I have quite a big group of friends who were all in the cong together when we were teens. about 75% of them stopped going or were df'd right after high school. It is a varied group; a couple are staunch apostates, some dont care one way or another, and another handfull are fully "worldly", but still believe it is the truth. well, now that the 100 yr anniversary is here, some have caught word about the blood moon and are going back. One had a beard and has now shaved and is going to meetings. i wonder how many inactive ones are going back this year. and i wonder how many will leave again once 2015 comes...
inactive ones going back...
by monis1 36 Replies latest jw friends
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Ignoranceisbliss
I haven't seen any go back due to the 100 year mark of rule. My mom is trying really hard to get my bro and his family to come back but they have no interest in it whatsoever. Thank god for that.
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blondie
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Going back because of the BLOOD MOON!!!
Please don't say some are letting a only having a beard keep them away............
They need to do some heart searching, why they left, why go back, do some independent research of the WTS history, really observe the organization not just a few individuals.
I was inactive three times, out now 12 year, never going back not even for a blood moon. Is that even a WTS teaching?
The idea of a "blood moon" serving as an omen of the coming of the end times comes from the Book of Joel, where it is written "the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes." [ 1 ] This phrase is again mentioned by Saint Peter during Pentecost, as recorded in Acts. [ 2 ]
On April 15, 2014, there was a total lunar eclipse. It was the first of four consecutive total eclipses in a series, known as a tetrad (the remaining three eclipses will take place on October 8, 2014, April 4, 2015, and September 28, 2015). It is one of eight tetrads during the 21st century AD. [ 3 ] As with most eclipses, the moon appeared red during the April 15 eclipse. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] The red color is caused by Rayleigh scattering of sunlight through the Earth's atmosphere, the same effect that causes sunsets to appear red. [ 4 ]
Around 2008, Biltz began predicting that the Second Coming of Jesus would occur in the fall of 2015 with the seven years of the great tribulation beginning in the fall of 2008. He said he had "discovered" an astronomical pattern that predicted the next tetrad would coincide with the end times. When the prediction failed, he pulled the article from his website, but continued to teach on the "significance" of the tetrad.
Four Blood Moons became a best seller, spending more than 150 days in Amazon.com's top 150 by April 2014. [ 5 ] For the week ending March 30, 2014, it was the ninth best selling paperback, according to Publishers Weekly. [ 6 ] By mid-April, Hagee's book had hit No. 4 on the The New York Times best-seller list in the advice category. [ 5 ] As the eclipse approached, Hagee and Biltz's speculations gained mainstream media attention in publications such as USA Today and the International Business Times. [ 4 ] [ 7 ] Earth & Sky reported receiving "a number of inquiries about Blood Moon", prompting a response. [ 3 ] Despite the attention, it is not clear if many people actually believe the ideas. According to Christian Today, only a "small group of Christians" saw the eclipse as significant. [ 8 ]
Writing for Earth & Sky Bruce McClure and Deborah Byrd point out that the referenced verse also says the "sun will be turned into darkness", an apparent reference to a solar eclipse. They note that since the Jewish Calendar is lunar, one sixth of all eclipses will occur during Passover or Sukkot. Furthermore, there have been 62 tetrads since the first century AD and eight of them have coincided with both the feasts. Thus, the event is not as unusual as Hagee and Biltz imply. Additionally, three of the four eclipses in the tetrad will not even be visible in the biblical homeland of Israel, casting further doubt on Hagee and Biltz's interpretation. [ 3 ] Writing for Space.com, Geoff Gaherty said he was saddened that "'prophets of doom' ... view these life-enriching events as portents of disaster" and said the eclipse was "hardly something to be concerned about". [ 9 ]
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OUTLAW
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Anytime theres a Percieved Threat..
Kingdom Hall parking lots fill up with Fence Sitting JWs..
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...OUTLAW -
ssn587
37months and counting since i have been to a hall, NEVER going back to that nonsense.
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monis1
The ironic thing is one friend talked to
me about it while he was drunk at our friends birthday party! haha.
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prologos
blondie: thank you for the text: second last line calls the eclipses "--life-enriching events--" the orange glow moon over the pacific this april was truly that.
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88JM
Maybe some elders are taking seriously the recent push from Circuit Overseers to contact inactive JWs?
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/279918/1/CO-Special-Meeting-with-MS-Elders
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William Penwell
I am sure like any event or natural disaster, there are those fence sitters that would jump back in. I recall going to a convention or special meeting after 9/11 and some elder that I have known most of my life said to me, "Funny how a couple of planes hitting some buildings makes people come back". I think that was my last time I attended a JW function. So if is motive was to turn me off of the cult he accomplished his objective.
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LisaRose
I remember back in 1972 there was a small, local earthquake, early one morning. There was lots of people out in service that day, lol. It's silly when you think about it, 99% of the world did not experience an earthquake that day, so why would your local event have anything to do with a world wide destruction? But logic doesn't enter into it. If you leave because you want what life outside the JWs has to offer, but don't do the hard work needed to prove or disprove it, you can always be frightened into going back.
...OUTLAW