can anyone recommend which steve hassan book to read, i see there are 3.. my mind is all over the place during this process of finally acknowledging and researching my doubts, ive been recommended his books on here, but which one is best?.
The third is like a merger of the first two. For the sake of saving money, it could be read online instead of the other two, but I much prefer the first two.
I felt that COMBATTING was better for my personal freedom of mind and that RELEASING was better for helping someone else.
bullet point #13 is what they want to focus on .
7. construction servant ............................................................................................................................ par.
11. kingdom hall maintenance ............................................................................................................... par.
i don't believe for a second that the wts can be god's chosen organization, if he does have an earthly one, especially one with such a hypocritical past.
but the question begs; why are there people professing having the heavenly calling usually found in the wts?.
does anyone know or have heard of other denominations having the genuine heavenly calling?.
Most "anointed" Christians (or those with the calling) are simply overzealous and dealing with some kind of cognitive dissonance. It may seem "crazy" to many of us, but they seem to be fully functional people. But there are some crazy ones mixed in, too.
Top Ten Signs That Your Christianity is Conflicting With Your Sanity1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.
if we are in the congregation, do you think our comments or questions actually reach elders or others in the congregation?
do our comments on this board affect witnesses to the point of questioning their faith?
I had wanted to start a thread like this one, but found that Min's thread was current. You all know how my greatest quality is humility, but I have to toot my own horn to make this point.
I mostly post on this forum for self-therapy. (Apparently, I still need quite a bit.) Recently, another fader said this to me in a text:
"Just wanted to remind you to keep it up! You're more help to more people than you realize."
That fader couldn't really know how "more people" are helped, but it indicated that I've helped make a difference in one person's life.
I wrote a book for my own therapy, and it greatly helped me. I self-published it on Amazon secretly (http://www.amazon.com/Fade-Truth-Learning-Unlearning-Witnesses/dp/147523001X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432912259&sr=1-1&keywords=Fade+from+the+truth ) because my JW wife was too highly upset by the idea of me actually putting such a book on the shelf in Barnes and Noble. The reason I put it on Amazon was to help even one person. I set the price as low as could be because it wasn't about money. I think I made $400 in the years it's been available.
Anyway, I have met more than one person who thanked me and said it made a difference to them.
If not for these people, I wouldn't have thought I was making a difference.
so, i was thinking - who of the above still has the most influence on current wts doctrine and dogma?.
rutherford obviously created the smokescreen around 1914/607 but overall his work has been superseded i would suggest.. knorr created the various schools and they or their offspring still live on.
wasn't it during his tenure that all the blood doctrine, types/anti types (now chucked away of course), transplants etc came along?
Rutherford turned Watchtower from a fringe belief to a serious business and used Fred Franz' strange writings, then Knorr fine-tuned the idea of "publishers" and was all about efficiency while he was using Fred Franz' strange writings. Fred Franz is virtually single-handedly responsible for keeping the "generation of 1914" alive for so long and including 1975 and "the 20th-Century." While there's nothing spectacular about Fred's presidency itself, it seems he was rewarded for his long years as the oracle with that title, and others saw the need to make a "Governing Body" and take away the all-encompassing power of the single leader. Also, Fred being there, further reward for his long years got Ray Franz onto the GB.
Ray is responsible for revealing more things about the GB than anyone else, responsible for more people waking up, and his situation is more of a reason why GB 1.0 turned further toward harshness and shunning.
Such a combination gets us to today's GB 2.0. So it's gotta be Fred who is most responsible for "process" now. And while his take on doctrines is pretty much dead now, GB 2.0 is having to deal with long-held Freddy writings in morphing WTS into something else. So Fred is still most responsible for doctrine.
threads on the newer jw face of public "witnessing" have shared in common the astonishment that jws safely park themselves behind their literature trolleys and exercise incredibly little contact with passersby.
whether the poster is talking about europe or the united states or australia, descriptions here are the same.. literature stands are protective sheilds behind which jws huddle, talking to each other, sipping on their espressos, whilst the disinterested world passes by.
neither the jws nor the passersby catch each others eyes.
Cell phone providers set up tents. Even though they have a free product that people want, they have learned that the prominent word needs to be "FREE."
I tell you what, though. I am glad it wasn't so easy when I left. I doubt it, but I might have stayed.
watchtower september 2015 study edition, "stand firm in the faith," paragraphs 16 and 17:.
following jesus example, we must read the bible daily, study it, and meditate on what we learn.
along with general bible study, dig into topics about which you may have questions.. you can imitate jesus by meditating on the wonderful promises jehovah has made to you.
do you think any of the members of the governing body have at one time in their lives committed an immoral sex act but never confessed?
remember leo greenlees.
fornication, adultery or something else?
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I have no doubt that someone on the Governing Body has committed the deed and not 'fessed up. He may not have been on the GB yet, but someone has done it.
Hoser on page 1: They could confess to the other members of the gb and keep their position too. They have evidence of jehovahs backing
Exactly true. They would not want to let the members know about any problems in the ivory tower and would sweep it under the rug.
my local cong just donated all money (4k +) on deposit with you know who to, you know who.
"since the society forgave all kingdom hall loans the boe felt it only appropriate to forgive the society of our loan to them.
" is exactly how it was presented to the r&f.
Yes, let the elders pay it if they want to. Seems a little overreaching for a congregation that typically doesn't raise so much because it isn't needed. They take the 4k and then will get mad when each 500 is a little short.
The worst that can happen is that they dissolve the congregation and remove the elders. If I were still in, I would have loved to have been removed. Driving to the next Kingdom Hall isn't going to help donations. They have only the power given to them.
Edited to add:
I always thought the "Funds on loan to Watchtower" was a bad idea.
ok every one raves on at how miserable and tight wt is, while they are literally swimming in money and assets.
although this may be true this isn't the real issue or the problem to begin with.
the problem is having a long term survivable business plan.
The problem is having a long term survivable business plan. This perfectly explains their behaviour and this is where all the cash is been put to ensure long term solvency. What other business wouldn't do the same thing. So think before you open your mouth.
Whose problem? Watchtower's problem. Then they should be honest and say why they need the money. "We've added some of our financial strategy cost projections to what we say it costs us to run this assembly hall that we own and pay no tax on, so if 40 or 50 dollars a head sounds high, that is why. We have pedophile lawsuits to pay for. We've taken all the cash from all the congregations because it takes money to make money and we want to make more because we anticipate donations will be down."
My problem is this multi-million dollar printing corporation representing God for my loved ones. And now that print is nearly dead, they won't just go away, but come up with more ways to manipulate people.
I am not sure what problem to which you are referring, but their behaviour is not perfectly explained to my JW loved ones. I am thinking before I open my mouth.
