Why bother...? It is difficult to disconnect totally from a significant, perhaps ongoing, part of your life. I appreciate having a forum to form and express thoughts and questions that have long been in the back of my mind, but not yet put into words. I appreciate the variety of responses and exchanges as well.
HereIam60
JoinedPosts by HereIam60
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9
Why Bother?
by LostintheFog1999 inwe who actually look at wt history know that they just changed 1874 to 1914 without a fanfare.
setting up the potential for changing any dates to new dates because "holy spirit" told them to do so.. which makes me ask, why do we bother to watch what they do?
i mean, we don't care having escaped their greedy little claws.
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How many Ends are there?
by blondie inwhen will the current preaching work end?
(remember, i am reporting not supporting wts teaching).
questions from readers august 2025 p. 31 (how many wts teaching have been clarified?
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HereIam60
Blondie;
Thank you for your research and the cited quotes on the "hailstone" message...Each time seems to overlook that Revelation 16:21 states that the hailstones fall from Heaven, indicating an action on the part of God himself...and that men blasphemed against Him as a result...
Joey Jojo:
A publication used in the late 1950s ' 'From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained' did present the view that the Present Day and Age Was the Great Tribulation, in that Revealation 7:9 says that the "great crowd" standing before the throne "come out" of the great tribulation. Since they were being 'gathered' in the present time through the preaching work..that time period was viewed as being the G.T..
The interperetation must have changed again quite soon, when it was evidently realized that the Great Trib. Jesus spoke of was said to be like nothing that ever happened before, nor would occur again, and no flesh could be saved unless its days were cut short... (Matthew 24:21, 22)
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Remember Hour Quotas?
by blondie inhour quotas timeline.
back in the old days long before 1952.
“after staying in our ‘home’ for two days we decided that if we were going to meet our quota of 140 hours for the month.
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HereIam60
The mention of "summer pioneers" reminded me:
At one of the first meetings I attended a young brother told me he was "pioneering for the summer". I said " Oh, that's nice." I had never heard the term before and I actually thought he meant he was going camping...'roughing it'..like the pioneers who setted the American West!
I've never heard anyone, pioneer or otherwise, explain the meaning of the name. Looking it up in WT literature I see it's because they often take the lead "opening up new territory" also some Bible translations at Hebrews 12:2 call Jesus "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" . Curiously the New World Translation does not use that phrasing, instead wording it the "Chief Agent and Perfecter...
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The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 : The Fulfillment of Prophecy - Part Two
by EisMe ina united witness to the divine plan.
as my son wrote in his letter:.
*"with regards to our spiritual journey, there is not enough paper or ink to give it justice.
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HereIam60
Dane88
I dont have an opinion on the two witnesses of Revelation (and have not yet read yours), but this called to mind an experience I had many years ago when first having a home bible study with an intense young pioneer witness brother.
He was the first religious person I'd met who seemed to have absolute, unquestioning faith in what he believed and taught, and I guess I was carried along by his zeal and conviction, but it was very weird at times. One reason for this is that he would come to my house right after the Sunday meeting, full of whatever had been studied in the Watchtower that day and mix it in with the material we were studying.
There must have been a study article on this because one day he began rambling on about Two witnesses who had been killed, whose corpses had been left out in the open, who came back to life, and were called up to heaven. This seemed so strange that it should have been a "red flag" to me, but it was one of many I did not see then.
I asked, "Are you really saying you know two of Jehovah's Witnesses who died, then came back to life?". He said no, not that , then gave the convoluted Watchtower explanation regarding how the leaders of the early Bible Students were imprisoned on charges if sedition , and their preaching work stopped [they " died"], then they were cleared of the charges and released ["came back to life"], and were called to heaven [received Jehovah's approval}.
I believe this was the explanation later given in the Witness Revelation study book, but no reference has been made to it for many years...
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Reddit thread on convention video urging cutting off contact with Faders
by LongHairGal ini just read this.
don’t know if anybody here has seen the video.. the intended result of this is to obviously scare ‘faders’ out of the shadows.
now, they are being threatened with loss of association with their loved ones and friends.
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HereIam60
"...Paul addressed this directive to the whole congregation, not just the elders..."
One issue, which never seems to be addressed, is that numerous Watchtower statements in the past imply that the Inspired Christian letters were written soely to "annointed christians" ( maintaing that all in the first-century were).
.Yet today, they will say of individual verses, even within the same letter, that some are addressed only to the annointed, and some to all...
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The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 : The Fulfillment of Prophecy - Part Two
by EisMe ina united witness to the divine plan.
as my son wrote in his letter:.
*"with regards to our spiritual journey, there is not enough paper or ink to give it justice.
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HereIam60
"Remarkably, reversing the name Immanuel forms 'Leu Nam Mi' meaning 'My name is Leuese.."
Even in the original Hebrew letters? Everytime someone finds significance in reversing the spelling of things they seem to forget that the Bible was not written in English, and the formation of sounds and letters differ from language to language. For something to be universally true it would need to be consistent in any translation.
My mother in law's maiden name was Emmanuel, and she made no claims!
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SDAs Campaigning in my Area
by NotFormer innot even as active as the jws (whom i have not seen for around a year now), nevertheless i get an occasional leaflet or other publication in my letterbox that seems to be seventh day adventist in origin.. the booklet i received the other day was entitled "national sunday law".
i also had received this book years ago when i had some dealings with the sdas.. from reddit: "national sunday law involves a conspiracy theory which alleges that the united states government is on the verge of enacting a national blue law that would make sunday a day of rest and worship.
the theory depends on the idea that the pope is the antichrist and the mark of the beast is worshipped on sunday.
