Posts by Sangdigger

38

God's Name?

by seeking_truth in

another question for everyone.

i have read through some of the threads, posts or whatever and even though there is a sense of disagreement over witnesses and the society, their way of handling the words of the bible.

i was curious to know if anyone does believe jehovah is his name?

I just did some personal research on Gods name for my brother who is loosely attatched to the JW's through my parents. Most of the info. has already been stated, exept for the fact that the Jews would not pronounce the divine name because of a superstition they had due to a scripture in Exodus 20:7. And then only the high priest could say the name out loud once a year!!

The tetragrammaton is used 6,823 times in the OT. Somewhere between the 6th and 9th centuries, a Jewish religious group known as the Masoretes attatched vowells to the letters YHWH, thus creating Yaweh. As someone pointed out earlier in the post, around the 12th century translaters substituted a J for the Y as in latin, and a v for a w, and came up with Jehovah. In 1602, the spanish bible translation by Cipriano de Valera rendered the tetragrammaton thousands of times in the old testament as "Jehova", and later the King James used the name "Jehovah" just 7 times in the old testament.

Whats even more amazing, is how the WTS makes such a big deal over the importance of using the name Jehovah, (even to the point of critisizing some of praying to a false god if they dont use the name in their prayer.....this has personaly happened to me) and yet in one of thier own books, the "New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures" they recognize that YAWEH is probably more correct than JEHOVAH. They say on Pg. 23 "While inclining to view the pronunciation "Yaweh" as the more correct way, we have retained the form "Jehovah" because of peoples familiarity with it since the 14th century."

I personaly agree with several others on this post. I became familiar with the name Jehovah as a child, and will continue to call on the Almighty by that name. Whether its Yaweh or whatever, he's still my Father, and i thats what i mostly call him. Truth seeker, i hope this helps.

Jim

26

Cain Killed Abel

by Windchaser in

abel.

he loved cain, he took care of cain.

cain would fall into a lake and pretend he was drowning.

Sangdigger

Once again, showing No flesh is justified by the deeds of the law. God expects perfect obediance. Something nobody could ever produce exept one. Jesus

6

Do JW's ever read Ephesians4:6?

by anti-absolutism in

you know the scripture that the dubs use to "prove that there is only one true religion and that they, of course have it"?

one lord, one faith, one baptism..... has anyone ever had any experiences trying to point out that verse 6 tends to shed a different light on it?

it says, (in their own bible): one god and father of all [persons], who is over all, and through all, and in all.. to avoid swaying opinion, i will avoid giving my own experiences until i get a few responses.. thanks for your consideration, brad

Sangdigger

Since when did the New Testament ever apply to JW's anyway? The way i see it, they think only the good council and maybe a few scriptures about the great crowd apply to them. The rest is only for the 144.

5

To Francois, and to any in the Southeast...

by reporter in

jw
friends

i'm coming!.

francois... .

btw, u live near atlanta i take it...on route to floridasun iz... .

Sangdigger

reporter,

Dont mean to bust yer bubble, but im a born and bred southerner, still live "down here" and im freezin my bunz off!! Of course im not in Miami either. (but thankful im not where you are at the moment) In reply to your other comments, ill have to bust yer bubble again. The gov't in the states stopped upholding the constitution oh....about 135 yrs ago. It started with the man they refer to as honest abe. I think he was the one who broke habeus corpus by enlisting 75,000 volunteers to put down "the rebellion". Ahh but that was so long ago. Yes, but they might as well use the constitution for toilet paper now. Thats about how much it means to todays politicians and leaders in the great demonocracy. Theres one thing down here we did manage to hold on to though, RELIGION. They dont call us the bible belt for nuthin. Be sure and stop in at the local Methodist or Baptist cong, and then swing by the local pigly wiggley for some moon pies. Most folks as you probably know dont care a whole lot about whether yer a yankee or not, long as you aint rude, or your name aint Sherman.

Cheers

8

Where's the scriptural support for 1935??

by back2dafront in

*** w88 1/1 11 the last days-a time of harvest *** .

john, in another vision, sees the sealing of the final ones of the 144,000.

(revelation 7:1-8) evidently, the gathering of these was virtually complete by 1935. .

Sangdigger

If i understand thier teaching right, i believe the reason they give (or used to give) for new ones claiming to be of the annointed class, is they basically replace unfaithful annointed ones. ie...those who sin, and are either df'd or unrepentant. This way, they can get around the awkwardness of someone claiming to be of the heavenly class who is very young, and/or inmature spiritually. Since by thier own claims, the class was pretty much filled up by 1930 something.

I remember years ago, my dad telling me of a former brother he knew who was of the remnant and who could not give up the habbit of tobacco. I remember him telling me that he died disfellowshipped for the practice, and therefore forfieted his right to the annointed. Even though i was "in" back then, i just couldnt help but think something wasnt clicking just right.

