Topics Started by 88JM
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Mis-translation of the bible even by the time of Jesus
by 88JM in*** g76 7/22 p. 27 what worship does god approve?
"evidently to give credence to their belief, the samaritans changed a passage in the fifth book of moses to read gerizim instead of ebal.".
came across this quote last night.. i was slightly surprised to see an awake article admitting that "corruption" of bible texts started so early, even before the time of jesus.. i was wondering a couple of things:.
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RNWT bible "large print" version due out?
by 88JM ini'd totally forgotten about it, but the literature department at the local congregation here was taking orders for "large print" versions of the new bible.. has anyone seen one in the wild?.
why isn't it on jw.org yet - i'm sure they said it would be in january?.
is it really just a "large print" version, or is it a "reference" version with extra bits?.
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"God's Word Is Beneficial..." 2013/14 Circuit Assembly "Highlights"
by 88JM injust had the circuit assembly this weekend here:.
surprisingly not much fuss over the new bible considering that this was the first meeting for most here to use it (the annual meeting was "invite only" for a select few here, and there was no thursday meeting because of this assembly) and having a new bible was only referred to fairly briefly in a comment about how "wonderful" it is (and in the closing prayer).
i think i was the only one there with an old maroon nwt - i got a confused look from one of the elders - haha!
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25 YEARS of compiled yearbook statistics
by 88JM inhello again folks - as promised in my last thread here, i've been working on turning yearbook statistics into excel spreadsheets.. coincidentally, today is my 25th birthday (spare a thought for a fader).. i've now updated the spreadsheet with yearbook data all the way back to 1988 (the year i was born), therefore it now contains 25 years of statistics.. there were a lot of countries changing around and for some it was possible to create a continuation of data.
some are a simple change of name like south-west africa to namibia.
others, for example - in 1993 with czechoslovakia splitting into two countries (czech republic and slovakia) i have added an extra row that provides a continuation of the data, combining czech republic and slovakia back together as if they were still one country.
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11 years of compiled yearbook statistics: spreadsheet downloads
by 88JM in(edit: sorry about that - i clicked submit before i finished writing the post.
and its now 11 years, not 10. anyway...).
hi folks.
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Crazy public talk last Sunday: The Origin of Humans - Does It Matter What You Believe?
by 88JM infrom the congregation that brought you these watchtower comments, i thought you would enjoy some selected quotes from the public talk we had last sunday from the crazy talk outline: "the origin of humansdoes it matter what you believe?".
it's amazing this talk outline is still allowed - some of the material is hilarious, and the arguments are so wild and misrepresented.
i still have the audio file if you can bear to listen to it, i could pm you a link.
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Elder's decisions with congregation funds £££
by 88JM inhave you ever been in a congregation (or circuit) where elders have made very bad choices on spending congegation funds?.
(summary if you don't want to read it all: elders planning to squander money on an expensive hall refurbishment while kh flat is falling apart).
i know there were assembly halls like dudley who spent a lot of money on their kitchens just before the food arrangements were done away with.
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Jehovah's Witnesses in FBI Files
by 88JM insomeone just brought this to my attention - not sure if it's a new thing or not:.
http://vault.fbi.gov/.
page 6:.
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"Foreigners" and today's Watchtower
by 88JM ini know this is true every week, and i say it all the time, and i know blondie will be doing her review later, but.... today's watchtower was bat-shit crazy!.
i knew it was going to be a bizzare one just reading it, but the comments at the meeting took it even further.
i can't post all the crazy ones, but in summary what they were saying was:.
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Markan priority and the synoptic gospels
by 88JM inthis might be a question for leolaia, but i noticed in researching the gospel of mark this week that the dates the wtbts gives for the writing of the other synoptic gospels does not seem to agree with most new testament scholars.. the all scripture book gives the following dates:.
matthew: writing completed: c. 41 c.e.mark: writing completed: c. 6065 c.e.luke: writing completed: c. 5658 c.e.this would put mark as the last of the three synoptic gospels to be written, and therefore the wtbts does not adhere to the markan priority hypothesis.. wikipedia states that: "the theory of markan priority is today accepted by the majority of new testament scholars".. .
is there a good reason why the wtbts dates the synoptic gospels in that order?how can they date matthew and luke so early?is it merely because the wtbts rejects the possibility of a "q" source, and possibly even the idea of collusion between the writers altogether?or is it because many scholars put the writings of luke and matthew after the destruction of jerusalem, meaning the "prophecies" of destruction became historical accounts of past events by the time they were written?