in the photodrama of creation there's a picture of the solar system.. there are 12 solar orbiting objects.
(also a 13th orbit which seems to be a comet, probably halley).
does anyone know where russell got this from?.
Best guess:
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars (the inner planets);
Ceres, Vesta, Pallas and Hygeia (the four largest asteroids in the belt between Mars and Jupiter - Ceres is still considered a dwarf planet);
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Pluto had not yet been discovered, and would not be until after Russell's death.
i always sit in the same spot, just outside starbucks in a vestibule area with a table in the air-conditioned space.
i say "always," but not today.. somebody with two laptops and a table filled with business ledgers was in "my" favorite spot!.
so, i took a tiny wooden table inside the coffee shop on a long padded bench next to 3 other identical tables.. as the clickbait banner ads like to say: "and what happened next was simply unbelievable!".
at 2014 conventions (regional?
) 14,039 baptized.
outstanding for 13,871 congs!
richard ashe a full-time special servant of the order of jehovah's witnesses testified in the lopez case that every single disfellowshipping and disassociation and other things have all been scanned in 2011 and are and will be on permanent record with jw's forever.
is this legal?
another completely ironic and warped thing is the disfellowshipping form is called the s77 form.
Funny...when I got visited last year in response to a letter of explanation I demanded of the elders, their parting admonishment was, "And don't go to any apostate websites" - which was a complete non sequitur from anything in our (mostly respectful) 15 minute conversation.
Not that I hold they have a bit of power over me anymore, but I found that comment disconcerting. It meant that either they've been having a lot of problems with 'apostate websites' (and oh, do I hate that phrase) - and I have to think they have - or that somehow, someone in the organization is dedicated to marking people here and identifying troublemakers. Not that either of those things is mutually exclusive.
an ex-bethelite (now an elder in a jersey congo usa) called me the other day and opened up to me about wanting to step down, mainly because he thought he was being a bit overwhelmed.
he mentioned that he spoke to the co about it and some of the socalled friends in the congo .
they put him on this guilt trip.
Really hoping this is my (fleshly) brother.
I'm also hoping that, whoever this is, they're putting two and two together and realizing they have been duped as many others have - that it's not a physical fatigue, but a mental awakening which is leading them to step down. Seems that there's a lot more than attrition thinning the ranks of the elders these days.
who thought in the early months of 2012 that such a rebranding would take place in only a matter of 24 months?.
they managed to go from an antique looking and boring website (watchtower.org) with hardly any attractive content to go to a fresh looking new website with stuff for everyone, families, children, teenagers.. movies, and short videos about almost everything and new ones added every month.
cartoons, animation video's , interviews, picture activities all kind of projects, many audio files like dramatic bible readings, dramas and music, online research tools, new brochures for kids (off and online) etc.
They can re-brand themselves a thousand times and it will not matter.
Despite their hubris (past and present), they have been demonstrably incorrect on numerous occasions. So many failed prophecies, 1975 being one of the most glaring. Millions now living will never die? They're dead. Dogma being bandied about, walked back, time and time again. Blood fractions, The Internet...that list goes on and on as well.
Were there an ounce of humility or a mote of transparency by the Governing Body, I'd almost want to give them a pass. But I categorically reject the notion that they mean well. They actively cover up their sordid, confused past by surreptitiously editing past volumes of work and sweeping evidence of past failures under the rug. And that is the key: it shows malicious intent to misrepresent themselves and place blame on the poor souls for trying to reach out to sites (such as this) to make sense of 'new light' against their fading memories.
They are frauds, plain and simple. They have become the snare and racket they used to deride, and they are making billions from people too afraid or ashamed to think for themselves, smoothly transitioning themselves from a 19th century publishing company to a 21st century real estate investment trust. Their profit does not go to serving Christians and non-Christians alike in need, as Jesus commanded: it goes to more real estate projects built on the donated labor and materials of the very members it is defrauding. To assert that the Organization is taking care of its members at all, much less better than anyone else, is not only disingenuous - it is demonstrably false.
They are a financial and moral hazard to everyone who has the misfortune to give them an ear or the time of day, and no pixellated window-dressing can cover the disgusting thing they have become.
looks like the canadian bethel is following in the footsteps of big brother from new york.
i heard through the grapevine that a number of couples have been given their notice.
some of these folks have been in bethel for over 30 years.
My younger brother has already thrown years of his life and earnings away building for the new headquarters projects. He has absolutely nothing to show for it and will likely not be able to support himself or his family when he retires. And meanwhile the GB keeps stringing him along: Armageddon is almost here. Aaaany day now.
And he still believes every word of it, like Boxer the cart-horse in Animal Farm.
have you seen it?
i saw two of them last night.
they seem very similar to the watchtower society.
I think one of the other students in my grade was a Millenial Dawner. I haven't really met anyone else of that branch and I'm a bit surprised they have enough scratch to throw commercials out there. Their website looks like it hasn't been updated since 1996 and has a main email as an aol.com account.
I'm not hating on them for that at all, I just think it's a poor choice for them to make a public outreach campaign before they're ready. Then again, few people over 60 would see anything wrong with a homepage that looks like it dates from the mid-Clinton administration.
Lose the rest of the weight I packed on after my car accident in May 2013.
End the year with zero debt. Making headway there, too.
Give more.
Feel less sorry for myself for lost opportunities earlier in life because I was in this cult.
Also, I've finally sworn off Facebook and have gotten back to letter writing.
ive not seen him on this new site--or do i need new specs.?
its usually hard to miss the old bugger
I would gladly affix my name to the "Free Muttley" petition. Where do I sign? :)
