waton, who do you think Jesus Christ (whether he was a real being or only a literary character) meant by the term "faithful and discreet slave"? The biblical passage about the "faithful and discreet slave" has long appeared very vague to me, even during my last several years as a ministerial servant. I came to conclude (after consulting various commentaries of the churches, after ceasing to attend JW meetings) that it most likely meant those faithfully serving as ministers/preachers teaching within individual congregations of Christianity, but I was even uncertain of that possibility.
Disillusioned JW
JoinedPosts by Disillusioned JW
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Disillusioned JW
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Disillusioned JW
Isn't the claim of saying "I am he" about claiming to be the Messiah/Christ, not "the faithful and discreet slave"? Note that a parallel verse is Matthew 24:5 where it says "I am the Christ". It is an interesting thought though that the "I am here" reference could be referring to claiming to be someone else, instead of claiming to be Christ. Also the reference of "The time is at hand" is an interesting one, especially in the context of falsely claiming to come in the name of Christ (if one thinks of it coming with the claim of being a representative of Christ) and of leading ones astray.
But Bart Ehrman (and some atheist scholars/authors) said that when the gospel of Luke was written Christians were wondering why Christ hadn't returned yet, and thus the Gospel was written to give the impression that Christ had said a lot of time would go by before Christ returns. The gospel of Luke is also the one about the man of noble birth going to a far away land to obtain a kingdom and then, after considerable time has gone by, returning as king. (See Luke 19:11-15.)
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2021-Powerful By Faith-Talk Transcripts!
by Atlantis in2021--powerful by faith, talk transcripts.. https://www.filemail.com/d/bpludvmsuqmaqdz.
https://we.tl/t-qbpywfpzyd.
atlantis!.
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Disillusioned JW
What is(are) the file format(s) of the transcripts? I am hesitant to start a download of them without knowing that.
My mom said a major announcement was made on the last day of the convention, near the end of the convention. What announcement was that?
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I Wonder How They Had the Cheek To Print this ?
by BluesBrother inawake!
5/22 pp.
"let no man deceive you with empty words.
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Disillusioned JW
I was somewhat mistaken when I wrote "Hitching does however appear to believe "psychic evolution" in the sense of appearing to claim that psychic powers in humans have evolved [see my post on page 2 of this topic thread]. Regarding that see his The Mysterious World: An Atlas of the Unexplained book." Instead of what I said above he says evolution might have caused humans to loose much psychic ability. In the "chapter" called "Neanderthal inheritance", on page 43 (of the "First American Edition", published in 1979 by "Holt, Rinehart and Winston") he says the following.
"Today, the human race may be built from the genes of both Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon Man. ... In which case, what characteristics have we inherited? Just as the explosive increase in brain size was one of the first main indications of the uniqueness of man, from now on the way the brain is organized provides the main clue. In Neanderthal Man that part called the cerebellum is more prominent; it lies at the back of the head, and seems to deal mostly with our unconscious, instinctive reactions. During our evolution it has steadily been pushed back and down until today it is largely buried by the cerebrum, including the high frontal lobes that are a feature of Cro-Magnon Man, and us; it is here we seem to be able to sort out unlikely combinations of ideas (the basis of intelligence).
When the two dominant strands of instinct and intelligence were mated, perhaps something was lost as well as gained. Many people believe that telepathy was commonplace to Neanderthals, as it has been until recently among Australian aboriginals and some North American Indians; it has even been suggested that the Neanderthal jaw was not capable of speech, in which case telepathy would have been essential."
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I Wonder How They Had the Cheek To Print this ?
by BluesBrother inawake!
5/22 pp.
"let no man deceive you with empty words.
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Disillusioned JW
At https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/120077/watchtower-evolution-fraud a quote is made saying that Alan F. said 'Hitching also implied that his book had been endorsed by Richard Dawkins, but upon inquiry Dawkins stated: "I know nothing at all about Francis Hitching. If you are uncovering the fact that he is a charlatan, good for you. His book, _The Neck of the Giraffe,_is one of the silliest and most ignorant I have read for years." ' But, where did Hitching supposedly imply that his book had been endorsed by Richard Dawkins? Until I see where Hitching supposedly made that implication I will disbelieve it. I borrowed from my local public library (through InterLibrary Loan) two different editions (the ones published by "Ticknor & Fields" and by "Meridian": "New American Library") of The Neck of the Giraffe and despite my thorough checking, I don't see any implication therein of Richard Dawkins having had endorsed The Neck Of Giraffe. In the "Acknowledgements" page of both of those editions there is no mention of the name "Richard Dawkins" though there is mention of "... at Harvard, Professor Jay Gould... ". Regarding the scientists whom Hitching acknowledges, Hitching says "... I hasten to disassociate them from any of the mistaken opinions or errors of fact that, in spite of their help, may still have crept into the text, for they surely are mine."
