StAnn

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Posts by StAnn

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  47

  1914- What's the big deal if it's the wrong date?

  by cognac in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hear it a lot on this board that the 607 date is wrong... i figured that out while i was a jw... never really thought much about it though.

  just thought, ok, if it's wrong then everything is moved up about 20 or so years.... and for that matter, why is it such a big deal to the society?

  why can't they just fix the date so it's right.

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  StAnn

  You should read Don Cameron's Captives of a Concept. It really does explain this whole thing very clearly.
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  5

  does it say anything in the bible about the fall of false religion?

  by looloo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  before the end will come , is it really clear that it means exactly that ?

  or could it be interpereted as something else ?

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  StAnn

  I've never seen anything to indicate this. I think this whole "false religion" thing is a construct of the JWs because, if there is "false" religion, there must be "true" religion. This is an attempt to promote themselves as the "true" religion. Since nothing else they've ever said is true, I don't know why we'd believe the fall of false religion doctrine, either, considering the source is tainted.
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  51

  I see Dead People...

  by zeroday in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  and other famous movie lines....what's yours...

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  StAnn

  Often, my husband quotes this line at me that Nick Cage said to Laura Dern in Wild At Heart:

  "The way your mind works is God's own mystery."
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  8

  A funny moment at the doctor's office

  by StAnn in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i took my son to the doctor and she decided he needs surgery.

  the surgery scheduler was asking me some pre-op questions and popped up with, "are you a jehovah's witness?

  " i blurted out, "hell no!

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  StAnn

  NMG, that's a good idea. I hope other ex-JWs remember to do that. It could certainly have nasty consequences if they overlook that.
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  20

  Your comments on this Memorial Bible reference (1 Cor. 11:26)

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  (1 corinthians 11:26) for as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the lord, until he arrives.. here's mine.

  i was told that i have an earthly hope.

  i won't eat from the loaf or drink from the cup, so i won't.

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  StAnn

  The real point is this, IMO:

  1. Only the "anointed" can partake so the WT can impose this class structure to keep most JWs down;

  2. Many of the converts came from christianity and were used to partaking of communion. This is a little concession the WT makes so the converts can feel that they're still in a bonafide christian religion where communion is offered, even if they only pass around the bread and wine and don't partake.
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  5

  I have a wild theory, no way to support it. Russell experts help out?

  by Wasanelder Once in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have often wondered about the time that russell was growing up.

  he was a child of the civil war.

  when gettysburg was fought he was 11 years old.

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  StAnn

  What was Russell's father's name?
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  8

  A funny moment at the doctor's office

  by StAnn in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i took my son to the doctor and she decided he needs surgery.

  the surgery scheduler was asking me some pre-op questions and popped up with, "are you a jehovah's witness?

  " i blurted out, "hell no!

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  StAnn

  I took my son to the doctor and she decided he needs surgery. The surgery scheduler was asking me some pre-op questions and popped up with, "Are you a Jehovah's Witness?" I blurted out, "Hell NO! I left them years ago! Who told you I was ever a Jehovah's Witness?" He looked at me and said, "It's on the form. We have to ask everybody that because of the blood transfusion issue."

  I was so embarrassed.
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  24

  Today I got diagnosed with PTSD... I thought only people that went to war

  by cognac in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  and things like that got ptsd... .

  anyways, my husband and i talked and i said that i can't take the anxiety of going to the meetings anymore, so either i'm not going or i'm bringing and ipod or something... he's very supportive.

  he felt bad about pushing me to do it.

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  StAnn

  Cognac, I had a terrible case of PTSD. Was off work for 2 1/2 years. All related to my JW upbringing and subsequent df-ing. I had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for 15 days. I too was surprised by that diagnosis but now it makes perfect sense. It's like being a prisoner of war, in a way. I have whole years I don't remember still. I was in therapy for five years. I'm glad your husband supports you. I was completely alone. Now life is good and those days are behind me. Hang in there~you can get through this.
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  18

  "How The Governing Body Is Organized" - WT May 15 2008

  by BluesBrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i know this was covered in fokyc's posting of the whole mag, but i felt it was worth showing seperately.

  it gives an insight into how they work these days.. .

