I am pretty sure that there is no direct statement. If there were, it would most likely be older, as they have been more careful about that stuff. There was a recent thread on here that mentioned their website or press releases that deny them ever saying they are the only ones.
If you find anything, they will just say, "The light is brighter now." "That doesn't say it EXACTLY."
OnTheWayOut
JoinedPosts by OnTheWayOut
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Looking for quote from WT...please help
by mavie ini was having a discussion with family about leaving the jw's recently.
we were talking about the us verses them mentality one develops as part of the religion.
i tried to bolster my case by saying that only jw's will survive armageddon.
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OnTheWayOut
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Can Non-JW Spouses Receive JW Funeral/Memorial Service?
by SusanHere inmy jw sister's husband is dying of cancer.
he's never been a jw, though he has pretended interest for years, mostly just to keep her happy and hopeful.
i don't believe he ever intended more than that.
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OnTheWayOut
Of course a funeral is for the living family's comfort, so if your sister is comforted by a JW service, that's understandable. You are not really in a position to try to make her feel uncomfortable, but IF IT COMES UP, perhaps his family won't want the standard JW funeral outline. Perhaps they would be better off with a regular funeral home eulogy or a family member talking about him. If that comes up, just comfort your sister and tell her, the family will be satisfied, the witnesses who want to comfort her will still come.
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Did the OT writer foretell the virgin birth of Jesus?
by mavie inthis subject caught my attention after reading a passage in sam harris' book "the end of faith".
"as many authors have observed, the numerous strands of hebrew prophecy that were made to coincide with jesus' ministry betray the aploogetics, and often poor scholarship, of the gospel writers.
the writers of luke and matthew, for instance, in seeking to make the life of jesus conform to old testament prophecy, insist that mary conceived as a virgin (greek parthenos), harking to the greek rendering of isaiah 7:14. unfortunately for fanciers of mary's virginity, the hebrew word alma (for which parthenos is an erroneous translation) simply means "young woman," without any implication of viginity.
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OnTheWayOut
I'm with you on this. I have tried to do some of the research on this.
Very scholarly stuff that I won't try to remember exactly or quote.
Anyway, it is the scholarly thought that the Gospel writers decided to
fulfill many obscure OT scriptural thoughts that would give elevation to
Jesus as the Messiah- among them: Where he was born, yet came from
Egypt, his family line from King David, etc.While I agree with you, it would not be wrong to say that Mary was a
maiden, they just wanted to be sure that people got the point that it
was a miracle, so they made her virgin, too. Otherwise, all that stuff about
the church's resulting anxiety about sex is probably true. -
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Feeding the Homeless
by purplesofa inone day this week, my daughter volunteered to feed and serve the homeless.
every wednesday at a certain shelter the homeless are fed with business people in the community.
the ones that can pay $3 a plate and if you cannot pay all that is asked is that you clear off your dirty dishes, etc.. i found this combination a bit odd.
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OnTheWayOut
........but the witnesses themselves would not feed this hungry person
They are taught not to.
I've been told by the elders NOT to give money for charitable reasons.
The Kingdom is the permanent solution they will say when asked why they won't feed them.
Totally on the money with this comment. WTS recognizes that divided interests among
the rank and file will not serve WTS interests. If a person is to be convinced that
the best way is the WT way, then belittle the other ways to help people.They do say to be charitable to the brothers and sisters, though, and
ONLY GIVE CASH TO THE WORLDWIDE WORK WHENEVER A DISASTER STRIKES.Otherwise, be cautious even when helping out a bible student, he might just be after your
help, and not truly interested (in becoming another cog in the borg), therefore you would
have been better off sending WTS the cash instead of helping him- they KNOW how to
offer better solutions. How did I fall for this crap? -
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If the WTS closed shop, who'd get the money?
by PopeOfEruke ini don't really understand who really are the beneficial owners of the watchtower society and all its assets.. so i pose this question: if the watchtower society closed down tomorrow and all the assets were sold off, who would get the billions of dollars?
the wts shareholders??
or are there jw companies which are "owed" huge amounts by the society, and so all the cash would simply go to these "companies" to pay off the "debt"?.
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OnTheWayOut
I agree with Bo Peep that the Lawyers will arrange it so they get all the money that's left in some legal manuevering.
My two cents worth- the real value to the insider is keeping WTS alive, no matter what.
A non-prophet (sorry, couldn't help that one) organization still has costs. If you need to sell your
$20 milllion building just ot afford jetting around the world, you will do so. Everything the insiders
do can be justified as expenses. They cannot close shop and just TAKE the money, but they can
continue to SPEND it if the WTS stays open.The lawyers, though, circling like vultures- they would say their EXPENSES to close shop exceeded the
net worth of the collapsing WTS. -
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No Field Service No Paradise
by moomanchu inmy mom doesn't go out in field service or go to the book study or give talks or answer (never did 40 to 50 years now).
she is however a loyal defender of the watchtower and she regularly goes to sun.
and thur.
