no more assemblies or conventions.... no more service meetings, book studies, bible studies..... no more bethelites, gilead graduates, no more missionary work.. no more watchtower studies, field service, pioneers, elders, ministerial servants.. no more 'serving where the need is great.'.
its over, its over.. the watchtower has decided to end it all, suspend the organization work.
no more money.
When I say 'radicalized', I mean 'convinced to use violence as opposed to merely shunning'. But it's all hypothetical.
I can't help wanting to say the title of this thread in Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice. Is that just me? Maybe it's just the spelling of "Ovah" that got me.
--sd-7
no more assemblies or conventions.... no more service meetings, book studies, bible studies..... no more bethelites, gilead graduates, no more missionary work.. no more watchtower studies, field service, pioneers, elders, ministerial servants.. no more 'serving where the need is great.'.
its over, its over.. the watchtower has decided to end it all, suspend the organization work.
no more money.
IMHO, better to stick with the devil you know.
And that's the disturbing thing. That the GB could ever be better than the alternative. But sick as it is, you may have a point. Smaller groups could easily lead to radicalized JWs in some areas...
--sd-7
so (according to the bible) methuselah lived to be 969, noah 950, jared 962 and so on and so on.
did they simply count years differently back then?
what accounted for the long life spans in bible times?
This is the same era in which a global flood that killed all but 8 people occurred. A flood in which 8 people and thousands upon thousands of species of animals were able to survive for an entire year on a boat the size of a football field. Also, giants roamed the earth, beating people up. Like, literal giants. If you can ignore the problems posed by those issues, a guy living to be 969 probably isn't all that unlikely. Now, if you don't mind, I've got 5,000 tons of food to load into my boat in one week's time, along with herding predatory animals in with their prey, capturing numerous rare birds, and convincing hippos and elephants to board after I managed to build a platform using ancient tools that could hold several tons of weight easily. Also, you ungodly fool, judgment is coming upon you for your ungodly deeds that you did in an ungodly way. Hope you enjoy the swim, it'll be your last. --sd-7
its bad enough when the governing body rewrites the organizations past history.
but last october they also began rewriting the organizations future history relative to the appointment over all of jesus belongings mentioned in matthew 24:47.. for many decades they had insisted that jesus made that appointment back in 1919 because the society had been so faithful and discreet about what they had been teaching down till 1919. .
but as shown in captives of a concept they had not been either faithful or discreet about what they had been providing in the way of spiritual food down till 1919. therefore under that scenario there was no possible way the society could have passed a food-at-the-proper-time examination at that time.
They may be shifting the 'belongings appointment' into the realm of the unprovable, but in doing so they end up, as I believe Cedars wisely pointed out sometime ago, attempting to make the decision for Christ, as if they already know what he's going to do. Rather than saying 'we hope we will be found approved and are doing our utmost to that end', they discuss it as if it's a done deal no matter what may happen from now on. This kind of reasoning makes it seem baffling as to how such men can accuse 'apostates' of being prideful, save that they're obviously projecting their own qualities onto others.
It's equally baffling that anyone on the Governing Body could read this material that's talking about them and not feel very uncomfortable about being praised in this way. The fact that this was allowed to be published indicates they have no problem with presenting themselves in a manner that seems very self-righteous to put it mildly. Humility moved Paul and Barnabas to rip their garments and leap into the crowd, begging people not to sacrifice to them. The GB, on the other hand, seems just fine with being adored and the focus of worshipful obedience.
--sd-7
no more assemblies or conventions.... no more service meetings, book studies, bible studies..... no more bethelites, gilead graduates, no more missionary work.. no more watchtower studies, field service, pioneers, elders, ministerial servants.. no more 'serving where the need is great.'.
its over, its over.. the watchtower has decided to end it all, suspend the organization work.
no more money.
I have a feeling some folks would just carry it on independently, start the whole thing over. The leadership may enforce the beliefs, but the system has the potential to be self-sustaining if enough people believe in it.
But based on how I felt as my eyes were opened...yeah, there could be a LOT of suicides. Sad to even ponder, but it's there.
--sd-7
one of the most persistent myths on this website is that jws are already in decline, the rot has set in, and the descent of the watchtower is inevitable from here on in.
unfortunately the facts do not bear this out.
jws are still increasing even in most developing countries, and they are still growing worldwide at a faster rate than the general population.
Well, I never believed they were declining, just that, along with their continued, gradual growth (usually takes maybe 3-5 years for them to get the next million recruits), there are more who are waking up and wanting to leave. But they're merely replaced by new recruits, is all. In terms of numbers, it's a pretty solid entity. It's a body with a replaceable head and numerous parts. There's no end to what people will believe, so even its demise would ultimately accomplish little, even assuming everyone under its spell woke up somehow. It sucks.
--sd-7
http://www.townofwarwick.org/wt_con/_appendix%20j.pdf.
of course i was aware that the new headquarters would be there but according to the above plans it is immense!.
253 acres???
I had no clue it was this big!!!
At least...that's what she [may or may 'evidently' not have] said...
--sd-7
quite on the contrary to jehovah's witnesses being a fulfillment of the promise jesus made that the truth shall set you free, the religion acts as a device through which to escape from freedom, or as erich fromm puts it, to get rid of the burden of freedom.
the following passages, taken from the book the fear of freedom, by erich fromm, can be left largely to speak for themselves:.
the first mechanism of escape from freedom i am going to deal with is the tendency to give up the independence of one's own individual self and to fuse one's self with somebody or something outside oneself in order to acquire the strength which the individual self is lacking.
Fascinating thread. I think I find myself on the masochist side of that equation. Dang it. I wanted to be sadistic! That one sounds way cooler. Although...this also reminds me a little too much of my marriage/relationships as I was transitioning out of the JWs. Hmm. Maybe I need to study more of this psychology stuff...
--sd-7
for the first time in years today.
to say that it took me five minutes to read the whole thing would be to flatter the rag.
it doesn't even seem to contain actual articles any more, just headings and bullet points and pictures.
Excellent summary, ha ha ha!
--sd-7
for the first time in years today.
to say that it took me five minutes to read the whole thing would be to flatter the rag.
it doesn't even seem to contain actual articles any more, just headings and bullet points and pictures.
All hail Watchtower progress, hail the theocracy ever increasing.
I can't help LOL on this one! I started to hear the old song all of a sudden.
--sd-7
