Rivergang

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Posts by Rivergang

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  25

  Top Jehovahs witnesses Historians

  by Paul Bonanno in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi .

  who do you think are the best historian/historians about the history of jehovahs witnesses?.

  paul.

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  Rivergang

  Back in the day, I found W.C. Stevenson's 1975 - Year of Doom? (later reprinted as The Inside Story of Jehovah's Witnesses) to be an informative read.

  Admittedly, it came out at a time when there was very little else available about the JWs. However, it does describe in great detail how the congregations were organised before the elder arrangement was instituted. No other history of Jehovah's Witnesses (that I have ever read, anyway) does that to the same level of detail which Stevenson did.

  Also, his writing style is impeccable - exactly what you would expect from somebody who majored in English at Oxford university. (And completely at variance with Schnell's ravings in his 30 Years a Watchtower Slave)!
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  18

  Youths who gave up amazing lives

  by JohnR1975 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i was growing up i remember many young people interviewed on the platform at assemblies.

  the ones who really stood out are the talented ones who gave up amazing lives to pioneer.. i remember specifically when i was a boy in the 70s and 80s some who were very good at sport or something.

  their teachers begged them to get professional training use their talents to the full.

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  Rivergang

  But ooh, it's a different story when they need something.

  Nothing like trying to "Hunt with the hounds and run with the hare" - all at the same time.
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  54

  1975 !

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how many of you here remember 1975?

  i hope the newer generations never forget.the true believers got shamed for it.

  those who were hedging their bets, fared much better.

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  Rivergang

  Was the teenager I was at the time "Running ahead of the organization? Or were WE as members encouraged and rewarded by the leadership to 'PUT KINGDOM INTERESTS FIRST" ?

  Who were used as examples on Service Meeting and Assembly parts? Those MOST EXTREME in their field service, lifestyle and language!

  Too bloody right!

  Only one year after the event were any cautionary statements issued - along the lines that "some" had somehow "read too much into" the 1975 date. A f#cking lot of use that was - bit like the old story of "Closing the stable door, after the horse has bolted".
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  54

  1975 !

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how many of you here remember 1975?

  i hope the newer generations never forget.the true believers got shamed for it.

  those who were hedging their bets, fared much better.

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  Rivergang

  Balaamass2

  Thanks for posting all that data ref. 1975. I remember it all like it was yesterday, having been eleven years old when it all started with the release of the book Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God.

  the WT did have some of the responsibility in coercing the members that 1975 was significant

  Yeah - just some!

  Speaking up or against the Watchtower's calamity howling = labeled: APOSTATE with loss of privileges or worse...

  So very, very true.

  These days, it seems like every man and his dog would try to have us believe that they "never really bought into it" when asked about the 1975 fiasco. Yet back in the day, I don't recall ever hearing a single JW expressing doubts about that date - for the reasons you have just stated.

  No wonder, either, when the concluding sentence of a 1974 Circuit Assembly talk about that date stated confidently "We still stand by our date of 1975" (followed by the thunderous applause of the audience).
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  116

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

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  Rivergang

  Slavic names are very common in Bavaria

  They are certainly by no means unknown.

  For example, I used to have a friend who hailed from that part of the world, whose surname was "Petrenko". (Furthermore, he would have been of similar age to the person named as Stefanie Brzakovic. Long story, though, how he - very much a German - ended up with a Slavic surname!)
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  116

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

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  Rivergang

  Although if you’re willing to go far enough, almost everyone in Europe is everyone else’s fourteenth cousin

  In all likelihood, the link between the former Pope Dominic and Stefanie Brzakovic (nee Blabst?) is probably something as described above:

  - i.e. There is indeed a connection somewhere, but using the noun "cousin" to describe the relationship might be taking the meaning of that term just a little too far!

  (Bearing in mind that the most effective form of propaganda is the half-truth).

  Otherwise, that Canberra Times article sounds typical of the press release statements you hear during (or after) a Jehovahs Witness assembly. I know that from experience - once I was quoted in a press release which was intended for our local newspaper. By crikey, but was I mightily relieved when that paper decided not to publish the story! (Any follow-up phone calls would have been - to say the least - embarrassing).

