We sold everything and moved to preach. That was almost 20 years later. The influence over life decisions hardly ended with 1975.
peacefulpete
JoinedPosts by peacefulpete
-
68
1975 selling of houses
by Paul Bonanno inas 1975 was approaching, many witnesses sold their property.
do you know about specific cases that are willing to share their experience of doing so?.
-
-
-
15
Dirt floors in Africa, Ultra modern Towers in Indonesia
by RULES & REGULATIONS inmatthew 19:21. jesus said to him, “if you will to be perfect, go away, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.”.
jw family tanzania - bukombe kingdom hall.
nothing like attending your local kingdom hall in africa with dirt floors, tarps as a roof, brutal heat with no air-conditioning, and small wooden benches to sit on after a hard days work.. does the society help this congregation in africa with a suitable kingdom hall that would have the local members more comfortable with these unbearable conditions?.
-
-
peacefulpete
It's all explainable. The heart of the church is image and growth not quality of life. Again, they are not alone many churches do the same. But would you expect the "true" church to behave like others?
-
7
It appears Paul utilized Wisdom of Solomon
by peacefulpete inromans 1:18-31.
18 the wrath of god is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about god is plain to them, because god has made it plain to them.
20 for since the creation of the world god’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.. 21 for although they knew god, they neither glorified him as god nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
-
-
peacefulpete
A lot depends depends upon your definition of inspired. I find it interesting because of questions of Christian origins. By paraphrasing Wisdom Paul tells us more about himself, what he read, how he formulated his unique theology. It's one of the central debates today. It's frustratingly complicated. Too much literature from the period is lost, too little known about the provenance and transmission of what are regarded as authentic Pauline works to be dogmatic about anything.
I find interesting is Wisdom's emphasis upon revelation being the objective and key to salvation. 10:10 uses the term God's Kingdom as a revelatory reward, not as a literal temporal/physical messianic liberation.
So many currents we're running through Jewish communities, especially in the diaspora.
-
7
It appears Paul utilized Wisdom of Solomon
by peacefulpete inromans 1:18-31.
18 the wrath of god is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about god is plain to them, because god has made it plain to them.
20 for since the creation of the world god’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.. 21 for although they knew god, they neither glorified him as god nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
-
-
peacefulpete
Romans 1:18-31
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for idols made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
Compare now the more verbose
Wisdom 13:1-10, 14:22-31
13 For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature;
and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists,
nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works;
2 but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air,
or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water,
or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world.
3 If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods,
let them know how much better than these is their Lord,
for the author of beauty created them.
4 And if people[a] were amazed at their power and working,
let them perceive from them
how much more powerful is the one who formed them.
5 For from the greatness and beauty of created things
comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.
6 Yet these people are little to be blamed,
for perhaps they go astray
while seeking God and desiring to find him.
7 For while they live among his works, they keep searching,
and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful.
8 Yet again, not even they are to be excused;
9 for if they had the power to know so much
that they could investigate the world,
how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?10 But miserable, with their hopes set on dead things, are those
who give the name “gods” to the works of human hands,
gold and silver fashioned with skill,
and likenesses of animals,
or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.22 Then it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God,
but though living in great strife due to ignorance,
they call such great evils peace.
23 For whether they kill children in their initiations, or celebrate secret mysteries,
or hold frenzied revels with strange customs,
24 they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure,
but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery,
25 and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,
26 confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors,
defiling of souls, sexual perversion,
disorder in marriages, adultery, and debauchery.
27 For the worship of idols not to be named
is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.
28 For their worshipers[a] either rave in exultation,
or prophesy lies, or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury;
29 for because they trust in lifeless idols
they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.
30 But just penalties will overtake them on two counts:
because they thought wrongly about God in devoting themselves to idols,
and because in deceit they swore unrighteously through contempt for holiness.
31 For it is not the power of the things by which people swear,[b]
but the just penalty for those who sin,
that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous. -
15
Dirt floors in Africa, Ultra modern Towers in Indonesia
by RULES & REGULATIONS inmatthew 19:21. jesus said to him, “if you will to be perfect, go away, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.”.
jw family tanzania - bukombe kingdom hall.
nothing like attending your local kingdom hall in africa with dirt floors, tarps as a roof, brutal heat with no air-conditioning, and small wooden benches to sit on after a hard days work.. does the society help this congregation in africa with a suitable kingdom hall that would have the local members more comfortable with these unbearable conditions?.
