The society degrades Catholicism for reciting prayers "out of mere rote" and therefore completely devoid of feeling. Yet it would not surprise me at all for the society to order that a prayer be read at an assembly because an assembly is ya know.....a big occasion......and it would be best for the brother to recite something that at least SOUNDS loving and heart-felt than for him to screw it up, panic, say something stupid and risk offending or stumbling a brother. Therefore....it would be OK for US to read a prayer....because WE are the true religion, and WE have God's blessing....and God wants to make sure no one gets stumbled. But if someone from another religion reads a prayer, it just shows you how fake they are in their Babylonish worship.
outsmartthesystem
JoinedPosts by outsmartthesystem
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17
Pre-written prayer at assembly?
by angel.face ini was at the assembly a little while ago.
my baby was acting up during the closing prayer and for the first time i looked up on stage.. it really looked like the brother was reading the prayer.
he had his head turned to one side of the podium where his notes lay.
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beards - the truth on the matter?
by ekruks inyour thoughts on the real reasons behind the stigma of beards..........................
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outsmartthesystem
My honest belief is that it was instituted decades ago to keep witnesses from looking like Adventists or anyone else. It then morphed into a necessity (sorta like always wearing a suit and tie) that it be maintained......because keeping ourselves separate from the world was a must....and this was one of the ways to do it. Not, like Punk said....it is just for control. If you balk at the rule then you obviously are selfish and independent. You dont' have the right heart condition. If you did have the right heart conditoin you would readily accept it because it is part of Jehovah's arrangement. It is part of Jehovah's arrangement because that is what the GB says....and the GB is directed by God. God hasn't seen fit to change the rule yet so you are obviously "running ahead" of the organization with your independent attitude.
In one of my previous arguments with DJEggnogg.....he managed to bring up a classic JW line. He said somethign to the effect of "would you want some guy in baggy, stained clothes and a gross, unkept beard at YOUR door? No. By being cleanly shaven....there is no mistaking who is at your door".
I wanted to cry because it is the same reasoning you get from every witness that obeys implicitly without understanding. Somehow, having a beard automatically means that you will also 1) wear smelly, unwashed clothing and 2) refuse to keep it groomed. And it isn't the lack of beard that alerts you that a JW is at your door. It is the fact that they are in suits, they are carrying briefcases, and they are holding a magazine and or a bible. Moreover, there is an elder at my hall that has yellow/brown teeth. He constantly wears suits/shirts/ties that have massive stains (sometimes he will put together an ensamble that features a stained suit jacket, stained pants, a stained shirt AND a stained tie. It was actually one big stain). His breath is vile and you cannot tell where his nose hairs stop and his mustache begins.
THAT, my friends, is acceptable. That is what Jehovah wants. But Ben Bernanke at your door? Unacceptable.
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Question about 607/587
by drewcoul ini am not an expert on this issue.
i have read and re-read information about it, but i guess i am somewhat dense when it comes to this topic.. my question is simple: the watchtower suggests that they believe the bible is the unerring word or god.
that it must be believed above anything else.
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outsmartthesystem
I won't rehash everything. But the point of the matter is that 587BC doesn't disagree with the bible at all. It disagrees with the WATCHTOWER SOCIETY'S INTERPRETATION of the bible. They interpret Jeremiah 25:11 and 12 to apply only to Jerusalem.......that Jerusalem would be destroyed AND it would remain desolate for 70 full years. They believe the 70 years ended in 537BC (Somehow 2 years AFTER the Babylonian dynasty fell). They travel back in time from 537BC ....70 years ......to 607BC. And that's when they think Jerusalem fell. 587BC would only make 50 years. Therefor it all comes down to HOW THEY INTERPRET the scripture.
That's what pisses me off about them. They said it comes down to secular history vs the bible.....but that's not true. It is secular history vs THEIR INTERPRETATION!
Damn. I guess I did rehash everything.
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Just why would god create dinos??
by highdose inthe jw answer to this is that there must have been some purpose for them that we don't yet understand.. but dinos were pretty violent, basic animals who killed without mercy.
i know not all of them but alot of them did.
the ones that were vegetarian ate huge masses of vegatation, how is that productive to the earth?.
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outsmartthesystem
That's why I love it when people say "In the new system.....the earth will be a paradise and man will be perfect.....because that was God's original plan for the earth.......for it to be a paradise with perfect humans dwelling on it". I just want to slap people like that. If the earth has been here for hundreds of millions of years and man has been here for supposedly scarcely 6,000......exactly how can we call that an ORIGINAL purpose?
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Shunning,, let's twist the knife in a little deeper now !
by man in black inthis morning i took my dog who is a therapy dog over to the hospital and visited with several patients.
it is quite an experience, and it really helps people undergoing medical treatment to calm down and relax.. my wife was one of those patients, she is undergoing some tests before getting her gall bladder removed which will probably be sometime tomorrow.. afterwards i took the dog home, cleaned her up, and changed my clothes.
since i was alone i drove over to panara to try one of their breakfast sandwiches, several of the nurses told me that they are pretty good.
