no, charles taze russell was not a pennsylvania freemason!.
this is the answer i received in a letter: .
"after a search of our records, we determined that the three russell's were not members of our organization.
I am still trying to figure out what the Egyptian/Masonic "winged disc" symbol was doing on the Stanley Theater.
As it was said already, the disk was already there. The Org bough the theather in 1983, but it was actually built in the 1920's and it was originally decorated with Egyptian motif.
it seems kind of crazy to go to someone's house touting your religion as truth and then not even defend your own beliefs.
why do jws stop the chat if someone just tries to calmly reason/debate with them?
i'm not talking about crazy preachers who start slamming bibles and yelling about how they need jesus or something.
In my experience the vast majority of J-dubs don't expect or don't even want to engage in lenghty conversations. They are so used to the " Hi, isn't the world bad? Here is a magazine. Ok bye" script that most are really taken aback when someone actually starts debating them.
Whenever i open the door and actually engage them, they usually look at me with a blank stare as if thinking " is this guy actually asking me questions?". Then as someone said here, they are completely not prepared to answer anything aside from the very basics and more often than not, most conversations end with " let me find the answer and return next week."
I know that when i was preaching, i really just wanted someone to take my magazines and leave me alone. I didn't want to debate anybody. In fact when someone showed interested, i tried to get this person to a meeting, so that the meeting would do all the work in converting.
for me .... 1).
last district convention after having 'read up' (took some family to it).. 2).
last 'meeting' to watch step-father-in-law finally get his and get disfellowshipped for molestation.. ...both were taking vodka shots in the bathroom.. i'm sure there's lots of good stories out there..
I've never had a drink inside the hall, but during conventions we used to go out for lunch and enjoy multiple beers, then come back to the conventions with a buzz.
But the best was these two friends i had in another hall. Both of them baptized, and both of them used to walk outside during the meetings, and go to this nook outside the hall by the air conditioner unit and smoke. Then after they smoked, simply come back inside. Never got caught.
for some reason my neighborhood gets worked over by the jws constantly.
they are here every week going up and down the streets.
it's a comfortable, safe neighborhood with nice houses.
I'm pretty sure her background in science amounts to reading the evolution book.
I don't know if everybody here remembers, but there was an article in one of the WT mags that explained that reading the Watchtower publications consistently, will eventually amount to the same degree of education received at an university.
Priceless.
i live close to a resonanbly busy street, 20 odd shops banks, a train station,a couple of cafes and coffee shops etc and usually see dubs doing street work close to the station and i'm now on nodding terms with an elder who is out most days of the week and have got close to recognizing most of the hard core of about a dozen of them , i was walking out of the cafe yesterday to be greeted by a couple of newbies i'd never seen before , a scruffy short dumpy man and a fairly well presented middle aged lady, i'll try and abridge the conversation as best as i can, we must have chatted for about 15 minutes and it was all in a good mannered style;.
me " have you sold many of those this morning ?".
jw guy " oh no we dont sell them we give them away for free" (like i didn't know that).
I think your point is slightly different . Your point seems to be that this was for a library card, which obviously it wasn't.
The real value of being an NGO is not access to information. Yes you are included in the UN information pipeline and receive periodic information which you are then suppose to relay to your audience. But that information is generally available even if you weren't an NGO.
The real value is that as an NGO you have a chance to attend meetings, conferences and other events where you have a chance to meet, provide feedback, "rub elbows" with UN officials and lobby for your agendas. You didn't really think over 1000 organizations were joining to get a dumb newsletter from the UN, did you?
I'm not implying that the Watchtower society ever made of point of mingling with UN officials. However the fact is that if they did, if can only help them as the UN can make their lives easier in countries where JW activities are banned. .... ;)
i live close to a resonanbly busy street, 20 odd shops banks, a train station,a couple of cafes and coffee shops etc and usually see dubs doing street work close to the station and i'm now on nodding terms with an elder who is out most days of the week and have got close to recognizing most of the hard core of about a dozen of them , i was walking out of the cafe yesterday to be greeted by a couple of newbies i'd never seen before , a scruffy short dumpy man and a fairly well presented middle aged lady, i'll try and abridge the conversation as best as i can, we must have chatted for about 15 minutes and it was all in a good mannered style;.
me " have you sold many of those this morning ?".
jw guy " oh no we dont sell them we give them away for free" (like i didn't know that).
