Posts by kaik

41

The Bizarre Free Will

by John_Mann in

two years before i left jw world i came to a strange conclusion about the jw cosmology and the free will doctrine.. basically i came to conclusion that satan is right about the universal sovereign issue.

and i came with that just only using jws premises, no outside apostasy.

i just told to my sister what she thought about it, and she said to me: dont tell anyone about this!.

kaik

Issue of free will is interesting and linger from the foundation of Judaism and predates Christianity. It was again debated by early Catholic fathers and later by St. Thomas. Modern fundamentalists like JWs diverge from doctrines and debates of Jews, St. Augustine, and Thomas by understanding what free will is. Jews believe that free will allows us to violate the Torah. Catholic church believes that our free will is limited in our capabilities, but we have free will to choose to sin. Another interesting point Judaism teaches, that angels do not have inclination to sin, but they may if they are materialized on Earth. Pretty much the humans can have a bad influence on spiritual beings. Angels who destroyed Sodom were banished on Earth for 133 years according to Judaism because they did not tell the people of city that they are condemned by G-d but by the angles themselves. Satan in Judaism is not someone who rebelled against G-d, but he is hired by Him as a servant and public accuser. There is no anti-polar view of bad Angel in Judaism as opposition to G-d.

Notion of free will is complex that I get lost in reading in St. Thomas' Summa Theologica:

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa/FP/FP083.html#FPQ83OUTP1

18

What if WT will claim, that Jehovah has pulled a "Jonah and Nineveh" on them?

by prologos in

wt seems to be helpless in really dealing with the failed prophecies, pending dates, overlapping groups--.. what if they declare victory, blame jehovah, in that he allowed the nations to come to their senses and not further escalate the use of weaponry, "destroying [life on] the earth"?

in a second fulfillment of .

the "repentant ninevites, disappointed jonah" bible story?

kaik

Also it is crucial to mention that Nineveh was destroyed, so WT will claim that the destruction was only postponed. Russell said: "Jonah walked into the city of Nineveh and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The prophecy was fulfilled in forty literal years." And rest of the chapter in the Studies of the scripture deals with God being merciful and slow to unleash his punishment. WT can add 40 years to any of its overlapping generation and still based their nonsense from 1914.

45

Pagan Origins

by tinker in

a currently active jdub acquaintance occasionally stops by to say hello and we share a wee dram or two.

after the general small talk of new cars, exotic vacations and sports we often get into the "why" we are xjubs.

he is a well educated publisher who holds a phd in child psychology.

kaik

Pants were worn in Roman empire by inhabitants of Gaul and Germania and Romans considered it barbaric custom. It was more practical in the colder climate of the Western Europe than toga and tunic of the Mediterranean climate. However, wearing pants and trousers were so popular in Roman empire that emperor Honorius issued degree in 423 to forbidding them for Roman citizens. Roman foederati troops wore trousers as majority of them were recruits from Celtic and Germanic provinces and beyond. It was also often called Gaulic fashion. In Czech language the word trousers came from old French.

45

Pagan Origins

by tinker in

a currently active jdub acquaintance occasionally stops by to say hello and we share a wee dram or two.

after the general small talk of new cars, exotic vacations and sports we often get into the "why" we are xjubs.

he is a well educated publisher who holds a phd in child psychology.

kaik

thanks bittersweet.. My avatar is from Czech cartoon commercial.

French Revolutionary calendar was a way for the I. French Republic to break away from Christian calendar and was in place between 1793 till Napoleon changed it back. It was actually very popular by dividing day to ten hours, which were divided into 100 minutes which had 100 seconds. The drawback it had that week had ten days and people did not had enough time to rest.

I uses geometry all the time, as well as matrix algebra at my work. I love math, and if I had to choose a different career path, I will go for M.S. in applied mathematics.

45

Pagan Origins

by tinker in

a currently active jdub acquaintance occasionally stops by to say hello and we share a wee dram or two.

after the general small talk of new cars, exotic vacations and sports we often get into the "why" we are xjubs.

he is a well educated publisher who holds a phd in child psychology.

kaik

WT could try French Revolutionary Calendar which attempted to erase any traces of Christianity in the I. French Republic. JWs would use Mesidor, Thermidor for months, days of weeks and other by the season...At least they would not have to invent anything new.

27

Memories. .. share the earliest or most favorite childhood memory

by MissFit in

my daughter tells me that experts say children tend to have false memories.

apparently their brain tends to fill things in that may not be totally accurate.. i refuse to believe that my favorite and comforting memory might not be true.

so here is to fond memories real or not.. the earliest memory i have is being put in a crib at a preschool.

kaik

MissFit, I think I remember my aunt's dog because we played a lot and I still recollect how we chased each other and hid under the table or bed. My aunt was very sick, so she could not play with me, so I do not think my child memory considered important to retain it. My father birth house was in the mountains in small city, but I do not think it was torn down. However, 40 years is long time for place to stay the same. I have so sweet recollection of this place, like hiking and mushroom picking in the summer when I was four years old with my dad, WWII bunkers and my father stories of shootouts between partizans and SS. With my cousins we than played as partisans and Germans, while my grandmother made delicious smoked sausages in the smokehouse and baked home-made bread. So, it must be fairly big place. I also remember when my JW aunt and uncle arrived for "vacation" in that place and started to have bible study with my parents in that summer.

