No way, no no no, why would that mean anything? I can't do it. These people are too much for me.
john.prestor
JoinedPosts by john.prestor
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41
"This system will probably be over in about 5 years"
by john.prestor ini don't think i shared this story yet, it's strange and although i did a little detective work trying to figure out who said what and when i never found out much, big surprise, jehovah's witnesses love their secrets as we all know... but i thought other posters might find this interesting both in and of itself, because of what an elder told me one sunday back in 2011, and because of what it could imply as to high-ranking jehovah's witnesses prophesying the date of armageddon.
specific dates went out the window in 1975, although governing body helper ken flodin hinted at 2040 in a talk uploaded to jw.org a couple years back, and the governing body hinted at 2034 in a watchtower back in the 90s.
but it might be, just might, that more specific date-setting still goes on behind closed doors in certain circuits.... so after i went to "meetings" and talked to witnesses for a couple years at a rural congregation in the eastern united states an elder pulled me aside one service into the vestibule at the hall, in other words, into a private area where no one would overhear us.
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Mark 13: 1-8 ...Not a composite sign/ two-fold prophecy scripture
by RULES & REGULATIONS inthis brother starts off with reading the following scriptures from the book of mark 13:1-8.
3 while he was sitting on the mount of olives across from the temple, peter, james, john, and andrew asked him privately, 4 “tell us, when will these things happen?
and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”.
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john.prestor
Half banana, I saw an article maybe a year or two back in which archaeologist excavated in Nazareth and did find a few very simple houses from around the time when Jesus supposedly lived. Search 'Has the childhood home of Jesus been found?'
No, it's not likely that Jesus actually was born in or grew up in Nazareth, that seems to be a bastardization of Nazarene, 'Matthew' makes that connection ( I use the term generously) in the second chapter of 'his' gospel. If Jesus existed, and that's a big if, he lived in Capernaum, in 'Mark' there's only one mention of Nazareth and its editorial, it doesn't seem to come from any source that 'Mark' used or adapted
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41
"This system will probably be over in about 5 years"
by john.prestor ini don't think i shared this story yet, it's strange and although i did a little detective work trying to figure out who said what and when i never found out much, big surprise, jehovah's witnesses love their secrets as we all know... but i thought other posters might find this interesting both in and of itself, because of what an elder told me one sunday back in 2011, and because of what it could imply as to high-ranking jehovah's witnesses prophesying the date of armageddon.
specific dates went out the window in 1975, although governing body helper ken flodin hinted at 2040 in a talk uploaded to jw.org a couple years back, and the governing body hinted at 2034 in a watchtower back in the 90s.
but it might be, just might, that more specific date-setting still goes on behind closed doors in certain circuits.... so after i went to "meetings" and talked to witnesses for a couple years at a rural congregation in the eastern united states an elder pulled me aside one service into the vestibule at the hall, in other words, into a private area where no one would overhear us.
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john.prestor
Incognigo Montaya, thanks for the encouragement man. That's part of what I'm working on these days, trusting my gut, and it seems to work. You're right, there could be some resentment hiding in there, I heard Witnesses expess resentment towards office workers and professors at services there, too. It makes sense given how close they lived to a college town and like Toesup said I'm sure all the sacrifices some of them made for nothing weighed on them at some deep unconscious level.
Fulltimestudent, that's pretty interesting, I wonder the same thing, did the CO just come up with that date, he liked to hype the imminence of Armageddon (sir82 I thought of your bug-eyed remark and I laughed writing this), he said something like I'll see you guys in six months if we get there, he told them they wouldn't see their kids grow up. Other COs I saw didn't really pound on that drum, it's just ballsy to say something like that anymore, what if an Elder reported him to the Branch? Either he's cocky as hell (and he was) or somebody authorized him to say that, that's the only thing that makes sense to me, kind of like you're implying with Ted Jaracz. I guess some things will stay mysteries forever.
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41
"This system will probably be over in about 5 years"
by john.prestor ini don't think i shared this story yet, it's strange and although i did a little detective work trying to figure out who said what and when i never found out much, big surprise, jehovah's witnesses love their secrets as we all know... but i thought other posters might find this interesting both in and of itself, because of what an elder told me one sunday back in 2011, and because of what it could imply as to high-ranking jehovah's witnesses prophesying the date of armageddon.
specific dates went out the window in 1975, although governing body helper ken flodin hinted at 2040 in a talk uploaded to jw.org a couple years back, and the governing body hinted at 2034 in a watchtower back in the 90s.
but it might be, just might, that more specific date-setting still goes on behind closed doors in certain circuits.... so after i went to "meetings" and talked to witnesses for a couple years at a rural congregation in the eastern united states an elder pulled me aside one service into the vestibule at the hall, in other words, into a private area where no one would overhear us.
