Chariklo

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Posts by Chariklo

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  35

  Prelude to a disfellowshipping: An open letter.

  by rory-ks in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  an open letter to the body of elders, .

  sudbury (suffolk) congregation of jehovah's witnesses.. .

  on wednesday, april 4, 2012, the decision will be carried out to announce to the congregation that, rory sullivan is no longer one of jehovah's witnesses.. .

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  Chariklo

  Rory, you are really helping me. Thank you again.
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  5

  Occupy Jehovah's Witnesses: When the 0.1% are the 99.9%

  by rory-ks in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on the evening of thursday, april 5th, after sundown, some 19 million people will meet in kingdom halls around the world to celebrate the lord's evening meal.

  of those 19 million less than half will be fully-fledged jehovah's witnesses comprising men, women, and children, who have dedicated their lives to the cause, amounting to some 7-and-a-half million - a mere 0.1% of the world's 7 billion population.. .

  that 0.1% are in a privileged position.

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  Chariklo

  Outstanding post.

  Thank you.
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  23

  Is The End of the "Preaching Work" Now In Sight?

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there may not be any specific plan to end the "preaching work" but that doesn't mean that things can't evolve into such an outcome.

  indeed, i now wonder if such a thing is probable!.

  first, if (and it's a very big if) various nations develop case law that includes liability for volunteers, this will put the watchtower in a bind.

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  Chariklo

  One sister told me, while we were out door to door, "you do realize that doing this is just to keep us busy till Armageddon, don't you?"

  All innocent () and rosy-eyed I was shocked, and checked back with the pioneer who was "coaching" me for the field service. She rephrased it and made it sound much more idealistic, but in effect confirmed it. I subsequently checked again with my study conductor, because it sounded so very cynical to me, and she confirmed it, also makieng it sound logical and idealistic.
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  17

  The Great Flash Flood of Noah's Day

  by sabastious in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  think about all the people you have ever loved and spent time with.

  think about the hard work you and your friends and family have put forth to create a life for yourselves.

  think about your grandchildren, your fathers, your mothers and your siblings.

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  Chariklo

  Now the word "wipe" is an interesting one to use in my opinion. Think of the motion that is required for that word to be used. A start point, a track and an end point. If the writer wanted to depict an obliteration of the earth largely by rainfall, the word wipe doesn't seem ideal to me. However a flash flood, or a tsunami work much better with the word "wipe."

  Interesting. One search page http://bible.cc/genesis/7-4.htm gives "blot out" and "destroy" instead of "wipe" in a number of translations.

  The Jerusalem Bible is the one I used for years before focusing on the New World Translation, and I've now gone back tpo it, though it's not on that search page. The JB gives, for Genesis 7:4

  "For in seven days' time I mean to make it rain on the earth for forty days and nights, and I will rid the earth of every living thing that I have made."

  Anyway, flash flood or not, wiping, blotting out or ridding or not, I am struggling with the idea of a God who decides to destroy every living thing that he has made. I had this sicussion with a sister the othre day. Why would God destroy everything, I asked.

  "Because they were all sinning" came the reply. "

  "What, even the babiea?" I asked.

  She insisted that the babies would be destroyed because of the sins of their parents. When I said no-one could be more inocent than a baby she spoke of Adam's sin affecting every one.

  A God who decides to destroy every living thing he has made because some, even many are wicked, sounds to me more like an toddler having a tantrum than an almighty, merciful, just and wise God.
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  43

  How do you Spell Disfellowshipped?

  by RayPublisher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the reason i ask, is that if you search the wt publications, you will see that it is spelled with only one "p" over 600 times, but also spelled with two "p"s 600 times.. .

  very confusing!

  any linguistic experts out there that know which it should be?.

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  Chariklo

  I hadn't been reading the stuff very long before I realised that the WT can't spell. And I hadn't been mixing with certain pioneers very long before I realised that no matter how superior they think themselves to be, they can't spell either.

  They also have no sense of humour and no common sennse, but that's another story.

  As for spelling this objectionable word, RayPublisher, you got it right in the title of the thread. But to add to the many real answers above:

  A N G R I L Y
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  19

  Gossip, gossip, gossip

  by time2keepmoving in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  even though i've been disfellowshipped for several months now (looking forward to my 1 year anniversary).

  i did have a brother contact me about one of my siblings who is still "in" and ask me personal questions about them.

  he also shared with me a lot of personal info about my sibling that i did not know, obviously my relative shared this information with this brother in confident.. i felt like if my relative wanted me to know they would have told me.

