eupolemus says: "Fragment 2 is the longest single remnant of a Greco-Jewish text prior to *Philo. The reigns of Joshua, Samuel, and Saul and his son (sic) David are all mentioned briefly."
https://thebiblicalreview.wordpress.com/tag/hellenistic/ seems to be the web page you found about what Eupolemus wrote. I notice that it says in the part the following:
'Eupolemus was a Jewish-hellenistic historian in the 2nd century BCE. and wrote work entitled On the Kings in Judea. The only surviving fragments are from Alexander Polyhistor’s On the Jews, preserved by Clement of Alexandria (c. CE 150-216) and Eusebius of Caesarea (c. CE 260-340).
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Fragment 2 historiographically traces the lineage of prophets and kings in the early Judean monarchy. Eupolemus traces it as follows:
- Moses: Prophesied for 40 years
- Joshua son of Nun: Prophesied for 30 years and established a sacred tabernacle at Shiloh.
- Samuel: Prophetic reign is not given a period of time.
- Saul: By the will of God, Samuel chooses Saul to be king, and Saul rules for 21 years, then dies.
- David: According to Polyhistor, David son of Saul becomes king, subdues the region through warfare, and dies.
- Solomon: Reigns and builds the temple until the end of Fragment 2.
Historiography and Re-appropriation
Anybody who knows their Bible 101 recognizes that this history of the Judean kings is highly idealized. Already the Deuteronomistic Historian [1] and Chronicle each have unique trajectories and historiographical aims. Each re-appropriates the narrative of the emergence of the ancient Israelite monarchy for their own aims. Eupolemus’s Fragment 2 contributes to an alternative approaches to ancient Israel’s history written for a unique audience.
Based on this idea, I wonder what happens if we choose to understand David as Saul’s son not a scribal error [2].
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2] “Eupolemus”, tranlsation and commentary by F. Fallon, ed. James Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha vol. 2 (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1983), 861-872, Fragment 2, n. g, comments that the “error in identifying David as Saul’s son is probably due to a misunderstanding by Alexander Plyhistory. MS B has corrected the error to son-in-law”.'