Posts by HereIam60

25

In the past 24 hours, the world has been breaking into fragments. What will be the Outcome??

by liam in

new german chancellor merz has won the election.

trump congratulated his victory but the response was not what trump expected.

merz condemned america, saying that america seemed to be aligning with russia.. he also expressed doubts about nato’s future.. he is now advocating that germany must gain independence from usa.

HereIam60

It will regroup, refragment, regroup , refragment.....and keep turning...

40

Memorial attendance

by Balaamsass2 in

curious.

what was your local memorial attendance like tonight?

Ours is a Hall shared by 2 congregations, in some years we had 2 Memorial 'services' that evening, but this sometimes led to traffic congestion, and the second group getting out later, so this year, as they had a few times prior to Covid, a hotel ballroom was rented and the 2 congregations combined...I did not attempt to count but there were at least 200, with some non -witness invitees and some who rarely attend meetings, also a Zoom tie in

It went well, though I'm uncomfortable about the opening song being one in praise of "The Annointed"! A young elder gave the talk and did very well. Is it usual to applaud after the Memorial talk? My memory's not what it was but I don't recall this happening before. The talk (scripted, I assume) had the usual discouragement about partaking of the bread and wine (only for those in the heaven!y covenant, the rest 'respectful observers) and used an illustration I didn't care for..A school open only to citizens of the country, someone from elsewhere wishes to enroll, but cannot, because they are not a citizen.

For me personally it was a good occasion. I feel a sense of peace and unity with those around me, and worldwide, and do feel we are in the presence of Jehovah and Jesus, and all of us recieving His sacrificial flesh and blood, regardless of consuming the emblems or not. I realize this may be entirely emotional reaction on my part.

Sorry for long post!

25

Special Talk just prior to the Memorial

by Acluetofindtheuser in

is the sunday special talk prior to the memorial just an introduction of a new outline for the sunday public talks?.

is it an attempt to get the faders back to the meetings?

they present in a way like some new light is going to be presented at the special talk..

HereIam60

The 'Special' talk before the Memorial is usually pretty bland and generic. The gist was "Where can truth be found?...in the Bible...In the teachings of Jesus...for further information contact Jehovah's Witnesses...". Its 'Special' because (they hope) due to the invitation campaign there will be a lot of visitors.

Another thing, at least here since the post-Covid return to the Kingdom Halls is that every few months an announcement is made that a congregation is having a " Special Bethel Speaker' for the weekend to which other congregations are invited. We had one of these just after going back. A young brother said to be an assistant to the Legal Department. He seemed a bit "full of himself" .He said proudly he'd been allowed to choose his own topic. I'm not sure if that means he was really free to say anything or just given his choice of outlines. I don't even remember his theme, but during it he really hammered down on returning to attending meetings, at one point saying "....In-person MEANS In- person...What's there not to understand?!!". He seemed a bit more human giving the Sunday talk the next day.

We share a hall, and our fellow congregation hosted one of these, the speaker being Robert Hendriks, once head of the U.S. Watchtower Public Information Dept. (Does that still even exist ?). Shortly after this rumors began to surface that he'd been disfellow...I mean " removed" but I've been unable to verify that.

23

3 Changes The Watchtower Made on Babylon The Great in the Last 6 Months

by raymond frantz in

https://youtu.be/vpws6ncqpla?si=dqnf7-hupfr4pdta.

for decades, jehovah’s witnesses have been banging on about babylon the great—the so-called world empire of false religion—being on the brink of collapse.

any day now, they assured us, churches would empty out, priests would be left twiddling their thumbs, and humanity would collectively bin organised religion.

HereIam60

Thank you for the explanation.

3

Inviting People to Meetings

by HereIam60 in

the current memorial invitation campaign got me thinking about the few times over the years that someone i invited to a meeting actually came: .

1) once when i was "new", i invited a friend to a sunday meeting.

neither of us drove, so the brother conducting my study picked us up.

