as a christian, it is necessary to spend time considering and meditating on what god has to tell us in his written word.
but, as one who has spent many years practicing within the structured life of the watchtower society, it is also necessary to reconcile the truth found in god's word against the ideas and inventions propagated upon our minds within that structured life, for the sake of clarity.
since i, reluctantly, continue in association with the watchtower society, the need to do this on a regular basis becomes all the more pressing.
I have just leaped / scanned / jumped thru this (and PROMISE to read it carefully as soon as I can!), but just a short and hopefully simple question:
Is it if any inportance at all whether the apostles were gathered in an upper room of some house, or somewhere else, for example in the Temple? Isn't the main thing what happened? Does my salvation somehow depend on an understanding of these men's location?
stupid rules list....
i will start.... number 1) two people have to witness a sin before it is reported to the superior authorities....making me the org the last word in all areas.. the most stupid rule gets to post it once the gb has judged it the most stupid?
maybe simon will be one of the judges..... breeze
You're truly repenting the sin you committed, and made it clear you're never going to repeat it no more, and so we are all very happy and peace and tranquility have been restored - but you won't be able to reply with a word even to the simplest "yes or no" questions at the book study or WT study for months .................
Don't invite children ages 9 thru 13 from the neighbouring congregations to join in with your congregation's children for a bit of field service and then afterwards pizza and coke, because youth gatherings stir immorality and there will always be someone there to act immorally ..............
Adressing a 9-year old "evil" boy as "brother", because he reports field service, while your own angelic girls of 12 and 13 are addressed with first name only, as they don't report, and they therefore ask you questions as to how come they are not counted as belonging to the brotherhood, if they are worthless ..................
Wearing jacket and tie in an ultra-rural area in the field service ...............
as a christian, it is necessary to spend time considering and meditating on what god has to tell us in his written word.
but, as one who has spent many years practicing within the structured life of the watchtower society, it is also necessary to reconcile the truth found in god's word against the ideas and inventions propagated upon our minds within that structured life, for the sake of clarity.
since i, reluctantly, continue in association with the watchtower society, the need to do this on a regular basis becomes all the more pressing.
This made very little sense to me, it seems as if it were taken out of its context, as if it were part of a larger work; it presented onlysmall, scattered and incoherent thoughts. Could not someone please direct an unintelligent reader's mind to the frame within which this has a meaning?
exorcist to be tried on sex fondling charges.
by maureen feighan / the detroit news.
comment on this story.
Exorcist to be tried on sex fondling charges
By Maureen Feighan / The Detroit News
ROSEVILLE -- They come from all over the region -- troubled people seeking solace from addictions, afflictions, even demons.
After 17 hours of praying, fasting and meditating over two days, a minister supposedly expels whatever possesses them, setting off emotions so intense that aides stand by to prevent anyone from getting hurt.
As strange as such ceremonies may sound, exorcisms -- acts to dispel evil spirits -- will likely play a key part in a trial scheduled to begin Thursday in Macomb Circuit Court that promises to be one of the county's most bizarre cases handled in decades.
The Rev. Gennaro Joseph Piscopo, pastor of Evangel Christian Church, a nondenominational church in Roseville since 1989, was charged in February with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Prosecutors contend Piscopo fondled two middle-aged women during exorcisms in 1995 and November 2001.
However, Piscopo's attorney said the minister touched the women only on the shoulders during the exorcisms, called "deliverances" by parishioners.
In fact, lawyer George Michaels of Eastpointe contends as many as 120 people were present at one of the alleged incidents, while another procedure happened in Piscopo's living room with his wife and several other people present. He likens the deliverances to an open confession of sins.
Michaels said during the actual deliverance -- which culminates a 17-hour process -- the minister counsels each afflicted person and then taps them on the arms to release whatever is possessing them. A tapped person sometimes lashes out with emotion or aggression.
"It's very intense," he said. "The touching on the arms is like a trigger. I talked to one woman who said even though one person was being restrained, she started strangling the minister working on her."
Mark Rousseau, a former Evangel parishioner, said he attended 20 to 30 deliverance services at Piscopo's church."
Rousseau said he believes church leaders are manipulative and conducting the deliverances for the wrong reason. Rousseau left Evangel in 2001 because he believed it had become cult-like and that church leaders were meddling in his marriage.
Piscopo faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
there is a jan groenveld memorial page at this website, created by penny, the owner of the women awake yahoo group: .
http://www.geocities.com/realmacroqueen/jangroenveld.html
penny has done a wonderful job with this.
Who was Jan Groenveld?
religious scholar praises
jehovahs witness
bible
I guess one could ask any Methodist or Pentecostalist or Presbyterian or Lutheran or Catholic or Congregationalist theologian or scholar one would, and getthe same reply, that it is "dishonest, fraudulent" etc., and that "all competent scholar" have the same opinion, and that any diasagreeing scholas is only doing so because he is uninformed or paid by the WBTC.
Of course they reply like that, they have their theological standpoint, they have their bias just as other groups have theirs.
But once a scholar in classical languages without anytheological bias responds and does so not 100 % in accordance with the others, wow! are we getting angry! It seems he is disrupting the 100 % black-and-white-image we have established, and we don't want any of that sort hanging around here, do we?
religious scholar praises
jehovahs witness
bible
Strange, what rage results from a scholar's defence of the NWT ..........
BeDuhn's new book, which will be published within half a year or so, is a comparison between various translations. BeDuhn is NO theologian, he is a scholar in the classic languages, and has no theological interest or axes to grind. He has written elsewhere that the NWT is among the top-scoring ones in his comparison, but that it also has its mistranslations and errors.
letter from a witness woman in sweden...ps.
she found me through my web site.
dear donald,
his view
about three or four months ago the organization changed the way field service time is reported... they decided that everyone would not drop their time card in a box in the kingdumb hall but rather leave the report with their book study conductor.
i liked the fact before that i could leave the report with someone i seldom saw.
with the change i realized that with this change the elders had even more control and influence on me.
Correct, Surferdude - and what one could do to avoid the comparison - syndrome, is to report the placements and return calls etc., but not the hours. If asked, one just says it is 1. because the Scripture says one is to be rewarded because of one's own personal circumstances and not because of comparisons with others, and 2. because the amount of hours is used to judge one's spirituality, for example one must have an average of more than 10 hours to be appointed MS or E. As one doesn't think the amount of hours spent has any significant beairing on one's spirituality, one has decided not to do that.
There can be no valid protests raised against these two points, and as one is still reporting and proving one is out in the service, no limitations really can be set upon you, apart from the said appoinments.
amazing how jws can accept help from the red cross but cannot donate to it?.
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/02/10/16/15955751.cfm#top.
fire uproots dozens .
OK, and thanks for replying. I have to run right now (no excuse), but will return to it asap.
Greetings
