i though this was hillarious.. http://www.cnn.com/2009/showbiz/music/06/30/jackson.rabbi/index.html.
here's the quote from rabbi boteach:.
"michael was a very spiritual, religious man.
Yeah, it looks like CNN's corrected the quote.
I never thought the Rabbi actually meant "wash towels." It's more likely that he was misquoted by a reporter who wasn't familiar with the Watchtower magazines. This rabbi has been particularly supportive of JWs. In fact, someone posted a video of him saying he'd advised Michael to return to the JWs in order to get his life back together.
here's the real simple version of the complicated doctrine of when jesus supposedly returned and the last days arrived/ended/started.
william miller said that jesus' return would be in 1844.
(see the great disappointment at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/great_disappointment ) people who believed what he said were known as "millerites.
There's a good friend of mine, an inactive JW, who I often speak to about the weaknesses in JW doctrine. He doesn't believe in JWism, but he's not ready to be an "apostate" either. His girlfriend's an inactive JW, herself, and he's happy to live his life as an undisfellowshipped inactive JW.
Anyhow, awhile back I showed him this chart:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Millerite_1843_chart_2.jpg
It's William Miller's "proof" for the 1843/1844 date. I then opened up the Insight book on the gentile times and showed him how eerily similar the WT's "proof" for 1914 was, down to the 7 times, 2520 days/years, etc. He was pretty distraught and asked me to put it away. He didn't want to go down that rabbit hole.
He knew the WT is wrong, but didn't want to find out too much and become so angry as to become on of the dreaded "apostates" we all grew up loathing. When you're able to take a step back and objectively look at history, it's clear JWism is just an offshoot of a religious movement whose heyday was nearly 2 centuries ago.
i though this was hillarious.. http://www.cnn.com/2009/showbiz/music/06/30/jackson.rabbi/index.html.
here's the quote from rabbi boteach:.
"michael was a very spiritual, religious man.
I though this was hillarious.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/30/jackson.rabbi/index.html
Here's the quote from Rabbi Boteach:
"Michael was a very spiritual, religious man. He was not only a Jehovah's Witness, he was a missionary. ... He used to knock on people's doors selling wash towels. Then suddenly he fell out with the church."
for you spanish speakers, what does this mean?:.
j'ai trouve un site trop pratique ou tu peux voir qui t'a bloque sur msn,.
http://www.msnapps.net/?/qui-te-bloque/fais un test tu verras qui te bloque sans que tu le saches.. ciao.
lol
This is NOT Spanish
you get involved.
you go to seminars, study up on blood, the history of transfusion medicine, medical ethics, legal cases and the like if you're motivated like i was.
then it hits you that there is no biblical basis for distinguishing minor blood fractions, that df'ing someone on these grounds are without biblical support and that you're ashamed of the whole thing because the supposed principle of showing respect for life is actually violated by the prohibition.
what's PVG?
this is a question for the guys on this board.
i have seen and read so many cases where very succesful men throw their careers, relationships and reputations away over a bit of booty.
is there some tipping point in a males setup that causes the lower head to completely overrule any and all of the directions from the upper one?
One aspect that is often overlooked when discussing unfaithful politicians is that, for the most part, these guys were nerdy bookworms in high school who didn't get laid very often. Men who possess the kind of drive to reach that level of power typically weren't very attractive to girls in their youth. The badboys who ended up with minimum wage jobs were the ones the girls flocked to. Now, decades later, they find themselves with power, authority, wealth, and the attention from the opposite sex that comes along with those attributes.
It's not an excuse, but I think a lot of these men are overwhelmed by the temptation to do what they never had a chance to do when they were young. That's not the whole story, but it's part of it.
excuse me?
i'm sure this has been rolled over many times in here, but aren't the witnesses the most class-conscious people on earth?
especially for not having a clergy class, they have all of the other ones, though!
It's simply a matter of semantics. The WT can define "clergy" in a self-serving manner by suggesting that they are different than other "false religions." For instance, they can claim that clergy are salaried professionals and because the WT only employs volunteers, they don't have a clergy class (the whole issue of whether stipends and green handshakes count as salary aside). Or, they can claim that "clergy" are people who perform religious rituals--such as mass. Because JWs don't engage in mass-like religious rituals, they don't have a clergy class.
