Hi Min,
I hardly knew NHK. We had maybe two conversations. I very seriously doubt that he was gay, but he certainly talked about sex a lot at the head of the table. It was on his mind quite often. But maybe he felt he had to do that to keep a Bethel home full of young testosterone from going crazy. His wife Audrey was a very nice lady. Very classy, I thought. She remarried after NHK died.
I have heard rumors about the other two guys, but cannot confirm anything. I was in meetings with most all of them at one time or another, but the only GB members I really knew well were Ray Franz and Dan Sydlik.
Tom
Tom Cabeen
JoinedPosts by Tom Cabeen
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39
Tom Cabeen to be interviewed on TV
by Nathan Natas inposted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm: .
in reply to: tom cabean to be interviewed on cable tv posted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm:.
posted by flatlander on sat - may 3 - 6:08pm: .
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Tom Cabeen
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39
Tom Cabeen to be interviewed on TV
by Nathan Natas inposted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm: .
in reply to: tom cabean to be interviewed on cable tv posted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm:.
posted by flatlander on sat - may 3 - 6:08pm: .
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Tom Cabeen
Hi Yannis, I did take a very close look at the Orthodox Church. I have a number of books and other materials published by various Orthodox writers. Since I became acquainted with the catholic faith by reading the ante-Nicene writings, I am quite comfortable with the Eastern approach to Christianity, including some aspects of Christians mysticism and spirituality. I really love the writings of the Eastern Fathers which I have read.
The Orthodox communions have completely valid apostolic succession, and for that reason the churches of the Eastern Rite (Orthodox) are viewed by the Latin Rite as the "other lung" of the great catholic church. There are a number of reasons why I did not become a member of the Orthodox Church, however.
The Orthodox church is divided up along national lines. And local parishes are the same way. The ones I have visited seem to be more like small ethnic communities than part of a great universal church that will evangelize all nations.
There also seems to be less consensus about some matters of teaching and practice represented by the respective heads of these national churches. One of these is how to view their Catholic brothers and sisters. Some are very open to communion, whereas others are quite opposed to it. But despite these comparatively minor differences, I deeply respect my Orthodox brothers and sisters.
There is also simple practicality. There are five Catholic parishes in our town. Ours is less than a mile from our home. The nearest Orthodox church is a Greek Orthodox Church several miles from here. There is a Syrian Orthodox Church about the same distance away in the other direction. I visited these parishes, and they are largely composed of members of a handful of families who came here from the old country and founded the local parish. But they put on wonderful ethnic festivals in the summertime, where we go to eat stuffed grape leaves and baklava. Yum!
There are other reasons, but this will serve to give you some idea as to why we chose as we did.
Tom -
39
Tom Cabeen to be interviewed on TV
by Nathan Natas inposted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm: .
in reply to: tom cabean to be interviewed on cable tv posted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm:.
posted by flatlander on sat - may 3 - 6:08pm: .
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Tom Cabeen
Hey Min,
"Juicy tidbits"? Whatever could you be talking about?
T -
39
Tom Cabeen to be interviewed on TV
by Nathan Natas inposted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm: .
in reply to: tom cabean to be interviewed on cable tv posted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm:.
posted by flatlander on sat - may 3 - 6:08pm: .
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Tom Cabeen
Hi See,
Yes, I remember you and your husband. We met at my office, had dinner together and an enjoyable evening of talking.
Regarding the Journey Home program, if you have a reasonably fast Internet connection, you can see the program on EWTN live, at 8pm EST. (http://www.ewtn.com/journeyhome/index.asp)
I had much the same conditioning. As I have said before, I would probably never have investigated the Catholic Church if I had not been influenced by another former JW (David Bercot) to read the early Christian writings. He convinced me that the early church did not go off track immediately after the death of the apostles. My interest was piqued and I started reading the writings known as the Ante-Nicene Fathers. I was so enthralled by their explanations of Christianity, I really fell in love with it. Only much later did I find out how similar their teachings were to those of the Catholic Church. I couldn't NOT investigate further. That is the story in a nutshell.
