garybuss

Joined

• started 117 topics
• posted 7,492 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by garybuss

• 
  82

  January 15, 2008 Watchtower & The One Mistake We All Made:

  by t33ap80c in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the one mistake we all made.

  and the january 15, 2008 watchtower.

  page 24 the governing body makes the following statement: .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  Great post Don!
  
  (Note to self: Don't try to hide anything from Zev.)
  
  
• 
  25

  Question : What is the REAL purpose of the Watchtower Organisation ?

  by AlphaOmega in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what is the real purpose of the watchtower organisation (and associated companies) ?.

  it has been suggested that the purpose is :.

  exactly as claimed (to preach the good news)a front for a publishing company (selling literature to a captive audience)a front for a real-estate companyare there any more ideas ?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  Question : What is the REAL purpose of the Watchtower Organisation ?
  
  The purpose of the Watch Tower Corporation is to increase assets and survive as a business. A corporation by nature is a business organization, an artificial entity for the purpose of carrying on business. A non-profit status business identifies profits as reserves and income is not distributed to shareholders but retained by the corporation.
  
  The agenda of the Watch Tower Corporation is political. Their goal is the overthrow of all current governments and establishing a one world government run by them. That's a political goal.
  
  The goal is a carrot to keep people working and donating assets. The reward is the promise that the loyal followers of the group leaders are going to live in the clouds with Jesus or for the secular followers, they will live through Armageddon and live in paradise to pick fruit and pet lions. For the followers who work their whole life and are in old age, they are told they will be in paradise to pick fruit and pet lions after they are dead if they work for the company until they die.
  
  Ghosts direct the corporation, the directors don't direct, and the committee of governors don't govern. The Witness people don't follow men, they only follow Jehovah, and he hasn't said anything worth writing down for a couple thousand years.
  
  It's beneficial to understand that the Watch Tower one world government will come to power by the intervention of horseback riders from outer space. Members see this as perfectly rational and they can't understand why their neighbors think they are crazy when they tell this story while going door to door.
  
  
  
  
• 
  29

  The Purpose of The Watchtower (change in wording)

  by purplesofa in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  .

  .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  How long ago did they quit denying the publication is dogmatic? I remember laughing at the denial which, itself, is dogmatic.
  
  
• 
  15

  I need a good color scan of the latest blood card

  by Deputy Dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i need a good color scan of the latest blood card, front and back.

  any ideas on how to get an actual card if i'm not a jw.

  i'm looking to make a tract that is about the same size, that if left on the ground or the floor, that a jw might pickup and look at.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  I personally appreciate literature as an art. I read the NIV copy of the Bible cover to cover and I enjoyed it. I didn't quite enjoy it enough to want to die based on a couple paragraphs in the book though.
  
  People I know think it's not plausible for God to want to communicate through the art of abstract painting (Leonardo da Vinci) or the art of architecture (pyramid of Giza), but have no problem imagining God communicated through the art of literature. Those same people would not begin a plan to die for a mark on a painting or a brick in a building, but they will die for a mark in a scroll they can not read.
  
  
• 
  15

  I need a good color scan of the latest blood card

  by Deputy Dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i need a good color scan of the latest blood card, front and back.

  any ideas on how to get an actual card if i'm not a jw.

  i'm looking to make a tract that is about the same size, that if left on the ground or the floor, that a jw might pickup and look at.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  You wrote: "I wouldn't want that."
  
  I wouldn't either. Especially in light of the fact that the Society says the Bible text they use is not inspired, contains error, and is fallible. I'd have to be wondering if that no blood text is one of those errors.
  
  I chatted with a Rabbi once and he told me that 1/3 of the words in the Hebrew Bible are missing and the inserted words are guessed at by previous understanding and context. That seems to me to leave quite a bit of room for creative writing.
  
  I asked a Witness once why the ancient Christian Biblical manuscripts were located in the Vatican and not Bethel.
  
  
• 
  20

  Sorry, I gotta borrow this topic from another site.... Some answers please.

  by NotaNess in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why do jws have the memorial anyways?

  they preach that jesus said , do this until i return.

  the jws say he returned in 1914, so what gives here anyway?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  
  
  Proclaimers chap. 10 p. 137 Growing in Accurate Knowledge of the Truth
  As the events following 1914 began to unfold and the Bible Students compared these with what the Master had foretold, they gradually came to appreciate that they were living in the last days of the old system and that they had been since 1914. They also came to understand that it was in the year 1914 that Christ's invisible presence had begun and that this was, not by his personally returning (even invisibly) to the vicinity of the earth, but by his directing his attention toward the earth as ruling King.
  
  
  
• 
  27

  fader's wife expresses 1st doubts....

  by sweet pea in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  talking to a friend (ex-elder) today whose wife was (is) a close friend of mine .

  she's still a jdub but won't talk to me now i'm df'd (apparently it hit her very hard when we left) and so she busied herself with ministry and meetings in search of comfort and affirmation of her faith.

  this didn't work for her and she came out with an unexpected question... .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  Witnessism is just a reality escape. When Witnesses ask: "Where else can we go?", they are asking "How else can we avoid looking at reality?".
  
  Where else can we pursue a selfish self centered obsession of avoidance of reality to the detriment of ourselves and everybody around us?
  
  For me, the core problem is theism. Witnessism is just the context.

  
• 
  40

  JWs Do NOT Care About Getting Converts. They Really Don't!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if jws really cared about making disciples they would never use outdated ways to get their "lifesaving message" across.

  knocking on doors, knowing that most people aren't at home, is simply a waste of time.

  driving around from one part of town to the other side in order to stretch your time, while doing return visits is simply a way to not reach people as quickly as possible.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  Years ago we thought we were "Jehovah's" witnesses. Now the members are conditioned to accept that they are "Watch Tower's" witnesses. In the 50's one book kind of built on the last book and we could study "Let God Be True" and have a pretty good idea of what was going on.
  
  Now the latest book contradicts the books before it and it's very difficult to try to explain to a rational stranger at their door how the 7 trumpets in Revelation represented 7 of Rutherford's book rallies. The Watchtower's theology is a joke, even to many Witnesses. Many I know wouldn't try to explain it or try to defend it. They offer literature and move on.
  
  Why would a member recommend the Witness life to another person? Many Witnesses I know don't like being Witnesses. Many Witnesses I know won't do service in their own neighborhoods. I even know some who attend group meetings in a neighboring town to lessen the chance of meeting somebody they know. That's hardly a recommendation to join the group. Basically, many Witnesses are not proud of their group or happy with the repetitious regimen of study, meetings, and service.
  
  
• 
  38

  News from the Circuit Assembly

  by ThomasCovenant in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it has been our local circuit's two day assembly this weekend.

  it takes place at bristol assembly hall.

  from what i recall seating capacity is about 1200. .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  You wrote: "More 'brothers' are deciding to eat lunch in their cars in the car park"
  
  Here that's called meals on wheels.
  
  
• 
  15

  Jan 27, 1937 Golden Age PDF: "That Delusion Called 'Love'"

  by cabasilas in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  what were jehovah's witnesses distributing door to door 70 years ago?

  here's a pdf of the january 27, 1937 golden age magazine (the forerunner of awake!

  ).this one is real interesting.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  garybuss

  Got it! Thanks!