i'm not quite sure that this post fits under jws/wts since they do not keep up with real biblical scholarship, but i don't know where else to post it.. thomas a. robinson (university of lethbridge) has just published a book through oxford university press on the earliest christians, entitled who were the first christians?
: dismantling the urban thesis.
for some years the idea has dominated scholarship that christianity grew strongly at first in ancient cities like rome, alexandria, and corinth; the notion has been largely influenced by wayne meeks' (of yale) thinking in his book the first urban christians (1986).. i once saw a member here cite meeks' idea of how many christians existed in the roman empire.
I look forward to the Watchtower's summary:
"One 21st century scholar explained the amount of Christians in ancient Rome supports the Scripitural teaching of a 'little flock' limited to 144,000 members overlapping all generations." - The Watchtower, October-December issue 2114.
it seems that every 2nd witness often posts pictures of themselves at conventions, or out in 'service'.
but i have noticed that they never seem to post anything about the actual "spiritual content" of their activity!
instead, it is pictures of them with their witness "friends", along with some contrite comment like #bestlifeever (arrghhh).
They're merely innocently replicating the gb and their outward appearance before men.
saturday, august 19. make sure of the more important things, so that you may be flawless and not stumbling others.—phil.
1:10.. how can we train our conscience?
key ways are by regularly and prayerfully studying the bible, meditating on what we read, and then putting into practice what we have learned.
i would like to state publicly, on this forum, i no longer hold the views i had a year ago.. with much thought, research, study and logical examination i have come to a better understanding of my beliefs and where i stand on all these issues.. i'm very happy to announce i have returned to healthful teaching of the holy scriptures and i firmly believe that the governing body of jehovah's witnesses is the faithful slave.. sorry if i have contibuted to any kind of stumbling and know that if i can turn things around then there's hope for all who come to there sence.. phill4:6,7.
Colinconfused - I wish you all the best. Thank you for sharing with us your apostate, anti-christ, devil worshipping, mentally diseased views over the past year. See you back here when you confess your sins to the elders and are d'fed.
july 27, 2017 to all bodies of elders in the united states branch territory re: rental vehicles .
replaces.
march 31, 2014 to all bodies of elders in the united states re: rental vehicles.
Interesting use of quasi-legalese jargon to shift liability, especially calling all the new changes to policies and procedures a "reminder". This religion has clearly lost touch with reality. Attorneys and lawyers need a reminder (pun intended) that Watchtower is now hiding policy changes behind the cloak of a "reminder" which implies absolutely no change whatsoever whennin fact there are changes.
CCJW insists that it be named on insurance policies for self-protection, i.e. as a joint policy holder, while at the same time insisting congregation members pay the insurance for both the congregation and CCJW. Evidently jehovah needs a reminder that playing god comes with responsibility and liability.
so a couple of nights ago i was speaking with a relative and we began talking about the organization.
i had to asked her "why do you believe that this religion is the correct one?
" they stood quiet for a second but then said that they view and feel genuine christian love, a type of love that is spoken about in the bible.
Would that 'love' shown by the JW religion and Watchtower be the love of money and all the real estate that money can buy?
august 11, 2017 to all bodies of elders re: 2018 memorial invitations and date of special talk .
fyi:.
the 2018 memorial will be held on saturday, march 31, 2018.. the 2019 memorial will be held on friday, april 19, 2019..
Brothers, could this pre-memorial special talk be our last talk? It could be, it could be.
and the money keeps rolling in.
http://nypost.com/2017/08/16/jehovahs-witnesses-sale-of-brooklyn-buildings-nets-millions/.
"[The buyer] paid $18 million for 117-125 Columbia Heights — a five-story, three-townhouse combo of Brutalist architecture totaling 53,629 square feet on one of the best blocks in the high-gloss nabe. It was used as office space. The second sale, at 97 Columbia Heights, is slated to close shortly — for an undisclosed, but larger, sum."
Brutalist architecture for a brutalist organization. The irony.
i'll have some of that bread, yes and some of that red wine.
not bad give me some more red please.
give me the bottle and go away.
. . . and don't spare the leaven.
on video "benefits of divine education" william samuelsson makes totally appalling comment.. starting from 3:05 he refers to "an effort" that was made in past to see how society's curriculum corresponds with normal - worldly - universities.. then he claims that following question was asked (to university representative) "how we in five months can teach the same that for them takes two years"?.
according to w samuelsson the representative of a university replied something like this: "your students are motivated, they have come to learn where as our students have been send to university by their parents and might have something else than learning in their mind".
this is to crystallize what he said.
I remember Watchtower's Theocratic Ministry School. Lots of hype, lots of promises. The school has since folded without producing one single graduate.
