I attended only on Sunday. But the F&G comments do indeed reflect the way I felt while sitting there. I just want to learn about the Bible. Is all the pummeling really needed? By the time the morning session ended, I felt, not "spritually refreshed", but like I had just been beaten over the head. I wish it could be different. As I said, I really like studying and learning about the Bible.
Notes from 2001 District Conv.---Friday
by LostMyReligion 42 Replies latest jw friends
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Enlighted UK
Thanks for the copious note-taking.
They are still banging on about people not getting any decent education??
I am still MAD at the society (and myself for being so gullible at the time). My former boss (a nuclear physicist) offered to send me on a degree course. I (foolishly) declined, thinking that i would never get all the studying done with theocratic meetings etc etc. I then left that employment (what an idiot!) as I kept missing theocratic meetings, because I was held up in meetings elsewhere in the country with merchant bankers/ hospital managers etc etc.
I am now back in full-time employment in a field where I can expand my knowledge and qualifications and I am loving every minute of it!!
I feel sorry for all the youngsters who are doing the same as i did, and blowing excellent opportunities.
HAve you noticed though that when the society require brothers and sisters to work on their assembly halls, they always require those that are QUALIFIED to do the job?? Well how do they think people become qualified - peddling magazines??
Just a thought.
Enlighted UK
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Lovingkindness
Thank you for the welcome Copernicus.
One of the reasons I put so much in my post is not only to provide a little background about myself, but to also provide enough information concerning what the WTS had taught in the past, and some of their other errors, so that in case any
Jehovah's Witnesses brave and curious enough might come here to read the posts and find my own "contribution." (smile)I also thought that some of the material might be helpful to some here to use (even print out) to share with as many of our
Jehovah's Witness relatives and family as we can possibly reach. As we all know, the WTS plays down their past mistakes by
saying that the "light gets brighter and brighter". But when a JW actually comes to realize what precisely Jesus would have
found the WTS preaching and teaching at the time they claim he came to inspect the temple, and that Jesus could not possibly been pleased with them, nor would he have commended them with the words: "Well done, faithful and discreet slave"
because as we can clearly see, they were not faithfully waiting for him to return. They "pushed ahead and began teaching that he had already returned! The same with their teaching about the first resurrection. If they were found already preaching that the resurrection had already taken place, (without him) would Jesus have commended them as being "faithful and discreet? I really doubt it! Not only that, but they had misled and stumbled many Bible Students with the false prophecy
that Armageddon was going to take place in 1914 and it didn't. So would he have been pleased to see that in 1918 they were
preaching a new false date for Armageddon? ( to stumble some more of his sheep?) I would hardly think so. Jesus would have
scolded them and told them that they were not faithful and were not discreet.Following is a quote taken from the March 15, 1955 Watchtower pg. 174 Notice how the Watchtower followers who believed and spent the best part of their lives teaching that Jesus had already came in 1874 and that the end would come in 1914 were "put down" and spoken of as being *WEARY OF WELLDOING * for their leaving the WTS, because of their great disappointment when 1914 failed, and no one was raptured nor the end of mans governments had taken place, as they had preached would happen. Notice also how they were spoken of as "Satan's seed". See below:
"Following Brother Russell's death, years of crisis set in, producing within the organization the pressures of opposition, judgment and cleansing. Satan and his seed were ready to wield, in addition, external blows which were destined to strike down the Society in such weakened state to a sudden deathlike condition. After such a gigantic build-up of warning witness which had occurred with
respect to that prophetic date of 1914, many of the associates became weary of well-doing. Rebelliousness among congregation elders came to the surface, and unhealthy spiritual conditions in general set in, to put many of the anointed witnesses to the test as to their real love and loyalty to their invisibly present King, Christ Jesus. (Revelation, chapters 2 and 3) For three and a half years (1,260 literal days) they carried on their preaching in this critical period from the fall of 1914 to the spring of 1918 in a "sackcloth" condition of mourning and reproach. Finally, in 1918, "when they have finished their witnessing, the wild beast [collective earthly ruling powers] that ascends out of the abyss [the symbolic deep sea of men raging against God] will make war with them and conquer them and kill them. And after the three and a half days spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon those beholding them." Here we have the prophetic description of those years of crisis, and the historic record here reviewed shows the prophecy's
fulfillment by the facts.-Rev. 11:3, 4, 7, 11, NW. " [WT March 15, 1955 pg. 174 ](Note: Would you have been considered an "apostate, or revolutionist" if you didn't accept and believe these false dates and teachings? Notice the next quote:
"As the fleshly-minded apostates from Christianity, siding with the radicals and revolutionaries, will rejoice at the inheritance of desolation that will be Christendom's after 1918, so will God do to the successful revolutionary movement; it shall be utterly desolated, "even all of it." Not one vestige of it shall survive the ravages of world-wide all embracing anarchy, in the fall of 1920. (Rev.II:7-13)"
[The Finished Mystery, 1917, p. 542, [The 1926 ed. reads: "in the end of the time of trouble."]Note: If you had a beautiful house and it was all furnished wonderfully, but you had to leave, and leave it in the hands of a house sitter. When you returned and found that the house sitter had done allot of damage and ruin to your house, would you commend that house sitter and then put him in charge of ALL of the rest of your belongings? No, you wouldn't. So if Jesus had come, he would not have been pleased at all. Notice that for years, before 1914 they had insisted that everyone believe
that Jesus had already came since 1874. (if anyone didn't believe this they were DF, or treated as if they lacked faith in God and Christ) They managed to get allot of people to believe that Jesus was already with them, and supporting their preaching of these false messages. The problem, is that they kept insisting that Jesus had already came, and had chosen them, but how could anyone know for sure?What proof was there to show?
