.
here's something i don't get...i was reading in a jw publication(i think it was "proclaimers of god's kingdom"that the early witnesses only had to go in,sit down and listen to a talk.they never even had to raise their hands or utter a word.didn't go door-to door either,and yet most if not all of them claimed to be of the "anointed class".nowadays if you don't comment at every meeting,spend most of your free time in field service and give talks yourself on the tms(which they didn't even have in those days) you are made to feel like your'e not even worthy to live on the earth,let alone heaven.so what's up with that?what did they do to make god love them more?.
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dsgal,
Watchtower salvation is presented as "first come, first served." If you were lucky enough to be born in the period ending the nineteenth century or the early twentieth, became a follower of the Watchtower Society, you got to go to heaven. After 1935 the door got closed and the requirements for salvation got stricter.
Tough luck! Its our own fault for being born at the wrong time. For some of of us, its our own fault for being born in the wrong religion.
Thirdson
1) i sacrificed work offered to me so i could earn more money.
2) i sacrificed my job as a well payed dj.
3) i sacrificed weekend ly-ins to go out preaching.
haujobbz,
I sacrificied many things, some good some bad. In the end I can't tell how things may have turned out:
Those are some of the bigger things. In the end my marriage broke up as well but that would likely of happened anyway, regardless of my religious commitments. I retrained as a programmer and relocated to the USA. Despite my rocky career path I did gain useful experience in business. I worked for small sales and service divisions of international companies, worked with many customers and vendors. As a result when I switched to software implementation I was always in demand as a business consultant as well as an analyst and up until recently I always had plenty of head-hunters calling me. (I'd hate to be in that business today).
Today, I live comfortably, have a job I love, am re-married, enjoy vacations in nice places and even ski occasionally. Who knows what life would be like if I had continued in my chosen career? I have even managed to keep a friendship with a non-JW most of my adult life. I am bitter about all the time I wasted and all the friendships I let die. But that's in the past, its time to make up for it now and in the future.
Thirdson
some years back, on h20, i would sometimes make posts that were generally ignored by the one person that i really wanted a response from:.
uncle bruce!.
then one day i received an email from the digger dahn under.
Spot On!
Thirdson
it still bothers me very much that they are allowed to keep files on us and that we have no right to see the contents.
they can choose to look at them or destroy them, whatever they wish, but our wishes about a file with our name on it, about our lives is not unavailable.
when you change halls a letter is written about you to the next group of men in black.
I was an elder for a short while and have limited experience of the "goings'on" between elder bodies. I do know from experience (being a baptized JW for 22 years) that on numerous occasions bothers moved congregations and were never re-appointed to the position they held previously. I think the move was used as an opportunity to punish some and elders refused to recommend the brother.
I had the publisher record cards for about 9 months and there was nothing with them that contained notes or secret records about congregation members. I do remember the PO giving me the record cards for a sister who had moved to our area. With the cards was a letter from her previous cong's elders detailing how much trouble she had caused, how she had been DF'd and reproved previously. I felt she deserved a clean slate and not knowing what to do with the letter, I destroyed it. I don't believe it was passed around the other elders but I am sure the PO would have recalled it in conversations.
I found being an elder was a real eye-opener. I was brought up to believe that elders were special, Godly and caring men. I always felt I was never good enough to be an elder but after I was appointed and, later quit, I felt I was too good to be the JW overseer and quit in disgust and what was going on and what I observed. Being an elder led to my eventual realization and I quit totally two years later.
I often wonder what the back-stabing, rat-bags said about me when I moved congregation.
Thirdson
This is a very well researched article. The writer has done an excellent job. The publicity of the child abuse issue is having an adverse affect on the Watchtower. A single article like this informs more people in 5 minutes than 30 years of knocking on doors. In the safety of their own homes people can learn the real truth about Jehovah's Witnesses.
I guess readers of this article will be better able to make an informed choice about whether to open their doors or not to the next JW twosome that comes knocking.
Thirdson
chapter 2 of genesis tells us that man was created from the dust of the ground, but man is mostly made of water.
this must've been a sandy soil since there was no rain, and since no plants or animals were created to lay down the soil foundation which is made from decaying living organisms.
he probably went to fetch some water from the layers of water in between which the stars reside.
Faraon,
Here's another question. If J can restore dead humans by building a new body from remembered/stored DNA and re-inserting their
previous memories, where are those memories held? If J remembers everything that everyone who has died knew and remembered
during their lifetime are those memories dead or alive in God? If those memories are alive in God do humans really die or do their
thoughts live on in God's great memory chest.
Thirdson
chapter 2 of genesis tells us that man was created from the dust of the ground, but man is mostly made of water.
this must've been a sandy soil since there was no rain, and since no plants or animals were created to lay down the soil foundation which is made from decaying living organisms.
he probably went to fetch some water from the layers of water in between which the stars reside.
Faraon,
The Adam and Eve account in Genesis 2 is just a story. It is a story written before anyone ever knew about chromosomes and
long before DNA was known about or even proven
to be the molecule that conveys inheritance.
As for Jesus, if there is no soul separate from the body, and no unique individual life-force, then when Jesus was no longer in heaven but
transferred to the womb of a human female, what made that single cell uniquely Jesus and the same Jesus that once existed in heaven
as a non-fleshly non-DNA based life-form?
THirdson
i've just got back from a few days vacation.
thirdson's son is away in california so mrs. thirdson and i headed north to do a little sight-seeing, biking, hiking, canoeing and fishing.
i didn't catch anything but father-in-law caught 6 walleye and more, so we feasted at lunch today.. i seemed to have missed some stories this week.
Thanks, Trauma,
I downloaded the clip and saved it. Mrs. Thirdson and I watched it twice last night. It was a great interview. Well done Bill, Amber and Heidi.
Thirdson.
Edited by - Thirdson on 18 August 2002 14:37:9
i've just got back from a few days vacation.
thirdson's son is away in california so mrs. thirdson and i headed north to do a little sight-seeing, biking, hiking, canoeing and fishing.
i didn't catch anything but father-in-law caught 6 walleye and more, so we feasted at lunch today.. i seemed to have missed some stories this week.
Thank You all,
Laura, congratulations. What is the schedule? Will you be going away on honeymoon?
Six, Amazing,
I'll do the search. Thanks
S.
i've just got back from a few days vacation.
thirdson's son is away in california so mrs. thirdson and i headed north to do a little sight-seeing, biking, hiking, canoeing and fishing.
i didn't catch anything but father-in-law caught 6 walleye and more, so we feasted at lunch today.. i seemed to have missed some stories this week.
Hi Everyone,
I've just got back from a few days vacation. Thirdson's son is away in California so Mrs. Thirdson and I headed north to do a little sight-seeing, biking, hiking, canoeing and fishing. I didn't catch anything but father-in-law caught 6 Walleye and more, so we feasted at lunch today.
I seemed to have missed some stories this week. I managed to read the NY Times article and mail it to my JW parents (no comment so far on this or Panorama). I knew Bill was going to get DF'd and I just read his announcement story. Way to go Bill!!!!!! Joe Anderson's letter is a wonderful piece and a definite keeper.
However, has the CNN program aired yet? If not, when is it going to be on? Does CNN Europe show Connie Chung's program? Is so will Simon be able to get a streaming video arranged?
Anything else big happen in our little world?
Regards,
Thirdson
