Posts by blondie

33

Merger aftermath

by Rattigan350 in

a couple of months ago, i reported on my congregation being disolved and merged with another.. on sept 1, cong b merged with cong a using the same hall, thereafter using cong a's meeting times.

also nearby cong c moved into the hall using cong b's meeting times and cong c's kh is being put up for sale.. i've since been to both sunday meetings and both midweek meetings.

at all, the parking lot is totally full, cars have to park around the corner and on the street.

Publicly, jws have to find a way to seem to support WTS changes or be viewed suspiciously by the rest of the members. What they think behind the scenes is hard to know. How many of us were thinking differently privately before we finally left.

43

Did Russell come up with the no hell fire and no Trinity doctrine or did steal that belief from another religion as well?

by nowwhat? in

just wondering hate to give the devil his due.

blondie

Good point, cofty.

Evidently the "adulation" of his followers went to his head.

9

Approximately 40 authors wrote the Bible considered as GOd`s inspired word .Jesus never wrote one sentence in the bible.

by smiddy3 in

the bible from genesis to revelation and some apocrypha books are considered "god`s inspired word" written by imperfect men over the centuries.. yet jesus christ who never wrote a single sentence yet claimed to be the son of god and changed the history of the world not by what he said and did ,but by what others claimed he said and did.. moses wrote five books jesus wrote none .. how can jesus be considered greater than moses ?.

did the political powers that be in those days see an advantage of making jesus and christianity an opportunity for power and authority over the population of the time ?.

blondie

@smiddy3

Moses was merely an editor of previous written info (supposedly), most likely stories passed down, not original thoughts and certainly not inspired by god.

Much of what is in the bible is considered credible by circular reasoning.

So can we consider the bible a book that was ghost-written by humans for god?

a person whose job it is to write material for someone else who is the named author.

43

Did Russell come up with the no hell fire and no Trinity doctrine or did steal that belief from another religion as well?

by nowwhat? in

just wondering hate to give the devil his due.

blondie

Russell said he was going out there and gathering the one or two "truths" that some religions had "saved" to be gathered into one place again when Jesus came back to take possession of the kingdom. He said he was only looking for the people who would really be ruling with Christ in heaven.

There was no push to find or convert non-anointed people because soon (1914) god would end wickedness, government infrastructure, commercial infrastructure and religious infrastructure, the big three (trinity?). Then the ordinary people on earth would be ushered into god's kingdom on earth as defined by the WTS.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1989241?q=%22big+business%22+religion&p=par

THE present world system under Satan’s control has three principal elements that are manipulated by “the god of this world.” These are political rulership, big business control and influence, and religion. Over the millenniums of history, these three factors have been the constants of virtually every ruling system. Which of these powerful forces is symbolized by “the mother of the harlots”?—2 Corinthians 4:3, 4, The Jerusalem Bible; Revelation 12:9; 17:5.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101988036?q=%22big+business%22&p=sen

However, Satan’s world does not follow righteous principles. Corruption abounds. It is to be found in religion, in politics—and in big business.

30

wt and money

by zeb in

jw
friends

well she went off to the big convention this morning.

as she left i ventured a bare tiny 'dont give them money' 'they have millions.

' she spun back, (we are on pensions.).

blondie

There is a real culture developing in the US, if the news is not to your liking, just call it "fake news" and move on. The WTS and its members had that developed already and has made it an art form.

24

Jehovah's Witnesses Came to My Neighborhood

by Juan Viejo2 in

for nearly two years i have not seen any jehovah's witnesses going door to door in my neighborhood.

that was not the case when my wife and i first moved here (north central oregon).

in fact, our neighborhood was visited at least once every 4 to 5 months - even in the coldest winter months.

blondie

@sir82,

I love that too, "apathy carts" and the jws faces at those carts proves it.

When I was "regular pioneering" I learned all the tricks of the trade from older jws how to stretch my reporting time. I figured that one morning my time spent was really

1) meeting with the group and waiting 1/2 hour for jws that were perennially late.

2) after the late ones showed, still standing around talking socially for another 1/2 hour before anyone went out to get in the vehicles

3) taking 20 minutes to give out blocks for each pair to call on

4) 10 minutes before knocking on the first door

5) because the territory was made up of people who were never at home I spent 1 hour talking to no one except my partner

6) Everyone decided it was time for a break, went to the local cafe where we met 2 other groups also stopping for "coffee" which was really a big breakfast. 45 minutes later everyone said it was time to go home saying they would be stopping to talk to someone that were on their "magazine route" "to keep their time going."

