Beroean Pickets Jw.org Reviewer

https://youtu.be/BYaWgwakaVA Video Script Hello. Eric Wilson again.  This time we're looking at 1914. Now, 1914 is a very important doctrine for Jehovah's Witnesses.  It is a core doctrine.  Some might disagree.  There was a recent Watchtower about core doctrines and 1914 wasn't mentioned.  However without 1914, there can be no generation teaching; without 1914 the whole premise of us living in the last days goes out the window; and most important, without 1914, there can be no Governing Body because the Governing Body takes its authority from the belief that it was appointed by Jesus Christ as the faithful and discreet slave in 1919.  And the reason they were appointed in 1919 is based on another anti-typical application coming from Malachi which derives from the start of Jesus’ rule—so if Jesus began to rule in 1914 as king, then certain things went on—we'll discuss those in another video—but certain things went on which then brought him to choose Witnesses out of all the religions on earth as his chosen p

Treasures from God’s Word and Digging for Spiritual Gems – Carefully avoid Stumbling Yourself and others (Matthew 18-19) Matthew 18:6-7 (stumbling blocks) (nwtsty) The Greek word translated “stumbling block” is skandalon. The study notes say about this word “In a figurative sense, it refers to an action or circumstance that leads a person to follow an improper course, to stumble or fall morally, or to fall into sin.” Interestingly, this word is the basis for the English word, “scandal”, used to refer to the situation when someone is caught acting in a manner considered sinful or unacceptable to the general populace. The verses warn against stumbling even little ones who have put faith in Jesus Christ. Virtually all witnesses without exception have put faith in Jesus otherwise they would not have made the effort to study the Bible and get baptized. This fact makes the warning all the more powerful. Sadly, many have been stumbled by the treatment they have received while within the organisation, becoming ag

[From ws1/18 p. 7 – February 26-March 4] “Those hoping in Jehovah will regain power.” Isaiah 40:31 The first paragraph lays out the problems many Witnesses are now facing: Coping with serious illness. Elderly caring for elderly relatives. Struggling to provide basic necessities for their families. Often several of these problems at once. So what have many witnesses done to cope with these and other pressures? The second paragraph enlightens us and effectively gives us the reason for this article. “Sadly, some of God’s people in our day have concluded that the best way to cope with the pressures of life is to ‘take a break from the truth’, as they say, as if our Christian activities were a burden rather than a blessing. So they stop reading God’s Word, attending congregation meetings, and engaging in the field ministry – just as Satan hopes they will do.” Reading between the lines, there we have it in a nutshell. Many are giving up and so the organization needs to guilt-trip us into continuing, ‘not

It's all well and good to tear down a false doctrine like the JW overlapping generations interpretation of Matthew 24:34—as we did in a previous video—but Christian love should always move us to build up.  So after clearing away the debris of false teachings that have been built on sand, let us build a structure that is solid, founded on the rock of the teachings of the Christ. (Mt 7:24-27)  With this in view, the next video in our series attempts to provide an exegetical interpretation of what Jesus meant when he referred to a generation that would not pass away until all the things he'd spoken of had occurred. https://youtu.be/2cyueAtH8Hg

In 2008, Jehovah's Witnesses were introduced to what was then thought of as new light.  The understanding that the generation Jesus spoke of at Matthew 24:34 was changed from referring to the wicked people of his day to anointed Christians in our day.  As it turns out, this wasn't new light at all, but a return to an 80-year-old understanding put forward by J.F. Rutherford in the Feb 15, 1927 Watchtower.  Two years later, further changes to the doctrine resulted in what has been called the Overlapping Generations doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses in which two distinct generations could be counted as a single generation based on the overlapping of their lifetimes.  Four years passed when, in 2014, a further "refinement" to the doctrine was introduced in which it was not the lifetimes that overlapped, but the periods of their anointing. The question is: Is this doctrine based in Scripture, or is it the fabrication of men trying to engender a false sense of urgency in the faithful?  We will attempt to answer that

