TheOldHippie

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Posts by TheOldHippie

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  13

  "JW's..Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peri...

  by MacHislopp in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thanks to our german friend, we have received this article :

  july 8, 1998. appeared in awake!

  july 8, 1998. appeared in awake !

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  TheOldHippie

  You should, though, consider the aims and principles held forth by the various governmental statements as early as 1933. The new government did not state as an aim oftheirs that they wanted to kill all Jews and Witnesses and Gypsies and Homosexuals, that they wanted world dominion reached by a World War etc. They wrote about national values, about how church mingling in state affairs had to end, how peace and wealth would be obtained etc. - much as it is done today. Could not each of us subscribe to almost all lofty governmental or presidential inauguration speeches held today? So could the Witnesses of that day too.

  In stead of calling it an attempt to support the Nazi state, which is an absurdity, it should be called a failure to see what was behind the lofty speeches, the more or less hidden goals. In the 20s and 30s, in Europe communism was the Great Danger, and for that reason, many were fooled by Nazism as a defence against Stalin. The Watchtower then, as at times now, failed to produce a deep investigation, a thorough research, into Nazism, and held a too shallow view. Some years ago, when the Witnesses were persecuted in benin in Africa, an article in Awake which wrote about this, said that "socialism was declared in Benin on ..." and then gave a specific date. If one is into political science, one would rather easily detect that socialism cannot be declared on a specific date, and then from that date on the country is a socialist one. That is shallow research. That is quoting from a presidential speech where a mumbo-jumbo president says that "today, our country is a socialist one".

  The declaration and the surrounding opinions and acts stem not from an attempt of cooperation, but more from the lack of a deeper understanding of Nazism's true nature.

  The right-wing parties supported Pinochet's coup d'etat in Chile and his murder of president Allende, as they believed they would have a say from then on. When he began persecuting them as well, they understood their error. In Nazi-Germany, Hitler was supported by the upper class, as they saw him a fitting vehicle in their fight against Communism. Too late they understood their error.

  It is so easy to be wise - afterwards.
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  23

  How would you react if......

  by Pleasuredome in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the wts turned out to be right and in the next couple of years the great tribulation broke out?

  would you have a change of heart and think "yeah maybe the were right all along!"?

  would you even consider joining them again?

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  TheOldHippie

  "the great tribulation broke out" - " would you even consider joining them again? "

  (Sorry for the huge letters - they just popped up ...) - It would be too late, then, would it not, old friend?
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  36

  The Watchtower's Shameless Nazi-Milking

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you've read the latest yearbook and magazines, you'll see.

  that the watchtower is at it again - nazis, nazis, nazis!.

  if you awoke from a half century coma and read this self serving.

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  TheOldHippie

  "I expect that soon the Watchtower will fashion itself the leader of the Solidarity movement in Poland." ? Considering the Solidarity movement in collaboration with the church planned to send the Witnesses to prison and have the leaders executed, and that it was the Communist Party who carried out the liberalization towards the Witnesses, that was a rather strange remark. But as said, the US is far away from Europe, both in distance and in mentality.
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  69

  Most ridiculous statements from the JW stage?

  by Smiles in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we have all sat at jw meetings and heard some ridiculous statements that were either shocking or just plain old bunk.

  usually it is the same jw individuals that make those statements time and time again.

  you know the type..... you can almost expect such comments from them.. jws place great importance on what statements or persons are 'stage worthy'.

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  TheOldHippie

  "Today's mosquitoes are the off-spring of the ones Pharao's magicians created, because God would never have created anything in need of blood for survival."
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  31

  WT Payments.

  by caspian in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just recieved a new letter from the society.

  it is another begging letter for contributions, in it they explain the british tax relief given to them as a charity .

  for every 1 pound donated the goverment will give them an extra 28p if it is donated under the gift aid arrangement.

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  TheOldHippie

  Link asks about the building of Kingdom Halls - yes, there are several funds aimed at helping the poorer nations and areas / congregations in constructing KHs. International workers are sent, donations of construction material are sent (for example one country in Northern Europe sent all the cement needed for the constuction of the branch office in a big African country), and money is donated. KHs and branch offices in the "new" Eastern European countries / Russia etc. have been constructed because of these aid programs.
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  36

  The Watchtower's Shameless Nazi-Milking

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you've read the latest yearbook and magazines, you'll see.

  that the watchtower is at it again - nazis, nazis, nazis!.

  if you awoke from a half century coma and read this self serving.

