Posts by shepherdless

67

My Issue: How To Step Down As A MS Without Getting Noticed

by JW_Rogue in

so that other thread was fun but now i need some help with something.

i was born in the truth most of my family is in.

although they aren't outwardly super spiritual i doubt any of them would ever leave.

shepherdless

Well played, JW_Rouge!

15

LONDON Kingdom Hall for sale - well, kinda!

by darkspilver in

jw
friends

the sell-off of kingdom hall's in the uk is continuing unabated as we are about to enter 2017....in addition to the thirty-five kingdom halls highlighted by the search a couple of months back.....it seems the cry has gone out to: "sell them faster!

faster!

shepherdless

it tells me that meeting attendances are dwindling...

I think it is far more likely that Watchtower is reacting to cashflow issues.

18

France: Where all donations are going? Germany?

by sp74bb in

source: http://www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr/publications/assoccpt/pdf/2015/3108/398996694_31082015.pdf.

"nothing is hidden.

jehovah's eyes sees everything.

shepherdless

Just in case it has not been mentioned before, the Britain branch is also sending significant funds to Germany. This is an extract from page 13 of IBSA 2015 accounts:

This seems to be a major increase from 2014. The 2014 figure is not stated, but can be £1.6 million at most.

Note that the Australian branch seems to indirectly contributing as well. This is an extract from page 16 of IBSA 2015 accounts:

Very generous of the Australians to give a long term interest free unsecured loan to the Britain branch. In fact, it appears IBSA Britian wouldn't have had the cash to make the transfer without the contribution from Australia. See the following note from page 19:

22

The uptake...

by Thisismein1972 in

with recent events pointing at watchtower growth, i felt compelled to say a few words.. if the figures turn out to be true, then we should not be discouraged.

after 9/11 there was a surge in, not only the watchtower, but other demonisation of organised religion.

whenever there is a a paradigm shifting event that puts fear into others, this tends to have a life changing affect on an individual.. now let us zoom to the present.

shepherdless

OP: with recent events pointing at watchtower growth...

I have seen a couple of oblique mentions of this. Has there been some data leaked somewhere?

Perhaps I am missing a key element here, but I am not sure what growth or stagnation or even diminishing numbers has to do with how we feel about the religion we have left.

For me it has no effect whatsoever on how I feel about JWism. However, I do care about where this evil cult might drag my kids, and other people's kids. Hence I am interested in the statistics.

193

Great Tribulation and Trump

by TakeOffTheCrown in

please, let's discuss this subject without attacking one another.. it appears that trump has won a victory that no one expected.

is it possible that trump may play a part in the great tribulation?.

there are some who believe trump is one of the most unqualified of men to ever be elected president of the united states.

shepherdless

Just felt the urge to jump in here.

I have actually been to Egypt and entered one of the Giza Pyramids, and various other sites (Karnak, Edfu, etc). Been to the Step Pyramid (Pyramid of Djoser built about 2660 BC) as well. The Great Pyramid if Giza was built around 2560BC.

I mention this, because some JW's seem to think that there could be some mistake about the dates of various reigns of pharaohs, or when things were built. If you have been there and looked around, you would realize that that is virtually impossible.

There is writing in stone, everywhere. There is so much written historical narrative, and so much overlapping in that historical narrative, that sequencing events becomes unarguable. Also the ancient Egyptian numbers are easy to understand (a bit like Roman numerals) and as an agrarian society (and because of annual Nile flooding) they were clearly aware of when years start.

As a result, there is a mostly continuous list of pharaohs going back to around 3100 BC.

In 2370 BC, the supposed year of the flood, Pharaoh Unas of the Fifth Dynasty was on the throne for 5 years, and was to remain there for a further 25 years. His pyramid is not very famous (there are lots of them), is in bad condition, but is still there and was around 45 metres high. His successor (first of the 6th Dynasty) also had a pyramid, as did the rest of the Sixth Dynasty pharaohs (unless they had a short reign). There was continuous building work going on from before the date of the flood, to 2181 BC at least.