In the "Introduction" of the book Hitching does say that "Thus you will find Darwinism being dismissed as empty rhetoric; and the status of biology likened to the dark ages of pre-Newtonian physics. On the other hand you will will come across one of the world's most eminent evolutionary biologists saying that attacks against Darwin's theory are invariably either based on ignorance or politically motivated." But, in the Introduction he does not name who that most eminent evolutionary biologist is. The only mentions I see of Richard Dawkins in the book is in reference to a quote by Dawkins (from his book called The Selfish Gene) saying "the fundamental unit of selection .. is the gene, the unit of heredity."
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I Wonder How They Had the Cheek To Print this ?
by BluesBrother inawake!
5/22 pp.
"let no man deceive you with empty words.
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Disillusioned JW
Excellent comments were made on this topic thread in the year 2006 (or so), but I disagree with the some of the points.
The first post in this topic said "We may agree with John Glenn, but he is an astronought [sic], not a scientist", but many of NASA's astronauts on the International Space Station conduct scientific experiments and are thus scientists. Regarding John Glenn specifically, I don't know if he performed science experiences in space, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn says he '... lacked a science-based degree,[65] but had taken more classes since leaving college than needed for graduation. ... A portion of the astronauts' training was in the classroom, where they learned space science. ... Glenn was considered an expert in matters of science and technology due to his background. ... Glenn was an ordained elder of the Presbyterian Church.[227] His religious faith began before he became an astronaut, and was reinforced after he traveled in space. "To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible," said Glenn after his second (and final) space voyage.[228] He saw no contradiction between belief in God and the knowledge that evolution is "a fact" and believed evolution should be taught in schools:[229] "I don't see that I'm any less religious that I can appreciate the fact that science just records that we change with evolution and time, and that's a fact. It doesn't mean it's less wondrous and it doesn't mean that there can't be some power greater than any of us that has been behind and is behind whatever is going on."[230] ' John Glenn thus could be considered an authority on space science.
Regarding Francis Hitching, though he definitely believed in the paranormal, including psychic powers, in my reading of his book called The Neck Of Giraffe: Where Darwin Went Wrong and of "Section two: The Emergence of man" in his The Mysterious World: An Atlas of the Unexplained book I see no attribution by him of evolution being directed by psychic power or by a cosmic force. I ask those who claim that Hitching believes evolution was directed by a cosmic force or by psychic power to provide a reference to where Hitching said such - until then I will disbelieve that claim. Hitching does however appear to believe "psychic evolution" in the sense of appearing to claim that psychic powers in humans have evolved; regarding that see his The Mysterious World: An Atlas of the Unexplained book.
As to whether of not Hitching was a scientist as a career he was apparently was not, but I wonder if he was an amateur scientist in regards to the topic of megalithic stone structures, since I think he might have done in-person archaeological study onsite at such structures. His book about such, called Earth Magic, received a positive review by Stuart Fleming in the "New Scientist" magazine. [See https://books.google.com/books?id=Rb9V2QSbnecC&pg=PA659&dq=francis+hitching&hl=en&ei=tpesTuLgMYuu8QOBlPygCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&safe=active&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=francis%20hitching&f=false .] Though the reviewer was skeptical of a number of Hitching's claims, he says "Earth Magic is well worth the money as a balanced introduction to the subject."
The hardcover first USA edition published in 1982 by Ticknor & Fields of Hitching's book called The Neck Of Giraffe: Where Darwin Went Wrong on the back side of book's dust jacket says "Francis Hitching is our perfect guide through the tumult of scientific and nonscientific debate that is spotlighted by the Darwin centennial. If Darwin's theory is not valid, is there a better one? The Neck Of Giraffe suggests that there might be one--any day now." Notice that the publisher says that Hitching is the "perfect guide" regarding the debate about Darwin's theory of natural selection being the prime mechanism of evolution. That might be part of the reason that the WT literally called Hitching an authority, in regards to evolution, on page 108 of the WT's book from 1989 called THE BIBLE: God's Word or Mans?. Another reason why the WT might have called Hitching an authority on the topic is due to some of the reviews quoted in the edition of Hitching's book published by "Meridian": "New American Library" in June 1987 (with the subtitle of Darwin, Evolution, and the New Biology). That edition (on the first page of the paperback edition) says ' "The only account I know that conveys to the non-specialist reader crucial arguments as capable of affecting our understanding of ourselves as Darwin's account changed the entire late Victorian world." --BOSTON GLOBE' The outside back cover of that paperback edition says the following.