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john.prestor
Ah, so this kinda thing is relatively common at least, interesting. There's no specific date set to the Trump and Reagan prophecies but presidents can't serve for more than 8 years so there effectively is.
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41
"This system will probably be over in about 5 years"
by john.prestor ini don't think i shared this story yet, it's strange and although i did a little detective work trying to figure out who said what and when i never found out much, big surprise, jehovah's witnesses love their secrets as we all know... but i thought other posters might find this interesting both in and of itself, because of what an elder told me one sunday back in 2011, and because of what it could imply as to high-ranking jehovah's witnesses prophesying the date of armageddon.
specific dates went out the window in 1975, although governing body helper ken flodin hinted at 2040 in a talk uploaded to jw.org a couple years back, and the governing body hinted at 2034 in a watchtower back in the 90s.
but it might be, just might, that more specific date-setting still goes on behind closed doors in certain circuits.... so after i went to "meetings" and talked to witnesses for a couple years at a rural congregation in the eastern united states an elder pulled me aside one service into the vestibule at the hall, in other words, into a private area where no one would overhear us.
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john.prestor
I don't think I shared this story yet, it's strange and although I did a little detective work trying to figure out who said what and when I never found out much, big surprise, Jehovah's Witnesses love their secrets as we all know... But I thought other posters might find this interesting both in and of itself, because of what an Elder told me one Sunday back in 2011, and because of what it could imply as to high-ranking Jehovah's Witnesses prophesying the date of Armageddon. Specific dates went out the window in 1975, although Governing Body helper Ken Flodin hinted at 2040 in a talk uploaded to jw.org a couple years back, and the Governing Body hinted at 2034 in a Watchtower back in the 90s. But it might be, just might, that more specific date-setting still goes on behind closed doors in certain circuits...
So after I went to "meetings" and talked to Witnesses for a couple years at a rural congregation in the eastern United States an Elder pulled me aside one service into the vestibule at the hall, in other words, into a private area where no one would overhear us. He did this as I went to leave early after the "public talk" or "Bible discourse" (who knows which, I never saw any difference between the two) so nobody was coming or going into the hall either. The Witnesses there knew I attended college nearby and they kinda begrudgingly respected that or pretended to at least, but this Elder, who I barely knew, told me that I should think about dropping out. I asked why of course, gently, you always gotta be gentle with Witnesses, and he lowered his voice and told me, "This system will probably be over in about 5 years."
I was stunned. He must have noticed that because he immediately clarified, "That's what we're being told by our Circuit Overseer," basically to say I didn't pull this out of a hat, you can trust me on this. Then he said something like he knew I was thinking about where I would work and what career I would pursue but that I "probably won't use it," meaning my degree, because his daughter went to school for teaching I think but now pioneers in Africa... maybe because he told her the same thing and she wanted to make sure she survived Armageddon?
I never heard anything else about this and I didn't want to really ask around too much because if he told me away from everybody else and even lowered his voice he clearly told me something "confidential" he knew someone or some other persons didn't want getting out. I asked a Ministerial Servant I talked to a lot and he made a weird remark, something about if Armageddon got close enough Jehovah might tell Jesus the exact date but when I asked if Jesus would tell Witnesses he insisted he wouldn't, but it still felt funny to me, I dunno, maybe I read into it. The CO visited about a month before that and I heard him say in one of his talks on a Tuesday night, "What if we knew there was only 10 years left for this system, how would we live our life?" but then he joked, "Don't even go there," saying more or less he wasn't being serious but you know... you kinda already went there, man. So I never found out if he just made a remark like that in a meeting with Elders or if he full on just told them, 5 years guys, it's coming in 5 years.
I thought this morning about writing that Elder all these years later and saying, Hey buddy, it's been more than about 5 years, thanks for trying to fuck up my chances at getting a good job, know you didn't mean to but seriously, what the hell? Who else did you tell? Did you ever apologize? You didn't even have the balls to say what you meant, you couched it in two qualifiers, "probably" and "about" but you didn't want me to think probably or about, you wanted me to read between the lines and only hear the 5 years thing. Shame on you.
I just might.
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14
Mark 13: 1-8 ...Not a composite sign/ two-fold prophecy scripture
by RULES & REGULATIONS inthis brother starts off with reading the following scriptures from the book of mark 13:1-8.
3 while he was sitting on the mount of olives across from the temple, peter, james, john, and andrew asked him privately, 4 “tell us, when will these things happen?
and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”.
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john.prestor
"Claiming that verses 5-27 must have a dual fulfillment is, in reality, an admission that they don't understand all of what Jesus was talking about."
