Moxy

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Posts by Moxy

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  12

  More Suicides

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  within the past week a couple was found dead in their home here in.

  southern osaka japan.the couple was in their 50`s and the husband was.

  the elder in a congregation in a city named kishiwada.the husband.

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  Moxy

  hey jwd - hows it goin?

  can you tell us what kind of funeral arrangements are made in these cases? are JWs discouraged from attending them? also, would you happen to know which congregation the double suicide was in?

  mox
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  9

  Reasoning on use of Blood to safe lives!

  by Quandary in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't post very often on this board and when i do i'm quite laconic.

  it's my nature, im a person of few yet concise words.

  that being said i would like to share my brief thoughts on the blood issue as i see it.. all jws are familiar with the words at luke 22:20 as they are read ritually every memorial: " ...this cup means the new covenant by virtue of my blood, which is to be poured out in your behalf.".

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  Moxy

  maybe a good question ethically, but theologically the answer is very simple. the only proscribed use of blood in the bible is for sacrifice.

  mox
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  11

  Book of Enoch

  by Moxy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  someone mentioned the jude quotation of the non-canonical book of enoch recently and i noticed the latest wt (9/15/01) article on enoch addressed this.

  i also found a 98 reference to this which suggested that enoch was actually written after jude, a stance which they seem to have abondoned.

  in fact, the whole thing seems like a very typical post-franz, 'we don't know, ok. stop asking us stupid questions' kind of response.

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  Moxy

  the situation is even worse with Enoch. it maintained a position of high esteem until the 4th century, being quoted by many post-apostolic fathers as well. canonicity questions just seem like a joke. look at the reasons for and against canonicity:

  'Produced probably sometime during the second and first centuries B.C.E.'

  based on scholarly analysis? the same scholarly analysis that places the authorship of the entire canon in or after the 7th century? the same scholarly analysis that we bluntly dismiss when need be?

  'it is a collection of extravagant and unhistorical Jewish myths'

  define 'extravagant' and 'unhistorical' and 'myth' and then show me genesis again.

  'the product of exegetical elaborations'

  how do you distinguish exegetical elaborations from 'a reliable tradition handed down from remote antiquity?' because ones in the bible and the other isnt?

  now look at the criteria the si book normally uses to establish canonicity:

  the main ones are:
  uses jehovahs name
  contains accurate prophecy
  is quoted by NT writers
  is quoted by apostolic fathers

  subsidiary ones are:
  is in harmony with the rest of scripture (with lots of lee-way on this one)
  is traditionally regarded as sacred (very subjective, this one)

  Enoch has support on all counts if you think about it. Ruth has support on only the subsidiary criteria. no solid reasons are offered for including ruth in the canon other than it was there already.

  why not just forget about trying to find evidence for what's canonical and apocryphal and just say 'we dont know. lets just stick to the bible we have because we have it already, dagnabbit!' -- oh wait, i guess thats what they did.

  mox
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  17

  Sharon's memorial

  by Mulan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the memorial for my cousin, sharon, who died of breast cancer on september 6, was yesterday.

  it was standing room only, and it was obvious how many people really loved her.

  i couldn't help but think of all the absent ones, who had been her lifelong friends, and how sad it was that they stayed away.

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  Moxy

  sincere condolences marylin. its heart-warming that you have such a positive attitude.

  mox
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  20

  Tickets for special meeting changed!

  by Esmeralda in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey all,.

  i've been out all day, so i apologize in advance if anyone already posted this info.. one of my jw relatives (whom i happened to see while visiting my dad this afternoon) told my mother that she'd have to "turn in her ticket to the elders to get a replacement.

  " from what she said, they've changed the color of the ticket.

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  Moxy

  actually this ticket thing is being made into more than it is. they use tickets for events like branch dedications where seating is limited and a certain number of people are invited based on some criteria. they usually give preference to long-time members in this situation as only makes sense. its simply a matter of an easy way to prevent way more people showing up than can be accomodated. it doesnt imply that theres anything top secret going on by any means. if it were something really important, i think they would include everyone, using the DC, CA, CO visit or a publication. the fact thats an arbitrarily chosen sampling tells me that its less likely to be of great import.

  mox
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  35

  Speculation on special October 7th meeting

  by Seeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we have been discussing the special meeting being held in various locations on october 7th.

  note, this is the day after the annual meeting, not part of the annual meeting itself.

  reports have come in that certain individual congregations have been invited to attend.

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  Moxy

  are there no locations outside the USA? not that all you amero-centrics would notice but this is unusual, seeing as our humble little canadian branch is closer to brooklyn than most of the mainland US. if so, i would assume the program more specifically pertains to the USA somehow.

  a funny note on amero-centrism: when the GB member gave his talk at a recent DC (Sydlik i think, forget now) he refered to us as being 'here in the united states.' lol. didnt even notice his gaffe.

  mox
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  12

  The number of jw is reducing?

  by Nicolas in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read an article on watchtower observer about it http://watchtower.observer.org/apps/pbcs.dll/article?date=20010621&category=jwandsociety10&artno=10621002&ref=ar.

  while, i was a jw, i remember that they told us that when the number of jw who go out will be bigger than the number of new jw who enter, it will be the great tribulation.

  do you think that the gb will try to enter this idea in the mind of the jw?

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  Moxy

  ozzie: bascially, these are projections based on the second derivative, in other words, the rate of the rate of change. ie if you think of the number of pubs as the position, and the yearly increase as the speed, the 2nd derivative is acceleration. and as we know the increase has been slowing or decelerating. i havent specifically studied much about predictive statistics, so i just took the numbers and tweaked the formula until i got results that showed consistently even numbers for the last 15 years, ie if i had applied this method to the stats in '85, the projected curve wouldve closely resembled the actual numbers up until today.

  of course, there are many factors in prediction that do not enter into this relatively simple mathematical analysis, but i think it serves to show that the reality of the numbers as they are today is a plateau and drop in the very near future. no wishful thinking or fudging is at play here.
  i keep all my stats here http://members.home.net/aghull/stats/stats.xls
  feel free to check my math.

  mox
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  3

  Ooo, IDEA! Donate a Scanner

  by StifflersErSlayersBrother in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  and ill post any publication i can get a hold of seein as how im still a active borg... .

  hehehe

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  Moxy

  hey, youve got 2 hands and a keyboard.

  mox
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  8

  Meeting After Meeting?

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i went to the meeting today with the wife.

  same boring talk and coma inducing wt study but.... after the meeting they called all of the attendants to the back room for a little private meeting.

  anyone have any idea what was going on?

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  Moxy

  omg, ENOUGH with the special meeting. attendants meet afterwards ALL the time. lets wait till we find out something for sure instead of trying to connect every single event even slightly out of the ordinary with the Oct 7 meeting.

  mox
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  12

  The number of jw is reducing?

  by Nicolas in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read an article on watchtower observer about it http://watchtower.observer.org/apps/pbcs.dll/article?date=20010621&category=jwandsociety10&artno=10621002&ref=ar.

  while, i was a jw, i remember that they told us that when the number of jw who go out will be bigger than the number of new jw who enter, it will be the great tribulation.

  do you think that the gb will try to enter this idea in the mind of the jw?

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  Moxy

  here again are my stats showing percentage of growth. yellow line is worldwide population for comparison.
  

  and here are the worldwide/USA pub averages with the dotted line showing a second derivative projection. the projection shows a .2% increase worldwide this year and for USA, nearly 0%.
  

  mox