Posts by Mephis

52

1914—The Turning Point in History - Really?

by berrygerry in

1914the turning point in history.

30 from the human standpoint, the world troubles and global wars foretold in the bible were far from the thinking of the pre-1914 world.

german statesman konrad adenauer said: thoughts and pictures come to my mind, .

Mephis

They got lucky with 1914. Even so, they were predicting their big send-off for October. Not August.

If you want an insight to the fears current in England, there was a whole stream of invasion literature written from the 1870s onwards. England gets invaded by the Germans, mainly, with the odd French invasion when there was a bit of friction before the old Entente Cordiale. The most famous example, however, involved Martians on the loose in London... But all part of a very long period of fears and tensions leading up to the war as the problems between the so-called Great Powers increased and the arms race escalated.

Trying to be kind to the WBTS writers, they can't even quote their own literature correctly from the time period so I have no doubt whatsoever they haven't a clue about this.

20

Are the horrendous killings in Paris part of a religious practice?

by clarity in

islam is a religion of war, not a religion of peace .

seems there are many religions who do not tolerate other groups.

this statement "islam is a religion of war, not a religion of peace" reminded me of what was said at a watchtower convention in 2013 ....using a chilling example of how they condone dis fellowshipping & the soul killing practice of shunning!

Mephis

It goes beyond religion. But religion can help numb the humanity which might otherwise be present. That outsourced conscience which turns murder into martyrdom isn't just Islam. It isn't just religion. But we'd surely be better off without people wanting to recreate the pre-Enlightenment world of theocracies and thought crime and massacre.

"F*** the faithful, f*** the committed, the dedicated, the true believers; f*** all the sure and certain people prepared to maim and kill whoever got in their way; f*** every cause that ended in murder and children screaming."

- Iain Banks

18

2 John 10

by What Now? in

just looking for some rebuttals to 2 john 10, specifically when it comes to shunning family.

we essentially admitted to our families that we do not want to raise our kids as witnesses and do not believe what jehovah's witnesses teach.

predictably, they use 2 john 10 to justify shunning us, specifically the portion of the verse where it says "if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your homes or say a greeting to him".. since we are apostates (according to the jw definition), and no longer "bring this teaching", would our family be correct in interpreting this verse to mean that they should shun us?.

Mephis

There is some evidence that some early Christians had a form of shunning. The Didache is typically dated to c.150 AD. It could be a few decades earlier, or a few decades later. A couple of centuries on, most Christian writers seemed to view it alongside other works we'd now call apocrypha. But for what it's worth:

14:2 However, let no one who is at odds with his brother come together with you, until he has reconciled, so that your sacrifice may not be profaned.

15:3 And reprove one another, not in anger, but in peace, as you have it in the gospel. But to anyone who acts amiss against another, let no one speak to him, nor let him hear anything from you until he repents. But your prayers and alms and all your deeds so do, as you have it in the gospel of our Lord.

One thing to take away from that is that this community did it when personal relationships within the community itself were ruptured by unChristian behaviour. There's nothing about doctrine or 'sin' more generally to it. Most different interpretation between the early Christians who used The Didache and JWs supposedly imitating early Christianity.

9

Why are projects being shut down? Nu-light speculation....

by DATA-DOG in

i went to the meeting last night.

to keep the peace for now, i guess.

anyway...... during the bible highlights, a newly appointed ms explained why construction is being curtailed in some areas.

Mephis

There's always a logical reason which doesn't reflect badly on them. Pedophiles in the congregation? Evil world sending wolves into the congregation. Jesus not arriving on time? He came invisibly. Science disproving the bible? Well the bible doesn't mean what it says at times. History disproving the bible? Lying historians don't know what they're talking about. Numbers of dubs rising? It's fulfillment of prophesy. Numbers of dubs not rising? It's fulfillment of prophesy. Lots of changes no-one understands? It's a sign of how blessed they are to get so much new information. Less magazines being printed? So much love in not overwhelming people with information.

Soooo construction being stopped is just the bronze age desert god being himself? Righty-ho. Jehovah's a real prankster god not letting them know til they'd started building after years of preparation.

31

Make your predictions!

by Coded Logic in

the more specific the better :) here are mine:.

i predict that within the next two to three years (2017-2018) we will start seeing negative numbers in growth.. i predict that within the next thirteen to fifteen years (2027-2030) the number of jws will be less than 4million.. and i predict that by the time the first person sets foot on mars there will already have been a major split in the organization with either one of the gb or a branch overseer starting a new religion..

Mephis

Within 20 years, the religion will be limited to small family groups and a large number of elderly single women.

The bulk of every meeting will be watching videos made centrally, with the couple of men still remaining giving a local slant.

