Thanks Billy.
No offense to Blondie but I never read hers as they are too involved and too many quotes, ... i like your "simplified" style much better, maybe she could adopt it LOL.
Billy's Comments You Won't Hear at the 01-19-2014 WT Study (7 Shepherds, 8 Dukes)
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite 74 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Band on the Run
I thought you were doing a parody. After the Witnesses, I don't care about such characters. We may not know Christology or other important doctrine but we certainly have heard about every minor OT reference. They want to be ancient Israelites. The GB should rent some theatrical costumes and play ancient Israelite. It also reminds of Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark. There is one scene I recall where the bad man dresses as the High Priest and the power of the ark is restored. Something like that.
Oh, I will sleep so much better knowing about this important history.
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nonjwspouse
Nice of you to take some of the work off Blondie's hands. You do a great job of it too! SO helpful.
sidenote. I have family very near Hazard Ky, so I've drivin through there often. The drive is beautiful!
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AndDontCallMeShirley
Watchtower loves to pick and choose OT accounts and rewrite them to fit their theology.
Billy....everything that happened in the past somehow, in some way, pre-figured the Watchtower Corporation and it's subsidiaries. Please read your bible the Watchtower with an open mind....pray more...go to the meetings....go out in field service more...then you'll see...*
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* disclaimer: the previous statement is not endorsed by Jehovah, Iehova, Yahweh, Bel, any other fictitious god or "First Cause" or anyone with the I.Q. of a salad bar or higher. Use of the above statement may result in your immediate harm and issuer of said statement assumes no liability; use at your own risk. No warranty, expressed or implied, is in force at anytime and "New Light" may nullify and/or modify any claims made by WT, The Governing Body, the 7, no 8, dukes at any time. Full refunds will be given only to those not gullible enough to buy into this s**t.
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Magwitch
So 8 is one more than 7. This is good to know. Thank you so much.
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whathappened
Good stuff, Billy.
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baltar447
I trust Billy.
But this made me a bit suspiscious, the link when you click on it instead of just straight to jw.org goes here FIRST then redirects:
http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=f38428291ed8e213546f1c4b510d2954&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jehovahs-witness.net%2Fwatchtower%2Fbible%2F270569%2F1%2FBillys-Comments-You-Wont-Hear-at-the-01-19-2014-WT-Study-7-Shepherds-8-Dukes&v=1&libId=e4cf5be6-1c95-4028-ab8c-2161f621e571&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jw.org%2Fen%2Fpublications%2Fmagazines%2Fw20131115%2Fseven-shepherds-eight-dukes%2F&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jehovahs-witness.net%2Factive&title=Billy's%20Comments%20You%20Won't%20Hear%20at%20the%2001-19-2014%20WT%20Study%20(7%20Shepherds%2C%208%20Dukes)%20(1)&txt=WT%2011%2F15%2F2013%20pp.%2016-20&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_139010163681310
Viglink is a referral company so I'm guessing this is something that Simon's put in here. Simon, can you please comment on this because my alarm bells went off a bit thanks.
Link copied directly from JW.org: http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20131115/seven-shepherds-eight-dukes/
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Also in this issue, The Watchtower has the annual "How to Give More to Watchtower Corporation!" article here.
The opening story of WT providing assistance in some war-torn area is typical. There is no reference to where this happened, when this happened, or how many people were assisted during this incident. I would suspect that this was an event 30 or more years ago and affected a couple of congregations for a few weeks. Financial assistance probably only came from the France branch.
Watchtower flip-flops on "charity" right within the article.
In the face of natural and man-made disasters, we do not tell needy brothers and sisters to “keep warm and well fed.” (Jas. 2:15, 16) Instead, we seek to provide for their physical needs.
Let's be honest. WT provides very little in the way of physical needs. When I left bethel, they couldn't have cared any less about whatever my physical needs would be. I can honestly say that in my hour of need, WT headquarters itself told me to "keep warm and well fed." What they really mean to say is in the very next paragraph. Here comes the flip...
As Jehovah’s servants, we are eager to help needy individuals in a material way. However, people also have a spiritual need. (Matt. 5:3) .... As an organization, we use some donated funds to provide material help, but donations are used chiefly to promote Kingdom interests and spread the good news. We thus show our love for God and for our neighbors.—Matt. 22:37-39.
The "charitable work" of Watchtower is certainly not to help "worldly" people in their dire straights, or even to help needy JWs. WT "charitable work" is to recruit more people into the bOrganization. Of course they can say "donations are used chiefly to promote Kingdom interests" because that phrase really means nothing. I'll never forget the elders meeting at the circuit assembly where it was the routine to approve the expenses. One of the expenses to be approved was for the purchase of a gas grill for the COs apartment, worth something like $350. There was a collective gasp. A brother volunteered that he had a gas grill that he wasn't using anymore that he would volunteer to donate. The guy in charge hummed and hawed as several more raised issues with such an expense of donated funds. Finally, he leveled and said, "this needs to be approved because the grill was already purchased." There were a lot of unhappy campers in that crowd until that incident was forgotten. Whenever I hear something like "donations are used chiefly to promote Kingdom interests," events like that immediately come to mind.
WT isn't the type of charity that has their books open for public review and audit to verify how the money is collected and spent. Having worked at bethel, I can honestly say that WT organization is a massively wasteful operation. On one hand, I've seen how there will be penny-pinching on one project with reports on how much money was saved. Yet there is a long list of failed projects and just plain waste that gets ignored. What can you expect from an organization that takes such a dim view of secular education? Of course there are going to be lots of idiots at the top.
Anyway, I just thought I'd add this observation to the material for this WT lesson. It makes sense that WT and the crazy 8 at the very top will demand that the R&F shut up and do as they're told. They certainly don't want any of the sheeple to stop and say, "Hey, let's think about this for a minute. Why does the CO and WT demand that congregation accounts be announced and audited, when the organization's accounts are kept completely secret? What's the big deal about the hundreds of dollars a congregation handles, when millions of dollars are completely unaccounted for? They're selling real estate for hundreds of millions, yet still publishing articles like this saying that they need more. Why?"
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baltar447
LOL! The grill was already bought. Priceless...