i have been reading in wikipedia about the jw religion (very informative) and am curiouse about the role the great pyramid plays in the overall beliefs.
the 144000 nuber.
the masonic resemblences.
Welcome, msmuffet!
You can find all of Russell's Studies in the Scriptures series online, along with all his other writings, at www.ctrussell.us.
Here's a direct link to the last chapter of Volume 3, where Russell writes about the pyramid. [no frames]
You'll also find some summaries/comparisons between Russell's teachings and JW teachings here.
okay, growing up a jw in the 70's 80's and early 90's, all we heard about was how the generation of 1914 will not pass away,(much like witnesses in the 60's and early 70's all heard about 1975) (what a great parallel) conventions, watchtower articles, public talks, endless studies and of course every issue of the awake magazine had it on the inside cover, it was everywhere, brothers, sisters and elders were absolutely sure about this, the society constantly mentioned it in our kingdom ministry (service), it was everywhere.
then with the change in november 1995, it just kinda disappeared and became unimportant.. does the society even mention "this generation will not pass away" anymore ?????.
seems to me, that the past 10 years, it has hardly been mentioned anywhere anymore.. what do you think ??
Barry:
I remember reading about the generation after1844 will not pass away I cant give a refference for it but goes to show the witnesses pinched it from the SDAs.
Russell acknowledged that just about all the chronology was taken directly or adapted from Adventist sources.
Zion's Watch Tower, 07/1880, p. 3
The transition from the Jewish age to the Gospel age covered a period of a little more than seventy years, reaching from the birth of Christ to the destruction of Jerusalem. The prominent events of that period were the coming of Christ, and the disposition of the Jewish nation. That period was divided into several smaller ones, by marked events and stages of the gradual change... These facts are interesting to the Bible student as matters of history concerning the Lord's dealings with the Jewish nation, but are intensely interesting when it is remembered that all those facts were arranged as a pattern of things connected with the closing history of the Gospel age. The equality and parallelism of the Jewish and Gospel ages we here take for granted, because they have been so often proved.
The transition period of seventy years mentioned at the beginning of this article, has its parallel in the transition from the Gospel age to the millennium, or between A.D. 1844 and A.D. 1914. The beginning of this transition is marked by the application of the 2300 days or years of `Daniel 8` and `9`, and the end is marked by the end of the Times of the Gentiles....
As the beginning of that change was marked by the coming of Christ from heaven, so the 2300 years above mentioned indicate that Christ was due to leave the most holy place--"heaven itself"--in 1844. Each of these points was marked by a movement of the expectant people in reference to the coming of Christ. As there was a tarrying of thirty years then before the manifestation of His presence, and the real closing work, so in this case His presence and the light on the harvest were not manifested until after thirty years of tarrying.
We speak of His coming or manifestation as Bridegroom and Reaper between the Autumn of 1874 and the Spring of 1878, in the same sense as He was so spoken of during the three years and a half between His baptism and His entry into Jerusalem as King. His coming as Bridegroom was first expected and recognized by the watchers, and His work as Reaper afterward seen. In this case, as in the pattern, His manifestation to the watchers was not a coming from heaven, but a manifestation in his official relationship. In either case there was but one coming from heaven--the most holy--and that coming at the beginning of the tarrying. The tarrying in either case is the period of time after He had come, before entering upon His work.
Zion's Watch Tower, 12/15/1913, p. 375
Our Lord declared, "The wise shall understand"; and He told us to "Watch" that we might know; and it is this chronology which convinces us (who can and do receive it by faith) that the Parable of the Ten Virgins is now in process of fulfilment--that its first cry was heard in 1844 and its second cry, "Behold the Bridegroom"--present-- was in 1874. It is this chronology and none other which awakened us to trim our lamps, in harmony with the Lord's promise through the Apostle, "Ye brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief."
so here i am sunday walking through the mall with my hubby, niece and little girl.
he's from guatemala and i'm about as white as you can get..red hair to boot.
we're talking in spanish about whatever and a little voice comes up from behind me in spanish, "you speak sapnish?
Confession - I just copied your post and saved it for future use - I like that response.
my mum was just telling me today how 'good' my cousin is as she got to the assembly with her four kids, even though one of them is poorly with chicken pox!.
wouldn't you call that just being plain stupid?!.
me, i'm reduced to just smiling politely and remembering when i would have been that stupid!
Is it sanctimoniousness or thoughtless self-absorption???? Even when I was in, my parents would never have done something like that.
just to let you all know why i won't be able to post for some time...i am finally getting in to the hospital for a much-needed operation that kept being postponed.
i have been back and forth to three different hospitals and various doctor's offices for tests, x-rays, consults and then more pre-op tests and x-rays.
(i have never heard of "nuclear testing before now...i wondered if they were going to send me to nasa!
You're in my prayers, Annie. We'll all be waiting to hear back from you right here !
comments you will not hear at the 6-18-06 wt study (april 15, 2006 issue date, pages 27-31)(king).
review comments will be in red.
wt material from today's wt will be in black.
Coming in late, but wanted to comment:
Q11) To which laws do Christ's subjects submit themselves?
11 Just as prospective citizens of a country abide by the laws of their new land, Christ's subjects submit themselves to "the law of the Christ" by harmonizing their lives with all that Jesus taught and commanded. (Galatians 6:2) In particular, they loyally live by "the kingly law" of love. (James 2:8) What do these laws involve? prospective citizens
When does the WTS teach that JWs become full-fledged citizens; the anointed upon death and resurrection to heaven, the rest not until the end of the 1,000 year reign.
