I don't think they're happy with it at all. I bet most of the old boys on the GB are scratching their hands, being rather mystified by drying up meeting attendance and zero and negative growth in the Western world. Where's all the 'doves flocking to their dove cotes' and why isn't Jehovah 'speed[ing] it up in its own due time'. It probably explains the weirdness of recent comments to the effect that the Matt 24:14 might be finished already.
I'm sure they'd love to be growing much more quickly. But I think Zico pretty much nailed it when he said they are afraid to change. They've painted themselves into a corner on so many issues that's it's almost impossible to see how they could get out of their stagnancy.
So they're pinning all their hopes on Armageddon coming soon to bail them out of the corner. They are like Alice in Wonderland going down the ever shrinking corridor, and praying there is a door at the end big enough to squeeze through. Unfortunately its more a case that they are up shit creek without a paddle or a life-jacket and the waterfall is looming up large.
yaddayadda
JoinedPosts by yaddayadda
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Is the Watchtower happy being stagnant?
by RULES & REGULATIONS instagnant.
adj.not moving or flowing; motionless.
foul or stale from standing: stagnant ponds.showing little or no sign of activity or advancement; not developing or progressing; inactive: a stagnant economy the sunday talks are copy and paste .the watchtower study is the same.ask the preprinted questions and answer.the ministry school is reading the same parts of the bible.the service program has the same dull presentations.the book study has some books being read 3 - 4 times.. is the watchtower society happy with being stagnant and just going thru the motions?
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yaddayadda
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102
Your Feelings On Getting Reinstated For Family Considerations
by minimus ini just read the mary/gumby where are they thread.
i want to say right from the start that i like gumball very much.
i've talked by phone to him in the past and we've had some discussions here over the years.
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yaddayadda
Maybe Gumby was stuck between a rock and a hard place but in the end has done a self-sacrificing thing by putting his love for his family ahead of his own disgust for what he sees is wrong in the organization.
Relationships with family and friends are more important than some crap spouted over the platform and printed in magazines.
He obviously has his own internal defence mechanisms for filtering out the crap. Some are better than others at minimising cognitive dissonance and Gumby has a strong enough mind to do that it seems.
Good on you Gumby and good luck! -
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WATCHTOWER beginnings: the neurotic/erotic leader: C.T.Russell
by Terry inevery movement in society, politics or religion begins with the personality and drive of one charismatic man (or woman.).
here is a recap of the birth and transformation of the person and personalities creating the religion now known as jehovah's witnesses.. 1.russell's mother was a scottish presbyterian who filled young charles' head with fear of hell.
being intelligent and sensitive, it electrified his very being with an intellectual struggle to grasp why a loving god would kill him!.
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yaddayadda
"Russell entered the "marriage" with a weird and perverse "prenuptial agreement" never to have physical relations with Maria."
Proof please! -
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Russell on prayer to Jesus & WTS charter? refers to worship of Jesus
by yaddayadda inhelp needed.
i believe that in one of the oldest watchtower issues someone asked ct russell whether praying to jesus was allowed and russell published his response to the effect that it was ok and russell said he sometimes prayed to jesus.
i'd just love it if someone could dig up the actual article for me as i want to show it to someone who doesn't believe me.
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yaddayadda
" "proskyneo" is at it's core an act of honor to an authority, or just a gesture of respect. "
That's a contentious statement. Can you back that up with scholarly support? There are various Greek words used by the NT writers to signify mere gestures of respect and acknowledge of superiority, but proskuneo in relation to Jesus connotes something more: reverence and worship of a divine being. In the book of Matthew in particular this comes through. "Gunther Bornkamm, Gerhard Barth, and Heinz Joachim Held concluded from their analysis of scenes where Jesus is the recipient of the gesture in Matthew, 'proskuneo' is used "only in the sense of genuine worship of God". (Hurtado, 2005,p.147)
I'd recommend you read Larry Hurtado's 2005 book "How on Earth did Jesus Become a God?", particularly the chapter "Homage to the Historical Jesus and Early Christian Devotion."
Keep in mind that Hurtado asserts that the earliest Christian devotion was 'binitarian', and even then only the Father is recognised as the one, true God (John 17: 3; 1 Cor 8:6; ). Worship given to Jesus stemmed, not from a belief that Jesus was 'God' per se, but out of acknowledgement for his role as the divine son of God now given all authority in heaven and earth and through whom we can have access to the Father, as the divine agent of the one true God, the Father. His book "At the Origins of Christian Worship" is also instructive in this regard. -
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Anyone else end up on a JC after losing their virginity?
by yaddayadda inyep, i did.
i got 'privately reproved' after rushing to the elders to confess my sin after losing my virginity via fornicating.
i think all that shame and guilt and legalism that flowed on from that experience must've f*cked me up a bit, scuse the pun.
