truth_b_known

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Posts by truth_b_known

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  15

  Jehovah's witnesses at polish border. Wtf

  by usualusername1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sky news reporting ukrainian refugees coming into poland.

  "jws are offering support".

  🤦🏿.

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  truth_b_known

  
  

  Jehovah's Witnesses in Poland headed to the Ukraine border with supplies to show support - (Colorized, 2022)
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  7

  So, which end times prophecy is it?!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when all is quiet on the world scene, the jdubs say see!

  they are about to to declare peace and security!

  when tensions are high the jdubs point to the pushing of the kon and the kos and say see bible prophecy is being fulfilled!.

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  truth_b_known

  A few years ago we passed a minor accident, (a car that hit a phone pole with minimal damage) and one of the JWs in my car says 'We're in the last days, you're gonna be seeing more accidents like that'. So it doesn't take much, literally anything will do.

  This right here! This just how out of synch JWs can be.
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  47

  JWs don’t use the apocryphal, yet source them

  by Anony Mous in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  so a quick little note about a few things that i recently learned.

  if you ever had the yellow book of bible stories, there was the story of enoch, also repeated in other watchtower publications, about the angels fathering giants and being a menace on earth.

  now if you look at the nicean bible, which is the wtbts selection of the bible, it mentions enoch twice and only has a very brief passage about nephilim and ben elohim.

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  truth_b_known

  A Protestant Bible is a Christian Bible whose translation or revision was produced by Protestants. Such Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament (according to the Hebrew Bible canon, known especially to non-Protestants as the protocanonical books) and 27 books of the New Testament for a total of 66 books.[1] Some Protestants use Bibles which also include 14 additional books in a section known as the Apocrypha (though these are not considered canonical) bringing the total to 80 books.[2][3] This is often contrasted with the 73 books of the Catholic Bible, which includes seven deuterocanonical books as a part of the Old Testament.[4] The division between protocanonical and deuterocanonical books is not accepted by all Protestants who simply view books as being canonical or not and therefore classify books found in the deuterocanon, along with other books, as part of the Apocrypha.[5]
  The contents page in the King James Bible, 1769 edition, listing "The Books of the Old Testament", "The Books called Apocrypha", and "The Books of the New Testament".
  It was in Luther's Bible of 1534 that the Apocrypha was first published as a separate intertestamental section.[6] To this date, the Apocrypha is "included in the lectionaries of Anglican and Lutheran Churches."[7] The practice of including only the Old and New Testament books within printed bibles was standardized among many English-speaking Protestants following a 1825 decision by the British and Foreign Bible Society.[8] Today, "English Bibles with the Apocrypha are becoming more popular again" and they may be printed as intertestamental books.[9] In contrast, Evangelicals vary among themselves in their attitude to and interest in the Apocrypha but agree in the view that it is non-canonical.[10]

  I have often posted on this website that Martin Luther single-handedly brought the downfall of the Christian faith.

  "18.This is my solemn attestation to all who hear the prophecies in this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him every plague mentioned in the book; 19.if anyone cuts anything out of the prophecies in this book, God will cut off his share of the tree of life and of the holy city, which are described in the book." - Rvelation 22:18-19
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  13

  Fearmongering news on JW.ORG : Russia Invades Ukraine

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  russia invades ukraine.

  in the early morning hours of february 24, 2022, russia began a military invasion of ukraine, despite the efforts of world leaders to avoid war.

  how might this military conflict affect the world?

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  truth_b_known

  The television series Hell on Wheels takes place right after the end of the American Civil War (1865). In one episode the main character has this brief exchange with a soldier-

  Sentry:
  What's the world coming to, sir?
  Cullen Bohannan:
  The world ain't comin' to nothing, son. Same as it ever was.

  There is a book entitled Everything You Know is Wrong. I believe there is a chapter that deals with the issue of the misbelief that things are getting worse. The author shows facts and data that shows just the opposite.
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  7

  So, which end times prophecy is it?!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when all is quiet on the world scene, the jdubs say see!

  they are about to to declare peace and security!

  when tensions are high the jdubs point to the pushing of the kon and the kos and say see bible prophecy is being fulfilled!.

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  3. 
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  truth_b_known

  I believe there is saying that goes like -

  "To the man who only has a hammer everything looks like a nail."

  That also works out when it goes like -

  "To the man who only reads the Watchtower every event looks like Armageddon is near."
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  19

  After leaving the JWs

  by punkofnice in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  how do i view the world after leaving the jws?.

  1. most politicians are disgusting filth.

  political parties are disgusting filth.

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  truth_b_known

  My world view became rather warped. I was rather nihilistic and self-destructive. My Ego was out of control.

  After hitting a wall I began working on myself. I started studying psychology and philosophy. The Ego dissolved and now I am at peace.

  I see why people suffer. I understand the suffering of people, both as individuals and in groups. It has definitely turned me off to politics and religion.