Or... that what "Jesus" ("Mark") predicted didn't actually happen.
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Are you a conscientious objector if you play violent video games?
by eyeuse2badub in"s korea to investigate whether conscientious objectors played violent video games".
after a decades-long fight, jw's and other religious groups in s korea can declare co and avoid military service.
the government wants to see if they are being real by going back into their past to see if they played violent vid games.
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john.prestor
Shooting pixels at pixels and shooting bullets into a body, come on, there's an obvious difference there. The Governing Body tried to make that same connection a few episodes back on JW broadcasting by comparing a realistic first-person shooter played online (cough cough Call of Duty) to the gladatorial games of ancient Rome. Same problem: nobody dies when you push buttons on a controller.. well, unless you're the government and you're blowing people up with drones.
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Comparison of Jan 14 and 15 days texts
by helpmeout ini couldn’t help but notice the juxtaposition of the day text for jan 14 and 15. the first is about following the disfellowshipping decree, the second is about showing compassion.
i ask you, “if an active jw were to miss following both of these texts, which one would they most likely be counseled on?”.
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john.prestor
Jehovah's Witnesses would say that disfellowshipping is an act of compassion, obviously I don't agree with that and I'm sure you don't agree with that, but for them that's not a paradox, that's not a problem. Disfellowshipping is a 'loving provision,' remember, they published an article with that title just a year or two back. The rationale being that if they shun somebody long enough they'll come back and it's only by coming back that they won't die a horrible death at Armageddon beneath a reign of fiery meteorites. It's a sick way to see a cruel practice, but that's how they see it (most of them at least if they follow that 'counsel').
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I'm not alone in the congregation, after all
by ohnightdivine ini can now say that i'm not alone to know ttatt in my congregation, after all.. i have come to know that my close friend is awake, even without me sharing the ttatt with him/her.
on one of our recent conversations i mentioned about being tired and no longer being uplifted anymore, and my friend then told me he/she was feeling the same.
i don't know how it happened but we knew we could trust each other.
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john.prestor
ohnightdivine, it makes a huge difference when even one person believes you or shares your thoughts. I'm glad you found that person.
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Reflecting On Death
by Charles Gillette inreflecting on death.
i can't remember, maybe steve jobs before he died.i thought i would share it with you and see what you think about it, and i'm quoting i think from his book.. "i'm about fifty-fifty on believing in god.
for most of my life, i've felt that there must be more to our own existence than meets the eye.. i might be overestimating the odds 50/50 out of a desire to believe in an afterlife.
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john.prestor
I'm reading the Marquis de Sade and he wrote in a dialogue between a priest and a dying atheist, "There is no other world." It's sad but it's just that simple. I don't know of any good reason to believe in an afterlife and anyone who ever told me there I would get one when I died, whether some bright and lofty heaven, some fiery hell beneath the earth, some fairy island in the South China Sea the innards of Mount Tai the jeweled paradise of Amida (see, no one even considers those afterlifes because they're so far out of our experience, but people in imperial China believed in them) whatever, had an agenda of some kind, usually making me stay in line or maintaining their own livelihood, the Governing Body anyone, but it's not just them by far, many religious leaders profit off telling us we'll live forever. We're one of the few animals we know of who know they'll die, elephants seem to also, whales, some other primates. Who wants to die? It's the perfect promise to make because it's a promise that you can't back up, sure they try to but their proof proves nothing, and that's what makes it so appealing and so sinister in some circumstances, if the leaders don't just repeat what someone told them and they believed all their life, too, which I think is usually the case.
Charles Gillette, I take sparky1's perspective as to why you and I and others on this forum still wonder about death from time to time. As a kid the pastor of the church I grew up in taught me that Jesus would return any day now, the trumpet would sound, the dead in Christ would rise first, I can remember the exact words he spoke because he told us so often. It's hard coming to terms with death when you never believed death would find you. But it will, it always does, and if you're not ready it'll come like a "thief in the night."
Get ready for death, do everything you want to do while you're alive, anything you've ever wanted. The only immortality we'll ever know is the world we'll leave behind, the seasons, the hills, the children we bear or adopt in whatever way, our writings, our wisdom, the things we build, recipes, the stories we pass along, the places we love and show to others. That's our immortality. That's our afterlife. It's so hard to accept that sometimes but I'm tired of running from the truth, tired of believing the empty lies of men with nothing to offer but their empty words.
In the Gospel of Thomas it says: "If those who lead you say the kingdom is in the sky, the birds will get there first... But the kingdom is outside you and inside you, whoever knows himself will know this." Which means our body and the world, that's the kingdom, that's where we reign as kings over our own pleasure, over our own experience.
Enjoy your body and this earth while you can, they're truly wonderful. I've just begun to myself.