The talk "Beware of Apostates" commenced at 11.10am and finished at 11.40am on Saturday 31st August. The Scotsman newsflash is timed and dated at 12.24pm on the same day. Coincidence?
snapdragon4
JoinedPosts by snapdragon4
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92
Young man walks out of Glasgow convention and commits suicide
by jambon1 inlast weekend.
so unbelievably sad.
rip.
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Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays
by snapdragon4 inin recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.
as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .
the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.
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snapdragon4
jwfacts: fantastic, but only page 14 appears to be printing, not page 15
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Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays
by snapdragon4 inin recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.
as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .
the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.
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snapdragon4
punkofnice, you have a PM
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79
Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays
by snapdragon4 inin recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.
as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .
the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.
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snapdragon4
cantleave and hotspur, you have PMs
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79
Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays
by snapdragon4 inin recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.
as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .
the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.
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snapdragon4
Steve, great point about the Millions Now Living Will Never Die. The use of the word "will"indicates the message was promoted as a fact, that they are all now dead indicates it was merely an opinion.
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Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays
by snapdragon4 inin recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.
as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .
the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.
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snapdragon4
I didn't say it at the time to Emma because I thought I'd gone far enough, but having established that the claimed facts were actually simply opinions, the next logical step is to ask if it is OK for a Witness to disagree with the opinions expressed in the Watchtower, a tricky question for a thinking JW.
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Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays
by snapdragon4 inin recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.
as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .
the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.
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snapdragon4
Hi Shyla
Generally speaking Witnesses are lovely people who have had the misfortune to be deceived by the WBTS, we should treat them with compassion and try to win hearts.
I truly believe that simply confronting them with the facts in a respectful and kind way will keep the lines of communication open and in time liberate many.
Snapdragon4
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79
Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays
by snapdragon4 inin recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.
as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .
the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.
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snapdragon4
Hi Cofty
This really is going to backfire on them. I've noticed the stand appears to be manned by different witnesses each week. I intend to take every opportunity to reverse witness whilst the opportunity affords.
Snapdragon4
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79
Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays
by snapdragon4 inin recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.
as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .
the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.
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snapdragon4
Had this happened on my doorstep I imagine they would have run a mile. The beauty of this new initiative is that they are a captive audience and other people are watching.
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79
Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays
by snapdragon4 inin recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.
as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .
the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.
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snapdragon4
In recent weeks the JW’s here in the UK have been setting up their new portable Watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a Saturday morning. As they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, I thought that I would pay them a visit instead.
The first thing I needed to do was arrange my literature. I thought the infamous 22 nd May 1969 Awake article on pages 14 and 15 entitled “What Future For the Young” would be ideal. Available on Paul Grundy’s wonderful jwfacts.com website I printed a copy, highlighted the most damning parts and tucked it into my wallet.
The stand was manned by a mother and her teenage daughter. I wandered up and introduced myself, simultaneously reminding myself to treat them with the utmost respect and not to say anything that might cause them to label me as a bitter apostate.
Liz was 52 and her daughter Emma was 14. I asked how they were getting on and explained that my mother was a Witness. Was I one? Well no, I explained that I held Christian beliefs and that in my opinion the essence of Christianity was loving God and loving people, simple as that, and while I thought the Witnesses were wonderful people I felt the religion placed far too much emphasis on prophetic speculation. For example, when I was growing up in the 1960’s the Watchtower assured me the end of the world was going to occur in 1975, clearly that hadn’t happened, so I had concluded that many of the ideas expressed in the Watchtower were not God’s thoughts but simply the imperfect human opinions of the Watchtower writers of the time.
Liz was quick to point out that although many Witnesses did indeed think that Armageddon was imminent in the 1970’s, at no time did the Watchtower itself put anything in print to that effect. Are you sure about that, I pressed her. Definitely, she said.
I then asked 14 year old Emma if she thought the end of the world would come within her lifetime. Absolutely, she replied. Would she care to put a time frame on it. Within 30 years, she declared.
It was with more than a little trepidation that I reached for the Awake article in my wallet. Surely there would be some reaction at the realisation that they were entering a surreal moment when a member of the general public just happened to carry around in his back pocket an article published by their very own publishing company from the year Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, almost half a century previously. But no, the conversation was allowed to continue as if this sort of thing happened all the time!
I explained to Emma that I am now 58 years of age and approaching retirement but that in May 1969 I was exactly the same age as her, 14. What would the future hold for me. This is what the Awake assured me:
“If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things....therefore, as a young person, you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in high school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialised career. But where will this system of things be by that time. It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!”
I think Liz was simply too stunned to come to her daughter’s rescue, even when I followed up reading the whole article by asking Emma three questions- was it a “fact” that I would never grow old, did I never fulfil a career, and did the system end as per the Awake’s prediction.
To cut a long story short, the whole encounter lasted 45 minutes. We touched on various other topics. They were unaware that at one time vaccinations were banned, must get a copy of the relevant magazine for next time.
Finally I told them how much I had enjoyed conversing with them. I encouraged Emma to pursue her education. She liked science and loved animals – perhaps she should become a vet I suggested, even though it takes six years to qualify, had I done so I’d have been qualified for 30 years by now. I popped the Awake magazine cutting in Emma’s ministry bag and suggested she might want to dig out the Awake bound volume in her Kingdom Hall library to authenticate it. I’d discreetly written on the cutting “For more information, see jwfacts.com.” Let’s hope she does.