I agree Phizzy this recent push out of new info by the GB contains just enough crazy that it might be final straw for any that may be wavering. Let's hope!
WinstonSmith
JoinedPosts by WinstonSmith
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336
The New Diary of Winston Smith
by WinstonSmith inwe had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.
fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.
i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.
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336
The New Diary of Winston Smith
by WinstonSmith inwe had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.
fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.
i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.
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WinstonSmith
The July 15th Study edition of the WT has been released and my JW mates are positively frothing about it. This is the one with the so called 'new light' that we all knew about in advance due to our moles.
Some samples for your viewing pleasure:
"No date, but some good pics and tables"
"The clarifications are so exciting!"
"Read most it, and so far veeeeery interesting"
"They have corrected the great tribulation time and when the goats will be judged. The preaching work is more important than ever. There's clarification on what comes first, the governments turning on religion or war among nation. The faithful slave has been clarified. Going to read it again and this time look up the scriptures."
"Its all been explained so clearly! We are so well looked after!"
"1914 has been clarified, and the parables are more closely linked than we thought before."
"There is a new Governing Body member."
"Can't wait until we study this!"
I notice that no-one has said "I don't get it" I'm sure the majority in fact don't get it. They wouldn't want to say they don't get it so as not to appear stupid. "Of course I understand it, its so simple." I expect to hear a lot of "wow so awesome" and "this is amazing" and not a lot of actual discussion on it. People will be holding out for the WT study to come so they can hear the smart people answer up. If they still don't get it, I imagine most will shrug their shoulders and go "doesn't affect me day to day, so I'll figure it out when I need to" and of course never do it.
What strikes me is the word 'clarifications' was used a lot by the commenters. They don't see these as complete changes of direction, and that now a huge amount of what they used to believe and would have died for is totally different. They just see them as minor adjustments.
The Governing Body can pat themselves on the back for sliding another big elephant passed the unsuspecting plebs. -
336
The New Diary of Winston Smith
by WinstonSmith inwe had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.
fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.
i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.
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WinstonSmith
Hi Phizzy, yup, exactly my point! There ain't no evidence in their "primary textbook" to back up the statement they made.
All anointed are partakers, not all partakers are anointed.
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336
The New Diary of Winston Smith
by WinstonSmith inwe had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.
fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.
i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.
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WinstonSmith
So during the Memorial talk, the speaker made a comment. This comment rung a bell with me, but for most there, I'm sure it just resulted in them nodding their head in agreement. The comment was:
"Both groups benefit from the ransom sacrifice, but only those with a heavenly hope partake. This is because Jesus set this covenant with his close followers, those who would be in the kingdom with him. For this reason, we would expect that someone who partakes has a long history of service to Jehovah."
Sound logical? Make sense? It kinda does when spoken from the platform in amongst all the other warbling.
But read it again and parse it.
Here we see the WTS deciding who should, and who should not partake. Nothing in that quote can be backed up with a scripture. What the scriptures say is that the spirit manifests itself with someone that they are God's son (or daughter). What does that mean? No-one knows. The scripture does not elaborate as to exactly how the spirit manifests itself. It places no such arbitrary criteria as needing to have many years of faithful service to God. The spirit will choose whover the heck it wants. If that is someone who has had years of service, awesome. If it is some guy who has recently started comijng to meetings, cool.
There is a difference between partaking and being anointed. Even if everyone in the Hall that night had a sip and a nibble, it does not matter. Being anointed is not determined by drinking some wine and chewing some crackers, it is determined by the spirit in a way that is not known to any of us.
The Memorial talk was more about explaining why there should be little to nil persons partaking, than it was about explaining the meaning of the event.
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Notes from 2013 Memorial talk: Appreciate What Christ Has Done for You
by WinstonSmith intook one for the team tonight, and went along to the memorial.
my first time in a kingdom hall for just over a month.
it was as expected, dry, boring and extremely uninteresting.
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WinstonSmith
Good morning everyone, I'm guessing that by now you would have had your Memorial, or at least it won't be far away. Would love to hear the details of the talks you had to sit through.
Kristina1972 picked up up on a point that really struck me as a cunning use of words. When speaking of those in heaven the speaker said that because they bore God's name they were Jehovah's witnesses. This is where they get tricky. Note that I typed 'witnesses' with a small 'w' this is because this is what the speaker meant, as in they are witnesses of Jehovah (ones who can testify about him and his character). However, anyone new or along for the first time would have most likely heard the brother say "as they have God's name on their forehead, they are Jehovah's Witnesses" note the capital W. So while what they said was correct (from their point of view), the uninitiated would most likely hear a not so subtle reminder that when the drinks and nibbles come around, it would be expected that only a Jehovah's Witness would partake, not some lackey off the street. This was further emphasised later when they clearly said that they would expect that only someone with a long history of service to Jehovah would partake.
@Theocratic Sedition: I think they were going for the ol' "Jesus was in the room with and only speaking to his faithful apostles, so the words only apply to them, and by the way, we are the modern day version of the faithful apostles, so this applies to the anointed and not the general populace" schtick. As usual they add meaning and put words in the mouths of bible writers and characters where the text indicates no such thing.
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Notes from 2013 Memorial talk: Appreciate What Christ Has Done for You
by WinstonSmith intook one for the team tonight, and went along to the memorial.
my first time in a kingdom hall for just over a month.
it was as expected, dry, boring and extremely uninteresting.
