TheOldHippie

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Posts by TheOldHippie

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  14

  Maybe the most beautiful city in the world

  by DJS in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been to frejus, cannes, st. tropez and san rafael (maybe the most beautiful city in the world - no wait that would be cannes, or san tropez).

  i traveled the coastal highway one day from s. of hyeres to monte carlo.

  breathtaking.

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  TheOldHippie

  Tourist traps.
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  30

  700 JWs imprisoned in Korea

  by NeverKnew in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "you have no idea!

  yes, people hate jws!".

  this statement was made to me by a jw who had just left a meeting to present the notion that they were the persecuted christians.

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  TheOldHippie

  Confusing NORTH Korea with SOUTH and making a "look how stupid the JWs are" message out of it, does not exactly give you a VERY high credibility.
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  10

  If one of the "Anointed" is Disfellowshipped and is Reinstated does he or she lose their "anoited" status?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one of my professors is a jw scholar.

  he has written dozens of books and has been on the news and tv shows for years.

  his name is firpo carr and he is friends with michael jackson's family.

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  TheOldHippie

  QFR 1 March 1976

  Can an anointed Christian who is disfellowshiped later be reinstated and still have the heavenly hope?

  Yes, that is possible. Of course, in each case Jehovah God is the one to determine whether he will extend forgiveness.

  The fact that this is possible is borne out by what we read in the apostle Paul’s letters to the Corinthian congregation. He wrote to Christians who had been anointed by holy spirit and given the hope of heavenly life. Paul addressed them as “you who have been sanctified in union with Christ Jesus, called to be holy ones.”—1 Cor. 1:2; 15:49.

  One of these anointed Christians began to practice fornication. When he evidently did not repent and stop his immorality, Paul directed the congregation to disfellowship him. (1 Cor. 5:1-5, 9-13) However, it seems that this disfellowshiped person thereafter did sincerely repent. He is understood to be the person whom Paul was referring to in his second letter when he advised the Corinthians to forgive and accept back the former sinner.—2 Cor. 2:6-11; 7:8-13.

  When that man was reinstated into the congregation, what was his hope? Had he lost the heavenly calling, and had his hope now been changed to everlasting life on earth? No, for the earthly hope is not, as it were, a second-chance prospect. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and multitudes of other persons of outstanding faith had the hope of eternal life on earth, but this was not because they failed to measure up to the heavenly calling. They simply did not live in the time when the heavenly calling was in process according to Jehovah’s will. (Heb. 10:19, 20) Comparable faith and integrity are required of all who will gain everlasting life, whether in heaven or on a paradise earth. A Christian who is anointed with holy spirit and made a joint heir with Christ must prove faithful to that calling if he is to receive eternal life at all.—Rev. 2:10, 11; Phil. 3:8-14; Rom. 8:14-17.

  This, though, does not mean that while they are on earth anointed Christians never sin. In the flesh, they are still imperfect and consequently they sin, as do all humans, and may even commit gross sin. The Christian disciple and Bible writer James, certainly an anointed Christian, wrote: “For we all stumble many times. If anyone does not stumble in word, this one is a perfect man.” (Jas. 3:2; 2:5) It appears that such unintentional sin resulting from imperfection is what the apostle John meant by “sin that does not incur death.” (1 John 5:16) God can forgive such sins. John said: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”—1 John 1:9.

  But repentance is necessary. If an anointed Christian today practiced gross sin and did not manifest repentance, the congregation, out of obedience to God’s counsel, would have to disfellowship him. If he subsequently repented, though, he could be forgiven and reinstated, as was the man in Corinth.

  God does not, however, forgive all sin. According to what Jesus said in Mark 3:28, 29, those who willfully and knowingly blaspheme God’s spirit can never be forgiven. And Paul wrote: “If we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, but there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment.” (Heb. 10:26, 27) Such unforgivable sin is evidently what John referred to as “sin that does incur death.”—1 John 5:16.

  If an anointed Christian sinned against the spirit, practicing willful sin without repentance and ‘impaling the Son of God afresh,’ God would completely and forever reject him. (Heb. 6:4-6) Not being repentant, he would not be reinstated. Jehovah would have to select and anoint another Christian as a replacement so that the full number of 144,000 would be kept complete. It might be compared to heaven’s choice of Matthias to replace unfaithful Judas Iscariot so that there would be twelve faithful apostles of Jesus on which to build the Christian congregation.—Acts 1:23-26; Eph. 2:20.

  Is this to say that if an anointed Christian is disfellowshiped, Jehovah then and there selects a replacement? No human can say that, for we cannot know if the disfellowshiped individual has committed the unforgivable sin. Jehovah knows, and so the matter can be left in his hands. Just how and when he chooses to select a replacement is for him to decide. He did not give a detailed discussion of the matter in the Bible. So rather than speculate on what He will do or try to guess whether a disfellowshiped person is beyond the possibility of repentance, we can leave the matter up to Jehovah, the righteous Judge.—Heb. 12:23.