-
-
peacefulpete
Our congo in south America looked very much like the one posted. The branch was the only brick building in the country. All the materials were imported from America.. too bad it was so heavy it was sinking,lol.
-
21
Another HUGE Building Project
by pontoon ini haven't been on site in a while, don't know if has been discussed but here is a link.
https://rcbizjournal.com/2022/09/29/watchtower-bible-world-headquarters-project-in-ramapo-moves-ahead.
-
-
peacefulpete
I must ask, they still have Patterson and walkill right?
The prepper comment about hoarding silver made me think of the Oneida community. Fascinating story about a cult that evolved into a silverware factory. Great read: Without Sin, life and death of the Oneida Community.
-
21
Another HUGE Building Project
by pontoon ini haven't been on site in a while, don't know if has been discussed but here is a link.
https://rcbizjournal.com/2022/09/29/watchtower-bible-world-headquarters-project-in-ramapo-moves-ahead.
-
-
peacefulpete
I'm pretty sure they are transitioning to a cyber church. Makes a lot of sense young people don't want to carry around books. And information can be changed easily. The next gen of leadership will be children of the internet age and nothing will seem strange. I know many of you are upset about money but many high control religions have money and they all get it the same ways. The Mormons are the richest church in the world. $100 billion in assets they say. Scientology is making strides to get there.
-
68
1975 selling of houses
by Paul Bonanno inas 1975 was approaching, many witnesses sold their property.
do you know about specific cases that are willing to share their experience of doing so?.
-
-
peacefulpete
I remember it being discussed . Fortunately my dad who was PO just didn't get drawn into it. We were in fact building a small house, cutting every corner we could because we were poor. Dad made sure we had a place to live. Funny thing is the house burned to the ground in 1976 before we completely finished it. We lived in school bus briefly till mom insisted we do something else. Lived in basement of another family till insurance money built a new place. Memories.
-
36
“Hanging the earth upon nothing”
by FFGhost infor those of you not up to speed on the latest jw trends, one of the key scriptures the jws are using in field serve-us lately is job 26:7, wherein the writer describes the earth as “hanging upon nothing”.. this text is used to indicate the bible’s “reliability”.
the reasoning goes something like this:.
“see, centuries ago, people thought the world was flat, or was resting on elephants or turtles, or some such nonsense.
-
-
peacefulpete
Don't follow you Wanton. I posted that simply to illustrate the free Tanahk interpretation the Jews themselves engaged in. Of course it also demonstrates they had not read into Job what some today do.
-
36
“Hanging the earth upon nothing”
by FFGhost infor those of you not up to speed on the latest jw trends, one of the key scriptures the jws are using in field serve-us lately is job 26:7, wherein the writer describes the earth as “hanging upon nothing”.. this text is used to indicate the bible’s “reliability”.
the reasoning goes something like this:.
“see, centuries ago, people thought the world was flat, or was resting on elephants or turtles, or some such nonsense.
-
-
peacefulpete
I stumbled upon this today, a bit belatedly for this thread but found it interesting how early Jewish Rabbis interpreted the Tanakh (OT) so colorfully and metaphorically. Notice this passage in the Mishnah, Hagigah 12b:
§ It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yosei says: Woe to them, the creations, who see and know not what they see; who stand and know not upon what they stand. He clarifies: Upon what does the earth stand? Upon pillars, as it is stated: “Who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble” (Job 9:6). These pillars are positioned upon water, as it is stated: “To Him Who spread forth the earth over the waters” (Psalms 136:6). These waters stand upon mountains, as it is stated: “The waters stood above the mountains” (Psalms 104:6). The mountains are upon the wind, as it is stated: “For behold He forms the mountains and creates the wind” (Amos 4:13). The wind is upon a storm, as it is stated: “Stormy wind, fulfilling His word” (Psalms 148:8). The storm hangs upon the arm of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is stated: “And underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27), which demonstrates that the entire world rests upon the arms of the Holy One, Blessed be He.
And the Rabbis say: The earth stands on twelve pillars, as it is stated: “He set the borders of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 32:8). Just as the children of Israel, i.e., the sons of Jacob, are twelve in number, so does the world rest on twelve pillars. And some say: There are seven pillars, as it is stated: “She has hewn out her seven pillars” (Proverbs 9:1). Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua says: The earth rests on one pillar and a righteous person is its name, as it is stated: “But a righteous person is the foundation of the world” (Proverbs 10:25).