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  TheOldHippie

  All who have posted so far, are from the USA. While sitting comfortably in your continent, to us Europeans the Nazi years were a watershed in history which has left scars in us taht will not die. That is why we get very upset when seeing Neo-Nazism's ugly head in Germany and other parts at demonstrations, and why we react so quickly when we spot the same in US/Bush policy, racial dicsrimination etc. We suffered many dark years, and the first-line victims such as the Witnesses, Gypsies and Jews should not be critizised for what they encountered or how they reacted to it. Thousands of Witnesses' lives were brutally either cut short or destroyed for decades, and it serves the ones who mock them no credit.
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  11

  Shooting victims newly wed

  by Matty in

  1. social
  2. current

  shooting victims newly wed

  karen hucks; the news tribune .

  jamaica howard the sunday before christmas, jamaica howard and her new husband, paul "p.j.

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  TheOldHippie

  The prayer vigil is arranged by someone else, not by the witnesses, so there is no problem in the text.
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  11

  Shooting victims newly wed

  by Matty in

  1. social
  2. current

  shooting victims newly wed

  karen hucks; the news tribune .

  jamaica howard the sunday before christmas, jamaica howard and her new husband, paul "p.j.

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  TheOldHippie

  Some news stories have been troublesome to me in this respect: 1. When half a Spanish congregation, including children, were burned to death inside of a bus after a trip, and the heat was so intense that observers could not get close to the bus, but had to watch the children screaming and banging at the windows while frying. 1. The Lillelid story, where a family starts an informal witnessing when returning home from a convention, and this results in their being tortured and satanistically butchered. 3. The woman having her child cut out from her womb. 4. The car crashes recently reported.

  There is a discrepancy between this and the woman whose strawberries grew so plentiful and big that people came from near and far to observe them, and the amount she got from the sales was enough for them to get to the convention. The French fishing vessel captain who did not go out fishing because he went to the convention, and the crew growing angry, but then in Peter - like - manner they went out after the convention and caught a record - breaking amount of fish.

  Why strawberries and fish, but not rescuing children burning to death?

  Why are some floating thru life problem - free, while some of us only witness sickness and death and tragedy and abuse?

  Where is He? Why intervening in what at times seem to be small cases, but allowing others decades of suffering?
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  56

  Do You Think You'll See Your Dead Loved Ones Again

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  do you think that you will see your dear loved ones come back to life in a ressurection of some sort or do you think there is no hope of such a thing?

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  TheOldHippie

  With one of my children a long time drug addict, and frequent overdoses and other problems, we daily live with the presence of his death within us. I hope we'll meet again, at the far shore of the ocean, of the Great Divide, and then we'll finally be able to make those long horse riding trips we never had time to make when he grew up, because he, as Neil Young posed the question, "Why are you growing up so fast?" It is nice with all the time you have with your children when they are small, and you plan what you are going to do together when they reach 12-13-14 or so, and they really can start do more "real" things together with you - and then, when they reach that age, you are not important to them any more, they prefer doing other things, or perhaps the things you would do - but together with others. When I look at thatdrug addict, I see the young child beneath the surface, and I long for the day when we can finally have time enough to do the things once planned.

  The tragedy of growing old, is that people around you disappear, and so in the end, no-one remembers any more the things you remember, you have nobody with whom to share things. My advice to everyone is, that when a grandfather or a mother or whoever is growing old and is beginning to drift a bit away, and you know that he/she will not be around for that much longer, then buy some wine or beer and give it to them and start the tape recorder and ask them to TELL, to REMEMBER. HISTORY is disappearing with them, FAMILY, SMALL THINGS that matter - please, record it and treasure it. When they are gone, you have nobody to ask any more, nobody to consult, "How did you do that?", "How were those things?", "What were those things like?" - just silence, a Great Divide, nbocy to ask, no knowledge. Record it while is time.

  What songs would some of you propose for the funeral of an addict child? I have in my mind arranged the funeral, and songs will be like "Snow blind friend" with John Kay, "Imagine" with Eva Cassidy, "Tears in Heaven" with Eric Clapton, "Giles of the river" with John Kay, "Like a hurricane" with Neil Young, "The needle and the damage done" with Neil Young. Do any of you have any suggestions?
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  11

  Shooting victims newly wed

  by Matty in

  1. social
  2. current

  shooting victims newly wed

  karen hucks; the news tribune .

  jamaica howard the sunday before christmas, jamaica howard and her new husband, paul "p.j.

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  TheOldHippie

  Matty stated that, "That highlights to me that the "experiences" that we hear at conventions where Witnesses "escape certain death" by praying or "Calling upon the name of Jehovah" in various ways are grossly insulting to anyone who has lost a relative under tragic circumstances."

  ******************

  I so agree, Matty, I so agree. Things are falling into pieces here, but still we are told about strawberries and fish in abundance to ensure people could make it to the conventions - while for my part, we are only experiencing tragedy.