http://www.facebook.com/pages/okay-is-it-just-my-hallor-can-nobody-sing-the-new-kingdom-melodies/292219582186?ref=mf.
My older brother told me the same thing a few weeks back. I think it's because, in part, of the changes in songs they are used too. Throws em off.
I think it's kind of funny. It says something about how Witnesses adapt to large change in the common practices.
so...the third and final session was pretty straightforward.
they basically asked some more questions about the first woman, before i got back with the woman who became my wife.
then they asked what seemed like nothing more than a customer survey of "how are we doin'?
It is awesome that you have a therapist. They are worth their weight in gold in these types of situations.
All the best!
-Sab
so...the third and final session was pretty straightforward.
they basically asked some more questions about the first woman, before i got back with the woman who became my wife.
then they asked what seemed like nothing more than a customer survey of "how are we doin'?
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The Governing Body answers to no one. In their current form, whatever they say, goes. It is not a right that any spiritual leader has ever been granted in all of the Bible, yet the GB place the Crown of Domination over their heads willingly and feel perfectly justified.
...but no king rules forever.
judicial committee, round 2. i have to give it to the elders on this one.
they fought well, albeit with unrefined technique.
pure strength of authority apparently seems to make up for a lack of sufficient evidence, just as the 300-pound fellow who believed you were checking out his girlfriend can beat the tar out of you even though you were merely looking at the clock behind her on the wall.
That read was warming to my heart. I always have a nagging feeling that I will end up in Borg Court as well, and that account seems to go in line with what I think I would have done.
I wish I could sit down with you and offer my personal support on the matter, it hits so very close to home for me. You are an extremely intellegent man, it is a blessing and a curse if you happened to have been born into a cult like this one :(
I wish you ALL the best in everything you do.
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the watchtower magazine has used the word.
Cadellin, that was awesome :)
I'll use the same analogy:
You hire a watchman to wake you up if he sees, feels or hears anything out of the ordinary.
He wakes you up in the middle of the night for the first time. You are so happy that he woke you up even though it ended up being nothing and are proud that he's taking care of his assignment!
A few weeks later he comes bursting into your room and wakes you up again. You go and check on his findings and get another false alarm. It's to be expected with such a diligent watchman! No matter, you can get back to sleep pretty fast.
The next week he wakes you again, this time adamant that he's found something wrong. You rush out to see nothing. This time he urges you to be cautious, that there is something seriously wrong. You shake your head and think to yourself that you are lucky to have such a perceptive watchman, he obviously can see and hear things that don't even occur to you! Surely you would be dead without his protection!
A few days later he wakes you again... This time, urging you to get a extra pack of clothes and leave as soon as possible. You ask him why and he stresses the point that he is the professional here and there is no time for questions. You make haste and leave your house for a few days and lay low. The whole time you are beaming with pride for choosing such a perceptive protector. He tells you that you cannot go back to that house, that you have to live somewhere else. You comply.
Two weeks later he shakes you violently awake and urges you to stay awake for the rest of the night and hands you a sharpened knife. Again, there is no time for explanation and he urges you to trust him. So you stay awake all night clinging to consciousness as hard as the knife hilt in your hand. When morning comes you ask him if you can go to sleep, he reluctantly allows it.
A few months go by of similar events and at this point you are starved of sleep and basically a walking zombie. You begin to wonder if all this is worth it, since you have never actually SEEN anything wrong, you have been taking it all on the good word of a professional.
So you decide to talk to him about it, when things are not as urgent, which are times few and far between.
You tell him that you have been thinking, that maybe a few of the stressful nights past have been false alarms and that maybe you and him could set up some ground rules about what kinds of things have a need for waking you up, you are losing a lot of sleep.
He becomes very angry at the very mention of this. He argues that you know nothing of late night protection, and nothing of the dangers of that time of night. He tells you that if you try to tell him to do his job that he find someone else to protect and you will die the first few nights while he is away. You try to explain that you are not questioning his competency, but just trying to help fine tune things to make life a little less stressful.
He has none of it and threatens to leave again. At that point it hits you like a ton of bricks. He's been robbing you for months!
When you confront him about your missing items from your house he says he has to go to the bathroom and is never seen again.
(originally posted on tsunami thread, but felt it deserved a discussion on its own.).
it is my contention that this physically destructive "armageddon" will be a contrived event.
the bible never says anything about any battle of armageddon where god kills off all non-church members.
5711 > 4 - that's a pretty weak reply to what I said.
