nicolaou

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Posts by nicolaou

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  9

  Jesus and Thomas twin theory?

  by Anony Mous in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  in light of the recent attack on indian jws i did some research about christianity in india and found out that india has a long history of christian influence, and not, like many of us probably believed, brought by the british, rather india has had christians for 2000 years.. matter of fact, they may be similar length and claim to the ‘original’ christians only equal by the roman (european), syrian (middle eastern) and ethiopian (african) christians.

  the story goes that judas thomas (aka doubting thomas or dydimus) (literally translated: dydimus = twin (greek) and tomas = twin (aramaic)), the twin brother of jesus travelled to india and did some miracles along the way, started the church there, hence deification of thomas is common there.. i found some articles written by eg.

  bart ehrman supporting this theory, personally not that much of a fan, but i know many interested in jw exegesis as he supports various fringe theories including wtbts claim to the name jehovah.. the claims of jesus’ twin brother seem to be supported by the original writings, including the gospel as we know it in the west (almost every canonical gospel writer alludes to the twin), but also various other non-canonical writings and at least 3 complete gospels claimed to be by thomas himself (although the oldest writings stem from the first, second and third century respectively).

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  nicolaou

  Jesus didn't have a twin brother, please stop reading gnostic non sense and concentrate in actual Church history

  I'm curious Raymond, why do you value traditional church history over gnostic accounts?
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  16

  Current light on will die at Armageddon?

  by Teddnzo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife zoe and i often talk about her grandmother who has never been a jw but is an excellent christian by other opinions.

  she has led such a good life always kind and tried to follow jesus example.

  before the agm new light my wife often thought according to current light is that as long as she dies before armageddon she will be resurrected.

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  nicolaou

  seems to be a good place to gather truly great people who have high morals and are trustworthy

  I understand what you're trying to say but think about it for a minute. Most parents teach their children to be honest, trustworthy and to have good morals. Hindu's, Muslims, Christians and even (shock horror) atheists all are mostly good people trying to do the right thing.

  If you want to decide whether the morality of a particular group is something exceptional it has to be on the unique identifiers of that group.

  So;

  Shunning - immoral.

  Instilling sexism and homophobia - immoral.

  Abusing developing young minds with a demons/Armageddon worldview - immoral.

  Teaching anti-science - immoral.

  Sacrificing lives over blood treatments - disgracefully immoral.

  For the record, I think most Jehovah's Witnesses are good people but the morality specific to Jehovah's Witnesses is appalling.
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  124

  JWLITE

  by Teddnzo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  even elders can be part of the new jw lite brigade these days.

  they don’t need to go on door to door anymore and there is no requirement for anything really.. taking meeting parts is all dead easy you could turn up on the day with zero preparation because it’s all in the meeting workbook.. quarterly elders meetings are just old men having a good old natter just like old men do down the pub.. congregations could be likened to pubs or bars these days just without the drinks, those come at other times.. no need for territory maps, these almost went away with covid letter writing now they are extremely slow getting finished as those who still go door to door only do ten mins.. you could even voice your questions these days about things the gb say and then just say “we can’t be dogmatic we just don’t know”.

  i predict they will say this about 1914 soon..

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  nicolaou

  They really are talking about this openly. And the answer is calm discussions in the congregation

  Hmmm. Talk is cheap, I'd like to see this new direction spelled out in print in a publicly available publication.
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  10

  Whatever happened to NewChapter?

  by Etude in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's been a while since i've been online here so, forgive me if i seem clueless.

  i found a doc with a link newchapter posted several years ago.

  she was writing about violence and abortion and gave quite a few stats.

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  nicolaou

  One side says you have 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' the other says you're in the 'Cult of Trump'.

  I can only comment as an outsider, a Brit' (and I don't speak for all Brits). I know next to nothing about American politics and am not qualified to judge Trump in that arena.

  Trump the man however. Well I guess your politicians don't have to be likeable to get the job done but by being SO divisive he does seem to be hurting his country.

  Just how I see it.
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  124

  JWLITE

  by Teddnzo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  even elders can be part of the new jw lite brigade these days.

  they don’t need to go on door to door anymore and there is no requirement for anything really.. taking meeting parts is all dead easy you could turn up on the day with zero preparation because it’s all in the meeting workbook.. quarterly elders meetings are just old men having a good old natter just like old men do down the pub.. congregations could be likened to pubs or bars these days just without the drinks, those come at other times.. no need for territory maps, these almost went away with covid letter writing now they are extremely slow getting finished as those who still go door to door only do ten mins.. you could even voice your questions these days about things the gb say and then just say “we can’t be dogmatic we just don’t know”.

  i predict they will say this about 1914 soon..

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  nicolaou

  Don't be fooled. For as long as the religion endorses shunning, treats women as 2nd class human beings who should be in 'subjection' to their husbands, indoctrinates it's members with prejudice against gay folks, preaches anti-science and abuses the minds of children with a demons/Armageddon worldview it is still harmful and must be countered, however mainstream it may appear.
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  15

  J.W org and Noah's Flood

  by Phizzy in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i remember when i was "in" the org.

  had a ridiculous public talk outline defending the genesis flood myth.. do they have a current one doing that ?.

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  nicolaou

  EasyPrompt: Real science and the Bible show the Flood was real.

  Sigh..

  1. Geology: The Earth's geological record does not show evidence of a global flood. There is no widespread layer of sedimentary rock that would be expected if the entire planet were once submerged.

  2. Fossil Record: The fossil record reveals a continuous sequence of life forms, with no evidence of a sudden mass extinction event that would be expected from a global flood.

  3. Lack of Genetic Diversity: If all animals were descended from those on Noah's Ark, we would expect to see a severe lack of genetic diversity among species, which is not the case.

  4. Lack of Water: The amount of water required to flood the Earth to the highest mountains would be far greater than what is available in Earth's oceans and atmosphere.

  5. Lack of Historical Records: There is no historical or archaeological evidence from other civilizations to support a global flood.

  6. Animal Migration: Attempts to explain how animals from all over the world could have traveled to the Middle East to board the Ark and then returned to their habitats post-flood have consistently failed. They are funny though.

  The Biblical flood of Noah is a fable, a myth. It's not history. Get over it.
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  176

  No more REPORTING field service!!!!!!!!!

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is going to break the hearts of a lot of uber-jw's!

  reddit has now removed the video link of samuel herd telling jw's they will no longer have to report time or placements - just tick a box which says "active.".

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akdshyx79rm&t=13s.

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  nicolaou

  Jesus this, Jesus that. I think I could legitimately compare Jesus to a Nazi sympathizer.

  Go on, dare me.
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  176

  No more REPORTING field service!!!!!!!!!

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is going to break the hearts of a lot of uber-jw's!

  reddit has now removed the video link of samuel herd telling jw's they will no longer have to report time or placements - just tick a box which says "active.".

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akdshyx79rm&t=13s.

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  nicolaou

  How is Zoom even an option anymore? It's almost three years since the last lockdown in the UK and they still haven't given it up?

  Cult leaders ain't what they used to be.
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  3124

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

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  nicolaou

  https://www.appsally.com/products/patreon-followers/

  Go on Lloyd, fill your boots 😂🤣
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  3124

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

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  nicolaou

  It does feel as though a corner in this whole sordid story has been turned. I hope so, I for one am getting bored and tired of the whole thing. Don't misunderstand me, for as long as he continues to advocate for CSA victims I'll speak up as so many of us have but it really does seem as though he's sliding into stagnation and irrelevance.

  I guess he'll maintain a hardcore of supporters who'll keep him funded for a few years more but it's all only going one way now.