Posts by yaddayadda

40

Glaring contradiction between 1995 new light and Society's authority as FDS

by yaddayadda in

in the 15 october 1995 watchtower the society brought out 'new light' that although christ sat down as king in 1914, but he did not sit down on his 'glorious throne' mentioned at matt 25: 31 in that year.

i cant understand why the society bothered to make this change in 1995?

this change was in some ways more damaging to them than the generation change, because the society essentially sawed off the branch they were sitting on by announcing this 1995 new light.

yaddayadda

Gary, you said: "It says Jesus sort of hired the Watch Tower Corporation as his property managers. "He acknowledged" them as an instrument, and "entrusted them" with management. That actually might be different than appointing them as his channel of communication. What say you?"

Technically you are right Gary, but I'm not sure what your point is. Any 'management' responsibilities Jesus conferred on them in 1918 would revolve around continuing to provide the domestics their 'food at the proper time'. The parable at Matt 24:45-47 doesn't allow for anything else. Do you have some other sort of management in mind?

The Society absolutely claims that in 1919 they were appointed as God's sole channel of communication on earth. There are numerous quotes to show this. Here's just one:

*** w67 10/1 590 Finding Freedom with Jehovah's Visible Organization ***
"19 Evidences are now conclusive that Jesus Christ was enthroned in heaven in 1914 C.E. and that he accompanied Jehovah to his temple in 1918 C.E., when judgment began with the house of God. (1 Pet. 4:17) After cleansing those belonging to this house who were alive on earth, Jehovah poured out his spirit upon them and assigned them the responsibility of serving as his sole visible channel, through whom alone spiritual instruction was to come. Those who recognize Jehovah’s visible theocratic organization, therefore, must recognize and accept this appointment of the “faithful and discreet slave” and be submissive to it."

24

Will the WTS ever show a decrease in publishers?

by cultswatter in

the world wide jw publishers increased by only 1.6% in recent years, so it is only a matter of time until the wts will have to start showing a decrease in publishers.

here are some reasons why.

1. many young jw are 'rebellng' against wts authority and are becoming just like mini satans according to a recent wt article.

yaddayadda

The worldwide publisher report is the raison d'entre for the existence of the Governing Body. Everything they do is subordinated towards the prime objective of keeping the worldwide publisher stats in the black. The GB's corporate mission is singularly to ensure that these figures never go into the red. So don't expect them to go down soon.

Ray Franz, 'In Search of Christian Freedom', page 194:

"Each branch office sends in monthly reports to Brooklyn, dealing principally with this publishing activity ("field service" hours, literature movement, related financial records). These are then compiled into a world report which is studied and analyzed for any signs of weakening. No other spiritual activity or facet of Christian life is the focus of anything approaching comparable scrutiny or is the object of such consistent concern."

25

Sexual Morality In The Old Testament Differs From That In The New Testament

by AlanF in

conservative christians like the jehovah's witnesses often claim that, like the new testament, the old testament forbids all sexual relations outside marriage, including relations between unmarried people.

that is not quite true.

to see that patriarchal and israelite culture adhered to a different standard, we must first understand just how the old testament treats marriage, sexuality and related items.. the old testament view of women as property.

yaddayadda

Hmmm...and your point is?

27

congregation behind in their donation !!!

by buffalosrfree in

recently at a theo night, it was mentioned that the cong was behind in their donation to the society and it was specifically mentioned that the mags and books cost $$4 and the donations weren't even with the amount of mags and books being requested.

does this not show that the society is still after the congregations for the money for "free" mags and books?

what a bunch of hyprocrites.

yaddayadda

If it's true that Australian donations are down about 33% from the previous year then that trend can be expected in other countries too.

The Watchtower's cashflow is drying up.

25

Hard line stance taken-results are in!

by dawg in

i recently wrote a letter to every family member i could find an address to which exposed the wt org as the group of fools they actually are!

interesting thing is that not one letter was sent to my home congregation by anyone and the letter circulated to almost every family member i have; so instead of turning me in as i suspected they would do, they are talking about it openly and distributing it to all family members-even ones i couldn't find an address to.

i'm winning this war!

yaddayadda

"if we all stnad firm now-remain loyal to our own "organization" of apostates"

Congrats but I'll pass on remaining loyal to any 'organisation'. Had enough of that for one lifetime thanks.

9

Are you excited!!

by cultswatter in

there is much blow on the joes coming in the near future.

1. the memorial partakers - up or down?

- will they publish the number?.

yaddayadda

Yeah its kinda interesting times for the Borg. Something is in the air.

Don't forget this year's unusually themed District Conventions coming up shortly.

8

The Secret Message

by Nazarene in

of jesus, the title of a book written by one brian mclaren, inspired me to tread into a possibly divisive issue with all you all geniuses.

in it the author espouses his opinions that jesus' walk had been a mainly poltical example of how to contned with roman domination.

isreal had been occupied for centuries but at least they could still worship yahweh.

yaddayadda

On the contrary. NT scholars are beginning to realise that the hope of excavating some kind of genuinely historical Jesus underneath the so-called layers of redactions and myth is a forlorn hope. This whole paradigm has been hopelessly flawed. The gospels are not an archaeological dig.

