i remember when i was a "devout" jws i could not wait to get the new watchtowers and awakes from the wednesday nite theocratic ministry school.
i would actually salivate thinking of the new information jehovah had in the magazines for us.
i was "franatical" and i would go home still in my three piece suit and devour the magazines that very nite.
I always feel appreciation for the time that Blondie spends for preparing the posts. Although I do visit occasionally the forum(I'm here since 2001), as I can see I still she is going strong. Is good to have someone to write something with a critic perspective, and analyzing WT's sayings.
Keep the up the good work Blondie
1945 black and white photo of beth-shan (now hand colored):.
beth-shan house built in 1939, ten years after beth-sarim on adjacent property.
beth-shan, which means "house of security" in hebrew, was literally a house of security -(cult compound)*- it was accessed by a single dirt road that was guarded and gated.
That's a very interesting post. It seems that Beth Sarim has over shadowed Beth Shan. I only know Beth Sarim due to the Proclaimers Book. But again WT, tried to hide the skeletons on the closet and the real reason that they build it.
i am interested in the answers for a new poll.
also, feel free to suggest other options, wording etc.agreed in full with the watchtower guidelinesagreed with shunning in general, but not for familywas stumbled by this practice but shunned as instructeddid not agree with the practice and secretly associated with disfellowshipped people .
for me personally, i did not agree with the practice and secretly associated with disfellowshipped people, even whilst at bethel.
I never liked it....in fact I was caught talking to one of disfellowshiped JW, (I was MS) and I was in trouble!!! Now being disfellowshiped my self I HATE IT even more....
I can say it really hurts..I was with my mam along with my children and a "friend"said hi to my mam, my small kids, and pretend that I wasn't there, dispite the fact that I said to him hallo you are you!!! In some other cases there are some JW's who don't care, and they speak to me and I recall recently one he invited me for a drink, since he hasn't any news from me!!!
For sure, no matter what still is something that hurts, despite the fact that I was kicked out 8 years ago...
simultaneously breathing life into the two biggest sci-fi franchises?.
http://news.sky.com/story/1043186/star-wars-episode-vii-new-director-revealed.
as he boldly goes where no director has gone before, may the force be with him!.
May the force be with him
so, a good friend of mine, a pentecostal christian, invited me to go to a retreat with her church.
we're the same age-19 years.
we were friends before i became a witness and she was always patient and caring with me especially throughout my arrogant spell as a witness.
NO...Just another cult....
some readers may recall a thread about my old dad coming to live with me.. after a short time he had to be hospitalised--and now he is in a care home.
ive taken over all his financial affairs--including selling his house.. ive been clearing out the house--and--needless to say--came across tons of wt books--years of old magazines--1000's of them--plus bound volumes going back to the year dot.
i asked him what he wanted me to do with them--and he said dispose of them!.
I have through way some, but kept also some for my library. For instance, all Booze Jo's books(pure apostate material!!!) plus some books that I believe is worth having them, when a JW's knocks the door and you bring some old light to shake the foundations...
I kept the book from my pioneers class, Shine as Illuminators(suspicious...)plus the Live for Ever book, Revelation(what a scary one) the Prophecy of Daniel(the old version 50's) and the most confusing Book ever written by Franz, God's Millenium Kindom...
if the bible is really a very intricate hoax, what is the objective?.
i've read some theories that it has been used to succesfully make a 'business' of religion.. is this really it?
to make money?.
Since I love reading, then I came up with some notes I wrote few years back regarding some disturbing facts in the Old Testament. I combined this notes with some archeological facts of the Mesopotamian region and the Hebrew nation. The outcome was the following:
1. Noah's Flood was just a replica of an older Sumerian myth the Epic of Gilgamesh. In fact there is no scientific evidence that such event ever took place.
2. The contradictions found in the Old Testament, which are many and one example is the "story" of Cain and Abel. Why God likes animal sacrifices instead of fruits and vegetables? If Cain was cursed to hang around in the land, then how come did he build a city? And how many people it takes to build a city? Why would a God of love who hates human sacrifices demands from Abraham to sacrifice his only son? How come Lot had sex with his own daughters? How come few years after the flood human kind got multiplied so much that they decided to build a city?
3. There is not single archeological evidence either from the Egyptian writings or any other ancient civilization that the Israelites stayed prisoners in Egypt for 400 years and the most ridiculous part is that 70 people in just 400 years managed to become a mighty nation of 3 millions!!! The only reference we had is of Ahomose an Egyptian King that sends out from Egypt a group of thieves, smugglers and bandits called Hyksos because they created much trouble to the Egyptian Empire. So maybe this is the only reference we got for the Israelites and their "great exodus". So being humiliated they created the myth of their Exodus, even they use the name of the Egyptian King Ahomose with a slight change and they present it as their savior - Moses!!! Most of the cities that they occupied have been long before desolated, and the strangest is that how come 3 million people hang around in the desert for 40 years without any archeological evidence.
