It's OK, Jesus never instructed anyone to go door to door. Neither did the apostles. And it is unlikely that the early Christians went door to door on Saturday mornings or any other mornings before they took a break for coffee and donuts.
Vanderhoven7
JoinedPosts by Vanderhoven7
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19
Door to Door
by pontoon injust wondering if the witnesses still go door to door.
once in a while i see them doing their cart work and my still in relatives talk about going out in cart work, never mention door to door.
i haven't had a knock on my door since probably 2 years before covid.
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How do JWs know that less than 150,000 Christians existed before the 20th Century?
by Vanderhoven7 inaccording to watchtower, only anointed christians existed between the first and 20th centuries.
the great crowd of other sheep only began forming after the 20th century started.. how do they support this conclusion?
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Vanderhoven7
Wow! Finally got the Bumps.
Nicolaou wrote:
"The Society have taught for many years that only 144,000 individuals will have embraced true worship from the time when Jesus (and presumably John the Baptist six months before him) began his ministry in about 30 C.E. all the way down through to about 1935 C.E. when the Great Crowd began to be drawn in.
However, even a casual reading of the book of Acts shows the phenomenal growth of Christianity during the time of the Apostles. In Colossians Ch1 Paul even makes the comment that the Good News had at that point been preached to all creation that was under heaven.
In 64 C.E, there were so many Christians in Rome already that Nero felt he could easily blame them for the destructive fire which had swept through the city. Of the fourteen districts of Rome only two survived unscathed, these were the lower class districts in the 'swampy' regions of Rome where the Christians lived! [see Carcopino's 'Daily Life in Ancient Rome']
The city housed, even by conservative estimates, over 1,000,000 people in the 1st century. It seems that almost as many as one in seven of these may have been Christian, that's over 140,000 already!
And what about Jerusalem, Athens, Antioch not to mention the congregations of Asia, Egypt and the whole region of the Decapolis.If, as the Society state in the Proclaimers book, about 60,000 of the anointed have existed since the time of C T Russell then that would mean that there could have been no more than about 85,000 Christians throughout 'all creation under heaven' in the 1st century. (This incidentally would make Russell a more successfull preacher than Christ!)
C'mon now! You're not still buying into this whole 144'000 thing . . . . . . . . are you?
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How do JWs know that less than 150,000 Christians existed before the 20th Century?
by Vanderhoven7 inaccording to watchtower, only anointed christians existed between the first and 20th centuries.
the great crowd of other sheep only began forming after the 20th century started.. how do they support this conclusion?
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Vanderhoven7
Again
How in the world does the GB of Jehovah's Witnesses presume know that less than 1% of the millions of those martyred for the name of Christ from Pentecost to the start of the 20th century were real Christians?
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Faithful Slave Appointment: What are the assumptions of Watchtower Matthew 24:45-47 Eschatology?
by Vanderhoven7 intext: matthew 24:45-47.
45 “who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?
46 it will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.
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Vanderhoven7
Yes, I was one of those Bible Students in the 60s; attended a number of conventions, even spoke at Grove City as a teenager; new some of the Chicago brethren including Charles Loukey. The Bible Students are still around having dropped 1914 and pushing a more Christ-centered agenda; still associated with one congregation in Lombard Ill.
Learn more at: http://bbschurch.org/
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43
How do JWs know that less than 150,000 Christians existed before the 20th Century?
by Vanderhoven7 inaccording to watchtower, only anointed christians existed between the first and 20th centuries.
the great crowd of other sheep only began forming after the 20th century started.. how do they support this conclusion?
.
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Vanderhoven7
@Slim,
We are still dealing with 20th century other sheep.
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43
How do JWs know that less than 150,000 Christians existed before the 20th Century?
by Vanderhoven7 inaccording to watchtower, only anointed christians existed between the first and 20th centuries.
the great crowd of other sheep only began forming after the 20th century started.. how do they support this conclusion?
.
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Vanderhoven7
@Slim,
Do you have quotations from Watchtower literature that show this change in their teaching?
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43
How do JWs know that less than 150,000 Christians existed before the 20th Century?
by Vanderhoven7 inaccording to watchtower, only anointed christians existed between the first and 20th centuries.
the great crowd of other sheep only began forming after the 20th century started.. how do they support this conclusion?
.
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Vanderhoven7
"For 19 centuries there was only the one calling, the heavenly one, with Jehovah being very selective as to who would serve with his Son to make up the Kingdom government." (The Watchtower, February 15, 1982 p. 30)
w52 1/15 p. 62 Questions From Readers
According to the article “Hated for His Name” in the September 1, 1951, Watchtower, hundreds of thousands of Christians died in the “ten persecutions” starting in Nero’s time, 144,000 dying in Egypt alone during one of the persecutions. How can this be harmonized with the Scriptural limitation of 144,000 placed on the number being in Christ’s body, and which position was the only one open to Christians during those centuries?—J.A., Dominican Republic.
The article did not class with any finality the individuals that died during these persecutions, but spoke of the results in a general way. Note that a key qualification was made in the case referred to in the question: “In the province of Egypt alone, 144,000 such professed Christians died by violence in the course of this persecution, in addition to another 700,000 who died as a result of fatigues encountered in banishment or under enforced public works.” The victims are identified as “professed Christians”, not Christians in fact. Many of those persons might have been caught in the wave of persecution, but may never have actually preached the truth or followed in Jesus’ footsteps, being only professed Christians. They knew the world they lived in was rotten and they were listening to the message of the Christians and willing to die for it even though not in line for the high calling in Christ Jesus. Many professed Christians today might be willing to die for their faith, but still not be Jesus’ footstep followers and meeting the Scriptural requirements for such."
Isn't this GB assumption insulting to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for staying true to their Christian beliefs? Of course the Faithful Slave knows they were not real Christians because they have a number theory that says the 144,000 is a literal number.
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How do JWs know that less than 150,000 Christians existed before the 20th Century?
by Vanderhoven7 inaccording to watchtower, only anointed christians existed between the first and 20th centuries.
the great crowd of other sheep only began forming after the 20th century started.. how do they support this conclusion?
.
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Vanderhoven7
@Slim
I think you are aware that many do not accept Starks numerical guesswork.
On what bases do you believe the writer of Acts was not operating under inspiration?
What to you determines whether someone is a real verses a mere professed Christian? Or does that distinction actually exist in your thinking?
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43
How do JWs know that less than 150,000 Christians existed before the 20th Century?
by Vanderhoven7 inaccording to watchtower, only anointed christians existed between the first and 20th centuries.
the great crowd of other sheep only began forming after the 20th century started.. how do they support this conclusion?
.
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Vanderhoven7
Exactly Tonus.
And they know there were less than 150,000 real Christians from Pentecost till the start of the 20th century because of a number theory. And yet they say they don't judge anyone; they leave it all to Jehovah.
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43
How do JWs know that less than 150,000 Christians existed before the 20th Century?
by Vanderhoven7 inaccording to watchtower, only anointed christians existed between the first and 20th centuries.
the great crowd of other sheep only began forming after the 20th century started.. how do they support this conclusion?
.
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Vanderhoven7
@ Slim
I see you do not trust the biblical record: 3000 @ Pentecost alone, followed by 5000 followed by multitude after multitude in Acts of the Holy Spirit.