I am so happy that I stayed home tonight. Just told wife I didnt feel like going and she joined me and stayed home as well. Ahhhhh CSI live instead of on Tivo and a stiff drink. Just wanted to share with you all some may consider this a small victory but for me its awesome. I really cant stomach that Daniel book.
Ditched Bookstudy
by XBEHERE 18 Replies latest jw friends
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ellderwho
Cool man! When I stayed home from the meetings as a child, I felt as if I real fit in with the real world.
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damselfly
Yay! I'm watching CSI now too. I Grisham
Dams
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geevee
That Daniel book is so crusty. It was bad enough taking the study in it the first time, I couldn't bear having to sit through one minute of it now.
You should stay home for ALL the meetings, enjoy your extra day and a half each week...... -
GoingGoingGone
What a wonderful feeling!
Just wanted to share with you all some may consider this a small victory but for me its awesome.
What's that scripture again... ''He who is victorious in what is least will be victorious also in what is much.'' Something like that anyway.
GGG
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lilybird
Well I haven't had to play hookey from meetings in 20 years,, but if I feigned illness and stayed home.. my favourite show to watch was Magnum P.I.That takes ya back a while.. It was such a great feeling to be siiting there,, and not trying to stay awake at the book study
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freedomlover
YEE HAA!! you go man!!
funny how your wife followed your lead. why don't you just do this before every meeting for the next few weeks? let her ask you what's up and then just tell her you really don't want to go anymore.....at all.......like never again..........
enjoy your night off, especially from the Daniel book. -
rekless
just sitting on my ass with straight Brandy shots and seeing if I can post without an error.
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stillajwexelder
I thought I would make you vomit that drink out with some of the crap we are studying at the moment
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dp chap. 17 pp. 294-303 Identifying True Worshipers in the Time of the End ***THEY
ARE ‘DASHED TO PIECES’15
Daniel, we recall, received these angelic messages on the bank of "the great river" Hiddekel, also known as the Tigris. (Daniel 10:4) Here he now sees three angelic creatures and says: "I saw, I Daniel, and, look! there were two others standing, one on the bank here of the stream and the other on the bank there of the stream. Then one said to the man clothed with the linen, who was up above the waters of the stream: ‘How long will it be to the end of the wonderful things?’" (Daniel 12:5, 6) The question the angel raised here may again remind us of "the holy ones of the Supreme One." At the beginning of "the time of the end," in 1914, they were greatly concerned with the question of how long it would be until God’s promises were fulfilled. That they are the focus of this prophecy becomes apparent in the answer to this question.
16
Daniel’s account continues: "And I began to hear the man clothed with the linen, who was up above the waters of the stream, as he proceeded to raise his right hand and his left hand to the heavens and to swear by the One who is alive for time indefinite: ‘It will be for an appointed time, appointed times and a half. And as soon as there will have been a finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people to pieces, all these things will come to their finish.’" (Daniel 12:7) This is a solemn matter. The angel raises both hands in an oath, perhaps so that this gesture is visible to the two angels on opposite sides of the broad river. He thereby emphasizes the absolute certainty of the fulfillment of this prophecy. When, though, are these appointed times? The answer is not as difficult to find as you might think it is.
17
This prophecy is remarkably similar to two other prophecies. One, which we considered in Chapter 9 of this publication, is found at Daniel 7:25; the other, at Revelation 11:3, 7, 9. Note some of the parallels. Each is set during the time of the end. Both prophecies concern holy servants of God, showing them to be persecuted and even temporarily unable to carry out their public preaching activity. Each prophecy shows that God’s servants revive and then resume their work, foiling their persecutors. And each prophecy mentions the duration of this time of hardship for the holy ones. Both prophecies in Daniel (7:25 and 12:7) refer to ‘a time, times, and half a time.’ Scholars generally recognize this to mean three and a half times. Revelation refers to the same period as 42 months, or 1,260 days. (Revelation 11:2, 3) This confirms that the three and a half times in Daniel refer to three and a half years of 360 days each. But when did these 1,260 days begin?
