...and that applies to religion as well as politics.. if someone simply believes such and such is true, it doesn't really matter whether you "prove" it or not.
people will believe what they want to believe..
That's especially true when religion enters politics - then those political views become a matter of salvation if any compromise is proposed.
It's also true when religion becomes political - i.e. a power-struggle between adherents who absolutely believe the other side is eternally doomed.
popes have stepped down before but it's rare........the last one was pope gregory in 1415.. benedict cites poor health....perhaps so.
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/pope-benedict-stepping-down-shocking-abdication.
"citing age and infirmity as his reason for leaving the papacy, benedict's action comes................... less than a month after the decades-old child abuse scandal drew nearer to the pope's door, with revelations published in the los angeles times earlier this month that cardinal roger mahony, then archbishop of los angeles, sought to evade the law in cases involving the sexual abuse of children by the priests in his charge by sending them to treatment facilities in states that did not require health professionals to report the crimes to authorities.. at the time that mahony was covering up the crimes of his priests, benedict, then known as cardinal joseph ratzinger, led the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, the vatican office that oversaw such matters.
Giordano -
Are you sure he gets to appoint his replacement? From what I've read, he doesn't even get to nominate one. However Ratzinger did handpick many in the College of Cardinals, and he made sure they were conservative as he is - to ensure that the next pope chosen will continue the church on its path of regression conservatism.
question for the "spokesmen" otherwise known as jehovah's witness' governing body.. how shall we identify the already published teaching which is now obsolete, adjusted, corrected and not to be used for current teaching?.
i know you prefer to slough it off as old light because there is still "light" in that phrase.
but, a close examination would prove that incorrect too.. .
"If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things. Why not? Because all the evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years. Of the generation that observed the beginning of the 'last days' in 1914, Jesus foretold:'This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.' Therefore, as a young person, you will never fulfill any career that this system offers."
- Awake May 22, 1969, page 15
This wasn't an opinion. It was sheer deceit for the purpose of instilling urgency into Watchtower followers like my parents were/are.
i'm thinking they will be force to do a reality check as the clock ticks and things keep going down hill for the corporation they are ceos of.. that means they may come clean or change their delusion as the hard cold facts come knocking at thier door.
or they may hang on tenaciously to the delusion and exibit more and more bizarre reasonings.. i'm thinking this delusion to too hard to get out of and so exspect more bizarre behavior.
.
Freddie Franz was great at coming up with original loony ideas and explanations, complete with shockingly backwards logic which confounded and dazzled Watchtards like me.
Now that they don't have that oracle any longer, it seems (to me) the looniness factor isn't there (except for what they copy and paste from Freddie) and they now feel desperation and rule with a Solomon/Rehoboam-like iron fist. They don't seem to have any other card in their hand.
wouldn't it be cool if the pope did an expose thing about the catholic church and all the heirarchies/inside secrets, etc., like ray franz did when he exposed the inner workings at the highest level of the jw religion?
!.
Benedict's idea of an exposé would be just "I think some errors in judgment have been made at certain times in the past."
on another thread, stay alive til 2020, caliber persuasively reasoned that, by 2020, there will have been a significantly even-greater trend of decline in publisher numbers.
the statistical workout caliber provided to support this assertion is impressive and i can only say "wow!
i want to stay tuned!
They won't have a penny by 2020.
hi guys,.
i am so out of touch with tv shows and i have got a lot of catching up to do.. some-one suggested dexter and it was fantastic and what an ending.
really loved it.
My favorite drama is Justified on FX. Timothy Olyphant as a deputy in backwoods Kentucky is beyond superb.
i've been playing around with wt statistics recently, helped by the great data available on jwfacts.com.
i wanted to share somehting with the community, maybe you've seen something like this before.. continuing the trend of decline seen during the last 30 years, i was able to extrapolate the year when wt growth might finally end.
if trends continue, we may only have to wait about 8 more years, 9 years to see it reported if the wt decides to report it at all, to see publisher growth end and possibly reverse.. the graph shows the annual growth rate of average publishers during the last 31 years.
Sir82,
Excellent summary of major events leading to trends in Watchtower growth / decline. To your list I would add that the 1982 publication of the "Live Forever" book with its large vivid pictures of paradise led to an increase in the number of Bible studies and converts, at least throughout that decade.
matthew 24:45-47. .
old light: jesus appointed rutherford and his associates over his belongings in 1919. verse 47. new light: jesus appointed rutherford and his associates over his domestics in 1919. verse 45. why the change?
what difference does it make?
Interesting thoughts on the ramifications of their teachings, Yadda Yadda.
I don't think the Watchtower hierarchy as currently constituted will let the other sheep into the New Covenant. They teach that Christ made a covenant with his apostles to rein in the Kingdom, and they will always say that the covenant means you are of the little flock of rulers.
However as the 21st century drags on and on, with no Armageddon in sight and if the # of anointed decrease (a big "if"), then maybe they'll see that it doesn't make any sense to have the harsh division at the annual Memorial any more. But they will also have to face a whole lot of other changes as the century goes on, including decoupling themselves from the 1914 and 1919 dates. In fact they may have to either discard the "last days" teachings or totally redefine what that means somehow.
if you live in the u s a or the united kingdom, this is how the wt society views your government, your nation :-.
yes, as an ugly, evil terrifying beast !
this is based on the book of revelation chapter 13 , quoted as follows in the revelation climax book.
Sure, Britain and America have an alliance. Britain even sends some troops in support of some of America's military adventures.
To portray Britain as a world power, part of a Dual power with America, is just plain wrong and has been for a long time. America is currently the sole military superpower in the world. Militarily, they outspend the next 10 countries combined.
