But what does it take to be a "member" of these other churches? Speaking for my country, if you come to the Sunday meetings some times, you can be considered as a member, and because some of these Pentecostalist churches acknowledge the baptism of the Lutheran church, then no new baptism is required, and hence people can end up with double or triple "memberships". Also, those counted as active "members" of these other churches have no obligations hooked on them other than being present at meetings, whereas the Witnesses must - at least earlier - go witnessing. Not wanting to change anything in people's view of the figures, it seems to me that there are so different requirements attached, that Witness "membership" and that of the other churches are not so easy to compare.
TheOldHippie
JoinedPosts by TheOldHippie
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14
While JW's stagnate, others grow
by Gopher inhttp://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3238618.html
mormons, evangelicals led '90s church growth
published 9/18/2002 .
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CREATIONISM----F.Y.I
by nakedmvistar inin the midst of the debates -- or wars -- concerning the issues of creation and evolution, there is a tendency to over-generalize.
both sides often refer to the opposing side with the broad term of either "evolutionist" or "creationist.
" and yet there exists within both sides a great deal of variety and even controversy.
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TheOldHippie
Nice info; The "Read Earth, White Lies" is an interesting book, which I enjoyed - its description of the Bering Strait area, over which hordes of people and animals supposedly should have migrated, not to speak of the valleys of Siberia which incidentally run North-South and not East-West, are very good as a basis for questiong those notions.
And I guess Behe is one of the foremost "Designers", he's a Catholic himself, as far as I recall.
The Witness community would fall into category 2, would it not?
Finally, whatever one might think of the Young-Earthers, the category 4, they at least do a whole lot of experimenting and publishing and thinking. I have dep respect for the honest and seincere ones among them because of their hard work to prove their opinion.
I think this is one tough area; I see and hear seemingly proofs for evolution is so many programs, but at the same time this light way in which it is presented, that plants and small animals somehow figure out things, decide to grow eyes, work together, such each other's juices and protect each other, decide to migrate, find out this and that - while higher animals like whales just go killing themselves on some stupid shore, no matter how hard you try to help them off ........... My horse ain't smart, and definitely has decided not to develop any new organs ....
A German scientist, Scherer, has written books used at school where he presents a creation model, somewhere in the Behe area I guess. In some European countries, like Germany and France, Darwinism is not as warmly embraced as elsewhere.
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SO WHAT IF YOU GO TO HELL???
by minimus inif all we have to worry about is nonexistence, then why worry about anything?
the worst that can happen is you peacefully sleep, forever.
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TheOldHippie
Definitely, minimus, definitely .............
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Ozone Hole over South Pole to be repaired
by TheOldHippie in.
a news report was sent out today, stating that because the outlet of ozone destroying material has been reduced, the ozone hole over the south pole area will be reduced gradually, and will have been completely repaired within 50 years.
now ain't that a shame?
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TheOldHippie
A news report was sent out today, stating that because the outlet of ozone destroying material has been reduced, the ozone hole over the South Pole area will be reduced gradually, and will have been completely repaired within 50 years.
Now ain't that a shame?
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Identufying Isolated Scriptures
by carol hall ini had some jehovah witness people comming to my door.. one day they ask me if i would like to have a bible study.. just curious at what they would.. i said yes as long as we stay in the bible.
they said ok.. i found out they could`nt teach from the bible without their helps.. one day one of them said oh!!
carol we have identified another scripture.
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TheOldHippie
On the other way, does one have the right to expect that a person calling should have ALL the answers, should in a sense know ALL the Bible by heart? There are in my eyes essential places, and then not so essential places.
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SO WHAT IF YOU GO TO HELL???
by minimus inif all we have to worry about is nonexistence, then why worry about anything?
the worst that can happen is you peacefully sleep, forever.
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TheOldHippie
No fun, minimus, but truth. OK, perhaps taken to the extreme in the wording, but in principle correct. A few years ago, an author here committed suicide, and the newspapers wrote he had lived all his life with a "death awareness", and I think you can describe it like that - a constant awareness of one's own death, that one is on route to death. Nothing more, but definitely nothing less, either.
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SO WHAT IF YOU GO TO HELL???
by minimus inif all we have to worry about is nonexistence, then why worry about anything?
the worst that can happen is you peacefully sleep, forever.
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TheOldHippie
I've lived in constant, conscious fear of death, of non-existance, each and every day for the 40+ years since I was 7, and the fear seems only to be growing day by day. I don't know what it is that keeps from yelling out loud and going insane, but man, am I on the verge of catastrophe each minute of the day - not to speak about the night ..........
There is much comfort in good wine and good beer. And good whiskey. Etc. Etc.
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Greg Stafford
by RR ini got this on a forum.
i left the name out, but the information is good.
stafford's assisting bro.
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TheOldHippie
There will be a revised Reasoning book issued in december or January - maybe that objection will be dealt with there ...... :-)
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Occult symbol in the WTS literature?
by Nordic in.
here is a link .
www.bigwig.net/knots/nightmares/occult.htm try it.
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TheOldHippie
In my eyes, it's all Rorschak - mix some spots and colour ans ask people what they see. It tells more about the people watching that what it does about the thing watched. Some patters will be interpreted as anything from a sexy girl to an automobile.
ONE image I found, that was strange, just one - the "original one", the Zeus head or what it was back in an 80 or so Watchtower.
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Has the Governing Body Extorted Authority?
by jst2laws ini hope i have not missed this being covered some time ago.
if so i apologize.
it seems to me the governing body has subtly violated their own faithful and discreet slave doctrine by obtaining unfettered control.
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TheOldHippie
Don't remember where, but I read somewhere that Frederick Franz was asked the question how an elderly sister living in the middle of Nowhere could support the Faithful Slave to whom she belonged, how she could give its representative, the Governing Body, input, and the reply was: "By supporting and actively promoting the views of the Watchtower."
I knew two old sisters of the remnant, they were extremely nice women and gave me many old books and brochures etc., and told about brother Russell. His portrait, one yard by one yard big, was hanging on the main wall of the living room. They showed me the Daily Heavenly Manna, sang me the psalms they had sung in the 1920s etc. Very lovely women. But they did not have input or communicatio with the organization as it now was, apart from being told about in the Yearbook story of that country, and then it was about what they had done in the 1920s and so. As iof they were parked when they reached 50, and as if their role had been to distribute what Russell and Rutherford had prepared for them to distribute.