Hello Francois,
thanks for the great question...
and Alan: many thanks for your wonderful piece of
research and quote.
Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp
this is really sort of a response to another post about religious authority.. does member have a copy of the mcclintock strongs?.
if anyone does, would you please look up and reproduce here the entry under "authority"?.
a friend of mine (now ex, for the reason you would expect) had a copy of m&s and the entry under authority was very interesing indeed.
Hello Francois,
thanks for the great question...
and Alan: many thanks for your wonderful piece of
research and quote.
Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp
so often the publications employ argumentation that involves using a 'switch' whereby one untruth is 'switched' for a truth.
all very deceptively, of course!.
take as an example this innocent sounding statement from the revelation climax book:.
Hello Ozziepost,
thanks for another of your brilliant...
observation! Drilling...it's the right attitude from the
WTBS, on and on and again and again...
All the best to you and your wife,
J.C.MacHislopp
changed the lives of everyone in this country, including members of the bethel family, who had to see that [and] were traumatized.. .
now we have been studying the bible for years and been preaching the good news of the kingdom and we have also been aware of developments that god's people have been notified through the pages of the watchtower and the awake!
there are five developments, friends, that we're going to talk about, but i'd like to talk about the first one that we should expect to see.. .
Hello Dogpatch,
thanks for this excellent..
gem from our beloved "brother" Ciro Aulicino.
I'll keep it on my file and will comment another
time.
Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp
yes, that is correct.
bethel coach tours will make your trip to ny more enjoyable by taking you to the united nations building on a sightseeing trip.. as per their website:.
we can even put together a very enjoyable sightseeing itinerary: empire state building, the world's largest macy's, historical south st. seaport, china town / little italy, united nations building, metropolitan, museum of art, statue of liberty, see a broadway play, times square, central park, woolworth building, chrysler building, or even a manhattan / ny / hudson river cruise!.
Hello Jourles,
good post ! Thanks for the reminder.
Surely ...nothing should surprise us anymore.
Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp
despite the lackluster records of jw number growth in the past 6 years, i believe that their numbers will start to swell again and remain high for at least another 10 years here is why.. the society is becoming more and more business like in its approach (especially after last year's re-org) on how to maintain and increase growth.
the wts, like any corporation when it becomes acutely aware of stagnation, begins to formulate a number of new techniques in order to bolster its sagging membership or sales.
this could include, tv ads (i believe intuit39 mentioned something to that effect), radio, newspaper and magazine ads and direct mailings.
Hello everyone,
thanks for all the comments in this
"interesting " post.
Room 215 , excellent and logical expositions of facts:
"How many of their teachings can withstand impartial objective scrutiny from neutral observers, especially with the internet to facilitate research, pro-and-con? Keep in mind that JWs have been to date able to rely on the public's ignorance of their past history with its scandals and failed predictions in order to make any progress at all with an unwary public. "
Moman: good points too.
Anewperson: I do agree with your comment
Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp
this statement is prety interesting.
it's taken from the very latest watchtower article (april 1, 2002) the final sentence of paragraph 14 reads:.
"if jehovah's organization knowingly endorsed false teachings, advice to read the bible would never be given to jehovah's witnesses and those to whom they preach.".
Hello everyone,
congratulations for this post.
Excellent points Stevieb1 and Gopher!
This one is for the file.
Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp
i am a severly disabled adult who receives disability benefits.. i understand sometime ago the watchtower said in one of its magazine(probably watchtower)that a smaller pertentage(sic)of jws claimed the dole in france(this was, i believe during the problems with the french government)as opposed to a higher pertentage(sic)of roman catholic etc etc claiming the dole.. in view of what paul says in one of his letter`he that doesn't work, shall not eat' should jws be claiming the dole if they truly follow the bible.
discuss.. i believe a social security system should provide for the disabled and pensioners.
(i don't think the present uk social security system will survive in its present form with accelerting(sic)costs etc etc)
Hello Badboy,
sorry to read about your situation.
I'll comment later. Reborn 2002: good comment!
Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp
sometime ago, the wtbts published.
a watchtower study article,that.
pointed to :.
Hello everyone,
thanks for the comments...quite
interesting. I'll come backon them.
Pureheart: I'll keep you informed on the latest...
viewpoint. Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp
sometime ago, the wtbts published.
a watchtower study article,that.
pointed to :.
Hello everyone,
Sometime ago, the WTBTS published
a watchtower study article,that
pointed to :
"…six lines of evidence proving that we are living in the last days of this ungodly world"
(w. January 15,2000, pag. 12 §12)
Just a page more and we could find
this question on § 18th:
" Evidently, what will be true of some of the anointed when the great tribulation begins, and how may this be determined?"
Now, in the 18th paragraph we can
read the following :
"Sixth, the number of genuine anointed disciples of Christ is
dwindling, though some will evidently still be on the earth
when the great tribulation begins.
