Giannis Diamantis

thank you !

It is my humble opinion that the generation scenario that started from Millerites, is completely wrong because takes as given that the prophecy of Jesus about the distraction of Jerusalem will have a second fulfillment. No! we do not know if there will be a generation from 1914 (or whatever date) until the end. This is not scriptural, no one knows except the Father. If someone gives dates is a false prophet. if someone says the light will be brighter ... in order to prophecy is a dangerous person. We Christians of the last days ... we are no Prophets! We must have love ... this is our characteristic.

A good soldier always follows his regimental flag. The Watch Tower Bible And Tract Society is our flag. w 1917 p318

A good soldier always follows his regimental flag. The Watch Tower Bible And Tract Society is our flag. w 1917 p318

A good soldier always follows his regimental flag. The Watch Tower Bible And Tract Society is our flag. w 1917 p318

So basically, Glenn, it looks like you are arguing that the phrase 'came to life' has a different meaning depending on the group. 
One group is resurrected to perfection.
The other group is resurrected to imperfection ... until they've 'achieved' sin-free perfection at the end of the 1000 years.
Where is the scriptural evidence that one group has to 'achieve' perfection during the 1000 years?
If one group is resurrected perfect, why can it not be that the other group is resurrected perfect but at the end of the 1000 years, in harmony with the timing contained in v. 5's parenthesis? 
 

thank you !

pay-attention-to-yourselves-and-all-the-flock-1991.pdf

1965_Make_Sure_of_All_Things.pdf

Asking is good
 
7 “Keep on asking, and it will be given you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you; 8 for everyone asking receives, and everyone seeking finds, and to everyone knocking, it will be opened.
 
 (Acts 17:27) so that they would seek God, if they might grope for him and really find him, although, in fact, he is not far off from each one of us.
 
 
Studying/seeking/researching is even better
 
 (John 17:3) This means everlasting life, their coming to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
 
(Proverbs 2:4,5) 4 If you keep seeking for it as for silver, And you keep searching for it as for hidden treasures;  5 Then you will understand the fear of Jehovah, And you will find the knowledge of God.
 
==========
 
 (Psalm 110:1-2) Jehovah declared to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand Until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.”  2 Jehovah will extend the scepter of your power out of Zion, saying: “Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.”
 
