growing up our only "vacations" were the district conventions and circuit assemblies.
depending on what my parents could afford, we would try to do an activity in the assembly city, like an amusment park, or a nice restaurant, or a day at the beach.
even now, as we try to fade, our main vacation revolves around the assembly.
We've got Fairfield, so far are happy with it. We've had it just a little over a year, used one week at one of their resorts, and exchanged another thru RCI.
Just be aware that even after the sale, they continue with high pressure tactics trying to sell you more weeks or points or whatever. If you can tune that out, you should be quite satisfied.
.
what was your reaction when you found the truth was a lie?
at first i felt like everything was confusing and i felt lost but after a week (yep only that) of learning more i felt better and even intelligent.. i had beaten one of the biggest lies alone!
I came to that realization slowly, after years of reading this site and others like it.
I kept wondering why I wasn't really particularly upset about the thought of no paradise, no resurrection, no cute little tiger cubs romping thru the grass.
Then I finally realized that, despite being raised as a JW, I never really, really, deep down, believed any of it.
in the old testament god revealed himself to his chosen people, the israelites as i am:.
ex 3:14-15 - god replied to moses, i am who i am.
this is what you are to say to the israelites: i am .
Apostate Kate,
They have believed this since day 1
I think y'all have a little studying to do.
A good place to start would be "Lost Christianities", by Bart Ehrman.
this occured to me in the car today.. lenin - the true believing idealist who launched the revolution.
the dream was to throw off the shackles of oppression (this system of things) and create a new utopia of a worker's paradise (paradise earth).
ct russel.
Awesome!
Apart from the mismatched timing on the Ray Franz - Leon Trotsky thing (Trotsky was a contemporary of Lenin, while Ray Franz came along long after Russell), that is a spookily accurate parallel.
However, I am not holding my breath for a "Gorby" to rise up. Then again, as a child of the 70's I never would have imagined the USSR crumbling until it actually did, so who knows?
here is your dose of humour for this afternoon:.
a. follow the instructions to find your new name.. .
b. once you have your new name, post it so we can all see it.
That's Mr. Goober Farklepants, if you please!
hey watchtower!
can you feel it?
that cold, hard knot in your stomach?
have been wondering about the 1914 date and if the GB have stopped mentioning it in literature??
You're kidding right?
It is beat into everyone's heads as much as ever, along with 1919, 607 BCE, etc.
They never tire of talking about dates!
hey watchtower!
can you feel it?
that cold, hard knot in your stomach?
I like to think of the WTS as a giant ship, whose propulsion has been cut off. It is still moving forward, due to momentum, but it is slowing perceptibly, and at some point fairly soon, it will completely stop and begin to drift back with the tide.
The propulsion for the org. was always the nearness of Armageddon. Since 1995, with the generation change effectively cuting off any sense of urgency, the org. runs on momentum only. People who were around before then keep doing the same mind-numbing routine, 5 meetings a week, 10 hours of driving around & offering magazines each month, superficial underlining of magazines that passes for "study". Kids of members get baptized, and there is still moderate from-the-field growth among the poor & disenfranchised, but there is no longer any strong drive.
I fully expect the growth, now down to 1.3% per year, to drop to 0 within the next 3-4 years. By 2014, the numbers will be in full retreat.
The GB members still capable of rational thought are quite aware of this, I'm sure, and are quite clueless about how to stop it. So they keep trying the same methods that worked in the past, writing magazine articles and scathing assembly talk outlines. But it doesn't work. The propulsion is gone, and they have nothing to replace it with. Take away the promise of a new world "soon", and you're left with a wearying schedule of tedious busy-work that offers no rewards whatsoever. People, perhaps subconsciously, are beginning to recognize that, and are looking to fill their starving souls with something else.
So what's the solution? Write more articles! See the upcoming WT study articles, commented on other threads already, about the "dangers" of "seeking fulfillment" and "loving your job".
My overriding fear is that all this will lead to even worse depression and harmful actions, perhaps even a spike in suicides. Its one of the reasons I hang on as an elder--I fear the end of the Org. may come sooner than even many on this board expect, and the fallout will be devastating. Maybe I can help people if I'm still on the "inside" and they view me as such.
in the old testament god revealed himself to his chosen people, the israelites as i am:.
ex 3:14-15 - god replied to moses, i am who i am.
this is what you are to say to the israelites: i am .
To me, it all makes a lot more sense if you stop viewing "the Bible" (i.e. in this context the New Testament) as a whole, complete, harmonious work composed by a close-knit group of Jesus' contemporaries, all books being written within a few years of each other. Apparently, most scholars recognize the written works of the NT were begun around the time period of 70-80 CE, a full generation after Jesus' death, and several of the books that made it into the canon were composed as late as the 2nd century (falsely attributed to Paul). I.e., they were written over a long period of time, a century or more, and the "orthodox position" on the question of Jesus' divinity was changing over that time. The writings of a particular time period reflect the contemporary understanding.
If you read the books in the order they were written chronologically, you can see the shift in position of the writers, from "Jesus is the son of God, and inferior to him", to "Jesus is the son of God, but also God simultaneously".
the latest kingdom ministry ( april) has a front page article called "show personal interest - by good eye contact".
here's some gems:.
under "sincerity and conviction".
This is a point that I find increasingly disturbing.
Month after month, the KM has articles like "Show personal interest", "listen to the householder", "ask viewpoint questions", "do nice things for your neighbor", "be honest", etc. etc.
One, why on earth do "the only true Christians" need constant repitition about doing things are just plain nice -- regardless of one's religion? If one is "true Christian", shouldn't he have mastered this stuff already? This is ethics 101, and/or stuff your mom should have taught you.
Two, as Met points out, they don't just leave it at "be a nice person". They always throw in a line or 2 about how our "good conduct" draws people's attention to "the Kingdom message". So, the KM's message is, we should show kindness, not because it is morally right or is in imitation of God or makes the world a better place, but because it might increase our placements.
And people who fall for this stuff wonder why the personal interest, love, kindness, honesty, etc. shrivels away once they join the org.? Now you know - because such actions are primarily encouraged toward those whom the JWs recruit.
i just saw a feb 1, 2006 watchtower.
there were 8,524 memorial partakers.
isn't that a bit high?
Dang!
Perhaps I should start a life insurance company, catering to the anointed. Imagine! There's a group of 8500 100-year-olds who have a less than 1% chance of dying. I'll be raking in premiums & never have to pay anything out!
