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.
snapdragon4
JoinedPosts by 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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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.
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JW.ORG ..Search Button?
by ThomasCovenant inwhere is it?
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i can't seem to find the ''search'' facility on the official watchtower webshite.. could someone point it out for me?.
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snapdragon4
Go into Online Library
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ex-jw-uk
by bigmac ini'm quite new to this site, & have realised some members have a union jack symbol under their avatar.
i don't.. could we have a "show of hands" from any uk members?
i've already found several by reading older posts..
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snapdragon4
Hampshire, near the sea, can almost see bigmac on the Isle of Wight
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UK Xmas meal Portsmouth
by cantleave inthe portsmouth / southampton xmas meal has been booked.
1st december at the hungry horse, the farmhouse portsmouth burrfields road, portsmouth po3 5hh (same as last year).
arrive anytime after midday.
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snapdragon4
Great to see you all, nice lunch, mutual support appreciated, keep in touch!
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UK Xmas meal Portsmouth
by cantleave inthe portsmouth / southampton xmas meal has been booked.
1st december at the hungry horse, the farmhouse portsmouth burrfields road, portsmouth po3 5hh (same as last year).
arrive anytime after midday.
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snapdragon4
bump
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26
Which book of the Bible creates the highest number of awakenings?
by NeverKnew inso, it has been agreed that i will be reading the bible with my jw friends.
straight bible no wt.. we tried to start with matthew and move through the new testament.
i insisted on using the esvs i purchased from amazon for $.49 a piece so we could write in them.
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snapdragon4
I'd start with Galatians, just six chapters long, key verse is 2:16 we are justified by faith in Jesus, not by observing the law, and as a result (3;26)we are ALL sons of God, somewhat at odds with JW theology. Also Ephesians - the "other sheep" are clearly Gentiles
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UK Xmas meal Portsmouth
by cantleave inthe portsmouth / southampton xmas meal has been booked.
1st december at the hungry horse, the farmhouse portsmouth burrfields road, portsmouth po3 5hh (same as last year).
arrive anytime after midday.
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snapdragon4
Hi Cantleave Well done for organising this, count me in. Looking forward to meeting other members of your family too. Best wishes Snapdragon4
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WTS publication found by Catholics
by SnowQueen ini was looking to see if i could find the reasoning book online when i came across this highly amusing thread on a catholic forum in 09:.
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=354498.
they're so excited to have found the book - "now we know a lot better about what the jw is going to say to us, and so we can be better prepared to respond!".
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snapdragon4
Hi SnowQueen
The "Reasoning book" is now available on the official jw.org website, go to publications, online library, books - amazing it is there given so much of it has been superceded by "new light".
Best wishes
Snapdragon4
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Has anyone tried tactics from"Captives of a Concept"?
by Coffee House Girl injust read don cameron's book...which was very en-light-ening (sorry for the "new light" pun)....and i agree with many of cameron's points about how to reason with a jw but i am curious..... have any of you out there in jwn land ever tried to have a witness come to your door, pretend to have a bible study & get the jw in a "teacher" setting where they have to research for you the history of jw's in the time of 1919????.
were you successful?
did it not work out?.
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