*** pe chap. 16 God’s Government Begins Its Rule ***
BEGINNING OF RULE IN THE MIDST OF ENEMIES
8 When Christ returned to heaven after his resurrection, he did not start ruling then as King of God’s government. Rather, there was to be a time of waiting, as the apostle Paul explains: “This man [Jesus Christ] offered one sacrifice for sins perpetually and sat down at the right hand of God, from then on awaiting until his enemies should be placed as a stool for his feet.” (Hebrews 10:12, 13) When the time came for Christ to begin to rule, Jehovah told him: “Go subduing [or, conquering] in the midst of your enemies.”—Psalm 110:1, 2, 5, 6.
9 Does it sound strange that anyone would be an enemy of God’s government? Yet not everyone wants to live under a government that requires its subjects to do what is right. So after telling how Jehovah and his Son would take over world rulership, the Bible says, “the nations became wrathful.” (Revelation 11:15, 17, 18) The nations do not welcome God’s kingdom because Satan misleads them into opposing it.
10 When God’s government begins its rule, Satan and his angels are still living in heaven. Since they oppose Kingdom rule, right away war breaks out. As a result, Satan and his angels are thrown out of heaven. At this, a loud voice says: “Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ.” Yes, the rule of God’s government begins! And with Satan and his angels removed from heaven, there is rejoicing there. “On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them!” the Bible says.—Revelation 12:7-12.
11 Is this also a happy time for the earth? No! Instead, there is the greatest time of trouble the earth has ever had. The Bible tells us: “Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” (Revelation 12:12) So this is an important point to remember: The start of the rule of God’s kingdom does not mean immediate peace and security on earth. True peace will come later when God’s kingdom takes full control of the earth. This happens at the end of the “short period of time,” when Satan and his angels will be put out of the way so that they can no longer cause trouble for anyone.
12 But when is Satan thrown out of heaven, thus causing trouble on earth for “a short period of time”? When does God’s government begin its rule? Does the Bible give an answer? We should expect that it would. Why? Well, because long in advance the Bible foretold when God’s Son would appear first as a human on earth to become the Messiah. In fact, it pointed to the very year that he became the Messiah. What, then, about the even more important coming of the Messiah, or Christ, to begin his Kingdom rule? Surely we would expect that the Bible would also tell us when this would happen!
13 But a person may ask: ‘Where does the Bible foretell the very year the Messiah appeared on earth?’ The Bible book of Daniel says: “From the going forth of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Leader, there will be seven weeks, also sixty-two weeks,” or all together 69 weeks. (Daniel 9:25) These, however, are not 69 literal weeks, which amount to only 483 days, or a little more than one year. They are 69 weeks of years, or 483 years. (Compare Numbers 14:34.) The command to restore and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem was given in 455 B.C.E. (Nehemiah 2:1-8) So these 69 weeks of years ended 483 years later, in 29 C.E. And that is the very year that Jesus came to John to be baptized! On that occasion he was anointed with holy spirit and became the Messiah, or Christ.—Luke 3:1, 2, 21-23.
WHEN GOD’S GOVERNMENT BEGINS ITS RULE
14 Well, then, where does the Bible foretell the year that Christ begins to rule as king of God’s government? It is in this same Bible book of Daniel. (Daniel 4:10-37) There a giant, heaven-high tree is used to represent King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He was the highest human ruler at that time. However, King Nebuchadnezzar was forced to know that someone higher was ruling. This one is “the Most High,” or “the King of the heavens,” Jehovah God. (Daniel 4:34, 37) So, in a more important way, this heaven-high tree, comes to represent the supreme rulership of God, particularly in its relationship to our earth. Jehovah’s rulership was expressed for a time through the kingdom that he set up over the nation of Israel. Thus the kings of the tribe of Judah who reigned over the Israelites were said to “sit upon Jehovah’s throne.”—1 Chronicles 29:23.
15 According to the Bible account in Daniel chapter four, the heaven-high tree was cut down. However, the stump was left, and bands of iron and of copper were put on it. This would keep the stump from growing until it was God’s time to remove the bands and let it start growing again. But how and when was God’s rulership cut down?
16 In due course, the kingdom of Judah that Jehovah had set up became so corrupt that he allowed King Nebuchadnezzar to destroy it, to cut it down. This happened in the year 607 B.C.E. At that time Zedekiah, the last king of Judah to sit on Jehovah’s throne, was told: “Lift off the crown. . . . it will certainly become no one’s until he comes who has the legal right, and I must give it to him.”—Ezekiel 21:25-27.
17 So God’s rulership, as represented by the “tree,” was cut down in 607 B.C.E. No longer was there a government to represent God’s rulership in the earth. Thus, in 607 B.C.E. a period of time began that Jesus Christ later referred to as “the appointed times of the nations,” or, “the times of the Gentiles.” (Luke 21:24; King James Version) During these “appointed times” God did not have a government to represent his rulership in the earth.
18 What was to happen at the end of these “appointed times of the nations”? Jehovah was to give the power to rule to the One “who has the legal right.” This One is Jesus Christ. So if we can find out when “the appointed times of the nations” end, we will know when Christ begins to rule as king.
19 According to Daniel chapter four, these “appointed times” would be “seven times.” Daniel shows that there would be “seven times” during which God’s rulership, as represented by the “tree,” would not be in operation over the earth. (Daniel 4:16, 23) How long are these “seven times”?
20 In Revelation chapter 12, verses 6 and 14, we learn that 1,260 days are equal to “a time [that is, 1 time] and times [that is, 2 times] and half a time.” That is a total of 3 1/2 times. So “a time” would be equal to 360 days. Therefore, “seven times” would be 7 times 360, or 2,520 days. Now if we count a day for a year, according to a Bible rule, the “seven times” equal 2,520 years.—Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6.
21 We have already learned that “the appointed times of the nations” began in the year 607 B.C.E. So by counting 2,520 years from that date, we come down to 1914 C.E. That is the year these “appointed times” ended. Millions of people still living remember the things that happened in 1914. In that year, World War I began a period of terrible trouble that has continued to our day. This means that Jesus Christ began to rule as king of God’s heavenly government in 1914. And because the Kingdom has already started its rule, how timely it is that we pray for it to “come” and wipe Satan’s wicked system of things from the earth!—Matthew 6:10; Daniel 2:44.
22 Yet a person may ask: ‘If Christ has already returned to rule in his Father’s kingdom, why do we not see him?’
 