Information such as this, and the WTS past quotes from their own literature,(showing the dates those quotes were made)
exposes the WTS, and this is what the GB fear the most. If all Jehovah's Witnesses were aware of this, they would lose the
control and elevated position over their supporters. ( not to mention the millions of dollars they rake in each year from donations, charges for the literature and the interest they are making off of them.)I met Bill Bowen and Barbara Anderson at a convention just recently. I believe that they are absolutely correct when they say that the WTS will not change their policy on child molestors and criminals within the WTS unless they are faced with the
loss of allot of money from lawsuits and so on. It will not be the abuse of children that will make them change their policy, but the threat and loss of allot of money. Please check out his website. It is http://www.silentlambs.com ( or .org can't
remember which )Lovingkindness
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Disengaged
I'll say it again................ 3 Long Days of "Massaging the Turd"
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AMNESIAN
Lovingkindness wrote:
Remember the Watchtower article "Can You Be True To God Yet Hide The Facts?" ? Well, the WTS has to submit to all the expectations they wrote concerning the other Churches. In the article they wrote and I quote some of it:
" What results when a lie is let go unchallenged? Does not silence help the lie to pass as truth, to have freer sway to influence many, perhaps to their serious harm? When persons are in great danger from a source that they do not suspect or are being misled by those they consider their friends, is it an unkindness to warn them? They may prefer not to believe the warning. They may even resent it. But does that free one from the moral responsibility to give that warning? If you are among those seeking to be faithful to God, the issues these questions raise are vital for you today. Why? because God's servants in every period of history have had to face up to the challenges these issues present. They have had to expose falsehood and wrongdoing and warn people of dangers and deception" .... " in the interest of pure worship"......." It would have been far easier to keep silent or say only what people wanted to hear. But faithfulness to God and love of neighbor moved them to speak. They realized better is a revealed reproof than a concealed love."
Please provide the issue date and page number of Watchtower quotes.
AMNESIAN
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Copernicus
Lovingkindness, you said:
“Information such as this, and the WTS past quotes from their own literature,(showing the dates those quotes were made) exposes the WTS, and this is what the GB fear the most. If all Jehovah's Witnesses were aware of this, they would lose the control and elevated position over their supporters. ( not to mention the millions of dollars they rake in each year from donations, charges for the literature and the interest they are making off of them.)”
I’m not so sure about this, as I personally doubt that the GB experiences much fear over anything; although I do hope I’m wrong. I imagine that they are to well insulated (from the consequences of their actions) to feel much, and they are protected by a phalanx of lawyers and whatever other defenses that virtually unlimited resources can buy.
In my experience, most JW’s are in it because they WANT to be – the facts have little bearing on this emotional decision. As long as one holds to this “will to believe” it wouldn’t matter if the GB set their hair on fire and ran naked through the streets of Brooklyn. The R&F would just view it as a test of faith. Until one is ready to escape, for whatever reasons, the light of truth (in the form of information or exposure) does not penetrate.
Not that we should all give up trying. . . I’m just making a minor point.
By the way, I have to give Bowen credit for showing up at a convention. The man has GUTS! I wouldn’t walk through that snake pit in his shoes for anything. Except maybe to protect some kids, as it seems he is doing.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
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Sunnygal41
Disengaged,
Is that the same thing as "shooting the shit?" : - )
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Sunnygal41
Slayer.....AMEN!!!!!!!! How long you been out?
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Lovingkindness
Hello Amnesian. The quote you refer to (Can Yu Be True To God Yet HIde The Facts?) can be found in the January 15, 1974
Watchtower.Copernicus, it was not a JW assembly Bill Bowen was attending when I saw him, but a general conference with a general
audience. Yes, I believe that there are some within the Organization who are members not particularly because they are
interested in truth, but for social and other reasons. That does not dissuade me though. There are many like many of us
who left because of their love for truth and righteousness. (and many who had to leave because of their Conscience besides)
I believe that no matter what, all Jehovah's Witnesses have the right to learn the truth about the past dates and teachings
of the WTS, and the double standards that the GB have had for so many years. They all need to read Ray Franz's books to
learn the real truth about what has happened in the past, as well as what is going on now. They deserve to know "the facts". ( and to learn that Ray Franz has been lied about and mistreated for many years and the lies are still going on today.
And the lies that all those who leave the WTS leave God, Jesus, and the Bible. etc. )Well, I feel that it is well worth the effort even if only a few listen. (after all, only 8 survived the flood) smile
Lovingkindness
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chester
Dear Lovingkindness,
Yes, I believe that there are some within the Organization who are members not particularly because they are
interested in truth, but for social and other reasons. That does not dissuade me though. There are many like many of us
who left because of their love for truth and righteousness. (and many who had to leave because of their Conscience besides)
I believe that no matter what, all Jehovah's Witnesses have the right to learn the truth about the past dates and teachings
of the WTS, and the double standards that the GB have had for so many years. They all need to read Ray Franz's books to
learn the real truth about what has happened in the past, as well as what is going on now. They deserve to know "the facts". ( and to learn that Ray Franz has been lied about and mistreated for many years and the lies are still going on today.
And the lies that all those who leave the WTS leave God, Jesus, and the Bible. etc. )I want to thank you very much for your post. The things that you have told us are very loving. We do deserve to know "the facts". It think it is a terrible thing that the WTS wants so much to keep this information away from its members.
Thanks again,
Chester