Hello JT:
Yes, I am serious.
Have you read Augustine's _City of God_ and _Confessions_? Thomas Aquinas' _Summa Theologica_? Or, more recently, the proceedings of the Vatican II conference or the _New Jerome Bible Commentary_?
I have.
Skimmer
JoinedPosts by Skimmer
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23
What church should I go to now?
by serenaj92 inthey all have the american flag, crosses, and symbols.
if i go to the kingdom hall i will just get shunned and i do need association.
my husband won't let me take my son to a church.
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23
What church should I go to now?
by serenaj92 inthey all have the american flag, crosses, and symbols.
if i go to the kingdom hall i will just get shunned and i do need association.
my husband won't let me take my son to a church.
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Skimmer
Hello serenaj92:
My recommendation is to carefully examine your choices; be informed before making a decision.
For myself, I chose the Roman Catholic Church, in large part because of its connectivity to the past (apostolic succession), its intellectual consistency through time, and its relevancy in action today (charitable works, education).
A descriptive link: http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/churmenu.htm
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Bumper stickers that will get you disfellowshipped
by Mindchild injust for fun tonight...bumper stickers i would love to see in j.w.
parking lots:.
jehovahs witnesses arent the only true religion on earth...we just act like it.
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Skimmer
"Only Prisons Need Watchtowers"
"I Survived '75"
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anybody see the new JW-commercial?
by Moxy inon whtv upn 18 (channel 5) they aired the commercial put out by the congregation of jehovah's witnesses (12:38 am on monday night).
it is only airing in the north east us.. a brother who saw the commercial last friday said it was really nicely done.
it talks about family life and plays the kingdom songs in the background.. a telephone call to the society confirmed it was a trial, and it was a bonafide jw advertisement.. .
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Skimmer
In a posting several months ago, I foretold the return of the WTBTS to the airwaves. Not the old style WBBR radio, but new televangelist video begging. But we will only see this in the developed countries; the less developed nations will still see the door to door work.
Yes, if they can't slither in through the front door, they will try and squeeze in via the TV cable.
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Skimmer
I lost my fear of death long ago.
But I suspect that most JWs are terrified of death. Their fear has attracted them to the WTBTS, which like other Second Adventist offshoot movements, teaches against justice in the afterlife for the evildoers. Unfortunately for the typical JW, the fear of punishment after death has been replaced by a fear of a very painful and grisly death Real Soon Now for those not toeing the Brooklyn line.
A Catholic view of death and the afterlife: http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/lastmenu.htm
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Eighty five years ago today
by Skimmer ineighty five years ago today, on halloween of 1916, the founder, first president, and self-proclaimed jellyfish of the watch tower bible and tract society charles taze russell passed from this mortal vale.
some believe that he met his maker on that day.
others say that he met somebody else, and that it was somebody more commonly associated with the holiday.. at the time of his death, the self-appointed "god's only true channel" taught that:.
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Skimmer
Eighty five years ago today, on Halloween of 1916, the founder, first president, and self-proclaimed jellyfish of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society Charles Taze Russell passed from this mortal vale. Some believe that he met his Maker on that day. Others say that he met somebody else, and that it was somebody more commonly associated with the holiday.
At the time of his death, the self-appointed "God's Only True Channel" taught that:
1. The fall of Jerusalem occurred in 606 BC.
2. The "time of the end" began in 1799 AD.
3. Jesus returned in 1874 AD.
4. Something must have happened in 1914 AD, but it wasn't the end of organized religion and the start of Armageddon as had been predicted for the thirty five years leading up to that date.
5. The Watchtower chronology was validated by the measurements of the pyramids of Egypt, the railroads of Pennsylvania, and the beginning of the zodiacal Age of Aquarius. Oh, and that the predictions involved "God's dates, not ours."
6. Armageddon was expected at any time.
Flash forward to 2001.10.31, and we see that just about everything that Russell, the self-styled "Laodicean Messenger" of Revelation, has long been discarded. Well, all except that Armageddon is still expected at any time.
"Followers of followers, victims of victims."
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Discovery channel's big JW show!
by Dan B ini just finished watching a show on discovery health channel called blood-cure or killer.
it was a history of blood transfusions, and where that area of medicine is heading in the future.
the first mention of the jw's involved an interview with a bearded man (?
