Posts by Disillusioned JW

6

WT Using Symbolic Interpretation to Twist Scriptures

by Sea Breeze in

does anyone know of examples where the watchtower used symbolic interpretation to twist the plain meaning of scripture?the only one that comes to my mind right now is in rev.

"then i heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of israel".. .

here, the wt would have us believe that the number of those sealed are literally 144k; but supposedly "israel" symbolically represents anointed jw's.

Disillusioned JW

Even in the SCI-FI TV show called "Stargate SG-1" one character told a Prior of the Ori that he (the Prior) twisted and acted against the meaning of a passage of the scriptures of the Ori.

14

Which WT book (or booklet) has illustrations of prehistoric animals?

by Disillusioned JW in

i remember that i once saw a wt book (or maybe a booklet) which in depicting one or two of the creative days of genesis had illustrations depicting now extinct prehistoric animals.

which publication was that?

i think the illustrations were of a 1950s or 1960s style.. update: i found it.

Yes the Green covered Bibles (the 1961, 1963, and 1970 edition regular size ones) have a dinosaur on the inside front cover, as do the black softcover and maroon softcover Bibles (including leather ones) revised in 1961 and 1970.

Not all dinosaurs are extinct. Scientists now classify birds as avian dinosaurs.

And, the Bible says Noah brought birds onto the ark, thus according to Bible (when combined with modern evolutionary paleontology) says Noah preserved some dinosaurs. Ha ha.

In a sense young Earth creationists are right when they say that dinosaurs walked among people, since birds walk among people today and scientists now say birds are avian dinosaurs.

14

Which WT book (or booklet) has illustrations of prehistoric animals?

by Disillusioned JW in

i remember that i once saw a wt book (or maybe a booklet) which in depicting one or two of the creative days of genesis had illustrations depicting now extinct prehistoric animals.

which publication was that?

i think the illustrations were of a 1950s or 1960s style.. update: i found it.

Disillusioned JW

I remember that I once saw a WT book (or maybe a booklet) which in depicting one or two of the creative days of Genesis had illustrations depicting now extinct prehistoric animals. Which publication was that? I think the illustrations were of a 1950s or 1960s style.

Update: I found it. It is the book from 1953 called New Heavens And A New Earth, in chapter 3.

30

What WT Children's Book Were You Studied With As A Child?

by Sea Breeze in

my mom studied with me in the paradise book before i went to kindergarten.

i remember the book vividly.

it creeped me out as a kid.

Disillusioned JW

The 1952 revision of the "Let God Be True" book corrected the 1946 edition in regards to saying that some copies of the Septuagint did have the Hebrew consonants of the divine name. That book also said that the Christian NT writers wrote the name in their books of the NT.

Regarding the Walter Martin's quotes of WT literature, when quoting from the NWT in many cases he might have been quoting from the 1961 revision or a later revision.

30

What WT Children's Book Were You Studied With As A Child?

by Sea Breeze in

my mom studied with me in the paradise book before i went to kindergarten.

i remember the book vividly.

it creeped me out as a kid.

Disillusioned JW

Regarding the "Let God Be True" book of 1946 and its revision of 1952, they can both be accessed online from http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/later.html .

Regarding the edition of the "Let God Be True" book from 1946, I noticed that it said the name Jehovah ("by itself") was NOT in the Christian Greek Scriptures - and NOT in the Greek Septuagint. Yes it says that. Notice what chapter II says on page 23 (as transcribed at http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/letgodbetrue/godbetrue2.html ).

"The writers of the Greek Christian Scriptures used that Septuagint Version and they quoted its Greek text which omitted the literal name of Almighty God; which partly explains why the name does not occur by itself in the Christian Greek Scriptures."

By the way, when Walter Martin's book called The KINGDOM Of The CULTS quotes from WT literature it appears to do so almost only from ones copyright prior to the year 1954. The first edition of Walter's book was copyright in 1965 (three years before the Truth book was released). Many of Walter's quotes are from the WT's "The Truth Shall Make You Free" and "Let God Be True" books. In the "Limited paperback edition--February 1996" I noticed only one quote from the Truth book.

30

What WT Children's Book Were You Studied With As A Child?

by Sea Breeze in

my mom studied with me in the paradise book before i went to kindergarten.

i remember the book vividly.

it creeped me out as a kid.

Disillusioned JW

The Questions From Readers June 15, 1952 is interesting since just six years later the WT released the book called From Paradise Lost To Paradise Regained. Interestingly the "To The Reader" section of that book does not describe the book as a book primarily for children (though to me it is such a book), but rather as a book for those who know nothing about the Bible, even for ones who have never seen a Bible. It says regarding such ones the following.

"They do not know what God himself said and did. That is why this book has to be very simple and plain when it tells you about these people of long ago and about the good things that God has done and has promised.

The simple language of this book is not because you are not a full-grown man or woman or do not have a mind old enough to understand hard things. But now you have something new to learn; ... So you must get to know these things little by little."

30

What WT Children's Book Were You Studied With As A Child?

by Sea Breeze in

my mom studied with me in the paradise book before i went to kindergarten.

i remember the book vividly.

it creeped me out as a kid.

Disillusioned JW

It is a bit ironic that a WT study book can be abbreviated as LGBT. Ain't it? When I see LGBT I think 'lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender', since that is the common meaning of LGBT today.

Speaking of sexuality, why do so many ads on this site about the morally conservative JW religion show photographs of scantily clad highly alluring sexy young women? It is very distracting (at least for me).