Back 2 front, i wish you well in your research. I go about every 3 to 6 mos. between debates with my parents. It seems like a losing battle, but you cant never tell what small seed you might plant, that will make him think.

Take care

12

Field Service Tricks

by Beans in

does any one remember this one?

as we live in the "great white north" the weather does not always co-operate with us and sometimes we would have to go outdoors for field service in the winter months.

so i remember my father giving the congregation some tips when the householder would open the door!

Sangdigger

Rayzorblade is correct. RV is definately the key. for those of us who live in rural areas, we would spend all morning driving from one side of the county to the other, tracking down some dis-interested person who probably never even lied and even said he was interested just to be nice. Hindsight=20/20

26

Cain Killed Abel

by Windchaser in

abel.

he loved cain, he took care of cain.

cain would fall into a lake and pretend he was drowning.

Sangdigger

The story of Cain and Abel parallel a modern story of works vs grace. Just like the two men who went to the temple to pray. One a pharisee religious man, the other a poor sinner who knew of his sinful condition. The religious "righteous man" raised his eyes to heaven and thanked God he was not like the sinner, but did all the law required of him. The sinner wouldnt even look up, but beat on his chest and begged God for mercy and confessed his sinful condition. Who went home justified? The sinner.

Cain=Pictures works religion. Be good, work hard, do all you can do. God will respect your hard work.

Abel=Pictures grace religion. Here is the Lamb Lord, it is all you require. I can not merit your approval. Your Lamb can only do that. A picture of the Son of God,(slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13:8) the Lamb, who can only take away sin.

15

Three Reasons Why the 'Truth' Isn't True (#1)

by metatron in

reason number one:.

while i cannot prove herein that consciousness survives death of the .

body, i can point out a solid arguement that you must have some sort.

Sangdigger

Metatron, some interesting points there. I am doing a kind of prolonged personel research on the "Soul" right now, and one thing you touched on made me realize how much the WTS dismisses things that other folks call a mystery. Their logic seems to be; if you cant understand it, it must not be true. I think there are some things that do call for just plain ole faith. But if they cant give some scientific reasoning for it, it must not be true, like the Trinity, or the immortal soul. Much like athiest who point their finger and scoff at things that arent physical or material, or cant be explained with the human mind, they basically do the same thing.

106

How do I know the Bible is True?

by SwedishChef in

how do i know the bible is true?

by thomas schaff.

external evidence.

Sangdigger

Good Post SC,

I like what you said about the message of the Bible never changing. Thats because man is still the same. DEAD. From Genesis to Revelation, the message is clear. All flesh is grass. None is righteous, no not one. King David said it right: "Behold, i was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me".

Lets be honest folks, we dont deserve anything from God, not even the least of his mercies. Should God have decided not to spare a single person, and not send his son, what is that to us? The sooner we realize that God is God and its his ballgame, and not up to us, we'd all be better off. But then again, spiritually dead people dont need a God. Their God is their belly. They live 24/7 in the flesh.

As far as the word CIRCLE in the Scripture at Isa.40:22, the hebrew word translated into english is ARCH, VAULT, COMPASS.

ARCH: A CURVED construction. VAULT: (n) An ARCHED construction in masonry forming a roof or supporting the true roof. (v) To cover with a vault or ARCHED roof.....Compass:(verb)To move around, to surround, (noun)The instument,compass used for determining direction on earths surface, which points to a magnetic north....

2 out of 3 enlish words used to describe this hebrew word used in Isa. denote a CURVE. While a flat circle is round, it is not ARCHED.

I remember hearing or reading somewhere that Columbus(?) or one of the great explorers, argued that the world was indeed round and not flat, and that he derived this belief from the bible. Maybe someone else could elaborate on this.

7

Liftons "demand for Purity" in JWs.

by refiners fire in

liftons - "demand for purity" criteria applied to the jehovahs witnesses.

in the book "thought reform and the psychology of totalism" (1961) robert lifton lists one of the criteria or manifestations within the brainwashing scenario as "the demand for purity".

he explains what this demand on the part of the mind controllers entails on page 423 of the book:

Sangdigger

RF, Thanks for the Post. It was really enlightening. I think one of the biggest Lies they promote is the Lie that you can live up to Gods Righteous Standards. This is one thing i have noticed the last several years of reading their publications. They use terms like "Honest hearted ones" or "Those with a pure heart" and many others. I wonder how they treat the scripture in Matt. where Jesus told his followers: "Unless your Righteousnes EXCEEDS that of the pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven"

What the Gospel teaches is just the opposite of WT propaganda. The true gospel says "None is righteous, no not one" and "by the deeds of the law, no flesh is justified"

Its no wonder most of us used to wear ourselves out trying to please God, and those of us who didnt go through the physical motions, were mentally tormented by the guilt. Jesus Christ has set me free from this kind of guilt.