Franklin Massey

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Topics Started by Franklin Massey

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  61

  Wow, This is Getting Tougher!

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm having a really hard time giving my meeting parts.

  i had a service meeting part this week and i could hardly get through it.

  i am no longer convinced of some of the things jws teach and so i try to either eliminate those things from my parts, or reword them so that i'm not speaking about that which i do not personally believe.

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  42

  JWs Celebrating Brithdays

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i keep hearing of more and more jws that are celebrating their birthdays or, doing "special days" for their children on the day of their birth.

  i'm sure this has always been done but what interests me is that many people aren't ashamed to admit it since they have used their own fully functioning minds to figure out that the society's birthday ban doesn't hold up.

  one young couple with two kids (he's an ms, she's an ex-pioneer who dropped off the list to tend to the kids) explained it to me this way.... "the happiest days of our lives include the births of our children.

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  22

  "If this 'system of things' goes on..."

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been hearing more people saying this now than ever.

  especially those in the over-40 crowd.

  i just got off the phone with an older jw family member who was reviewing options for golden years living.

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  12

  Family Worship Evening, The Mormons Had It First

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this has been commented about on here before but since this weeks service meeting has a continuation of the article "help for families" i thought it would be appropriate to mention that the jw family worship evening, appears to be direct copy of the mormons family home evening.

  if you have the january 2011 km, compare the insert to the resources found at the official latter day saints website on how to conduct the family evening.. http://lds.org/hf/fhe/welcome/0,16785,4210-1,00.html.

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  18

  More Partaking at Memorial, Could It Be the Elderly?

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is not a conspiracy theory, although the goofy title may suggest otherwise.

  the memorial partakers keep going up and up each year.

  there are obvious reasons for this and the wt, feeling the embarassment and threat to the 144,000 doctrine has addressed it in the publications.. but i was thinking back on an odd situation that happened with two older, long time, faithful jws.

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  110

  A Concerned Elder Speaks

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a lot of talk has centered around information dispensed at the recent km schools.

  many brothers feel there is a "tightening up" taking place.

  i had a recent experience that you may find interesting.. after the meeting i was working with our cobe on some congregation tasks when out of nowhere he said, "have you looked up any extra information about higher education since the km school?

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  44

  What Jesus Said About the Flood

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was reading this debate this morning (decent arguments on both sides and an overall respectful demeanor):.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/205158/1/look-it-wasnt-a-global-flood.

  much of the discussion revolved around other mentions of the flood in the bible.

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  56

  If you could ask one question to an active JW to get them to open their mind about their beliefs, what would it be?

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this question was posed to me by a poster named ice cream.

  i don't know my answer yet.

  it's one of those, "if you could have just one wish.." kind of questions.

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  30

  How many of your elders & servants are "Preachers Who Are Not Believers?"

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  many people in positions of teaching others the doctrine of their particular religion do not actually believe the doctrine themselves.

  this is a fascinating article from daniel dennett and linda lascola.

  i could relate to some of the expressions made.. http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/non-believing-clergy.pdf.

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  55

  Greetings to All, No Longer Lurking

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  claustrophobic.

  that's the simplest way for me to express how i feel in the wt org.

  like many here, my eyes were slowly opened over the years as i did more earnest research, trying to reconcile some long standing spiritual quandaries.

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