His emphasis seems to have changed. Now he's got some small group of followers that he appears to be devoted to shepherding. Earlier he was pretty much just into theology. It's kind of ironic because he's now using electronic media to do his small group shepherding. Therefore, whether intended of not, he's imitating the WTS.
careful
JoinedPosts by careful
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Latest on Greg Stafford
by Nitty-Gritty infor all those who know who greg stafford is/was.
the former "apostate/apologist and author of three dissertations and other books, is on page 2 of the march 2016 meeting work book.
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/jw-meeting-workbook/march-2016-mwb/meeting-schedule-mar7-13/welcome-memorial-guests/.
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The Atlantic Magazine: A Secret Database of Child Abuse
by Pants of Righteousness ini haven't seen reference to this article on the forum, so would like to post a link to an article that was published by the atlantic on 22 march 2019.. .
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/03/the-secret-jehovahs-witness-database-of-child-molesters/584311/.
only factual matter that i could correct is the number of gb members at the time of the australian royal commission - i'm pretty sure it was 7 at that time..
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careful
Thanks for this post, PofR. Care to share the story behind your nic? Sounds like it might be fascinating.
The Atlantic article provides considerable background for some of the things that have been happening on the opposition front recently. That KH break-in in Mass., the theft of the secret documents from it, and their posting on reddit and elsewhere, all help explain things like the GB recently telling the WTS lawyers to go after those posting them, as well as the fatihleaks response:
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6255460664475648/truth-transparency-foundation
There is a lot more to this story, and the Atlantic article writer helps fill in the gaps.
I will always remember something a CO said soon after Ray Franz's first book came out. Speaking of GB 1 then in power, he observed, "They're running scared right now. I've never seen anything like it." Now it's GB 2's turn. And scared they are, afraid that some of the truth about their widespread lying and bungling of "governance" will be exposed to the faithful. If that were to occur on a major scale where the average Witness would have to see it and deal with it, the results would be devastating within the org.
The GB's losing control—their greatest fear!
One other factual matter correction: the old interpretation of the generation not passing away was not "new" after 1975. It had been around long before that.
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Like the Org, a Proestant Store Going Electronic
by careful inlifeway books is closing its brick-and-mortar stores and going exclusively electronic.
it's also cutting back on its publishing in print.. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/march/lifeway-to-close-all-170-christian-stores.html.
this somewhat supports what sbf has been saying as to modern wts history—at least it's a common pattern.
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careful
LifeWay Books is closing its brick-and-mortar stores and going exclusively electronic. It's also cutting back on its publishing in print.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/march/lifeway-to-close-all-170-christian-stores.html
This somewhat supports what SBF has been saying as to modern WTS history—at least it's a common pattern. Bits: "due to declining sales and financial pressures"; "Our ... strategy for the future will be a greater focus on digital channels, which are experiencing strong growth"; "adjusting to this new reality".
One thing they only touch on is the loss of person-to-person contact. I'm reminded of the parallel in Witness preaching: just make an "electronic placement" instead of engaging a householder in a personal discussion. Is much of so-called "Christianity" going down this impersonal path? How unlike the biblical pattern!
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JW Convicted of Killing Mother and Unborn Baby
by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara inhttps://www.pottsmerc.com/news/man-convicted-of-killing-cheltenham-girlfriend-and-unborn-child-judge/article_3ad35162-3fa0-11e9-9998-0be53da6ea6f.html.
peace.
zing..
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careful
Thank you, Simon. Some people here are so determined to blame JWs as a whole for anything that might be even remotely connected to them that they let their hostility interfere with a sense of objectivity. That is sad because it plays into the hands of the org. The org can claim, "See how biased the apostates are!" Valid criticism for poor teachings and behavior is one thing, but just participating in JW-bashing at all costs is not fruitful for helping others see the real problems.
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My mom
by vienne ini'm annie, rachael's daughter.
mom died yesterday.
i can't find a way to delete her account here.
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careful
Annie, I add my sympathies as well. Rachael and I corresponded a few times, both on topics related to her research and her personal life. I do not know the details of her illness, but she seemed to have lived an active, full life. It may be hard now to appreciate this, but in the coming days you will more and more. It's part of those stages of grief. Best wishes in dealing with all this.
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Truth and Transparency Foundation
by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara intruth and transparency foundation receives take down requests from watchtower.
https://truthandtransparency.org/news/2019/1/13/truth-and-transparency-foundation-receives-four-takedown-requests-from-jehovahs-witnesses.
on the afternoon of monday december 31, 2018, the truth and transparency foundation (ttf) was .
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careful
Thx for the informative post.
