Arauna

3 minutes ago, Patiently waiting for Truth said:

istory of bridesmaids at weddings is pagan

Bad argument.  Xmas has direct bearing on the worship of false gods. There is a difference.  If rings and bride maids had direct connection with the active worship of a false god then we can talk again.  The days chosen for Xmas have to do with worship of false gods and the orgies that were held for these gods.  They used to give women the mistletoe to abort babies after the celebrations. 

26 minutes ago, Srecko Sostar said:

what can be better or proper way to doing so.   

There is NO proper way of celebrating the birthday of Jesus.  Christians were only instructed to commemorate his death NOT his birth.  This is why there is NO accurate date for the birth of Christ in the Bible.

If you know the history of how this was instituted you would know that it is a no-no to Christians - no matter how much one tries to justify it.

12 minutes ago, Srecko Sostar said:

“Guardians of doctrine” have in the past, for example, celebrated Christ’s birthday. Then they decided it was a pagan custom.

Again painting with a broad brush!  When the book of Alexander Hislop came out in 1916 it was a catalyst for many religions realizing that Xmas was pagan.  This is more than 100 years ago.  So you have taken just this little point out of its time context and given it a deceiving slant.

13 hours ago, Pudgy said:

QUESTION # 1 :     Is the husband, whose three children were murdered by his wife, expected to live his life alone, and never re-marry?

QUESTION #2:      If he does, say after a dozen years, remarry, will he be disfellowshipped?

 

Your question reminds me of the pharisees. They came to him and asked him if a women had had 7 husbands which one will she belong to in the resurrection. 

18 hours ago, Srecko Sostar said:

Yes, I agree. WTJWorg Administration has been proving that for 142 years ... with black letters on white paper. 

The proof is in the eating of the pudding.  We are close to the time when all will be revealed.  Pity you spend your time with so much hate.   Jesus said he will find his true disciples in love and unity.  With whom are you united?  All the renegades?

17 hours ago, Patiently waiting for Truth said:

you seem to apologize for proving them wrong

Politically correct.   His scriptures are bunched together to create the idea of scholarliness or proof - so you would believe it.  Be careful!

16 hours ago, Patiently waiting for Truth said:

why would Jesus have known it was going to happen ?

When my kids were too cock sure - I knew certain things were going to happen. ... 

2 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

those who stuff tractor-trailer loads of scripture into their diatribes, with

Yes, so true.  Satan can also quote scripture (or the words of Jehovah), but he uses the reasoning to get people to be deceived..... he tried it with Eve and  with Jesus.  To quote scripture is therefore not a given that it is truth. 

18 minutes ago, Patiently waiting for Truth said:

And you would know about hate 

The Cain-type I recognize quickly.

Just now, Witness said:

forum use the word "hate" as much as you do.

I am np

I am not politically correct.  I call a spade a spade.  Hate is hate - no matter how well people try to mask it. 

2 hours ago, Witness said:

self-aggrandizing when someone else other than JWs send out letters?

No but it takes a lot of hate to write so many letters. 

28 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

everyone knows that looking into the future is not a piece of cake—why keep harping on it

The Watchtower study for this weekend is so encouraging. It shows that Jehovah forgives all who worship him.  We must not condemn ourselves for what we are because the ransom covers it. Many Witnesses have sinned and often feel unworthy because of it .....but it encourages all to only focus on today and the future.  Forget the past.  It it what you do from now on which will define your future. 

The slave have taught us all the core teachings we need to get into the new system. They are imperfect humans and made mistakes, but they too, they need to only focus on the present and the future.  It is their relationship with Jehovah at this moment and the future which defines them - not the past. 

I do not recall any women serving as priests in the time of Israel. In fact there was a special " court of women". 

Korah and his rebellious act brought death upon him, his associates and family, executed directly from Jehovah. We see many times in scripture that people who go beyond or want more than their designated position and then take part in rebellion or blatant disobedience (like king Saul, who went beyond his station and offered up a sacrifice - not wanting to wait for Samuel) usurping those appointed by Jehovah; these were removed by Jehovah.

We know that there is no sex for those who rule in heaven but Paul did tell anointed sisters to ask their husbands questions at home so as to not disrupt the meetings.

