if i was an author of a book i think i would be over the moon if i was guaranteed a sale of around 5 million or more books for my work.. the jehovah`s witnesses have over 8 million members plus relatives that are fringe dwellers who come to the memorial once a year ,.
so what a gold mine they have been sitting on as a publishing house .. why didn`t they keep publishing books for the faithful ,they could have even upped the price , and the faithful would have paid especially in prosperous country`s in the west.. they could have milked this venture for years to come as the faithful would have bought anything they would have published .. and their prophets (profits) would have soared ,literally and figuratively for many more years to come ..
They can’t sell books or anything and keep their “charitable” non profit status.
Why not? Plenty of charities sell books and all sorts of products - just check the Oxfam web site.
But why would anyone buy a book anyway when you can download it for free? They could start charging for the downloads perhaps, but I can't see that happening. Knorr was a good businessman, but this lot are pretty clueless, I think their Armageddon delusion blinds them to what their future really holds.
the jehovah's witnesses claim that the holy spirit is none other than a force... however when we compare scripture with scripture, we begin to see that the holy spirit is a person.as the jehovah's witnesses dispute this, the question still remains..."who/what is the holy spirit?".
the holy spirit can :.
be grieved.
You forgot to mention it can also impregnate women
(Mat 1:18).
i can't say much out of fear of getting caught, but i overheard a jw i know on the phone with a friend talking about "how close we are to the end.
" yeah, yeah, i know.
we've been on the brink of armageddon for well over a century, but what struck me about this particular instance was what she said next.
I said it once before on this site, but at the last circuit assembly I attended (1979) the CO or DO said words to the effect, “Brothers, do not let anyone deceive you into thinking that Armageddon is many years away, it is not, it is a matter of months not years.”
That stuck in my head as I thought, that’s what you said five years ago. The fact that they are still saying it makes me wonder how those that were there at the time can still swallow the same broken record today. Baffling.
first things first!let us define our terms: doctrine and dogma.doctrine: a codification of beliefs, taught principles, or positions.
dogma a set of principles laid down by an authority (in this case, the governing body, acting as the faithful slave of christ) as incontrovertibly true.
_____in the catholic church, dogma never changes but doctrines have over time.this sets me to wondering.
There are a few core things they can never change, which they themselves often quote when they are accused of constantly changing doctrine (usually because time has proved it wrong, as it will their latest definition of generation). Those core things are; no trinity, a mortal soul, no hell, that sort of stuff.
But the one dogma they will never change, which follows on from their being sanctioned by god is this – “we are always right at any given time, even when we're not."
smurf girl, i believe is her youtube name, an exjw with a youtube channel.
she claims that if you go all over the jw.borg website you will no longer be able to find any mention of the organization or the fds being gods channel of communication.
so what’s your thoughts on why the change?
I haven't watched any of Smurf Girl's material, so I don't know what point she is making, but if she thinks that an absence of dogmatic statements on jw.org is in any way significant and reflects some softening in their dogmatism, then I agree with steve2, she is being very naive. Also, I thinks she's wrong, for you can find Watchtowers on jw.og, and here's a few recent extracts;
do you know who wrote the 1959 watchtower book jehovah's witnesses in the divine purpose?
anyone?.
Thanks blondie, I understand.
do you know who wrote the 1959 watchtower book jehovah's witnesses in the divine purpose?
anyone?.
blondie - I'm puzzled. The literature in question here was written over a decade after Rutherford died. And I wouldn't believe all of Rutherford's testimony anyway. Sure, his name appears as the author of all Watchtower books from 1916 to 1941, but there are suspicions that a lot of his later stuff was ghost written by Freddie.
i never fully realized it until i was just about out.
i adopted the attitude that “if mother says so, mother knows best!”.
it took me a long time to conclude they were actually a cult.
I have to say that I personally did not feel controlled when I was in, not in mind anyway. We were more controlled by the schedule of meetings, talks, field service, assemblies etc, but not the mind control JWs are subject to today. I think that back in the 70s there was a lot more intellectual freedom, and I can remember many a discussion with some of the more independently minded witnesses, where we would often disagree with the official line, and there was never any sanction. In fact, I would say that those (and there were a few) who swallowed 100% of everything that appeared in a book or a Watchtower, were considered odd, even a bit simple.
zeb - you highlight a very good point, I too observed that born-ins always seemed to display the worst behaviours. Their hypocrisy was difficult to defend, especially to non-believing members of my family who were able to witness it first hand.
i sneakily read his books at work.
it was written in such a way that no one could accuse him of being another bitter old apostate.. once it registered in my brain, especially after reading the second book, i knew i had to get out!.
I was already out (in body at least) when Franz was disfellowshipped, and only heard about that second hand from my first wife (who is still in) so the answer is no. But having read it ten years ago, I know that if I had known of its existence back in the 80s it would have saved me about 15 years of pain.
do you know who wrote the 1959 watchtower book jehovah's witnesses in the divine purpose?
anyone?.
PE - The book where the couple decide not to have children is called, with no irony intended, "Children" a Rutherford book from 1941, the bit you're referring to is on page 366.
Phizzy - totally agree, that book has Freddy's half truths and misleading statements in abundance. However, I believe the book had several contributors, and therefore no single author.
