Well, that should address your doubts. Specifically, any doubts that the Watchtower is a crock.
Bodhisattva
JoinedPosts by Bodhisattva
-
9
New 'Worship' Book - senseless re-h...
by eyeslice inthere have been a few threads on the missing chapters in the new book, worship the only true god compared with the old united in worship book (first published 1983).
with the missing chapters you can draw your own conclusions as to why they have been omitted at least there isnt any ambiguity.. other chapters of the book are almost identical to the old, with some bits being omitted, other being re-worded and others being copied word for word.
so heres where the problems comes in.
-
-
-
9
this just in
by Incense_and_Peppermints inmore scintillating commentary from the impenetrable, top-secret jw message board:
author
comment
-
-
Bodhisattva
Incense -
You have my written permission to reuse and rebroadcast. Fun topic!
The god of the dolphins has flippers.
-
9
this just in
by Incense_and_Peppermints inmore scintillating commentary from the impenetrable, top-secret jw message board:
author
comment
-
-
Bodhisattva
Oh my mythological entity! It looks like Focus and Kats from Obed's old board. I especially like the topic heading asking 'does Michael Jackson really go witnessing in disguise?' Um, not for many years, methinks.
-
47
Sydlik's Prayer and Sunday's NYC Convention
by Mister Biggs infor saturday's coverage, click here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=31702&site=3.
sunday:.
walk to bus (10 blocks or so).
-
-
Bodhisattva
Everything I write down gets edited to fit in the time allotted!
-
47
Sydlik's Prayer and Sunday's NYC Convention
by Mister Biggs infor saturday's coverage, click here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=31702&site=3.
sunday:.
walk to bus (10 blocks or so).
-
-
Bodhisattva
From a diamond website regarding 'clarity', emphasis and bracketed material added: "Flaws are natural and all diamonds have flaws. The Gemological Institute of America [GIA] also has a grading scale for clarity. The metrics for this scale are Imperfect, Slightly Included, Very Slightly Included, Very Very Slightly Included and Internally Flawless in ascending order of value... The Imperfect rated diamonds have inclusions [flaws] that can be seen with the naked eye." The article goes on to describe how the flaws in other grades can usually be seen only under magnification.
So, when the Organization admits to being "imperfect" -- or, more often, "full of imperfect individuals," usually meaning the audience -- it simply means that it has obvious flaws, is not very clear, and is not worth much. Well, that's what a lot of us have been saying all along.
The god of the dolphins has flippers.
Diamonds of 'Imperfect' clarity have obvious flaws and little value.
-
29
From Intercourse to Paradise...
by NeonMadman in...with stops along the way in bird-in-hand and lancaster.. that's right.
today, i, my wife and my mother-in-law loaded ourselves into the car and drove down to pennsylvania dutch country, where we visited the towns of intercourse, paradise, and the others i mentioned.
we went to the mennonite information center, where we heard a lecture about the israelite tabernacle in the wilderness, enhanced by viewing an actual size model of the tabernacle.
-
-
Bodhisattva
BoozeRunner -
Not sure about Climax or Prokey, the other three do exist, but "Blue Ball" is the name of the town.
When I opened this post, I was thinking (in a Pennsylvania Duthc accent) "Wuz ya on 30?" U.S. Route 30 runs through Intercourse and Paradise, along with Lancaster, on its way west through Amish and Mennonite communities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.
Nikita -
We know quite a few folks in common.
-
24
Volunteer Work is Never Encouraged
by Mary ini always find it so annoying whenever there's a wt study on the good samaritan.
no one at the hall ever suggests that the idea behind it, is that we should be helping our "enemies" in a charitable way, such as feeding them, clothing them, helping them out in a physcial way.....nope they always turn it around to where it only means we should be preaching to our enemies, cause lord only knows, actually helping someone out in a charitable way means less than nothing in the organization.. anyhoo, the last time we had an article on that (couple of years ago), i specifically put up my hand and said "this is not talking about preaching to our enemies.
the samaritan did not preach to the jew nor vise versa.
-
-
Bodhisattva
The response that "[subject to be criticized] is not a panacea" is particularly harmful, and reveals the Witness view that only panaceas -- silver bullet cure-alls that the majority of mankind realize are non-existent -- are worth pursuing. Not only is this apparent in their deus ex machina religious belief system, it is apparent in their fawning over every natural cure to come down the pike, from herbal medicine to homeopathy to chiropractic. If they just recognized that there are degrees of benefit, they would be okay; but for them it is all-or-nothing, panacea or punt.