Why are many of those "anointed" females insisting on positions and privileges not described in the new testament? And then they start to beat their fellows slaves publicly when they are not accommodated? Smells fishy...... smells like apostacy or rebellion ..... to want more than ......  I recall that Satan changes into a so-called angel of light when it suits him .... but his motive is to take the worship which belongs to Jehovah.  These women want to be celebrities in the congregation and they are the first to condemn our brothers for any spotlight............. that is what Cain did - was it not? He was and example of jealousy and and wanting more than he deserved.  He had a bad heart and Jehovah saw it. 

3 hours ago, Witness said:

their teachings are  untrustworthy

Are you calling all the core teachings such as Jehovah's name, mortality of the soul, Babylon the great, political neutrality and much more ... untrustworthy?    You again paint with a very broad brush and use a judgmental measuring stick...... 

 again..... hate-OCD.  You never disappoint. Always revert back to the hate MO.

1 hour ago, Pudgy said:

wrong color with an overly broad brush.

Your implement  is like a super magnifying glass  - just wants to find the flaws.  So we will not agree. 

3 hours ago, Pudgy said:

akes their credibility crash and burn.

Their core teachings are without fault and the 20% ( of the not so important things) make them crash and burn?.  Hash judgment indeed.  You may lose everlasting life because you want super perfection.  You would have judged Jesus I m sure.  Luckily, every individual's righteousness comes from Jehovah and not from human opinion.  

53 minutes ago, Anna said:

saying "we really don't know, but this is our opinion"

A good thought. But many of us were often absolutely sure of something and it turned out to be different.  It does not mean we are wrong 100 percent of the time.  Maybe 20 percent wrong and 80 percent right. So should we focus on the 20 percent or the 80 percent?  Since most of the core teachings (Jehovah's name, mortality of the soul etc.) cannot be faulted.....  It then means that 20 percent of teachings ( which are not the most important teachings) may have been understood incorrectly. As I said, Rutherford understood the type of regime to come (spot-on) - he just had the time wrong. 

11 minutes ago, Srecko Sostar said:

Yes, one should look at the past in the context of the past

I liked many thoughts you wrote above.  We are human and imperfect, so we will always make mistakes.  If we are afraid to move on and try new things or say new things to inspire others we may be be too paralyzed to do anything positive.  Busy people make many mistakes. Lazy people make few mistakes.  We can learn from the past and move on - grow as humans.  We may even make a similar mistake again but from a different perspective..... life is complicated.

I think of Paul - who really cringed at his past and he was open about it,  to be a teaching moment. Our organization made mistakes in the past. However, to dwell on the past mistakes could give one a paralytic state in the present - too afraid to say or do new things. The present defines the present and future - as you said. Oh Jehovah, if you only looked at mistakes - where would any one of us be! 

As we all serve Jehovah - we must give our best no matter ow flawed it is. I go on field service and speak my mind (carefully) but I am open about who I am, what I believe and what I am.  This gives me the freedom to really talk convincingly and be sincere.  Do I make mistakes - for sure!  But a friendly, kind spirit overcomes many obstacles. I also am super aware of the audience reactions - so I can adapt.  

With mistakes and all - I guard the truth and spread the truth.  I am sure this was the main goal of the slave.  With warts and all - I love what they do for us!

6 hours ago, Anna said:

Awake October 15, 1968

I think all you guys on here who live in the past - without context-  have something missing from your thinking processes - to state it bluntly.  History mongers - looking through past actions and words with a fine tooth and judging it by today's standards. To look to the past without a historical context.  I did many things in the past which embarrasses me thinking of it today because it was done in a different time frame when values and many more things were different etc.

I look at Rutherford and realize he understood that the last world government will be fascistic.  I see he made the right conclusion but for the wrong time period.  I can learn something from that.  Do you learn something from the past or are you just embarrassed?  

23 hours ago, Patiently waiting for Truth said:

YEHOVAH, not Jehovah.

The hebrew Yod is pronounced as J in english. Same sound.

On 6/21/2021 at 10:36 AM, Pudgy said:

had never even heard the term .... I can quite safely and without any concern whatsoever, completely disregard it.

That could be a dangerous attitude...... dismissiveness can ensure you are caught off guard.

14 hours ago, Patiently waiting for Truth said:

are actually experiencing the results of the world being controlled by the Devil.

Both humans and satan went after their own desires. True, the entire system is now deceitful, gaslighting and have sinister goals.

2 minutes ago, Patiently waiting for Truth said:

think that humans are not the main priority to God or Christ

You do not understand the love of jehovah and his son. Why did God send his son? Why did his son give his life as sacrifice? For us to appreciate this incredible gift  - what God has done - we can only give our total devotion to him in integrity and by free will and prove faithful.