' "Excellent writing about science for lay readers... Lively, far-ranging, provocative." --WALL STREET JOURNAL
"Of particular importance today... Should stir quite a brew." --KIRTUS REVIEWS
"For its contribution to the understanding of an important issue, this book merits wide readership by both general readers and specialists." --LIBRARY JOURNAL'
In my reading of The Neck Of Giraffe, though I notice some inaccurate statements, I also notice much in the book that agrees with various pro-evolution books written by various scientists. To me, Hitching's book is very informative - including in pointing out both some strengths and some weaknesses in evolution theory (and the evidence pertaining to such).
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Afghanistan-Kabul falls to Taliban - U.S. Embassy staff evacuated by helicopter
by fulltimestudent inin a scene reminiscent of the fall of saigon, the usa embassy staff have been evacuated by helicopter.. for a third time in asia ( a fourth, if you count usa supported chiang kai shek's defeat in mainland china) usa supported forces have been defeated.
more than 1 trillion dollars wasted and a huge deathtoll (both sides) afghanistan is back to where it started,.
will the taliban behave differently this time ?
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Disillusioned JW
Correction: I should have wrote "won" instead of "one".
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Afghanistan-Kabul falls to Taliban - U.S. Embassy staff evacuated by helicopter
by fulltimestudent inin a scene reminiscent of the fall of saigon, the usa embassy staff have been evacuated by helicopter.. for a third time in asia ( a fourth, if you count usa supported chiang kai shek's defeat in mainland china) usa supported forces have been defeated.
more than 1 trillion dollars wasted and a huge deathtoll (both sides) afghanistan is back to where it started,.
will the taliban behave differently this time ?
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Disillusioned JW
What does this topic and its initial post have to do with "JW: Friends"? It is posted in the wrong category. It should be posted in the Politics category or the News category.
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Afghanistan-Kabul falls to Taliban - U.S. Embassy staff evacuated by helicopter
by fulltimestudent inin a scene reminiscent of the fall of saigon, the usa embassy staff have been evacuated by helicopter.. for a third time in asia ( a fourth, if you count usa supported chiang kai shek's defeat in mainland china) usa supported forces have been defeated.
more than 1 trillion dollars wasted and a huge deathtoll (both sides) afghanistan is back to where it started,.
will the taliban behave differently this time ?
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Disillusioned JW
Yes, it is true that the Taliban would have eventually one, regardless of whichever national government would have opposed them.
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Don't take my booze!
by David.L.Henson ina direct confirmation that judge joseph rutherford, 2nd president of the watchtower organization, had a weak spot for good whisky, can be found in the following hilarious watch tower article.. the u.s. congress had passed the spirit prohibition law, and the judge was absolutely furious that these "servants of satan" tried to take his booze away.. the watch tower, which according to fred franz had jehovah as editor during these days, directly stated that christians could not "participate in" such a prohibition.
in other words, they had to smuggle and drink booze to be loyal to god.
the jws are unfortunately a much more boring sect these days.. the watchtower, november 1, 1924prohibition.
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Disillusioned JW
The Seventh-day Adventists are against drinking alcohol (and strongly promote vegetarianism, and Ellen G. White even promoted veganism) and medical studies on longevity have shown that the Seventh-day Adventists are one the groups of people with the longest longevity in the world! [Also from very early times the SDA has forbidden smoking, whereas the WT didn't forbid it until the 1970s.] See https://www.adventist.org/official-statements/historic-stand-for-temperance-principles-and-acceptance-of-donations-statement-impacts-social-change/ and https://www.adventist.org/official-statements/drugs/ . One of the Bible-based arguments the SDA use is that the body is the temple of God. Maybe the JWs would live longer if they adopted that view regarding alcoholic drinks. [However, some SDA literature discourages the use of spices, whereas modern science has shown that some spices have major health benefits.]
The SDA teach that Jesus did not use fermented grape juice (wine) during the last supper. The NT verses about the last supper say the "fruit of the vine" [see Matthew 26:29 (NASB-Updated) for example] - they don't specifically say wine, thus scripturally wine is not required. For two or three years, after I stopped considering myself a JW and before I became a nontheist, I celebrated the Memorial by myself (and conducted it myself) using juice I freshly squeezed from red grapes and I partook of the emblems.
Regarding the longevity of the SDA see https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7731947/Seventh-Day-Adventists-longer-life-expectancy-lower-cancer-risk-study-finds.html and https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/25/health/longevity-blue-zone-wellness/index.html .