Band on the Run

Joined

• started 198 topics
• posted 9,871 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Band on the Run

• 
  144

  1st Cen. Christianity - One Organization

  by StandFirm in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here is the promised debate.

  the subject is whether or not god has an organization.

  i'll start things simply:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  Ixthis,

  Thank you for your comments. I've attended several Eastern rite churches in my neighborhood. It is nice to see the wider church, beyond the West. If nothing else, it illuminates Western theology by the contrast.

  Among my circle, a passing interest in the Orthodox Church is considered very cool and sophiscticated in a manner that the Roman Catholic Church is not.

  My Anglican confirmation sponsor was a member of the Tolstoy Foundation. He was a subdean at a major cathedral. Whenever he lectured us or presented meditations, we learned how the Eastern church's way was preferable. In fact, by the time confirmation class ended, I knew little about Anglicanism and much about the Russian church.

  I lived in the East Village of NY surrounded by Eastern rite churches on every block. It is hard to find a church here in the suburbs.
• 
  22

  College

  by d in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am a college trying to maintain good grades.college is stressful especially this year.have any of you who are still in college, or went to college found it to be difficult in any way shape or form?.for me i am worried about finding a good career after i graduate.since the job market is still slow.. thanks.

  d.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  What happened?
• 
  51

  Circuit Overseer talking Ray Franz in talk this morning (Phone number included)

  by LightsOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm still a semi member of the kh but not at all active and have major doubts when i started reading all kinds of opposing literature.

  talked to elders about this and also my father but my father but he still believes it's the "truth".

  anyways jist of this story is i gave my father a copy of "crisis of conscience".

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  Modern communication has to hurt them deeply. Googling is so easy. When I found out about Franz, prob. from the NY Times, I raced to purchase the book and waited by the mailbox for it to arrive. Both my mom and I dropped everything and read it in a few sessions. Finally, we had proof that others shared our view and specific details about WT governance. What an experience?

  We sent the book all over the place to former JW family. My JW aunt finally mentioned it to my mom. She was so earnest in her voice that Freddie Franz was totally heartbroken by his nephew. She had no idea what it said. There was drama in her voice, like Freddie Franz' pain is more important than anyone else b/c he was Freddie Franz. She was such a good person, I did not argue or try to inform her.
• 
  48

  Favourite books

  by watersprout in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what are your favourite books?.

  do you have a book that inspired you?.

  a book that you read over and over again?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  I'm eclectic. The Bible, C.S. Lewis, the screwtape letters and mere christianity,

  The Poisonwood Bible

  Call of the Wild

  Homer, the iliad and the odyssey

  Epic of Gilgamesh

  The Road Less Travelled

  The Last Temptation of Christ

  The Federalist Papers

  Taylor Branch, civil rights movement history

  bios of the Founders

  Bhagvid(sp) Gita

  The New YOrker cartoons

  New Yorker short stories - almost all

  Vanity Fair

  Onion
• 
  8

  Which religious group goes to stadiums every year, but they have never seen a ball game or a concert? Jehovah's Witnesses.

  by andys in

  1. social
  2. humour
  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  I grew up in the NY area when Mantle and Maris were competing. Everyone was Yankee crazy. Attending JW conventions there was so exciting. Yankee Staidum, not a dingy KH with maybe twenty people. Thousands upon thousands. There was an international one when I was in kindergarten. The nonAmericans wore native costumes. I wanted to see the Yankees. Never. My father was Yankee crazy once the Brooklyn Dodges snubbed Brooklyn.

  Our lives revolved around Yankee games. Newspapers would run special editions of the convention. I thought it was a real newspaper and our gathering had supplanted the president and UN. Wow.

  Finally, I saw one Yankee game with Reggie Jackson with a law firm recreation event. They had the gall to lose!
• 
  23

  Could Russell be " disfellowshipped" one day?

  by jean-luc picard in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in fact russell never was a jehovahs witness.. in the proclaimers book, page 40 they write:.

  stirrings of watchfulness.

  in the 19th century, though, the religious climate led to stirrings of.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  There is nastiness in this thread having little to do with would Russell ever be disfellowshipped? I am not a seer.

  This evolving will of God I find silly. God is capable of decisive action. His will does not fit human will. By definition, God is what is not human, in part.

  Has anyone ever researched if the 1800s was an extraordinary period of religious activity and scholarship? Most historical Jesus is from the 20th century. If someone were a Bible scholar and compared the synoptics and John, figured out ancient history to invalidate people's claims about all books being literal and establishment a more accurate time line, why would they delve into precisely what Jesus said no man would ever know? The two are polar opposites, in my view.