That aside, it can be argued that JWs are even more stratified and hierarchical than the Catholic Church, itself. The social system of rewards and promotions in Watchtowerland is one gigantic pyramid.
Publishers--->Auxiliary Pioneers--->Regular Pioneers--->Special Pioneers--->Ministerial Servants--->Elders---->Bethelites--->CO's--->DOs--->Bethel Heavies--->Governing Body
JWs have a clearly defined, hierarchical chain of command. At the top, the governing body acts a Pope-by-committee. It's true that they don't necessarily claim to be infallible, but their orders carry the weight of gospel and violations of them are punishable by excommunication. So, again, it's all about semantics. The chain-of-command is more rigid within the JWs than it is in the Catholic Church, which they so love to bash and that should be the bottom line, not whether they have a "clergy class" as defined by the WT itself.
i posted a similar thought about this on another thread a couple of weeks ago but i thought i would expand on it and start its on thread.... .
the watchtower society, as leaders of the jehovah's witness religion, claim to accept the bible as the divine word of jehovah god and jesus christ as his only begotten son sent to earth as a ransom sacrifice.
though it can be argued that jesus is demoted in jw doctrine compared to jehovah, jesus teachings are the basis for what they call the "true christian congregation".. if we compare the society's ban on blood with jesus' view of mercy versus sacrifice, it can be shown that the society's view on blood is actually against the teachings of christ and against the principles of mercy as he shows in the scriptures.. there is only one scripture in the new testament (greek scriptures) that the society can offer as evidence that god prohibits the ingestion of blood (forgetting the sidebar argument of eating vs transfusing).... acts 15:29 - ...to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication.
Some 12 or 13 years ago I was sitting at the congregation book study and this subject came up. We were using the Greatest Man book and the story of of Luke Chapter 6 came up. I immediately made the connection with the blood doctrine in my head, but it didn't matter. I was wearing my advocate hat. I had left any independent thinking behind at baptism. Jehovah had his earthly organization and I was not to question them. I was simply a foot soldier following orders.
So, i got home and researched what their pre-prepared comeback for this line of reasoning was. It didn't make much sense at the time, but it didn't matter. I was to trust in Jehovah (a.k.a., the society) and not rely on my own understanding. This type of doctrinal inconsistency did not matter to me until I realized that the WT was not being directed by a higher being. That's when the floodgates opened allowing me to view the holes in their teachings for what they are.
Oh, by the way. It's "the teachings of the Christ" not "of Christ." Just kidding.
apparently gb member geoff jackson gave this illustration at a dc talk recently:.
imagine you are watching an (american) football game - your team is behind by 6 points and time is nearly expired.
your team's quarterback throws a long pass, and a receiver makes the catch and is streaking toward the end zone.
There's a bigger theme here. That is, when JWs begin to think critically and see flaws in the WT's teachings the tables get turned on them so as to deflect criticism away from JW leadership and place the focus back on to the individual publishers themselves.
This illustration is a good example. It ignores that many of the brothers who have "stopped running" did so, not because they got tired, but because they realized there was never a finish line there to begin with.
After a lengthy indoctrination process, JWs automatically associate questioning or having doubts about doctrine with "only serving Jehovah with a date in mind." So, it stops being about the flaws with the WT and their teachings, and it becomes about the publisher being weak and selfish for not being willing to "wait out this old system" for however long it takes.
It's an effective mind control technique. You deflect criticism away from yourself and make your followers feel guilty all at the same time.
an incredible turn around when you see the watchtower index full of demonic handbags, houses, idols etc.
etc.. the new bookstudy book "keep yourselves in god's love.
" p.191 was a shocker for me!
When other churches "refine" their teachings/practices, it's proof they're not inspired by God (e.g., the Catholic Church and the Inquisition)
When JWs "refine" their teachings, it's proof that they're backed by God and that the light is getting brighter.