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  StAnn

  Fair Mind, good point. Do all of the anointed vote for their representatives? LOL

  I think it's very telling that this is nothing more than a publishing company when the ones who decide how to spend the contributions are on the publishing committe. Since this is allegedly a religion, you'd think service and ministry would have first dibs at the money.
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  21

  Was Judas present? Passing of the emblems.

  by LtCmd.Lore in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  .and they got things ready for the passover.

  21 while they were eating, he said: "truly i say to you, one of you will betray me.

  27 for which one is greater, the one reclining at the table or the one ministering?

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  StAnn

  Here's a tidbit from the Catholic Encyclopedia that tries to emphasize the point of the story:

  "Similar difficulties are raised as to the discrepancies in detail discovered in the various accounts of the betrayal itself. But it will be found that, without doing violence to the text, the narratives of the four Evangelists can be brought into harmony, though in any case there will remain some obscure or doubtful points. It is disputed, for instance, whether Judas was present at the institution of the Holy Eucharist and communicated with the other Apostles. But the balance of authority is in favour of the affirmative. There has also been some difference of opinion as to the time of the treachery. Some consider that it was suddenly determined on by Judas after the anointing at Bethania, while others suppose a longer negotiation with the chief priests.

  "But these textual difficulties and questions of detail fade into insignificance beside the great moral problem presented by the fall and treachery of Judas. In a very true sense, all sin is a mystery. And the difficulty is greater with the greatness of the guilt, with the smallness of the motive for doing wrong, and with the measure of the knowledge and graces vouchsafed to the offender. In every way the treachery of Judas would seem to be the most mysterious and unintelligible of sins. For how could one chosen as a disciple, and enjoying the grace of the Apostolate and the privilege of intimate friendship with the Divine Master, be tempted to such gross ingratitude for such a paltry price? And the difficulty is greater when it is remembered that the Master thus basely betrayed was not hard and stern, but a Lord of loving kindness and compassion. Looked at in any light the crime is so incredible, both in itself and in all its circumstances, that it is no wonder that many attempts have been made to give some more intelligible explanation of its origin and motives, and, from the wild dreams of ancient heretics to the bold speculations of modern critics, the problem presented by Judas and his treachery has been the subject of strange and startling theories. As a traitor naturally excites a peculiarly violent hatred, especially among those devoted to the cause or person betrayed, it was only natural that Christians should regard Judas with loathing, and, if it were possible, paint him blacker than he was by allowing him no good qualities at all. This would be an extreme view which, in some respects, lessens the difficulty. For if it be supposed that he never really believed, if he was a falsedisciple from the first, or, as the Apocryphal Arabic Gospel of the Infancy has it, was possessed by Satan even in his childhood, he would not have felt the holy influence of Christ or enjoyed the light and spiritual gifts of the Apostolate....

  "...it may be urged that in exaggerating the original malice of Judas, or denying that there was even any good in him, we minimize or miss the lesson of this fall. The examples of the saints are lost on us if we think of them as being of another order without our human weaknesses. And in the same way it is a grave mistake to think of Judas as a demon without any elements of goodness and grace. In his fall is left a warning that even the great grace of the Apostolate and the familiar friendship of Jesus may be of no avail to one who is unfaithful. And, though nothing should be allowed to palliate the guilt of the great betrayal, it may become more intelligible if we think of it as the outcome of gradual failing in lesser things. So again the repentance may be taken to imply that the traitor deceived himself by a false hope that after all Christ might pass through the midst of His enemies as He had done before at the brow of the mountain. And though the circumstances of the death of the traitor give too much reason to fear the worst, the Sacred Text does not distinctly reject the possibility of real repentance. And Origen strangely supposed that Judas hanged himself in order to seek Christ in the other world and ask His pardon (In Matt., tract. xxxv). "

  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08539a.htm

  Perhaps it is somewhat irrelevant whether Judas was actually present or not. He was an apostle and he did betray Jesus. Of that we can be sure.