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WinstonSmith
This is the second Memorial™ that I have been to since waking up. I paid extra attention to how they explained the two hopes. I tried to hear it like a person visiting for the first time would hear it. As you can see above, they used Revelation to show a number in heaven (they didn't read the scripture about the great crowd also being in heaven). Then to show the earthly hope, instead of reading a scripture that clearly states that everyone else lives on earth (because let's be honest there ain't one) they read the usual scriptures in Isaiah of a nice sounding earth and said the fact that you desire these things is proof that you have an earthly hope.
Their reasoning is not dissimilar to balsa wood.
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Notes from 2013 Memorial talk: Appreciate What Christ Has Done for You
by WinstonSmith intook one for the team tonight, and went along to the memorial.
my first time in a kingdom hall for just over a month.
it was as expected, dry, boring and extremely uninteresting.
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WinstonSmith
Took one for the team tonight, and went along to the Memorial. My first time in a Kingdom Hall for just over a month. It was as expected, dry, boring and extremely uninteresting. However I took some notes during the talk so that if some who visit this board missed the Memorial, they might be able to read through and get an idea what was said in the event that someone asks them about it.
The notes below were written as they speaker said them. I am reporting, not supporting;
Memorial 2013 Talk: Appreciate What Christ Has Done for You
- We come here tonight to remember a superlative example of love.
- This can be hard for us to comprehend as not many of us would have had someone give their life in our behalf.
- We gather and celebrate as the result of a scriptural command. Luke 22:19, 20.
- So we are grateful that we can be here and observe this simple ceremony. We know Jehovah will be pleased.
- Wherever Jehovah's people are, they will be gathering tonight. Kingdom Halls, rented facilities, open fields, even prisons. Millions in more than 200 lands will meet and observe.
- Many will go through hardship in order to come here. You might have had family opposition, but you came here anyway. We are not unlike those in other lands who meet under trial. Last year 19,300,000 met in this way.
- Let's now answer four questions.- Why do humans need to be delivered from death?
> Adam lost the privelige of everlasting life and as a result, all of us have a death sentence. Romans 5:12. It was passed onto us genetically.
> What about those who, unlike Adam, wanted to be obedient to God? Jehovah set up an arrangement where his son Jesus could give his perfect life to make up for the perfect life Adam lost. Romans 5:19.
> Jesus showed great courage and it would have pained Jehovah very much to go through this. Because Jesus was perfect, he had to die. His perfect life had to be given in order to cover the perfect life that Adam gave up. It makes us feel emotional when we think about what he did for us.
> When a loved one gives us a gift, it is something intangible. Jesus gift for us was invisible so sometimes it can be easy to forget. Our conscience though reminds us, when we do wrong, of the value of that sacrifice.- Who benefit from this sacrifice?
> The bible describes two hopes. A limited number will have life in heaven, the others will live on a cleansed earth as God intended for Adam and Eve. We can choose to serve Jehovah, but we can't choose our destination.
> Revelation 14:1. These ones are in heaven, and as they have God's name on their forehead, they are Jehovah's witnesses. These are the ones who partake of the bread and the wine, as they are the ones who have been chosen to serve in the heavenly kingdom.
> Isaiah 11:6-9. If we long to see these things, then this shows we have a hope for an earthly life ahead. Isaiah 35:5, 6. If we are sick and long to see the fulfilment of this, it shows that we have the earthly hope. Isaiah 65:21-23. If we long to have fulfilling work, then we are showing that we want to live on this earth.
> Jesus will fix all of our problems, whatever they may be, in the near future.- Who partake in the bread and wine?
> Both groups benefit from the ransom sacrifice, but only the ones with the heavenly hope partake. This is because Jesus set this covenant with his close followers, ones who would be in the kingdom with him. For this reason we would expect that someone who partakes has a long history of faithful service to Jehovah.
- 1 Corinthians 11: 23-25 gives us the process of what happened that night. Let's review it and then follow the same pattern.
- Prayer and bread.
- Prayer and wine.
- That was the simple ceremony that Jesus instituted. We should be proud that we carry on what Jesus set up.- What must we do to show appreciation for this sacrifice?
> Jehovah and Jesus want us to have a relationship with them. To do so, we must live by the rules of his house. He helps us with this and gives us practical advice. Pour out your heart to him in prayer. Jehovah longs to hear it. He can handle whatever you say to him. We must keep up our education about Jehovah and grow in appreciation of him and what he has done for us.
> If we follow him and his guidelines, we can make Jehovah happy. We know as Jehovah's Witnesses we do our utmost everyday to please him.- 1 John 4:9. Continue to grow in appreciation for what Jehovah has done for us.
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WinstonSmith
No problem, well rewrite this later as a great victory for Oceania!
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WinstonSmith
Computer says no.
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336
The New Diary of Winston Smith
by WinstonSmith inwe had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.
fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.
i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.
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WinstonSmith
Just came across an interesting quote in one of the books I'm reading at the moment. From 'Prometheus Rising' -
"...most of what domestic primates (humans) are asking their priests to forgive them for consists of what Kinsey calls "normal mammilian behaviour.""
LOL so true. When involved in a religion we spend a lot of time seeking the approval of men claiming to be the intermediary between us and the divine. The divine that gave us this mammilian behaviour in the first place.