HereIam60

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Posts by HereIam60

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  8

  Armageddon 50th Anniversary

  by apostrate in

  1. social
  2. humour

  well, it's been 50 years since armageddon occurred.. seems to me that things haven't really changed all that much.

  is it just me or does anyone else seem to think that things have actually got worse??

  ?.

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  HereIam60

  Of course they do not define "soon" and while still arousing hope, it doesn't really foster anticipation anymore. I recall a video talk some years ago from a convention. Poor Kenneth Cook, probably the least dynamic Watchtower speaker ever, was evidently trying to rouse the audience to a fever pitch of excitement, after describing blessings in the new world he asked, "... When will these promises be fufilled?....SOON! Very Soon!!!.." He looked like he was expecting a tremendous burst of applause...which did not follow...
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  3

  How Can The Governing Body Be Considered The "Channel Of Communication" From Jehovah Without Being Inspired . . . How Is That Possible???

  by AbaddonProvesIt in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  video # 1,246: how can the governing body be considered the "channel of communication" from jehovah without being inspired .

  the collapse of governing body member jeffrey winder's arguments: a critical look at a jehovah's witness excuse [by watchtower examination, winston gillum - montego bay, jamaica].

  the governing body of jehovah's witnesses believe & teach millions upon millions of jehovah's witnesses world wide that they as a body, are not inspired or infallible.

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  HereIam60

  Around 2013 the Governing Body announced that it alone, rather than the "annointed Christian remnant" was "the faithful and discreet slave" The 7/15/2013 Watchtower study article discussing this "Feeding Many Through the Hands of a Few" used Jesus' miaculous feeding of the large crowd listening to him as the basis for this change, in that only his apostles passed out the food to the crowd.

  Since then, the statement has been made, verbally, and in print, that "Jesus did not say the slave would produce perfect spiritual food...". However, Jesus did not say that the slave would 'produce" the food at all, merely distribute it to the Master's household. On other occasions he said that man must not live on bead alone, but on God's Word, that his food was to do the will of his Father, and that his, to be sacrificed, flesh and blood was true food and drink.

  This says to me, that the 'job' of the slave is to distribute the Bible, and the Christian message, not to issue directives and commands or to oversee the lives of the fellow domestics of God's household. The GB has said they are "spirit-directed" but not "inspired", but like so many things this is purposely kept vague with no clear explanation given.. One contoversial statement made was the " the Governing Body could be likened to the voice of Jesus...." (NO!)

  This change was probably planned for a long time, as for years unclear statements were made that "The FDS was 'closely associated" with brothers serving at world headquarters, that there was 'no worldwide network' of annointed ones, and implications made that many professing being annointed were mentally confused. (Frankly, I always had a hard time believing that anyone in this day and age were annointed, in the sense of being selected for heavenly rulership with Christ.)

  Although it's still being said the remainng annointed will eventually be gathered to heaven, the self election of the GB to being the FDS, essentially dismissed the idea of there being an annointed class on earth today.
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  3

  SPIMI Friend Asked Me For The Name Of My (FORMER) Congregation

  by HiddlesWife in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a present-spimi friend texted me to ask me the name of my congregation--which is my former and last one that i left right after becoming completely/presently pomo.

  she was a longtime buddy, who was pimq-pimo-ppimi-on-occasion for many decades.

  then shortly before the pandemic, she was dating a brother who was reaching out to become an ms [mind you, this guy was a mic-handler for several decades as well--until an older brother (who was a close friend of his uncle--who converted him into the cultporation years ago--encouraged him to the point of harrassing him to move up the wt corporate ladder🙄😤].

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  HereIam60

  Do you want to remain in occasional contact with her? If so you could answer what she asked, then see how she responds. If you dont like the reply you don't need to communicate further....but you really don't need to respond to it at all. ( There has always been a mixed message within the congregations 'Have love for the whole association of brothers...Love one another intensely from the heart....But also be on guard against "bad associations"... even among the brothers and sisters!)
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  33

  Few JW leader have children

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it’s been discussed before that few jw leaders, past and present, have had children.

  this is in contrast with other groups, such as the mormons, whose leaders have had a lot of children.

  i wonder if this has impacted jw growth.

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  HereIam60

  I've heard numerous comments over the years of witnesses commending the fact that "we do not seperate our children (into nurseries or Sunday Schools)...they learn right here with us!". In a recent public talk I heard this was implied to be a safety measue, along the lines of "... they are not isolated, we know where they are and can give them protective oversight..." This is probably a recent insertion into that talk's outline. It overlooks the fact that numerous public talks of the past contained subject matter not usually considered appropriate to discuss before children.

  Something that has prompted many comments in online forums is that the next publication to be used for the midweek meeting 'Congregation Bible Study' is the children book "Lessons You Can Learn from the Bible" - a revision of the old 'My Book of Bible Stories'

  As this will begin in just a few weeks it will be interesting to see how it is introduced and presented, possibly as "a loving provision to teach our young ones, and to renew the understanding and appreciation of the Bible accounts for all of us..."

  As this is scheduled as the final part of a meeting often held in the evening, it's been pointed out that it will come at a time when some small children will be getting tired and sleepy. I hope there won't be enforced participation, though thankfully we seem to have moved away from the days when spankings were the norm for inatentiveness.

