Apognophos

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Posts by Apognophos

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  77

  Heavenly Gates Closed in 1935… Re-opened in 2007

  by Alfred in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  since 1935, the watchtower had been categorically teaching (for over 6 decades) that the heavenly calling of the 144,000 anointed christians had ceased in 1935. this teaching was especially significant to older jws (especially those who spent much of their lives serving the watchtower as pioneers, elders, missionaries, bethelites, etc.

  ) because many of these would eventually turn their attention to the aging governing body members and feel a sense of relief knowing that the end was drawing ever so near.

  in other words, as more governing body members (who were born before 1935) passed away, the closer they would get to their long-awaited reward of surviving armageddon and living on paradise earth where they would finally hug grass-eating lions near a waterfall while marveling at snow-peaked mountains in the distance.

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  Apognophos

  Yes, I do. Even when I was a believer, I thought that Rev. 14 sounded pretty symbolic all around.
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  40

  1st Time in 3 Years JW's call at our Door - Two 30 yr. long Time JW's

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i thought i was back on the jw radar after my jw daughter had a local elder call on me back in 2011 - but apparently not.

  he obviously didn't let his elders know i lived here, no record was kept for posterity and just called my daughter telling her that her " dad has differences with the organization " because he never called back on me as he promised to talk again.

  as i'm just inactive for 10 years.. so these two older jw ladys come knocking yesterday - one lady about 57 and the other lady older about 71 yrs.old ( i asked how long they had been jw's and told me they both have been in 30 years.

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  Apognophos

  Clearly it pays off to be prepared. I'll have to keep that in mind once I'm (hopefully) living in an area where no one knows I am (was) a Witness.

  But to be honest, I give them at most a 50% chance of reading the papers you gave them. I was with an elder in service once when a friendly older man gave us some material to read. It wasn't even anti-JW stuff, just his personal Bible research -- I guess; I'll never really know since I never read a word of it. The elder confiscated my copy as soon as we got back in the car. Even though we accepted it from the man politely and said thank you, it went into the round file later.
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  77

  Heavenly Gates Closed in 1935… Re-opened in 2007

  by Alfred in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  since 1935, the watchtower had been categorically teaching (for over 6 decades) that the heavenly calling of the 144,000 anointed christians had ceased in 1935. this teaching was especially significant to older jws (especially those who spent much of their lives serving the watchtower as pioneers, elders, missionaries, bethelites, etc.

  ) because many of these would eventually turn their attention to the aging governing body members and feel a sense of relief knowing that the end was drawing ever so near.

  in other words, as more governing body members (who were born before 1935) passed away, the closer they would get to their long-awaited reward of surviving armageddon and living on paradise earth where they would finally hug grass-eating lions near a waterfall while marveling at snow-peaked mountains in the distance.

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  Apognophos

  Good point, DATA-DOG. I didn't meant I imply that all partakers are mentally unbalanced, just that I suspected an increasing percentage of them are. The purpose of the two points I listed was to try to explain why the number might be going up. No doubt, as you say, there are some who have dwelled on what the Bible says and come to their own conclusion that they should be partaking because of their personal feelings and interpretation of scripture. But is there a reason why those partakers would be increasing in number?

  Crazyguy: Your point is a good one, as far as how we used to look up to the anointed ones as having a special status, and now it seems that the pebble in their hand is worthless. But I think the Society can argue that they aren't meant to do anything special while on earth, only once in heaven. When I was a believer, I tended to view the anointed as ones who were simply marked as extra-dedicated servants of God. The anointed brother in my congregation does not seem to have any special insights, but he does have a distinguished history of service as a Witness.

  So I guess it could simply be argued that they are awaiting the time when they are rewarded in heaven with a crown for their faithful service, and until then they're just like us, except they "feel anointed" somehow. Since I never saw an anointed one with any real extra power in the congregation anyway, I don't think this is a big adjustment for most JWs.
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  18

  Any Fader Disfellowshipped in later Years?

  by braincleaned in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi!.

  hey, did anyone here ever get disfellowshipped after years of fading, because of having been discovered online saying crap about the wts and/or the gb?.

  just wondering... you know they are following these sites....

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  Apognophos

  Just park near the Kingdom Hall a few more times with that license plate of yours, and that should do it, bigmac
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  62

  Mark Sanderson - Why Is the Newest GB Member Suddenly So Prominent?

  by Oubliette in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've noticed something that is very odd even by wt/gb standards.

  why is mark sanderson suddenly so prominent in all things wt/jw?.

  others have commented on the obvious narcissism of the gb pushing themselves to the fore recently, in particular after their huge doctrinal change at proclaiming themselves and only themselves as the faithful and discreet slave.. this is clearly true as evidenced at the agm, not only throughout the agm, but also in the video that was featured as part of that meeting.