It's been tried for about 150 years and all thats emerged are piles of theories and postulations about who Jesus supposedly really was, most of them all contradicting each other and largely the product of scholastic imagination than anything else. Many useful insights have been made but ultimately it's got us nowhere.

The scholarly consensus is towards the painful realisation that the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith can't be separated. There is growing body of compelling evidence that the synoptic gospels are collections of real, eyewitness testimony and that they are a form of ancient biography. They utilised certain literary methods and conventions of the times, but that hardly makes them 'pro-Roman' or simply fictional literature, like a novel. These theories have been discarded.

You either choose to believe what is in the NT or you don't. If you are completely faithless than you must choose the latter and give up the vain hope that the 'real' Jesus will one day be discovered.

40

Glaring contradiction between 1995 new light and Society's authority as FDS

by yaddayadda in

in the 15 october 1995 watchtower the society brought out 'new light' that although christ sat down as king in 1914, but he did not sit down on his 'glorious throne' mentioned at matt 25: 31 in that year.

i cant understand why the society bothered to make this change in 1995?

this change was in some ways more damaging to them than the generation change, because the society essentially sawed off the branch they were sitting on by announcing this 1995 new light.

yaddayadda

Thanks Gary.

Heres a quote from the 1995 article. Notice the absolutely insane logic at the beginning of para 22. The entire article is refuting that Jesus 'sat down on his glorious throne' (verse 31) in 1914 yet in the next breath they say that because he is called 'king' in verse 34 the 'parable logically finds application since Jesus became King in 1914' So what they are saying is that verse 31 (throne) applies to the future yet verse 34 (King) applies to 1914! How utterly foolish can you get. This kind of deliberately false reasoning borders on purposeful lying.

The Watchtower Society shows its true colours here. They show they are quite prepared to twist Jesus words to the most absurd limits rather than admit that the root cause of the problem is that Jesus never became King in 1914. In their foolish attempts to subordinate everything to their 1914 teaching they have made a mockery of Christs words and fools of JW's.

*** w95 10/15 22 How Will You Stand Before the Judgment Seat? ***

21 How, though, will people in those nations fare when the Son of man arrives in his glory? Let us find out from the parable of the sheep and the goats, which begins with the words: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him.”—Matthew 25:31, 32.

22 Does this parable apply when Jesus sat down in kingly power in 1914, as we have long understood? Well, Matthew 25:34 does speak of him as King, so the parable logically finds application since Jesus became King in 1914. But what judging did he do soon thereafter? It was not a judging of “all the nations.” Rather, he turned his attention to those claiming to make up “the house of God.” (1 Peter 4:17) In line with Malachi 3:1-3, Jesus, as Jehovah’s messenger, judicially inspected the anointed Christians remaining on earth. It was also time for judicial sentence on Christendom, who falsely claimed to be “the house of God.” (Revelation 17:1, 2; 18:4-8) Yet nothing indicates that at that time, or for that matter since, Jesus sat to judge people of all the nations finally as sheep or goats.

40

Glaring contradiction between 1995 new light and Society's authority as FDS

by yaddayadda in

in the 15 october 1995 watchtower the society brought out 'new light' that although christ sat down as king in 1914, but he did not sit down on his 'glorious throne' mentioned at matt 25: 31 in that year.

i cant understand why the society bothered to make this change in 1995?

this change was in some ways more damaging to them than the generation change, because the society essentially sawed off the branch they were sitting on by announcing this 1995 new light.

yaddayadda

Here is a quote from a 1989 Watchtower that clearly states Jesus came to do a judgement in 1918. In 1995 the Society revealed 'new light' that the throne in Matthew 25: 31 is a judgment throne (only) but Jesus has not yet sat on it (to separate the sheep from the goats). Yet the Society would have us believe that in 1914 Jesus was 'enthroned' as King and in 1918 judged his earthly spiritual temple in order to refine it (Malachi 3:1)! Judgment starts with the house of God (1 Pet 4:17) and the Society say that very judgment happened in 1918. (It would be interesting to see if there are any post-1995 quotes where they repeat the claim that Jesus judged his people in 1919):

*** w89 4/15 7 The Infamous Harlot-Her Fall ***

9 As we have just noted, Jehovah’s people entered a period of severe testing in 1918. The prophet’s further words at Malachi 3:1-3 explain what was happening: “And suddenly there will come to His temple the true Lord [Jehovah], whom you people are seeking, and the messenger of the [Abrahamic] covenant”—Jesus. Yes, Jehovah came with his Christ for judgment. Jehovah then asks: “Who will be putting up with the day of his coming, and who will be the one standing when he appears? For he will be like the fire of a refiner and like the lye of laundrymen.” According to 1 Peter 4:17, judgment would start with those professing to be of “the house of God.” Thus, true Christians were refined and cleansed for Jehovah’s service.

8

The Secret Message

by Nazarene in

of jesus, the title of a book written by one brian mclaren, inspired me to tread into a possibly divisive issue with all you all geniuses.

in it the author espouses his opinions that jesus' walk had been a mainly poltical example of how to contned with roman domination.

isreal had been occupied for centuries but at least they could still worship yahweh.

yaddayadda

I hate seeing newbies get totally ignored so just saying hello Nazarene. Sorry that I have nothing to say about the subject at hand.