Posts by lastmanstanding

79

JWs Changing "Baptism Questions" Effective May 13?

by Room 215 in

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ja2 replies4 retweets12 likes.

reply.

lastmanstanding

I looked at the Watchtower ap. and I post below what it says. I don’t think the “change” is fake news, but it is not changed in the ap. This leads me to believe that the change was made in haste as they have not had time to update the ap. That said, I have not updated my own ap in a while.

CONCLUDING DISCUSSION WITH BAPTISM CANDIDATESBaptisms are usually held at assemblies and conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses. At the conclusion of the baptism talk, the speaker will ask the baptism candidates to stand and answer the following two questions in a loud voice:1. On the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, have you repented of your sins and dedicated yourself to Jehovah to do his will?2. Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in association with God’s spirit-directed organization?Affirmative answers to these questions constitute a “public declaration” by the baptism candidates that they have put faith in the ransom and have unreservedly dedicated themselves to Jehovah. (Rom. 10:9, 10) Baptism candidates will want to give prayerful thought to these questions in advance so that they can answer in harmony with their personal convictions.What is appropriate attire for baptism? (John 15:19

79

JWs Changing "Baptism Questions" Effective May 13?

by Room 215 in

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ja2 replies4 retweets12 likes.

reply.

lastmanstanding

A chink in the amour.

I made my earlier post because I looked at the change in baptism questions through new eyes. My new eyes are the result of establishing a US patent.

In a US patent, there are several sections and it is very legalistic. The most important section is called the CLAIMS section. In this section, you must be extremely cautious in what you claim and the exact manner in which you claim it. There must be “limitations”in your Claims.

The Watchtower Society, as you all know, has made claims. They have claimed to be directed by the “spirit”, understood by JWs to mean the Holy Spirit of God Almighty.

Now, the next most important section of a US patent is the SPECIFICATION. In this section, much more detail is provided that backs up the Claims. As you know, watchtower has the equivalent of a Specification section, the rest of their literature.

Claims get challenged. I just read the details of a Microsoft patent challenge against an individual. Quite interesting actually.

Claims must be carefully written so as to “anticipate” (USPTO wording) and their “teaching” (also a USPTO wording) must be”examined carefully”.

“Anticipation” is the art of writing patent claims such that you “anticipate” the challenges others will launch at your Claims, in court.

They will look for a chink in your Armour. You must anticipate every thrust of their sword when you write your Claims. Leave no holes.

Obviously, Watchtower has has a challenge against its Claims.

From where did this challenge hail? Was it nothing more than that which I described in my earlier post?

Or was there some kind of legal challenge, “in court”.

Time will tell.

79

JWs Changing "Baptism Questions" Effective May 13?

by Room 215 in

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ja2 replies4 retweets12 likes.

reply.

lastmanstanding

Has anyone noticed the inherent plurality of “spirit” in the outbound baptism question?

To clarify, put yourself in the position of a non-JW who is attending the convention.

When you hear “spirit-directed organization” as an outsider, you quickly surmise that the word “spirit” refers not to the “Holy Spirit” (singular) of the biblical context, but rather to ‘spirits’ in general.

The organization never said “Holy Spirit-directed”, just an unidentifiable “spirit”, thus making the “spirit” plural in nature as it could be any “spirit”, thus all ’spirits’.

Further, if an organization forthrightly claimed that it was in communication with and guided by “spirits” (plural) in nature, not precluding any spirit or spirits, even evil ‘spirits’, or demonic ‘spirits’, then it would word it’s claim similarly to the outbound question.

For example, the ‘high church of the devil’ teaches that it is guided by the demons (plural). Thus, it would claim that it is “spirit-directed”. It would not say that it is “spirits directed” as the plurality of the word “spirit” would be assumed, it would refer to not one spirit in particular, but many spirits (plural).

So, as an outsider, listening to the questions for baptism, but not exposed to clarifying information that defined the “spirit” in “spirit-directed” as the “Holy Spirit” of Christianity, it could, and I further would, be assumed that the JW organization is practicing divination.