27

Memories. .. share the earliest or most favorite childhood memory

by MissFit in

my daughter tells me that experts say children tend to have false memories.

apparently their brain tends to fill things in that may not be totally accurate.. i refuse to believe that my favorite and comforting memory might not be true.

so here is to fond memories real or not.. the earliest memory i have is being put in a crib at a preschool.

kaik

The earliest memory I have are from age four. It is interesting that some of the things I remember are irrelevant. My father had sister who was extremely sick and I was her favorite. I do not have whatsoever recollection of her, but I remember her dog very clearly, and her house, the carpet and furniture. My father was upset that I did not remember her. Last year I went to see my father birth place, house where lived during WWII. I have not seen that place for 40 years, so I had only retract child memories of his place. I was very disappointed that I could not locate his house and asked couple locals about it without luck. I wish I could find it, because I have still nice memory of this great-grandfather house; old well in the center of the farm yard; BBQ pit and smoke house full of delicious sausages, and a huge mountain forest in the background, and icy stream further down, where as four year old was forbidden to go. Yet I could not locate this place anymore, so I am not sure how much of the memory of my father's house is based on reality and what is just imagination. Once my father moved away and died, I lost almost all pictures and I have only one picture of him...I cannot even remember my father's voice anymore.

11

Everlasting Life on Paradise Earth - My musings of why it cannot be true

by leaving_quietly in

actually, just one musing.. there are a number of scriptures that wtbts uses to support their doctrine of everlasting life on paradise earth.

the vast majority come from the hebrew scriptures.

using just one verse, i believe i can disprove this doctrine quite soundly.. the verse is john 6:68.. simon peter answered him: lord, whom shall we go away to?

kaik

It is important to understand what paradise meant for Jewish scholars after 300 BCE, during 1st century AD, and how we understand it thanks to Catholic influence on the Christian theology. Paradise on Earth is rather modern construct, especially developed and groomed by Protestant Reformation during 16th century. There is a good book Paradise in Antiquity Jewish and Christian Views which well describe the development of this theology and how it changed through the time. From 4th century BCE, Jews started to believe that the paradise was not on Earth, but a place when the dead with depart either immediately after their death or after spiritual resurrection. Jews in the Jesus era were most likely not believing on earthly paradise, as they expected Messianic Age where there will be a peace among nations, not recreated Garden of Eden. Generally the rabbinic literature maintain that paradise existed before creation of earth and thus was a spiritual not physical place on earth.

Another point to consider that Earth and our Solar system is not infinitive, but has limited resources. Sun will eventually burn all the hydrogen, and Earth's core will cool down. There wont be any plate tectonic, and our planet will eventually die. It wont happen until in 2 billions of years, but still Earth's is not permanent place.

28

Using Third-World Poverty-Stricken Witnesses To Guilt More Donations Video, Where is that Video?

by SanLuisObispoTruthSeeker in

i heard about a new video where the watchtower has a single mother and her child eating millet or rice with almost no material possessions worried about donating to the world wide work.

now most religions are trying to donate to third-world countries, not the watchtower profit enterprise, they are willing to take a families last milk cow so their leaders can spend those funds fighting pedophile lawsuits!.

every place the watchtower builds you read about the angry citizens having to pick up their tax bills because the watchtower only takes!

kaik

wannabefree, there is a huge difference between a personal initiative to help someone and versus organized charity work that KH have not done and is rather stingy on helping others. I had never seen KH helped anyone not in Czech Republic. When they had major floods in 1997 and 2002 in which large part of Prague was under water, JWs did not helped each other at all. The attitude of the aged JWs was survival of the fittest. No compassion. I knew three JW families who were flooded out in 1997, and all what the elders did were asking people to distribute more literature. Some of these people depended on Catholic charity to get food, shelter, and donation. There was not even collection for people who lost everything in the flood. I seen how Catholic charity helped extensively, I saw Catholic nuns in Prague to sandbag and clean up after the flood in 2002. I do not think it will be as hard for the KH to organize a food bank and soup kitchen for community in natural distress, because 7DA had done wonderful work and their numbers in the city is exactly the same as the number of the JWs.

12

Wisdom in "the Word of God". Really? What Watchtower got wrong at this week's Congregation "Bible" Study.

by Island Man in

the congregation "bible" study (cbs) for the week of december 29, 2014 to january 4, 2015 was taken from draw close to jehovah, pages 179-182, paragraphs 1-8.. paragraph 3 seems to be using the ancient jew's fear of jehovah's thunderous voice to justify the wisdom of him using moses to record and transmit his laws to the people.

but there is an implied false dichotomy here.

since god is supposedly almighty he is most certainly capable of giving a personal revelation of his requirements to every human in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner that they can fully understand and remember - without having to use his thunderous voice.

kaik

OT was not finalized until much later times until 300 BCE; and it was a process where acceptance of various books of the Hebrew canon was not universally accepted by all Jewish scholars at that time. I had generally encountered in various books that it was a three stage process, which started after Babylonian exile and continued until 2nd century BC. If the book of Daniel was written in 2nd century, the OT could not be completed by 400 BCE.

Illiteracy rate reminded high among all segment of population until the invention of printing press, which means that even Jews depended on oral tradition and oral literacy to recite various part of the canon from memory. A few wealthy could own book or manuscript before 1450. If Jewish literacy was twice that high of the medieval population (15%), it would still mean that 70% of them would not be able to read and write in the 1300.