During meetings a single sister in the congregation joked at a picnic that she kept her cellphone on her lap in vibrate-mode at meetings because she liked the tingling sensation she got when a call came in (LOL).
Derrick
Derrick
JoinedPosts by Derrick
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31
Does Yours Vibrate?
by Englishman ini feel like some fluff tonight.. so, c'mon, tell us all about your.........mobile phone!.
what make is it?.
contract or pay-as-you go?.
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41
Just Saw StarWars Episode II
by Reborn2002 inonly one word is sufficient to describe this film =.
it is not religious persecution for an informed person to expose publicly a certain religion as being false, thus allowing persons to see the difference between false religion and true religion.
wt 11/15/1963 page 688 paragraph 3
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Derrick
Didn't see the date on this thread.
(By the way, speaking of Spider Man, I heard the realistic video game is pretty cool and so I decided to splurge on it.)
Derrick
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41
Just Saw StarWars Episode II
by Reborn2002 inonly one word is sufficient to describe this film =.
it is not religious persecution for an informed person to expose publicly a certain religion as being false, thus allowing persons to see the difference between false religion and true religion.
wt 11/15/1963 page 688 paragraph 3
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Derrick
Awesome is another word. This epoch struggle between the controllers, the controlled and the seductive powers of the Dark Side of the Force will probably remain a classic for generations to come. (Footnote - the GB might consider the ending a real bummer.)
Derrick
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30
Being stalked.....
by target ini need some unbiased advice.it is so hard to know just what to do.
this is the situation.
on father's day my son and his wife and two little boys came over for the morning.
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Derrick
Go to http://www.x10.com/ and check-out their inexpensive home surveillance and security products.
Derrick
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Derrick
Interesting. Seems the secret of the writers in the Writing Dept. is finally out. As a reader of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines for over 25 years, it's been obvious to me that articles and even entire publications are cut-and-paste jobs.
In an ironic sense the Society's writers were amongst the first in major corporations to use "single sourcing" of information. Once they catalogue every sentence in their publications into XML source files on their computer, you're going to start to see entire publications generated from XSL stylesheet processes.
Think about it. The entire Watchtower library could double in size in the next decade from snippets of information in the current Watchtower library. The Society is one step closer to becoming a large scale publishing machine driven by a few techno-savy writers who sit in cubicles assembling articles and books from pieces of existing information in the library.
Derrick
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19
Man's Buttocks Cut Off In Attack!!!
by Mister 8iggs inhttp://cgi.worldnews.com/?action=display&article=14119820&template=worldnews/search.txt&index=recent
man's buttocks cut off in attack .
from correspondents in birmingham, alabama .
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Derrick
Those of you who make light of this terrible crime are sick.
Derrick
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6
You Know: Nineveh the key to this world's destiny!
by Derrick inlet's admit it.
the tireless preaching about the coming of god's peaceful new world order by those like yourself has no doubt changed the way people think about global peace and security in an upbuilding manner.. .
the bible's message has reached into every nation on earth.
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Derrick
Bang: People already came and told others to repent. The dubs came and said how Christendom is all evil and wrong so people say stuff like "No organised religion is ok" - the legacy of the dubs is a distrust of all the other 'Ninevites' that people know.
I agree in part to what you're saying, but want to point out that according to Christ's own words all who choose to follow in Jesus Christ's footsteps, living good lives the best they can, may preach the gospel of salvation in whatever manner they choose. The gospel of salvation is, of course, through Christ's sacrificial death. His death vindicated Jehovah's universal sovereignty over all that exists throughout the fabric of space and time, shined light upon the perfect fairness of God's laws, and atoned for mankind's condition. That condition is a genetic and spiritual disease called "sin" that ultimately ends in death. In order for humans to gain immortality as an integral part of God's universal family, the most holy sacrifice possible was given.
Christ had free will and could have sided with Satan and his armies of rogue angels to attempt to destroy God, and transform the universe into an evil and godless wasteland ruled by gods. In giving "birth" to Christ aeons ago Jehovah knew that his Son would ultimately have to choose between darkness and light, between evil and good. Satan's failure to win Christ over to his side finally occurred when Christ announced the glorious completion of his mission on Earth:
"When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:30)
From that moment onward, Satan and his demons were as prisoners on death row awaiting divine execution. The concept of the Devil ruling over a place of torment that many churches call "Hell" is obviously one of Satan's fondest wet dreams during his final millenniums on Earth, because there was no real place Satan would spend eternity. He would cease to exist upon his death.
