Posts by problemaddict

20

Is the Trinitarian view point correct based on this passage-Titus 2:13?

by I_love_Jeff in

titus 2:13- "while we wait for the blessed hope-the appearing of the glory of our great god and savior, jesus christ, " .

the part in question lies at the end of the passage "...of our great god and savior, jesus christ,".

*granville sharp's rule-when you have two nouns, which are not proper names (such as cephas, or paul, or timothy), which are describing a person, and the two nouns are connected by the word "and," and the first noun has the article ("the") while the second does not, *both nouns are referring to the same person.. this, as far as i know, has been an ongoing argument among trinitarians and non trinitarians for a very long time.

problemaddict

I am not sure Sharp's rule is much of a rule at all. Most trinitarian exegesis begins witht he premise that the Trinity is true and works from there. JW's guilty of the same thing. I went through a phase when i thought there might be something to it. The basic trinitarian non-heretical doctrine has evolved around this consideration of "nature". Something along the lines of we all here on this board share a nature that is human. So while we are separate people, we are all human.

I get it, but it isn't in my humble opinion analgous. As long as God knows something that his son does not, there is no Christian Trinity.

Wether it is neccesary to believe that in order to be accepted by God, only people on both sides of the issue have beef with it. I personally think that considering scripture, exactly what was expected for us to have understood is exactly what was said. The explanation was condecended down to terms we could understand. Father and son. I understand exactly what that is.

If you want more info on Sharps, I think that Stafford third book has more on it.

Anyone know what happened to that guy? Where he is now? His site is basically dead.

33

Did you ever have any real weirdos ? in your congregation who were Elders ?

by smiddy in

.....some of the things he did and got away with , to me now is unbeleivable , and maybe to you.. in all fairness he was well versed in the bible and very clever how he used it to put a critic to rest at the doors and in one instance when i was witnessing with him , he demoralised a pastor of his church .and i was impressed at that time.. but he had some strange ways , he was always looking for someone to break gods laws so to speak .he did set himself up as the policeman for enforcing gods law on the congregations .

( this is my description ) he was known to stand outside bros/sis.

homes to see if he could find something incriminating against them .

problemaddict

Wow! I mean.....wow!

I didn't hit weird elders until I became a young man with some ability, and moved out of my home area. Honestly the men in the hall I grew up in were all great. I mean, yeah they weren't perfect, but they were the good ones. Cared about others, weren't quick to judge, always gave people the benefit of the doubt. I remember this woman being DF'd, and 2 elders crying when it was announced. The PO was a little more hard core, but not much compared to standards set here.

Now when I moved on my own?......It was clear to me a young brother living on his own without his family is automatically looked at suspiciously. I was either going to be their golden boy speaker, or I was threatening them. After I was married, it subsided again.

Then when I was appointed, the insecurity and all that crap just started up again.

Eventually I met some of the worst elders I have ever known. The definition of Pharisee. Their hall hates them, and yet because he is connected, he is still on every assembly part there is. When I can speak more freely one day, I hope to say more.

Here is a nice one though. At a funeral for a brother who is the father of a good friend, the mans brother showed up. His brother was baptized at 15 and then disfellowshipped at 15 for smoking. He only got baptized because his older brother did, the one that was dead. He was NEVER really a JW. Did I mention that was 40 years ago? The man had contributed with his own organs, the things that would keep his older brother alove another 10 years. Yet nobody was allowed to come to the wake after the funeral, because there was a disfelloshipped man there. People didn't give his condolances at the service either. A few people didn't care and did the right thing. But it was all because of this self righteous alpha elder running the show.

Just makes me sick.

23

Solving a Watchtower Mystery

by sabastious in

hello jwn, in chapter 28 of the jw revelation book it interprets the "beast out of the earth" or the "two horned beast.".

this wild beast has two horns, indicating a partnership of two political powers.

and it is described as coming out of the earth, not out of the sea.

problemaddict

Just one quick thought. Anglo-American is a perfectly reasonable term, and is not used solely by JW's.

An·glo-A·mer·i·can (nggl--mr-kn)

n. An American, especially an inhabitant of the United States, whose language and ancestry are English. adj. 1. Of, relating to, or between England and America, especially the United States. 2. Of or relating to Anglo-Americans.

90

Several Sites Are Down

by Juan Viejo2 in

jw
friends

in case you have noticed, several websites that are managed and administered by me are down.

at this moment i do not know specifically why, but my hosting company (secureserver.net) tells me only that it is due to a "copyright infringement.

" i do not even know which of the 30 some sites might actually have the claimed infringement and so far all i've been told is that there is a claim and that i have to email a certain group and they will get back to me.. i have no idea when these sites will come back on line.

problemaddict

You can't kill me.......I'm already dead inside.

I figured it out already. It was Anthony Morris records of "service" to the Navy.

