Thanks Barbara and hello...
MadSweeney... you bring up a valid point... much attention is being given to the "mentaly-diseased" phrase but that articicle had a lot more "hate" phrases in it...
following the recent activity surrounding the "mentally diseased" apostate article, a major uk newspaper has expressed an interest in covering the story.
the correspondent as been told about this forum, and he is particularly interested in hearing from those inside the organisation, as i think few people are aware of how much unrest there is actually within witness ranks at the teachings of the society.. would anybody like to be used as a source, either anonymously or otherwise?
if so, it might be worthwhile saying a few words on this thread.
Thanks Barbara and hello...
MadSweeney... you bring up a valid point... much attention is being given to the "mentaly-diseased" phrase but that articicle had a lot more "hate" phrases in it...
there's so many good choices, i can barely pick!.
dart?.
shasta cola?.
don't remember... but, as a kid, I looked forward to assemblies just to have some vanilla pudding and apple danishes...
i am not an expert on this issue.
i have read and re-read information about it, but i guess i am somewhat dense when it comes to this topic.. my question is simple: the watchtower suggests that they believe the bible is the unerring word or god.
that it must be believed above anything else.
Sorry Drew... (didn't mean to insult anyone's intelligence... iwas just my humble 2 cents)
But to answer your question... no it doesn't... the Bible is clear... 70 years or servitude means 70 years of servitude...
one question the WT won't answer is... If there was 70 years of servitude, which Babilonian king were the Jews serving between 539 BCE and 537 BCE? I've sent letters to Brooklyn several times asking this very basic question and have only received one response which compltetely dodged the question...
when i was still serving as an elder in the late summer of 2006 in a congregation of jws in socal we received a letter from the "christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses" (read: the governing body) directing that anyone pursuing a higher education would be disqualified from privileges of service: elder, servant, pioneer, etc.
i remember this quite distinctly because i had just received by ba in education in june a few months before this.
in 2002, i had decided to pursue a degree under the society's then current "it's a personal decision" policy and was quite shocked at their drastic policy change.
One of the reasons I started searching the net for answers (to my many questions) was that an elder in my congo (who i confided in) was extremely busy getting his doctorate's degree to help me with my "doubts"... so you could say his higher education helped me escape the cult... he still gets talks in assemblies because he takes the CO to dinner at fine restaurants and hands him a thick envelope at the end of each visit...
i am not an expert on this issue.
i have read and re-read information about it, but i guess i am somewhat dense when it comes to this topic.. my question is simple: the watchtower suggests that they believe the bible is the unerring word or god.
that it must be believed above anything else.
Because this would screw up their made-up chronology that points to 1914 as the year Jesus took the throne followed by 3.5 years later (1918/1919) when Jesus inspected all the churches and chose the Watchtower as the only true religion on earth...
But I suggest you search numerous subjects already posted on this subject... also, read "Gentile Times Reconsidered" for a more in-depth explanation....
because my wife asked me earlier this week if we could skip to go hang out with her worldly co-worker and her husband.
;).
Excellent idea... I wish i would have thought of it... would have had my wife out sooner than I did...
i was talking the other day with a fellow board member about medical emergencies occuring at meetings and how we both agreed that we ( while jw's ) had never seen a meeting stop or be cancelled due to medical emergencies experienced by a fellow jw.
the wt society trains jw' s to lose their authentic human feelings or any empathy towards others physical or emotional sufferings many times.
so many times at meetings , in spite of someone suffering a serious medical emergency it was " the show must go on " type of attitude displayed by congregation elders.. my first experience at seeing a medical emergency at the kingdom hall was an older sister who had an epileptic attack.
OTWO... that's terrible! even worse than my experience...
So an assembly attendant can't even go looking for sister's caretaker in an auditorium if she has a medical emergency???... oh wait, I forget attendants are there primarily to take attendance... everything else is really not that important.
Good for you and your "independant thinking"... (btw... hope the sister was ok after that)
i was talking the other day with a fellow board member about medical emergencies occuring at meetings and how we both agreed that we ( while jw's ) had never seen a meeting stop or be cancelled due to medical emergencies experienced by a fellow jw.
the wt society trains jw' s to lose their authentic human feelings or any empathy towards others physical or emotional sufferings many times.
so many times at meetings , in spite of someone suffering a serious medical emergency it was " the show must go on " type of attitude displayed by congregation elders.. my first experience at seeing a medical emergency at the kingdom hall was an older sister who had an epileptic attack.
We had one sister in her late 30s who would get epileptic siezures during meetings about 2 or 3 times a year (and at home, of course)... the meetings would simply go on while one elder and her caretaker would put her on the floor and pinch her tongue down with what appeared to be a spoon. The whole incident unfolded while most of the congregation continued to look forward at the brother giving the talk as if everything was OK. Not once was an ambulance called. One Sunday, in the middle of a Watchtower Study, she had a massive siezure and I remember how disgusted I felt when the microphone handler simply stepped over her (after she was placed on the floor in the middle aisle) just to get to a child in the back row who was called on to answer "Jehovah" to one of the questions...
http://www.examiner.com/x-7814-la-church--state-examiner~y2009m5d23-san-diego-official-says-home-bible-study-needs-permit.
.
bumping this thread... i'm surprized it hasn't had more comments or views...
faith california city fines couple for holding bible study in their homeposted on september 19, 2011 at 1:36am by madeleine morgensternphoto via flickr user erwin vogelaar.
a southern california couple has been fined $300 dollars for holding christian bible study sessions in their home, and could face another $500 for each additional gathering.. city officials in san juan capistrano, calif. say chuck and stephanie fromm are in violation of municipal code 9-3.301, which prohibits religious, fraternal or non-profit organizations in residential neighborhoods without a permit.
stephanie hosts a wednesday bible study that draws about 20 attendees, and chuck holds a sunday service that gets about 50.. the fromms appealed their citations but were denied and warned future sessions would carry heftier penalties.
just like the whole jimmy swaggart tax scandal, the wt lawyers are once again way ahead of everyone else... they probably saw this coming way in advance and advised the governing body to spin this into a "family worship night" before anyone can associate the eventual enforcement of this california code with the discontinuation of the book study...