4. Most of all is the misogynist attitude of the nomad writers of the Old Testament. Women are treated like a low form of life, a belonging and not a human creature. If you rape a virgin then you have to pay to her father a certain amount of money and then you can marry her!!! If a woman doesn't scream in a rape attempt she is guilty of prostitution and she must stone to death!!! So women are just a trade item for those Semitic nomads. Not to mention the supposed genocides that Israelites did by the commands of Jah, the killing of innocent babies because they were males, but they spare the life of female virgins in some cases. Is this God of love? Or how come a God of love forbids anyone who is handicap to enter the Temple, because He considers that they will defile Him by entering? The questions are so many that you can write a book regarding Old Testament absurdness.
Then there also some issues in the New Testament: How come in the Early Christian Church, along with the traditional Gospels that circulate at that time, we had some other Gospels like the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel Of Judas, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Joseph, just to name a few, and those Gospels are rejected by the Church Fathers!!! For instance the Gospel of Magdalene shows that she was equal amongst the rest of the disciples and there was turmoil between them and her, since Jesus gave a special role in the Church, something that they couldn't accept: A woman with Priesthood position...
Again there is a huge difference from the God of Wrath and Jealousy in the Old Testament (you will not worship other God, and if you dare I'll kill you), and with the teachings of Jesus. Jesus preached the universal law of Love, he preached about forgiveness, caring the sick and the old, but most of all that Love conquers all things. He was associated with all those that considered by the Mosaic Law as worth of killing them, prostitutes, tax collectors, Gentiles. It seems that Jesus came from another world and not from the angry God of the Hebrews. Perhaps he was just a person that came to bring a different message to mankind, but no matter what, I still keep his message.
In this journey I'm convinced that, life on this planet came through an evolution process. This is a fact, but still I cannot accept that we are just a coincidence. It is just like having a scrap yard with scattered parts of computer hard disks, hard drives, screens, wires, mother boards, power supply, software programs, and suddenly a tornado passes by and a super computer is being created...I do believe in a Creator of this universe, but I don't believe that any religion on this planet can claim that they represent this Creator. I feel that religion instead of bringing people together it divides them, creating more trouble. The point is the major 3 religions of this word, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, their foundation is based upon FAIRY TALES from some old misogynist nomads invented, in order to keep people suppressed. Religion instead of freeing people it enslaves them. Unfortunately no one has the courage to look deep and examine the roots of those 3 religions that cause and causing so much harm in this world. It is matter of personal choice to examine if your religion is best upon facts or is just a myth, once this is done then the real awaking takes process. Instead of spending our time fighting and debating with each other who is wrong or who is right, we could use that afford to create a better world of understanding.
I guess John Lennon was so right when he said:
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
i have seen debates and shizzle about god or not god etc etc.. i was even confronted by an aggressive and trheatening muslim in the street, who was angry that i wanted proof that god existed.
he ranted on a load of old b0110cks about 'hell' and stuff.
finally he yelled at me: 'do you want god to write your name in the sky?
I will reverse the question: Can you prove that God doesn't exist?
I was only 7....what I recall is the frenzy that existed among the JW's...The end is just around the corner. most of all I recall 1984...I was teanager, and the end was again just around the corner...
now in my mid 40's, the end is still near...
i attended recently a circuit assembly and notice a change in the wording of the 2nd baptismal question .it used to be :.
"do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of jehovah's witnesses in association with god's spirit-directed organization?
now they changed it to :.
My conclusion, reading this post are the following:
1. Spirit Directed, means that there is a chance of an intepretation mistake, concerning a Biblical text or prophecy. They have always said that we are only DIRECTED with the Holy Spirit, in order to use that as an excuse for their flip flop doctrines and failed prophecies. So if someone comes and points out that they failed, they could easily say, yes because we are only Spirit Directed!!! Now with the new change, spirit anointed, it means that they have received the Holy Spirit, like the Christians in the First Century and immediately they had the gift to perfom miracles, speak foreign tongues, and to prophecy. With this change, WT is saying to their followers, "listen you guys, we are Spirit Anointed, so don't question us, or mess with us". The reason to proceed with this change is to strengthen their status and power over the rank and file.
2. The second change, Association, has to do with legal issues and mainly with their evil practice of disfellowship. So if someone is kicked out, they can easily claim that he doesn't associate with us anymore, saving their asses from the legal issues that they might occur, if they are an Organization, while Association is just a group of people that they are gathering together and share the same ideas.
Indeed WT is becoming more and more a dangerous Cult, and the leaders of the WT, they are only trying to save their asses from responsibility and any legal actions against them.