And you cannot go wrong trusting in the Lord. But if you ask him for truth, he will give you what you ask for. You simply have to be ready to accept it. That is sometimes the hardest part.
Tom -
39
Tom Cabeen to be interviewed on TV
by Nathan Natas inposted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm: .
in reply to: tom cabean to be interviewed on cable tv posted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm:.
posted by flatlander on sat - may 3 - 6:08pm: .
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Tom Cabeen
Hey Willie,
The problems connected with sexuality that the Episcopal Church is going through is but the tip of the iceberg. Ultimately, they have a problem of authority. Since they are structured as a democratic church (the Episcopal Church's structure was used as the pattern for the US government, with its Senate and House of Representatives, plus a President), at the end of the day they have no way to resolve doctrinal or practical disagreements. So their bishops can do outrageous things such as appointing an openly gay bishop, or promoting rank heresy (Google Bishop Jack Spong's suggestions for a new reformation to see what I mean) and no one has the power to say "That's enough!" "No more." So they are in the midst of a huge crisis. It will most likely result in the complete fragmentation of the American church.
Tom -
39
Tom Cabeen to be interviewed on TV
by Nathan Natas inposted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm: .
in reply to: tom cabean to be interviewed on cable tv posted by jimwhitney on sat - may 3 - 5:25pm:.
posted by flatlander on sat - may 3 - 6:08pm: .
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Tom Cabeen
Hi See,
Gloria and I have made our journey together. We are good friends and we talk about things all the time. Gloria is a deeply religious but intuitive person, whereas I am more analytical, studious and pragmatic. She wanted to leave Bethel because of how people were treated. She just felt that something was wrong. I wanted to leave because I became convinced that they were not who they said they were, after reading a letter from Carl Olof Jonsson, which was later made into a book called "the Gentile Times Reconsidered." But our change of opinion about the WTS happened for both of us at just about the same time.
We both shared in hosting a discussion/support group for former JWs. She eventually suggested that we should move out of the ex-JW atmosphere and associate with other Christians, to expand our horizons. About the same time, I wanted our boys to have companions that at least shared our basic Christian moral and ethical values. We received a mailing from a church looking to increase membership, and we both attended there. A year or two later, she found another church she liked better, because it had much better youth programs, and I was happy to move there, as nothing was holding me to the first church.
I eventually joined that second church (Baptist) but she never did. She wasn't comfortable joining a church officially, although she was active in Bible studies, taught Sunday School, etc. After reading the early Church writings, I wanted to attend an Anglican/Episcopal church. She agreed, and we did. We both liked it. We didn't have to join there. If you give money to them, you are "on the list". :-) That was our introduction to "Catholic-style" liturgical worship.
We loved the Episcopal liturgy and the local parish was wonderful, but the Episcopal church here in the US has really serious problems. I had started reading materials about the Catholic church, and sharing some of the things I learned with her. I liked what I found, but knew that I had learned as much as I could from the outside. I needed to be inside to continue learning about the Catholic church. But we both liked where we were, and I did not pressure her to make another move. There was no rush. Eventually, she observed many of the same things I did, and suggested that we go through the Catholic RCIA program. I agreed. (We did an abbreviated version of the program.) We both liked what we found and were confirmed as Catholics.
Each time we made a change, it has been a matter of us discussing things and coming to mutual agreement. Sometimes the initiative for a change was mine, sometimes it was hers.
Tom -
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Ex-Jehovah's Witness on Catholic TV May 19th
by jschwehm intom cabeen, former jehovah's witness bethel elder and pioneer will be interviewed on ewtn's "the journey home" on his conversion to the catholic church on may 19th.
you can read tom's story at:
http://www.catholicxjw.com/
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Tom Cabeen
Hi Blue,
Just a slight correction: The Catholic Answers website is at http://www.catholic.com, not http://www.catholicanswers.com.
