"Yes I saw it last week at the CO visit - quite good actually - and believe it or not - they do not beg for money - they THANK the brothers for the contributions that made it all possible - my respect for the society went up about 100% for that" A subtle pitch, but a pitch nonetheless. . . .
Posts by TMS
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54Circuit Overseers Are On a Pledge Drive
by Severus injehovah's witnesses will be experiencing a special treat during their co (circuit overseer) visit this season: a bona-fide pledge drive.. during the thursday night meeting the normal co talk will instead be a video entitled:.
building kingdom halls advances true worship.
this 30-minute advances video is well produced and explains the watchtower society's program to build simplified kingdom halls in third-world and poor countries were materials and funds are scarce.. interviews and footage focus on south america, africa and eastern europe.
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77
Bro. Schroeder dies
by bythesea ini just received this news from a bro who has connections in bethel.... .
bro albert d schroeder died at 10:30 am new york time today at brooklyn bethel...he was 94 yrs old.. he was born on april 7, 1911 in saginaw, michigan and entered bethel service in 1932. he was appointed a member of the governing body on december 18, 1974. bro schroeder's life story appeared in the march 1, '88 wt pages 10-17: entitled: "my life in jehovah's spirit-directed organization.".
i don't know if the "today" means it was actually today...as i can't be sure when my friend received this news... but anyway, another of the old guys bites the dust.. .
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TMS
Albert Schroeder was in his element in a Watchtower classroom where he controlled the flow of information. He had a professorial bearing and appeared to show a genuine interest in each student. He had a unique teaching style, ending nearly every other sentence with a rhetorical question.
His "off the cuff" talks were much more interesting than his convention manuscript efforts.
Several classroom techniques could be mistaken for brilliance. I attended the Kingdom Ministry School in Pittsburg, PA in early 1970 with Brothers Schroeder and Davis conducting. Walking into the basement classroom after my three day bus trip, I saw this large curly-haired figure cutting across the room to me with an extended hand. "You must be a Pioneer!" were Schroeder's words.(I wondered if it was my sunburn or my thrift shop suit that gave me away.) I later realized that a recent photo accompanied each application and Schroeder knew exactly who was coming in.
During classroom discussion, Schroeder called on every student by name without stumbling. Here again, there was mandatory seating and he memorized the chart. He also would not answer any question during his talk, only afterwards. After the discourse, he would answer each question in the order the student raised his hand, but he would not allow the student to phrase the question. He already "knew" the question based on the point of his outline that the hand went up and the hundreds of previous courses he had taught. He would simply "answer" the question and the student would get this dumbfounded "how'd he do that?" look.
Several times after a long classroom day, Schroeder would change very quickly into casual clothes and be out front with the then 12 year old Judah Ben, throwing a baseball back and forth. At the time, I thought this was an obviously staged event to show the brothers that even this busy Watchtower leader made time for his kid. He could easily have waited ten minutes until we all had dispersed, but he did not. I did not fault him for this, but viewed it as an extension of his "teaching."
In discussing Watchtower history, Schroeder painted Russell as a gentle pastor, even imitating his figure-eight oratorical style. He said less about Rutherford, but implied that he was a demanding man.
Each class has the egotistical know-it-all. Schroeder had a nice way of deflating the pompous.
Until a few years ago, I used to think about my "anointed" grandfather, A.J. DeMan, looking down on me. Now, I'm reasonably certain he and Albert are gone forever.
tms
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45
Just how hyped was 1975?
by MuadDib inaight.
i was raised in the jws, but i'm still young (22) and all my life what i've been told is that the society never really promoted 1975 as the definitive year for the coming of armageddon.
what i was always told is that some overzealous witnesses took certain things out of context and developed a very extreme reaction - ie selling their houses, quitting their jobs, dropping out of school, etc.
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TMS
Jankyn,
The explanation about the indefinite period between Adam and Eve's creation was well discussed before the release of "Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God" in 1966 and the subsequent hype about 1975. Even the book "All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial" published in 1963 has a thorough discussion of this topic in the chapter entitled "Chronology." (I no longer have a copy or I would give you the page and paragraph number.)
This whole matter was a subject of discussion in my congregation in Washington state prior to the 1966 conventions. My uncle, Russell Poggensee, returned from a refresher KM School course barely able to contain himself about the new light. He sort of botched its presentation though. All he could say was that the Society had figured out exactly when 6,000 years of human history would end and the thousand year reign begin. Others in the congregation found the above information in the SI book and refuted his claims.
I'm sure my uncle felt vindicated post '66 convention, but the arguments still stood. What surprises me the most is that many who knew the '75 prediction was bogus are still witnesses.
tms
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6
A Creative Giant, A True Renaissance Man Died Today:
by SixofNine inhttp://www.nndb.com/people/248/000027167 /.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fachap07.html .
http://www.culturevulture.net/television/gordonparks.ht... .
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TMS
Gordon!