The criteria for membership as an NGO associated with the UN-DPI, did change in 1991, but not regarding the natural aknowledgement of support for the charter and principles of the UN as it was set forth since the inception of the concept of association by NGO's. That has NEVER changed. What has changed are small logistical requirements in the same manner that today joinng the YMCA might require an additional form or document which was not needed 20 years ago. However the core of concept of support for the YMCA principle never changes. The UN resolution to begin onboarding of NGO's was executed in 1968 under resolution Resolution 1297 of 27 May. This resolution which is available to be consulted, outlined the purpose of NGO's right from the get-go when it stated: "...shall undertake to support the work of the United Nations and to promote knowledge of its principles and activities, in accordance with its own aims and purposes and the nature and scope of its competence and activities". The aknowledgement of this purpose never changed, as the purpose itself never changed. Now if you want to make the argument that the WT never took a good look and wasn't paying attention, then go right ahead. But to me, this as with many other things inside the Org, seems incomprehensible within the scope that this should be a spirit directed organization. One would think that an all-knowing, all-powerful CEO would not let His organization have such an improper association for so many years. Believe it if you want.. not me.
the north london assembly hall of jehovahs witnesses report 2010:.
[page 4].
"reserves policy.
You see this in other ways as well. For example:
How many JWs out there turn down the 401k ( or other pension plans) from their employers? Clearly if you are not close to retirement, and in view of the imminent end of this system, shouldn't you turn it down, and receive a little extra money on your paycheck now? Even if the extra money is used to fund the worldwide work?
I invite all zelous JWs to cancel their pension plans or cash them in, and use the extra money to help the organization. Put your money where your mouth is..
Hmm, this just gave me a topic of conversation for next time a Dubb rings my bell.
i know anyone who believes in evolution is going to say that there is no 'if' about it.
however.... if man evolved over hundreds of thousands of years ago, why were there only about 200-300 million people alive 2,000 years ago?
surely there'd have been many billions by then?.
There is very little connection between evolution and number of population.
Population number is instead determined by life expectancy, which in itself is dependent on many factors (healthcare, living conditions, nutrition, etc etc). The only reason why there are 7 billion people on earth today is because of life expectancy, not because we evolved from another living being.
i just had to share something i found fascinating and faith building.
i know it's not specifically related to the topic of this forum but i think it would be useful to anyone lacking faith in a spirit world and a god such as those who have been stumbled by false religion.. i do not personally believe that the existence of complex life provides evidence of a creator as evolutionists have done a very good job at explaining how life has evolved into the complex forms that exist today.. so instead ive looked to the supernatural to provide me with evidence of a spirit world.
if i can prove to myself that a spirit world exists, this would provide sufficient evidence for the existence of a god, since it is reasonable to assume that one cannot exist without the other.. without dabbling in the occult myself i have carried out research into the paranormal and i am always keen to watch documentarys that provide convincing evidence and credible eye witness testimony.. one such documentary which was aired on tv can now be watched on youtube.
"For example I provided an example of a large crystal dematerializing and then materializing again infront of Professor Arthur Ellison (Professor of engineering and one of the investigators). "
Yes i read your example along with the explanation that this was a way for the spirits to show us dumb humans what happens to a body when it dies, and the first thing that came to mind is how these spirits must be complete idiots.
Nothing dematerializes - and certainly not the human body when it dies. Even if you try to reason that perhaps they were showing what happens to the soul when your body dies, it still wouldn't make sense, since the belief is that the soul is already a spirit inside your body.
Also this organization that monitored these sessions is largely made up of enthusiasts of the paranormal - hardly a neutral source. Makes as much sense as the school of Gilead researching the Watchtower beliefs.
i just had to share something i found fascinating and faith building.
i know it's not specifically related to the topic of this forum but i think it would be useful to anyone lacking faith in a spirit world and a god such as those who have been stumbled by false religion.. i do not personally believe that the existence of complex life provides evidence of a creator as evolutionists have done a very good job at explaining how life has evolved into the complex forms that exist today.. so instead ive looked to the supernatural to provide me with evidence of a spirit world.
if i can prove to myself that a spirit world exists, this would provide sufficient evidence for the existence of a god, since it is reasonable to assume that one cannot exist without the other.. without dabbling in the occult myself i have carried out research into the paranormal and i am always keen to watch documentarys that provide convincing evidence and credible eye witness testimony.. one such documentary which was aired on tv can now be watched on youtube.
I was surprised at how unimpressive this movie is.
For me, just the fact that the mediums controlled the entire thing while people just sat around and watched is highly suspicious. This was done in a controlled environment arranged by the mediums.
How about doing this in a research facility where these mediums can come in and sit in a room arranged by researchers? Surely these spirits are cooperative as they were, would be ok with this.
I have never see a medium who seemed truly convincing. They usually just play the probability game, where they will look at someone and say something like :
"oh i see someone in your life that passed away. ummmm his name begins with a C " .
Never have i seen a medium truly go out on a limb and say something specific while being accurate.
