apostrate

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Posts by apostrate

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  64

  Speculation: Female Ministerial Servants coming soon

  by Londo111 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ive no source for this, just personal speculation.. * there is a good case to be made that there were female deacons (ministerial servants) in the bible.. * there is a lack of qualified brothers for basic assignments such as microphones, accounts, literature.

  in some cases, elders have had to do double duty because of a lack of ministerial servants or qualified brothers.. * women outnumber men in the organization.. * there is supposedly a surprising change coming "down the pipe".. perhaps the only difference between male and female ministerial servants is that women will still not be allowed to teach..

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  apostrate

  Women will probably never be allowed to become ministerial servants but they definitely WILL be allowed to lead the congregation in doing "The HUSTLE"!!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dqCJ6E78jM
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  40

  Who Really Profits from the WTBTS?

  by Freedom77 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  like they say in the movies, "follow the money.

  " the thought occurred to me the other day - the wt scam rakes in billions of dollars, and yeah some of that goes to operations and equipment.

  but bethelites at farm and factory get only a bare little dorm room and a monthly pittance.

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  apostrate

  About 20 years ago I worked at a major printshop chain. The owner told us at a meeting one time that, not only his company but any company, whether it is a printshop or some other industry, is doing very, very good if it makes a profit of 5 cents on the dollar. I recently checked out those statistics on the internet and it still seems to hold true today.

  And what is the biggest expense that a company, any company has? Labor! You have to pay your employees! Unless of course you are the Watchtower. They do NOT pay their employees! Oh yeah, excuse me, I understand that some of those at Bethel get $15 a MONTH! Wow! Must be quite a burden! Don't spend it all in one place.

  And the employees of the WT are considered volunteers (volunteers who are repeatedly told that they will DIE at the hands of Jehovah God if they do not become slaves to the organization). They pay the org for their work materials (magazines, books, etc) in the form of DONATIONS. Then they go out and "place" the literature and still give whatever money they receive to the org. Actually, as I write this, it seems that I'm describing the relationship between a prostitute and her pimp!

  The JW's pay for their own gas, their own transportation, EVERYTHING! The Society is not out any money at all!!! Even repairs done to the Kingdom Halls are done through volunteers, usually.

  I would imagine that if the truth be known (pun intended) WT is making in excess of 100% profit.

  Any money that the Society is out, for anything, is only money that they have taken in from the sheep!

  What they are doing with all that money is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if they are buying popcorn with it! Their manner of obtaining their money is a crime!
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  37

  How many things did you toss out in the name of Jehoover

  by love2Bworldly in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i had a flash back yesterday.

  my non jw husband and i went to disneyland and bought my young daughter a set of 7 dwarf toys.

  after a few months i felt guilty and threw them away, thinking they were demonized.

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  apostrate

  While I actually saw this type of thing happen several times, I will only talk about one particular experience I witnessed while living in Northern California. The Circuit Servant, who typically came around a couple of times a year, was a real pompous, obnoxious type. This was back around 1979. Once when he came around he let it be known in no uncertain terms that mustaches, just like beards, was not acceptable in Jehovahs Congregation!!

  I didn't sport a mustache but several of the "brothers" did. And by the end of the week, when the CS had left, sure enough, ALL these "brothers" had shaved off their mustaches. A lot of comments circulated about how different Brother So-And-So looked without his mustache! (Usually, by the tone of their voice, you could tell that what they really were trying to say was, Brother So-And-So looks so much better with his mustache!)

  Well, within about 6 to 8 weeks, they pretty much had all grown their mustaches back.

  Next time the CS came around, apparently the whole "Mustache-Gate" incident had been pretty much forgotten!
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  8

  I don't call this progress...

  by MidwichCuckoo in

  1. social
  2. current

  ...where communication/information has progressed vastly, the jw r&f have, in well over 100 years, progressed from sandwich boards to..errr..modernised sandwich boards as their up-to-date means of communicating.. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2691254/how-jehovahs-witnesses-got-street-smart-believers-swap-infamous-doorstepping-standing-outside-train-stations-shops.html.

  comments are open at bottom of page folks!.

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  apostrate

  Yes, some missionaries have changed their tactics. But Jehovah’s Witnesses still heed the Founder of Christianity , Jesus Christ, who did not wait for people to come to him and who commanded: “Go therefore and make disciples. ”—Matt. 28:19.

  Yes, Jesus did command his followers to "Go therefore and make disciples". But notice that he did not say, "Go therefore and sell magazines and books!"

  Even if every Jehovahs Witness gave away every piece of literature, headquarters still makes billions because every Jehovahs Witness must donate (pay) for all literature that they obtain. And the Society makes it painfully clear by planting the notion in their mind at the Service meetings that the rule of thumb is to see what a book (or magazine) of similar size goes for at your local bookstore (Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc).

  It costs them pennies to produce this literature and they place (sell) it for dollars!!

  And what happens to the literature that the JW obtain (buy) but aren't able to place (sell)? They take it back to the Kingdom Hall and get their money back, right? Ha, ha, ha, ha, RIGHT!!

  On top of this, every JW pays for his own gasoline and transportation to go out and sell this stuff. Headquarters has no expense!! They don't pay their labor or anything!

  And as for the JW's being volunteers, these people are told time and time again, if they don't go out and sell this stuff, they will be destroyed at Armegeddon! (I believe the word here is coercion).

  Headquarters makes out like a bandit!! (Well, after all, that IS what they are!!)
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  27

  Demons - Possession - Dreams & Witnesses

  by objectivetruth in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would like to get some opinions from you all.. .

  have you known a lot of witnesses that have dealt with demon issues?

  have you personally dealt with problems with demons?