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outsmartthesystem
"And as I sat there it really hit me how conditional friendships are with the jw's."
But please try to remember that the vast majority of these ones are also victims. They've been given a faulty bible translation. They have been given articles that SAY that the Greeks words used indicate that even a GREETING to a disfellowshipped person is wrong (of course the primary definition of the Greek word used proves this is incorrect). And they have been given countless other articles that twist "the antichrist" into meaning anyone that is disfellowshipped from the religion. They truly trust the GB therefore they have no reason to doubt the information provided. Their conditional love is masked as allegiance with God......therefore they don't see it as conditional love. These ones are victims of propaganda.
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JW Funerals
by outsmartthesystem inthis is kinda out of the blue....but was brought on by the sad announcement from jwfacts of the passing of his father.
thankfully, that funeral talk was evidently a respectable one......but i have now been to two jw funerals myself in the past 2 years.
i have been extremely dismayed by the talk given in both of them.
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outsmartthesystem
Thanks Poztate. That truly is depressing. It is amazing that such a funeral talk sales pitch seemed so normal when I was an uber-JW
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JW Funerals
by outsmartthesystem inthis is kinda out of the blue....but was brought on by the sad announcement from jwfacts of the passing of his father.
thankfully, that funeral talk was evidently a respectable one......but i have now been to two jw funerals myself in the past 2 years.
i have been extremely dismayed by the talk given in both of them.
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outsmartthesystem
This is kinda out of the blue....but was brought on by the sad announcement from JWFACTS of the passing of his father. Thankfully, that funeral talk was evidently a respectable one......but I have now been to two JW funerals myself in the past 2 years. I have been extremely dismayed by the talk given in both of them. Yes....the person's life was remembered and yes some personal accomplishments were mentioned.....and yes the person's family was mentioned. But I swear.....half the damn talk was spent preaching about a wonderful fairytale new system and what conditions will be like and God's purpose for the earth and blah blah blah. Seriously both elders managed to get a 15 minute preaching discourse into the funeral talk. It was sickening. Is this a new thing now? Are funeral talk outlines now all about glorifying the organization?
And the responses of all the JWs are getting worse and worse. I was watching as JW after JW said somethign to the grieving non-witness family. Most were honestly heart felt with their condolences......yet 4 out of 5 had to get in a plug about being a witness. "God is a loving God and he would not have taken your family member away from you to be with him". "Please study with us and learn the truth.....then you'll be able to see him again in the new system".
Seriously.....is there EVER a circumstance where an uber-JW feels it might NOT be a good idea to preach?
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Tennasse Witness family killed for "informal Witnessing" to Goth satanist teenagers.
by Witness 007 incrime channel = a family of four were murdered at a tennasee rest stop.
one of the killers a teenager girl said.
"the man aproached me at the rest stop and asked me if i believed in god, he said he was a jehovah's witness..." the four youths are serving life in prison.
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outsmartthesystem
Tragic indeed.
"They always use the "time and unforseen occurance" loophole. But if these Witnesses somehow survived, they would proclaim devine protection."
You nailed it. If person A dies....it is time and unforseen occurance. If person B lives it was Jehovah's blessing and protection. No witness ever seems to ask the question "why didn't Jehovah protect person A like he did person B?" And the few that do answer that question with "we are not to question Jehovah's righteousness".
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VAT 4956/LBAT 1420 question
by outsmartthesystem ini posted this as comment number one million in the nov 1 wt thread...but i'll post here too:.
i don't know if this has been discussed yet....but if it is agreed that vat 4956 is from the 37th year of nebuchadnezzar (the argument being was year 37 in 568 or 588bc), and there is no argument that bm 38462 (lbat 1420) shows 2 eclipse records for year 17.....then what is the jw response to the details of those eclipses?
bm 38462 (lbat 1420) describes in great detail an eclipse that happened on tebetu 13 of the 17th year of nebuchadnezzar.
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outsmartthesystem
Doug....it appears as though I rushed through and neglected to consider the difference between astronomical year dating and western style year dating.
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New here and....
by bushido8000 inare there any jws on this site???
i think i may be in the wrong place.... why am i only seeing atheists and other denominations of christians?.
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outsmartthesystem
Agreed. Anony mous......do tell what the local shockwave entails!
Welcome Bushido! On this forum you'll find a host of different people. You'll find those that are disfellowshipped.....those that are disassociated......those that have "faded" on purpose to avoid family shunning practices......those that are still in the organization but simply go to meetings to report what new nonsensical things are being taught.......those that are still in but trying to fade......those that are still in and feel like they can't leave because they are trapped.......those that have studied with witnesses in the past......those that ARE studying.......those that are not witnesses but have family that are.......those that are of OTHER RELIGIONS and are nice........those that are of OTHER RELIGIONS and feel the need to be pushy about THEIR beliefs........those that are now athiest.........those that are now agnostic........those that don't know what to believe anymore........and even one person that constantly defends the most absurd JW beliefs in with convoluted circular reasoning.....all the while thinking he is some sort of JW crusader. Yes. That would be you Egg.