Fewer at ours. A 15% drop from last year. Which is strange since our was at an earlier time slot and we had others from other congregations that had a later time slot attending.
leaving_quietly
JoinedPosts by leaving_quietly
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51
So Spill the Beans, Brothers: Were There More or Fewer At this Year's Bore-Fest
by steve2 inthe jw date-worshipped memorial has just completed its bleak worldwide commemoration.
that wasn't a dust cloud you saw; it was a millionfold hearts limply beating themselves into another round of great tribulation expectations.
i was knocked into a deep, deep sleep by the imagined experience of being at several thousand consecutive kingdom halls as the platformed drones spat forth the predictable sludge that, once released, hits and stains white clothing and bleach is useless.. we know that memorial attendance worldwide has dipped for two consecutive years since 2011 when it reached a high of 19,374,737 and for the promised land, obama's usa, the all time memorial attendance high was also 2011 when it hit over 2.5million (2,563,518) but shrunk in shame back to 2,502,055 in 2012 and spluttered upwards a handful or two to 2,504,114 last year.. so, what was attendance at the date-obsessed bore-fest this year in your neck of the woods?
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44
OMG!! Andre from the YPA video gave our Memorial talk.. My thoughts:
by BU2B inour memorial was held at a music hall with roughly 1300-1400 in attendance.
there was a guest speaker from bethell, guess who??
andre!
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leaving_quietly
I was so peeved at the talk that I didn't listen to that letter at the end. I probably missed it, but it wasn't strewn throughout. During the passing of both the bread and the wine, the speaker remained silent.
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Memorial talk fact checking - a story
by 88JM inthis was in the memorial talk here last night, used as an illustration i guess.. i think there is some direction to use an experience like this in the outline, but the story that the speaker told (presented as fact) sounds totally bogus to me, or at best urban legend.. does anyone know if this is actually true?
here is the story the speaker told:.
"some years ago there was a tragic train accident in england, and sadly some lost their lives.
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leaving_quietly
There's a lot to sift through, if anyone wants to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_in_the_United_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Railway_accidents_in_England
I've found stories elsewhere of people acting as human bridges, but none involving a railway accident in England.
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OMG!! Andre from the YPA video gave our Memorial talk.. My thoughts:
by BU2B inour memorial was held at a music hall with roughly 1300-1400 in attendance.
there was a guest speaker from bethell, guess who??
andre!
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leaving_quietly
Thank goodness no jw.org stuff at our Memorial. However, this bit must have been directly from the outline:
many people say you have to be born again, but just like being born onto this earth, you have no say in it. It is Jehovahs decision to make not ours.
Word-for-word, that's what the speaker said at ours. He also said: "It's entirely possible that this will be our LAST Memorial!"
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144000 Literal or Figurative?
by why144000 inthe speaker at the memorial tonight stated straight up that the 144,000 is a literal number as we will stop celebrating the memorial when jesus 'arrives' and takes the few remnant with him.
how can the society change the 144,000 to figurative without blowing themselves out of the water?.
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leaving_quietly
They can say the 144,000 is a literal number but could also say something along the lines of:
We used to believe that only the 144,000 were part of "the Israel of God." (Gal 6:16) However, after carefully reconsidering this, we clearly see that while the 144,000 are indeed anointed, that doesn't mean that only the 144,000 are spiritual Israelites. Revelation 7 tells us that 12,000 were taken out of each tribe of Israel, thus indicating that spiritual Israel has a much greater number than just 144,000. We now understand that all of the anointed 144,000 and the great crowd are considered part of "the Israel of God."
I could see this as a slow introduction of all being anointed, possibly eventually using 1 John 5:5-12 as evidence that an anointed one has a "witness within himself."
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 04-13-2014 WT Study (HAIL JC)
by blondie inhttp://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20140215/hail-christ-glorious-king/.
http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com.
united nations http://www.randytv.com/secret/unitednations.htm.
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leaving_quietly
@Blondie, yeah, I totally agree with you about what WTS says. I was just pointing out that Rev 6 is in dispute (and by that, I mean other people who do not belong to WTS). Some believe it is Jesus, Some believe it is the antichrist. Some believe something else altogether. But, by and large, people see the white horse at Rev 19 as being Jesus because of those names. That one is not in dispute all that much. I spent about a half-hour yesterday looking for someone who didn't think it was Jesus, and I couldn't find any.
That said, this is clearly the modus operandus of WTS. Take a single word and make its application the same all over the place. Like the word "times" of Daniel 4, Luke 21:24 and Rev 11 and 12. "Yup, must be the referring to the same thing!!!!" <face palm>
"Let's see, Revelation 6, white horse. Aha a color! Where else do we see white? Ah, yes. White robes! Must represent cleanness and righteousness. Hmm. Where else? Ah, yes, Revelation 19. Ooooh, looky! Another white horse? Oh, and names! Who else is called by these names? Well, duh, Jesus is! So, any white horse found in the bible MUST represent Jesus! We so smart!!! Writing department, go to print with this 'new light'!"
