MrMonroe

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Posts by MrMonroe

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  44

  The latest change in Watchtower vocabulary to catch out the unwary

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i got a copy of the recent kingdom ministry the other day and it reminded me of something in the book the orwellian world of jehovha's witnesses by heather and garry botting.

  it's on the front page of the december issue of the km, they have a heading called "not 'alternative' witnessing" where they explain that the term is no longer considered appropriate and "public" witnessing should be used instead.. in the orwellian world of jehovah's witnesses the bottings discuss the importance of the particular language jws use to set themselves apart from other people.

  they redefine common words to give them a particular slant, such as "brother", "sister", "literature" and so on.

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  MrMonroe

  With their obsession over their absence of "leaders" (evidenced by the deletion of terms such as presiding overseer) and how they're all just followers of Christ, it's surprising that the term "Governing Body" has remained in use so long.

  There have been innumerable debates on the talk pages at Wikipedia over the use of the term "leaders" referring to those at the apex of the religion; zealous Dubs have insisted on changing it to "those who take the lead", to which the obvious response is that if they're taking the lead in a religion, they are religious leaders.

  And ditto the "Governing" Body: as governors, they are rulers and leaders, no question. But at some stage will their sense of modesty force them to adopt some equally disingenuous phrase to show the faithful they are just followers of God and Christ? To which the faithful will all respond, "Yes! That term was obviously wrong! Jehovah is certainly blessing this organisation!"
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  38

  March 15, 2012 WT: These times are more critical than when we last called them critical, honest!!

  by MrMonroe in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  just sad.

  "the christian ministry has always been urgent, but now it is more critical than ever.

  " (page 18).. what follows is more of the same disgusting tripe: the same scare tactics (nuclear weapons, terrorists, climate change, hurricanes, wars) that made me join in 1985 when the world was on the brink of nuclear armageddon.

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  MrMonroe

  What exciting times?

  I think the closure of Bethels is an exciting development. For years the society was gobbling up real estate to make plans for the tremendous epansion ahead. Now they realise the witnessing work is almost over (the end is SO close!!!) so they won't be needing the drones dusting lampshades and polishing handrails any more.

  And Jeffro, thanks for the enlightenment on the kings of the north and south. That makes a certain amount of cool, logical sense .... just as much as the explanation that "the other sheep" are just the Gentiles.

  Why make things so difficult and complicate when they can be explained so easily?
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  38

  March 15, 2012 WT: These times are more critical than when we last called them critical, honest!!

  by MrMonroe in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  just sad.

  "the christian ministry has always been urgent, but now it is more critical than ever.

  " (page 18).. what follows is more of the same disgusting tripe: the same scare tactics (nuclear weapons, terrorists, climate change, hurricanes, wars) that made me join in 1985 when the world was on the brink of nuclear armageddon.

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  MrMonroe

  Just sad. "The Christian ministry has always been urgent, but now it is more critical than ever." (page 18).

  What follows is more of the same disgusting tripe: the same scare tactics (nuclear weapons, terrorists, climate change, hurricanes, wars) that made me join in 1985 when the world was on the brink of nuclear armageddon. That was almost 27 years ago.

  "The example of a small group of Bible Students who prior to 1914 set out to preach the good news illustrates what it means to have a sense of urgency." (Page 17). That was, uh, 98 years ago, and they were convinced God was going to carry them away to heaven. They believed Christ had already returned. Their entire set of beliefs was abandoned within a generation, replaced by another mirage hovering on the horizon. I bet Charlie Russell, AH Macmillan and the rest of the crew could never have envisaged that almost a century onwards their beloved Watchtower magazine would be still trumpeting that the end was just around the corner.

  Christ, talk about having their ears tickled.
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  17

  Is this true? We're not and never have been JW's??

  by Muddy Waters in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  (i posted this on another forum, but am reposting here to see what you all think!

  thank you for bearing with me.

