"i believe in one god, and no more; and i hope for happiness beyond this life.
i believe the equality of man, and i believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.
but, lest it should be supposed that i believe many other things in addition to these, i shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things i do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.
count me in as well, actually depending on the definition of conscious class, maybe I was a member already years ago, before looking at this excellent webside.
I just didnt know, and thought, its me, who got things wrong...now I know, its not me, its the ORG.
"we found absolutely nothing in support of 607 b.c.e.
all historians pointed to a date twenty years later.
".
The issue with JW, who are interested in this subject (most dont care), I was one of them, they think like that:
537 (actaully 539) is a certain date, then the bible says, Jerusalem be devastated for 70 years, so it must be 607.
If secular sources point to something else, then the bible must be right. secular sources are not trustworthy and often needed changing.
What most JW do not know, because it is hidden from the average student of Gods word (through WTS literature only):
1) 537 or 539 in that case, are also based only on secular sources
2) the time span of 70 years can and perhaps does include the time babylon dominated several countires, not limited to jerusalem
3) most important: it is quite a spectacular stretch to calculate from 7 times foretold regarding a pagan king to the time which should elapse til the reestablishment of Gods kingdom. In fact, this dream of Nebu had no further significant prophetic meaning. its just nonsense.
if so, what happened ?.
does it constitue a reason for a jc ?.
if so, what happened ?
does it constitue a reason for a JC ?
(romans 12:4-8; 1 corinthians 12:12-28; ephesians 4:15, 16; colossians 2:19).
8:34,35.. comments.
4:15.. comments.
Here they go, since whether their example nor their "superior" bible-teaching can give proof of their god given authority, they must obviously indoctrinate their flock with the ususal stretch of scriptures and even worse, with subtle fear tactics (example of Korah)
sad thing, most witnesses do not notice. The WT conductor mentioned, that apparently there must be problems with obedience , otherwise this article would not have been printed. hm, I guess he is right...
one thing that truly bothers me is that the religion forces you to accept an understanding they have expressed.
they might very well change their view and you simply have to accept the newest view or you are the bad guy!
the generation understanding has changed so much since its inception, how could any witness possibly be 100% sure that what they're told to believe in is "the truth"??.
The fact, that they broke away from strange and unbiblical (my opinion, no debate required ;-)
teachings like hellfire, trinity, idol worship etc...and then, once you trusted their reasoning, they introduce through the back-door things like:
manmade rules (about holidays, blood, JC etc)
GB worship
stretching of scriptures ("slave class", little flock, head covering many many more)
guilt and fear
and: You swallow it, because they taught such precious truths (see above), you turn off your brain, once you trust them.
This tactic is visible in the main study aids:
first the "bible teach" book, containing mostly reasonings which I still believe to a large part , like introducing God, Jesus, Gods purpose, resurrection hope etc...all nice, and has at least some substance...(most people dont care much about the 7 times anyway, as long as they find confoirmation, that our days are the last days....)
and after you learned this, they come with the new "rule" book, "Gods love"....I wonder how many would continue study, if you started with the Gods love book first, when they still have their brains turned on...
is it true that there is a now policy that if you are inactive and not attending meetings that after three years you will be d/f'd?
i have a friend who is very concerned that this is now policy.
can any shed some light?.
To hound inactive ones will never be admitted, I thi nk, even most elders would not like that.
It is put in words like "to help, to encourage, to show Gods love and concern"....
in theory, that sounds nice, but if it turns into a witchhunt (dont know if it is intended or nor), then it may awake more of the elders as well, they may start seeing the control freaks for what they are....
odd enough, some publishers I encountered wanted the elders to be more police-like...fortunately this does not work in our congo...
jehovah's name people have delighted in recent refinements in understanding coming through god's slave class at the direction of holy spirit.
these adjustments in thinking have at times required humility and reasonableness to be exhibited by longtime servants of jehovah.
consider, for example, the recent information showing that we could not put an exact timetable on the calling of those to serve along with christ jesus in the heavenly kingdom.
lol,
this is brilliant....
was on summer, experience went like that:.
"a couple from russia, sold even their house in order to be able to attend an assembly in germany.....".
basically no more information given.
ldrnomo
o yeah the yearbooks, never cared for them too much, just went through some short updates on certain countires in the beginning, but I think in all those years as a JW, I may have read one or two cover to cover...it never prooved anything to me...
was on summer, experience went like that:.
"a couple from russia, sold even their house in order to be able to attend an assembly in germany.....".
basically no more information given.
was on summer, experience went like that:
"a couple from Russia, sold even their house in order to be able to attend an assembly in Germany....."
basically no more information given
hm,but important questions are left open:
Did they plan to sell their house anyway, and just used some of the money to go to the assembly ? - Then the experience leads to the wrong conclusion.
Did they sell the house, because they planned to move to germany ? - Then their motive was at least not merely to attend the assembly !
Did they really just sell the house so they are able to attend, which otherwise would not be possible ? - Then what happened afterwards, did they live on the street, join bethel or what ??? If they came back, having no housing, sorry, then they are just plain stupid, or rely on other brothers, who, being not spiritual, stayed home ?
Many questions left open after this strange experience, but what did the brother wnat to tell the audience ?
I guess, the message was, dont be so materilistic, put all your means to the kingdom work (=WTS interests)...
Many brothers were a bit puzzled at this strange example.....some brain dead of course swallowed every bit of his tlak as the word of God himself...
there was a time when a witness would proudly tell others that they were jehovah's witnesses.
now, more jws skirt away from expressing what they are and who they represent.
in the old days, you could comment at a meeting and express the research you did on a subject.
Interesting point about the quality of food.
Its definately true, that the food is simplified to a low level, it used to be at least more interesting.
Sometimes for research I look up older articles, they usually go much deeper...still weird, but at least food for thought.
Today, its all either rule making, or repetition of same old stuff. If you really take advice, and prepare for the meetings, its ususally done in a few minutes.
JW used to frown upon other religions for their poor spiritual nourishment, but they are going the same path.....