6

Documentary: "The Adventists"

by Disillusioned JW in

here are links to some trailers.. the adventists documentary film - bing video - the sda live about 10 years longer than people in general of the usa, due to their emphasis on healthy living.

that is something i appreciate about them.. there are some similarities between the sda and wt/jws.

see the following videos.. the great disappointment - bing video - the video mentions christ will come to his sanctuary; the wt teaches christ came to the temple in 1918 (or so).. october 22, 1844 - we know the date.

Disillusioned JW

ER-1470's full name is KNM-ER-1470. For information of the later fossils which are an excellent fit to it and which complete the reconstruction of it see https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22151-fossils-confirm-three-early-humans-roamed-africa/ . In that reconstruction KNM-ER-1470 still has a vault in its cranium - that is encouraging to me. In my prior post I said that KNM-ER-1470 has a rectangular jaw, but its jaw is probably more accurately described as U-shaped. See also https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna48573025 and http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/article00528.html .

6

Documentary: "The Adventists"

by Disillusioned JW in

here are links to some trailers.. the adventists documentary film - bing video - the sda live about 10 years longer than people in general of the usa, due to their emphasis on healthy living.

that is something i appreciate about them.. there are some similarities between the sda and wt/jws.

see the following videos.. the great disappointment - bing video - the video mentions christ will come to his sanctuary; the wt teaches christ came to the temple in 1918 (or so).. october 22, 1844 - we know the date.

Disillusioned JW

When I went door to door I think I met at least two men who were SDA. I think that because when I met them on a Saturday they both asked me which day do I observe the Sabbath. They probably incorrectly thought I was profiting financially as a literal salesperson for the WT literature and thus breaking the Sabbath while in field service, instead acting purely as a minister/evangelist.

Regarding the idea of SDA letting down students in their school, at leas tin regards to evolution verses special creationism, see https://adventist.news/news/wilson-no-room-for-evolution-as-truth-in-adventist-schools . Regarding whether non-evolutionary creationism is compatible with scientific knowledge, the following except from the web page is interesting.

'Arthur V. Chadwick, a geologist and professor at Southwestern Adventist University, said scientists have to rely on faith no matter whether they support creation or evolution.

“As we evaluate the data, we see things that are problems for creationists and we see things that are problems for evolutionists,” he said by phone ahead of the conference. “No one can claim that they believe one more than the other because it is not transparent, it leaves the possibility of choice.”

Chadwick has devoted his entire career to finding scientific evidence that supports creationism and has published more than 50 research articles in mainstream journals. He was to present some of his latest findings at the conference.'

I don't agree that my conviction in evolution (and what I call evolutionism, namely the sum of cosmic evolution, chemical evolution, biological evolution, and cultural evolution) requires faith, at least not in the sense in which I define the word "faith". But, I do admit there are difficulties with evolution. For example there are many gaps in the known fossil record which prevent us from seeing all of the transitional stages in human evolution and in the evolution of other "kinds" of life. In my studying of scientific literature pertaining to evolution I don't see a clear path from the genus Australopithecus (nor any other genus other than the genus Homo) to the species Homo sapiens. Some of the fossils that were thought for years to belong in the genus Homo and/or to belong to a species which was an actual ancestral species (often called a direct ancestor) of Homo sapiens, no longer are considered such. For example Homo habilis is now considered to have led to dead end and the fossil ER-1470 now appears to belong to the genus Kenyanthropus rather than Homo. Recent fossils of upper and lower jaws and teeth, which are a perfect match for the face of ER-1470, have a rectangular jaw and thus have a very apelike jaw. Also some recent reconstructions of the numerous fragments of the skull of ER-1470 result in a considerably reduced cranial volume and/or vault for ER-1470 than the original reconstruction. I thus no longer believe that ER-1470 belonged to a species in the genus Homo nor a species ancestral to the genus Homo. That is very disappointing to me.

The fossil ER-1470 was once considered so important that it is shown on the front cover of the dust jacket of the 1977 anthropology book called ORIGINS: What New Discoveries Reveal About the Emergence of Our Species and its Possible Future, by Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin.

Correction of major typos in my first post: Where I wrote "... the WT such have learned ..." I should have wrote "the WT should have learned ...". Where I said "In video Ellen ... must stop spreading their teaches or leave ... Ellen's dad they will not stop ... This video has the someone apparently acting the role ... is done in a "modern times" ... I don't which year ..." I should have said "In the video Ellen ... must stop spreading their teachings or leave ... Ellen's dad said they will not stop ... This video has someone apparently acting the role ... is done in "modern times" ... I don't know which year ...".

In my second post where I wrote "of it when a came across ..." I should have wrote "of it when I came across ...".

6

Documentary: "The Adventists"

by Disillusioned JW in

here are links to some trailers.. the adventists documentary film - bing video - the sda live about 10 years longer than people in general of the usa, due to their emphasis on healthy living.

that is something i appreciate about them.. there are some similarities between the sda and wt/jws.

see the following videos.. the great disappointment - bing video - the video mentions christ will come to his sanctuary; the wt teaches christ came to the temple in 1918 (or so).. october 22, 1844 - we know the date.

Disillusioned JW

A movie of the history of the SDA is at 👉TELL THE WORLD [Feature Film] History of The Seventh-day Adventist Church 🙏 - Bing video . It is about 2 hours and 33 minutes long. I thought of watching of it when a came across a DVD (at a thrift store) of the video called "The Adventists" and I wanted to see how a SDA movie of SDA history compares the WT movie of WT/JW history ("Jehovah's Witnesses—Faith in Action: Out of Darkness: Part 1"). It looks like three of the videos I posted links to in my prior post were trailers to the "TELL THE WORLD" movie. The movie is interesting to me, though I am now an atheist.