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  40

  Watch Tower Roots:

  by blackguard in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  fascist and the church of.

  corporate mammon .

  "by their fruits shall ye recognize them": this paleo-semitic thinking, is as every bit an axiomatic statement about evidence collection as the hellenic system so pervasive in western society today.

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  Many thanks for the thread reference that you provided sf. That was an excellent discussion and I felt that some parts of the debate reflected much of my own thoughts on these matters.

  By their very definition conspiracy theories, secret agendas (call them what you will) cannot be supported by the normal rules of factual evidence. For this reason they are wide open to a variety of interpretations dependent upon who is reading the situation and why.

  For example, although Russells father shows up in the Masonic records, Charles Taze Russell does not. This is explained by those who support such theories in one of two ways. Either CT Russell was too senior or prominent to have his name recorded, or his name was removed from the records in yet another Masonic conspiracy.

  When I was studying "the truth" I asked for factual evidence to support some of the things that I was being told. It was not forthcoming and consequently I did not "join up". I was then told that the evidence was there but because I did not want to see it I could not.

  I get the feeling that conspiracy theories travel along much the same lines.

  link
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  40

  Watch Tower Roots:

  by blackguard in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  fascist and the church of.

  corporate mammon .

  "by their fruits shall ye recognize them": this paleo-semitic thinking, is as every bit an axiomatic statement about evidence collection as the hellenic system so pervasive in western society today.

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  link

  Blackguard,

  Many thanks for your post. I get the feeling that I have read much of it somewhere before, have you posted it elsewhere?

  Also could you give your definition of the words ILLUMINISM and ILLUMINIST as they appear quite often in your essay. I do of course understand the dictionary definition but your use of these terms feels a little unusual. Perhaps you are using them in a different way.

  Thanks in advance for clearing these points up.

  link
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  10

  Forum Decorum

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  following on from the thread "be nice...", don't you think there would be a lot less disrespect and flame wars if all members had either .

  a. attended an apostfest (i.e.

  met their fellow posters).

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  link

  I for one would very much like to be more open and I know that there are many here in a similar situation to my self with family IN who they do not want to lose.

  The more open you can be the more interesting your posts can be. I have some excellent letters exchanged with the Bethels both London and Brooklyn that would make interesting topics here.

  My letters to them got shunted around and read by all the Elders in my local Congregations before I got the replies to them, so local lurkers would be able to immediately identify me from the contents.

  My family was aware that I was writing these letters so the fact that others knew about them did no harm.

  Just one example of how not being open can hold you back.

  link
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  5

  Something quick and easy!

  by link in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my wife was given a hard time out in field service today.. a householder told her that she belonged to a wacky american religion.

  this upset her so she told them that the governing body of jehovahs witnesses were not all americans and that several nationalities were represented amongst them.. can anybody confirm that this is actually the case?

  where in fact do they all come from?.

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  link

  My wife was given a hard time out in field service today.

  A householder told her that she belonged to a wacky American religion. This upset her so she told them that the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses were not all Americans and that several nationalities were represented amongst them.

  Can anybody confirm that this is actually the case? Where in fact do they all come from?

  link
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  51

  Ever hear of the "Three-Brain"???

  by WingCommander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am a "newbie" on here, so you'll have to bere with me.

  my question is, have any of you heard about a group of scam artists going around to the congregations trying to peddle their version of self-healing crap???

  this was about 10-12 years ago in the usa.

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  link

  Mulan,

  My wife has managed to shrink a malignant tumour (to the size of a pea so far) using only homeopathic and other natural remedies and processes. Most of the people she started out with who were diagnosed with this condition are now dead. Neither her nor I are the least bit interested in the scientific explanation behind her improvement in health and in fact we think that the belief in it by itself had a positive effect.

  I will never cease to be amazed by the people who ask to see all the data and the results of the laboratory controlled testing of any type of natural medicine or processes. Never once in all my long life have I heard of one patient ask his doctor to see the same data for the drug he was just prescribed.