HereIam60

The current Memorial invitation campaign got me thinking about the few times over the years that someone I invited to a meeting actually came:

1) Once when I was "new", I invited a friend to a Sunday meeting. Neither of us drove, so the brother conducting my study picked us up. My friend was enthused until the opening song " Walking in Integrity" began, the lyrics include "I do not sit with wicked men of lies. I hate the company of those who truth despise...With evil men take not away my life..." etc. He looked at me with an expression of "What is this ??!!". Then he took exception with something said in the Public Talk (I don't recall the subject). He got so loud that he was escorted out of the Hall. Why the brother who brought us didn't just take us home at that point, I don't know, but he wouldn't. So I sat embarrassed through the rest of the meeting, while my friend paced angrily outside smoking. After dropping him off, my study conductor actually said " Dump him!"..(I didn't).

2) My mom came to the Memorial and fell asleep during the talk.

3) A study with a couple was turned over to me. The man had no intention of leaving his church , but came to the Congregation book study a few times. His wife wouldn't after the first.

4) Another study was turned over to me, with an elderly man. He came to the Memorial with his daughter. He did not partake of the emblems but thought she should. She declined.

5) During the Covid shut down my wife got a nice reply to a letter she'd written, from a man in his 90s. We started calling him by phone, then visiting him, just because he enjoyed the company. He came to the 'special' pre-Memorial ' talk 2 years ago, but he has difficulty hearing, we have to practically yell for him to hear, and even with amplification he couldn't hear the talk clearly and the bible and magazine print was too small. Still, he said he enjoyed it.

Just reminiscing...I think it was good that they all were true to themselves and their feelings! I don't think I'll be inviting anymore, but would enjoy reading others experiences if they care to share!

23

3 Changes The Watchtower Made on Babylon The Great in the Last 6 Months

by raymond frantz in

https://youtu.be/vpws6ncqpla?si=dqnf7-hupfr4pdta.

for decades, jehovah’s witnesses have been banging on about babylon the great—the so-called world empire of false religion—being on the brink of collapse.

any day now, they assured us, churches would empty out, priests would be left twiddling their thumbs, and humanity would collectively bin organised religion.

HereIam60

raymond frantz....What is "the Arrival of the fallen ones"?

23

3 Changes The Watchtower Made on Babylon The Great in the Last 6 Months

by raymond frantz in

https://youtu.be/vpws6ncqpla?si=dqnf7-hupfr4pdta.

for decades, jehovah’s witnesses have been banging on about babylon the great—the so-called world empire of false religion—being on the brink of collapse.

any day now, they assured us, churches would empty out, priests would be left twiddling their thumbs, and humanity would collectively bin organised religion.

HereIam60

This not-"new-light" seems to be just another attempt to prolong the timeline of events supposed to happen before the end. The scripture (Revelation 17:17) has always stated that God would put it into their hearts to carry out his thought...their one thought by giving their power to the wild beast.." The talk at the annual meeting harped on the idea that, formerly, their one thought was to destroy false religion, now they, in accord with the verse, emphasize that the "thought" is to turn their power over to the UN, so that It can carry out the destruction. As usual, no detail is given as to how it will be carried out, although in recent years they had said it would likely not mean the death of all religious people..Possibly just a dissolving or de-powering of churches etc. It's all kept vague, because they don't know, and the purposely keeping it uncertain makes it more 'urgent' and scary.

5

Strange, Interesting Day

by HereIam60 in

i have worked for over 25 years now in a day habilitation program for persons with physical and mental diabilities.

in recent years this has often involved assisting them in doing community volunteer work, as in our state, persons receiving services are required to have a 'job' of some sort.

as a result, we have worked in catholic and salvation army food pantries, animal shelters, libraries, a nature center, a vietnam war veterans museum and delivered meals on wheels.

HereIam60

Yes DesirousofChange...I am aware...when typing it in, I did try to arrange it in paragraphs but it posted all as a block. Just getting used to this. Sorry if it was irritating !

5

Strange, Interesting Day

by HereIam60 in

i have worked for over 25 years now in a day habilitation program for persons with physical and mental diabilities.

in recent years this has often involved assisting them in doing community volunteer work, as in our state, persons receiving services are required to have a 'job' of some sort.

as a result, we have worked in catholic and salvation army food pantries, animal shelters, libraries, a nature center, a vietnam war veterans museum and delivered meals on wheels.

