Posts by Athanasius

183

Article: It's Time to Outlaw Extreme Shunning in Modern Society

by AndersonsInfo in

http://gilmermirror.com/bookmark/23272594/article-extreme%20shunning#.ufwjurllscm.facebook.

extreme shunningthe gilmer mirror.

its time to outlaw extreme shunning in modern society by: richard e. kelly .

Athanasius

Right on Barbara.

Educating the public is the key to ending the Watchtower shunning practices, especially here in the US where the Borg gets most of their donations.

34

Freemason Wilbur Ross... buying back Watchtower assets for the Rothschild family

by Calebs Airplane in

freemason wilbur ross, a well-connected banking tycoon with strong ties to the rothschild family has just bid on some watchtower buildings in brooklyn... is the watchtower returning assets to their mother organization?.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/ross_for_jehovah_witnesses_bldgs_komlwtyitfqj3e0ly5fsmk.

also, please view this fairly recent interview with forbes magazine... seems carefully scripted on both ends.... http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyabenedicto/2011/01/31/wilbur-ross-on-the-economy/.

Athanasius

My grandfather was a Mason and though I never joined, I did attend one of their open house gatherings. However, I didn't notice any conspiritorial activity, just a group of guys having a good time. But I've been told that if you want to get ahead in business, join the Masons.

31

I can't find any bibles...seems to be a shortage...

by Legacy in

howdy,.

i have been trying to get 4 bibles for some folks i know who use to be jw's...not sure if they are returning but i'll do my part...can anyone shed some light or let me know where i can call to get bibles....patterson says there is a shortage, i've asked around to different halls in different states.. could it be because of jw.org ?.

take care,.

Athanasius

Hi Legacy. You might try the Salvation Army, St. Vincent DePaul, and Goodwill Thrift stores, as they always have a few NWTs in their second hand book sections, some in mint condition. Of course you could follow your own advice and call Watchtower headquarters and ask a staff member why they let the English NWT go out of print.

Regarding a revised NWT, I think Slimfatboy is right on. The foreign language NWTs are not translated from the original languages like most foreign language Bibles, but are translated from the English NWT. If the Watchtower is too cheap to employ competent scholars to translate their foreign language NWTs from the original Hebrew and Greek, then they won't go to the expense of revising the non-English NWTs to agree with a revised NWT English version. And since the Borg requires conformity, no revision on the horizon.

Since we're speculating about why the NWT is out of stock, here's another possibility. Freddy Franz completed the NWT in 1960, and with minor revisions, the JW Bible has kept Freddy's peculiar renderings and late 19th Century wording. In fact some of the language and terminology of the NWT was obsolete at the time it was first published. So an NWT in modern English is needed if the JWs want to understand their own Bible.

However, 40 years ago the Watchtower released THE BIBLE IN LIVING ENGLISH, translated by Stephen Byington. The BLE was a much better translation than the NWT, but do to an agreement with Byington's estate, the Watchtower wasn't allowed to edit Byington's work to fit JW beliefs. But what if the Watchtower acquired a manuscript similar to Byington's work that was written in 21st Century English, but with the proviso that the Borg could make adjustments to the translation to fit the JW theological bias? This solves two of the Borg’s problems.

1. All JWs will need to donate to obtain a copy of this new Bible. The cash flow improves.

2. Like other churches, the JWs now have a modern English Bible that they can sort of understand.

26

Manhattan Project Arrives in London

by scotinsw in

last friday and saturday i saw the new manhattan project carts in a few places in london.. one, smack back in the middle of the street outside one of the busy central london train stations is asking for trouble!

situating it in the middle of the pavement!?!

are they crazy?

Athanasius

When I see the JW literature tables set up on shopping malls, I always ask the JW in charge if they have the Book Of Mormon. They always say no. Interestingly they never identify themselves as JWs and that the Book of Mormon is currently not a Watchtower publication.

7

Oh, Kwap! Now they're REALLY getting on my nerves!

by stillin in

once in a great while, i stop by a local repair shop and enjoy a cigar with the owner.

he's a great guy with a lot on his mind and we always have a lot to talk about.

last time i was there i noticed a watchtower on his counter with an actual pen on top of it!

Athanasius

Gestapo is good. We used to refer to the Governing Body as the KGB. "Kingdom Governing Body" if an uberDub asked for clarification.

13

Blast from the Past

by Athanasius in

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last friday i got a message on my classmates account from alice, a jw girl i hadn't seen in over 40 years.

i checked her profile and in her current photo she is wearing a native american necklace and earrings with tribal or religious symbols.

Athanasius

Hi Scully. I liked your final reply to your former JW friend. It was very fitting. I think that the JWs who lead double lives have a more difficult time leaving the cult than those who are more honest about their JW activity.