Book reference ‘Pe’ = You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth
 
 
*** Extracted Document ***  Cross-references from Psalm 110:1-3
Psalm 2:8, 9) Ask of me, and I will give nations as your inheritance And the ends of the earth as your possession.  9 You will break them with an iron scepter, And you will smash them like a piece of pottery.”
(Psalm 45:4, 5) And in your splendor go on to victory; Ride in the cause of truth and humility and righteousness, And your right hand will accomplish awe-inspiring things.  5 Your arrows are sharp, making peoples fall before you; They pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies.
(Matthew 28:18) Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying: “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth.
(Revelation 6:2) And I saw, and look! a white horse, and the one seated on it had a bow; and a crown was given him, and he went out conquering and to complete his conquest.
(Revelation 12:5) And she gave birth to a son, a male, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. And her child was snatched away to God and to his throne.
(Revelation 19:11) I saw heaven opened, and look! a white horse. And the one seated on it is called Faithful and True, and he judges and carries on war in righteousness.
(Revelation 19:15) And out of his mouth protrudes a sharp, long sword with which to strike the nations, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron. Moreover, he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 
FULFILLED
NOT YET FULFILLED
 *** w14 2/15 p. 7 Hail Christ, the Glorious King! ***
THE KING COMPLETES HIS CONQUEST
17 Read Psalm 45:5. The King is mounted on a white horse, representing warfare that is clean and righteous in Jehovah’s eyes. (Rev. 6:2; 19:11) In addition to a sword, he is equipped with a bow. We read: “I saw, and look! a white horse, and the one seated on it had a bow; and a crown was given him, and he went out conquering and to complete his conquest.” Both the sword and the bow represent the means that Christ will use to execute judgment on his enemies.
18 In poetic language, the psalmist prophesies that the King’s ‘arrows are sharp, piercing the hearts of his enemies’ and ‘making peoples fall before him.’ The carnage will be earth wide. Jeremiah’s prophecy foretells: “Those slain by Jehovah in that day will be from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth.” (Jer. 25:33) A parallel prophecy states: “I saw also an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice and said to all the birds that fly in midheaven: ‘Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of military commanders and the flesh of strong men and the flesh of horses and of those seated on them, and the flesh of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.’”—Rev. 19:17, 18.
19 After destroying Satan’s wicked system of things on earth, Christ ‘in his splendor’ will “go on to victory.” (Ps. 45:4) He will complete his conquest by abyssing Satan and his demons for the full length of the Thousand Year Reign. (Rev. 20:2, 3) With the Devil and his angels then in a state of deathlike inactivity, earth’s inhabitants will be free of satanic influence and will be able to live in total subjection to their victorious and glorious King. Before they see the earth gradually transformed into a global paradise, however, they will have another reason to rejoice with their King and his heavenly associates. That joyful event will be examined in the following article.

We will know only if the big fellas (GB) decide to approve such announcements in the congregations. Now, with the current way we have only gossips

Very simple and rustic one story small a frame 1 bedroom small kitchen and living area with deck all the way around. And Windows to the ceiling on both sides sun up and sunset on either side with lots of trees and a river running through it. In Virginia some where don't ask why Virginia iv never been there. It just seems beautiful and peaceful in pictures

Sounds like the "falling watter" by Frank Lloyd Wright

This came up on another thread:
 

Appendix  3A in the NWT said the following;
"Greek Text: In the late 19th century, scholars B. F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort compared existing Bible manuscripts and fragments as they prepared the Greek master text that they felt most closely reflected the original writings. In the mid-20th century, the New World Bible Translation Committee used that master text as the basis for its translation. Other early papyri, thought to date back to the second and third centuries C.E., were also used. Since then, more papyri have become available. In addition, master texts such as those by Nestle and Aland and by the United Bible Societies reflect recent scholarly studies. Some of the findings of this research were incorporated into this present revision.
Based on those master texts, it is evident that some verses of the Christian Greek Scriptures found in older translations, such as the King James Version, were actually additions made by later copyists and were never part of the inspired Scriptures. However, because the verse division generally accepted in Bible translations was already established in the 16th century, the omission of these verses now creates gaps in the verse numbering in most Bibles. The verses are Matthew 17:21; 18:11; 23:14; Mark 7:16; 9:44, 46; 11:26; 15:28; Luke 17:36; 23:17; John 5:4; Acts 8:37; 15:34; 24:7; 28:29; and Romans 16:24. In this revised edition, those omitted verses are indicated by a footnote at the location of the omission.

Do the traditions of Easter have anything to do with the resurrection?
The customs of Easter involving bunnies, colored eggs, candles, and lilies were all adapted from pagan religions, as was the name Easter itself. None of these things have anything to do with the resurrection of Jesus, which Easter purports to represent. Does it matter ?  Yes  -  God’s  Word commands us to separate ourselves from false  religion and to  “worship the Father with spirit and truth.”
John 4:23  -  2 Corinthians 6:17
 