With this in mind, I want to document some thoughts I had shortly before I left that the Witnesses could, I believe, use to their advantage.
About two years ago I was working with Habitat for Humanity, cleaning out a fire-gutted house. The house was full of trash, and with the charred building materials filled up enough volume in our dumpster to nearly overflow. But at the end of the day, not only had all the trash been removed from the house, but also a large amount of litter in front of other houses on the block. On a late break I walked around the neighborhood; it stood in stark contrast to the block from which we had removed litter, and where we had swept up some dirt, all merely incidental to the project.
I might be ashamed to live in a neighborhood like that; or I might be angry at the litter other people throw in front of my house, week after week, while I work day and night just to remain living there. Either way, what the Habitat folks did would make me smile.
Imagine instead of this rare event, you regularly saw two or four people with orange vests and casual clothes, equipped with trash bags, push brooms, and dustbins. Perhaps you would take it as entitlement. But perhaps you would pay a little more attention to training your children not to litter, and perhaps you would take a little more care yourself in caring for the neighborhood.
On the back of those orange vests might be the words "Jehovahs Witnesses -- Well be back next week to talk about spiritual cleanliness." Where householders had gotten used to seeing the same faces pounding at their door week after week hawking magazines -- many city territories are covered at least once a week -- they might now see wearing a tie the same person they saw in jeans cleaning up their street a week before. Such a strategy would greatly humanize the Witnesses to householders, would stop them from seeming like nosy strangers telling them what to think, would make them seem like good neighbors. And good neighbors, I expect, would place far more magazines.
Of course, Witnesses are not good neighbors; they are nosy strangers who want to tell others how to live. And yes, many a con has started with such apparent neighborliness. And finally, yes, allowing people to actually do something really useful (as opposed to publicity-centered relief efforts) during the time normally dedicated to the moribund ministry would require a softening of doctrine. In this people on both sides of the door would be better off.
Edited by - Bodhisattva on 3 July 2002 13:55:50
Edited by - Bodhisattva on 3 July 2002 13:57:49
-
20
Heat Advisory: Philadelphia Assembly Next Weekend
by Room 215 incalling all dubbies in the middle atlantic states unlucky enough to have been assigned to the annual sauna in philly july 11-13.. as the u.s, northeast bakes in sweltering heat and debilitating humidity, what greater first-hand evidence can you find of bethel's callous indifference to your well-being than their persistence in scheduling these pointless hum-drum events in such a notorious blast-furnace environment as vets stadium, when just across the street, at the spectrum, and in countless other venues, air-conditioned auditoriums are readily available to them?
repeated, public warnings in the media of the health hazard to the very young and elderly posed by such conditions fall on deaf ears in brooklyn.
cancel?
-
-
Bodhisattva
Three days rent at Vet Stadium costs them $16,000. They bring in at least ten times that much.
-
10
why should elders tell?
by teejay injust got back from a long talk with joe.
he's the elder that performed the marriage between my wife and i. a couple of days ago he happened to see her and had her give me the message to give him a call.
i still like/love the man as a man, so talking to him is not a problem.. i suggested we meet in a restaurant around the corner from his house.
-
-
Bodhisattva
Does he keep his own children away from the pedophiles? If so, does he only do so in situations when he is around, or does he instruct his wife to do so, or even tell his children to keep away, thus hinting at something wrong with the person?
If he thus warns his wife and children, he should wran the entire congregation. Or everyone should be an elder.
-
6
Hacker nails pedophiles, Att. Silent Lambs
by belbab inhacker nails pedophiles, att.
silent lambs .
a young hacker monitors hundreds of predators for three years, these targets were ordinary people but some in the files included priests social workers soldiers, police officers and justice officials.
-
-
Bodhisattva
The negative view of the Internet fostered by the Watchtower, along with the practice witnesses get diciphering legalistic statements, may mean that JW's are less likely to fall for cracker exploits (e.g. trojan horses) then the general public. Also, JW pedophiles don't have to seek their victims in cyberspace; they're right there at the Kingdom Hall.
The god of the dolphins has fins.