  Within the last seven days a neighbour of mine has died because the drugs given him for an unrelated ailment gave him kidney failure. I bet he never asked to see the test data and check the side effects.

  Ill take my chances with things that I can see working rather than take the drugs I can see killing people.

  link
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  2

  Unified Thinking

  by link in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  despite the fact that there has to be unified thinking in the kh, i have sometimes heard brothers arguing amongst themselves over the interpretation of scripture.. one such discussion concerned "the days of noah".. this elder was adamant that noah never did any preaching work after jehovah gave him the plans for building the ark.

  his reasoning was that since jehovah already knew at that point exactly what size the ark must be, he must also know how many persons would be occupying it.

  his point being that jehovah would not expect noah to continue preaching to people that he was aware would never listen.. this obviously has some connotations frrom a prophetic point of view and most of his listeners said he was talking rubbish.. what do you think?

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  link

  Despite the fact that there has to be unified thinking in the KH, I have sometimes heard brothers arguing amongst themselves over the interpretation of scripture.

  One such discussion concerned "the days of Noah".

  This Elder was adamant that Noah never did any preaching work after Jehovah gave him the plans for building the Ark. His reasoning was that since Jehovah already knew at that point exactly what size the Ark must be, He must also know how many persons would be occupying it. His point being that Jehovah would not expect Noah to continue preaching to people that He was aware would never listen.

  This obviously has some connotations frrom a prophetic point of view and most of his listeners said he was talking rubbish.

  What do you think? Can you recall any similar disagreements on interpretation ??

  link
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  13

  Anyone ever been hypnotized?

  by TresHappy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone on this forum used hypnosis in an effort to lose weight or quit smoking?

  if you have any experiences, please share.

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  I qualified as a Hypnotherapist in 1999 and I can tell you that it is definately effective for some people.

  A good Hypnotherapist will be able to tell you, after a short consultation. if he can help you.

  This is dependent on a number of factors that could only be drawn out during a personal consultation. To get into a deep discussion on personal cases here on the board would not be helpful but I can try and give you general information if that might help.

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  16

  Discussions With God

  by IslandWoman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those that pray, do you pray only in quiet reverence and thankfulness or do you also pray as if god were right there in front of you and you have this bee in your bonnet (or whatever .

  personally i pray to god about anything even about being upset with him.

  i love god and do not fear him so to lovingly be upset with him sometimes, is just me.

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  For me the most important part of prayer is gratitude. and then forgiveness

  I don't have a lot in a material way but I am grateful for everything I have, my health and well being etc. I thank God for it and I always see the cup as being half full and never half empty.

  Getting back to the actual question, I pray to God as to a superior being therefore He possibly does not find my prayers to be of a particularly chatty nature.

  link

  Edited by - link on 21 November 2002 14:29:27
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  101

  Americans?

  by MrMoe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thanks, americans, that really nice of you.

  englishman.. this statement lead me to thinking something.

  i am not posting this to argue, cause a flame war, or the like.

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  link

  Mr Moe,

  You said:

  1. I am sure the general feelings of Americans in "general" is that we are a loud, crass, rude, violent, and uncouth society.

  I dont think that many people would argue with that in general terms but it is very difficult to generalise on this. Some of the best people I ever met were Americans and Ive had some wonderful friendships with people from the USA, both male and female.

  What you describe is the foreigners overall impression of American society in general. It obviously does not apply to every member of the population.

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  15

  What am I missing???

  by link in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in paragraph 17 on page 15 of the watchtower for october 1 2002 it says:.

  "like jeremiah, we too bear an unpopular message.

  it is the same message for which jesus was despised.".

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  ignat,

  Noone could argue with your statements about new light and adding to scripture.

  What I really want to know is how do the JWs see this and how do they seperate these things?

  My interest arises from the fact that I will have to debate this with a family member who is an active JW. If I know what he is likely to respond I can prepare my case accordingly.

  Forewarned is forearmed.

  link