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yaddayadda
Yep, I did. I got 'privately reproved' after rushing to the elders to confess my sin after losing my virginity via fornicating.
I think all that shame and guilt and legalism that flowed on from that experience must've f*cked me up a bit, scuse the pun. About 6 months later I got in trouble with the elders again for more fornication (with a different woman) and that was only my second time bonking! (Why oh why did I rush to the elders each time - how naive I was all those years ago?). Before long I was out of the truth and on a sexual rampage for a few years, indulging in as much fornication as I could.
Damn you WTS. I think I've been warped through the association of my first screws with all the guilt and shame before God and friends/family. -
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Do JWs know who the king of the north is?
by cultswatter ini think they used to believe that germany was the kng of the north.
what is their official take on that.
btw does the rev grand climax book talk about that ?.
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yaddayadda
Nup, they havn't got a clue.
Actually, despite e-watchman's eccentricities, I think he actually has some very valid points on this subject. -
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Russell on prayer to Jesus & WTS charter? refers to worship of Jesus
by yaddayadda inhelp needed.
i believe that in one of the oldest watchtower issues someone asked ct russell whether praying to jesus was allowed and russell published his response to the effect that it was ok and russell said he sometimes prayed to jesus.
i'd just love it if someone could dig up the actual article for me as i want to show it to someone who doesn't believe me.
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yaddayadda
Thank you very much JWfacts. Tremendous.
Just one thing. The article starts of saying: "Initially Russell strongly promoted the Worship of Jesus and prayer to him because he is our God."
On the evidence you've presented, "because he is our God" is not the reason at all for why Russell felt it was ok to worship Jesus.
Russell was a firm non-trinitarian and I'm quite certain you won't find any anything to support your assertion that Russell viewed Jesus as 'God'.
Otherwise, thanks. -
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Russell on prayer to Jesus & WTS charter? refers to worship of Jesus
by yaddayadda inhelp needed.
i believe that in one of the oldest watchtower issues someone asked ct russell whether praying to jesus was allowed and russell published his response to the effect that it was ok and russell said he sometimes prayed to jesus.
i'd just love it if someone could dig up the actual article for me as i want to show it to someone who doesn't believe me.
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yaddayadda
Whatever. Can I just have the quotes please!
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Russell on prayer to Jesus & WTS charter? refers to worship of Jesus
by yaddayadda inhelp needed.
i believe that in one of the oldest watchtower issues someone asked ct russell whether praying to jesus was allowed and russell published his response to the effect that it was ok and russell said he sometimes prayed to jesus.
i'd just love it if someone could dig up the actual article for me as i want to show it to someone who doesn't believe me.
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yaddayadda
Help needed.
I believe that in one of the oldest Watchtower issues someone asked CT Russell whether praying to Jesus was allowed and Russell published his response to the effect that it was ok and Russell said he sometimes prayed to Jesus.
I'd just love it if someone could dig up the actual article for me as I want to show it to someone who doesn't believe me.
Also, can someone please post the statement made by the Society in it's charter/mission statement? produced in the 1950's I think, where reference is made to worship of both Jehovah and Jesus!!
Would really appreciate your help.
Cheers
Yadda -
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My Wife Just Left Me Because of the Evil Watchtower
by rassillon inthis is very difficult to write because i am crying.
i am normally not the kind of person you will ever see cry because things don't affect me that much but this has got to be the hardest things i have ever went through.. i just got through discussing with my wife my feelings.
i guess it has been hard to hid some of the things that i have felt since i have learned that many of the wt teachings are false.
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yaddayadda
Ask yourself this: Would you rather be right than happy? Is getting to the bottom of all this creedal crap really worth your marriage? Don't let the WTS's errors comes between you and your wife.
If you really love her, then perhaps it would be best to just stop talking about all your 'questions'. It is obviously really upsetting her. Someone has to compromise.
Work it out together: Perhaps you can promise not to talk about all your 'doubts' anymore and she can promise not to harass you for not going to meetings and FS anymore. Negotiate together on a way forward.
Just a suggestion. Easier said than done.