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OnTheWayOut
***
w94 8/15p.15This Good News Must Be Preached First***What
KeepstheWitnessesGoing?19
Of course, preaching from house to house to strangers is no easy matter, regardless of how many years one may have been a Witness. Then what keeps these Christians going? Their Christian dedication and a sense of responsibility. Paul wrote: "If, now, I am declaring the good news, it is no reason for me to boast, for necessity is laid upon me. Really, woe is me if I did not declare the good news!" True Christians have a message that means life, so how could they possibly keep it to themselves? The very principle of bloodguilt for failing to give a warning in time of danger is an impelling reason to preach the good news.—1 Corinthians 9:16; Ezekiel 3:17-21.You can look up many references to the last two scriptures that show that JW's must preach.
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My dad's email response to my UN and Blood Issue questions.
by Pioneer Spit...oh, i mean Spirit ini always thought that my dad was a smart man, that he still had his common sense, but now i see that's not true.
and for some stupid reason, this has really got to me tonight.
i'm sharing the content of this discussion so that maybe someone else can see the ignorance of this horrible religion of people who cannot really love because their evil bible won't let them.
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OnTheWayOut
Also, many here on the thread are logically picking apart the issues, when the letter shows
that this father is not doing so. He is just stating what sounds like logic to appease his
JW mindset when discussing the "pouring on the ground."Tuesday called it right by saying that the UN and Blood are not issues he's dealing with,
so you have to find a different chink in his armor, something that hits home. I am trying
to discuss education and retirement and healthcare issues with my loved ones, because
they would also say the UN issue was answered by the organization. Maybe, for some of
you, the UN issue works. Same with blood- I will try to use the issue, but if it fails, I will
need to move on to other stuff. -
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My dad's email response to my UN and Blood Issue questions.
by Pioneer Spit...oh, i mean Spirit ini always thought that my dad was a smart man, that he still had his common sense, but now i see that's not true.
and for some stupid reason, this has really got to me tonight.
i'm sharing the content of this discussion so that maybe someone else can see the ignorance of this horrible religion of people who cannot really love because their evil bible won't let them.
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OnTheWayOut
Undercover called it right:
The WTthink and WTspeak kicked in.
There was hope early in the first correspondance. He responded from his heart and mind. But once he had time to mull it over and talk to others of like faith, years of conditioning took over and the automatic WT reasoning took over ...
.....you start to see the mind control.
...the JW comes back later with an almost rehearsed and memorized WT line of reasoning. You're no longer corresponding with the man, the father...you're corresponding with a JW robot.
As an elder, I could spout the correct answers to almost any question of doubt.
I think the difference with me was that I knew deep inside that my answers were
not truly addressing the issues. When I had my own conversation with two elders
about my doubts, they had the firm robotic answers and I could tell that the PO was
100% convinced, the other elder was not so robotic, but he had the mindset,
"We know it's the truth, so we have to work thru those problems." -
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The useless WTS Website
by PopeOfEruke ini can't believe and low-tech and next-to-useless the watchtower website is.
considering how in the past the jw's used radio and other technology to help spread the jw doctrine "good news", it seems they should have developed a great website to help get new members.. but their site is dreary and hollow.
old information like the "generation of 1914 will see the end of the system" is still posted there.
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OnTheWayOut
The Watch Tower Society is a bulk paper printing company.
This was the way they were from the start, and the men running things were younger.
They think this is the way should continue now that they are old and stuck in their ways.Many newspapers and magazines are the same way, not keeping up with the changing
media, therefore getting left behind. Many people do not get the daily newspaper anymore.
Most people do not use the classified ads to find jobs or sell things anymore, they use the
internet- yet those things are still there for those who don't have them or don't want them.
In the WTS's favor, magazines and tabloids are still preferred over internet by millions of people.Also, if people did go to the website, would they contribute to the world-wide work?
Would many feel that they do not need to study with someone or go to the KH?
They gotta control those folks with a home bible study and weekly meetings. -
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Is it possible for someone to "Love being a JW"?
by JH ina few days ago, i met an old lady that has a jw as neighbour.
she knows that jw couple since years, although she isn't a jw.
so, i asked that old lady, "do you still see that jw couple once in a while", hoping for some kind of juicy news..... so, my question is, "how can a person love to be a jw" when so many others just "hate" being in that religion?.
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OnTheWayOut
I will try to balance my opinion. There was a brief few years when I loved being a JW. I "knew" why life sucked for most people, but it did not have to be that way for me anymore, because God would make me totally happy soon if I could just hold on. While holding on, He gave me a purpose in life- to let others know that life doesn't have to continue to suck. Assemblies, CO visits- special attention, OH BOY. Some people like staying in that mindset- has nothing to do with intelligence, but it allows the mind to be at peace and not have to be stressed about drugs, politics, retirement, crime, etc.
Now, most of us started to realize that the JW's didn't satisfy all of our concerns, or we realized that assemblies were long & boring & repetitive, we discovered the magazines were making broad generalizations, the CO visit is focusing in on the same old problems, field service was not accomplishing much, etc.
While we find the first group strange, we can try to remember that many of us were there, but escaped.