  The Englightenment period was just as hot in religious discovery terms. In fact, I doubt there has ever been a time in Christianity, when Christians did not find new ways to encounter Christ and the Bible. Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, and Raphael to name but a few were major movers of new ways of viewing Christ.

  There was not fairy dust sprinkled in the 1900s.

  Frankly, I find Russell's beliefs much sillier than Rutherford and following. Their organizational style was more sickening. Also, Russell was not a semi-deity.

  I am such a history buff but Christianity limited to the past is dead Christianity. Paul wrote that we meet the Risen Christ more than the historical Jesus. Christ acts in our lives in the present. I fail to see the attraction with all these dead figures. Certainly, the history helps prove that the WT has never been pristine or the exclusive agent of God.

  The Bible moves me precisely b/c it speaks to timeless questions. Or perhaps we project timeless questions on to it. I don't know.
• 
  10

  Political Preferences

  by Band on the Run in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've noted extreme left-wingers and extreme right-wingers here and, of course, everyone in between.

  the right wing seems louder but that could be just my own bias.

  some active witness in a republican club was trying to do research a couple of months ago about witnesses and party affiliatoin or ideology.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  I had the opportunity to work for a Senate subcommittee. Complex was the word. It wasn't just the policy. Public officials seem to have at least three faces: 1. their staff and strong supporters - references to the enemy. 2. the base - slogans that meaningless and 3. other politicians. I saw GOP and Dem Senators opposed in voting patterns very friendly with each other.

  I was at a hearing setting up. They were so cordial with each other. Press arrived. High drama and yelling occurred. Hearing concludes, press leaves, back to buddies with no tension instanteously. It is sort of refreshing.

  Is the amyg....true? So the difference in purchasing preference could be biologically based. Of course, a middle course would be the best.
• 
  10

  Political Preferences

  by Band on the Run in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've noted extreme left-wingers and extreme right-wingers here and, of course, everyone in between.

  the right wing seems louder but that could be just my own bias.

  some active witness in a republican club was trying to do research a couple of months ago about witnesses and party affiliatoin or ideology.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  His Republican activity is a secret. I don't know about college.

  If you feel subjectively that I am writing stereotypical whatever, pls feel free to elucidate everyone with details. Calling names isn't very taxing. I'm not begging for approval. My view is my view finis. I just wanted some discussion to see what others thought.

  Paper tiger! Capitalist pig! Not born here! Moslem b/c he is a n....r! Tippicanoe and Tyler, too! Millions for defense, not one cent for....Real instructive.
• 
  23

  Lord of the Flies

  by d in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anybody here read lord of the flies.the book is by william golding and he takes during a world war and it involves 12 boys lost on an island.anybody i like the book because it describes very well human nature at it's worst.

  that deep down we are savage humans bent on killing and destruction.

  the book also made me think that children are not as innocent as we make them out to be.people can do evil to one another if law and order did not exist..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  It is a true classic and almost everyone reads it in junior high school. Recently, I've been reading some young adult classics. They are wasted on kids. I feel Golding wasn't as focused on teenage behavior unsupervised as human conceit that we are not animals but elevated, civilzed creatures. We can all revert given the right circumstances. Last night I reread Jack London's Call of the Wild. He wasn't writing about dogs.

  These classics are great. They can be read on many, different levels and each level is complete in itself. The writing is joyous use of English. We are so fortunate to have such a great, bastardized language with so many words. I would hate learning it as a second language.
• 
  9

  did you experience an undercurrent of demon attacks/demonic fasination and regular discusions on the subject

  by exjw1978 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  whilst/current your time within the organisation did you experience an all too familiar story telling of demons/demonic attack/certian people having more problems then others ect.

  i remember it was certainly a topic well discussed during my time stories that ran like wildfire/special people within the congregation who could "touch" things and "know" if they were demonised, families having trouble ~ in particular one family within the congregation that was receiving the most trouble ~ i sense an undercurrent of demonology within after meeting discussions/ warned never to buy second hand goods ect.

  overall i always sensed a fasination with the subject amongst us ????

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Band on the Run

  The whole thing is silly. Christ is Lord now, in the present. Satan is created, an inferior creature predestined to be defeated. Christ is KIng. Even with the Witness demotion of Christ, he can wooop Satan any time he wishes and stop Acts of God with a wink. If we believe that Christ's death had any meaning, we are free from the powers. Paul writes movingly that no powers or principalties can defeat us if we are for Christ.

  They elevated the demons above Christ. Jesus of Nazareth hardly got as much press attention. Christ died for us, history changed, we are free, ta da.