24

Australian ABC News article on JW incest victim

by shepherdless in

i am surprised nobody else has posted this yet.

a lot of people in aust will read this.. “incest victim turned lawyer speaks out on reporting violence and sexual abuse”.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-08/incest-victim-to-honours-law-graduate-shelly-triumph-over-abuse/10978530.

lastmanstanding

Comment on the journalist’s twitter.

https://mobile.twitter.com/kate_m_mckenna

11

Tony Morris buying Scotch.

by Lost in the fog in

by now we have all seen the video of tony morris iii buying his scotch and recommending his wife's choice of irish whiskey to the other man.

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which is why i thought this meme was hilarious when i stumbled upon it on an entertainment facebook page.

lastmanstanding

The Holy Spirit(s) LOL

27

Why the BIG 4.5 day elder "school"?

by eyeuse2badub in

just wonderin' if anyone has heard of anything about something big going down in the borg?

good friend of mine just told me today that he will be attending a 4.5 day elder "training school" all nest week!

the "special" elder "schools" are usually only 2-3 days.. lots of dumbing down coming?.

lastmanstanding

If I was forced to go to that I would fall over dead n 5 minutes

21

Are Christians to be Witnesses of Jesus or Jehovah?

by blondie in

jw
friends

i was doing research on another topic and this question came to mind.

notice how the wts dances around the question below and then my comments about that and whether historically did the wts see isaiah as applying to all jws or only anointed members, spiritual israel (galatians 6:16)?.

are christians to be witnesses of jesus or jehovah?.

lastmanstanding

A man is called to court. He is told to sit in the chair and swear in.

The judge asks, “are you a witness”.

The man says “yes”.

The judge asks, “what you see?”

The man says, “well... actually nothing.”

The judge says “but you said you were a witness!”

The man says “yes, and a very righteous one”.

The judge exclaims... “but you didn’t witness anything”

The judge says to the bailiff, “remove this fool from my courtroom.”

If there are any persons today that can swear they have witnessed the finger of God Almighty at work, or if there are any persons that will swear they have seen Jesus and witnessed His work, then I invite them to step forward and tell us what they have witnessed.

Else, you are NOT a “witness” of anything but rather a loudmouth fool.

10

Orange County, CA: New Case and New Legal Tactic

by Corney in

john roe 1 vs. defendant doe 1, congregation is a child sexual abuse case pending before the superior court of california, orange county (judge john c. gastelum).

jury trial is scheduled on june 15, 2020, but it may not occur: the judge is expected to decide on multiple pre-trial motions including motion for sanctions filed by plantiffs; next hearing on pre-trial motions is scheduled on may 14.. case docket is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dbqcronnkeax492pshgwpuoubt-xaabz/view?usp=sharing .

case documents are available for purchase here: https://ocapps.occourts.org/civilwebshoppingns/search.do (case number 30-2014-00741722-cu-po-cjc).. during the course of this litigation the court ordered watchtower to produce molestation complaints it received, redacting only names of victims and elders handling the matters.

lastmanstanding

The plaintiffs are obviously under the gun. Watchtower has warned them that they will be df’d if they did not speak up and assert their “rights”.

The plaintiffs were probably told that their situation is akin to being raped and if they did not “cry out” then they are complicit.

Remember the different cases where this tactic was used with a minor who needed blood. Little sister sixteen says “it was like being raped”.

29

Congregation memorial stats

by nowwhat? in

2 congregations met together attendance 355 which is close to exact number of combined publishers.

only saw a couple of new faces.

so it looks like once again the invitation work was a complete failure and relatives of jw's couldn't be talked into coming anymore!.

lastmanstanding

Was there any partakers after injun man? I mean, would a holierthanmost want to share the chalice with the likes of that dude?

Blood brothers....

17

memorial-

by zeb in

jw
friends

a criticism of the wt way is the practice of using 50 words when 10 would do.

this is an example of an aged speaking style practised in the 1930s 1950's.

just look at movies from that era, political speeches etc.

lastmanstanding

Well, after 100 years of passing them damned glasses, I wanted to drink. Of course, there was no wine around, but I drank from the chalice anyhow. Then I drank from all the others.

Can you think of a better way to amuse yourself at the ‘most holy night’...?

I had the inside track at the boremorial this year, got a good laugh.

After all, isn’t the whole show about passing your germs around?