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  Chariklo

  The first thing guests do is look through the host's CD/DVD collection.

  That's what my study conductor started doing! Not only look. She gave me strict instructions as to what I had to throw out, and even checked the following week to make sure I had!

  I leave it to you to guess what I actually did with them...absolutely no porn or gratuitous violence was ever there in the first place anyway! She objected to just about any film for an age higher than 12.

  I know one elder in a congregation elsewhere in the country who assists ion making a certain range of family blockbuster films that are a household word. Yet a highly influential elder here, the WT Study Conductor, told me I should not be watching such films!
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  19

  Gossip, gossip, gossip

  by time2keepmoving in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  even though i've been disfellowshipped for several months now (looking forward to my 1 year anniversary).

  i did have a brother contact me about one of my siblings who is still "in" and ask me personal questions about them.

  he also shared with me a lot of personal info about my sibling that i did not know, obviously my relative shared this information with this brother in confident.. i felt like if my relative wanted me to know they would have told me.

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  Chariklo

  IN the local KH they make a big thing about not gossiping, but I have never met anywhere where there is so much gossip.

  I've also learned that the biggest virtue among JW's is spying on each other and reporting back to the elders. Ugh.
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  21

  Who is keeping watch over my soul, that I should be submissive to him?

  by irondork in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  and what man or men am i supposed to be obedient to?.

  and who is rendering accounts without talking to me first?.

  go ahead!

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  Chariklo

  Honestly I do not think there is any "true" religion out there that has a patent on "the truth". JW's think they do but they have become known as false prophets world wide.

  Greybeard, I really like your answer.

  I agree. I don't think any one religion has a monopoly on the truth, nor does any one of them, probably, have the whole truth. But increasingly I think it likely that most religions have glimpses into the truth, partial insights into the great truths of existence.
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  8

  The Father abandons his Son

  by XPeterX in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  about 2000 years ago,a dying man was hunging from a cross for hours.at some point he looked at the sky and cried out "father,father why have you forsaken me?

  ".but no one saved him,no one cared.minutes after that he died a horrible death.. my question is: if jehovah abandoned christ like this,what can be said about the rest of his followers?those who put their trust in his teachings?won't he forsake them too like he did with his only son?.

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  Chariklo

  My question is: If Jehovah abandoned Christ like this,what can be said about the rest of his followers?

  The thung is, XPeterX, that is not what happened. All Christian teaching, whether Jehovah's Witness or any other denomination, tells a fuller story. In the depths of his agony, Jesus felt abandoned, and uttered that anguished cry, echoing the sense of abandonment that so many feel in physical, mental or spiritual torment. But Jesus willingly went through that, knowing as he did so that he was still going to trust his Father and out of his love for him and for us gave his life so that we might be saved.

  It seems as though he was abandoned, but he wasn't. You don't have to accept it, but that is what the Bible says.
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  11

  Earthquakes in one place after another

  by irondork in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was thinking about mathew 24:7 - "earthquakes in one place after another" and luke 21:11 - "there will be great earthquakes".

  growing up in the 80's, i could have sworn the retoric coming from the wts was that there would be an increase in the number of earthquakes as the end drew near.

  yet these two scriptures say nothing about an increases in numbers.

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  Chariklo

  I had an elderly sister on the phone this evening. She was trying to prove to me that I was being led astray, and that the WT had the truth. I'm fond of her. She is 84, in poor health, and has been a Witness for over half a century.

  After asking me some very silly but predictable questions about what I thought about the way the world was going, the decline in morals etc, she asked, "Well what do you think about the way the weather's changing?"

  Me: (Remembering this is someone old and frail whom I like and don't want to upset.) "What exactly do you mean?"

  "Well, I mean, the way the seasons are all wrong, the way the ice caps are melting."

  Me. "But this has happened before."

  "No, we've never had the ice caps melting"

  Me: "Yes, many times in Earth's history we've had very warm periods and very cold periods. You've heard of the Ice Ages? And you know that Britain was once tropical?"

  "I've heard that some people think this may have happened once. I don't believe it." Pause. "Well, what do you think about all these homosexuals"

  I took pity on her and brought it to a close.