Fisherman, you are a smart person, probably smarter than any member of the Governing Body. You shouldn't just be parroting the lines from Brooklyn.

129

Hi forum

by A Believer in

i proably shouldnt be on here but i feel like saying this.

i have been for the last couple weeks been studying religion.

i've learned the only ones who today do what the bible says to is jw.

shepherdless

Sheperdless I believe when it says in the name it doesn't mean the holy spirit is a person. It's a form of speech. Some scriptures say in the name of the law...does this mean that the law is a person?

Well the NWT says (Matt 24:19):

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit"

No mention of "the law". Is the NWT translation wrong?

Also, you might have heard a phrase in this religion "sinning against the spirit", as being different from (and more serious than) sinning against Jehovah. What is your interpretation of that?

129

Hi forum

by A Believer in

i proably shouldnt be on here but i feel like saying this.

i have been for the last couple weeks been studying religion.

i've learned the only ones who today do what the bible says to is jw.

shepherdless

Welcome, A Believer,

I don't believe in the Trinity either, but for very different reasons. Out of interest, what is your interpretation of Matthew 28:19?

On a general note, I sense you are testing what you have learnt so far. This is good, and the bible says you should examine everything carefully (1 Thessalonians 5:21). In that regard, you might want to check www.jwfacts.com for some further information.

7

666 or 616? Do we have to choose a number or could it be both?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

i'm sure that most longer term readers on this list know that the use of the number in the revelation was a 'code' using the jewish concept that assigned number values to the letters of the hebrew alphabet.. a promoter of modern judaism ( dr. eliyahu lizorkin-eyzeneberg) explains:.

today gematria is well-known as a jewish interpretive method that assigns numerical values of hebrew letters to words, phrases and/or sentences.

then, by adding them together, seeks to determine their deeper meaning.

shepherdless

This is pretty much what we learnt in a religious education class when I was in school, decades ago. ie, the "beast" was most probably Nero. I think (but I am not 100% sure) that this is the generally accepted view amongst Catholics and mainstream Protestants.

The purpose of the coding was probably just so that the casual reader of the book (or casual listener) in around 60 to 90 AD wouldn't pick up that the early Christians were saying such nasty things about their oppressors. It was what we would call "dog-whistling" in politics today.

There is more evidence that the "beast" of Revelations is Nero (or another Roman Emperor) because of a double meaning in the original Greek for "mark of the beast". It could also mean the currency/coinage of the beast. Someone else can probably explain that point better.

52

Memorial 2017

by wifibandit in

instead of making a new thread for every little thing related to memorial 2017, i'm going to try to post here.

.

and to start us off.... cart artwork for 2017 memorial invitations.

shepherdless

I know there are purists who say otherwise, but I always use the Oxford comma, because without it you can get some funny double meanings.

Take for example, the following hypothetical sentence without the Oxford comma:

"During the course of their investigations, Police interviewed Mr X Smith, a religious elder and a known pedophile."

It is not clear from that sentence whether the Police interviewed 3 people or 1 person. I can't understand why some purists (not all) insist on a grammatical rule that needlessly creates ambiguity.

35

What age were you when you were counted as a publisher?

by OrphanCrow in

the wts has always included minors and adults in the same categories - publisher and baptized.. i am interested in knowing how many minors, approximately, are included in the publisher count.

and, at what age a person started publishing.

what age was the youngest publisher reported?.

shepherdless

I have 4 kids, all minors, and all became "publishers" without my knowledge. The oldest 2 are not publishers any longer. I won't say ages.

I have no idea how they managed to count time. They used to go out in organised field service but current circumstances prevent that. I doubt if any of their classmates know; in fact the oldest one recently told me as much.

It is such a joke. It is obviously about generating favorable statistics. I wouldn't surprise me if the cat was a publisher as well.