HereIam60

I have worked for over 25 years now in a day habilitation program for persons with physical and mental diabilities. In recent years this has often involved assisting them in doing community volunteer work, as in our state, persons receiving services are required to have a 'job' of some sort. As a result, we have worked in Catholic and Salvation Army food pantries, animal shelters, libraries, a nature center, a Vietnam War veterans museum and delivered Meals on Wheels. In my younger days I would probably have refused, or felt very uncomfortable doing so, but my constant prayer is that Jehovah will lead and place me where he wants me to be, so I've come to accept that as we are helping people, which is a Christian responsibility , we are doing his will. Recently one of our program participants passed away and yesterday I was assigned to take two others to her memorial service, which was held in a Catholic church. Again, in the past I would likely have felt guilty being there, but I actually found it quite interesting and restful.The deceased lady's siblings and some regular congregants were there. I had a slight jolt when it was announced that the opening song would be "Here I Am, Lord, Send Me", as there is a Witness song of nearly the same title. Seversl scriptures used in the service are often used by witnesses, Isaiah 41:10 and Revelation 21:4. I also found the 'rituals' interesting. I don't think I've ever seen the Eucharist performed before and the slight scent of incense in the air was intriguing. There were statues of saints around, and a statue of Jesus above one of the entrances, and looking at it, I wondered, how is looking at it any different than an illustration of him in the watchtower? The service was quite early in the day so afterward we went to our workplace as usual. At the end of the day as I was driving one of the young men home, he began asking me questions out of the blue- I don't think I have ever spoken to him about my being a witness - but he must have had some exposure as he asked " Who takes our body when we die...Jehovah God or Jesus?...Who makes them alive again...Jehovah God or Jesus?...What's it like in a casket...Scary?. I answered as best I could. No one takes the body, Jehovah and Jesus remember the person, and the body ultimately dissolves...Jehovah gave Jesus the power to make people alive again, so they both are involved, and for us, because we are alive, being in a casket would be scary because we would feel closed in but a person who has died does not see or feel anything, so they would not know they are there...

10

What are some of the JW Teachings That you do not Agree With

by Vanderhoven7 in

casey sabella writes.

many of their teachings have no biblical basis whatsoever.

they claim those leaders are in fact the faithful and discreet slave jesus spoke about in matthew 24. further, they alone were selected by jesus himself in 1919 to identify as this slave and that all other churches are false.. only 144,000 can partake of communion and go to heaven.

HereIam60

1) I never felt they were correct in any of their interperetations of "The Generation".(Matthew 24:34) . Jesus seemed to use the word to address whatever group he was speaking to at the time ('a wicked and adulterous" generation of opposers, a generation of faithful listeners that "would not pass away" 'til they saw all his words fufilled). As to what they taught, when it was the "generation that saw the events of 1914", time would tell, which it did. I found the 1995 change (to me) so poorly explained that it did not really register with me. If it meant the contemporary people of any given time, that made some sense, but clearly the prior explanation had been proven wrong.. When the idea of an overlap of the 1914 generation with those who recieved an annointing during that group's lifetime was introduced, in print, I thought I understood it, but David Splane's crazy video explanation with chart, pointer, and Fred Franz as a typical example, made it fall apart, and already that whole mess seems to have been " swept under the rug". 2) I never fully believed that anyone in this day and age was "annointed" with holy spirit for heavenly life. If the 144,000 of Revelation is a literal number - not saying it is- I would think it was filled in the first century among the apostles and early disciples, as the book of Acts records mass baptisms of thousands, and the miraculous gifts of the spirit "proving" annointing, speaking in tongues, healings, prophecies are said to have ceased by the end of the apostolic period.. When asked how does someone know for sure they are annointed, Witnesses refer to Romans 8:16 and Galatians 4:6 without being able to explain anything clearly, you just have to take their word for it, they just know, for sure. However when the numbers of professed annointed stopped decreasing, and rose dramatically, the idea began being introduced that many were mentally or emotionally confused, which calls into question anyone claiming annointing, including the Watchtower leaders! Recently (Annual Meeting) it was said that we were wrong in thinking the numbers would decrease, we should not be surprised there are many announted in the 'last days'. 3) I never fully accepted the interpretations of "The Faithful and Discreet Slave". [Matthew 24:45], (Jesus is caling upon all Christians to examine their own faith and conduct..are we living up to his teachings?)...as to Watchtower teaching, when it was said to be the remaining annointed Christians on earth as a group, that, at least made some sense, as they would be dispersed throughout the earth and could 'feed' or upbuild their respective congregations, but it seems absurd to think it is limited solely to what amounts to the Board of Directors of a Corporation - no matter what they call themselves...