cobaltcupcake , yes, so many did and many cashed in their pensions and insurances too. I did find out, not too long ago that the congregation overseer at the time (it was before the elder system was set up) while telling us that we didnt need insurance or pensions for old age for the future, did himself keep his own pension going. When it did mature and pay out, it was a great deal of money. There were a few others who took up careers in the insurance industry, that is something i could never understand at the time. They did well too and are living a comfortable life now.All the ones that I know that did well out of these jobs , in the congregation i was in,were the ones that preached the most about the coming of armageddon and how we wouldnt need any insurance or pensions , just goes to show. Just like the WTBS at the time, telling us all about armageddon being imminent while at the same time were buying property and playing the stockmarket.
vangogh
JoinedPosts by vangogh
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14
Vangogh, Welcome to the board!!!
by ziddina ini'd just like to say hello and welcome to one of our newest members, vangogh.... though he [she?
] hasn't posted a "hello" thread yet, here is his first post with a mini-autobiography.... http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/240404/1/all-things-given-to-us.
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14
Vangogh, Welcome to the board!!!
by ziddina ini'd just like to say hello and welcome to one of our newest members, vangogh.... though he [she?
] hasn't posted a "hello" thread yet, here is his first post with a mini-autobiography.... http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/240404/1/all-things-given-to-us.
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vangogh
mamochan, yes its an awful feeling and hard to describe to anyone who hasnt experienced it, although I know many in here have. Its something that is hard to recover from but thankfully it is possible. Posting in here helps too and in doing so, i'm sure it helps many others to get over those feelings, I know it has helped me even though i'v only posted a few times, as yet.
Thanks strawberry, cocoa and everyone else for your welcome
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14
Vangogh, Welcome to the board!!!
by ziddina ini'd just like to say hello and welcome to one of our newest members, vangogh.... though he [she?
] hasn't posted a "hello" thread yet, here is his first post with a mini-autobiography.... http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/240404/1/all-things-given-to-us.
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vangogh
Hi everyone and thankyou for the welcome, I'm sorry I should have said hello. I'v been following all the discussions and never thought to say hello before i posted.Again sorry. This is such a great place and at least in here we are believed when we share our experiences because so many others have had the same experiences.
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vangogh
The WTBS knew very well the effects these 'prophecies' would have on the witnesses and none of these Watchtower or Awake articles would never have been published without the societys approval. I was caught up in the 1975 time , there was no talk about it not going to happen, and yes, I heard it from the platform both in the kingdom hall and the conventions 'That no man knows the day or the hour' but back then in the late 60's and the run up to 1975, they meant it literally, 'the day or the hour'. not the way its meant now, If anyone did have doubts about what was being taught they certainly kept those thoughts to themselves. Any person outspoken about the WTBS' 'prophecy' back then, i'm sure would have ' spoken to, to say the least' Every thing taught from the platform back then was backed up from scripture, thats how we knew it was the truth. A wise and loving person always considers what they are going to say to a person and how their words will effect them, if a person or persons doesnt think before they utter words they are foolish, especially people who say they were chosen by Jesus. Jesus would never have appointed people who would say these things to be said in His name, what was taught back then was wrong and did a lot of harm to many. The Bible is quite clear in its warning about people who say such things and the Bible is our authority not men, whoever they claim to be. They are people who think they can say what they want regardless of the effect of their words, they have a lot to answer for..Woe Betide Them!!
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Are EXJW's predominantly atheist?
by sabastious ini was just making a comment on a christian's youtube and someone said this:.
i just realized?
ur an ex jw and dont believe in god no point in making a reply to u... .
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vangogh
although I was never baptised into the WBTS , I became a Christian by reading the bible (not the NWT, I used the NWT interlinear only for the Greek). When I read what the Bible actually had to say and about Jesus, everything fell into place from Genesis to Revelation. I had for years left the world of 'Christianity' because all I had known about it was what I had learned from the WBTS so I was really put off anything to do with religion. One day, I watched a programme made by the BBC, called 'The Story of Jesus'. Watching the programme just made me pick up a Bible and I started to read John and Romans, I wondered if I had been reading the same bible. I checked what I had read with the Greek of the NWT interlinear and saw how that everytime there had been anything written about the Diety of Jesus, the NWT had changed it. I know that The WBTS claim that the true meaning of the Bible is locked and only the WBTS can unlock it but I asked myself, who did God, through the inspired writers, write the Bible for and actually when we think about it, God wrote it for each and everyone of us, ourselves,God wanted us to be able to understand His message to us, why would he make its message so hard to understand that he would have to make an Earthly billion dollar organisation to decipher it for us. We could be alone on a desert island or in the deepest jungle and the Bible message would still apply to us just the same because God wrote for us, each and every one of us. Thats my own reason why I became a Christian. Jesus told us all that the only way to The Father is through Him , I dont think what Jesus said could be clearer.
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Survey: Who here is an atheist? Who here still believes in God?
by Christ Alone ini just wanted to take a survey.
let's not let this get into the same old same old debate of atheism vs belief.
just respond with "atheist" or "believer" or "maybe god exists".
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vangogh
Believer
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All Things Pagan
by Unbrainwashed publisher1 inwhy is the wt org selective concerning things with pagan origin?
for instance wedding rings they have no ban on wearing them and some wtnss say it is because it is commonly accepted now and no longer have significant pagan roots, but is that the point?
if satan himself starts up something popular and as time moves on it loses its original satanic flavor it is ok for "true christians" - i love how j dubs qualify that, to adopt it now as a practice?