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HereIam60
Blondie:
Thank you for the link. The years I was listening to Campings radio program were in the 1990s. His first predicted date for the end, which got much publicity was 9;6/1994. I recall people calling in with absolute trust in this and saying they coudn't wait. When it did not occur, he revised and adjusted the date 3 times into the next year. I was unaware, or had forgotten he was still at it in 2011. Apparently afterward he withdrew from comment and passed away in 2013
I think my question on 2 Timothy 3:6 was due to the fact that Witnesses very regularly use verses 1-5, regarding people's attitudes in the last days......lovers of money, not open to any agreement, fierce, etc..having a form of godliness but proving false to its power.but no reference is ever made to verse 6 stating that 'from these arise men who slyly work their way into househokds leading weak women as their captives..."
The blog writer touches on this verse, but while I'm sure Watchtower literature has commented on it at some point, it must have been long ago, and the average Wittness, is either unaware of, or must ignore this verse, and has no explanation to give if asked.
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SDAs Campaigning in my Area
by NotFormer innot even as active as the jws (whom i have not seen for around a year now), nevertheless i get an occasional leaflet or other publication in my letterbox that seems to be seventh day adventist in origin.. the booklet i received the other day was entitled "national sunday law".
i also had received this book years ago when i had some dealings with the sdas.. from reddit: "national sunday law involves a conspiracy theory which alleges that the united states government is on the verge of enacting a national blue law that would make sunday a day of rest and worship.
the theory depends on the idea that the pope is the antichrist and the mark of the beast is worshipped on sunday.
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HereIam60
Some of the comments brought back other memories:
The free magazine that was found by newspaper stands was probably Herbert W. Armstrong's 'The Plain Truth"' (Worldwide Church of God).
...and I once spoke to Harold Camping on the phone. He did a radio call in show on Bible Questions and, for some reason I wanted to know what 2nd Timothy 3:6 was talking about. I could not follow his explanation at all, and he had such a droning, sonorous voice that it was almost hypnotic and I nearly dozed off! This was about a year after his first failed End of World prediction.
Another crazy I used to listen to was R. G. Stair. Today of course we have easier access to so much information. When these were just voices on the radio their conviction somehow seemed to give them more credibility..
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SDAs Campaigning in my Area
by NotFormer innot even as active as the jws (whom i have not seen for around a year now), nevertheless i get an occasional leaflet or other publication in my letterbox that seems to be seventh day adventist in origin.. the booklet i received the other day was entitled "national sunday law".
i also had received this book years ago when i had some dealings with the sdas.. from reddit: "national sunday law involves a conspiracy theory which alleges that the united states government is on the verge of enacting a national blue law that would make sunday a day of rest and worship.
the theory depends on the idea that the pope is the antichrist and the mark of the beast is worshipped on sunday.
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HereIam60
This topic brought back a few memories:
One "recruitment tactic" once (possibly still) used by Seventh Day Adventists was related to a set of books for children published by them "The Bible Story" which related the Bible from Creation to Armageddon in story form. They were lavisly illustrated in color with many pictures similar to the Bilble and Paradise illustrations in Watchtower publications.
A sample volume was often placed in Doctor's Office Waiting Rooms, with postcards that people could send for more information. When I was about 7 years old my mother must have done this, as I came home from school to find her talking with a man who was apparently selling her the set. They must have sent out a local representative. I very dimly recall being briefly invited to join the conversation, and seeing a picture of a child in an armchair reading one of the books, with Jesus standing behind the chair looking on.
At that time I was attending a Methodist Sunday School, but when I came home would read in the books. It was mainly from these that I first got knowlege of the Bible. I learned the name 'Jehovah' from these as it was extensively used in the chapters about the prophet Elijah, because of the showdown between Jehovah and Baal.
They also offered a study the Bible by mail correspondence course which my mother took. Lessons were sent out, you were to look up the cited Scriptures and write answers to questions on the blanks provided. They were then mailed back, then sent back to you graded and with comments. My mother completed this but I don't recall her ever saying anything specific about it.. There was also a children's version that she signed me up for, but after a few lessons I got tired of it and stopped sending them back. I got a couple of (form) letters urging me to resume, asking what had happened and suggesting "...sometimes children are embarrased because they have misplaced the lessons.." In my case I was ignoring them and they stopped sending them.
My mom never committed to any one church, but always has been interested in learning about various religions.She never wanted an in-person study with Witnesses though. Much later she took a long correspondence course with a New Age group called Astara.
I must have taken after her because even as a Witness I've never stopped checking out other religious publications and broadcasts.
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You Could Be Stuck in a University When Your Parent Dies. Convention Day 2 Video
by liam inthe governing body is going all out at this years convention.
they are still discouraging university education.
i guess the end must be real close .
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HereIam60
NotFormer
I have no verification but based on what I've heard, in some rare cases people are "allowed" to leave their "assignments" to care for family needs and emergencies, but it is even more rare to be given any assistance, financial or otherwise to do so.
I have heard and seen recordings of talks given to Bethelites, asking them if it is Really Necessary to leave, if there are other family members, in the faith or not, whio can take on.the responsibility. They are encouraged to remain in the assignment at all costs. It is considered a "loving sacrifice" for family members to allow the Bethelite to remain there...