This is the third video I've published on this series.  I've learned that the automated Closed Captioning available through YouTube can be customized. It's a wonderful feature, but not infallible.  For instance, I've seen it translate "Jehovah" as "over" and "Jehovah's" as "Jo's".  However...and here's the thing...We can edit it manually to correct these mistakes. Unfortunately, I'm running out of available time, so I could use a little help. If anyone would like to perform the editing function, please email me at meleti.vivlon@gmail.com and I will show you how it's done. It's really quite easy, but you have to have an hour or two available for each video.  You don't have to do them all. Even one or two would help. Translations We can also make use of this feature to provide Closed Captioned translations into any language.  If you would like to help out by translating the spoken word into text in your native language, please email me at the above email address and I'll set you up. I do plan to do Spanish vi

I e-mailed all my JW friends with a link to the first video, and the response has been an resounding silence.  Mind you, it's been less than 24 hours, but still I expected some response.  Of course, some of my deeper thinking friends will need time to view and think about what they're seeing.  I should be patient.  I expect most will disagree.  I'm basing that on years of experience. However, it is my hope that some will see the light.  Unfortunately, most Witnesses when confronted with a contrary argument to what they've been taught will dismiss the speaker by calling him an apostate.  Is this a valid response?  What is an apostate according to Scripture? That is the question I'm attempting to answer in the second video of this series. Video Script Hello.  This is our second video. In the first, we discussed examining our own teachings as Jehovah's Witnesses using our own criteria as we got originally from the Truth book back in '68 and from subsequent books such as the Bible Teach book. However, we also

I started my online Bible research back in 2011 under the alias Meleti Vivlon.  I used the google translation tool available back then to find out how to say "Bible study" in Greek. At the time there was a transliterate link, which I used to get English characters. That gave me "vivlon meleti".  I thought that "meleti" sounded more like a given name and "vivlon", a surname, so I reversed them and the rest is history. Of course, the reason for the alias was that at the time I wanted to hide my identity because the Organization does not look kindly on those who do their own Bible research.  My goal back then was to find other like-minded brothers around the world who, like myself, were troubled by the obvious fabrication of the "overlapping generations" doctrine and who thus were motivated to do deeper Bible research.  At the time, I believed that the Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses was the only true religion.  It wasn't until sometime in 2012-2013 that I finally resolved the growing cognitive dissonance I

[From ws17/12 p. 18 – February 12-18] “From infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation.” 2 Timothy 3:15 At least the organization is more upfront with their purpose with this article than with many. It is not primarily to “help your children be wise for salvation“, but rather, as alluded to by the question for paragraphs 1 & 2, to help “children wanting to take the steps of dedication and baptism.”  It would be more truthful if they added “because of strong emotional pressure from peers, parents and the Organization”. This is aside from the issue of whether a formal dedication is required (discussed at length here) since Matthew 28:19b says nothing about vows and dedication but instead speaks only of baptism followed by actions to observe Jesus' commandments. We then find another tweak in the NWT which changes the meaning of the verse. Matthew 28:19 should read “make disciples of all the nations“, not “make disciples of people of all the nations”. Why is this sub

In 2003 Jason David Beduhn, at the time an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Northern Arizona University, released a book called Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament. In the book, Professor Beduhn analysed nine words and verses[1] (often disputed and controversial around Trinitarian doctrine) across nine[2] English translations of the Bible. At the end of the process, he rated the NWT as the best and the Catholic NAB as the second best with the least bias from the translating team. He explains why it worked out this way with supporting reasons. He further qualifies this by stating that other verses could have been analysed and a different outcome might have been reached. Professor Beduhn clearly makes the point that it is NOT a definitive ranking as there are a set of criteria that needs to be considered. Interestingly, when he teaches NT Greek to his undergraduate students, he uses the Kingdom Interlinear (KIT) as he highly rates the interlinear part

