John Aquila

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Posts by John Aquila

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  35

  Where did Jesus get the Idea of an After-life in Heaven?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the ancient jews did not believe in an after-life as far as i can tell, correct me if i'm wrong.

  the watchtower says yes.

  they say all the prophets believed in a paradise earth..

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  John Aquila

  Clambake

  Ecclesiastes is a book of wisdom written by King Solomon which starts off describing the condition of men without god. Money is everything, When we are dead , we are just dead…………………………..oh wait………….Life sucks without god. That is the entire book in a nutshell.

  Thanks for the input.
  

  I agree. But with God in the picture, the only reward the book of Ecclesiastes gives is this;

  (Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14) . . .The conclusion of the matter, everything having been heard, is: Fear the [true] God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole [obligation] of man. 14 For the [true] God himself will bring every sort of work into the judgment in relation to every hidden thing, as to whether it is good or bad.

  From what I’ve read, the Jews believed that reward or judgment would be met out in this life, not an “Afterlife”

  If the ancient Hebrews believed in an afterlife, the writer of Ecclesiastes would have said something like this;

  For the [true] God himself will “Give Everlasting Life” to those that do Good.

  The Hebrews never entertained or talked about “Everlasting life” That’s why the Apostles refused to abandon Jesus because He was the only one who offered a reward of everlasting life. No other Jew or Prophet even entertained the idea.

  (John 6:68) . . .Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life. . .
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  35

  Where did Jesus get the Idea of an After-life in Heaven?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the ancient jews did not believe in an after-life as far as i can tell, correct me if i'm wrong.

  the watchtower says yes.

  they say all the prophets believed in a paradise earth..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  John Aquila

  OrphanCrow

  The idea of a heaven/hell was likely a Zoroastrian influence from Persia.

  Thanks for you input OC

  That may be true but the conversation between Jesus and his apostles seem to indicate that the apostles had never heard of Everlasting life after death.

  (John 6:68) . . .Simon Peter answered him: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life. . .

  If the Apostles had heard of and afterlife in heaven/hell they never would have made the comment; You have sayings of everlasting life.
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  35

  Where did Jesus get the Idea of an After-life in Heaven?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the ancient jews did not believe in an after-life as far as i can tell, correct me if i'm wrong.

  the watchtower says yes.

  they say all the prophets believed in a paradise earth..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  John Aquila

  Dismissing servant

  Probably from Egyptian and Greek/hellenistic religion.

  Thanks for your input DS. The problem I have with that is that Jesus was raised by a carpenter. Which means he had no access or any financial means to be educated in Greek or Egyptians schools. All his education came from listening to talks in the synagogues because people back then couldn’t even afford to buy Hebrew scrolls. They were rare and expensive. Only the elite could afford to buy books or attend schools. And everyone knew Jesus could not afford to go to school and get educated.

  John 7:15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?"

  All the religious information Jesus had was from Hebrew hearsay. And Ancient Hebrews did not believe in an afterlife in Heaven from what I’ve read.
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  35

  Where did Jesus get the Idea of an After-life in Heaven?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the ancient jews did not believe in an after-life as far as i can tell, correct me if i'm wrong.

  the watchtower says yes.

  they say all the prophets believed in a paradise earth..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  John Aquila

  The Ancient Jews did not believe in an after-life as far as I can tell, correct me if I'm wrong.

  The Watchtower says yes. They say all the prophets believed in a paradise earth.

  But the Old Testament does not show any prophet speaking about humans living forever in a paradise earth at some point in the future or for that matter an afterlife in heaven.

  In fact it teaches death is the end-- period.
  

  (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6) . . .but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, ... Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished,. . .

  Since this was the case, the Old Testament's admonition was for humans to do this while they are alive;

  (Ecclesiastes 9:10) Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom

  If the Jews didn’t believe in an afterlife, where did Jesus who was a Jew get the idea that the dead would go to heaven and live in heavenly homes?

  John 14:1 In my Father's house are many rooms; ---I am going there to prepare a place for you.

  Where did Jesus get the idea of a heavenly afterlife? It wasn't from the Hebrew Canon.
  

  This was a new teaching for the ancient Jew.
  
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  51

  Why hasn’t someone gotten real pissed off yet?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i keep reading of some guy who is so upset at someone that he goes into a theater and shoots 20 people..

  or a kid that is so mad that the other kids made fun of him that he goes to school and shoots a bunch of kids..

  or some guy that was fired from his job and he goes back and shoots of bunch of his workers.