JWs will be told to watch only the official channel. Read only the official publications. Nothing else, they'll be told, is needed. They'll be increasingly insular and isolated from broader society. Identifiable by the time warped fashion sense. A minor culty group to join a thousand other minor culty groups fading into irrelevancy to all but the lingering remnants of faithful believers.

The end will still be 'close'. It may even have begun arriving with the impact of climate change and 'Babylon the Great' falling to secular society. Yet more invisible fulfillment of prophesy only they can see. They'll draw parallels to the days of Noah more and more. They'll be told that having children is how paradise will be filled and implored to make more babies for Jehovah. They'll relax things on divorcing 'unbelievers' in line with that.

One charismatic individual will dominate things internally at Brooklyn once more. He'll decide that, yet again, the Faithful Slave is an individual. Him. Doctrine will shift according to which side of the bed he woke up on. They'll dive back into apocalyptic language and fear mongering, and it won't help them win anything but scorn.

12

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st August 2013 for Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain

by OrphanCrow in

downloadable as a pdf here.. i did a search and couldn't find this posted on the forum.

if it has been and this is a repeat post....i apologize.. there is lots of information in that pdf that may be of interest to our members who like numbers and money and misc info pertaining to wts organizational structure, etc..

Mephis

cognac19 minutes ago

Please keep in mind these are the financial statements of Britain. This won't give us a full picture...

Oh definitely. But it does provide some perspective and also even some insight into Jdubs in microcosm. So we know that just from cash reserves held in Britain, the borg could cover almost entirely the maximum level of restitution likely to be demanded in Australia for the abuse there. It perhaps can also give some idea of per publisher donations per year, as well as possible cash reserves built up over the past century or so. The other thing to note is that in spite of the problems, Bethel here is still sitting on a large pile of cash - and that's on top of a £16m cash grant to unspecified places in Europe in just one year. Things may change, of course, but surely they'd be pulling that money to the US if they really needed it? As of August this year though, not so.

63

Raining before the Flood?

by GrownMidget in

i remember at my teen years when i was studying with a brother that he said to me that there was no rain before the flood.

instead there was this mist that you have.

never before or after this have i heard something like this.

Mephis

Thanks for posting that John Aquila. It all makes much more sense when seen through the prism of how an ancient people tried to explain things. But once you get into trying to marry it up with science, it all goes a bit wonky. And that's really the fundamental problem of treating the bible as a history book, as a science textbook, and, dare I say it, even a guide to morality (slavery? just saying.).

12

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st August 2013 for Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain

by OrphanCrow in

downloadable as a pdf here.. i did a search and couldn't find this posted on the forum.

if it has been and this is a repeat post....i apologize.. there is lots of information in that pdf that may be of interest to our members who like numbers and money and misc info pertaining to wts organizational structure, etc..

Mephis

One of the things which jumps out at me every time I look at the accounts they have to file in Britain (whether local or national), is the amount of cash they have on hand and available. So they're broke? But they have £50m held at Bethel in London. Cash. The local circuit assembly hall to me has £300k in cash in its own bank account. The problem is how they're spending it, not on the amount they're getting, I'd suggest. Unless something huge has happened in the US differing to Britain, and I know there's some reliable people saying donations have absolutely tanked there, it just looks like stagnant donation levels (or even falling ones) colliding with grandiose expansion plans. The £9m write off of debts from congos in Britain is a decent wedge of money, but they've also pulled £12m out of the accounts they've held in trust, so they're in profit...

12

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st August 2013 for Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain

by OrphanCrow in

downloadable as a pdf here.. i did a search and couldn't find this posted on the forum.

if it has been and this is a repeat post....i apologize.. there is lots of information in that pdf that may be of interest to our members who like numbers and money and misc info pertaining to wts organizational structure, etc..

Mephis

Their income from donations dropped from £22m to £17m over the course of a year.

There's actually more recent accounts (for 2014): http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends61/0001077961_AC_20140831_E_C.pdf

Those one shows a massive increase in donations of cash and goods taking them to £35m (double the previous year). A huge chunk of that may be the drop in money held by the branch on behalf of local congos from £39m to £27m.

63

Raining before the Flood?

by GrownMidget in

i remember at my teen years when i was studying with a brother that he said to me that there was no rain before the flood.

instead there was this mist that you have.

never before or after this have i heard something like this.

Mephis

Imagine what the atmospheric pressure would be like with all that water in the atmosphere. Actually don't imagine, find some footage of what's needed to work in that kind of pressure when humans explore places like the Marianas Trench. I guess Noah may have been thickskinned... very thickskinned... and titanium boned or whatever... Genesis and science don't play well together, who knew?

And that was cruel posting the song St.George. Going to have to bleach my mind now as the tune to it popped out when I started to read the words. Urgh.