it's cruel to withhold a funeral service for someone who has died whether naturally, from death, accident or even suicide. they should be ashamed.
anewperson
JoinedPosts by anewperson
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Update On Elder Suicide
by Nat insome of you may not have heard about my sister-in-laws brother.
he was a elder/37/married/no children and my sister-in-law's twin brother.. he took his life a couple of weeks ago.
no one was sure what was going on or what had happened.
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Part 16: The Radio Interview in Portland
by Amazing inpart 16: the radio interview in portland .
results from my letter to the editor: i felt that since i had written to the watch tower legal dept.
and nothing happened, that likely nothing would happen.
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anewperson
ok
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Part 17: The Watchtower Strikes Back
by Amazing inpart 17: the watchtower strikes back .
spy vs spy in the following part 18 i will tie up the loose ends ... but to give you an advance tip, i had three inside informants keeping tabs on what was going on.
we were becoming more open about our new life, and we knew the elders were likewise watching our every step.
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anewperson
You should now do just what they had said you were doing. Go up and down the west coast encouraging people to form their own local congregations. They don't have to be JWs or exJWs, just people wanting to read the Bible together and help one another, for example, families and a few friends meeting in homes. They can use the one name Christians or if they want a local descriptive name of their own choosing. This is what the Free Christians movement is about. Yes, they SPY and many anecdotes including yours indicate wiretapping.
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WTS the most important unwritten rule. Code Red
by Mr Bean inloyalty above the all.. even some of xjw's are not aware of this!.
below one of my re posts on alt.religion.jehovahs-witn.
the same occurs with any servant who commits adultry.
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anewperson
Yes, they have the sometimes very Christian sounding written stuff but instead go by what the local elders, COs and Mother (Brooklyn) command. Go by their rules or get trained/refined/harassed.
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"Former Jehovah's Elder" Local article
by silentlambs inyou may want to notice the compassion of the new local po.. silentlambs.
2-13-02. former jehovah's elder starts abuse web site.
by bobbie foust .
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anewperson
The Watchtower Society doesnt want it kept in the public eye. Hare Krishna's are even now before bankruptcy judges trying to get reorganized and dodge $400 million in lawsuits over sexual and other abuse of HK kids in India and the U.S. WTS is too stupid to change; too much to hide from the very top down.
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Snow in Bethlehem
by Atreyu infor many years i thought that one wts argument against jesus being born in december was valid:.
"the sheep were out in the fields of bethlem when jesus was born.
there are sometimes snow in this area in december, so the event couldn't have taken place in that season.".
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anewperson
WHY THE TRUE STORY OF SANTA CLAUS IS N-O-T PAGAN though it sounds like a romantic made-up myth and yet is historically documented, here condensed for easy reading from an article by Austin Miles, a highly reputable chaplain, writer and historian in Northern California which was on crosswalk.com on December 20, 2001. Miles was also a writer-researcher and technical consultant for the CBS award-winning rseries Ancient Secrets of The Bible.
To begin, about 200 AD some elders met at a little church in Myra, Turkey was to decide on their next bishop and, being uncertain whom this should be, they began praying, while out at sea a ship's crew battled a storm then in desperation shouted for Nicholas, a known man of God with a long white beard, to pray for them. He did, the storm calmed down, and the ship drifted into Myra's harbor. The church elders had quit their praying, feeling sure God wanted them to appoint the first man named Nicholas entering the church to pray within the hour. When Nicholas entered they gave him a long red robe and cane or miter, and he soon became known as The Bishop of Miracles because of many spectacular answers to his prayers.
Although from a wealthy family Nicholas gave away most of his own money but was also sometimes given donations of gold coins which he wanted to put to the best use. Girls back then who did not have a dowry to get married were sold into slavery which included prostitution. To combat this on December 6th at dark Nicholas wrapped gold coins in some little bags and visited homes with a daughter who had no dowry, dropping a bag through the windows so that it landed on the hearth where the girl's clothing was drying. The next morning each family was delighted that their daughter would not have to become a slave although nobody knew who the mysterious gift-giver had been. One night a bag fell into a stocking that was drying before a fireplace instead of on the hearth, giving rise to the custom came of using stockings to hold some Christmas gifts.