*** w03 5/1 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***
Questions From Readers
If a Christian hears voices, does that necessarily mean that he is under demon attack?
No. While demons have been reported to manifest themselves in that way, many individuals who hear voices or experience other inexplicable, disturbing sensations have learned upon investigation that they have a medical problem.
Even in the first century, it was apparently recognized that demon attacks and physical conditions sometimes produce similar effects. At Matthew 17:14-18, we read of a young boy who was healed by Jesus. Although the young boy had manifested severe epileptic symptoms, his suffering was actually caused by a demon. However, on an earlier occasion when crowds of suffering people were brought to Jesus for healing, these included some who were “demon-possessed and epileptic.” (Matthew 4:24) Evidently, it was recognized that some epileptics were not demon possessed. Their problems were physical.
It is reported that some who suffer from schizophrenia, a disease often treatable with medication, hear voices or experience other symptoms that could appear to be something uncanny. Other physical conditions may also cause mental confusion that some could mistakenly think is caused by demons. Hence, while an individual who reports hearing voices or who has other disturbing sensations may not want to discount demon harassment, he should definitely be encouraged to consider investigating whether there is a physical explanation for what he is experiencing.
[Footnote]
See “Taking the Mystery out of Mental Illness,” in the September 8, 1986, Awake!, companion magazine of The Watchtower.
(Matthew 17:14-21) 14 When they came toward the crowd, a man approached him, knelt down to him, and said: 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he is an epileptic and is ill. He falls often into the fire and often into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 In reply Jesus said: “O faithless and twisted generation, how long must I continue with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said: “Why could we not expel it?” 20 He said to them: “Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard grain, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” 21 ——
 

And the point, JWTheologian, of your contribution to this topic about the Memorial with stuff about Saturnalia is ... ?

Just thought I'd weigh in. I read through the entire exchange on Saturnalia with Ann as it was happening, before and after various edits and deletions and commentary about those edits and deletions. I believe that Ann is being very accurate in the way she described it when she says:
You rehashed Hislopian misconceptions, tried to pass off fiction and fable as historical fact, and copy-pasted any old bits of nonsense off the internet in a vain attempt to add weight to sensationalist, unverified claims about ancient Christmas practice.
In fact, she might be being just a bit too generous and kind with that characterization.
Other than that, I agree that the date is not as important as the Memorial itself. The scriptures speak about passing and partaking of the bread and wine, but they are quite vague even about how often. The evidence shows that many early Christians preferred yearly, and this makes the most sense. Even the original Passover could be celebrated a month late according to the Mosaic Law.

I would agree, but the Org likes to pride itself on getting the date and time 'just right.' If it's not important to have The Most Important Day of the Year on the right day, then why not use western Christianity's dating system?
'Erred view'? Lol, I think your memory might be tricking you. You rehashed Hislopian misconceptions, tried to pass off fiction and fable as historical fact, and copy-pasted any old bits of nonsense off the internet in a vain attempt to add weight to sensationalist, unverified claims about ancient Christmas practice.  
To aid your recall (and for anyone else who might be interested), here's a link to the thread:
http://www.jw-archive.org/post/135927951593/how-was-christmas-passed-down-to-us-in
 

So in the same Watchtower magazine we have 2 different opinions.But I think your is the right one because is some months later. But still this makes me think who wrote the first one !

*** w72 12/15 p. 768 Questions From Readers ***  (continuation from above)
Taking Jesus’ words for what they mean, therefore, when a mate is guilty of such serious sexual immorality the innocent mate may Scripturally divorce such a one, if he or she so desires. One who obtains a divorce on such Scriptural grounds is also Scripturally free to remarry, not thereby being subject to a charge of adultery.
This clearly marks a correction in the view expressed on previous occasions in the columns of this magazine, but faithful adherence to what the Scriptures actually say requires it. There is much more that can be considered on the matter and for that reason it will be discussed more completely in a coming issue of this magazine.
 

'Jehovah' is just the anglicized version of the Name which was adapted from the Latin version of it. Many other languages don't have the hard English 'J' sound anyway - they have a 'Y' (ya) sound instead (like the Hebrew letter 'yod'). The 'W' is from the Hebrew letter which is pronounced 'vav.'
Whether the original Hebrew Name consisted of two or three syllables, and which are the correct vowels ... that's for people with far better knowledge than I to debate. But what we have is an approximation.
Imho, sometimes people can become too obsessed with trying to figure out the 'correct' pronunciation. If pronouncing the Name 'just so' was that important, you'd think the method would have been preserved in the Bible for posterity.

ha ha ha yes you are right, ok answer me and I will vote for you :-P

Ah, I see you've read this article too:
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/was-jesus-last-supper-a-seder/
It's definitely worth reading. I saved it to my computer a couple of years ago.
There's another factor to this debate: Jesus was the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7). Wouldn't it undermine the symbolism if Jesus was sacrificed after Passover?
Also consider:
John 18:28 - "Then they led Jesus from Caʹia·phas to the governor’s residence. It was now early in the morning. But they themselves did not enter into the governor’s residence, so that they would not get defiled but could eat the Passover."
But surely they would have already eaten Passover at the same time Jesus and his disciples did?