Posts by Anony Mous

106

I'm Starting To Understand Atheist and Evolution

by Philadelphia Ponos in

for many years i was sincerely perplexed when someone told me they believed in the evolution theory or were an atheist.

i never understood how someone could ignore all the evidence for intelligent design and overlook all the holes in the evolution theory.

for example, the human biology clock is synced with the rotation of the earth, the earth is the perfect distance away from the sun to sustain life, the earth has an ozone layer to protect us from the sun's radiation, the earth naturally produces fruits and vegetables to be used for food, our bodies produce enzymes to break down the fruits and vegetables so it can nourish us, the earth produces water and oxygen, etc.

Anony Mous

Evolution makes more sense if you look at the cosmic scale. Intelligent design is needed to build the earth in 6 days (RCC) or 6000 days (JW) and the religious or at least biblical view is that only the earth was made perfectly ready for life. Why would God need billions of years and only occasionally put life forms in, be going from simple to complicated only to destroy them a couple of eons later with a meteorite.

Radiometric age dating has put the earth at 4.5 billion years, plenty of time for something to happen. Recently claims have been made that fossils of early life (bacterium) were found on meteorites (although the sources are shaky at best) and it's possible that life is or has evolved at some point somewhere in the Universe. The thing about finding it is that we can only scan a minute amount of the skies at any given time and that it takes forever for signals to get here if the technology on the other side would ever evolve at the same time and the same way (currently the only thing we can detect is very, very powerful and directed radio signals while other solutions could be used by slightly more evolved life forms such as light, antimatter or proton streams) into our narrow timescale (we've only been looking for less than 100 years) and if it even would ever be reached and detected by our current technology (it's far, very, very far, it needs to reach us at a very exact moment and specifically or accidentally directed to us and the signals would be weak, very, very weak if at all decodable from noise).

21

An odd experience I had the other day...............

by nicolaou in

my job took me to a residential part of town that i would never normally have any reason to go to.

i had to go to a specific address.

i found it quite easily and parked the car about twenty yards from the customers home.. i had a sense of deja vu - but an unpleasant and rather disturbing one.. i took a good look around me.

Anony Mous

I'm still active putting in >10 hours/month and I can't remember the last time I went from door to door or the last door I called upon.

27

When do you begin counting time?

by pubtruth in

jw
friends

for those who were in or still are.. when do/did you begin counting time?

as you left for the house group, or after the meeting was over?

did you count the car trip to and from?

Anony Mous

One of our local pioneers works at night. So he starts his time when he comes home from work by dropping of a tract, then he goes home, changes and goes to the FS meeting, hands out territory if need be, goes home to take a quick nap, goes back out around 11:30 to catch up with the group. Does the same for the afternoon except that he usually doesn't return then - 8 hour days that dude gets while working hard labor (literally, no easy job he has) full time night shifts, being an elder and having loads of other responsibilities.

10

Prank ideas

by trevorbv in

jw
friends

Anony Mous

What would be a good idea is to post JW-critical events (apostafests, silent lambs ads, did-you-know-he-was-a-perv postings (if legal in your area/state)) prominently in the big 3 day convention centers. They are usually held in public centers and either have public posting areas or management may allow them to be posted. If you have either implied or expressed permission, the org. can't do ANYTHING about it and they cannot be removed.

If attendants out of spite do remove them (post early, check often), complain with management and/or the JW PR desk and/or the local constables and they might even be forced to announce your posters especially if you have written permission. Last year we had people posting something for what looked like a quiet fun 'worldly event' during the convention and JW security wasn't allowed to interfere with the raggedy dude posting them, some young witnesses reportedly 'checked it out' during the lunch break.

If you have the money, you could even rent out some ad space inside some of these centers for the month(s) the site is being used by JW - those ads are usually not allowed to be covered up. Imagine a big 'warning' message behind the speaker for all conventions held there that year.

29

False Christians chose the modern Bible books

by lifeisgood in

jw
friends

one of the issues that i discovered when i took two years off from the jws to just study the bible is the contents of the modern bible do not even come close to matching the contents of the holy books that the first christians used.

not even close.

off by over 550 books.. now, the jws claim that the catholic church is false religion.

Anony Mous

They're not included because then there would be no more room in the book bags for Watchtowers ;-)

Anyway, they're quite an interesting read but I don't know how far they can be regarded as 'authentic'. Some make the apostles look more divine others are merely chronicles of history. The pharisees also had a bunch of by-laws that somebody wrote down at one point, nobody claims them to be inspired.

If you're interested in them, there is nothing wrong reading them but I would not claim them to be of any significance, after all Jesus said love God and your brother and the rest of the laws stems out of them. He also didn't consider giving any more laws which even Paul would exceed his authority by giving additional guidelines and laws to the early church.

32

Assembly/Convention Accounting

by dontplaceliterature in

jw
friends

just having had my circuit assembly recently, i felt that the expenses in a watchtower-owned building seemed extremely over-inflated.

over $9000 for two days.

there were approximately 750-800 in attendance each day.

Anony Mous

As I mentioned in another thread - look into the mortgage practices of the WTBTS before you say it's 'a lot'. All ground and building expenses are mortgaged (through the WTBTS as bank + interest) and attempted payed back in 10 years. If that doesn't work (it almost never does first time around), the remains + late fees + interest is put in another 10 year loan (even if there is a few 1000 remaining) ad infinitum. Also, the CO housing costs money (some have really nice 32" TV's and they get refurnished every time the CO/DO changes) and the janitor couple living expenses (house, car, food, ...) is also included. A large ground and building like that costed a couple of million in the average US farmland market a decade ago and easily costs multiple 10's of million now since most of those areas have been urbanized.