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Interpretation of Acts 15:28,29
by Christianhonest inwhat does the mandate to "abstain from blood" mean for jehovah's witnesses freed from the control of the governing body?.
it had previously been understood that the best translation of acts 15: 28-30 was "to abstain from blood.
" however, a careful analysis of the passage shows that the best translation of this passage is "to abstain from (shedding) blood," where the word "pour out," which does not appear in ancient manuscripts and other biblical versions, does.it appears there understood in elliptical form.in the same way it happened in the case of colossians 1: 16-20 where the new world translation of the holy scriptures correctly inserted the word "other" several times, understood there in elliptical form, in the phrase of the original greek "all things ", thus obtaining the correct translation" all (other) things ".even though christianity reaffirms itself in translating this passage as saying that "through him all things were created", because he maintains that jesus is god according to his pagan doctrine of the trinity, multiple biblical passages sustainthe biblical truth that jesus is not jehovah god, but his beloved son that god later used as his creative partner.according to this paul said that "though he existed in the form of god, he did not give consideration to a usurpation, namely, that he should be equal to god, no, rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave and he came to be in the likeness of men, more than that, when he was in the manner of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, yes, death on a torture stake, for this same reason, also, god he exalted a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above all else, so that in jesus' name every knee of those [who are] in heaven and those who are [over] the earth and those [who are] under the ground, and openly recognize * every tongue that jesus christ is lord for the glory of god the father.
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careful
Yes, welcome to the forum. There are at least two problems with your take on Acts 15.
1. If your interpretation of "to abstain from (shedding) blood" (my emphasis) has force, then what is the point of the next words about not eating meat from animals that have been strangled? Isn't the blood connection obvious? Indeed, weren't Jews required to shed an animal's blood before eating it? That's hardly abstaining from shedding blood!
2. While your interpretation make be mentally creative, why does it run counter the the understanding that genuine biblical scholarship has had for centuries of this passage? The scholars responsible for connecting not eating strangled meat with the need to drain the blood first, and thus with not eating unbled meat, existed long before the WTS, because it is based on Lev. 17:13.
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Short-sighted WT ?
by Tech49 init has always struck me that wt is so very short-sighted in many things.
often, they are very re-active, and not so much pro-active in their reasoning and the way they plan for the future.. just thinking today, and have kicked this one around for a while now.. is the watchtower organization truly sustainable?
is a new monetary structure on the horizon?
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careful
Where's slimboyfat? He'd love this one!
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Meaning of Luke 9:49,50
by truthlover123 inthese two verses indicate that "others" were preaching in jesus' name and when the apostles reported it to him, he said "let him alone for he who is with us is not against us".... since the wtbts states they are the only way to salvation, what does this scripture mean?
others have the right to salvation as well - straight from jesus' mouth- as long as they preach ( in the verse it says expel demons as well) using jesus name?
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careful
One thought—whether the WTS would ever agree with it or not does not matter.
At Acts 18:24-5 there is a report about Apollos going from Alexandria, Egypt to Ephesus, Asia Minor (= Turkey) where he preached about Jesus on the basis of John the Baptist's testimony. It states that Priscilla and Aquila corrected him a bit (v. 26). Now if Jesus was known down in Egypt through the work of John the Baptist, then surely he was as well in Judea/Palestine also via John's disciples. That John had his own disciples is clear from Luke 7:18-20 and John 4:1. At least one of them became the apostle Andrew (John 1:35-40).
If we go back to Acts again, we see Paul finding a group of 12 disciples of John in Ephesus and rebaptizing them as disciples of Jesus (19:1-17). So John's disciples were in various places. That he was not an unknown figure is also clear from Josephus speaking about him.
Therefore, with all these references to John and his disciples, it seems likely that those mentioned in Luke 9 were disciples of John. Those you ask about were then disciples of John the Baptist who were speaking of Jesus. Since Jesus and John were on the same page, it should be no surprise that Jesus told his disciples to leave them alone. Whether they would ever convert to being one of his disciples, Jesus probably just let occur or not.
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237,000 illegal migrants in the last 5 months... is it time to intervene?
by silentbuddha inis it possible that anyone being truthful with themself can literally believe that there needs to be a cork placed in this problem.. if this continues, and most sources, not speaking about fox, are suggesting this is only going to get worse and at this rate there will be over 750k illegal migrants.
how are we suppose to sustain this influx.
the massive amounts of children flooding the schools in my own municipality is crippling, for many of the counties residents.. as an example the entire county offered free breakfast and lunch to all students.
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careful
blondie,
Well, as I stated, I read it in the print edition of USA Today, but anyone can do a google search for this info. I just did and here are the results:
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/usa-today-us-edition/20190306/textview
Front page; article entitled "'Security and humanitarian crisis' is building, Border Patrol warns".