Shortly before Nicholas's death on a December 6th, people learned he was the gift-giver who had brought such great joy to so many families, and om the 9th Century, the Roman Catholic Church declared him a saint, that is Saint Nicholas. His story spread, and French nuns in the 12th Century also started going out at night each year to give fruit and nuts to poor families with children on December 5 the day before Nicholas' day so that it was called St Nicholas Eve. The tradition spread to the Americas where some people still celebrate on December 6th. Luther believed the true Christmas message about Jesus Christ was diminished by the St Nicholas connection, and the Dutch-German Protestant Reform Movement sought to highlight Christ more, using the German word for Christ and child which is Christkindl from which comes Kris Kringle.
The night before Christmas on 1822, Clement Moore, the son of the Episcopal bishop of New York, and himself a theology professor, wrote the poem The Night Before Christmas for his children, which was published 1823 in the Sentinel of Troy, New York. Moore used the name Santa Claus, likely from Dutch Sinter (Saint) and Klass which is short for Nicholas. Dutch knowing little English but aware gold had been found on the fireplace hearth in Nicholas' time started the legend that the original Santa Claus had come down the chimney, landing in the cinders, and called him Cinder Klaussen. Moore's poem popularized Santa famous, he named the reindeer, and made them fly perhaps because poet Washington Irving wrote a book in 1809 about a Dutch Colonist's dream in which St Nick rode above trees in a wagon bearing gifts.
Harper's Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nash depicted Santa as plump, jolly and dressed in the red that robes worn by St Nicholas had actually used. Haddon Sundblom drew the most famous picture of Santa which was for the soft drink company Coca Cola, and the elves came from Ireland's leprechauns....... Perhaps these documented facts will surprise some readers, since from about 1920 to 2001 so much misinformation was left about by some religionists in magazines on the alleged pagan origins of Santa Claus, some even claiming he derived from wizards in the far north of Russia or an ancient god who came down chimneys in the Orient, thus needlessly denying themselves and others much joy since the true story of St Nicholas is wholly Christian - the only main exceptions being the reindeer and elves. So, ho-ho-ho and a merry Christmas to all!
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Snow in Bethlehem
by Atreyu infor many years i thought that one wts argument against jesus being born in december was valid:.
"the sheep were out in the fields of bethlem when jesus was born.
there are sometimes snow in this area in december, so the event couldn't have taken place in that season.".
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anewperson
CHRISTMAS -- THE REAL TRUTH: More recent scholarly studies prove that the Christmas Tree is from the Tree of Eternal Life (Ge 2:9, 3:22) depicted in church plays of the Middle Ages, not Luther or Druid tree-worshippers, although outdated articles for example in World Book Encyclopedia still repeat the legends and Luther may have originated the use of candles attached to Christmas trees.
The giant cedars of Lebanon used to build the temple at Jerusalem themselves had bright green needles with tan-colored cones, and John 10:22-3 says Christ visited the successor temple during the Jewish "Festival of Dedication," namely Channukah, during winter. Also called the Festival of Lights, it had singing, the carrying of tree branches, homes filled with lights and joy. Celebrated 8 days each time, its date varies yearly but the first Channukah was December 25, making it an even more likely source for the December 25 celebration than Rome's Saturnalia which came later in the month. Some believe Christ was actually born about Oct 1, which would mean Mary conceived 9 months previously, that is about or on December 25. Indeed count 9 months backwards from October to see for yourself. As to Santa Claus, no, he did not come from a vaguely known Asian god who descended chimneys to bring gifts or Siberian wizards but instead the Christian Nicholaus in Turkey in the Middle Ages who had white hair, red robes and each Dec 6 night anonymously shoved gift pouches with gold through windows of homes with poor daughters so that they would not be sold into slavery and prostitution because too poor to pay a marriage dowery.
In fact Christ himself was wrongly attacked as a "glutton and drunkard" simply for believing in a good time (Mt 11:19). He once turned water to wine at a wedding party in Cana (Jn 2:1-11), told followers to invite needy persons to parties (Lu 14:13-14), and accepted gifts including expensive nard oil. As with Nicholas later, Revelation 1:14 even describes the resurrected Christ's hair as like "white wool" or "snow," his cloak red or scarlet-colored (red with a bluish tinge--Mt 27:28), and white symbolizes purity. True, all that just coincidentally reminds one of Santa Claus, but do note that the earliest Christians enjoyed balanced merriment at "love feasts" (Jude 12), the angels celebrated Christ's birth (Lu 2), and Job's children had enjoyed birthdays (Job 1:3, 3:1, 3).
