garybuss

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Posts by garybuss

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  8

  can anyone remember?

  by rekless in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  at one time in 1954 -70 the wtbts did not consider themselves as a religion, what did they consider themselves as?

  i remember as a kid i was told "no, we are not a religion.

  " because religion was called a snare and a racket.

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  garybuss

  Face The Facts 1938 pp. 7-8
  
  To make good his challenge the Devil must turn men away from God and cause them to oppose Jehovah. His chief means of accomplishing that purpose is fraud or deceit. His name, Serpent means deceiver. He has deceived all men except those who have strictly adhered to and obeyed God's commandments written in His Bible. Knowing that men by nature look to some higher power, Satan brought in religion as a form of worship and led men to deify creatures rather than to worship Jehovah God the Creator in spirit and in truth. Until recently all of us believed that religion and Christianity are the same. The legislative bodies of the land and the courts also have used, and continue to use, the words religion and Christianity as synonymous terms. Now God has made it clearly to be seen by those who diligently seek the truth that religion is a form of worship but which denies the power of God and turns men away from God, whereas Christianity means the strict obedience to God's commandments. Religion and Christianity are therefore exactly opposite to each other.
  
  
  
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  22

  Spirit Directed Organization..How?

  by Blueblades in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  correct me if i'm not understanding this phrase, 'spirit directed organization'.. my understanding is that the watchtower has recently taught ( someone may remember the exact watchtower that this was taught ) that the anointed and every jehovah's witness has the same holy spirit, no more no less.. nothing special is directing the watchtower society when it comes to understanding the scriptures.

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  why then do they keep on using this phrase, that they are being directed by holy spirit and still use it when asking one of the baptism questions.. if they have no 'special knowledge', how is it that they write talks about being directed by holy spirit especially when it comes to distrct convention talks.. blueblades.

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  garybuss

  Talmud directed organization, spirit directed, zombie directed, it's all the same. Smoke and mirrors, bosses and peons, ink and paper . . . cash and boxes:-)
  
  
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  11

  Functionally Insane:The JW Altered Reality

  by BreakingAway in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  insane .

  1.not sane; not of sound mind; mentally deranged.

  2.of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a person who is mentally deranged: insane actions; an insane asylum.

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  garybuss

  Crazy isn't thoughts, although thoughts can be a symptom, crazy is behavior. I can have an irrational thought . . . a crazy thought . . . and as long as I don't act on that thought I'm considered sane. That's why mental illness facilities are called "behavioral health" facilities.
  
  I can think the seven trumpets of Revelation were the seven Jehovah's Witness District assemblies from 1922 to 1928, starting with Cedar Point, Ohio and ending with Detroit, Michigan, and no harm done. But when I refuse modern medical treatment, quit college, and shun my family because I think the seven trumpets of Revelation were the seven Jehovah's Witness District assemblies from 1922 to 1928, starting with Cedar Point, Ohio and ending with Detroit, Michigan, I've turned bizarre thoughts into irrational behavior.
  
  One definition of sanity is the ability to differentiate between reality and fantasy. Many Watch Tower Witnesses I know fail that test. That's why it's futile to try to have a rational discussion with them.
  
  
  
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  23

  Are we living in the Last Days?

  by Kosonen in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have you ever thought why apostle paul do not mention wars, pestilence, earthquackes, famine when he talks about the last days?

  or why apostle peter only says, that in the last days ridiculers will come, asking were is his promised presence, and that from the beginning all remains exactly the same?

  and why does peter not say: look at the wars, but says: all has not been the same, because a flood occured.

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  garybuss

  I'm living in my last days. Rutherford lived in his last days. So did Knorr, Franz, and Henschel. Don Adams is living in his last days.
  
  
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  15

  UBM: Bringing CoC Home

  by TheListener in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't post as much as i used to.

  i certainly don't start many threads anymore.. but, i thought it would be nice to get some feedback.

  both from those that know my situation well and those that don't.i am a ubm.

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  garybuss

  "fragile peace" Isn't my definition of a happy marriage or a happy anything.
  
  Every single marriage problem I know of is a marriage problem. Marriage problems won't respond to a religious solution. It's the same as if one spouse is a drunk. If both partners become drunks, the problem didn't go away.
  
  I'm not gonna be a hostage. I'm not gonna be a hostage at home, I'm not gonna be a hostage at work, I'm not gonna be a hostage anywhere. If my home isn't a safe place for me to speak my mind openly and honestly, then that home's gonna be changed in fast order.
  
  Life's too short for me to have to walk on egg shells because my partner wants to live in a fantasy world. I'm absolutely not gonna live that way.
  
  
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  47

  Looking Back, Was Being A Witness A Worthless Experience To You?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was there anything positive about being a jehovah's witness?

