and now there is a debate between my father and his sister whether there should be a memorial service at the kingdom hall.. is there a rule whereby an elder who gives a memorial service at a kingdom hall must use the society's outline?
because my father and my grandmother have made it quite clear that he under no circumstances do they want that.
(i'm very blessed to have jw family who do not shun me even with the long hair (yes it is growing back), earring, and, oh yeah, disfellowshipment).
I've been to some funerals lately where the only thing that was similar were a couple scriptures about resurrection and eternal life on earth. The talks were very centered around the actual lives of the individuals.
One was a decorated bomber pilot in WWII. The speaker showed how the same valor the man showed in war he also showed as a witness. Very unique and inspiring for a witness funeral.
Pick someone who is an excellent speaker - if you can. They always take liberties with the outlines.
good god!.
i just got finished reading the ciro speech.
i'm shocked!.
At least Fred had some premises followed by some conclusions. This guy sounded like a Catholic Priest describing the sex act.
"You take a mayonaise jar...
changed the lives of everyone in this country, including members of the bethel family, who had to see that [and] were traumatized.. .
now we have been studying the bible for years and been preaching the good news of the kingdom and we have also been aware of developments that god's people have been notified through the pages of the watchtower and the awake!
there are five developments, friends, that we're going to talk about, but i'd like to talk about the first one that we should expect to see.. .
What is amazing is that if I were to give such an incoherent talk at a special assembly day I would never be allowed to speak again. This guy Ciro - is wackier than Sydlik. And what's with the hebrew stuff. What a grand-stander. If this is the kind of lunatic that they certify to go out on the road to whip up enthusiasm then the Watchtower is indeed pitiful.
Things are worse than I thought. The Watchtower really is in a fog. The guy starts to take us down one road and then back tracks and says that's probably not how its going to happen. This is not false prophecy- it's worse. It's counterfeit prophecy.
What an eye-opener. Apostates should put their money together and have this guy talk all over the USA.
for every person, there seem to be things they just don't understand.
for me, it's nationalism in more than homeopathic doses.
i wouldn't have expected to meet that much nationalism on an ex-jw board, but then, life holds many surprises.
I think that if you are rich it doesn't make any difference where you live - you're only a flight away from where you may want to be.
But if you're not rich the US is the next best thing.
The USA is great because its two biggest neighbors are the Atlantic and Pacific. People were able to get away from useless traditions and class systems the held them down.
Although I detest the high-handedness and arrogance of the USA I have no desire to live anywhere else. It's a beautiful country, with a temperate climate, - from sea to shining sea.
(please reply to this message with your own signature and added thoughts.
then, we will make sure that this reaches ray.).
dear ray,.
Dear Ray:
Why do you still believe in God? Is it good for book sales? Are you afraid that if you declared yourself an atheist JW's would quote that as a reason not to read your books?
evolution what cosmic patern do you see?.
"the forward movement to full conscientiousness of life".
from the virus to man(at his present state),.. from the .
I see the greatest concentration of nerve tissue at the end of the organism that moves forward.
Organisms leave a trail of waste behind them.
the points keep lining up.
daniel 8:23 identifies three.
characteristics of the "king" that will stand against the prince of.
Faithful2Jah:
Or maybe my attitude is one of humility and receptiveness. I admit my human desires. I am open to reality. I am not cloaking myself in a phony piety. As Jesus said the healthy don't need a physician.
Perhaps I know these things because I have a desperate and persistent need to know.
I don't believe that understanding prophecy is a gift of god. The Bible says that stuff because that's what imature minds need to believe. Perhaps intuition is more a gift of nature and heredity. There are clusters of personality traits that correlate with the ability to see relationships and patterns. Some of these traits include the ability to tolerate a high degree of ambiguity, and the ability to resist premature closure.
As far as my attitude making my interpretations suspect - by all means you ought to be suspicious - OF EVERYONE. Weigh the evidence and make your conclusion. Nice people can be wrong. And toxic people can be right. You have to make your decision on the evidence.
why god cannot have existed forever.. this is something a friend of mine brought up a number of years ago.at the time i just thought that to understand how a god existed forever was just beyond our little brains.. well now after reading a lot more physics books i think its evidence a god couldn't have existed forever and therefore would had a begining (if there was a god).. basically if god had lived from infinity in the past we wouldn't have been created yet as there would always be forever untill we were created.. do you get that?.
at any point in time we could take, if time went back forever then you could never get to that point in time.
you would always have infinity infront of you.. sorry if this doesn't make much sense as it is not easy to describe.
Lee Elder:
People keep mistaking faith for credulity. Credulity is the state where you want to believe and therefore you DO believe without any evidence. Faith is based on facts that have a high probability of being true and is more akin to the process of "induction". Supposedly Abraham was a man of faith...and I would be too if I could entertain actual angels.
People believe in God because they are credulous.
the points keep lining up.
daniel 8:23 identifies three.
characteristics of the "king" that will stand against the prince of.
SaintSatan:
If all of the Bible has been fullfilled (as the preterist believe) than it's an over-exposed worthless relic.
I'm not particularly interested in the history of the Jews. I don't need Jesus to teach me morality.
I simply want to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. If the Bible shows me some way to prolong my life - great. If it can protect me from some future catastrophe - again that would be wonderful. Short of those things I don't need religion or pseudo-sacred writings.
However there are some lingering issues of prophecy.
this note is for you know, obves, larsguy, mds, and other like minded end time brothers.. dear brothers,.
it appears that you caught me at a bad time to get me all riled up about end time predictions.
you see, i was born before the first a bomb was exploded.
The Bible doesn't really tell you to do anything extraordinary because of the nearness of the end. Those who died in the "so-called" deluge are described as doing ordinary and necessary things. Their only mistake is that they "took no notice".
Taking "notice" or being alert is a good idea for people who want to plan things and even invest. What's the harm with keeping an eye on geo-politics, the environment etc. Finally the Bible says that an event will occur which will be a sign that it is time to flee to safety. What's wrong with looking at the possibilities? It's up to some organized group of "holy-ones" to identify the "disgusting thing that causes desolation standing in a holy place" and give instructions to flee from somewhere (maybe the USA) to somewhere else (who knows?).
If this doesn't happen you live an observant life. If it does happen and you get some kind of benefit (salvation? Long term or temporary) consider yourself lucky.
I grew up as a JW also. I was born a month before Hiroshima. I lived my youth afraid of the Soviets, like most 50's kids. But as a JW I carried the horrible burden and nightmare of being separated from my parents and subjected to unimaginable torture during the final assault of Gog of Magog.
I definitely am working on retirement. (Probably a cardboard box at fisherman's wharf in SF). And I am still "taking note". Who knows?