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Did you REALLY think about the 'Great Tribulation'?
by jw07 inaccording to wt doctrine jehovah's witnesses will be singled out and persecuted during a time described in this way: "for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the worlds beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.
" according to the watchtower the devil will turn on god's people will all his might (if he really exists, why hasn't he done so already?
) in an attempt to wipe them out.. also, it's not promised that all jws will escape unscathed during this period of time.. even before i woke up fully to ttatt i really thought about what that meant.
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leaving_quietly
No, not really. I think it's because it's such a vague notion that anyone has of what it really is. It all hinges on when the "disgusting thing that causes desolation" is standing in a holy place. Both Mark 13 and Matt 24 mention this and both say parenthetically "(let the reader use discernment)", or, literally, "the one reading, let him understand". This tells me that, just perhaps, neither Mark nor Matthew actually understood what this meant either. Neither one was present when Jesus stated these words. And, just what that "disgusting thing" is is anyone's guess. There's definitely been a whole lot of speculation by a whole lot of people over the years.
To me, it's very possible that we are already in the great tribulation. We have already seen atrocities that are worse than the Flood of Noah's day. The word for tribulation could also mean "persecution, affliction, distress", possibly even "internal pressure". This is a time where anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues have been at their worst in human history. Terrorism has people in a constant state of fear... maybe not outwardly, but certainly inwardly.
I just don't know what that "disgusting thing" is. WTBTS says it's the United Nations, and a "holy place" is "This is a symbolic place representing everything that the religions of Christendom control and hold sacred—their whole field of operation and claimed religious rights." - w75 12/15 p. 742
Noteworthy is that Matt 24:15 in the NWT says "a holy place" whereas most translations say "the holy place". This is key because any Christian would read Daniel's words and the words of Christ and think: "holy place = somewhere holy TO GOD". But this translation leaves room for "holy place = somewhere holy TO PEOPLE". BIG difference.
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 04-13-2014 WT Study (HAIL JC)
by blondie inhttp://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20140215/hail-christ-glorious-king/.
http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com.
united nations http://www.randytv.com/secret/unitednations.htm.
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leaving_quietly
I wanted to make mention here that there are two white horses in Revelation. The first one is in Rev 6, part of the four horsemen. This rider is in dispute. JWs, of course, think it's Jesus because the horse is colored white, which represents cleanliness, righteousness. However, this article is dealing with the second white horse, that found in Rev 19. This one likely is Jesus, since his name is "Faithful and True" in vs 11 (he is referred to as the Amen, the faithful and true witness, and the beginning of the creation by God at Rev 3:14) and "The Word of God" in vs 14 (which is what Jesus is called at John 1:1) and "King of kings and Lord of lords" in vs 16.
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 04-13-2014 WT Study (HAIL JC)
by blondie inhttp://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20140215/hail-christ-glorious-king/.
http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com.
united nations http://www.randytv.com/secret/unitednations.htm.
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leaving_quietly
Nothing wakes up people still in.
Ps 45:4 in RNWT:
And in your splendor go on to victory; Ride in the cause of truth and humility and righteousness, And your right hand will accomplish awe-inspiring things.
Ps 45:4 in old NWT:
And in your splendor go on to success; Ride in the cause of truth and humility [and] righteousness, And your right hand will instruct you in fear-inspiring things.
The Hebrew word is wə-ṯō-wr-ḵā, meaning "shall teach" and only ever occurs in this one place in the Bible. It comes from the word yarah or yara, which means to throw or shoot (as in arrows), with the short definition of "teach", according to Strong's 3384.
http://biblehub.com/text/psalms/45-4.htm
I leaned over and showed my wife the footnote in the RNWT, which says: Lit., "teach you"
I whispered, "Why did they change this? This changes the meaning of the verse entirely!" She told me to be quiet. On the way home, she apologized for snapping at me, then told me I was right, it did change the meaning, but that she just doesn't care.
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Does anyone remember the article which mentioned that many non-jws would survive armageddon?
by cultBgone ini seem to think it was a november wt issue but can't remember precisely, but it was probably printed within the last three years.
after being told for years and years that everyone not a jw would be destroyed, this was amazing to see in print!
yet when i pointed it out to others, they just shrugged it off and left me wondering what i was missing.... does this ring a bell with anyone?.
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leaving_quietly
Do you mean this?
Today, some may be inclined to speculate about matters regarding Jehovah’s future judgments, such as who exactly will survive Armageddon or who will receive a resurrection. Rather than allowing such thoughts to disturb us, we can recall Abraham’s question. Knowing Jehovah as a benevolent heavenly Father and having complete confidence in his justice and mercy, as Abraham did, prevents us from wasting time and energy on unnecessary worry, weakening doubt, and useless debate - w10 4/15 p. 14
Or perhaps the FAQ on the website? http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/who-saved/