I remember in 1976 when I was giving an hour talk in an outside Brooklyn Congregation while at Bethel and I went to the library and used worldly library material to completely rewrite my talk, afterwards I received thundering applause some people told me that was one of the best talks they had ever heard, but a local elder approached me and said he had the talk outline and could not follow along with me at all, I told him I had just rearraged the order of the outline, I was getting ready to leave Bethel and just wanted to get off the hook.
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"Commenting" at Meetings
by cameo-d ini don't quite understand why you call it commenting.. when i attended meeting the question at end were read.. when people "commented" it was never a real comment.. it was just reading back word for word a sentence or two from the paragraph that answered the question.. i would think "commentary" would be something you put in your own words and give a personal statement about it.. .
why do you call it "comments" when it is more like reciting?.
or is it different in other kh?.
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A POLL! How long did your "re-evaluation" take?
by Gayle infrom beginning to end, how long did it take you, when you first started your personal questioning and re-evaluating the watchtower organization and concluding that the wts was definitely not true?
my sister is asking this.
some of us (who left a couple decades ago - pre-internet) are saying it took about 10 years on average.
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It hit me while I was at Bethel, when they started talking about the Great spirtual Bird Catcher, I thought that sounded way to crazy I asked another Bethelite if he wanted to have a session where we examined our beliefs, he did not. I tried to talk to an Elder he was to busy, later he said ah are you still having that problem like it was a silly joke? I decided to leave Bethel and stay in a year or so to see if I could resolve the nagging doubts, I even temporary pioneered hoping I could jump start my beliefs and overcome my growing doubts. I could not. The Elders didn't show up for years and not until I wrote a letter asking to be removed.
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When is the Shakedown?
by cameo-d inso states are going bankrupt.. taxes are breaking the backs of the people.. .
all of these corrupt organizations...religions (501 c 3) and knighted societies (501 c 10) are all tax exempt.. .
why are our oppressors free from financial responsibility when they, themselves, tell us that we must render unto caesar?.
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Another scenario where the few get richer while the majority get fleeced.
What are Knighted Societies? Like the Knights of Columbus? Could a bunch of ex JW's become a tax exempt society? Maybe we could call ourselves 'the Society of Knights against killing trees for badly written religious publications'.
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Prophecy of 1975 Originated in 1956
by cameo-d interrifying - yet good news!.
"and so now god is about to punish!.
yes, the kingdom of god is now near at hand!.
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What are the odds of two religions coming up with 1975 as their end of the world date? I didn't see anywhere in articles about Armstong that they used the chronology the Witnesses used to come up with that date, Armstrong said God used him as God's sole prophet he said God only worked with one spokesperson per generation and he was it, but he beat the Witnesses with throwing out the 1975 date, what are the odds of that happening?
WHATS UP WITH THAT 1975 DATE?
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Prophecy of 1975 Originated in 1956
by cameo-d interrifying - yet good news!.
"and so now god is about to punish!.
yes, the kingdom of god is now near at hand!.
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If you like those end of the world illustrations in Armstong's booklet 1975, which looked like some in Witness Publications, they were done by Basil Wolverton of Mad Magazine, I guess Herbert Armstrong had good taste.
His son Garner Ted who did the radio broadcast eventually got 'disfellowshipped' by his dad for dissenting views and sexual affairs. His evangilistic association and The Intercontinental Church are still around and led by Garner Ted's son Mark Armstrong they play broadcasts of Garnet Ted's old broadcasts.
A few times I snuck and listened to their broadcasts while a JW, fortunately I didn't get struck dead by divine lightening but I did come to realize their were many similarities to the JW's here are some of those:
He said in 56 that in 72 his followers would have to flee to a safe place and by 75 their would be a nuclear war and Christ's presence would follow. He expected to see the end come in his lifetime. Bobby Fischer the chess player made a big contribution to Armstrong from his 'match of the century winnings' thinking the end might still be coming, gee now I don't feel so bad if you could fool Bobby Fischer...
His magazine was 'The Plain Truth'. One of his publications 'Mystery of Ages.' Those names sound farmiliar.
He believed the reason for Christ's presence on earth was to proclaim the literal kingdom of God to be focused on earth.
He did not accept the Trinity.
Proponents believed Herbert Armstrong was inspired by god and had the gift to understand phrophecy.
Members of the church were expected to dress conservatively. Smoking was a sin. Long hair was not allowed for men short hair and makeup was discouraged for women.
He associated corrupt Christianity with Roman Catholicism.
I lifted some of this stuff from Wikepedia.
His church members were expected to tithe three times and were thus kept relatively poor while Herbert had lavish digs, a private jet, a pretty dapper dresser who had nice jewelery. Divorce was a no no until he got divorced. In his hey day he was bigger than Falwell, Baker and Swagert.
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How can an Imperfect God Create Perfect People?
by cameo-d inif god were perfect, would he be all good?
(or is this just our human nature to expect that?).
if he were all good, wouldn't he want the best life for his creatures?
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And what's the point of having a free will if by choosing to exercise it you get destroyed. Couldn't God have created people who would choose not to sin? Isn't there something wrong when two out of two of his creations screw up right out of the gate?
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My Grandmother has died today
by GermanXJW inthis morning, my grandmother died at age 92. she was a jw and i never told her that i quit years ago (but i guess my father told her).
fortunately, i had a chance to see her a last time this tuesday when i tried to see her and learnt she was in hospital.
my father had not told me that she was in hospital.
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I am sorry for your loss. Having had a similar experience with my mother I can only say it is a lesson for everyone to tell others how hard hearted the JW's are.
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How many anointed can there be?
by Lost-In-Translation ini've been getting reports from paround the country that there have been multiple people, mostly young like in their 30s or 40s, who partook of the memorial emblems.
one person said that she saw 5 people in her congregation alone.
in my congregation 2 people partook - both of them in their 40s.
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If your losing your hair and you put hair oil on , can you call it the annointed remmnant.
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WHY can't Jehovah "REINSTATE" Satan?
by african GB Member inand we can get on with our lives!
!......what is he "trying" to prove?
and for god's sakes,(pun intended)how long is this gonna take???.
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If he had forgiven him a long time ago then Jesus wouldn't have had to go through all of that and Satan would have quite screwing with all of us like you said and we could all be living in the New World now, but noooooo who suffers for him not forgiving Satan, US, we have to live in a dangerous world where one mistep and we die at the big A, I mean if you still believe the Party Line.
Besides that if he forgave Satan it would put the Society out of a job.
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A new Cold War looming?
by zagor inwhat are your thoughts?.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7947824.stm.
russia announces rearmament plan s bo s iima president medvedev wants to increase the combat readiness of russian forces e iima s sf russian president dmitry medvedev has said moscow will begin a comprehensive military rearmament from 2011.. mr medvedev said the primary task would be to "increase the combat readiness of [russia's] forces, first of all our strategic nuclear forces".. explaining the move, he cited concerns over nato expansion near russia's borders and regional conflicts.. last year, the kremlin set out plans to increase spending on russia's armed forces over the next two years.
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"President Medvedev's remarks also appear significant for what they say about the diplomatic game between Moscow and the new administration in the United States, says the BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow."
I am afraid the new U.S. Admistration has been pushing Moscow's buttons quite a bit, as the old Bush Admistration was starting to do at the end of their run. The little secret bombing were doing in Pakistan while stepping up troops and expanding the war in Afghansistan has also got to have the Russians nervous. I had hoped this admistration wouldn't be as aggressive and maybe we would have a chance for better relations but so far...not.