does anyone have scans of the annual reports for the last 2 years?
i am going to be in california this weekend.
i will end up seeing my parents, who will tell me how "wonderful the growth is".
2005 USA Statistics (as per the JDub site at: http://watchtower.org/statistics/worldwide_report.htm)
Population: 291,737,129 - JDub's: 1,035,802 - Ratio (1 to): 282 - Baptized: 28,384 - Congregations: 12,261 - Hrs. Preaching: 185,834,994 - Avg Bible Stud's: 508,525 - Memorial Attendance: 2,257,453 - "Annointed": 8,524
i want to take a minute and remember those who died that tragic, surreal day.
god bless.. .
i want to take a minute and remember those who died that tragic, surreal day.
god bless.. .
many time believers differentiate sin as willfull and non willfull.
is there a difference .....not including an honest mistake?
gumby.
The Subject of SIN strikes home with me, because I'm gay. Being born into the cult, I knew of my orientation at around the age of 10. I was a virgin up to the age of 28. My mother died that same year. I had never felt such emptiness, sense of loss and loneliness. Having been failed by the "faith" and the "brother's" cruel, cold, judgmental "love," I was faced with 2 choices: I either came to terms with it or killed myself. I prayed to Jehovah: "You created me like this; all I want is to love and be loved in return; You are the Personification of Love, and love is a clean, pure, bright, positive energy; there is no SIN in it." What a conundrum: God let's us be born in SIN so he can have reason to punish us later on. Were I to believe in SIN then I would have to concur that NOT ALL SIN IS WILLFUL. Otherwise, if I had to entertain the idea that I am living in a state of "WILLFUL SIN," each day would be an agonizing, maddening, draining struggle. For me it is the same as when a man desires woman, as matter of course, without questions asked or any hesitation. If variety can be seen on everything on this Earth, why can't variety in human sexuality also be a possibility? Even the scientist's are saying that due to the planet's overpopulation and no further need to procreate, humans are evolving (or adapting) by becoming homosexual. Also, the "evolution" (adaptation; mutation) is causing more females to be born than males, and as a result, within the next several centuries there will be no more men on Earth.
many time believers differentiate sin as willfull and non willfull.
is there a difference .....not including an honest mistake?
gumby.
Terry, I enjoyed reading most of what you wrote. However, in my most humble opinion, I don't feel that some of it applies to the Subject being discussed. (Perhaps separate discussions can be started on these.) Further, I found your comment: "it makes no difference whether you kill someone deliberately or accidentally because either way he's dead," a little scary. It's sociopath in nature. I've been taught the Creator/s put in us all a "law," namely, the CONSCIENCE. That is why things such as murder, rape, etc., are globally accepted acts of evil. Were it not for law and order the world would be in anarchy and we would simply be acting like wild animals. (Which seems to be the way the world is currently headed.) Getting back to the Subject: Is ALL sin WILLFUL? Only those who are enslaved by the Bible's, the World's or whomever's teaching or view of SIN need actually address such a question. Many us are simply choosing not to believe in SIN. As the singer Jewel says in her song Intuition: "Follow your heart, your intuition. It will lead you in the right direction."
many time believers differentiate sin as willfull and non willfull.
is there a difference .....not including an honest mistake?
gumby.
I really appreciated ALL your Warm Welcomes!!! Thanks, very much.
many time believers differentiate sin as willfull and non willfull.
is there a difference .....not including an honest mistake?
gumby.
SIN... what is that? Who's the Authority on what SIN is and what it is not? Jehovah, the Watchtower Society, the Governing Body? (BTW, aren't they all one and the same? A Triune Anti-Christ of sorts?) Anyway, SIN is a notion conceived by men to have control over others, esp. the weak-minded. The only real SIN is not LIVING! (Better known as being a JW.) You live only once, so get started.
