i thought the Awake said the generation that saw the events of 1914.
sorry did they say it would occur in "this century"
i thought the Awake said the generation that saw the events of 1914.
sorry did they say it would occur in "this century"
no i don't think it is.
there was a woman i saw on the tv the other nite who remembers the Zeppelins bombing and they changed the generation to be one overlapping generation
it was either "hound of the baskervilles" or "adventures of sherlock holmes" where sherlock himself, played by basil rathbone, after wrapping up the case with dr. watson and friends turned to the audience in the theater and urged them to fight on against the threat that menaced europe, the empire and the blessed isles alluding to hitler and mussolini.. since sherlock holmes lived in victorian times this must have been a revelation from god.. no doubt about it.
there is no other way that this could have happened.
and sherlock holmes wrote the story himself.. we studied sherlock holmes short stories attributed to arthur conan doyle in english class.
i dont remember reading it. i will have to get my book out.
as i grew up in the religion, i was a 10. i wanted to be made a "servant" because that was instilled in me from infancy.
i diligently studied ever piece of watchtower literature and defended my religion intensely.. when i got into my 30's, i started to see little cracks in the watchtower's surface but decided to "wait on jehovah".
then i started to research a little more critically and realized i couldn't defend the prophecies, the treatment of people and the hypocrisy that was becoming more obvious, that especially an elder can see.. it was a gradual thing---from a 10 to a zero!.
I was devoted, dedicated in the way that being a witness permeated my life in thinking and decisions and actions people knew i was a witness sometimes without telling them.
I wasn't devoted to reading the literature or being or doing anything at the hall.
If i had stayed i would have been a hypocrite as i could no longer preach/witness concerning what we believed regarding 1914 whereas i still have faith in Christ, so as a devoted witness i left.
as i grew up in the religion, i was a 10. i wanted to be made a "servant" because that was instilled in me from infancy.
i diligently studied ever piece of watchtower literature and defended my religion intensely.. when i got into my 30's, i started to see little cracks in the watchtower's surface but decided to "wait on jehovah".
then i started to research a little more critically and realized i couldn't defend the prophecies, the treatment of people and the hypocrisy that was becoming more obvious, that especially an elder can see.. it was a gradual thing---from a 10 to a zero!.
i was a 10. That's why i left.
i recently became aware of the new light.
please correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't this new light concerning 1914 means that the wt have been preaching the wrong doctrine for decades?
.
i don't think the new light does.
several footnotes in the nwt correctly define apostasy as "unfaithfulness".. that is spiritual unfaithfulness/adultery/fornication/prostitution/harlotry.. in scripture the jews were called (spiritual) prostitutes (37 times in ezekiel chapters 16 and 23).. they claimed a relationship with the god of abraham.. yet they lusted after other gods.. and they had frequent wanton spiritual intercourse with these gods.. to cover-up their own lewd apostasy the watctower lyingly redefines the word to mean a dissenter (against the watchtower).. anyone who dissents is labelled an apostate.. ray franz discovered their apostasy.. he dissented.. he exposed their spiritual harlotry in detail (isocf and coc).. they lyingly labelled him an apostate.. and many if not most exjws say this is all fine.. even worse, many exjws proudly wear the label.. to show their proud support of watchtower lies and cover-ups.. how sad....
According to the elders i'm not an apostate, i asked them.
I don't consider myself an apostate it has such a negative connotation i think, besides i still have faith in Jesus Christ.
I was labeled an apostate a couple of times over the years as a witness but it didn't seem to stick.
i am just wondering about all of you who have been on this site for long.
in all of the events that have happened since 2000 (for example, september 11th), have you at any point, even you die-hard apostates, felt like "oooh sh!t... i should go back to the kh"... just to have the world survive the latest disaster?.
what was the worst event for you, in terms of saying... "did i mess up???
there was one time when i was a witness i thought the tribulation looked imminent. i wondered if i had done enough but thought it's too late now.
did you have any favourite books by the society when you were in ?not that this book was my fav.
yet it was the first book i read learning about jw`s.
" from paradise lost to paradise regained " i know , it was designed for the young , however my mentor thought that since i had no understaning of the bible it was what i needed.
smiddy, i never read any of the publications when I was a witness. they bored me too much. i'd rather read the Beano than the Watchtower. i liked the colours of the books as a kid.
we had a family study in the Paradise book when i was preschool and later in primary school we studied the Your will be done that was fun and later when i was at home still and pioneering we done the daily text, daily bible reading and studied the Watchtower each week. i still felt i didn't really get it.
but since i left i have enjoyed reading the one you mention Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose. one of the points i enjoyed reading about was on page 19
'Based on Paul's statement at 1 Corinthians 15:51,52 it had been expected "that at some time the living saints would be suddenly and miraculously caught away bodily, thenceforth to be forever with the Lord." Believing this would take place in 1878, some were disappointed because nothing occurred that they could see. However, Pastor Russell was led to a reexamination of the scripture and realized that their "mistake lay in expecting to see all the living saints changed at once, and without dying - an erroneous view shared in by the whole nominal church, and one which we had not yet observed or discarded." Russell's re-examination of this text revealed that the true significance of the apostle's words was that those who were to be of Christ's body and who were alive at his presence or after his return would not lie unconscious in the grave as had those who preceded Christ's return. Instead they would be changed instantaneously at death to be present with him. This was really an important revelation of scripture and one that many fundamentalists still have not come to appreciate.'
the book also tells us about the invisible return of Christ in 1874 that was believed. it has helped me to understand what i believed as a witness. Although we had the book since it's publication it's one of those that i never looked at. All though my parents did.
Other books i particularly find interesting now are the "The Nations Shall Know THAT I AM JEHOVAH-HOW? (1971 WTB&TS) and God's Eternal Purpose Now Triumphing FOR MAN'S GOOD (1974 WTB&TS)
so while i was out hiking with the dogs today i got to thinking about this forum and was wondering how many of you still feel guilty from time to time for leaving?
i do, i miss my family at times but then i think about the life that i have created and i have a good one, i have good friends and i am happy, happier then i ever was as a jw.
i was just wondering if others feel the same way sometimes..
for some years i questioned whether it was the right thing to do. i have returned to the hall and given it another six months since leaving trying it slightly differently which didn't really work. i can explain my reasons for leaving easier in the last few years and i feel no guilt about leaving, i think i would have a feeliing of guilt if i stayed as i would be a hypocrite.