TheWonderofYou

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Posts by TheWonderofYou

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  46

  Jehovahs Witnesses and the Name , HOW Important. ?

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah`s witnesses place great emphasis on the importance of god`s name as jehovah .so much so that they are often accused by christendom`s religions as substituting jehovah for christ.. the old testament ( hebrew scriptures identify god as the tetragrammaton four hebrew consanants yhwh and not jhvh.

  as mistakenly believed by a 13th century spanish monk .. modern scholars including the j.w.`s agree that the more accurate pronunciation of gods name would be more nearer to yahweh than the name jehovah .. so why do j.w.`s insist on the name ?

  jehovah ?

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  TheWonderofYou

  Ucantnome

  Sorry i dont wanna hurt any feelings, but the plates there dont fit to this building, in my taste.
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  12

  EITHER or NEITHER or BOTH? FORGIVENESS vs ATONEMENT

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on (new testament scholar) bart ehrman's blog, the topic of luke's view of the purpose of jesus'.

  death has been discussed.. in that discussion, ehrman points out how luke did not set forth the idea of atonement, rather luke set forth the idea of forgiveness.. on the other hand, mark and paul teach atonement.. these two points of view have been "mashed together" into a package deal, apparently, throughout history by theologians.. _________________________.

  someone pays a debt owed by another.

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  TheWonderofYou

  Terry, I cant yet answer your question about the differences between Mark and Luke but I stumbled about this one, where Jesus used the "DEBTS" illustration too.

  
  In the „Parable of the wicked slave“ God's standard and willingness to forgive is addressed.

  Gods behave is an example for man. In jewish faith mercy, benevolence and readiness to forgive are ordered to man. Jesus illustrated the personal failures or transgressions as „debts“.

  What is remarkable about God in the parable is that the „king“ released the „wicked slave“ or "unmerciful obligee"
  

  from an awesome unimaginable high sum of debts (10000 talents* ~ USD 40 Mio. )

  compared to the insignificant 100 denarii. (~ USD 70)

  One matter is clear Gods standard is forgiveness.

  The "wicked slave" does not forgive, comparable to a wicked slave class of people that we know well, the wicked slave class perhaps really exists.

  
  

  Read the text as in NASB

  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+18%2C23&version=NASB

  
  

  “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’
  
  And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe. So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
  So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
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  12

  EITHER or NEITHER or BOTH? FORGIVENESS vs ATONEMENT

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on (new testament scholar) bart ehrman's blog, the topic of luke's view of the purpose of jesus'.

  death has been discussed.. in that discussion, ehrman points out how luke did not set forth the idea of atonement, rather luke set forth the idea of forgiveness.. on the other hand, mark and paul teach atonement.. these two points of view have been "mashed together" into a package deal, apparently, throughout history by theologians.. _________________________.

  someone pays a debt owed by another.

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  TheWonderofYou

  I found a story about FORGIVENESS

  Paid In Full

  The value of love.

  A touching story to share before Yom Kippur*)

  by Rabbi Go’el Elkarif

  ___

  There is a fellow who owns a jewelry store in Israel. One day a nine year old girl walked into the store and said, “I am here to buy a bracelet.” She looked through the glass cases and pointed to a bracelet that was $3,000. The man behind the counter asked her, “You want to buy that bracelet?”

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Wow, you have very good taste. Who do you want to buy it for?”

  “For my older sister.”

  “Oh that is so nice!” the storekeeper replied. “Why do you want to buy your older sister this bracelet?”

  “Because I don’t have a mother or father,” the little girl said, “and my older sister takes care of us. So we want to buy her a present, and I’m willing to pay for it.” She pulled out of her pocket a whole bunch of coins that totaled just under eight shekels, a little less than two dollars.

  The fellow says, “Wow! That’s exactly what the bracelet costs!” While wrapping up the bracelet he said to the girl, “You write a card to your sister while I wrap the bracelet.” He finished wrapping the bracelet, wiped away his tears, and handed the little girl the bracelet.