Also something I didn't mention yet but if you give real estate or other tangibles (fleets of cars, trucks, ...) for a local project what actually happens is the WTBTS accepts them with tax receipts and everything (good for you) as a donation to the World Wide Work but then includes the value in the mortgages back to the local project/congregation.

8

Elder book....Not the shepared

by itsbeenalongtime in

i remember a friend of mine telling me that her husband had a book that were used byt elders only....i am not sure if this is the same book as the topic posted before..but i was wondering if anyone had a copy or knew where i could get a copy.

i am talking about the book that has all the experiences of what to do in a judicial meeting.

i remember when i had mine i could hear one of the brothers reading it and at the end he said those brothers found it grounds for a disfellowshiping..however i was df'ed..but i know that no one is allowed to read it but the elders and for some reason i do not think it is the shepard book.

Anony Mous

The 'elder's book' does refer to articles in the WT which may show some experiences. Some bigwigs have really researched some of the topics they regularly handle and they might also refer to older cases in their case file (which they do keep track off). Also in the Elder schools there are some topics discussed and examples given and many take notes.

There is no 'book of experiences' on how to handle specific situations. However, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody has actually gathered 'case files' to refer to.

26

The Watchtower Proselytizer's road to hell

by Nickolas in

there is an old proverb that says the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

take heed.. how many people have you harmed in your life, even when you didn't intend to?.

former witnesses on this board have expressed regret and shame for having gone door to door luring people into the watchtower.

Anony Mous

Total members: 7,224,930

Baptized: 294,368

Hours spent: 1,604,764,248

Hours spent / Baptism: 5451 hours

Average hours / member: 222 / year = 18.5 / month

So for every 25 years you are/were a member you are 'responsible' for 1 sucker (whom are born every minute). And that is if you did the whole spiel and were a pioneer some of the time. You can recalculate for your average. If you were an 'average' publisher the whole time, you should've been in ~50 years. Don't feel bad.

8

expences for 1day natick mass assembly 8,000$

by TheLoveDoctor in

jw
friends

your thoughts.

Anony Mous

They do have quite some expenses. I mean, all those volunteers cost a lot of money. Anyway, the place is probably too big to be called 'modest' with a nice park and pond around it, a double house for the CO and the couple that keeps up the place.

They're most likely still paying back their mortgage to the WTBTS as well which is in chunks of 10 years, just so you understand correctly: the mortgage for a multi-million dollar building has to be paid back in 10 years - if it cannot be done, the WTBTS charges interest on the back payments and then there is another mortgage for 10 years w/ interest. Those are ~$100,000 payments for a modest 10M project. More recent projects have been quoted at 40M+

Also, the CO's house is there and is to be refurnished, painted etc. every 3 years (whenever there is a change of the guard). There's most likely also some professional services taking care of the yard and other projects. The people that live there just to keep up the place also are fully all expenses paid, car etc. etc.

74

Wt Org Like an Animal Pack

by Satanus in

observing how stranglers and those who get ahead of the wt org are left or get ostricised reminded me of similar dynamics in some animal societies, lions, for instance.

lions and housecats are the only felines that form groups.

pack members who get sick or injured and become unable to keep up w the pride are left behind.

Anony Mous

@Spade:
And, with the end of A.D. 1914, what God calls Babylon, and what men call Christendom, will have passed away, as is already shown from prophecy." Studies In The Scriptures, Vol. III, (1897)

"...we consider it an established truth that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, will be accomplished by the end of A.D. 1914" (1889).

"In the coming 26 years, all present governments will be overthrown and dissolved." Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II, (1889)

"The Gentile Times prove that the present governments must all be overthrown about the close of A.D. 1915; and Parallelism above shows that this period corresponds exactly with the year A.D. 70, which witnessed the completion of the downfall of the Jewish polity." The time is at hand (1915)

"...in the year 1918, when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by millions, it shall be that any that escape shall come to the works of Pastor Russell to learn the meaning of the downfall of Christianity." The Finished Mystery (1917)

"...there will be a resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other faithful ones of old ... we may expect 1925 to witness the return of these faithful men of Israel from the condition of death, being resurrected and fully restored to perfect humanity and made the visible, legal representatives of the new order of things on earth.... Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection." Millions now Living will Never Die (1918)

"According to trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from man’s creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975 C.E." Life Everlasting - In Freedom of the Sons of God (1966)

"…six millenniums of mankind’s life on earth would end in the mid-seventies. Thus the seventh millennium from man’s creation by Jehovah God would begin within less than ten years…. In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be ‘Lord even of the sabbath day,’ his thousand-year reign would have to be the seventh in a series of thousand-year periods or millenniums…." Life Everlasting - In Freedom of the Sons of God (1966)

"Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world’s end." Kingdom Ministry, May 1974, p. 3

However later

"Did Jesus mean that we should adjust our financial and secular affairs so that our resources would just carry us to a certain date that we might think marks the end?… This is not the kind of thinking that Jesus advised." The Watchtower, July 15, 1976, p. 440

Compare Deuteronomy 18:20-22

Please make sure you get the originals of all the publications mentioned above. Some of Russell's writings were altered in later editions of the books and some books (such as Life Everlasting) are not available in your WTLIB or local congregation library.

Guess where this came from:

"The Witnesses had long shared the belief that the Thousand Year Reign of Christ would follow after 6,000 years of human history. But when would 6,000 years of human existence end? The book LifeEverlasting—InFreedomoftheSonsofGod, released at a series of district conventions held in 1966, pointed to 1975. Right at the convention, as the brothers examined the contents, the new book triggered much discussion about 1975."

"Unfortunately, however, along with such cautionary information, there were other statements published that implied that such realization of hopes by that year was more of a probability than a mere possibility."