GLTirebiter

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Posts by GLTirebiter

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  177

  Charles T Russell -a freemason and the connection to the illuminati...

  by dolphman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, i'm not one for conspiracy theories but lately i've uncovered some interesting facts that i think warrant some attention.. first of all, russell was a freemason.

  all the early watchtower and books he authored have freemason symbology and art throughout them.

  not a big deal i thought, until i read more about freemasons and the so-called "illuminati", a group of 13 families that supposedly control the world.. supposedly these 13 families, such as the duponts, mcdonalds, kennedys, .

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  GLTirebiter

  What does Charles Russell have to do with Jehovah's Witnesses?

  • Inspired by William Miller (of "the great disappointment")
  • Applied pyramidology (*) and numerology to Bible interpretation
  • Founder and proprietor of Zion's Watchtower publishing company
  • One of the five "Bible Students" who formed what became the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
  • First secretary/treasurer and second president of that organization
  • Donated the publishing company to the religious society around the time of his divorce
  • Author of Studies in the Scripture, the multi-volume set that laid out the original teachings of the sect (the final volume was completed and published posthumously by his successor, Joseph Rutherford)
  • His original teachings changed considerably under his successors: Rutherford, Nathan Knorr, and Fred Frantz

  (*) In Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, Martin Gardner cites Jehovah's Witness teachings in the chapter on Pyramidology:

  ... In 1891, Pastor Russell published the third volume of his famous series Studies in the Scripture. It is a book of Biblical prophecy, supplemented by evidence from the Great Pyramid. ...

  According to Russell, the Bible and Pyramid reveal clearly that the Second Coming of Christ took place invisibly in 1874. This ushered in forty years of "Harvest" during which the true members of the Church are to be called together under Russell's leadership. Before the close of 1914, the Millennium will begin. The dead will rise again and be given a "second chance" to accept Christ. Those who refuse are to be annihilated, leaving the world completely cleansed of evil. Members of the church alive at the beginning of the Millennium will simply live on forever. This is the meaning of the well known slogan of the Witnesses--"millions now living will never die."

  
  
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  17

  "Everyone Wants To Leave"

  by NotFormer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a thread about steve hassan re-emerged and got me looking him up.

  his wikipedia entry had a point under "criticism" that there is an underlying assumption in his approach that all members of high control groups ultimately want to leave*.. while it is generally believed that there are a lot of pimos still attending, doing field service and giving lip service to the wt, i doubt that everyone within the congregations want to get out.

  it's not always internally and logically consistent, but it's been around long enough for enough workarounds to make it tolerable to emerge.. what do you think?

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  GLTirebiter

  Look at it through this analogy: AA cannot help an alcoholic who does not want to reform and live a sober life.

  Neither Hassan nor anybody else can change the mind a member of a high-control group who does not want to leave. A family with two teens can have one grow up to enroll in pioneer school, while the other becomes a DF'ed "apostate" attending an evangelical mega-church. Neither will change until they decide they don't like where they are. Arguing about it it and pressuring them not only won't change their mind, it is likely to strengthen their commitments to their chosen paths.
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  20

  For all JW's: Stop calling others "apostates."

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if you don't want to be thrown into gehenna, read what your own faithful evil slave & christ say:.

  cj chap.

  3 p. 110 chapter 3 - "jesus christ said: “whoever says, ‘you despicable fool!’ (apostate) will be liable to the fiery gehenna.” (matt.

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  GLTirebiter

  The Watchtower's mission is to turn followers of every other religion into apostates, by convincing them to turn away from their beliefs and dedicate themselves to the Watchtower Society.
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  5

  Holiday Humor

  by GLTirebiter in

  1. social
  2. humour

  has this ever really happened?

  it's in the bee, so you never know!.

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  GLTirebiter

  Has this ever really happened? It's in The Bee, so you never know!
  
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  32

  Do you play the LOTTERY?

  by Fisherman in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  jw view gambling as a sin and sadly people get addicted to gambling causing them financial and health problems.

  but is playing a couple of bucks a week on some lottery tickets actually gambling?

  what do you have to lose?

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  GLTirebiter

  No, I don't play. Lotteries are a regressive tax imposed on the desperate and the ignorant. Correcting a lotto ad slogan, "If you don't play, you don't lose!"
  
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  32

  Secret Elders Book? Bwahahaha!

  by NotFormer in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i remember a couple of decades ago when the internet was relatively young and the wt was at war with it, that they were battling to keep the pay attention book secret, commencing legal action against anyone who published it online (and of course, trying to out anyone who leaked it).

  i think it was a norwegian skeptics organisation who had it available for download and dared the wt lawyers to come after them.. so i guess the new shepherd the flock book came out to try and put the genie back in the bottle and reassert some air of mystery and secrecy back into the equation.. so i typed jehovah's witnesses secret elder book into google.

  colour me gobsmacked!

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  GLTirebiter

  It is very similar to a corporate Policies and Procedures manual, which is no surprise because that's basically what it is.
  
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  29

  Been years since Ive gone - should I bother with a letter?

  by BeaverEater in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sig other is half assed still in, one family member is in... its been years... wondering if i should just let it be or just call up hq and say i resign... i will be pissed if they announce shit at the kh, though i dont even remember the last one i went to... lol.

  for me, its none of anyone elses business... thoughts?.

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  GLTirebiter

  You owe them nothing. They have no legitimate authority over you, so you have no obligation to play their game according to their rules. And since you have a spouse who remains sympathetic to the organization, and another family member "all in", would it be prudent to send the letter? If sending a letter is more likely to harm your domestic tranquility and unlikely to do any long term good, I think it better to not fan the flames.
  
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  18

  JWs view of Lord of the Rings VS Harry Potter

  by serotonin_wraith in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm sure this will vary between jw to jw, but their choices are:.

  1) they won't watch/read either.. 2) they will only allow lotr, not hp.. 3) they will only allow hp, not lotr.. 4) they will allow both.. in my experience, 3 never happens and 2 happens the most.

  with the similar theme of magic, the occult, fantasy and monsters, i wonder what lets them think one is okay and the other is not.

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  GLTirebiter

  If they really understood, devout JWs would steer clear of Tolkien's works.
  

  J. R. R. Tolkien ... described The Lord of the Rings in particular as a "fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision". While he insisted it was not an allegory, it contains numerous themes from Christian theology. These include the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, and the activity of grace. A central theme is death and immortality, with light as a symbol of divine creation ...

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Middle-earth
  
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  23

  JW visit...after 12 years out

  by Nobleheart1 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i used to post here under the name nobleheart but forgot the old password, so put up a new account (nobleheart1).

  was a jw (2002-2011), ended up writing a da letter.

  i am a christian (since leaving the org).

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  GLTirebiter

  Vanderhoven, a further comment based on your point 2d:

  Witnesses teach that blood represents life.

  "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends. " (John 15:13)
  

  How could this not be a scriptural command to donate blood?
  
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  60

  WARNING! If you DELIBERATELY avoid the JW memorial.....

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .......you will experience a fate worse than death!

  you have been warned - don't come crying to me if you don't go.

  you've got one month to change your mind.

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  GLTirebiter

  on March 29

  More than a week early, that is further off schedule than usual! My calendar shows Passover on April 6, coinciding with the new moon.