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  John Aquila

  Finkelstein

  It is somewhat surprising that someone hasn't gone out their way of out anguish, disrepair and hatred, to harm one of the past presidents or GB members of the WTS., knowing that their behavioral actions had cost the life of a beloved family member.

  That's what I was thinking. I read so many angry, really upset experiences, and I don't blame them, I wonder why nothing has happened yet.

  Maybe because those that leave are in actuality the most level headed, reasonable, people you can find. So they are more prone to think of the consequences.
  
• 
  51

  Why hasn’t someone gotten real pissed off yet?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i keep reading of some guy who is so upset at someone that he goes into a theater and shoots 20 people..

  or a kid that is so mad that the other kids made fun of him that he goes to school and shoots a bunch of kids..

  or some guy that was fired from his job and he goes back and shoots of bunch of his workers.

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• 

  John Aquila

  I keep reading of some guy who is so upset at someone that he goes into a theater and shoots 20 people.

  Or a kid that is so mad that the other kids made fun of him that he goes to school and shoots a bunch of kids.

  Or some guy that was fired from his job and he goes back and shoots of bunch of his workers.

  Or some guy that shoots a lady because she cut in front of him in the freeway.

  Every month something crazy like this happens.

  In the Watchtower, someone is always being disfellowshipped unjustly.

  Or someone loses all his family because of the disfellowshipping policy and their being forced to shun anyone who leaves.

  O someone has lost a loved one because they weren’t allowed to take a certain blood fraction, but now that fraction is allowed.

  Or some parents finally finds out that some elder or Ministerial servant sexually abused their child and got away with it because of Watchtower policy.

  Or the hundreds of persons who went to prison for years because they were not allowed to exchange their service in the military for working in a hospital because of the neutrality issue, and then find out after serving 5 or more years that the Watchtower has changed the policy because of new light.

  With the thousands of bad experiences that people are going through in the organization, why hasn’t someone gotten so mad that they just lose it and walk into a Governing Body meeting and starts shooting?

  I’m not encouraging anyone to do this; it’s just a question I have and I just wonder why no one has gotten to the point where he/she just went ballistic because of the bad experiences that the Organization has put them through?

  One witness told me that the reason was because Jehovah has angels assigned to protect the GB from something like that.
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  34

  Witnesses and anxiety disorder

  by mana11 in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i saw this on a public user group for jw's .

  the librarian [email protected].

  the caption reads:.

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  John Aquila

  Wouldn't you have anxiety disorder if this guy was your leader?

  
• 
  40

  JW Broadcasting is dying.

  by John Aquila in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  once a month about 15 to 20 elderly jw publishers would meet at the kingdom hall and one elder was assigned to set up the system so they could view jw broadcasting.

  these publishers were long time pioneers, former elders, and long time publishers who know nothing about computers or the internet.

  they are the last batch of those expecting the generation that saw 1914 or understood it--- to not die off.

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  John Aquila

  rebel8

  Was this for pioneer school?

  I’m assuming it is because my neighbor who is also a JW asked my mom to provide a meal and my mom said ---NO!

  I think the rebellion of the elderly has begun.
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  40

  JW Broadcasting is dying.

  by John Aquila in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  once a month about 15 to 20 elderly jw publishers would meet at the kingdom hall and one elder was assigned to set up the system so they could view jw broadcasting.

  these publishers were long time pioneers, former elders, and long time publishers who know nothing about computers or the internet.

  they are the last batch of those expecting the generation that saw 1914 or understood it--- to not die off.

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  John Aquila

  PaintedToeNail

  JohnAquila-Your mom is great! The reasoning you used and the reasoning she used with the other ladies really made a difference.

  Heck, I didn't know this was going to cause such a fall out. I learned a lesson, speak when there is an opportunity, not necessarily to wake them up, but to help them see when they are being taken advantage of by the elders and organization.
  
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  27

  Some Watchtower growth projection numbers (5 scenarios)

  by Saintbertholdt in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i've been doing some watchtower membership growth projections.

  the best, worst and most lightly future scenarios.

  i've used the worlds population as a barometer of future watchtower growth.

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  John Aquila

  The spin of the Watchtower would want us to believe that growth is explosive.

  
  

  (Isaiah 60:22) . . .The little one himself will become a thousand, and the small one a mighty nation. I myself, Jehovah, shall speed it up in its own time.”