InquiryMan

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Posts by InquiryMan

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  28

  Germany loses 22 congregations and 41 KHs in 3 years (2011-2014)

  by Viva la Vida in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just compared the latest data provided by the german wt and data i found searching for the same page in archive.org.

  congregations 2011: 2232. congregations 2014: 2210. kh 2011: 1075. kh 2014: 1034. source: http://www.jehovaszeugen.de/statistik.18.0.html - this is a oficial site for germany.

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  InquiryMan

  interestingly, the German branch maintains a huge national website. Also Austria and Russia maintains such ones.. does anyone know of any other countries having it? Finland used to have one and also France.

  They also list their religious celebrations/holidays.

  Apart from memorial and assemblies, this is listed:

  Weitere religiös-feierliche Handlungen

  Weitere religiös-feierliche Handlungen bei Jehovas Zeugen, die in der Regel von einem Ältesten der Religionsgemeinschaft vorgenommen werden, sind beispielsweise:

  • Der Gottesdienst nach einer Eheschließung (Here they use the word commonly used by churches in Christendom) Wedding
  • Das Begräbnis (Gedenkansprache, Trauerrede) Funeral
  • Die heilige Taufhandlung (the holy act of baptism)
  • Die Weihung (Widmung) von religiösen Gebäuden (dedication/inaugeration of religious buildings)
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  44

  New video release at district convention. Do Jws live like this?

  by solomon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i just got back from the district convention and watched the new video.

  can't remember what it is called but the main family live in a million dollar home and there teenage daughter drives a red convertable sports car.

  probably worth about 50000$.

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  InquiryMan

  Perhaps mainstreaming upwards?
• 
  17

  Birthday celebration/participation

  by Zana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife is considering to let our kids participate, maybe even celebrate their own birthdays.

  she says what can be so bad about just giving a little kid (who doesn't yet understand the bible) a day full of joy and happiness?

  she herself actually delayed her own baptism as a teenager in order to celebrate one more birthday.

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  InquiryMan

  Do you have a quotation from the shepherd the flock to validate your claim?

  morten

  (was an elder once)
• 
  17

  Birthday celebration/participation

  by Zana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife is considering to let our kids participate, maybe even celebrate their own birthdays.

  she says what can be so bad about just giving a little kid (who doesn't yet understand the bible) a day full of joy and happiness?

  she herself actually delayed her own baptism as a teenager in order to celebrate one more birthday.

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  InquiryMan

  That is not correct. Holidays like christmas are mentioned, but far as I know birthdays are not mentioned in that list...
• 
  24

  WT admitted "Jehovah" is not God's name...

  by Watkins in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if i remember right(unlikely, lol) it was a one-page article about the tetragrammaton which concluded by saying that even though "jehovah" was 'probably' not an accurate pronunciation, it is a widely-recognized and accepted english transliteration of the divine name.

  i was thinking it was on the last page or maybe the back cover of a wt pub - maybe a watchtower.. can someone please direct me to the publication it was in?

  i read it when i was still 'in' and it made me stop and think about how much emphasis the wt puts on that name, all while knowing it's not the name.

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  InquiryMan

  My memory served me right:

  (from Wikianswers):

  Hebrew had no vowels. This was unsatisfactory to those who wanted to pronounce the unpronouncable name of God. Their solution? By combining the vowel signs of 'Adho.nay and 'Elo.him' with the four consonants of the Tetragrammaton the pronunciations Yeho.wah' and Yehowih' were formed. The first of these provided the basis for the Latinized form "Jehova(h)." The first recorded use of this form dates from the thirteenth century C.E. Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk of the Dominican Order, used it in his book Pugeo Fidei of the year 1270.

  As such, the form "Jehovah" is of late medieval origin; it is a combination of the consonants of the Divine Name and the vowels attached to it by the Masoretes but belonging to an entirely different word.
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  24

  WT admitted "Jehovah" is not God's name...

  by Watkins in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if i remember right(unlikely, lol) it was a one-page article about the tetragrammaton which concluded by saying that even though "jehovah" was 'probably' not an accurate pronunciation, it is a widely-recognized and accepted english transliteration of the divine name.

  i was thinking it was on the last page or maybe the back cover of a wt pub - maybe a watchtower.. can someone please direct me to the publication it was in?

  i read it when i was still 'in' and it made me stop and think about how much emphasis the wt puts on that name, all while knowing it's not the name.

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  InquiryMan

  I remember reading in WT literature that the transliteration Jehovah was first used by a Roman Catholic munk in a work called Pugeo Fidei, if my memory serves me right.
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  63

  Being a JW Used to Be Fun :-)

  by snowbird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we found some people who were happy to welcome us into their homes, even offering us food and drink.. sometimes, they would flag us down and ask for the magazines, walk miles to the kh meetings, come to our defense if someone got ugly or rude.. now, jw's are either routinely ignored or outright vilified.. no one respects them anymore.. sad.. .

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  InquiryMan

  I do not want to get back either, cause I made a decision that took years to accomplish. But I still see my Jw-background as an ingrained part of me and do not regret either.
• 
  63

  Being a JW Used to Be Fun :-)

  by snowbird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we found some people who were happy to welcome us into their homes, even offering us food and drink.. sometimes, they would flag us down and ask for the magazines, walk miles to the kh meetings, come to our defense if someone got ugly or rude.. now, jw's are either routinely ignored or outright vilified.. no one respects them anymore.. sad.. .

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  InquiryMan

  I guess it was worse living a double life...
• 
  63

  Being a JW Used to Be Fun :-)

  by snowbird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we found some people who were happy to welcome us into their homes, even offering us food and drink.. sometimes, they would flag us down and ask for the magazines, walk miles to the kh meetings, come to our defense if someone got ugly or rude.. now, jw's are either routinely ignored or outright vilified.. no one respects them anymore.. sad.. .

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  InquiryMan

  Good guess
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  10

  Longform article on the JW: 'In the Belly of Jehovah'

  by nomoreklondikes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some of you might know me from this thread.

  i wrote a longform article, 'in the belly of jehovah', on the jehovah's witnesses for an australian magazine, which today has been published online: .

  http://theliftedbrow.com/post/88214463157/in-the-belly-of-jehovah-by-pete-nicholson.

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  InquiryMan

  I agree, it was a very good article. It is always best to allow things to be seen from the angles of JWs as well as former witnesses.