Posts by Disillusioned JW

27

So where oh where did Judge Rutherford come up with JW theology?

by Terry in

jw
friends

bits of unreported history that may be of casual interest… as to doctrinal origins.

sykes was one-of-a-kind in the pentecostal movement, but he was considered quite a maverick who went his own way with heretical teachings repugnant to the pentecostal faith.. joshua sykes’ congregation was integrated, unlike pastor russell’s public speeches/sermons where blacks and whites both could attend, but only in separate sections--sykes's members were sitting side by side in the pentecostal church.

this was considered dangerous and inflammatory at the time.. pentecostal preacher joshua sykes practiced racial and gender "integration" as early as 1908 -- having both african-american and female assistant preachers, staffers, and members.

Disillusioned JW

Hi dropoffyourkeylee. I do think that the article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Name_Movement makes some very questionable statements. For example, the quote of "The Sacred Name Movement (SNM) ... prompted by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, were concerned with the Hebrew name of God, a concern that led the Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society to the adoption of the name Jehovah's Witnesses, seems very problematic to me. Rutherford in regards to the name of the biblical God of the Hebrew Scriptures did not emphasize the name YHWH (Yahweh) in its Hebrew form, nor in the form which scholars say is most likely the most accurate form for the English language, namely Yahweh. Instead Rutherford emphasized the common English rendering of it (as used in the KJV and ASV Bibles) of "Jehovah". Furthermore, the main reason why the WT chose the name "Jehovah's witnesses" (later "Jehovah's Witnesses) was because Rutherford (and maybe the WT organization) wanted a Bible based name that would stop people from calling the religion by various other names, such as International Bible Students (which was simply the name of one the WT's corporations), Russellites, Millennial Dawners, etc. The latter names were demeaning. The name Bible Students was too general, at least for Rutherford since he wanted to distinguish his version of the religion from the other Bible Students groups (the ones which did not accept Rutherford's changes to the teachings of Russell).

I think Rutherford emphasized the name Jehovah, in order to aid his argument against the Trinity doctrine. It made it easier for him to present Jehovah and Jesus as two separate beings, whereas emphasizing the title of "Lord" would blur that distinction and make it harder to refute the Trinity doctrine. I notice that Rutherford's doctrinal book called The Harp of God: Proof Conclusive that Millions now Living will never Die, from the year 1921 (just a few years after Russell died), uses the name "Jehovah" extensively. It thus seems to me that the WT's strong emphasis on the name "Jehovah" began under Rutherford, by the year 1921 (and possibly by a bit earlier). The name "Jehovah" was also used in Russell's books but I am not aware of any of his books using the name anywhere near as extensively as Rutherford's book from 1921 uses the name.

15

2022 Service Report is Out

by Bartolomeo in

warning: this post doesn't belong to me, i took it from reddit and posted it here.

news.

+0.4% growth in publishers globally.

Disillusioned JW

People talk/write about Generation Z and Millennials (formerly called Generation Y, but rarely called that now), but rarely mention Generation X (my generation). These days Generation X gets almost no attention in news reports which include demographics. But Generation X got onto the internet before the millennials (I first got onto the internet in the mid-1990s using dial-up internet). Over time Generation X is becoming less religious (that is over time, a larger percentage of them identify as being nonreligious). I wish that Generation X got more attention in the news than it does.

21

Face-Masks - don't stop infection OR transmission!

by BoogerMan in

pores in surgical face-masks = 600 microns.

coronavirus = between 0.125 & 5 microns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qomrgfyfdie&t=227s.

Disillusioned JW

waton, thanks for clarifying your words. By sticking out the tongue I didn't know you meant it making the cheek bulge. I tend to interpret expressions literally thus I thought you meant making the tongue stick out to the outside of the mouth, such as when 'making a face' at someone. I also now see that you might also mean that one could stick out their tongue (to the outside of the mouth) towards someone and not cause offense since the mask would be hiding the tongue.

I understood the other portion of your post where you said "right" to mean that masks are beneficial. Now I also understand what you meant by "and you can have a beard". Namely, that you can get away with wearing a beard (at least certain kinds) at the Kingdom Hall since the mask would be hiding the beard (at least certain kinds).

20

Hell, what is it

by Anony Mous in

so perhaps we all heard the jw story about jesus talking to gehenna and he was referring to a place outside the city where there was a dump burning refuse and everyone knew what it meant.. according to jw.org: tradition relates that the valley of hinnom thereafter became a place for the disposal of garbage.

and the bible provides confirmation for this.

at jeremiah 31:40, for example, the valley of hinnom is evidently called the “low plain of the carcasses and of the fatty ashes.” there was also the “gate of the ash-heaps,” a gate that seems to have opened out onto the eastern extremity of the valley of hinnom at its juncture with the kidron valley.—nehemiah 3:13, 14.. i think i heard that in the study of the greatest teacher book first.

Disillusioned JW

Hi Anony Mous. Thanks for your reply to my post. Your post contains multiple ideas about Gehenna which I have never hear or read of before. The ideas seem very strange to me and hard for me to believe but maybe they are correct. Perhaps I should do some research on them.

Thanks Phizzy for your excellent post about the "mental gymnastics" performed by the WT.

21

Face-Masks - don't stop infection OR transmission!

by BoogerMan in

pores in surgical face-masks = 600 microns.

coronavirus = between 0.125 & 5 microns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qomrgfyfdie&t=227s.