  As an aside, though, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that some highly ranked official in the Catholic church did comment favourably on the evangelistic approach taken by Jehovahs Witnesses. I have heard such comments myself, from an admittedly lay member of the church, but one whose level of faith could only be described as "greater than devout".
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  27

  God’s wisdom in allowing bearded JWs July 25 Watchtower

  by Listener in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the july 2025 watchtower has a paragraph that claims that it was the superior power and wisdom of jehovah that guided the gb into allowing jws to grow beards.. the study article is ‘can you still learn from basic bible teachings?’ under the subheading ‘jehovah is the creator’ paragraph 7 states-.

  “ 7. what did rahela do to accept a change in direction?.

  your answer.

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  Rivergang

  Wearing beards are just a sign of the laziness and rebelliousness of the people today.

  "Laziness", did you say?

  In fact, keeping a properly groomed beard (such as depicted in TD's post) requires at least the same amount of effort and attention as does being clean shaven.

  I speak here from experience!
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  31

  Curious? How many members of this group feel we are living in the "End Times"?

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i like to take a peek at the kids over on reddit every week or so.. this thread caught my eye:" curious….

  do any ex jw or pimo, still believe the world is ending.

  i see people who have never been witnesses think that the world will end soon and they say things like “jesus is coming soon”….

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  Rivergang

  It would seem that each generation has had its "The End is nigh" moment (e.g. Barry Maguire's 1965 song Eve of Destruction).

  Certainly, this time around the world order of things has reached another crossroad in history. The "old" order of things is now rapidly unravelling itself. It must be remembered, though, that the present order of things only established itself after WWII - following the 30 years of instability which WWI ("The Great War") initiated.

  In turn, the order of things prior to WWI had survived for 100 years, following the Battle of Waterloo - a pivotal battle which ended the chaos caused by French Revolution.

  And so on it goes, all the way back through history!

  If there ever was a time when human beings had justification for thinking the "End of the World" had really arrived, the year 536 AD would have to be a front contender:

  Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive' | Science | AAAS
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  19

  1975 debacle

  by Gman2001 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  did the borg ever apologize for 1975?.

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  Rivergang

  Post 1975 Blame the followers https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/1975.php

  The closest that they ever came to offering a written apology first appeared in the 1980 Yearbook of Jehovahs Witnesses.

  That yearbook statement referred to something which was said in one of the previous year's District Convention talks. This so-called "apology" was again repeated in the Watchtower of 15th March 1980.

  According to Raymond Franz in Crisis of Conscience, this "apology of an apology" was a much watered-down version of the one he pushed to be made. (With at least one Governing Body member all for just saying nothing at all and hoping that people would just quietly forget the whole matter).
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  14

  Narcissist challenges culture ingrained with the concept of “saving face” to perform humiliating retreat

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  oh yeah, this is going to end well.

  hold on to your seats, folks, we’re on the front row of history for, as the chinese might say, “interesting times”.

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rgkkl7v8lo.

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  Rivergang

  it still has the largest military by orders of magnitude with bases round the globe.

  That, too, is now being challenged by China.

  In terms of manpower, the Chinese armed forces are the largest in the world, with over 2,000,000 active service personnel, plus a reserve force of some 500,000. (In terms of numbers, the USA comes in at third place - behind both India and China).

  China has the largest navy in the world, with a current strength of 370 ocean-going ships - plus a coastal defence fleet of almost as many vessels. Furthermore, its ship building capacity is estimated as being some 270 times as great as that of the US. Not surprisingly then, its navy is still rapidly growing in size, with most of its ships having been built since 2010 (versus just 10% of the US Navy's ships). This navy has also demonstrated its growing global capability. Over the last several months, we in Australia have been reminded enough about that; with Chinese warships carrying out exercises (including live firing drills) just outside of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone. Like the pre-WWI Imperial German Navy, that of China consists of a fleet of very modern warships. About the only edge the US Navy still has is its extensive, worldwide network of bases.

  While the USA and Russia still have far more nuclear weapons than anybody else (each with over 5,000 devices at their disposal), the 600 odd nuclear weapons which China has are still enough to pose a serious threat. And just like its navy, China is rapidly building up its nuclear arsenal. The "missile gap" is closing at a rapid rate of knots!

  America would now need to be cautious when assuming military superiority over China.

  You know the old story about the word "assume"?

  To ASSUME has a habit of making an ASS out of U and ME