Everyone else reported the time from the moment they walked out their door to when they walked back into through their door. I was uncomfortable with that but I realized I would never reach the hour quota each month unless I did.

I once told an elder that if jws worked on a commission like most sales people did, were only paid based on the real results they showed (payment: everlasting life on a paradise earth), and had to report real converts each month to get paid, jws might be more productive/effective.

Fake it until you make it (your time) was a phrase I adapted to this situation.

Even the WTS tells its members not to be discouraged if they never make a convert, that the important is to be out there. But now the WTS is giving detailed instructions in the WT study articles on how to be more effective. More jws dying (boomer generation) and few coming in, mostly next generation children, and more of those are leaving as they reach the age of majority. Less numbers = less money coming in; less men to do the admin stuff in the congregation.

18

Anyone have someone move in and take over the congergation?

by rickroll in

i have been in two congregations where someone moved in from the big city and took over with the attitude of the northerners when they go south, i come from where they do it right.

like bulls in china shops they remove people and do the house cleaning like the political org cult it is.

.

blondie

@smiddy3

Good point, I'll edit that saying to "toad" from now on.

Moving into spring now by you? Autumn has finally come to my area, that means winter cannot be far behind.

14

question about KH finance

by peacefulpete in

i've been free of the jws for many years now and have a question about kh finance.. 1. is it true that all khs belong to the wt now?

2. when remodeling is done who pays for it?.

3. how are utilities paid?

blondie

Incognito, I guess it was not clear that I was only talking about laws in the US, that I did not know what congregations in other countries laws were.

I pointed to the IRS tax laws in the US regarding religious non-profits not saying they were valid in other countries.

30

We pray for the governing body

by StephaneLaliberte in

since when has it become cool to pray for the gb?

i noticed that at the begining of my fade back in 2015, it had already been there for a good while and was already getting on my nerves.

i means, i grew up in it, but can't remember much further than the 90s and i don't remember this being always in the payers.

blondie

I noticed when searching the WOL, that the WTS comments do not specifically say to pray for the GB in a public prayer, but rather seems to leave the door open to individual jws to include prayers for the GB in their personal prayers. Thus the GB seems to be implying or opening the door to doing so in public prayers by not specifically mentioning public prayers.

Prayers at conventions/assemblies are not just random thoughts, but the prayer givers are "guided" as to what they should say. That is why public prayers sound like the one praying is saying the prayer for the audience's benefit.

16

retrospect on yesterday's wt "study" 29.

by waton in

go- teach.

par.1 : marching orders given to 500 attendees, none of them anointed, but 11 partakers, jesus taught and served people with an "earthly hope" and the commission to go was not as wt now claims a mandate to the gb members; the os only being supposed supporters.

4) new disciple stops drinking.

blondie

I can't speak to the thinking of the WTS for making this one time application of the 12 tribes being non-anointed people. But note the buzz word "evidently" which the WTS uses to leave an opening for changing this statement later on in their publications. (Matthew 19:28, see also Luke 22:30) If you can figure out this out-of-both-sides of their mouths teaching, let me know.

But I did find this in 2008 (before 2011 quote in my post above)

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2008049#h=16:0-16:693

19:28—What is represented by “the twelve tribes of Israel” that will be judged? They do not represent the 12 tribes of spiritual Israel. (Gal. 6:16; Rev. 7:4-8) The apostles to whom Jesus was speaking were going to be part of spiritual Israel, not judges of its members. Jesus made ‘a covenant with them for a kingdom,’ and they were to be ‘a kingdom and priests to God.’ (Luke 22:28-30; Rev. 5:10) Those of spiritual Israel are to “judge the world.” (1 Cor. 6:2) Hence, “the twelve tribes of Israel,” whom those on the heavenly thrones judge, evidently represent the world of mankind who are outside that royal, priestly class, as pictured by the 12 tribes on Atonement Day.—Lev., chap. 16.

Also in 1987, the WTS gave this very convoluted explanation that probably went over the heads of the jw readers.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/pc/r1/lp-e/1200271355/227/8