A side point. We had him come out as a speaker when I was still swimming the Kool-aid canal. He struck me as unusually arrogant for a member of the GB at the time. There was another speaker with him from the branch and I thought his talk was well researched. i asked him for some of the refferences for his statements so I could look further into the source material....and he turned angry, treated me like I was his enemy, and I sincerly was just asking for more to study. I even asked him...."you aren't going to tell me the source material so I can look it up? Who do you think you are?"

It was just absolutely eye opening.

19

Don't have the heart to turn the old sister away in person, gonna write a letter instead.

by Joliette in

jw
friends

right now it is 5:41am here in milwaukee, i cannot sleep and it is utter torture.

ugh!.

i have to be at work at 3pm today, and i cannot sleep.

problemaddict

Also......my condolances for having to live in Milwalkee. :)

19

Don't have the heart to turn the old sister away in person, gonna write a letter instead.

by Joliette in

jw
friends

right now it is 5:41am here in milwaukee, i cannot sleep and it is utter torture.

ugh!.

i have to be at work at 3pm today, and i cannot sleep.

problemaddict

Yeah give the old bird a break. It would honestly be better if you spoke to her in person. You are a grown woman who doesn't need to write a letter to communicate with someone. Tell her you appreciate what she does is out of concern for you, but you have no interest in the magazines. (you could just get them online if you had to). You are probably on her "magazine route" and it is habit.

If you want to tell her why you can do so tactfully. You can say you do not believe it is scriptural for someone to act according to their conscience regarding something like blood, and be forced to be excommunicated because of it. That it seems unloving and unchristian. While you know she may not feel that way, you have to address the stated teachings of the organization, not just her....your friend.

I think there is a way to get a couple little jabs in there. Maybe ask some parting questions. Then she won't be by anymore.

But don't write a letter. Be a grown up and speak to her, look her in the eyes, and be kind.

50

Need advice from a female

by CADSkin in

long story short.

ive been married for 18 years to my beautiful wife.

when i was younger i had a lot of attention due to my looks which has always made me extremely uncomfortable.

problemaddict

Hey CAD. The nice thing about things in the past, is that the influence of those things is all in your head. You know what I mean by that? The actual act, pain cause, or whatever it was....already happened. Sicne time only moves in one direction, and it isn't "happening" now, you have a chance to realize that, chose your life the way it is, and be freed from these things you seem like you are still tied to.

You and her need to have a conversation about sensative things. You need to get complete some issues she may have with you in the past. You may need to confront her about her phisicality (if it is important to you). You just need to have some hard conversations.

The tricky part is picking a time when both of you are ready mentally to deal with reality.

Consider what I said though. When you act with integrity in your life, and bad things happen, you get those things taken care of and you get your integrity back. Those things cannot afffect you anymore unless you allw them to. In a very metaphysical way, the things you still treat as real, as issues, and as a legacy, are that simply because you continue to treat them that way.

90

Several Sites Are Down

by Juan Viejo2 in

jw
friends

in case you have noticed, several websites that are managed and administered by me are down.

at this moment i do not know specifically why, but my hosting company (secureserver.net) tells me only that it is due to a "copyright infringement.

" i do not even know which of the 30 some sites might actually have the claimed infringement and so far all i've been told is that there is a claim and that i have to email a certain group and they will get back to me.. i have no idea when these sites will come back on line.

problemaddict

Yeah guys, what was the "offending document". Certainly revealing that can't cause an issue. Send me one before you take it down for the love of God!

12

Differing views of education in the JW cult

by hybridous in

jw
friends

while reading the thread about the jw elder clearing his conscience, i had the thought.... .

while taking everyone's experiences in the jw org at face value, we all certainly had different influences present around us concerning education.. .

it is clear to me that within the jw org, there is a spectrum running from hard-liners to very liberal, in this particular matter.

problemaddict

Pyramid. Would you say you made your advancement manifest? :)

Yeah I am just over 30, but I was fully brainwashed into thinking bethel was going to give me a career. Fortunately, I never made it to Bethel, and my unbelieving father forced me to at least go to a medical trade school. So I had something that resembled a skill. From there, I just made good moves, and now I do fairly well running my own buisness.

But my situation is rare. Needless to say I have a 529 in my sons name already, and will be making sure he understands the value of learning, and thinking.

90

Several Sites Are Down

by Juan Viejo2 in

jw
friends

in case you have noticed, several websites that are managed and administered by me are down.

at this moment i do not know specifically why, but my hosting company (secureserver.net) tells me only that it is due to a "copyright infringement.

" i do not even know which of the 30 some sites might actually have the claimed infringement and so far all i've been told is that there is a claim and that i have to email a certain group and they will get back to me.. i have no idea when these sites will come back on line.

problemaddict

Keep us all informed. Amazing that they can file these copyright infringement lines on puplicly distributed literature, but a disaffected JW cannot sue for libel if they are unwantingly disassociated.

What a mess.