  .... in one book, "the watchtower's coming crisis" by daniel rodriguez (amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/watchtowers-comin ... 606&sr=1-4 ).

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  MrMonroe

  Only in 1937, (WT November 1) did the society declare that JWs with an earthly hope could be described as Christian. The March 1, 1930, WT had said, "Since 'Christ' means the anointed of God, it is manifestly true that no one can properly be termed a Christian who is not in Christ and who has not received the anointing."

  So, once again, the "truth" (the manifest truth, no less!) turned out to be wrong. Shucks, God must have just loved pulling their legs. ("Here's some new light via the Holy Spirit. Oh, just kidding!")

  Don't know about the suggestion that only the anointed could be called JWs though.
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  19

  Merry Christmas to you all!

  by Retrovirus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's christmas morning here in victoria, australia, and as usual i'm the first one awake.. hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends!

  enjoy!.

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  MrMonroe

  PM for you Retrovirus.
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  19

  Merry Christmas to you all!

  by Retrovirus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's christmas morning here in victoria, australia, and as usual i'm the first one awake.. hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends!

  enjoy!.

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  MrMonroe

  Presents all open here in Melbourne .... the meeting has just started down the road. I wonder how many times the word "pagan" will be muttered before and after the meeting by the jealous brothers and sisters.

  I also wonder how many will miss the meeting today becase they'd rather be somewhere else ...
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  32

  Why don't JWs do much in the way of charity work?

  by ilikecheese in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i argue with the boyfriend a lot about the fact that i think charitable work is every bit as important as preaching when it comes to serving god.

  every church i've ever gone to has some sort of community outreach, if not several outreaches, that have little or nothing to do with preaching.

  and i made the point that if these people know you're affiliated with a church, they'll think a little more kindly about christians, too, which would help in the whole witnessing arena.

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  MrMonroe

  Witnesses in general are quite selfish, partly the result of a constant background of warnings by the WTS (as Blondie showed) about giving money to charities that will only waste it. People pick up on those nuances and realise that, if the WTS disapproves of charities, they may as well keep the money to themselves.

  The WTS pushes this line about the new system solving everything, which means:

  (a) Even if your money helps some people now, they're only going to die soon anyway at Armageddon;

  (b) You don't need to bother your conscience about people suffering because God can see them and is doing nothing abut it and in a way they're just collatoral damage in the battle between God and the Devil and after Armageddon no one willl ever think about them again; and

  (c) The way to really help people is go witnessing more and to get them to become JWs so they'll survive Armageddon.
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  12

  What is Knorr's legacy?

  by drewcoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was wondering, i am aware of most of the presidents of the wts being a born in.

  i am familiar with how it started with ct russell and the tumultuous takeover by jfr.

  i grew up in the franz era and left about 2001 (although not mentally out until finding this forum a year and a half ago).

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  MrMonroe

  Drewcoul, I think you're right. Franz was the theologian and Knorr the organiser. The Watchtowers placed a great deal of emphasis on how the numerical growth of the religion, as well as the expansion of real etate, were proof that Jehovah was blessing the org. Rutherford, by contrast, seemed to care much less about how many were in the org: he was right and that was that. Maybe Knorr needed the numbers to prove him right.
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  2

  WT february 2012

  by Lady Viola in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i just downloaded the studie wt and i really thought 'did i download the right wt or is this the simplied wt?

  ' i felt i was reading 'my book of bible stories'!!

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  MrMonroe

  It had an article in there about obeying the Governing Body. So it must have been The Watchtower.
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  43

  When You See A Witness What's Your First Reaction?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw a few mindlessly working a neighborhood as i was driving the other day.

  they looked so unhappy, just walking in baby steps, looking like zombies..

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  MrMonroe

  Mixed feelings: revulsion and pity. While driving home one Tuesday night a couple of weeks ago we saw a family of them leaving their home in their suits, obviously heading off to the meeting. I just look at them and think, "What a waste of their time." And they just don't realise it.