Room 215
JoinedTopics Started by Room 215
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WT Study 01/12/03: Linking Salvation to Literacy?
by Room 215 inyesterday's wt study's specious attempt to forge a link to literacy/reading comprehension/ study of the bible got me to wondering about the historic levels of world literacy.
i. it would seem that the people of biblical times had neither public schooling nor any widespread access to copies of the scriptures.
hand-copied scrolls from the sacred writings were in the possession of the elite ruling and clerical classes; hence the custom of public readings of scriptures at the synagogues on the sabbath, ostensibly to the masses who had neither the ability to read or access to these writings.
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Questions for Gamaliel
by Room 215 inhello gamaliel,.
you're a recent poster here, and i've enjoyed your contributions.
i would ask that you please elaborate on one point i found most intriguing: the limiting of access to the bethel libraries sinces the 70s.
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12/15 WT: Blondie, Where Are You?
by Room 215 inblondie,.
too bad you took a week off on you running critique of the weekly ``spiritual meal'' known as the wt study.
this time around you would have learned that jws are cleaner and less profane when using a public facility (stadium) than a pack of rabid football fans... what a revelation!
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11/1/02 WT: Why Should I Apologize?"
by Room 215 inaa usual, the boys in bethel prove their aptitude in the ``do as i say but not as i do'' department.
they eloquently laud the virtues of open-mindedness, humility and freedom of speech, as long as it applies to others.
this issue's covering article is but another in a long series of example.
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Patterson NY-- Latter Day Beth-Sarim?
by Room 215 inmy daughter just ogt a tourist brochure from a jw-owned agency in illinois touting pilgrimages to the gb's $50-million retirement valhalla.
it's laughable that they're able to sell this fiasco to the friends as an ``educational center.''.
what sort of graduates is this specious ``education center'' turning out?
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In JW Dogma: John Outweighs Jesus
by Room 215 inthe book of revelation, purported to have been written by the apostle john in his tenth decade of life, and one of the most contoversial entries into the biblical canon (so many early fathers opposed its inclusion, it made it in by the ``skin of its teeth") and full of arcane imagery and so convoluted that that it's been the cause of often bitter sectarian wrangling over its interppretation for 1900 years, seems for the wtbts to outweigh the words of jesus in its formulation of dogma.. consider how the insistence of the literal application of the 144,000, for example, has distorted -- and vitiated the impact of-- such plain-language parables as the sheep and the goats, the ten virgins and the other sheep,not to mention the influence of this book on their worldview.
in short, this one book has become for jws a prism through which to peer into the rest of the bible.
that's the view from two one five; what say you?.
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JW Voters: Post Election-Day Fallout?
by Room 215 inif i recall, a wt question from readers a year or two ago suggested that voting was a ``matter of consicience.
" i have also heard that this was pubished only ``for public consumption,"" and that the verbal ``network'' emanating from the governing body and proceeding down the pipeline via the district and circuit overseers to the locals was that they should get the word out that nothing had really changed and that voting was actionable by a judicial committee.
so... my questions are: is this all accurate?
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JW Author Firpo Carr: What's His Agenda?
by Room 215 ini've only now become aware of the existence of one firpo carr, apparently a liberal jw apologist with several dissenting views and an afro-american jw grievance agenda.
do any of you know where he stands and how he's regarded by jws?
is he a sort of black greg stafford?
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WT Intransigence Will Be (Is?) Their Undoing
by Room 215 intheir stubborn refusal to throw open a whole host of controversial issues -- blood, chronology, congregational discipline, child molestation policy, etc., etc.
-- to reappraisal or free and unfettered debate by the rapidly diminishing long-time jw loyalists, many of whom are cos and dos and who would urge reform and reason, would seem to seal the doom of the organization as we know it.
the clock is ticking against them and there is no safety valve on the boiler.
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``Suck" Replaces ``Stink'' In Our Vocabulary
by Room 215 inhow old is this phenomenon, and is it another feature of the sign of the end?
at the risk of dating myself, i remember when ``suck'' was never used in civil company, as it was considered a filthy word, a euphemism for fellatio.
today, i find that i react viscerally to its wide use, and must admit to still finding it crass and offensive, although that admission likely places me at the margin rather than in the mainstream of contemporary society.