Disillusioned JW

Hi Phizzy. I am under age sixty (though over age 50) and as far as I can tell I never had any Covid-19 symptoms. In contrast some of my co-workers have gotten Covid-19 twice despite taking all of the their Covid-19 shots even when using the same brand I took, namely the Moderna brand). I went about a year before getting my most recent booster shot because I wanted to wait for the bi-valent shot rather than taking another shot which was entirely of the same formulation I previously had. I having been taking vitamin-herbal supplements including vitamin D and vitamin D is known to offer protection from Covid-19. I'm thinking my body has a strong natural immunity to Covid-19 virus and/or that my supplement intake and mask use is protecting me from Covid-19.

I have been taking the flu shots for 3 or 4 years now and I noticed that they work excellently for me since I have not had any flu symptoms since I started taking them (my employer has them provided at work; they are administered by pharmacists from a Safeway store). Even more interestingly, I haven't had any cold symptoms either since I started getting flu shots. i used to get really bad cold and/or flu about once every one or two years when I was in a work environment around many people (instead of working at home or being unemployed), yet surprisingly I haven't had any colds (colds are produced by corona viruses) since I started getting flu shots.

I thought I might have some lingering Covid-19 vaccine induced Covid-19 spike proteins in my body tissues, and I wanted to get rid of any Covid-19 spike proteins I might have. I thus searched for any medical science articles which might say how to remove them. I discovered that a medical study on Covid-19 patients shows that Quercetin helps the body to destroy the Covid-19 spike proteins. I thus recently purchased a Quercetin supplement and started taking it as a result.

21

Face-Masks - don't stop infection OR transmission!

by BoogerMan in

pores in surgical face-masks = 600 microns.

coronavirus = between 0.125 & 5 microns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qomrgfyfdie&t=227s.

Disillusioned JW

My view is that the Covid-19 vaccines are partially successful against Covid-19 and that use of face masks (and the washing of hands) are also partially successful against Covid-19 (and against catching the colds and the flu). Furthermore, my view is that using both vaccines and masks (and the washing of hands) is more successful against Covid-19 than only one or the other. However I think I don't need to take any more Covid-19 vaccines.

21

Face-Masks - don't stop infection OR transmission!

by BoogerMan in

pores in surgical face-masks = 600 microns.

coronavirus = between 0.125 & 5 microns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qomrgfyfdie&t=227s.

Disillusioned JW

Balaamsass2, thanks your informative post about surgical face masks and their effectiveness.

21

Face-Masks - don't stop infection OR transmission!

by BoogerMan in

pores in surgical face-masks = 600 microns.

coronavirus = between 0.125 & 5 microns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qomrgfyfdie&t=227s.

Disillusioned JW

waton, I have no idea of how your comment of "and you can have a beard, and stick out the tongue at you know whom at the meeting" to me relates to what I said about mask wearing providing some protection from Covid-19. Perhaps you mean that fully vaccinated people who attend JW meetings are free to stick their tongue out at people. However, I don't attend JW meetings anymore, but from around the years 1999 to 2006 I did wear a beard at the JW meetings I attended, and during part of my first year of doing such I was a ministerial servant. However, I don't stick my tongue out at people.

I still voluntarily wear surgical face masks at work and everywhere else when I am around other people, except when I am eating or drinking.

Boogerman, I said "as you say" because you are my source for the information you presented, since I have not yet taken the effort to see if they are scientific facts (except that I do know that the Covid-19 virus is small enough to pass through most masks).

27

So where oh where did Judge Rutherford come up with JW theology?

by Terry in

jw
friends

bits of unreported history that may be of casual interest… as to doctrinal origins.

sykes was one-of-a-kind in the pentecostal movement, but he was considered quite a maverick who went his own way with heretical teachings repugnant to the pentecostal faith.. joshua sykes’ congregation was integrated, unlike pastor russell’s public speeches/sermons where blacks and whites both could attend, but only in separate sections--sykes's members were sitting side by side in the pentecostal church.

this was considered dangerous and inflammatory at the time.. pentecostal preacher joshua sykes practiced racial and gender "integration" as early as 1908 -- having both african-american and female assistant preachers, staffers, and members.

Disillusioned JW

Interestingly according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Name_Movement Russell influenced the Sacred Name movement which "... arose in the early 20th century out of the Church of God (Seventh Day) movement." I had thought that maybe Rutherford got the idea of stressing the name Jehovah from them, but it now looks like they got the idea of stressing some form of the name Yahweh/YHWH as a result of Rutherford stressing the name Jehovah. The article says the following. "The Sacred Name Movement (SNM) refers to the movement within Adventism which, prompted by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, were concerned with the Hebrew name of God, a concern that led the Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society to the adoption of the name Jehovah's Witnesses.[1]"

21

Face-Masks - don't stop infection OR transmission!

by BoogerMan in

pores in surgical face-masks = 600 microns.

coronavirus = between 0.125 & 5 microns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qomrgfyfdie&t=227s.

Disillusioned JW

Even if the numbers are as you say (I don't know if they are and I don't plan to watch the video in the post), what size are the water droplets which contain the Coronavirus? If the masks filter out the water droplets to some extent, then they might also filter out the Coronavirus (contained within the water) to some extent.