  I got rid of all my smart devices. I deleted all my social media accounts. Life has become much better for me. I felt at peace for the first time in my life.
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  47

  JWs don’t use the apocryphal, yet source them

  by Anony Mous in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  so a quick little note about a few things that i recently learned.

  if you ever had the yellow book of bible stories, there was the story of enoch, also repeated in other watchtower publications, about the angels fathering giants and being a menace on earth.

  now if you look at the nicean bible, which is the wtbts selection of the bible, it mentions enoch twice and only has a very brief passage about nephilim and ben elohim.

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  truth_b_known

  Thats an extremely shaky foundation that 30% of the world have put their faith in.

  Consider the fact that the entire "Western World" only has 2 degrees of separation at most from the Roman Empire (either directly a part of the empire or a colony of a nation formerly part of the empire). The same Roman Empire that adopted Christianity as the official state religion. It was a convert of die world.

  How many cultures' natural course of evolution was interrupted or destroyed because of Rome?

  "May he spend one night in Valhalla before the Christ god takes him away." - Old Norse saying to the dead
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  47

  JWs don’t use the apocryphal, yet source them

  by Anony Mous in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  so a quick little note about a few things that i recently learned.

  if you ever had the yellow book of bible stories, there was the story of enoch, also repeated in other watchtower publications, about the angels fathering giants and being a menace on earth.

  now if you look at the nicean bible, which is the wtbts selection of the bible, it mentions enoch twice and only has a very brief passage about nephilim and ben elohim.

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  2. 
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  truth_b_known

  We know from history that tens of thousands of orthodox Jews, (right in the heart of Jerusalem where their claims could be easily refuted if not true), made the Resurrection their central message, abandoned Saturday as their holy day, and accepted Sunday (the day of the Resurrection) as their new holy day.

  Know is a strong word.

  Why would people just up and submit to the harshest abuse possible unless for something they knew to be false?

  Why would people (i.e. "tens of thousands of orthodox Jews") convert to Christianity, submitting themselves to harsh abuse, for something they knew to be false (i.e. the story of Jesus death and resurrection)?

  Before we answer the question we must be aware that the "tens of thousands" of Jewish converts in Jerusalem in the first century CE is a number purported once again by the Bible. Not all scholars accept this number. Some believe the number of converts in the Bible is highly exaggerated.

  Some scholars (see: Hopkins, K 1998. Christian number and its implications. Journal of Early Christian Studies 6, 185-226) postulate that the Jewish converts in Jerusalem never abandoned their faith in Judaism, Jewish tradition, Jewish worship, or believed the Torah no longer had to be followed. In addition, scholars also have concluded that the number of Jews in Jerusalem in the first century CE never exceeded approximately 1,000 people.

  Rather, there seemed to be 2 churches in the first century CE: the Jews in Jerusalem and the Hellenistic non-Jews whom Paul converted. The Hellenistic Christians quickly abandoned Jewish scripture and practices. This caused conflict between the 2 groups.

  What information do we have about the first century CE Roman Empire? The Roman cultural was heavily influenced by its predecessors, the Greeks. Greek religion influenced Roman religion. Both had polytheistic religions with humanized gods (The gods had physical bodies and would often visit humans on Earth). Polytheistic religions tend to be accepting of other religions and gods.

  What seems more plausible?

  1. There were tens of thousands of Jews in Jerusalem who accepted Jesus as the messiah (the Biblical Jesus did not fulfil all the prophecies of the messiah in the Torah), accepted that Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected himself, rejected the Torah and Jewish religion to worship on Sunday or

  2. There were thousands of non-Jewish converts to Paul's ministry who were never Jews, were raised in a culture/religion that freely accepted other religions (even an altar to an unknown god), other gods, gods who frequently took human form to interact with other humans, and were even killed only to be resurrected (see: Asclepius Greek god of Medicine who Zeus feared would make man immortal only to be resurrected to Olympus).
• 
  47

  JWs don’t use the apocryphal, yet source them

  by Anony Mous in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  so a quick little note about a few things that i recently learned.

  if you ever had the yellow book of bible stories, there was the story of enoch, also repeated in other watchtower publications, about the angels fathering giants and being a menace on earth.

  now if you look at the nicean bible, which is the wtbts selection of the bible, it mentions enoch twice and only has a very brief passage about nephilim and ben elohim.

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  truth_b_known

  Dr. Gary Habermas goes in to the PhD committee at Michigan State and is told by the committee chair he can do his dissertation on the resurrection of Jesus, but cannot use the Bible to do so. Habermas uses the Bible to prove the resurrection and is awarded his PhD.

  The "Minimal Facts" approach isn't a method designed to find the truth, it's a method designed to bolster confidence in the proposed (read: preferred) explanation. - Matt Dillahunty

  Regardless of the level of proof that a tomb was found empty, the answer cannot be "It was supernatural powers," until supernatural powers are proven first.

  Minimal Facts Approach is based on the following process -

  • Insert reasonable premises with minimal facts/minimal data
  • Premises are agreed with by believer and skeptics (whether or not true)
  • Skeptic is now bound to accept conclusion or be declared irrational

  It is not that there are only minimal facts/minimal data. It is this method scales way down the facts/data to just the bare minimum of what both believers and skeptics could agree on in the scholarly realm. These minimal facts are not the only facts. Therefor, this violates the scientific method of validating facts.