Keeping all this in perspective, then, anyone on Earth who has taken it upon themselves to read the Bible and follow Christ and looks forward to everlasting life in the kingdom of God should share this hope with others. If you knew a cure for cancer was coming in 10 years and you were around cancer patients wouldn't you share your knowledge of the coming cure with them? They just might hang on long enough to receive the cure.
Many people in the world believe that life and existence is meaningless, and they have nothing to look forward to in the future. Those who know the true meaning of existence and look forward to endless days of meaningful life should not keep their light under a bushel. Jehovah's Witnesses have seen the light along with other Christians, even if through a veil of twisted reasoning from well-intentioned but confused elderly men who shepherd them. The back of a recent Watchtower even affirmed that salvation is only through Jesus Christ. Like many religious organizations Jehovah's Witnesses have a long road ahead in long overdue reforms.
It is natural in a spiritual war, with evil shrouding the Earth, to distrust the motives of others. Distrust of others is a survival instinct, and those who are wise will require others to earn their trust.
Bang: As for Youknow, the only similarity I noticed is that he'd hate the idea that 'God repented'.
God has felt regrets many times, just as a parent regrets having to punish a child. Yes, I'm sure that You Know would, after the dust settled in the post-Armageddon age, become a recluse in his estate. However, let's remember that he is a casualty of a spiritual warfare mentality that each and every person must deal with in order to survive the onslaught of evil in this world. Unfortunately some like You Know lack balance and become like crazed war veterans that imagine artillery exploding all around them where there is none.
TheOldHippie: I remember a talk delivered by a CO some years ago, where he also reasoned that using Niniveh as an example, God could choose to call Armageddon off. If people repented and it was all called off, the other parts of the Bible (Revelation etc.) would merely be warnings, telling what would have happened, had people not repented.
Thanks for confirming that. Although many Jehovah's Witnesses might come across as harsh in their views of the fate of non-JWs, I think this is a defense mechanism. Many are squeamish about death, and many are literally fearful of being around dead bodies. In war zones where bodies are strewn everywhere, some are so squeamish and afraid of these bodies they go into a stupor and state of shock, and become frozen in fear. This is a natural human reaction. Therefore, if one accepts the possibility that the world at large will not repent -- and by repent I mean turn to righteousness as opposed to becoming baptized JWs which is not an option for many righteous people -- then one must accept the possibility of being surrounded by corpses. Although Jehovah will likely cause these corpses to disappear into non-existence perhaps using the mechanism that caused Christ's body to disappear after his death, many people still tend to fear the worst case scenario (such as having to bury those corpses themselves). To cope with this fear, people will try to harden themselves.
However, I have a strong sense that most JWs (including those on the GB) dearly wish that their preaching work would make a difference in getting people to turn toward God. Jesus asks us to preach because we love our neighbor, and thus we want our neighbor to live even if he/she never becomes one of JWs. We want God to spare everyone, and we preach to people not to save their literal lives but to give them a spiritual hope that will add to the quality of their existence. Afterall, God does want everyone to enjoy life now, as well as in the countless aeons to come.
Derrick
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6
You Know: Nineveh the key to this world's destiny!
by Derrick inlet's admit it.
the tireless preaching about the coming of god's peaceful new world order by those like yourself has no doubt changed the way people think about global peace and security in an upbuilding manner.. .
the bible's message has reached into every nation on earth.
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Derrick
Let's admit it. The tireless preaching about the coming of God's peaceful new world order by those like yourself has no doubt changed the way people think about global peace and security in an upbuilding manner.
The Bible's message has reached into every nation on Earth. People everywhere from the richest to the poorest want global peace forever.
