Put me down for 12,896
elder-schmelder
Anyone taking bets on the number of partakers this year?
by wha happened? 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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respectful_observer
I'm aware of at least one new partaker this year. They are under 30 y.o., with "privileges" (and have a recent graduate degree, no less).
I predict it will go up about the same % that it did between 2011 and 2012.
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slimboyfat
Up up up
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wha happened?
I'm shooting for 13k
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Sulla
12,897
Elder-schmelder just got Price is Right-ed!
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biometrics
Just the other night (when two elders came to invite me to the memorial). The brothers used a Rev 7:3 to show armageddon is being held back untill EVERY one of the 144,000 are 'sealed'. I asked how that will ever happen if they keep increasing. They said most of the increase is due to 'crazy' old people.
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Cold Steel
What would the reaction be to someone partaking. If they're passing the emblems, certainly they should anticipate people partaking; otherwise, what's the point? If I were a believer, and a member, I suppose I'd partake. After all, I'd think being a heavenly creature would be a much better future than being stuck in a worldwide garden. If you've ever seen the Stargate series on TV, wouldn't existing as an "ascended" being have it all over having to live trillions and trillions of years as a terrestrial bound immortal? If you think about eternity and can even in a small way comprehend it, you would be able to count every grain of sand on every seashore of the earth billions of times and it would only be a fraction of a second in the long stretch of eternity that lies ahead.
As I understand the JW eschatology, only those of the 144,000 are supposed to partake. Even if one grants the bizarre interpretation the JWs have, who is to say that the number should be dwindling? The number is taken from the entire human race from the beginning of mankind to the end. And though it refers to the twelve tribes of Israel (12,000 from each tribe), we know that Abraham, Issac and Jacob will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 8:11). How is this possible seeing that they were not from any of the tribes of Israel? And doesn't someone living today have just as much of a chance of being one of the 144,000 as anyone else who's ever lived? It's shallow thinking to say people taking the sacrament today are just crazy old coots and wackos.
If someone passed the plate to the next person and that person partook, what would the people on either side of him/her think? Also, how much bread and wine are passed? I've never been to such a service, but if it's a meeting where everyone is acting suspiciously and watching who's taking it, doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of the ceremony?
Jesus' death and resurrection covered the sins of all men, not just the 144,000; so when the bread and wine are administered in remembrance of his death -- his body and blood -- shouldn't all partake?
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Iamallcool
13,666
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Tylinbrando
Know of a newly reinstated 40 year old that partook last year. His new wife also partook this year with him (mid 30s). Another close friend, never baptized, partook along with his two younger brothers(40,35,28 years of age). Finally, an elder I have known for 30 years who never partook in the past decided this year would be the first for him. Two elderly partakers deceased earlier this year. So in my small circle it was a plus 6 minus 2. I would guess the partakers this year will be close to 16,000. We will see.
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sseveninches
13,153