3/15/2000 watchtower.
"the christian congregation is the means whereby we receive timely spiritual food, encouragement, and guidance.
(matthew 24:45-47; hebrews 10:21-25) for instance, if any are spiritually sick, they can "call the older men [appointed elders] of the congregation.
The only reason JW have to say spritually sick for this scripture is because they do not believe in physical healing and that scripture speaks of healing.
It amazes me how they can twist things if it does not fit with the way they believe instead of changing the way they believe to agree with the Bible.
jesus answered them, i told you, and you do not believe.
the works that i do in my fathers name, they bear witness of me.
but you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep, as i said to you.
Jesus said it all when He said, "I and my Father are One."
okay, i know that in our world technologies come and go, and those who come are knowcked immediately by the next best thing, but check out today's google logo:.
it is in braille letters, and if you click on it you get articles about braille.
i think this company kicks serious ass for being willing to change their site logo to educate people more.. props to google!
There is also something called refreshable Braille. It is a machine that reads what is on the screen and converts it to a Braille machine that raises and lowers dots for a Braille reader to feel. There are many wonderful things for a person who is blind or low vision who are Braille readers. Also, JAWS is a program that reads the screen for those who although Blind have hearing.
when you were a witness did you get depressed around the holidays ?
tell me what your feelings were then and now.
Never depressed as I knew (in the sense I had been bought up a JW and knew no different) I wasn t missing out on anything, and when you rationalize christmas like the dubs do, it makes sense. However upon leaving I found the concept intriguing and thus sought to find the real meaning of this event. What I m talking about here is the giving of gifts and goodwill to all part, and I believe I found something of great merit in christmas. That when you give a gift to a person, you must think of what that person may want or need, and to do this you have to think about that person and their likes and dislikes, thus providing a gift to be pleasing to them. It makes you think of people. And I find thats the meaning of christmas, you make time for those you cherish or are close to you, when otherwise its hard to find the time for such. This is my 5 th christmas this year and I m over all my slight hang ups I had about it. Its a good time to realise that its those that mean the most to you, desreve your thoughts.
GREAT THOUGHT - happy to repeat it...
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!!
when we studied this para in todays watchtower i found it hard to believe that an elder would think this way, what do you think?
16 yes, no matter what dark valley we may find ourselves in, we do not have to walk through it alone.
our shepherd is with us, helping us in ways that we may.
I thought Jehovah only worked through the organization and did not bother with individuals...
At least that's how we believed 40 years ago...
what are some excuses used by jw's to avoid going in field service, that others didn't question or hold against the person?
The only excuse I had was rain. Oh, how I loved to wake up on the weekend and hear it raining.
Back in my time we went out for three hours on Saturday morning, three hours on Sunday morning, one hour on Tuesday night, and two hours on Wednesday night. Sometime we would even go out for a few hours on Saturday afternoon.
i'll start:.
hey brother smith, how about if we go preach the good news tomorrow morning, hey?
pick you up at 9
I would always tell the householder... "If you could show me from the Bible" knowing that as a JW I was the smartest, and had the truth and NO one could show me because I was right.
Then, one day, someone took me up on it and showed me and after much soul searching, I gave my heart and soul to Jesus and became a "Born again" Christian.
164-179 who can stand against the prince of princes?
who can stand against the prince of princes?
and against the prince of princes he will stand up, but it will be without hand that he will be broken.daniel 8:23-25.. 15 you, for your part, keep secret the vision, the angel tells daniel, because it is yet for many days.
Jehovah God, the Prince of princes
I thought Jesus was the Prince of princes?????
anyone know for certain?
was it declared in the watchtower.
have any direct quotes?
We had a dear ol' brother in our congregation who had started new congregations, been faithful for such a long time. He had smoked his entire life. He could not kick the habit when the powers that be said he should and was disfellowshipped. I heard about this long after I left and felt so sorry for this old man. JW's are heartless people.
this will be my first christmas.
i'm not doing anything corny, no tree, no bigass fluoro santa.
just joining my new (husband's) family at their xmas gig - tacky presents for the kids, lots of food, stories by the old folk.
Oh, yes, I love Christmas. And, Mass is beautiful, especially at Christmas and Easter. One year at Christmas we celebrated the Lord's Supper as a family. That was a most moving celebration for me and my family, taking the bread and the wine, remembering Christ who died on the cross for our sins at the time we celebrate His birth.
I have a tree and decorations, but I've been out for about 35 years so have had a long time getting over the guilt of the JW cult.