18
The prophecy is quite explicit as to when the 1,260 days would end—when there is "a finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people to pieces." In the middle of 1918, leading members of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, including its president, J. F. Rutherford, were convicted on false charges, sentenced to long terms of confinement, and imprisoned. God’s holy ones did indeed see their work ‘dashed to pieces,’ their power broken. Counting back three and a half years from mid-1918 brings us to the end of 1914. At that time the little band of anointed ones were bracing themselves for the onslaught of persecution. World War I had broken out, and opposition to their work was mounting. For the year 1915, they even based their yeartext on this question that Christ asked his followers: "Are ye able to drink of my cup?" (Matthew 20:22, King James Version) As predicted at Revelation 11:3, the 1,260-day period that ensued was a mournful time for the anointed—it was as if they were prophesying in sackcloth. Persecution worsened. Some of them were imprisoned, others were mobbed, and still others were tortured. Many were disheartened by the death of the Society’s first president, C. T. Russell, in 1916. What, though, was to happen after this dark time concluded with the killing of these holy ones as a preaching organization?
19
The parallel prophecy found at Revelation 11:3, 9, 11 shows that after the "two witnesses" are killed, they lie dead for only a short period of time—three and a half days—until they are revived. Similarly, the prophecy in Daniel chapter 12 shows that the holy ones would not remain silent but had more work ahead of them.
THEY
ARE ‘CLEANSED, WHITENED, AND REFINED’20
As noted earlier, Daniel wrote these things down but could not understand them. Still, he must have wondered if the holy ones would actually be finished off at the hands of their persecutors, for he asked, "What will be the final part of these things?" The angel answered: "Go, Daniel, because the words are made secret and sealed up until the time of the end. Many will cleanse themselves and whiten themselves and will be refined. And the wicked ones will certainly act wickedly, and no wicked ones at all will understand; but the ones having insight will understand." (Daniel 12:8-10) There was a sure hope for the holy ones! Rather than being destroyed, they would be whitened, blessed with a clean standing before Jehovah God. (Malachi 3:1-3) Their insight into spiritual matters would enable them to keep clean in God’s eyes. In contrast, the wicked would refuse to understand spiritual things. But when would all of this occur?
21
Daniel was told: "From the time that the constant feature has been removed and there has been a placing of the disgusting thing that is causing desolation, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days." So this time period would begin when certain conditions had been brought about. "The constant feature"—or "the continual sacrifice"—had to be removed. (Daniel 12:11, footnote) What sacrifice did the angel mean? Not the animal sacrifices offered at any earthly temple. Why, even the temple that once stood in Jerusalem was a mere "copy of the reality"—Jehovah’s great spiritual temple, which went into operation when Christ became its High Priest in 29 C.E.! In this spiritual temple, representing God’s arrangement for pure worship, there is no need of continual sin offerings, for "Christ was offered once for all time to bear the sins of many." (Hebrews 9:24-28) Yet, all true Christians do offer sacrifices at this temple. The apostle Paul wrote: "Through [Christ] let us always offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which make public declaration to his name." (Hebrews 13:15) So this first condition of the prophecy—the removing of "the constant feature"—was brought about in mid-1918 when the preaching work was virtually suspended.
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What, though, about the second condition—the "placing," or installation, of "the disgusting thing that is causing desolation"? As we saw in our discussion of Daniel 11:31, this disgusting thing was first the League of Nations and reemerged later as the United Nations. Both are disgusting in that they have been heralded as the only hope for peace on earth. Thus, in the hearts of many, these institutions actually take the place of God’s Kingdom! The League was officially proposed in January 1919. At that time, then, both conditions of Daniel 12:11 were met. So the 1,290 days began in early 1919 and ran until the autumn (Northern Hemisphere) of 1922.
23
During that time, did the holy ones make progress toward becoming whitened and cleansed in God’s eyes? They certainly did! In March 1919 the president of the Watch Tower Society and his close associates were released from prison. They were later exonerated of the false charges against them. Aware that their work was far from over, they got busy immediately, organizing a convention for September 1919. In the same year, a companion magazine to The Watch Tower was first published. Originally called The Golden Age (now Awake!), it has always supported The Watchtower in fearlessly exposing the corruption of this world and in helping God’s people to remain clean. By the end of the foretold 1,290 days, the holy ones were well on the way to a cleansed and restored standing. In September 1922, right about the time when this period ended, they held a landmark convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A. It gave tremendous impetus to the preaching work. However, there was still a need for making more progress. That remained for the next marked period.
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Purza
my favourite show to watch was Magnum P.I.
I hear you. I used to love Charlie's Angels and the Dukes of Hazard -- it was a real treat when we stayed home and I got to watch those! Didn't happen very often though. = )
Purza