Like Jonah, those like yourself and many others have warned the world of impending destruction by God as prophesied in the Bible. It seems that your efforts, and the efforts of others, might have done too good of a job ... just like the efforts of Jonah did thus.3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city-a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:
"By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.As you surely know these words from the Old Testament's book of Jonah 3:3-10 are there for a reason. They point to a glorious possibility that JEHOVAH may mercifully cancel the worldwide destruction called Armageddon, just as God's prophesy through Jonah was cancelled for the reasons given in verse 10. This would mean that all of mankind, not just JWs, will proceed directly into the millennial reign of Christ over the Earth during which our planet will be fully restored to environmentally pristine conditions that existed in the original Garden of Eden.
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WHO shall survive Armageddon?
by Nathan Natas ini need a little research help - .
i'm having an argument with a dub and a couple of dub sympathizers, and the dub refuses to say that only jws will live through armageddon.
he keeps repeating "only god can read the ehart" as if it was the new dub mantra.. i only have the 1995 cd, and i would really , really like to be able to offer some quotes from more recent wts books and magaziines that state that only dubs will survive armageddon.. if i'm wrong and the message has changed, i'd like to know that too.. if the message has changed, why bother preaching?
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Derrick
I'm having an argument with a Dub and a couple of Dub sympathizers, and the Dub REFUSES to say that only JWs will live through Armageddon. He keeps repeating "only god can read the ehart" as if it was the new Dub mantra.
This mantra is not new at all. Ever since I was baptized in 1974 this mantra has been preached. The basis for this mantra goes something like this:
Even though the Watchtower Society has been "inspired" to teach that only those who embrace "the truth" as it teaches will be "saved alive" (from a scripture in Revelation, don't have a Bible handy) through the Great Tribulation leading to the final conflict called Armageddon. This is a skillet where waffles are made and Watchtower logic starts to gets rather complex.
You see, JWs including myself have understood the Watchtower Society to basically be saying something like, "although Jehovah has inspired us to conclude that only baptized Jehovah's Witnesses will be spared at Armageddon, we acknowledge that it's Jehovah's final decision who gets spared. We can't reach everyone on Earth in our ministry. If we come out of Armageddon to find people were spared who are not Jehovah's Witnesses then praise Jah! He read their hearts and decided to spare them in his abundant mercy and loving kindness!"
Then again, it is also thought by many Jehovah's Witnesses including myself that the Watchtower Society is being somewhat manipulative in implying in various articles that the ONLY survivors are those who are (a) baptized under the auspices of the Watchtower Society; (b) those who are in affiliation with the Watchtower Society when Armageddon breaks out; and (c) those who are <i>in good standing</i> with the Watchtower Society.
Further Watchtower manipulation includes implying that young children of disfellowshipees might get slaughtered by armies of angels during Armageddon. HOWEVER, implications are simply that, and no more. They're basically scare tactics designed to keep the rank and file in line. It's like a company that scares its employees into being productive and behaving themselves onsite with scare tactics they neither intent to, or legally cannot, carry out.
Those who practice these scare tactics just don't seem to "get it" and lack the refinement in conscience to recognize that such manipulation isn't helping matters. People are subtly demoralized by these tactics, and resentful when they find out they were manipulated into doing things they really didn't have to do.
Suppose the Watchtower Society preferred people didn't drink wine, and used legalistic wording in their literature to scare people into thinking drinking wine was a sin? When people recognized that it was alright to drink wine, a conscience matter, the Watchtower could simply point to the clever wording and claim "we never said you couldn't drink wine! We said we preferred you did not drink it out of concern for those who are weak such as recovering alcoholics!" JWs aren't dumb, and deep down recognize they were manipulated into abstaining from wine when it was really their choice all along, and they resent it deep down inside. They might not admit the resentment openly, but it translates to a benign contempt for those who abused their position as teachers.
I only have the 1995 CD, and I would REALLY , REALLY like to be able to offer some quotes from more recent WTS books and magaziines that state that only Dubs will survive Armageddon.
That's a tough one, because the Watchtower's contrived <i>exegesis</i> of teachings on salvation lead to the inescapable conclusion that, if the Watchtower teachings are interpreted correctly, only JWs will survive Armageddon. It's not like you simply state that the Bible teaches only JWs will survive Armageddon. Rather, it's a whole bunch of teachings that lead the "Bible student" down the wrong path towards that conclusion.Recognizing that this conclusion is not necessarily a given, the Watchtower puts what amounts to a divinely inspired disclaimer on their teachings on salvation by waffling that only Jehovah reads hearts. I say "waffling" in this context because God's deciding who is saved ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS is a basic "baby food" tenet of the Bible. This basic tenet is being used by the Watchtower as an "out" in case Jehovah decides to spare everyone (as a worse-case or best-case scenario depending on whether you're of the holier-than-thou camp, or one of those who rejoices in seeing as many as possible gaining salvation).