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vangogh
Was thinking about this point regarding 'All Things Pagan' have been looking into the Cross and the Stake , I know its all been discussed before ,Justus Lipsius etc, but just wanted to add this, I wonder if the WTBS realize that a 'tree' has much more Pagan significance than a cross could ever have. I dont think Rutherford must have known that. Please anyone correct me if i'm wrong, did'nt Rutherford, when he became president, change the cross to a stake because he discovered that 'the cross' was associated with a Babylonian God. Really, does it matter at all if it was a tree or a cross on which Jesus died, his death and resurrection was the important thing. It was just this point that I was thinking about, the only real reason that Judge Rutherford declared Jesus had died on a stake was just to be different. When you look at Jusus Lipsius's drawings or any of the other historians illustrations, you can see a stake yes but also an upright tree or stake upon which the victim, who is already carrying the crossbeam and then is attached to the upright tree or stake then making a cross. We all know that Rutherford or whoever it was decided on 'The Torture Stake' must have seen these drawings too, its just another example of how WTBS re-wright history or take quotes from others and turn them around to suit their purposes.
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The Governing Body has NEVER claimed to be inspiredÂ…
by Alfred inthere was a recent thread here which covered the subject of the gb claiming to be spirit directed (and not actually inspired by the holy spirit).
by now, most of us are quite aware that this is just a play with words to excuse themselves whenever one of their false doctrines is debunked (by someone using the bible or their own publications).
but when you think of it, spirit-directed is actually more presumptuous than spirit-inspired.. that being said, id really like to draw attention to the fact that the wt continuously claims that the governing body of jehovahs witnesses has never claimed to be inspired by god (through his holy spirit).
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vangogh
sorry if this has been mentioned but I couldnt see anything regarding it. Please read thoroughly the book entitled 'The Nations Shall Know that I am Jehovah, Why?' there really is only one response to what is written in there and that is.... Deuteronomy 18. 20, 22.... Try and get a copy of the book as often what is written in the book is 'sterilised' before getting onto the cd's.
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All things given to us
by FutureAndAHope in2pe 1:3 "his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence".. it is my concern having read some post here that too much faith is put in the groverning body of the jehovahs witnesses.
the bible says that a believer has everything needed for life and godliness, through the direct revelation of god.
people don't need too have people to govern their lives, as god is the one who governs.. mans opinions are not always correct, only god is a refuge.
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vangogh
many thanks Loz for the welcome, thanks too, Heart. I never was baptised because even, though I was in my early teens at the time, i had so many questions to ask at the hall that no one would answer. Back then,before there were elders, there was the overseer who, when I asked a question would reply, 'Go look at this or that watchtower or awake and you will find the correct answer to your question', he really was an 'automaton' in his view and so many countless others, the WTBS was Gods channel and its still veiwed as such today . ('The only way to the Father is through me' Jesus said). At conventions when on the platform there was often a display of vegetables and fruit of all kinds and also the pile of watchtower publications , of course, this was to represent the food that we need to live then the spiritual food that God provided for us. I often got into trouble in my teens for asking, 'if God provided us with the spiritual food, and it was 'The Truth' how could it possibly become 'old light'later on, how can the truth , if it is true and provided by God, how can it change?. Of course the usual answer is 'the light gets brighter' , I just dont know why others cant see all the nonsense of it. ,anyway, i'v vented enough, lol , thanks again Loz for the welcome.
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All things given to us
by FutureAndAHope in2pe 1:3 "his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence".. it is my concern having read some post here that too much faith is put in the groverning body of the jehovahs witnesses.
the bible says that a believer has everything needed for life and godliness, through the direct revelation of god.
people don't need too have people to govern their lives, as god is the one who governs.. mans opinions are not always correct, only god is a refuge.
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vangogh
Hello everyone, this is my first posting, so hope i'v done this correctly. I have been reading the posts and following various subjects that are being discussed. I maybe should have written down what I was going to say first before I posted so that it would have been easier to follow and understand but here goes anyway. I am coming up 60y old and have just now managed to get over the personal mental trauma that the WTBS was responsible for causing in my life and so many others worldwide in those years in the late 1960's and early 70's. The 'Society' and other newer witnesses and those that were there at that time can deny everything and say that it was just the brothers themselves that were at fault for taking too much out of what the Society was actualy saying, or it was a test.. NO!!!. Everything that was said in those years, in the Kingdom Halls and conventions regarding the impending 'Battle of Armageddon' was all backed up scripture, ( a text, without context, is just a pretext for anything you want it to mean). Its true that the Society did'nt cross t's and dot i's in their prophecy of 1975 but they did prophecy it. In those years I, like so many others gave up our further education so that we could learn trades, carpenters were especially wanted 'to build the log cabins ' that were going to be needed after the destruction and desolation that was was going to come very shortly . 'in those few remaining months'. No wonder that in the Watchtower cd library those Awake magazines of those years cant be seen. I'm sorry, as I said I should have written this all out first because even as I write this ,the awful atmosphere and feeling of those days are coming back to me, I had much more to write but I know all those reading this that were effected as I was will know the feeling im talking about. I want to finally say this, that after all these years I have been able to step back and actualy see 'forest' because I had been standing amost the trees. There is a scripture that is in Deuteronomy that I know that most of you will know but it is very clear and when I read it now I get so tearful, tearful, because it is so clear and why o why did'nt i see it so clearly before now. Deuteronomy 18 vs 22