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45
Theocratic Warfare Strategy - Lies have long been part of the plan.
by unclebruce ing'day fellow liars,
considering themselves to occupy the moral high ground, many jehovah's witnesses are blissfully unaware that the watchtower bible and tract society encourages them to lie.
many would run screaming apostate lies!
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TMS
Factoring in the "Theocratic War Stategy" and the double life witnesses almost certainly lead, lieing is pervasive among JW's.
Kids lie at school about their non-participation in almost everything, because the truth is too embarassing. These same kids later lie to the elders when questioned about "the desires incidental to youth."
Elders misrepresent the true nature of a meeting that eventually becomes a judicial committee.
Assembly overseers misrepresent the true financial situation of a convention to solicit contributions.
Elders frequently tell a publisher that "the matter has become a concern to many in the congregation" when, in fact, it has not.
Pioneers misrepresent the real reason they work part-time or not at all to qualify for welfare or government handouts.
The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses makes changes under the guise of "simplification" that are actually changes made for financial reasons.
Almost every experience told at a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses is greatly embellished or an outright lie.
tms
ps: I once worked with a brother in field service who, if he met a Baptist, told the householder: "I used to be a Baptist." If he met a Catholic, he said: "I used to be a Catholic." I questioned him about this. He laughed and said it was "Theocratic Strategy."
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45
Just how hyped was 1975?
by MuadDib inaight.
i was raised in the jws, but i'm still young (22) and all my life what i've been told is that the society never really promoted 1975 as the definitive year for the coming of armageddon.
what i was always told is that some overzealous witnesses took certain things out of context and developed a very extreme reaction - ie selling their houses, quitting their jobs, dropping out of school, etc.
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TMS
It was very common during the mid to late 60's to announce at the Service Meeting how many months were left in this system. I served as a servant, Congregation Servant and elder during this entire period from the release of the "Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God" book in the summer of '66 till '75 and twenty years beyond. Hype about '75 was never discouraged by Brooklyn.
I recall an elder in the early 70's stating that most of us could figure within a thousand dollars how much money we would need until the end of this system.
A congregation in north Texas refinanced their Kingdom Hall in the late 60's with a local mortgage company. The mortgage had an ascending scale of interest, modest until the mid-70's and then ballooning from there. They were so proud of their cleverness.
Of course, many made poor financial and health decisions based on the hype.
The governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses missed a wonderful opportunity to show manliness and humility and admit how misleading and damaging their pre-'75 hype had been. Instead, they took the cowardly way out and blamed the brotherhood for overreacting.
tms
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32
Has there been any fall out yet over the Higher Education WT article?
by truthseeker inhave you heard any complaints about the wt article on higher education?.
are there those for college?
against college?.
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TMS
{QUOTE}There are many JWs now in their 60's and 70's that have spent their lives cleaning homes and selling useless magazines. Do you think they want to face the fact that it was not worth it? Of course not. They would rather you throw your life away too. {/QUOTE}
No, I don't want any of you younger ones to waste their lives as I've wasted mine. Sometimes, ex-JW's say it wasn't all so bad. Our life experiences make us what we are blah, blah, blah. Being one of Jehovah's Witnesses and not living up to your potential is a wasted life!
I'm not an unhappy person by any stretch of the imagination, but I have many, many regrets. Not pursuing an education, not having a larger family, wasting over 50 years living a lie.
One of our young JW nephews recently joined the military. The family is aghast! My wife and I are so happy for him. Now, at least, he has a life!
tms
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11
Was Judge Rutherford a Success?
by VM44 incan judge rutherford be considered successful person?
the answer is "yes, he was very successful indeed.".
this is amazing, because rutherford really was quite an ignorant man, particularly about science.. he was, however, very very crafty, and was able to place himself as president for life of a religious organization, and have all the members of the religion thinking that he was chosen by jehovah god himself to lead and manage the religion.
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TMS
Rutherford was a success as a politician, a failure as a family man.
He was an opportunist, a bigot, a bully, a charismatic speaker, a hack writer.
In another life, I see Joseph as a successful rock promoter.
tms
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9
What would dear sweet Judge Rutherford be like as a poster on JWD?
by unclebruce inthe following is a letter from j rutherford.
emphasis mine.
has anyone any other examples of the sweet man expressing righteous indignation?
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TMS
The Judge would be a frequent and loquacious poster. He would win many admirers with his hard-hitting anti-Watchtower drivel. Over time he would be invited to serve as a Forum Assistant. In that capacity he would successfully banish a number of quick-witted potential enemies.
His service to Simon would take on an increasingly larger role as he became more familiar with the technical aspects of running a forum. Eventually, he would seize control of the forum on an internet technicality. Many would leave the forum over this turn of events.
Rutherford would impose his personality over the forum and change its name. All of the threads would be started by him personally with copies of these threads made available to the general public.
All of the remaining posters would rejoice and see Jehovah's hand in all this.
tms
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52
Who is the King of Apostates ?
by Genesis ini would say either ray franz, randall waters, danny hasgard (sorry for the bad spelling dude) or satan.
what is your opinion on that ?
joff
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TMS
St. Farkle