The bottomline is that the GB really believe Jehovah exists and at some point in time Armageddon will arrive, that's an absolute given with them. What they're not sure is whether their logically flawed set of teachings on salvation, which leads to the inescapable conclusion that only baptized JWs in good standing with themselves, will get decimated after Armageddon. That is to say, their teachings could get pulverized by the existence of millions of people in their territories who were supposed to buy the farm as a recompense for slamming the door in their faces, but are still living. Naturally they will want an "out" with Jehovah in this case, because they are terrified at the possibility of facing the eternal death they implied those NOT in "good standing" with them are to receive.
I recall the scriptures on love, that it does not fear. If you love your dear old dad, you're not afraid that the moment you turn your back on him, he will "mercifully" execute you for not cleaning your room. Neither are true Christians afraid of divine execution by their dear ancient Heavenly Father for the mistakes they made in life, because if they truly love God then that is all that matters the scriptures say.
But those with a morbid fear of God, who bought into the believe that salvation is earned, feel they must CYA ("Cover Your Ass") with God by making sure to add the disclaimer that it's quite possible that "worldly" folks will survive Armageddon because they have good hearts.
Don't underestimate the Watchtower's GB. They are intelligent enough to recognize that someone who would have become one of Jehovah's Witnesses but did not because a pedophile came to their door and molested their child, that one is equally deserving of the eternal life that Christ made possible through his death. That is why, due to their inside recognition that they have lead millions down countless unnecessary side-excursions in their quest for truth, they feel a divine disclaimer is in order.
_____________________________________________________________DISCLAIMER: It's quite possible that all those householders who slam the door in your faces are really trying to protect their children, or have gone on the internet and found out about our religion's checkered history. Jehovah might decide they have good hearts, and would have become baptized Christians if it weren't for all those stumbling blocks we inadvertently placed before them. You might see them after Armageddon. Millions or even billions might survive, and if they do, we're going to be busy trying to save our sorry butts when we're brought before Jehovah. In which case, you're on your own, and read this disclaimer. Don't say we didn't forewarn you that in spite of all your reported hours, Christ may decide to give everyone another chance.
_____________________________________________________________If I'm WRONG and the message has changed, I'd like to know that too.
The message never changes. It just gets "refined" (lol).If the message has changed, why bother preaching? For exercise?
There is where you are asking the wrong question. If one believes the Bible itself offers a wholesome set of values and hope for the future, then why not share it? One should bother preaching, most definitely! It might not be from door to door, but if one sticks to Bible basics and takes the Society's teachings with a grain of salt, then sharing that hope with others could benefit many people.As a teen I was on the verge of suicide due to losses of family members and a feeling of hopelessness. The young lady who came to my door with the book "The Truth That Leads To Eternal Life" and studied with me, ignited a belief in me that there is a loving God, that the universe is inherently good, and that good will always triumph over evil. Without this hope, who knows? I might be sleeping under a beautiful lawn under blue skies on this summer's day. Instead, I'm here to write this post to you and others who may read it. I thank God everyday for being here, and therefore being instrumental in helping to build a web site that many have said helped to save them, like the young lady who came to my door helped to save me.
Derrick
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.-- William Blake (Auguries of Innocence)
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WAR & RUMORS OF (NUCLEAR) WAR
by You Know ina question for all to consider is: if pakistan and india go nuclear, as seems to becoming more likely by the day, how long will civilization be able to stay intact without completely unraveling, and during that interval will ridiculers be able to maintain the delusion that nothing out of the ordinary is happening in the world?
/ you know.
> http://www.msnbc.com/news/753586.asp?pne=msn&cp1=1
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Derrick
You Know,
Please explain to those of us who lack your advanced intelligence why there is a "shadow government" operating in Mount Weather just 40 miles from the Capitol since September 11, 2001?
Derrick
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.-- William Blake (Auguries of Innocence)