  It will also be interesting to see how this goes over in a congregation like ours where there are virtually no kids in regular. attendance. The youngest "regulars" we have are in their early 20s, and the only children seen infrequently are grandchildren occasionally brought by their grandparents.
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  8

  "Perfect Angels"? A Subtle Shift in Watchtower Doctrine — And Why It Matters

  by raymond frantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  "perfect angels"?

  a subtle shift in watchtower doctrine — and why it matters.

  quoted paragraph from the watchtower september 2025, study article 38, paragraph 12:.

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  HereIam60

  You made some good points there. Frankly, I doubt that the writers of the article have given as much thought to it as you have.

  One question I've always had is why the New World Translation at 1 Thessalonians 4:16 speaks of Jesus descending with "an archangel's voice" as if there were more than one, rather than saying "the" archangel's voice. This seems to vary in different bibles, but I'm no Greek scholar.

  I have wondered if there are "theological shifts" in the works. The lack of much "deep" study material in recent times, and the slowness at which the weekly assigned Bible reading currently proceeds means it will be a long time until the New Testament books are directly discussed again. Possibly someone is working on revised interperations of some previous teachings, and Revelation...or perhaps not...!
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  56

  Predictions for the next decade?

  by jehovaxx in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  as it’s nearly the new year my prediction over the next decade or so will see the sense of urgency dwindle.

  then some huge huge changes.

  for example by 2034 in a decades time, they will have address the 1914 issue and will come out and say we can’t be dogmatic.

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  HereIam60

  There seem to be a good number of people who identify as Jehovah's Witnesses although they have never been baptized or in regular association with a congregation. This includes

  .......people who had a parent or rother relative who was a witness, so it is considered the 'family religion".....

  ........pdople who read Watchtower printed literature, when that was more widely distributed and agreed or accepted the teachings...

  .......people who had a home bible study for a time, then discontinued, or were dropped, but still believed what they learned

  It's hard to see what actually defines being a JW. I suppose "official recognition" requires baptism at a Witness assembly or covention by elders, but I dont think the so-called Organization has any legal hold on a person
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  33

  Few JW leader have children

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it’s been discussed before that few jw leaders, past and present, have had children.

  this is in contrast with other groups, such as the mormons, whose leaders have had a lot of children.

  i wonder if this has impacted jw growth.

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  HereIam60

  I well remember a talk given in the 1980's called "Responsible Childbearing in the Time Of The End". With the end " so close" upon us., we were reminded that Noah's sons and their wives evidently did not have children so as not to distract them from helping build the ark, and that the children of the wicked perished with them in the Flood, that Jesus said it would be harder for those with young children to flee to the mountains for safety, and that some of the besieged in Jerusalem ate their own children! I remember this caused quite a stir at the assembly I attended with people gathering together in the back of the auditorium and asking "Are they really saying NOT to have children?". The material later appeared as a Watchtower study article.

  At present, having a family does not seem to be actually discouraged, but there still is a major pitch for young people to remain " free" for full time service, less the pioneer ministry anymore, and more on working in construction projects.

  I'm sure Anthony Morris III's sons are still in. He said once, in a talk, and his printed life story that his sons "make us look good...". I've thought that one (of several) reasons for his deparure was his frank admission in an annual meeting talk, that interestingly was retained in the JW Broadcasting version, that when older ones in the 1970s told his sons they would not finish school in this system, and they asked him about this, he told then they needed to keep on the watch, as this system could go on many more years, mentioning 2020...
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  56

  Predictions for the next decade?

  by jehovaxx in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  as it’s nearly the new year my prediction over the next decade or so will see the sense of urgency dwindle.

  then some huge huge changes.

  for example by 2034 in a decades time, they will have address the 1914 issue and will come out and say we can’t be dogmatic.

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  HereIam60

  ...Continued "stepping away" from problematic teachings, by not mentioning them and pretending they never existed (overlapping generation)

  ...I still wonder whether there's some kind of major doctrinal overhaul planned... The Jesus drama and convention talks are giving more focus on Christ. The weekly Bible Reading Schedule for the Christian Life and Ministry slowed down considerably in recent years. Even if it resumes several chapters per week it will still be a long, long time before the Gospels, Christian letters, and Revelation are reached again (Currently still in Proverbs)

  ....Whether the Ramapo project ever proceeds remains to be seen. It has never made any sense to me as they already produce an ongoing flood of video. All we've heard as far as I know for the past two years is that some paving was done and trees cut down...
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  13

  Baptismal Failure Rates Among JW Bible Teachers

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the 2024 data from the jw website indicates that jw teachers have an over 96% failure rate with their students : .

  2024 average bible studies each month: 7,480,146.

  2024 baptisms:296,267. number of bible studies it takes to produce one baptism : 25.25. this means that jehovah's witnesses have an over 96% failure rate with people who want to study the bible with them.

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  HereIam60

  I'm never quite clear as to what constitutes a "study" Long ago I thought one had to be regularly visiting and going through a study publication for an hour at least, then much later they spoke of "door step" studies, where a "progressive" conversation/ repeated visits on scriptural topics for as little as 5 minutes could be counted as a study. Also studying with the same person 4 times in a month would be counted as 4 studies. The numbers are always likely inconsistent and inaccurate
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  12

  A Revelation By: YHWH (יהוה) – "The Holocaust" (Sensitive and Meaningful Information. Please Show Respect)

  by EisMe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  at the direction of our heavenly father, yhwh (יהוה), i am providing you with information which this world has never comprehended or have found the meaning to.

  the account of shadrach, meshach, and abednego cast into the fire flame.

  this is divine proof that he, along with jesus, are with me now in preparation of taking over his world through his son jesus christ, amen!!

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  HereIam60

  Acts 26:24