I noticed years ago that WT doesn't have a unified basis for what it teaches. Sometimes it seemed that the people writing the articles didn't have a clue what others had (recently) written.
Posts by AnneB
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40Watchtower contradicts the Bible on HELL
by brotherdan inin the public edition of the april 1 wt, the questions from readers twists scriptures, meanings, and language to come to the conclusion that hell is not a place.. whether you believe in hell or not, you have to agree that their methods of arguing this point are dishonest.
note this quote:.
"jesus knew that the very thought of burning.
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AnneB
If I remember correctly, there's an old WT Yearbook that has the history of 25 Columbia Heights in it. As I remember it, WT wanted to buy the building but Squibb bought it before WT could. Once Squibb took posession they discovered that the building needed shoring up and Squibb had to spend millions sinking concrete pillars 90 feet down under the whole building....so, as you can plainly see, it was Jehovah's way of preventing WT from financial disaster. Further, when Squibb moved out and sold the building to WT, all the expensive work had been done and the building was ready for WT to move into and start printing!
Maybe it wasn't a Yearbook...as I'm typing this I'm hearing GB member Dan Sydlik's voice telling the story so it must have been something he talked about at a special event.
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Child custody booklet... have they ever denied it existed?
by Aussie Oz inhey all.
i seem to remember reading something online a year ago about the society denying that it existed.... may have been in a court case or something and the jw lawyer denied it until the other side pulled it out.... any ideas?
or did i dream it?.
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AnneB
I can't say they denied it existed, but when the elders discovered that I had a copy they asked if they could "borrow" it to assist another publisher since there was no time to send for another copy. (This was when the booklets were new, back in the '80's.) Gullible me, I was happy to oblige, not so happy when, after repeated requests for its return, the elders told me it was "lost", while at the same time "counseling" me about having a booklet that was meant only for elders and attorneys.
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Good Samaritan - so funny - :)
by Gayle in(which one is the jw?
)listen to the end, quite funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ghioufq1o
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AnneB
Liked his acccent!
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Are JW's coached to be vague?
by InterestedOne ini recently emailed my jw friend a couple of questions about jw beliefs, and she gave a generic, vague response that did not answer my questions.
are jw's coached to answer in vague terms?.
i have been attending the tm "school," and although i see the "demonstrations" teaching jw's to give misleading opening lines at the door and canned answers to questions, my friend's response was not exactly canned.
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AnneB
Google "squinting modifiers" or "two way modifiers". Essentially, it's all about writing in such a way that you can't be sure if a sentence means one thing or another thing. WT is great at that! JW's are vague because the literature is often vague. There are many such techniques designed for "wiggle room" instead of clarity. Quite useful when doctrine changes or elders want to "beat" a publisher into submission, eh?
Is it done purposefully? At one time I would have thought "no", but then I read something Barb Anderson wrote concerning the magazine article "Women Deserving of Respect". Does it mean that all women deserve respect or that *certain* women deserve respect? Apparently there was quite a bit of dissent around publishing the material at all. The result was an ambiguous title and vague material. The Writing Department knew all along that they weren't presenting a clear message.
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The Chicken Dance
by zoiks inso... how many of you participated in this at a jw wedding?
tell us, don't be shy!
i'll go first: i participated in the chicken dance on at least 3 separate occasions, all jw weddings .
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AnneB
The Chicken Dance and The Elecric Slide...what *were* people thinking???
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Do you believe in censoring information at all?
by sabastious inas witnesses we all grew up with our information heavily censored.
it has got me to thinking: do i think censoring information is ever a good thing?.
i had this bethelite friend back when i was a witness and he would be careful who he told about the craziness behind those doors.
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AnneB
IMO, information (more properly, data) should never be censored however it should be presented at an appropriate time in an appropriate way (if possible).
Example: When my son was six we discovered that a child molester lived two doors away. He began to follow my son to and from school every day. As soon as I became aware of it I walked him to and from. When the molester tried to accost my son while he was in front of our own home we had to explain quite a lot of things that a six-year-old commonly wouldn't learn until he was much older. We wanted him to understand what the danger was, not just comply with our wishes blindly since, doing that, he might be put into a situation that we hadn't covered thus wouldn't know how to handle. Had we censored (held back information) he would have been even more vulnerable, more likely to be victimized. BTW, we moved soon after.
Give people information. If it's too much or too deep it will go right over their heads and no harm done. If, though, something comes along later they may just remember some of what they heard and it may be of assistance.
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Good apostate
by phoebed inguys, i have a little time and i wanted some advice.
i really like to be "good" and "super good" in everything i ever do.
i am kinda "perfectionist".
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AnneB
If you want to be a reeeeeally good apostate ya hafta outthink 'em.
Start here to learn how it's done: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Clear_Thinking/clear_thinking.html
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What does it mean to be found faithful?
by kes152 inwhen he said his servants are to be found faithful, what did he mean by that?
whom does he consider faithful servants?.
if you have ever seen the movie willy wonka and the chocolate factory (1971), in that movie there was a man named willy wonka who was seeking a young, honest, loving child to take over his factory.
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AnneB
"...faithfulness cannot be determined only by what one does. The faithfulness that our Lord seeks from us is that which adheres to the things he believes, the things he values (because one can have faith in anything). If we want to be found faithful, our loyalty, our faith, our direction should be to do and practice what he has told us, to love one another even as he has loved us. And in order to do this, we need to keep looking at him as we are dealing with others..."
Faithfulness has a lot to do with obedience. They're not identical since, as aGuest mentioned, a person may have problems (in comprehension, in situation, etc.) which stand in the way of doing as the person may desire, that is, to obey, to be obedient.
This is a huge issue in my own experience, "thanks" to the dubs. How to keep loving people (even close family members) who have shown themselves more "faithful" to organizational teachings than to the God that organization claims to represent?
I remember a long-running debate among a group of dubs many years ago: Which is more important, loyalty or obedience? This thread seems to me to be along the same line.
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Jehovah's Witnesses Seek New Building Property In Brooklyn
by Bangalore injehovah's witnesses seek new building property in brooklyn.. http://blog.cleveland.com/parmasunpost/2010/11/jehovahs_witnesses_seek_new_bu.html.
bangalore.
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AnneB
They must envision closing other area Kingdom Halls and consolidating all the meetings at the one property.
Three KH's of that size would accomodate just about all the JW's on the west side of Cleveland!
That area is not exactly the most prosperous part of town. I wonder if JW's from more affluent areas will even drive there to attend the meetings.