  Habermas and his co-workers have picked their 12 minimal facts. They then took a list of skeptical scholars and found out that approximately 75% of those scholars seem to agree with those 12 minimal facts. So, what about the other 25%? This is done to write off the 25% to instill certainty in the minimal facts instead of getting to 1 explanation (the truth) that includes all the facts. We do not even know if the same 75% of skeptical scholars agree on the same 12 minimal facts.

  12 Minimal Facts of Jesus Resurrection

  1. Jesus died by crucifixion.
  2. He was buried.
  3. His death caused the disciples to despair and lose hope.
  4. The tomb was empty (the most contested).
  5. The disciples had experiences which they believed were literal appearances of the risen Jesus (the most important proof).
  6. The disciples were transformed from doubters to bold proclaimers.
  7. The resurrection was the central message.
  8. They preached the message of Jesus’ resurrection in Jerusalem.
  9. The Church was born and grew.
  10. Orthodox Jews who believed in Christ made Sunday their primary day of worship.
  11. James was converted to the faith when he saw the resurrected Jesus (James was a family skeptic).
  12. Paul was converted to the faith (Paul was an outsider skeptic).

  With the exception of #9 and #10, all other minimal facts come from the Bible.

  Let's look at minimal fact # 1 -

  Jesus died by crucifixion.

  Most scholars, skeptical or otherwise, would agree that the Bible does tell a story and in that story Jesus dies by crucifixion. Not all scholars believe there was even a historical Jesus. There are many theories which are supported by facts. Jesus' execution at the hands of Romans is a story that originates with Christians and writers of the Bible. This story must be proven as fact before Habermas' first minimal fact can even be addressed.

  Some theorize Jesus did not die. One theory is Jesus had a Near Death Experience (NDE) and then went off to hide to heal. After healing Jesus came back to his disciples. It is a plausible theory because even today we have persons who technically die, but are resuscitated. We do not have any experiences of people be resurrected 3 days after dying and their corpse disappearing from their tomb.

  We have a major issue with minimal facts 1-8, 11-12. They all come from the Bible. The Bible is a disingenuous book. "Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed" - John 20:29. That seems to be different than doubt and verify through examination of all facts and data.

  Minimal facts #9 & #10 are historical. However, they are not proof of the story. They are only proof that people believed a story. We can say the same about just any major religion in the world. Is the Quran correct? Islam is the fastest growing religion. Muslims adopted the Hijri calendar which is based on Muslim holidays and rituals. Does that mean Islam is the one, true religion or does it mean the nations conquered by the Muslims use the Hijri calendar the same way that nations conquered by Rome were forced to use a calendar based on the Jesus story?

  "Do not believe in what you have heard; do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations; do not believe in anything because it is rumored and spoken by many; do not believe merely because a written statement of some old sage is produced; do not believe in conjectures; do not believe in that as truth to which you have become attached from habit; do not believe merely the authority of your teachers and elders. After observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and gain of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." - Siddhartha Gautama (first Buddha),
  
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  47

  JWs don’t use the apocryphal, yet source them

  by Anony Mous in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  so a quick little note about a few things that i recently learned.

  if you ever had the yellow book of bible stories, there was the story of enoch, also repeated in other watchtower publications, about the angels fathering giants and being a menace on earth.

  now if you look at the nicean bible, which is the wtbts selection of the bible, it mentions enoch twice and only has a very brief passage about nephilim and ben elohim.

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  truth_b_known

  You are certainly welcome to your view. But it is not in line with modern scholarship which views the resurrection as one of the most well attested to events in history.

  There is no evidence of a historical resurrection of Jesus. Who are "modern scholars"? Dr. Francesca Stavrakapoulou is a modern Bible scholar at the University of Exeter.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aUYUK9WXiA

  I have looked into the Gary Habermas "Minimal Facts Approach" for attempting to prove the historical resurrection of Jesus. After examining it and cross examining it I found it to be a fine example of Apologetics - it sounds reasonable, but there is still no evidence. It is just logical argument.

  I also like this guy's informative statement of "Biblical scholars -

  As for modern biblical scholars, that term encompasses several disciplines, including theology, archaeology, history, paleography, and literature. It is probably safe to say that most, but certainly not all, theologians believe that the resurrection actually occurred. I believe that is a safe bet because the largest Christian denominations typically require their clergy to hold an advanced degree in theology or some related discipline.
  Outside of the theologians, many of which are Christian clergy, it is virtually impossible to speculate on the percentage of biblical scholars who believe in the resurrection, because they are forbidden by their respective disciplines from publishing their personal religious beliefs in academic publications. When it comes to history, scholars are explicitly required to assume in all academic works that there is no such thing as a miracle. It doesn't matter whether a historian personally believes that the resurrection occurred, they are not allowed by their discipline to claim (in an academic publication) that it occurred. So, unless a scholar goes out of their way to publish their personal beliefs in a non-academic venue of some sort, we have no way to know their thoughts on the subject. - David Lake, Senior Analyst, BA Mathematics