puritans!.
we need them to help us become more righteous.we need to feel the sting of their whiplash and suffer the tongues of flame, branding irons, and denouncement.why?gosh - we aren't as pure as they are, that's why!.
8th century christian orthodox iconoclasts smashed statues used by catholic christian worshipers - to save them from idolatry.let us us cheer that intervention!
IMO, the ones who cry "persection!" the loudest are the ones most likely to persecute others.
Of course (as I've said many times)...
...going around jabbing people in the eye with a stick and then whining when you get a beatdown for it doesn't actually make you a martyr.
It just makes you an asshole.
last thursday poyner spruill, a prominent north carolina law firm, announced a victory in a pro bono case involving religious freedom of incarcerated jehovah's witnesses.
the poyner team was appointed by the u.s. district court for the western district of north carolina to represent an inmate challenging the state’s policy governing how and when jehovah’s witnesses can worship in prison.
the state’s policy classified jehovah’s witnesses as a subset of christian protestants and, on that basis, prohibited separate jehovah’s witness meetings—an infringement on religious freedom under the first amendment.
Corney - "Maybe prison officials were just afraid that Mormons, Unitarian Universalists, Adventists, Pentecostals and others, lumped together as Protestants in their policy documents, will ask for separate services too?"
Wouldn't surprise me.
among jehovah’s witnesses, the elite consists of 144,00 kings and priests who have been specially selected (anointed) to rule in heaven (as transformed spirit beings) over the second group (great crowd) who remain human on a paradise earth.. .
in marxist theory, the elite use wealth to obtain political power and control ideology consisting of shaping the worldview of the underclass.
(their role in society.).
JoenB75 - "Rutherford and JW since were a lot more occupied with condemning the old world and saving their own souls. The dreams of Russellism were higher more idealistic."
I'm inclined to agree.
At the very least (despite his quirks), Russel seemed like a genuinely decent individual.
By all indications, Rutherford was a complete prick.
among jehovah’s witnesses, the elite consists of 144,00 kings and priests who have been specially selected (anointed) to rule in heaven (as transformed spirit beings) over the second group (great crowd) who remain human on a paradise earth.. .
in marxist theory, the elite use wealth to obtain political power and control ideology consisting of shaping the worldview of the underclass.
(their role in society.).
Sometimes, I find it very hard to not suspect that every "successful" ideology did so because it cheated to get there.
there are many....i just couldn't get my head around.. these are a few.. 1. this blood thirsty god that had no problem killing/genociding men women, children and even their farm animals to made a point.
as delmar said in oh brother where art thou "not the livestock!".
8,500,000,00 on the planet and 8,500,000 jehovah;s witnesses.
1234 - "Satan would be the winner in this match..."
Plus, he runs a sweet-ass club in LA, and helps the cops solve crimes.
i don't remember disfellowshippings happening very often and announcements about being re instated but i think i remember that we used to clap hands if someone came back after being disfellowshipped.
but then i think clapping wasn't allowed.
am i correct in my recollections?.
Spontaneous expressions of happiness undermine the programming.
It does not compute.
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*/ syntax error / *
the point of the letter was how many are feeling disappointed these days.. no circuit assembly, convention, how we can't fellowship at the k.h.
disappointed we might have had a love one die, etc etc.
he then goes on to write about how disappointed jehovah must have felt when his first human creation rebelled.
nowwhat? - "The point of the letter was how many are feeling disappointed these days...."
Don't kid yourself.
Ten bucks says that, deep down, the vast majority of rank-and-file JWs aren't really feeling all that disappointed.
The point of the letter is to remind them to feel guilty about not feeling disappointed.
romans 13 ,1-7 contrast with 2 cor.4 : 3-6 ,on the one hand the faithful are to be obedient to the superior authorities ,worldly government ,law enforcement ,etc, as its gods arrangement and to go against it is to go against god ?.
then 2 cor .4 : 3-6 states that the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one satan the devil and if you are obedient to that you are supporting satan`s system of things and going against gods arrangement ?.
what sort of mental gymnastics do you need to acquire to accept both of these scriptures and keep your sanity ?.
smiddy3 - "What sort of mental gymnastics do you need to acquire to accept both of these scriptures and keep your sanity?"
The same kind that involves knowing something is wrong...
...but believing it's "true"...
...at the same time.
so we've all been locked down and there's only so much netflix / prime / disney / hbo you can watch and computer games you can play.
what has everyone been doing to pass the time?.
when you're completely stuck inside and working from home it can get a bit boring staring at the same walls all day and then in the evening as well.
I've been working down my backlog of model kits, helping my aging Mom with handyman stuff, and reading novels.
Plus watching movies, marathonning TV shows, and playing Xbox with my kids..
sometimes new situations can provide cover for one’s mistakes or intentions.
for example, suppose that i crack the windshield in my dad’s car one night.
i go home, park the car in its usual spot in the yard, and go to bed without telling my dad because i’m scared and i’m trying to think of a way out of the situation.
"...'How can we make converts when we cannot preach?'..."
That's too funny. 