  A few hours later the older sister entered the store. “I’m terribly embarrassed,” she said. “My sister should not have come here. She shouldn’t have taken it without paying.”

  “What are you talking about?” the storekeeper asked.

  “What do you mean? This bracelet costs thousands of dollars. My little sister doesn’t have thousands of dollars – she doesn’t even have ten dollars! Obviously she didn’t pay for it.”

  “You couldn’t be more wrong,” the storekeeper replied. “She paid me in full. She paid seven shekel, eighty agurot, and a broken heart. I want to tell you something. I am a widower. I lost my wife a number of years ago. People come into my store every single day. They come in and buy expensive pieces of jewelry, and all these people can afford it. When your sister walked in, for the first time in so very long since my wife had died, I once again felt what love means.”

  He gave her the bracelet and wished her well.

  During the High Holy Days, we come to the Almighty and we want to buy something very expensive. We want to buy life. But we cannot afford it. We don’t have enough money to pay for it. We don’t have the merits. So we come to the Almighty and we empty out our pockets, giving him whatever merits we have plus promises for the future. I’ll pick up the phone and call someone who is lonely, I will learn an extra five minutes of Torah, I will be kind and I will be scrupulous about not speaking lashon hara (gossip) for one hour a day.

  The Almighty says, “You don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve felt what love means.” He sees how much we love Him and how much we yearn to improve, and He says, “You know what? You have touched my heart. Here it is, paid in full.”

  The story was told over by Rabbi Go’el Elkarif who said he heard it from the person to whom it happened.

  *) The "Day of Atonement" is the most important jewish Holy Day, the 10th' day of the period called "Ten Days of Repentance" which begin with the Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year"). These days are called the "High Holy Days".
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  12

  EITHER or NEITHER or BOTH? FORGIVENESS vs ATONEMENT

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on (new testament scholar) bart ehrman's blog, the topic of luke's view of the purpose of jesus'.

  death has been discussed.. in that discussion, ehrman points out how luke did not set forth the idea of atonement, rather luke set forth the idea of forgiveness.. on the other hand, mark and paul teach atonement.. these two points of view have been "mashed together" into a package deal, apparently, throughout history by theologians.. _________________________.

  someone pays a debt owed by another.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  TheWonderofYou

  myelaine

  I like these Psalms you mentioned, here Psalm 32

  
  

  the next one is not so poetic :

  

  
  

  Forgiveness

  „If I showed you my flaws
  If I couldn't be strong
  Tell me honestly would you still love me the same?
  If I got locked away
  And we lost it all today
  Tell me honestly would you still love me the same?“

  Locked Away Songtext

  Facit: How can we receive this FORGIVENESS

  - is it like motherly love or sentimental love?

  - are there preconditions or steps towards it (repentance, confession, public declaration, baptism, reversal, public demonstration of repantence, reparation, compensation......) or is it unconditional love)?

  - is forgiveness a part of the atonement, the last step of it, or are F & A two parallel processes that run at the same time?
• 
  46

  Jehovahs Witnesses and the Name , HOW Important. ?

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah`s witnesses place great emphasis on the importance of god`s name as jehovah .so much so that they are often accused by christendom`s religions as substituting jehovah for christ.. the old testament ( hebrew scriptures identify god as the tetragrammaton four hebrew consanants yhwh and not jhvh.

  as mistakenly believed by a 13th century spanish monk .. modern scholars including the j.w.`s agree that the more accurate pronunciation of gods name would be more nearer to yahweh than the name jehovah .. so why do j.w.`s insist on the name ?

  jehovah ?

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  TheWonderofYou

  myelaine

  That is a very deepgoing analysis. I drove by our towns' KH today and I realised they now have installed even two of those big blue white ugly "J W AARGH" signs over the entry what really destroys the impression of the whole building.
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  39

  Horrible Bosses

  by John Aquila in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i just heard this a few minutes ago by a jw friend who is still an elder in my old hall.

  the kingdom hall i used to attend and my mom still attends was paid off many years ago and serves about 6 congregations.

  one of the english congregations has a lot of financially well of members.