12 hours ago, BroRando said:

ehovah and for those meditating on his name.

This includes his purpose and how it is slowly coming to fruition. 

My brother did some research on the Name and sent me a lot of information recently.  But I will only copy only the piece below.  This proves that Yehovah gave himself a very rare and unique name.  Moses could not have thought up this name even if he wanted to! 

Whole Roots
Most Hebrew roots are "whole" roots meaning all three letters of the root are present regardless of how the root is
used in different grammatical forms. For example, the Hebrew root SH.M.R. has the basic meaning "to guard".
Hebrew can use this root in dozens of ways, each with a different shade of meaning, such as the verbs SHaMaRti "I
guarded" and hiShaMeR "be careful" (be on guard), the noun miSHMeRet meaning "duty" (which a person has to be
on guard to keep), and the names SheMeR and SHoMRon. As a "whole" root, the letters shin mem resh are always
present in words derived from this root.
Hollow Roots
The opposite of a "whole" root, is a "hollow" root. In "hollow" roots, one or more of the three letters of the root can
be absent in certain grammatical forms. For example, the root BNH "to build" loses the third letter of the root in the
verb baniti (spelled BNYty) "I built". In this form of the verb, the H of BNH drops and is replaced by a Yod. If you
didn't know about hollow verbs, and saw the word baniti, you might think the root was BNY, when in fact it is BNH.
Yehovah is from a Hollow Root
The name Yehovah derives from the three-letter root HYH which means "to be". We know this from Ex 3:14 in which
the Almighty explains his name as "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh". The word Ehyeh is an "imperfect" verb from the root HYH
meaning "to be". In later Hebrew, the "imperfect" form took on the meaning of "future", but in Biblical Hebrew it
primarily expresses a repetitive action. In plain English, Ehyeh means "I am now and I will continue to be in the
future". This is why Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh can be translated as "I am that which I am", but also as "I will be that which I
will be". Both of these translations are correct, even if they are a bit inaccurate. An accurate translation would be: "I
am now, and will continue to be in the future, that which I am now, and will be continue to be in the future". That's
quite a mouthful, and you can see why most translations prefer to dumb it down.
The word eHYeH has all three letters of the root HYH, which may lead you to conclude that HYH is a "whole" root.
However, in other forms of the verb, the second and third letter drop, which means it is a "hollow" root. For
example, HaYiti (spelled HYYty) "I was", is missing the third letter of the root H, and in its place, has a Yod. On the
other hand, the masculine singular imperative Heveh (pronounced Heh Vay) "be!", is missing the second letter of the
root, and in its place, has a Vav. This last piece of information is crucial, because it means in certain forms, the root
looks like HVH, even though in fact it is HYH. This can be confusing because there is an unrelated root which really is
HVH, which has an entirely different meaning from HYH.
Yehovah comes from the same root as Ehyeh: the hollow root HYH. Yehovah is actually a combination of three verbforms:
Hayah "he was", Hoveh "he is", and Yih'yeh "he is now and will continue to be in the future". Together Hayah,
Hoveh, and Yih'yeh combine into the name Yehovah.

This to me is so beautiful about his name! ... and of course is connected to his purpose!

38 minutes ago, Patiently waiting for Truth said:

Humans play a small part in it of course,

It is all about us - if we will be faithful by free will...... but what if the government takes your free will away?

8 hours ago, Pudgy said:

which so far ... have been wrong 100% of the time.

I wish to bring to your attention that the original writer above  quoted most of Revelation 20.  Straight from the word of God which in this chapter Rev 20 is quite clear to understand. 

It is clear also what is symbolic and literal. Revelation 19 indicates the day of Jehovah when jesus and angelic armies fight those who persecuted earthly subjects who were loyal to the heavenly kingdom. Similarly at the end of the 1000 years each perfected person will have the same test which Adam and Eve had - also as perfect people. The choice will be between Jehovah's "good and bad" and human independence from Jehovah / self-will to choose own rulership and own moral standards of good and bad .... j

We are experiencing the results of independence from Jehovahs moral standards today...... but some never learn!

3 minutes ago, Srecko Sostar said:

that would mean how PERFECT individuals have same quality

Perfect people who have rejected God have lost their ability to show remorse because Jehovah does not give his spirit to them any longer.  They are spiritually in darkness. This is why we as Imperfect people must be so careful.  While we have the grace of Christ's ransom to cover us - we can still sin in the likeness of Adam.