Most of the remnant are quite elderly, and over
The years the number of those who are truly anointed has been getting smaller. Yet, referring to the great tribulation, Jesus stated:" Unless
those days were cut short, no flrsh would be saved;
but on account of the chosen ones those days will
be cut short." '(Matthew 24:21,22) Evidently, then,
some of Christ's " chosen ones" will still be on earth when the great tribulation begins.*
(*) The footnote mentions the parable of the sheep and the goats and the last part reads:
" …This standard for judgment would be meaningless if at the time of judgment, all of Christ's brothers had long since left the earthly scene.-
Matthew 25: 31-46 "(w. January 15,2000 p. 13 §18)
Let's start with the comments:
°Please note the frequent use of the words :
evidence and evidently.
Normally it's use implies that there is
some evidence or some facts;
° Those "six lines of evidence " are …" proving ";
°Notice the number of …." ge n u I n e anointed " and also the
number of those who are …" t r u l y anointed ";
Why the WTBS makes this remark???
But what I do find really very, very interesting is this clear statement
at the beginning of paragraph 18th - in italic the watchtower -
"Sixth, the number of genuine anointed disciples of Christ is
dwindling,…."
Is it really so?? I do mean, taking all the written records, provided for everyone, in the WTBS own pubblications? Let's take the last 50 years.
Number of anointed - in the year 1950 - ………..22,723
Number of anointed -in the year 2001…………. 8,730
So far it looks ..good.
But if we check carefully the given figures, for all the years since
1950 we do have some …surprises!
1) It took 14 years to arrive to almost half of that number
i.e. …..11,292 anointed in the year 1963;
2) Then, strangely 38 years later i.e. the year 2001, we still
have 8,730 anointed which means that after 38 years
we have still 77,31 % of all the anointed ones, that were
living in 1963!
Remember: "… Most of the remnant are quite elderly,…"
and : " …. the number of genuine anointed disciples
of Christ is dwindling.."
Is it me or else….?
3) From 9,727 "anointed remnant "in the year 1979, it took
21 years to see the number diminishing of about 1000
(more precisely 997 ) ….to have 8,730 " anointed remnant",
and all this by the year 2001.
4) Yet, from the year 1989, total of 8,734 " anointed remnant"
we arrive 12 years later, in the year 2001 and ….we have a
total of 8,730 " anointed remnant "!!!
In few words, it took - before - 21 years to " diminuish "
of almost a thousand ….and now in 12 years the number
of " anointed remnant " has decreased of "….4 " ???
Surely something, somehow, somewhere doesn't tick….or
it's me again???
Your comments are welcome,
Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp
i would like to share with you some thoughts.
-"... organized christian religion ...".
religion in france.".
Hello everyone,
I would like to share with you some thoughts
About the attitude and the - actions - of the
WTBS in the field of "…organized Christian
religion".
Many of us are well aware of the many
legal procedures that the WTBS has and
still does follows , with the noble goal to
be granted, by various governments, the
legal status of an:
-"… organized Christian religion …"
or even claiming to be (as in France):
- "… we are the third-largest Christian
religion in France."
All these recent legal actions should
not permit our …collective memory to fail
us, and the WTBS written records will
help us to have a better and more complete
view of this matter.
Let's go back to a special year, 1943 …that
Year the WTBS published a well known book:
"Thhe truth shall make you free ".
Now let's see what they wrote about the subject
- organized religion and - Christian religion.
We open pages 314 and 315 of that book and we read:
"Many sincere persons continue under bondage
to "organized religion" because their clergy have
mistaught them to think that "Christendom's "
religion and Christianity are the same thing.
In due time the exposure of this came out.
In 1928 this statement was published and spread
Throughout "Christendom": Satan is the god
of this world, and therefore the nations of the
world can not properly be designated as Christian nations. THERE IS NO SUCH THING
AS A CHRISTIAN RELIGION, BECAUSE TRUE CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A RELIGION." (The book Government, page 139,
§1; published 1928) This truth was made more
prominent from 1936 forward , and the religionist everywhere manifested great indi-
gnationat this exposure and at the public pronouncement that " religion is a snare and a
racket". Both sixteen centuries of history till
now and the present way of religion back up the
foregoing statement as true."
- end of quote -
(Bold as in the original page).
The simple question is : where is
to be found, today , the TRUTH…
that , according to Jesus Christ's
words …shall make you free???
a) Only inside an organized religion?
b) Only inside an organized Christian religion?
c) Only inside Christianity?
d) Only inside Christendom?
e) Only inside any kind of organized religion?
f) Only inside God's Word the Bible?
g) …Nowhere???
Remember that the above statement :
« THERE IS NO SUCH THING
AS A CHRISTIAN RELIGION, BECAUSE TRUE
CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A RELIGION."
(The book Government, page 139,
§1; published 1928) »
comes from an organisation claiming, among other things,
to be the only one approved by God, and
to base all its teachings entirely on the Bible !
It is obvious that the WTBS answer, keeps
changing…according to many factors…not
excluding power, prestige, money etc. etc.
Greetings to you all, J.C.MacHislopp
P.S. I hope Pureheart will read this.