Posts by cabasilas

28

The JW's Have Invaded the National Park

by outofservice in

jw
friends

is nothing sacred?

we decided to spend a beautiful summer day at rocky mountain national park.

we drive into the visitor center and what do we see?

cabasilas

The local airport here has a table run by JWs. I talked to them (undercover) and they told me that the pioneers share shifts there. Very few people take literature and even fewer people try to engage them in discussions. It's a great 3 hour shift in an air conditioned building!

57

Are Most Scientists Atheists?

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

james leuba conducted a survey of scientists in 1916. they were asked a whether they believed in a god who actively communicates with humanity, to whom humans can pray and expect an answer.. to believe in this sort of god would mean you were a theist.

if you're a deist, or agnostic, you believe there's a god but he's not necessarily interested in humans and we wouldn't pray to this god.. the results of this survey revealed that roughly 40% of scientists believe in this sort of god, making them theists.

40% didn't, making them either deists/agnostics or atheists.

cabasilas

My biology professor at college spoke often about God. He does not claim to be a Christian, but does believe in God.

3

1939 Consolation (various articles) PDF

by cabasilas in

i know i said the last bunch of consolations would be the last for awhile, but here are a few more.. here are 12 issues of consolation for 1939. as far as i know, only one of these has been scanned and released before.

that was by charles chasson and he has given permission to include that issue in this compliation.

these were scanned a bit differently and the ocring of these issues did not come out well.

cabasilas

I know I said the last bunch of Consolations would be the last for awhile, but here are a few more.

Here are 12 issues of Consolation for 1939. As far as I know, only one of these has been scanned and released before. That was by Charles Chasson and he has given permission to include that issue in this compliation. These were scanned a bit differently and the OCRing of these issues did not come out well. I was going to let that go until as I paged through these issues I saw the name of Olin R. Moyle. I wondered if there were other issues with his name in it. I was able to get the help of a friend in England to use a different OCR program on these (ABBYY) and now these issues are fully searchable.

As it turns out, there are two letters written by Moyle in these issues of Consolation. They are not criticisms of Rutherford (of course, that would have never happened!), but are letters written in support of the Watchtower's theology. Interestingly, one of the letters appears in the July 26, 1939 Consolation. Moyle's resignation letter to Rutherford was dated July 21, 1939, 5 days before!

These issues of Consolation contain the WT's version of what happened at Madison Square Garden in 1939 when a group of protestors tried to shout down the Judge during the public lecture. There's more flag salute cases and an article published written by Fred Franz.

For those interested, the 1939 Consolation file is about 93 MB and can be downloaded at:

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=ddc3c6b1b5ec13d126ee620bd5cdb53b

For those who missed the earlier postings, other years are available too:

1942 Consolations (complete year)

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=967e4deb0512c80f3aba0e524cc13c15

1943 Consolation Jan to June:

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=b98631ffd5ca44131e60d3ce9ec43934

20

Original Carl Oof Johnsson Correspondence with Governing Body

by besty in

there was a thread recently where someone said they were helped a lot by seeing letters to and forth between active jws and the bethel.. with that in mind we've put the correspondence between co johnsson and brooklyn on freeminds as downloadable pdf's.

these are available elsewhere on the internet but this might help newbies to find them a bit more easily.. johnsson letters to bethel and their replies.

also as a reminder mary's project is also available for download - all 154 pages :-) :.

cabasilas

Besty: You have another PM.

6

1943 Consolation Jan to June PDF

by cabasilas in

for those interested: consolation for 1943 from january to june in pdf.

this will be all that will be posted for awhile.. file is like the 1942 consolation, but only half the year.

it's indexed and fully searchable.. there's another article by marley cole.

cabasilas

You're welcome! Fascinating reading in there.

44

1928 The Messenger PDF

by cabasilas in

information on how to download the 1928 messenger in pdf will be given at the bottom of this post.. the messenger was the name given by the watchtower society for an occasional watchtower publication that reviewed conventions for bible students/jehovah's witnesses in the 1920s to 1940s.

there were issues published for (not a complete list) 1928, 1931, 1938 and a couple other years.

(perhaps someone else could give a complete list for us?

cabasilas

Thanks, Leolaia, for the pic. The one secretary is Bonnie Boyd. Who is the other one? Where do you think it was taken? Brooklyn? Beth Sarim?

20

Original Carl Oof Johnsson Correspondence with Governing Body

by besty in

there was a thread recently where someone said they were helped a lot by seeing letters to and forth between active jws and the bethel.. with that in mind we've put the correspondence between co johnsson and brooklyn on freeminds as downloadable pdf's.

these are available elsewhere on the internet but this might help newbies to find them a bit more easily.. johnsson letters to bethel and their replies.

also as a reminder mary's project is also available for download - all 154 pages :-) :.

cabasilas

Thanks, Besty! You have a PM.

6

1943 Consolation Jan to June PDF

by cabasilas in

for those interested: consolation for 1943 from january to june in pdf.

this will be all that will be posted for awhile.. file is like the 1942 consolation, but only half the year.

it's indexed and fully searchable.. there's another article by marley cole.

cabasilas

For those interested: Consolation for 1943 from January to June in PDF. This will be all that will be posted for awhile.