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  garybuss

  Was there anything positive about being a Jehovah's Witness?

  No!
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  501

  Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  having problem pasting this...

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  garybuss

  It's still interesting to me that Jehovah's Witness volunteers could get in trouble at Bethel for studying the Bible. I see that "no rational study" is a company wide policy and the policy was recently advertised in the Kingdom Ministry tabloid.
  
  I wasn't in Bethel. A team of wild blue mules couldn't have drug me there.
  
  
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  23

  playing along with the disfellowshipped game

  by milligal in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my son has come to stay with me for the summer, and this morning i got a phone call which showed on the caller id as my son's grandparents (my jw ex's parents who are also jw).

  i assumed it was my ex calling from their house and answered handing the phone to my son.

  that's when i heard his grandma's voice on the phone.

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  garybuss

  First of all, anybody who shuns me or snubs me or anyone important to me doesn't get to call my home, visit, or have any contact whatsoever with my family. I don't associate with mean people.
  
  I don't explain or complain. That's just the way it is. It's their game. It's their decision to start it, but I get to finish it on my rules.
  
  
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  42

  YOU WANNA SEE SOMETHING FUNNY???

  by Mary in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok, i was working on my project about "new light" and i came across a very interesting statement that was made 24 years ago via the wt:.

  december 1, 1984 watchtower:.

  "....have apostates who claim that "the last days" began at pentecost and cover the entire christian era promoted christian alertness?

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  garybuss

  Hi Parakeet,
  
  I think a Watchtower study article that said: "We were wrong . . . again!" was a dumb thing to do. I'm referring to the 1995 generation article and the sheep and goats change. That was an ego gone wrong. It should never have been allowed.
  
  You wrote: "Even the most dense dubs are aware that the 1914 generation is all but gone."
  
  1975 was a much bolder, if shorter, campaign, and in my world, a much bigger failure, and they didn't rush to press with admissions that was an error. Even the most dense dubs I know promoted the denials of 1975 with conviction. The admission came years later in a convoluted footnote in an Awake! magazine. Why the bold and public admission of error with the generation issue? The article signaled the success of a faction coming into power.
  
  The real message of the Watch Tower Society has always been the concept that the Society is God's channel. The Society's books are always about themselves. Their study of the Bible is relevant only in how they can show that the Bible conveys the idea that the Society is fulfilling promises and prophesies. The Society's error was their explanation that the proof of their appointment by God was their ability to predict the future without error. Of course, they haven't been able to predict anything at all.
  
  Now, all they have is this chant that says: "We are still God's channel even though we have never been right once . . . ever.". This shameless advertising is motivating Joe Blow Witness to check up on the Society's history and Joe Blow isn't liking what he's seeing. Now he's stuck and it's just the threat of shunning that's keeping him from walking away for good.
  
  
  
  
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  42

  YOU WANNA SEE SOMETHING FUNNY???

  by Mary in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok, i was working on my project about "new light" and i came across a very interesting statement that was made 24 years ago via the wt:.

  december 1, 1984 watchtower:.

  "....have apostates who claim that "the last days" began at pentecost and cover the entire christian era promoted christian alertness?

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  garybuss

  Warlock, you wrote: "Remember, we were taught that 'the last days' of the first century were a minor fulfillment of Jesus prophecy, so then the apostles would see 'the end' in their time. Those who are alive during the 1914 generation would see the major fulfillment, namely the great tribulation leading to Armeggedon. That may be their thought here."
  
  That's the typical and the a-typical. It's looking to me, like they have fractionally merged the atypical into the typical. If they have, then their premises don't work in concept anymore. Of course, they've never been anything but conceptual.
  
  In my opinion, the Society was stupid to mess with any of the Fred Franz concepts. It was all smoke and mirrors. There was nothing that could be disproved. It was so irrational, I believe most people thought it was above their heads and they just accepted it all and went on with the weekly rote schedule of rituals.
  
  Now the Society is trying to make that which is unreasonable appeal to reason, like our topic today, and it won't fit. Fred Franz relied strictly on fiction that was protected by superstition and of course, fiction can not be disproved.
  
  I have written that the Society lacks clear leadership. I hereby dispense with that theory. The Society can demonstrate no leadership at all. The Society is schizophrenic. Contradiction is the rule of the day. Maybe the active Witnesses who are immersed in the manic day to day Witness race to nowhere can't see it, but to an objective observer, the Society is faltering and failing and trying new programs to replace the failed old programs.
  
  The Watch Tower Society is like the abusive parent. They say they love Jehovah's Witnesses but they obviously resent the Witness people. Do as I say, not as I do! How dare you question me?!
  
  People have always been Witnesses in spite of the teachings, not because of them. Fred Franz knew this. The current guys don't have a clue.