Tom Cabeen -
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Ex-Jehovah's Witness on Catholic TV May 19th
by jschwehm intom cabeen, former jehovah's witness bethel elder and pioneer will be interviewed on ewtn's "the journey home" on his conversion to the catholic church on may 19th.
you can read tom's story at:
http://www.catholicxjw.com/
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Tom Cabeen
Hi Blondie, Jim and all,
I just thought it might be a propos to mention to all of you that what drew me to the Catholic Church was not an analysis of her doctrines or practices. What drew me was hard historical evidence that she was the legitimate descendant of the church founded by the apostles; the same church, all grown up. I confirmed to my own satisfaction that all the essentials that were there at the time of the apostles are still in place.
That was not the first time I had come to a church based on historical evidence. The first church I came to for that reason was the Anglican/Episcopal church, which I began attending after reading the early church writings. It was historical data, not doctrines or scriptural texts, which made me come to the conclusion that the Anglican church had once been a part of the Catholic church (Bede, in particular) and that at the time of the Reformation, had made a complete break with the Catholic church (Belloc and Eamon Duffy, in particular), losing her legitimate apostolic succession in the process.
That is why the first mass we ever attended at our parish was on the day Gloria and I were confirmed as Catholics. We were with an Episcopal church, where I was a choir member and soloist. I had agreed to stay with the choir and sing until the end of the choir season at the beginning of June. My wife Gloria and I were confirmed on June 9, 2006. (We felt no reluctance. We had based our decision on verifiable facts, supported by the evidence of those who had made the same journey before us. It was a bit like prepaying for a month in Hawaii without first having to go there to make sure it is really the kind of place where one might want to spend a vacation.)
When we were confirmed, we were asked if we accepted the beliefs listed in the Apostles' Creed (Google it if you are not familiar with it). They asked about each one separately. I had no problem at all with any of these teachings. At the time I was confirmed, there were still a number of Catholic doctrines which I did not understand very well. There still may be. The ones I have studied since then I have found to be logical, scriptural (based, of course, on the Catholic interpretation of Scripture), and strongly rooted in history, that is, having been widely believed, in some form or other, right back to apostolic days.
I still have much to learn about Catholic teaching and practice. But I can say this about each "new" (to me) doctrine I have studied since my initial interest in the Catholic Church: I have been both surprised and pleased to learn the extent to which each one fits neatly into the Catholic (and early Christian) understanding of Christ's teachings, how they urge one toward holy living, how logical and scriptural they are, and how widely accepted they have been by people who are obviously godly men and women, based on the corpus of their writings and the record of their actions (the saints). But in the meantime, as we study, Gloria and I are associated with a community of faith in which we are growing in Christ at a much greater rate than we ever did prior to this, whether on our own or in association with other faith communities.
But it would not be appropriate to say that I examined all Catholic doctrine in detail, and based on my passing favorable judgment on them, decided to join the Catholic church. In order to do that, I would have to know as much as the Christian Church has learned in two thousand years. It was the obvious shortcomings of that approach that made me reject it and seek a better paradigm for finding the truth about the Christian Church, the historical one.
Your brother,
Tom Cabeen -
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How could an ex-Jw become Catholic
by My Struggle ini don't mean this to be offensive to any catholics in any way and believe that they can have true salvation unlike the jw.
also, i know little about the in's and out's of practicing catholicism, as i have never had any interest in being one.
regardless i am always surprised when an ex-jw says that they have found the real truth in catholicism.
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Tom Cabeen
To CoffeeBlack:
Hi Deb!
I am having to get used to seeing male icons for females and vise versa. I like your suit. Hope you are doing well. -
54
How could an ex-Jw become Catholic
by My Struggle ini don't mean this to be offensive to any catholics in any way and believe that they can have true salvation unlike the jw.
also, i know little about the in's and out's of practicing catholicism, as i have never had any interest in being one.
regardless i am always surprised when an ex-jw says that they have found the real truth in catholicism.
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Tom Cabeen
Seeker4
Was that in New Haven, CT in July of 1980? I think I gave the keynote address at that convention. Shortly after that convention, we left Bethel and that was the end of that. Never spoke at a District Assembly again. Don't miss 'em. Are you still in New England?