Posts by wolkje

116

The simplest explanation of 607 BCE

by Doug Mason in

if you are looking for the simplest picture that shows how the wts calculates that jerusalem was destroyed in 607 bce, and if you want to understand basic problems with their method, this might be what you want.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/wts_false_reasoning_for_607_bce.pdf.

(make sure that your pdf reader displays the whole page.).

doug.

wolkje

Hi Doug,

Thanks for your posts on 607.

There is another point on WT chronology that I would like to ask you. The WT has an unique explanation on the 70 weeks of years in Dan 9. In order to make it fit they put the 20e year of Artaxerxes in 455 BC, but the accepted year is 445 BC. Doesn't that mean that the so called absolute date of 539 BC has to be moved 10 years back? This ofcourse creates a second 10 year gap in the WT chronology apart from the 20 years between 607 en 587. I hope you can comment on that.

6

Anton Koerber

by ninja in

jw
friends

why did he get disfellowshipped?....bill cetnar talks about him getting privileges by knorr.....but why did he get booted in the first place?

wolkje

Wasn't Anton Koeber the guy who, at the time he had a fall-out with the WT, offered a Bible Student Group money to set up an organization along the lines of the WT society (which they refused)? If I remember correctly Bill Cetnar gave that information. It is a pure case of simony.

Wolkje

43

607 to 1914 calculation question

by bluebell in

is there any culture that actually used years of 360 days length?

if so, surely there would still be some kind of leap year to correct the calendar, why is that not taken into account?

i'd never thought about it when i was a dub because you're not supposed to think!

wolkje

I was a JW from 1961 till 1985 and very interested in the WT chronolgy untill it became clear that it was untenable. I learned that bible chronology is like puty in the hands of dispensastionalists and/or advetists, you can calculate anything. L. Froom a SDA devoted 4 volumes to speculations on chronology about 4000 pages in "The Prophetic Faith Of Our Fathers." The 7 times were calculated by Miller from 677 BC ( supposed capture of Manassa) till 1843 CE. of course leading to 1844 a date still pivotal for SDA. Clarence Larkin a dispensasionalist and contemporary of CT Russell also calculated the 7 times from 606 BC. till 1914 CE. If you look him up on the internet you can see his prophetic charts similar to Russell's. Another dispensasionalist J.F. Walvoort starts the 7 times in 605 BC with the ascension of Nebudcadnezar which makes them end in 1916 when England was fighting the Turks over Jerusalem which they captured in 1917 ending their 'gentile' domination.

All these people claim insight in God's plan but it leads nowhere, mostly to disappointment for those who put a stake in it. Of course for exJW it is important because the WT has put their credibility on the line for 1914 an ill-made choice, it puts them on the level of the Flat Earth Society.

I'm amazed and greatfull that such knowledgeable people are on this board that can dispell the arguments of the WT. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort.

Wolkje

22

June 11, 2007 Macleans article re. ex-JW support group in Toronto

by kwintestal in

just a one-page article on an ex-jw support group in toronto.

macleans is canada's version of "time" with a large circulation.

it's also the magazine that did the large article on the septuplets.

wolkje

Nice to read the story, I live in Holland now but I was in Toronto as a boy from 1954 till1960. My mother was called on by a JW I think it was Jean Parret and eventually or whole family became JW. I visited Toronto in 1971 and attended a congregation on the corner of College and Dovercourt. All of us left the WT about 1985 and I had a small part in translating CoC in Dutch. The visit in 1971 was pleasant, but they weren't as scared of aspostates as they are now. What struck me was the fact they had a handfull of JW who started with the WT before 1914, one couple in their 70's pioniering just about all those years, but they looked like third world citizens, poor, looking tired, not happy, not something I would want to be. Of course they never said a word about the failures of 1914 en 1925.

I whish the support group good luck.

Wolkje

63

GB MEMBER Herd Says Just Because You're A JW It Doesn't Mean Anything!

by minimus in

jw
friends

there's a tape circulating around the witnesses stating that when the separation of the sheep and goats happens, witnesses shouldn't think that they will automatically be saved just because they're witnesses.

if they aren't wholesouled, then they should not expect that having one foot in the "truth" and the other in the world will let them make it through the great tribulation....herd was trying to motivate the troops!

wolkje

Of course this also applies to the GB, which is your favorite 70%?

Wolkje

21

Crisis of Conscience

by sexyk in

jw
friends

i ordered crisis of conscience a few minutes ago !

i've heard many great things about this book for people who have left the jw religion and were having a hard time, like myself.

for those who read it, has it changed your life in any way ?

wolkje

Hi,

First time I react to thread, was a JW from 1960 to about 1985, pioneer, elder, live in Holland, started fading because of political infighting among elders. Although I didn't intend to leave I saw a newspaper review of CoC phoned the journalist and got a copy and went on the way out. My mother read it and went on the way out and later my sister and her husband. Later on I get Penton's book Apocalyps Delayed and Carl Olof's Gentil Times Reconsidered, in my opion the best available books you can get, written without malice and objective, not trying to indoctrinate.

The thing that strikes me most about CoC is the mild tone, although it is a bomshell because of the inside information of the GB, it almost makes me pity the GB because of their ignorance and selfdisallusion. Of course that doesn't exempt the GB from being responsible for the pain they inflicted on others, that does make me angry.

Having read CoC I have come compare the WTS to the Catholic Church in the Middel Ages, they have conditional infallibillity the Pope with the Cardinals (the GB till they have new light), they have a mother figure (the organization), they are theocratic, they have thier creeds (1914), they have a heirarchy, Pope, Cardinal, Archbishop, Bishop etc.( GB,Zone Servats, DO, CO etc.), they have a prescribed mass (the WT Studies etc), pedofile problems, and last but not least an inquisition like excommunication policy. Although different in theology, look alikes in organization and policy. It took the Catholic Church some honderd years to realise excommunication doesn't help and become more tollerant. If the WT will ever see the (new)light and become tolerant remains to be seen.

Anyway enjoy CoC its a good book and helps in not feeling guilty about leaving the WT.

Wolkje