Most Christmas trees are topped by a star remindful of the Christ star. According to John Mosley's The Christmas Star (1985) from September 3 BC to June 2 BC Jupiter, known as "the royal planet" passed Regulus "the king star" in the constellation Leo, reversed then passed again, turned and passed a 3rd time. By June 17 Jupiter and Regulus were so close they seemed a single star when seen by the eye. This then is one intriguing possible source for the Christ star in the Bible.
Before Christ's birth unspecified men called "magi" in Biblical Greek came from the East first to Jerusalem (Mt 2:1-2) then went on to find the Christ child in Bethlehem. Some translations render the word magi as astrologers because its root like the word "magician" is linked to the idea of being a person of great might but although magi may refer to people who try to predict the future by observing the stars, using omens and consulting spirit beings as forbidden by God at Deuteronomy 18:10-12, it can also refer to people who worked to predict future weather patterns, good times to plant and harvest, buy and sell crops, etc via careful observation of the clouds, stars and other natural phenomena and with very little to absolutely no special focus on the occult at all. So for solid reasons some Bible translations continue to translate magi as simply "wise men" or "stargazers" and this is also supported by the Bible’s positively saying they brought gifts for Christ then also protected him by leaving without telling his location to King Herod who wickedly desired to slay him. The oldest traditions of oral and written nature have called the wise men "kings," and Mesopotamia (Chaldea/Babylonia) did have sub-kings ruling city-states, often with the best education then possible.
Those who kept their families from celebrating Christmas should not be condemned if they acted out of lack of accurate knowledge in the past but also no one should claim that those who do celebrate the birth of Christ are out of harmony with the Bible even as the preceding information proves. Please read and meditate on what Paul writes at Colossians 2:16.... The writers are part of a nonprofit mostly house-and-computer-based fellowship called Jah Christians, part of the international Free Christians movement which directly emails the Free Christians Newsletter for free to nearly persons in all belief systems: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jahchristian, or contact [email protected] for a free subscription today.
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what does the watchtower teach that is right.
by jerome inso you dont have to say it.
could you please bear with me for a second here.. this organisation cant be all bad even though overall it is.. .
most of you may reluctantly hold the opinion that every thing the watchtower currently teaches isnt all bad so could you please give your honest opinions as to what you think is good about the org.. so what is there that can be said about it and its teachings that is good.. especially about prophecy.
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anewperson
SHOCKING FACTS TO THE CONGREGATION & PUBLIC: the Watchtower Society
(WTS) over Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) cover up child molestation & let
pedophiles go door-to-door http://www.silentlambs.org. They say God
opposes the UN but until exposed in 1991-2001 were a formal UN
associate not just to use the UN's library as proved if you read the
Nov 22, 1998 Awake magazine closely. ( http://www.freeminds.org) 1 Cor 6:1 only says judge "trivial" things as in business, James 2:4-13
calls judging harmful, & Paul says the "majority" (2 Cor 2:6)
followed his advice to shun a wrongdoer, meaning a minority chose not
to & yet he nowhere condemns them, yet the WTS has formal Judicial
Committes destroying families via numerous formal renderings of
disfellowshipment (shunning).Acts 15:20 says abstain from blood but 1 Sam 14:32-5 says Saul's army
ate unBLED meat to not starve & no verses show God not forgiving
them. Christ says God also forgave David's eating temple holy bread &
that God wants Mercy Not Sacrifice. (Mt 12) The May 22, 1994 Awake
tells of 26 JW kids who died without transfusions, & by common sense
in massive bleeding as in car wrecks blood expanders won't save lives
http://www.ajwrb.org. An estimated 3 JWs die daily earthwide from the
WTS's unscriptural policy! (Blood On The Altar by David Reed) Why
must anyone's children, grand-children etc be endangered or destroyed
so easily? JWs can form independent groups free from the WTS but united by LOVE ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jahchristian), join another group or decrease donations & other support. Please make & use copies of this for years ahead. It was written out of love for our JW families & friends & the general public's - yours too! -
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CNN show on pedophile priests
by Mulan inforgive me if someone already posted this.
last night after the larry king show, there was a newsnight program on cnn about the priests who are child molesters and how the catholic church is trying to deal with them.
it was a good listen, and much of it will be familiar because of the jw issues on the same situation.
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anewperson
$1 billion dollars and just starting. If as Bill once said every JW congregation has some problem with pedophilia, the the pay-out will destroy the organization even if it means stripping away the assets of one corporate entity at a time. They feel they must protect their own men like Greenlees no matter what, so the no-matter-what is on its way!
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anewperson
The link to the website is http://www.brci.org