Correction: This article was originally attributed to another visiting speaker (AllTimeJeff) in error.
WT Comments (2/25 RESPONDING) FEATURING AK-JEFF
by V 28 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Gopher
Thanks Jeff for that concise between-the-lines analysis. As you say, this is recycled stuff. The message is urgent? I heard that 40 years ago. Rightly DISPOSED people are listening to JW's? Yeah, they dispose of people faster than any other religion, according to the Pew study commented on elsewhere in thie forum.
This was a sluggish, boring article. I can see the drooping eyelids at Kingdom Halls all across the world.
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OnTheWayOut
10 million non-Jehovah's Witnesses attending the Memorial. (By the way, this is not accurate at all, as most of that 10 million are either formerly active Jehovah's Witnesses, long time lingering people who fade in and out of the organization.)
No. Most of the 10 million are nonpublishers that are CHILDREN of publishers.
The rest are formerly active JW, long-time lingering people, bored spouses or
other family that were dragged along, and some Literature Students. -
OnTheWayOut
9) What does the experience of the apostle Paul teach us? In our territory, perhaps there are groups of people who seem hostile to the message we bear. Though it may appear doubtful that any of them will ever become true Christians, we should not stop trying to reason with them. Sometimes even the most unlikely individuals prove to be receptive. Our commission is to keep on preaching to all "without letup."-Read Acts 5:42.
Excellent coverage of the sales pitch using the literature of the organization instead of the Bible.
Also note that para. 9 encourages returning to the hostile ones for another possible reason.
They want their members to "feel" persecuted, therefore they must be doing the Lord's work. -
Open mind
LOL @ OTWO:
Literature Students.
OTWO, you are a great aid in helping me learn the "pure language".
OM
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jwfacts
ATJ great commentary, you certainly have the right credentials for this study.
Since our last visit, some may have been affected by serious illness, loss of a job, or the death of a loved one. (Read Ecclesiastes 9:11.) World events may motivate people to think seriously about their future. Such developments can cause a person who was previously apathetic—or even opposed—to respond favorably. Hence, we should not hold back from sharing the good news with others on every suitable occasion.
The single most upsetting paragraph in this study is found here: paragraph 11. This shows the predatory nature of the religion, when stating that those who might now listen to the Jehovah's Witness version of 'the good news' would be those whom have been affected by ' serious illness, loss of a job, or death of a loved one', or perhaps are disturbed by world conditions (meaning a deterioration in such conditions).
This really is a disturbing statement. Cults prey on vunerable people, with large proportions of converts being late teens to early twenties, or people that have been affected by recent emotional trauma. Here the Watchtower admits this is prime territory for them.
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blondie
Paragraph 1
Could their have been 144,000 or more Christians by 100 A.D.?
Rodney Stark, in 'the rise of christianity', page 7 published this chart:
Christian Growth Projected at 40% per Decade
Year Number of christians Percent of Population
40 1,000 0.0017
50 1,400 0.023
100 7,530 0.0126
150 40,496 0.07
200 217,795 0.36
250 1,171,356 1.9
300 6,299,832 10.5
350 33,882,008 56.5Based on an estimated population of 60 million.
Paragraph 2
Overturned but less than 144,000? of a population in the empire of 55 million?
Paragraph 3
Christian congregation = only anointed per the Bible
How many studies are with other than jw children?
ten million--da'd, df'd, inactive jws, unbaptized children, very few people from other religions or no religious contacts
Paragraph 4
"organization" not a word found in the bible just like the WTS reasons about the word "trinity" not being in the bible
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tip.5IsItClearlyaBibleTeaching?***A PROTESTANT publication states: "The word Trinity is not found in the Bible . . . It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century." (TheIllustratedBibleDictionary) And a Catholic authority says that the Trinity "is not . . . directly and immediately [the] word of God."—NewCatholicEncyclopedia.
Paragraph 5
Is it important for jws to have a good relationship with Jesus or just God? Where is Jesus in the so-callled "Christian" life of a jw?
Paragraph 6
Do jws prejudge non-jws?
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w506/15p.184par.27AVictoryDedicatedtoJehovah’sHonor***How like the "goat" and "evil servant" classes of today, who refuse aid to the anointed remnant, unable to see that behind these brethren of the Lord are Christ and Jehovah, and are still fearful of the world leaders, consorting with them and viewing them as the "higher powers"! Such goatish ones think that this world organization under Satan is all right, think that it will continue on as the controlling power, and they cast their lot with it.
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DanTheMan
It has presented a recycled version of hundreds of previous Watchtower articles
Exactly what I was thinking as I skimmed through it. Same old.
It's no wonder JW's have the highest "churn" rate. All except the most zealous among the JW's will feel at least pangs of guilt when they cover this material because they have ongoing relationships with people who they never witness to and are not inclined to do so because that's just not the type of relationship they have with them!
During my last days as a JW, the verse at Eph 4:11 kept coming to mind:
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
Note the word "some". I made reference to this scripture when I was talking on the phone with a fairly liberal elder who was willing to listen to me vent about my JW frustrations without hammering me with trite party-line counsel. I told him that I wasn't a preacher or a teacher and the Bible says that not everybody is! He really didn't have much to say in response. I was out about 2 months after that.
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RULES & REGULATIONS
Q10) Why should we not hold back from preaching to people who may seem intimidating? Relate local experiences.
10) Appearances can be deceptive. Ignacio, * for example, began studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses while he was in prison in a South American country. He was feared because of his violent nature. Consequently, inmates who made and sold items to fellow prisoners used Ignacio to collect debts from those who were slow to pay. However, as Ignacio made spiritual progress and applied what he was learning, this once violent bully became a kind person. No one uses him to collect debts anymore, yet Ignacio is content that Bible truths and God's spirit have transformed his personality. He is also grateful for the open-mindedness of the Kingdom publishers who made the effort to study with him.
It's great to hear that Ignacio made spiritual progress all because he studied with Jehovah's Witnesses and that Bible truths and God's spirit transformed his personality. That may be true and things like that really happen. They also happen in other religions.
How come they don't relate the experiences of my local congregation? How come these following experiences never made the Watchtower study?
Three Ministerial Servants( in a 2 year period)were disfellowshipped for cheating on their wives. They left their wives and children and moved in with their new girlfriends. None of them to this day pay child support and all 3 sisters moved in with their parents because they can't make ends meet.
Great job ALLTIMEJEFF!
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bennyk
7) Why must we refrain from judging those to whom we preach?
(Answer: It would steal valuable time from the vital work of judging those in the congregation.)
7) Jehovah has appointed Jesus as judge; hence, we do not have the right to judge anybody.
(But that won't stop us from doing so...)