[From ws17/12 p. 8 – February 5-11] “The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”​—1 Cor. 15:45 What a pity that after last week’s delightful review of the Bible resurrection accounts, this week’s study wastes no time in getting off on the wrong foot: IF YOU were asked, ‘What are the key teachings of your faith?’ what would you say? Surely you would stress that Jehovah is the Creator and Life-Giver. You would likely mention your belief in Jesus Christ, who died as a ransom. And you would happily add that an earthly paradise is ahead, where God’s people will live forever. But would you mention the resurrection as one of your most cherished beliefs? – par. 1 We might stress that Jehovah is the Creator and Life-Giver, but only mention Jesus as the one who died as a ransom?!  “Oh, yes, there was also this nice fellow named Jesus who died for us.  Isn’t that just peachy keen?  He did some other stuff too.  A really fine, all around chap.” Having critically reviewed every Watchtower study for several years now, I c

[From ws17/12 p. 3 – January 29-February 4] “Our friend has fallen asleep, but I am traveling there to awaken him.”​—John 11:11. A rare article that sticks to what the Bible says without introducing doctrines of men.  All in all, an encouraging review of historical resurrections to give us faith in the future resurrection. Of course, the subtext to this article is that the attendees at this week's Watchtower Study will be thinking only of an earthly resurrection for themselves.  It is the only hope offered to them in the publications.  In fact, JW theology teaches three resurrections, not the two that Jesus and Paul referred to at John 5:28, 29 and Acts 24:15.  Besides the earthly resurrection of the unrighteous, they teach two resurrections of the righteous—one to heaven and another to earth. So according to the Organization, Daniel will be resurrected to imperfect, sinful life on earth as part of the earthly resurrection of the righteous while Lazarus, as one of the anointed who died after Jesus, will be

[From ws17/11 p. 25 – January 22-28] “Let no man deprive you of the prize.”​ – Col 2:18. Consider this picture.  On the left we have two old people looking forward to the hope of being with Christ in the Kingdom of the Heavens.  On the right we have young people looking forward to the hope of living in a paradise earth. In reference to Christians—to repeat, in reference to Christians—does the Bible speak of two hopes?  The last paragraph of this study concludes: “The prize before us​—whether immortal life in heaven or everlasting life on a paradise earth—​is marvelous to contemplate.”  Is this teaching based on Scripture? Granted, the Bible speaks of two resurrections. “And I have hope toward God, which hope these men also look forward to, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Ac 24:15) When Paul refers to “these men”, he is referring to the Jewish leaders who were standing before him in a judicial hearing seeking his death.  Even these opposers believed in

[this article is contributed by Alex Rover] In part 1 of this article, we have examined the Calvinistic teaching of Total Depravity. Total Depravity is the doctrine describing the human condition before God as creatures who are completely dead in sin and unable to save themselves. The problem we found with this doctrine is in the word ‘total’. While human depravity is an indisputable fact, we demonstrated in part 1 the problems arising from taking it to Calvinistic extremes. I believe that the key to approaching this topic with the correct balance is found in 1 Corinthians 5:6 "Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?" We can see humans as both evil and good at the same time, each having a portion of the yeast that is sin, hence fully dead. Therefore, I submit that it is possible to see humans as inherently good and still be able to satisfy the fact of us being wholly dead in sin and unable to save ourselves. Imagine: a certain woman is 99% good, and 1% sinful. If we met such a wom

[This article was contributed by Alex Rover] Dear brothers and  sisters, seldom I have researched such an intimate and beautiful topic. As I worked on this article, I was in a state of joy ready to sing praise at all times. So sweet and precious the Psalmist thought of the holy spirit he prayed: Create for me a pure heart, O God! Renew a resolute spirit within me! Do not reject me! Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me!  -- Ps 51:10-11 Scripture likens us to clay in the hands of our Father, our potter. (Isa 64:8, Rom 9:21) Our bodies, like clay containers, yearn to be complete and full. In Ephesians 5:18 Paul commanded us to be “filled with the spirit” and in 1 Corinthians 3:16 we read that the spirit of God “may dwell in us”. (Compare 2 Tim 1:14; Acts 6:5; Eph 5:18; Rom 8:11) The Holy Spirit is a Gift. Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) [1] While the spirit is a gift freely given to