I don't plan to reply to Alice's last message because this was the message I sent in answer to her question if I was still a JW:

"Hi Alice,

Why do you ask? After all you contacted me. But in answer to your question: I've been inactive since 1984. So I guess the answer would be no.

If you are still a JW, then I understand your concern and have no hard feelings if you choose to discontinue conversation.

Cheers,

Athanasius"

As I mentioned earlier, Alice led a double live when I knew her and it doesn't look like she has changed. My quess is that she will go down with the JW cult, even though by Watchtower rules she won't make it into paradise.

19

Tech49 on DC: Experiences are not truthful

by Tech49 in

jw
friends

i was sent a link to a homemade video from our summer district convention, not the one i attended, but the next weekend.

it was a video of a local brother, relating his "experience" of "trusting in jehovah", and how he was blessed.. it was just about 1 short minute long.

ms harper showed it to me first, she wanted to get my comment on it before she said a word.. background: we both know this brother, he is about our age, so we know the "real" story.. anyways, his story goes like this: this experience goes back about 10 years (jeez, we must be really searching for the experiences now!).

Athanasius

I stopped believing the DC experiences way back in 1968. At the 68 DC they had an older sister from my congo give an experience about her 40 years of active servic. She related how she became a JW in the early 1930s, was active preaching, and how she was blessed, etc. This didn't go over well with the older JWs in our Circuit who knew the sister's real story. Moreover, I conducted the CBS in her home and she had told me a totally different story. The truth is that the sister was contacted by JWs in 1930 or 1931 and took their books. Later she attended a few meetings but didn't do any preaching. None of her children became JWs, in fact her sons served in the military during WWII for which she received a patriotic medal, which she wore proudly during the war. Instead of being a JW, she was really what they used to call "an interested person." She didn't really become an active JW until the mid 1950s. So instead of the 40 faithful years of service that was claimed in the DC experience, it was really less than 15.

Since the sister was honest in relating here life story to individuals in the congo, my guess is that she yielded to pressure from CO to embellish her story. No doubt he appealed to her JW patriotism. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to ask her why the story she told me was so much different from what she related at the DC.

13

Blast from the Past

by Athanasius in

[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser /> </w:worddocument> </xml><![endif].

last friday i got a message on my classmates account from alice, a jw girl i hadn't seen in over 40 years.

i checked her profile and in her current photo she is wearing a native american necklace and earrings with tribal or religious symbols.

Athanasius

Last Friday I got a message on my Classmates account from Alice, a JW girl I hadn't seen in over 40 years. I checked her profile and in her current photo she is wearing a Native American necklace and earrings with tribal or religious symbols. BTW Alice is not Native American. Her biography mentioned her divorce and remarriage, her career, and accomplishments. She also dropped a few names of famous people she knew or worked with. There was no mention of religion or JW activity. In fact her bio read like a successful normal non-JW.

So I replied to her message and asked about her family.

I wasn't surprised when her reply was this question: Before I respond to your inquiries, please tell me if you are still one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Since her biography was not what you would expect from an active JW, I thought that she was sounding me out because if I was, then I might inform on her to the elders. So I replied that I became inactive in 1984, so the answer to her question would be no.

He next reply was surprising. She said: Have a nice life and contact me if and when you return to the Truth.

I knew Alice when we were both teenagers and she lived a double life then, and probably still does according to her biography.

Anybody else have an experience like this?

53

What piece of WT literature is worth holding onto, or have you kept? Why?

by losingit in

i have basically thrown away all of my bound volumes and loose wt and awake magazines.

i kept some bpoks, the insight to the scriptures, god's love, the reasoning book, and daniel's prophecies (this was my favorite) .

i held onto insight to the scriptures after reading some of ray franz's book, crisis of conscience.

Athanasius

Most of my JW books I sold or gave to my ex-wife. But I kept the big 1971 NWT, All Scripture is Inspired book, some Yearbooks, and the Commentary on James book. I also kept Russell's books and Rutherford's rainbow collection.

I had 30 years of bound volumes 1956-1985, which I sold to an MS for $100. Hopefully reading the old literature will wake him up.

25

Can't get any bibles?

by gold_C in

so according to people in every congregation i've mentionned it to, the slave isn't producing any more bibles.

at first i thought that they were going to release an updated translation, like the updated brochures that were given at the latest convention, but that didn't happen, and everyone from the branch claims that there is "a reason for it", yet they're being extremely secretive.. .

can anyone who's got ties to bethel help me out here?

Athanasius

Maybe the GB is in the process of making a deal with a "worldly publisher" to print NWT at a cost cheaper than printing it on Watchtower presses.