under the study article " you are my friends " ( indicating jesus naturally by his quote ) the wt society makes it very clear that the only way to be jesus friend is to come through them or else you won't be approved by jesus or god.
translation : friendship with jesus = treating the " faithful slave " kindly = jesus approving you.
our jw relatives will be studying this in december at their meetings.. under the subheading on pg.
Rather , by using our material assets to further kingdom interests.
That implies a little more than a weekly donation to me. I notice too they use ambiguity to try to cover their greed and themselves. The whole FDS as mediator smacks of Spiritism to me too. How do they know they're 'channeling' God? If they make false prophesies in the future maybe they can use the excuse that Satan ''came through'' (He's soooo devious) ...far fetched..? Yes - but the R&F would swallow it.
jwoods is sixty years old this morning.. btw, the actual name is james.
james woods.
my old logon would not work, so i had to make another..
Many Happy Returns James
i've noticed that they have a small selection of articles online.. however the majority of their stuff is only accessible through either the watchtower cdrom or dead trees.. has anyone yet asked them about putting their entire library online?.
if their aim is to "spead the good news", then what possible reason could there be for not making the content publicly accessible?.
since they already have it in electronic form (i believe the content is already in html format on the cd), the cost of doing this would be minimal, and it would probably make their website rank better in google.. of course, the flip-side is that this would allow others to link to their content and discuss it openly and, anonymously, which might expose them to much more criticism than they've ever experienced before.. but i'm wondering what their excuse would be if someone asked them "why not"?.
Here's something odd, I feel I ought share... Last night JWs called (not on me, but rather not say who) and *he* told them *he* doesn't like JWs because of <quote> ''the Org, the way they treat people, the blood thing, the silly dates, the Riley Trust and smoking, the use of the web, and the secret editions of the WT...and if he wanted to sell me stuff I'll have the secret one please'' ...to which the JW told him that he could download the WTs from the web, including the study edition!! First time I've heard this. *He's* asked them to return to 'discuss things', but I suspect they won't. Odd.
i've noticed that they have a small selection of articles online.. however the majority of their stuff is only accessible through either the watchtower cdrom or dead trees.. has anyone yet asked them about putting their entire library online?.
if their aim is to "spead the good news", then what possible reason could there be for not making the content publicly accessible?.
since they already have it in electronic form (i believe the content is already in html format on the cd), the cost of doing this would be minimal, and it would probably make their website rank better in google.. of course, the flip-side is that this would allow others to link to their content and discuss it openly and, anonymously, which might expose them to much more criticism than they've ever experienced before.. but i'm wondering what their excuse would be if someone asked them "why not"?.
What excuse can there possibly be, to not share knowledge, when A) the cost of sharing it is zero, B) you're an organization who's primary goal is supposed to be the spreading of knowledge?
Exactly Jonathan (and welcome )
The Watchtower is very selective in which parts of its own publications it wants made public. Basically, only current publications are 'safe' (if you're not aware of it, Google 'Quotes Watchtower'). Considering the WT is, more or less, God's Word, you would think the WT would distribute it in the most efficient way, reaching as many people Worldwide in the shortest time (as, let's face it, time IS short, we're in the Last Days...again). They could reach almost every inbox around the Globe in superfast time (not to mention other better ways of preaching). No money in it yet. I expect flogging magazines serves several purposes.
so yesterday i get this telephone call from a jw sister.
let's call her sister naive.
i knew sister naive when she was a teenager, knew her ex-husband when he and i were growing up in the congo.
Snakes - I've found that JWs disregard the feelings of 'Worldly' people because as their persecutors they must be insensitive. Is Sister Naive miffed about the Congregation losing a 'marriageable brother' ? - there are never enough to go around anyway, lol. Best wishes and congratulations to you and the future Mrs Snakes.
in today's study watchtower there was, yet again, more demonization of the internet.
although the paragraph purported to be about guarding against pornography, it struck me that they are attempting to kill two birds with one stone here, without mentioning one of the birds by name.
here's a scan, check out paragraph 15:.
It's all about controlling internet usage. Suggesting 'chaperoning' as a safeguard against viewing pornography justifies 'supervising' to the R&F. In reality, though, the WT is saying 'don't trust your partner alone on the internet'. They know that the Internet is a threat to the Org, and they can't forbid JWs to access it, so I think they're using the family unit to restrict what is being accessed (their best option at the moment).
i'll start:.
the borg makes a big deal out of the fact that everyone choses of their own free choice to be baptised, so on that same basis i see no reason why i can't chose to anul it.. i highdose here by anull my baptisium to the borg on the basis that:1) i had been both brain washed and pressured in to doing it 2) i did not understand what i was joining 3) i was a child 4) i never said my baptismal vows anyway 4)had i waited till i was adult i would never have gotten baptised.. therefore my baptisum is invaild ( not worth the paper its written on so to speak) i never was a jw, i'm not now and i don't intend to be ever in the future.. ...there that feels alot better!
would anyone care to join me?.
WT Baptism is merely a contract with the WT Org. Under the (real) Law, contracts with minors are (mostly) illegal, to protect their lack of maturity, and therefore cannot be enforced. Therefore, in my opinion, because WT Baptism is not a binding contract when performed on minors, it is annulled by definition.
i thought i would have a go at writing to a journalist about the jehovah's witness shunning policy.
i sent this to stephen bates, the religious affairs correspondent for the guardian (he wrote the story about the wt and the un back in 2001).. i have no idea if it will result in anything but here it is:.
dear mr bates,.
Well I like it ...there's enough scandal attached to the WT for Stephen Bates to do a weekly article. Fingers crossed for a quick response!
this is the next part of the story, when the judicial hearings begin.
click on the link here to listen...deathorobedience.blogspot.com.
also free on itunes here.
I only managed to listen to first 16 minutes ( sound a tad quiet then PC froze...sheeesh)..
Jehovah's Witnesses are forbidden from entering into these judicial hearings with a legal representative or with an impartial by-stander....etc
Why are they so worried about legal representatives (or some sort of impartial support)? Is it because they're unsure of the legality of these sort of hearings? What's David's day job...lol? It amazes me that people will are so willing to be 'witnesses' to condemn someone in a pretend trial (which it 'sounded' like - did one chap say something about being 'addressed through the chair'...?) - dunno how they could look you in the eye
that micheal jacksons kids are being raise in the wt.
how very,very sad.
i am so upset about that..
Don't feel too discouraged Mouthy. MJ's oldest kids are 12 and 11, and any sudden JW indoctrination would probably fail miserably. They've already gone through the 'informative' years in a different environment (although I do appreciate that being recently bereaved they are vulnerable BUT they do have each other).