File is like the 1942 Consolation, but only half the year. It's indexed and fully searchable.

There's another article by Marley Cole. Some more articles on the flag salute cases. Searching for "Beth Sarim" failed to bring up a hit, but I found one using "Sarim". I think the problem lay in the fact that "Beth-Sarim" was split between two lines. That Beth Sarim reference refers to an "inspection" of Beth Sarim by Knorr in 1943.

File is 180 MB.

Download from:

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=b98631ffd5ca44131e60d3ce9ec43934

44

1928 The Messenger PDF

by cabasilas in

information on how to download the 1928 messenger in pdf will be given at the bottom of this post.. the messenger was the name given by the watchtower society for an occasional watchtower publication that reviewed conventions for bible students/jehovah's witnesses in the 1920s to 1940s.

there were issues published for (not a complete list) 1928, 1931, 1938 and a couple other years.

(perhaps someone else could give a complete list for us?

cabasilas

Obviously the religion was focused around Judge Rutherford at that time. This is interesting as Rutherford said once at a convention that he was "not the Boss" of the Witnesses.

If Rutherford was not "the Boss" of the JWs, then why did he take over the Editorial Committee of the Watch Tower magazine? After Russell died, there was a 5 man committee that supervised whatever went into the Watchtower. 3 of them had to agree on publication before it would be published. Starting in 1925, Rutherford overruled the Editorial Committee. He wanted to publish the "Birth of a Nation" article and the majority of the editorial committee disagreed. But, Rutherford had it published anyway. Later (about 1938) Rutherford actually referred to this event as the beginning of the end of the Editorial Committee. Oddly, the Watchtower magazine contained the statement about the Committee supervising the content up until 1931 -- for 6 years after it no longer functioned.

What is even more wacky is how the Watchtower Society now presents the history. From the March 1, 1987 Watchtower, pp. 13-14:

How would The Watchtower maintain the purity of its printed message? The magazine’s first editor, C. T. Russell, instituted safeguards to make certain that what was printed in The Watchtower was the truth as then understood. One of those safeguards is identified in his will made on June 27, 1907. (Russell died on October 31, 1916.) His will states:

“I direct that the entire editorial charge of ZION’S WATCH TOWER shall be in the hands of a committee of five brethren, whom I exhort to great carefulness and fidelity to the truth. All articles appearing in the columns of ZION’S WATCH TOWER shall have the unqualified approval of at least three of the committee of five, and I urge that if any matter approved by the three be known or supposed to be contrary to the views of one or both of the other members of the committee, such articles shall be held over for thought, prayer and discussion for three months before being published—that so far as possible the unity of the faith and the bonds of peace may be maintained in the editorial management of the journal.”

17 Each member of the Editorial Committee, according to Russell’s will, had to be “thoroughly loyal to the doctrines of the Scriptures” and had to exhibit, as prominent characteristics, “purity of life, clearness in the truth, zeal for God, love for the brethren and faithfulness to the Redeemer.” Also, Russell stipulated that “it shall not in any manner be indicated by whom the various articles appearing in the journal are written . . . that the truth may be recognized and appreciated for its own worth, and that the Lord may more particularly be recognized as the Head of the church and the Fountain of truth.”

18 To this day the Governing Body follows similar guidelines. Each article in both The Watchtower and Awake! and every page, including the artwork, is scrutinized by selected members of the Governing Body before it is printed. Furthermore, those who assist in writing articles for The Watchtower are Christian elders who appreciate the seriousness of their assignment. (Compare 2 Chronicles 19:7.) They spend many hours in researching the Bible and other reference material to make sure that what is written is the truth and that it faithfully follows the Scriptures. (Ecclesiastes 12:9, 10; 2 Timothy 1:13) It is not unusual for one magazine article—that you may read in 15 minutes—to take from two weeks to over a month to prepare.

19 Therefore, you can read The Watchtower and Awake! with confidence. But you can do more. You can enthusiastically offer these magazines to others so that they also can learn the truth and benefit from hearing the messages of the ‘watchman standing upon the watchtower.’ (Isaiah 21:8) Yes, along with the modern-day watchman, you too can champion Bible truth.

The falsity of this history that they've held to "similar guidelines" of an Editorial Committee until this day is well documented by Tony Wills in A People For His Name. See "Rutherford V The Editorial Committee" at this link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=iTt2EphfPr8C&lpg=PP1&pg=PA119

44

1928 The Messenger PDF

by cabasilas in

information on how to download the 1928 messenger in pdf will be given at the bottom of this post.. the messenger was the name given by the watchtower society for an occasional watchtower publication that reviewed conventions for bible students/jehovah's witnesses in the 1920s to 1940s.

there were issues published for (not a complete list) 1928, 1931, 1938 and a couple other years.

(perhaps someone else could give a complete list for us?

cabasilas

Some great comments by Farkel about an article in the 1928 Messenger:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/178740/1/Found-a-Real-Gem-Here