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Skimmer
Before the WTBTS permitted organ transplants, they repeatedly published the "fact" that receiving an organ also brought along some of the personality of the donor.
Like most other WTBTS medical quackery, it had its roots in superstition of the time. In fact, this particular superstition showed up as part of a plot of the US television series _Mission: Impossible" which was produced from 1966 to 1973. In one of the episodes, the IMF (good guys) was able to convince an otherwise uncrackable bad guy that he had gotten a heart transplant from a priest. And so, the IMF was able to persuade the bad guy to give up secret information that would cause evil and perhaps cause his "new" heart to fail.
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usa 2001 stats
by jeffory inavg.
pubs in 2001 service year[ usa] 945,689 compared to 945,000 avg.
in 2000.. total baptized in 2001 service year 28,239 compared to the 28,475 in 2000.
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Skimmer
proplog2 writes: "keep scanning the world scene looking for correlations and sifting the evidence".
The big correlation I see is the one in each country that directly correlates access to the Internet (and the truth about the WTBTS) and a decline in baptisms.
proplog2 writes: "If there isn't a reward then when all is said and done - none are the better for believing or not believing."
Well, what about all the family disruption caused by disfellowshipping due to the ever-changing and unjustifiable doctrine of the WTBTS? What about the lives lost due to quack medical policies such as the bans on vaccination, transplants, and blood transfusion? What about all the nightmares induced in children who don't know any better? What about the destruction caused to teenagers who've lost any chance with a normal social life? What about couples forced into unhappy marriages because of the inability to date normally? What about the parents who've lost contact with their children due to unscriptural shunning caused by man-made, arbitrary rules? What about all the middle aged persons who got suckered into giving up on a college education and are stuck in poor employment situations? What about all the elderly who've sacrificed their whole lives for a publishing scam and now have no retirement? What about everyone who's been humiliated by so-called judicial committees that are nothing more than witch hunts by the unqualified and the malevolent?
I can think of no obscenity strong enough to accurately portray the WTBTS. Those than continue to defend it after learning the real truth are beyond pity.
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usa 2001 stats
by jeffory inavg.
pubs in 2001 service year[ usa] 945,689 compared to 945,000 avg.
in 2000.. total baptized in 2001 service year 28,239 compared to the 28,475 in 2000.
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Skimmer
Hello proplog2:
If it is as you say that the WTBTS should flee the US, do you think that we'll see the "For Sale" signs popping up on Brooklyn and Patterson? Maybe the property will be bought by someone who will actually pay city taxes and stop mooching off the public.
Then again, what about all those poor people in the area who will than have to go without any of the WTBTS food pantries, the WTBTS clothing assistance, the WTBTS homeless shelters, the WTBTS soup kitchens, and WTBTS schools? Oh, sorry, I forgot; there aren't any of these, only Satan's "Worldwide Empire of False Religion" has provided such assistance. I guess "God's Only True Channel" has just been too busy pumping out billions of copies of the _Watchtower_ and other "fine spiritual food in due season".
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usa 2001 stats
by jeffory inavg.
pubs in 2001 service year[ usa] 945,689 compared to 945,000 avg.
in 2000.. total baptized in 2001 service year 28,239 compared to the 28,475 in 2000.
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Skimmer
My thanks to all those who have posted 2001 disService Year statistics.
It now appears that the decline in the English speaking portion of the United States membership can no longer be made up with any increase in the Spanish speaking segment. This will undoubtedly continue as the US is now likely to crack down on illegal immigration, most of which are Spanish speaking, and so further reduce the WTBTS victim count.
As mentioned before, it is the decline in the baptism counts that is the real indicator for future prospects. The WTBTS sees this just as clearly, and they realize that they are in big trouble that is getting even bigger as the largest baptism declines are in the more developed countries. These are the countries where the WTBTS has been milking the cash cow, but, as they say, the handwriting is on the wall.
I stand by my prediction of a while back where we we see the 2006 disService year figures show a peak for the entire WTBTS publisher count. Then, it's downhill all the way unless a very serious mainstreaming effort is put into place.
Again:
2001: End of net growth in first world countries.
2006: Worldwide peak publishers.
2011: Strongly mainstream, or schism, or very rapid decline.
2027: If not fully mainstream, then bankrupt.