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  Apognophos

  Sanderson doesn't seem prominent to me. He was in the video because the video was part of his talk that simply needed to be pre-recorded so it could be set in the Society's library (and any other locations that I've forgotten since seeing the video). He gave the first talk because (as someone here suggested), the Bible display was probably his idea. Giving the first talk is in no way a prominent position. By that logic, the band or comedian that opens for another act is secretly the most important performer that night.
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  77

  Heavenly Gates Closed in 1935… Re-opened in 2007

  by Alfred in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  since 1935, the watchtower had been categorically teaching (for over 6 decades) that the heavenly calling of the 144,000 anointed christians had ceased in 1935. this teaching was especially significant to older jws (especially those who spent much of their lives serving the watchtower as pioneers, elders, missionaries, bethelites, etc.

  ) because many of these would eventually turn their attention to the aging governing body members and feel a sense of relief knowing that the end was drawing ever so near.

  in other words, as more governing body members (who were born before 1935) passed away, the closer they would get to their long-awaited reward of surviving armageddon and living on paradise earth where they would finally hug grass-eating lions near a waterfall while marveling at snow-peaked mountains in the distance.

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  Apognophos

  I actually agree with the implication by the Society. I think that the rise in partakers is due to an increase in the percentage of mentally unwell JWs. In turn, I think the increase in the mentally unwell group is due to two things: (1) mentally healthy people having less of a need in today's increasingly secular society to accept a fundamentalist religion into their lives, and (2) people who are thinking rationally doing research on the JWs on the Internet and learning enough to stay away.
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  56

  Never Become Enraged with Jehovah (tomorrow's WT Study)....pure vomit

  by raymond frantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  never become enraged against jehovah.

  (watchtower study 7-13 october).

  paragraph 4.

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  Apognophos

  Ha, that's a good answer, raymond frantz. How long until the conductor stop calling on you?
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  12

  HELP! Can God SEE the future?? How?? Is this predestination??

  by Bloody Hotdogs! in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  had a very long and frustrating debate last night.. .

  jws like to say that god has the ability to foresee the future, but can chose not to look.

  this, they claim, removes the problem of predestination/preordination.. .

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  Apognophos

  It's a good question. I am pretty sure I've never seen an answer in JW land. JWs just don't think about it, and the Society isn't about to open a can of worms by trying to be religious philosophers and explaining how God can know the future without predetermining it; they just leave the topic alone.
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  26

  For those who are still IN and attending meetings, do you still study the WT & other books?

  by ohnightdivine in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for those of you who are still attending meetings due to various reasons, how do you prepare yourself for each program?.

  do you still read and study the wt?.

  do you still read and study the okm, jeremiah, etc?.

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  Apognophos

  Nope, but then again I wasn't ever good about studying in the first place. Now that I'm awake and desperately biding my time until I can leave, I couldn't stand to spend an extra minute on JW stuff that I don't have to, so no, no studying :-)
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  16

  One year ago...

  by DeWandelaar in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  ... i joined this forum.

  well... 11 months and 23 days ago to be more exact.

  why this post?

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  Apognophos

  Hey DeWandelaar. You and I joined within the same day or so

  The way I look at it, not much changes about life's purpose regardless of whether God exists. Either he exists, and doesn't care about us, or he exists and wants us to "become fruitful" and enjoy life while worshipping him (pretty unlikely), or he doesn't exist. No matter what, wouldn't we still be working to make a living, and trying to enjoy our lives as we can?

  The one unfortunate aspect of not believing in a caring God is that we can no longer count on God one day removing wickedness from the earth and resurrecting those who wrongfully died. There's no question that sometimes bad things happen to good people. But it's also rare that we don't share at least a little blame for what happens to us. That is, we shouldn't have been associating with someone dangerous, or we should have been more careful.

  A certain famous person died not that long ago from cancer and everyone lamented the loss of a "visionary". However, the cancer didn't strike randomly; it was in an organ that is damaged by the kind of diet that he practiced. Also, he postponed surgery for several months while he tried alternative therapy that didn't work. On some level, we are usually responsible for the bad that happens to us (yes, not always), even if we can't always anticipate the cause and effect. So the universe is not completely unjust.

  In any case, things don't look completely down for the future, do they? Even if Jesus never existed, that doesn't mean we can't follow his teachings, or that we can't have faith in humanity itself.