Good point. So, in actuality, JWs don't receive "everlasting life on a paradise earth" for obeying the Org. They receive a reprieve during Armaggeddon, but are still on trial for their lives until the final destruction of disobedient ones at the end of the Millenium.
Q12, 13) How do we loyally submit to "the law of the Christ"?
12) ... "If anyone has a cause for complaint against another," Christians loyally apply the law of the Christ by "putting up with one another and forgiving one another freely." Obeying this law helps them to keep overlooking imperfections and to find reasons to love one another...
The wording seems to be geared toward allowing the Society to call any sin it commits nothing more than "a cause for complaint". (i.e., if you complain about it, than it's something you could overlook if you were really forgiving.) Matthew 18:15-17 only applies to the R&F, I suppose. Try and apply it to the Org, and you violate the "principle" of "loyal submission."
comments you will not hear at the 5-21-06 wt study (april 15, 2006 issue date, pages 20-24)(with you).
review comments will be in red.
wt material from today's wt will be in black.
Do JWs preach the "good news of the kingdom"?
Forget preaching the gospel - Are JWs competent preachers? When no "worldly" person can recall even the most basic JW teachings and has no idea what the JWs believe, how can the Org claim they're "rocking the nations" with their teaching?
What about arranging for extra education to advance a career, though doing that would take up considerable time for a number of years, crowding out important aspects of my spiritual life?
'Taking up considerable time for a number of years.' K-12 education takes up more time than most people's college educations. Using this reasoning, are they going to start suggesting JWs take their kids out of school as soon as they learn how to read, so they can save "considerable time" for more "spiritual" pursuits?
i just got this email at my work email address:.
to whom it may concern,.
let us inform you that mns, inc starts a new project in the usa .
One thing you don't want to do is click on any links in any emails you aren't 110% sure about. You don't have to fill in information on a spoof website anymore. Just clicking a link can lead to spyware being downloaded onto your machine. And responding in anyway to an email lets a phisher know the address is legit; it may be targeted later for less obvious scams.
hey all got a text this morning that they had sent me an email opened it straight away, here is there email and my reply.. .
esther,.
we hope this message clarifies some misconceptions you may have.
...they sent my son a package with a card, written in kids writing so i guess they were hoping Blake could read it. The letter made it out to be all my fault, and that i was keeping him away from them where in actual fact they stopped talking to both of us 8 months ago.
Es, my jaw just about hit the floor when I read that. Your response is even more admirable considering their horrifying behavior. It's terrifying that they don't even realize what they've become.
My parents have the same attitude as yours - blaming me for their unloving behavior. They refuse to contact me and put up with my calls and visits the way you would tolerate a stranger off the street.
Good on you, Es!
just ranting .
as it was in the days of noah, so it will be at the coming of the son of man.
37but as the days of noah were, so shall also the coming of the son of man be.
The JWs are a spin-off of a group initiated by a man who was convinced he'd been introduced to "God's dates". Russell believed the Great Pyramid "outlined the plan of redemption" and confirmed the dating system he'd adopted. More than half of Russell's Studies in the Scriptures is taken up by his explanation of his calculations. The need to tell others of these dates and their "meaning" fueled his ministry.
JW's wouldn't exist if it weren't for the passionate pursuit of prophetic fortune-telling. It's part of their basic structure and paradigm. They may never learn better.
Zion's Watch Tower, July 1, 1879:
...The Lord gave us many helps in the study of His word, among whom stood prominently, our dearly beloved and aged brother, George Storrs, who, both by word and pen, gave us much assistance; but we ever sought not to be followers of men, however good or wise, but "Followers of God, as dear children." Thus growing in grace and knowledge for seven years, the year 1876 found us.
Up to this time we persistently ignored time and looked with pity upon Mr. Thurman's and Mr. Wendel's ideas. (The latter was preaching the same time as Bro. Barbour; viz: The burning of the world in 1873.) We regarded those ideas as unworthy of consideration, for though we believed the event "nigh even at the doors," yet we recognized the fact that the church will be withdrawn--translated--before there would be any open manifestation to the world, or, in other words, the two stages of Christ's second advent, viz: coming for his saints, and coming with all his saints.
About this time I received a copy of the "Herald of the Morning," Bro. B. was its publisher; I read with interest how he and others had been looking for (to use his own expression) "a bonfire"; how scriptural arguments pointed to the autumn of 1874 as the time it was due; how that as the disappointment connected therewith began to abate, he and others had re-examined the scriptural proofs that appeared to teach that the end of the world was due at the time supposed; how clear and firm all those proofs still seemed; etc.; how that then, they began to examine what was due to take place at the end, and found that instead of a bonfire, scripture taught that "The harvest is the end of the world" (or age), and that though the age ended, the earth remained and a new age unfolded in which "All the families of the earth shall be blest."
When I read the account I was deeply interested, and as I read on I saw that, if the arguments were true they proved that we had entered and were then in the harvest or end; and if in the harvest, Jesus was due to be here present. This was all reasonable enough for it was much what we had been expecting, and it linked time to our expectation in a harmonious and beautiful manner. My thought now was: Are there sufficient proofs of our being in the time of harvest? If so, this brother and I were in perfect harmony. The paper came in the morning, and I had read it and written to brother B. before noon. I examined more of the time proofs, and though not yet settled with reference to them, made arrangements with brothers B. and Paton to come to Philadelphia, where I was engaged at the time (1876), and hold some meetings, giving evidences, etc., of time, to which I listened with interest, and of the truth of which I felt convinced.
Br. B. and I talked over various methods of promulgating these truths and finally decided to travel and preach them wherever men and women would hear, and to thus spend (D.V.) the remainder of the harvest, which we then supposed was three and a half years, and would close in 1878....