I'll leave you be since I believe you have no intention of softening your approach. I respect your strong feelings, but I will never accept any teaching presented in the manner of your original post.
(originally posted on tsunami thread, but felt it deserved a discussion on its own.).
it is my contention that this physically destructive "armageddon" will be a contrived event.
the bible never says anything about any battle of armageddon where god kills off all non-church members.
This is an odd place to speak of such things. Most of us have had a serious break with a cult and rebuke misguided teachings.
You are misguided cameo just like the Witnesses are. Just because something makes sense doesn't hold any water on it's own (as we saw in the JW faith).
It's good to move forward and investigate what makes sense to you, but is irresponsible to portray ANYTHING as fact or likely fact using only circumstantial evidence.
you all know that i argued this the other way and could not get good answers to daniel chapter 12. but if you see michael as performing a function much like john the baptist did and how the jews believed that elijah must come first then michael's function of standing in advance of the return of our lord for a short time prior to the resurrection of the dead makes perfect sense.
and it also gives a slightly different meaning to the words: " and what shall be the sign of thy coming, (events that take place after the standing up of michael) and of the end of the world?
" (christs return or presence.
You are doing the same thing as the WT. Only presenting the points supporting your main point. You need to state why the WT feels that Michael is Jesus as well.
the following is the most quoted scripture in the bible:.
john 3:16 (new international version) .
16"for god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.. here is a question for you.
God my head hurts when I read these kind of debates.
It is a stalemate, clear and simple, and I will tell you why:
God is always described as outside of our plain of existance. He is always described as omnipotent.
One either believes that this a true position held by someone or something, or you do not.
The reason you would not is the same reason you would believe it, becuase you don't understand it.
The believers say because God cannot be understood that you have to have faith that he can do things that are past the intellectual capacity of ourselves. The non-believers say that because God cannot be understood that he cannot exist because he doesn't fit in any category in our universe (logic, reason, science etc).
So the debate goes as follows:
Non-Believer: The Bible says God does X and X doesn't make any sense because of Y and Z
Believer: I believe X is true because I have faith in X and it makes sense to me. I do not think Y and Z are valid to disprove X
This debate is a stalemate. Each party cannot tell the other what they do and do no believe regardless of supporting points.
as most of us know, the story of why moses did not get to enter the promise land is as follows:.
the iraelites were b*itching again about not having enough water so moses took them to a seemingly dry place and cracked a large rock like thing and water started to come out; he took 100% credit for the miracle.
because of this deceit moses was severely punished.
As most of us know, the story of why Moses did not get to enter the promise land is as follows:
The Iraelites were b*itching again about not having enough water so Moses took them to a seemingly dry place and cracked a large rock like thing and water started to come out; he took 100% credit for the Miracle. Because of this deceit Moses was severely punished. He was not allowed to enter the Land of Milk and Honey as a result.
I have always thought that this was a bit harsh of a response from Jehovah, but that is not the point. The question is have the Governing Body done the same thing?
They have taken credit for the in depth interpretations of vague scripture in Revelation as well as countless other parts of the Bible. They, at the time, presented it as an interpretation that was to be taken without question, which later proved to be false and had to be changed.
It is a very bold thing for the GB to demand UNQUESTIONING LOYALTY when even Moses did not get to enjoy such a gift from Jehovah.
In fact, not even Jehovah himself demands such unquestioning faith. Moses, Abraham, Lot and Gideon all offered BOLD questions to Jehovah's face. Would it not be reasonable to assume that he would encourage questioning, even bold ones at times, to his "channel of communication"?
Another point; What happens if the GB decides to go completely mad with power? Jehovah had setup in the days of the Israelites that when their leader jumped the gun, he was severely punished. Can we say the same for the GB? No way, in fact if they want to go crazy and mad with power (which is possible with anyone if Moses did it) they will have no one to answer to until the end of the world?
And these men are DEMANDING unquestioning loyalty? I am seeing holes here.
Jehovah DID say that you ARE NOT to rebel against his appointed servants. But in the Bible followers of Jehovah's servants ALWAYS knew that justice would be served if his "representative servants" decided to take the law into their own hands.
So here we are, with leaders who can become oppressors and dictators at ANY TIME, and we are bound by God's Law not to rebel? Hmmm.
In the history of Humankind, how do dictators and oppressors lose power not due to divine intervention?
Think the French and American Revolution. The people got fed up, they rebelled, not because they were evil and didn't respect authority, but because it WAS THE ONLY VIABLE OPTION for survival.