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  apostrate

  Objectivetruth,

  You ask what I attribute that brothers experience to. This may sound weird but, I believe that many JW's want to fit in with the crowd, the group dynamics, and they will attribute to "demons" that which is pretty normal, mundane experiences.

  My friend who is still "in the truth", swears that the house that he was raised in with his sisters and aunt and uncle, was demonized and that he saw demon activity in the house. When I talked to his uncle, who is not in the "truth" and never was, he told me that it was all nonsense, no such things ever happened.

  At one time, when I was a teenager, we began hearing a "hoo-hoo" sound off and on over a period of time. It sounded a lot like an owl, but there were no owls anywhere near where we lived. Of course my mom immediately declared it was a demon. Probably brought in by ME! I had just recently bought a new "WHO" album, Quadrophenia of I remember correctly. (hoo-hoo, The WHO).

  Well, after a few days we found the demon. It was my brothers spider monkey. We never knew a monkey could sound so much like an owl!

  And then there were just dozens, if not hundreds of stories that I heard from the brothers and sisters about the same things we hear so often, you know, trinkets bought at garage sales, second hand stores, etc. You know, "Something weird happened, must've been that knick-knack I bought at Goodwill", etc.

  It just always seemed to me that ALL Witnesses just WANT to have their own DEMON story. They don't feel complete without one!
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  15

  RE-branding, is the WT going to be a completely new religion in a few years?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  thier pushing jw.org and thiers speculation that the name watchtower is going by by.

  also they may even drop the name jehovah referencing the new bible at pages 1735-37 i believe.

  do you think that the names jehovah's witnesses, watchtower, are going away to be replaced by another?

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  apostrate

  If there is anyone in doubt as to the Watchtower morphing into something completely new, then I suggest clicking on the following link which is posted on YouTube, if you haven't already done so.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dqCJ6E78jM

  This is definitely NOT the Watchtower that I grew up in!!
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  27

  Demons - Possession - Dreams & Witnesses

  by objectivetruth in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would like to get some opinions from you all.. .

  have you known a lot of witnesses that have dealt with demon issues?

  have you personally dealt with problems with demons?

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  apostrate

  In my opinion...

  There are many gullible people in the world, JW's as well as non-JW's. When a person becomes a JW they are told all about the reality of demons. Many unexplained incidents in their lives suddenly become explained, ah-hah, it must have been a demon!!

  Even stupid things suddenly become attributed to demons! The "brother" who studied with me told of this incident:

  He told me that he had a personal experience with a demon. I asked him to tell me about it. He told me that he was in a room one night, when all of a sudden the room became cold! He looked towards the window and the curtains suddenly raised themselves up into the air.

  He stopped. I asked him to go on. He said "That's it".

  Okay, I didn't press it any further but I thought maybe the window was open and the wind blew the curtains upwards?

  If that was a TRUE demon story, then all I can say is demons must have a lot of free time on their hands! That was one of the lamest horror stories that I had ever heard. But, I'm telling you, I knew this guy, and he was being dead serious!

  Can you imagine any self-respecting demon going back to HELL and reporting to Satan what he had just done??? That's just the kind of behavior that would get one expelled from HELL!! Then where would they go??

  Anyway, it's just as "objectivetruth" observed, this kind of nonsense is just what the Society fosters in order to keep the dubs clinging closer to them.

  Check out the movie "The Village" from 2004 starrring Sigourney Weaver and Joaquin Phoenix, it's all laid out in there!!
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  37

  How many things did you toss out in the name of Jehoover

  by love2Bworldly in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i had a flash back yesterday.

  my non jw husband and i went to disneyland and bought my young daughter a set of 7 dwarf toys.

  after a few months i felt guilty and threw them away, thinking they were demonized.

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  apostrate

  Ucantnome,

  Thanks for peaking my interest and then leaving me hanging!! You said it's not easily explained but please try!! I'd love to hear the story!!
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  37

  How many things did you toss out in the name of Jehoover

  by love2Bworldly in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i had a flash back yesterday.

  my non jw husband and i went to disneyland and bought my young daughter a set of 7 dwarf toys.

  after a few months i felt guilty and threw them away, thinking they were demonized.

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  apostrate

  Maranatha,

  Perhaps you are new to life outside "The Tower". Welcome! Even if an artist is or might be a satanist, does that mean that you shouldn't listen to any of their music? If you enjoy eating at a particular restaurant and then you find out that the cook is a Southern Baptist, would you quit eating at that restaurant?

  The fact is, I don't believe that the Beatles were indeed Satanists. But, it is true that record company execs and managers were pushing the "satanist" image on their artists as it made for more sales, larger profits. Just ask Keith Richards, he's been very vocal about how the satanist image was forced on the Rolling Stones. (As if they needed a "satanist" image to improve their bad boy image).

  Another fact, John Lennon is the Beatle who wanted Hitler's photo on the cover of Sgt Peppers. He did not decide against it, the record company would not go for it.

  We live in an imperfect world. All music is "tainted". Do you really want to become a Pharisee, nit picking everything to find something pagan or bad about it? Excuse me, you can replace the word Pharisee with Jehovahs Witness.

  If you really feel that The Beatles, or any other artist, is indeed "demonized", and you wish to get rid of their albums, go ahead, get rid of 'em! But do it because of YOUR conscience and not that of somebody else's. And certainly not because The Watchtower tells you to do so!

  In fact, if I were to get rid of something that is "demonized", I would begin with the mountain of Watchtower publications stored out in the garage!!! Nothing wrong with that!
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  31

  How do you feel ethically about the Governing Body?

  by runForever in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if something terrible were to happen to the members of the current gb would you feel bad?.

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  apostrate

  How many tears did the GB shed when Raymond Franz died?