  If a congregation has had to disfellowship a person but he later repents and is reinstated, we can rejoice over Jehovah’s mercy and forgiveness. (Luke 15:7) That is so whether the person professed the heavenly hope and continues to do so or had and continues to have hope of everlasting life on earth. All of us should take to heart the lessons learned from this—our own need to fight constantly against imperfection and sin, the importance of seeking forgiveness when we do sin and the necessity of enduring to the end so as to be saved.—Matt. 10:22.
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  4

  Anyone have the new releases yet for 2013 convention?

  by average joe in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  does anyone have the new releases yet for the 2013 convention?.

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  TheOldHippie

  In addition one brochure for Jews, one brochure for small children, and one DVD drama.
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  17

  The Watchtower Society Cripples Their Own Preaching Work

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if there's one scripture that defines the entire purpose of a jehovah's witness's existence, it's matthew 24:14.

  "this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.".

  this is the entire purpose of going door to door.

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  TheOldHippie

  "They are slowing down the preaching work and delaying Armageddon by pulling their life-saving work off the internet. "

  If you look at jw.org, I would not exactly say they are pulling the work off the net. All magazines, including the study issues, almost all books and brochures are online or to be downloaded. Lots of material for youth and children, colouring and quiz. AND videos - lately the history videos and dramas are beginning to be available as well. Quite to the contrary of what you state, I am surprised at how much literature they publish on the net, such as the school book, convention dramas etc.

  Slowing down, pulling? Not exactly.
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  5

  Tour de France 2013 starts Saturday June 29

  by LoisLane looking for Superman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is the 100th edition of the tour de france.

  departure starts on the island of corsica, cycling the first day 200 km from porto vecchio to bastia.

  exciting!.

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  TheOldHippie

  Used to watch, but not any more, as it is like watching pushers and dealers.

  I only watch small parts of it, in order to admire the beautiful landscapes and castles and ruins.

  But the dealers on wheels - no.
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  91

  Open letter – Re: Mr. Bowen, Mrs. Anderson

  by Prime in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  "jws leaders need to mandate elder bodies to uniformly report abuse to the authorities no matter what jurisdiction; prohibit elders from being involved in any investigative process to decide guilt or innocence in place of the authorities; do away with the two-witness rule to determine, as if they were magistrates, guilt or innocence of someone accused; prohibit so-called repentant molesters from engaging in the door-to-door ministry, and always inform the congregation if a convicted or confessed molester is meeting with them.

  " -barbara anderson .

  this is another reason why the watchtower society doesn't require that the elders uniformly report abuse to the authorities no matter what jurisdiction.

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  TheOldHippie

  Very good comments, Prime.

  Regretfully, some try to sweep these crimes or accusations of crimes under the carpet and disencourage the victims from reporting to the police, but such a disencouragement should never be made, quite the contrary, and with that in mind, your comments were very good. Perhaps particularly in that you manage to state that there are two questions to be considered - one being the reporting to the police, but the other one being what the congregation can do in terms of disfellowshiping. It DOES take either two witnesses (or victims) or one witness but repeated assaults to throw the bastard out, but it does NOT take two witnesses or repeated assaults to report him to the police. One has to have two lines of thought in the head at the same time - but to many newspaper headlines producers, that seems to be a bit too difficult.

  I would so much welcome a decent discussion, but that seems to be such a difficult task, there are many people feeling hurt for other reasons, and then a topic like this is one that makes it boil over. I've been there, seen it, experienced it - so to me it is not theory, it is reality as hard as it can get, as hard as it comes, and I have seen many errors committed, but I prefer not to go howlin' with the pack.
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  21

  'Lamp' book by Ray Franz???

  by AgentSmith in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my father, (still an elder) has suprised me last week with a simple text message.

  "we (my mother & father) will be in your city this weekend, please come and have supper with us".

  i was delaying my reply, thinking of what to say, when he phoned.

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  TheOldHippie

  Franz was in the research team for "Aid", maybe some of the points in the "Lamp" were taken from "Aid" just as points in "Reasoning" are taken from "Insight". But that was just a line based on - nothing, so I might as well not have written it.............
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  3

  Whitney Heichel's family confront Gresham woman's killer, sentenced to life in prison

  by AudeSapere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i didn't see this posted yet.... .

  http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2013/07/whitney_heichels_family_confro.html.

  whitney heichel's family confront gresham woman's killer, sentenced to life in prison .

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  TheOldHippie

  A very strong confrontation. I hope it helps them. And at the same time it was balanced in the concluding words to the offender.

  I have experienced the same thing, although in a somewhat different way, but the outcome was the same. Years go by, and it is so close to me still, as if it happened yesterday. Every day I am reminded of what happened. Every day I remember. Every day i think and I am carried away by my thoughts. Every night I dream. Every hour of the day I am a tiny fraction away from crying. It is with you always. There is no planning, just for how to survive this day, the next hour, sometimes even the next five minutes.

  Peace has been taken away. All that is left is the careful act of balancing, so that one does not fall down into chaos.
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  27

  Making the Jehovah's Witnesses OWN THEIR OWN EVIL

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  drunkards often scape-goat responsibility onto their drinking--as though it were morally defensible to cause accidents or death!.

  serial drinking and driving is a plague on highways across the world.

  drunkeness has been labeled as a "disease" and it isn't unusual.

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  TheOldHippie

  But I really don't get the criticism on the organization chart, 'cause it says it shows the EARTHLY organization, and to my knowledge, Jesus for the time being is NOT here on Earth?