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  TheWonderofYou

  Thats definitely a matter and relationship of obedience and domination and not of voluntariness any more.
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  40

  We missed you at the meetings

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a vomit inducing comment.. i asked why do they have to specify 'meetings'?

  they never miss us in tesco or the showcase cinema bar.. in their defence, a friend of mine said: 'that's because the meeting is where they normally would see you.'.

  well, if they want to see you they can arrange a meal out or something.

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  TheWonderofYou

  Thanks for the lovely image of a sister awaiting the meetings.

  I really always looked hard for a sister in my district but I could not find one who fell in love with me and with whom I could go to the meetings and praying and together holding hands and singing to Jiova. This was one reason why I faded. And my dream did not fulfill.
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  40

  We missed you at the meetings

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a vomit inducing comment.. i asked why do they have to specify 'meetings'?

  they never miss us in tesco or the showcase cinema bar.. in their defence, a friend of mine said: 'that's because the meeting is where they normally would see you.'.

  well, if they want to see you they can arrange a meal out or something.

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  TheWonderofYou

  Your effort to come to the "meetings" is what counts.

  Its the best proof of appreciation for gods arrangements.

  If you lived far away from a kingdom hall and took upon you to walk dozens of miles over snow covered mountain passes in crackly frostiness or through mexican desert near some dangerous geyzers, this would be a good experience to tell on a convention, an example of appreciation. Then you should of course not forget your donation for the world wide work. Perhaps somewhen you can afford building a kingdom hall nearer to your place behind the pass or in the desert

  Sitting on your laptop and listening to the morning worship over internet or watching JW broadcast behind the mountanin pass is not the same as coming togehter with sis and bro's. But you could try out at home the paypal function to receive the latest printed edition of ever revised bible at your distant location.
• 
  40

  We missed you at the meetings

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a vomit inducing comment.. i asked why do they have to specify 'meetings'?

  they never miss us in tesco or the showcase cinema bar.. in their defence, a friend of mine said: 'that's because the meeting is where they normally would see you.'.

  well, if they want to see you they can arrange a meal out or something.

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  TheWonderofYou

  It happened about 3 weeks after I stopped attending the meetings that the I received a postcard of an elder who reminded me of the bible passage Hebrew 10,24-25 NASB "let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together".
  I never again attended a meeting anyway after my decision.
  After that two elders visited me at home, but we didnt allow them to enter, because I had decided to make my own decisions. Then one phoned me at work and asked me private questions about my belief.
  If I wanted to be one of them at all. And I answered something like "Presently I cannot imagine that, i love her really". That was enough.

  Since after DFment no private meetings are allowed in this cult, it happens of course only accidently that I pass by at a Watchtower-bearing elder who proclaims gods kingdom at the corner of our city center square or I meet one in the library.

  As the elders are surprisingly talking with me if I talk to them, i said "I thank you, but I love her". Comments like "Read the Bible again" or "You should decide yourself for the truth and not follow her", "there is only one truth you know it ,dont you" or "You can write a letter and ask for revision, thats no problem" are typical unnecessary street conversations.Younger ones Fellow R&F friends have said something like. "I know how it is to be DF, look I have been DF too, I divcorced my wife and now I have new one. This bro died and that too in the meantime, Sis is already married, fancy that....I understand that you are in a difficult situation. as your wife is not religious. We are now more concentration on family matters, we dont study with our children the Armageddon study articles any more, our children are afraid of the words and are yet small...you have always been a searcher....Come to the meetings.".
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  21

  A DAY IN THE LIFE

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  a day in the life.

  i took a hot bath this morning.

  then, after making my bed and saying "good morning" to my roommate, sana--i jumped on my bike and headed off to breakfast.sound exciting enough for you yet?

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  TheWonderofYou

  Good afternoon, god bless you and everbody hanging around there at your place.