when i left witness land in the early 90's, i remember hearing that out of 144,000 anointed members that there were only 8 to 9 thousand left and then the end will come.. i'm suddenly curious.
the jw organization is one that puts emphasis on tracking, i.e., regular meeting attendance, current standing, field service hours, territory tracking, return visits, etc.
therefore, did the society ever try to track each and every member of the 144,000?
In one of the congregations I was in we had 2 anointed members; both were women and fleshly sisters. They never appeared on the platform to do the student-talk-thing. When I became a Pioneer neither said a word to me, in fact we never spoke.
It all seemed very strange that they were going to rule in heaven instead of the Elders, being as Jesus said they would rule as kings.
its been a while since ive been on how is everyone doing?
but just curious after you left jehovahs witnesses did you look into other religions?
or are any of you currently involved in any other religions now?.
Epicurean but I'm too busy partying to discuss it with you.
i believe the wts has completely misapplied matthew 24:1-35. .
i believe the scripture is quite clear that jesus was speaking to his own generation and not some obscure future or 1914 generation.. if you happen to be a jw and/or futurist, what makes you believe jesus was talking about events that would transpire in the 20th/21st century?.
vander.
Matthew 24 is what ever you want it to be. This is the wonder of the bible.
today i got three seperate emails stating that lady gaga has sold her soul to the devil and is using her music and videos to further satan's goals.
they then go take the various symbology and wording in her music and videos and explain what they mean/represent.
she is rather wild and out there, and yes i'll admit she does use a lot of symbolism in her music videos.
Lady Gaga always entertains and I watch, er I mean listen to, a lot of her music.
She has achieved a great deal in her short life. If I were a younger man...
wouldn't a loud voice from heaven asking for a show of hands pretty much do away with the need for the preaching/evangelizing work?.
why is this a stupid question?.
no, seriously!.
If ‘God’ were to ask for a vote from his heavenly throne, the need for belief would be obsolete. The whole God thing is a test of people’s belief or gullibility depending on your view point.
Take away the need for belief and ‘God’ vanishes like a dream. Without the need for belief or faith there is no test to be passed and without a test how can anyone be proved worthy? Ah! There’s the rub!
If on the other hand, we see ‘God’ as an impersonal force at work throughout the universe, rather than a being, the universe becomes ‘God’s voice’ and no belief or voice form heaven is required.
well, my worst fears have com to fruition.
too emotionally exhausted for details but she came home last night from her assembly.
the night ended with her in tears, telling me i'm going to die.
scooterspank Mmm - Such an interesting name.
Various members of my immediate and distant family once told me that I was about to die. Most of them are now dead. Two died early and unexpectedly before they reached 50. Not my blood line - they married in to my family. I am still enjoying the rewards of my sins and pact with the Devil. It pays to know people in low places.
You will be OK! Just remember - all they have is words that they have been brainwashed to repeat. Reality is the great intruder.
that's the question that i have been thinking about all day for some reason.
it's 5:30 am and i been in and out of sleep all night.
let me go into further detail to explain.
shakyground You cannot be 'wrong' for having feelings.
When something is wrong, your feelings communicate that to you. You have listened to your feeling of anger and analized what you feel was wrong about the way your father's funeral was handled. The funeral was supposed to be about your father and his life. Not an excuse for another Bible based lecture. (They did the same with my wedding)
Valuing your feelings and accepting that you have a right to them, is part of the journey that leads to peace with yourself.
there is one basic distinction i no longer share with those who adhere to one of the many abrahamic religions and that is the holiness of the bible.
it seems to be the common thread in the religious beliefs of half the planet (although muslims dismiss the bible as an "earlier revelation".
sort of like islamic new light taken to a much higher order).
Something I posted 10 days ago. I would write something new but it's all been said before...
It seems that the fact that the Bible is known as Holy Bible has been over-looked. Christianity has been a Bible based religion for many hundreds of years, accepting the Holy Bible as God’s written authority. This is why it is still used to swear people into court. Its contradictory manner and content has put many people off adopting Christianity.
If we start picking the pieces that suit our particular persuasion and dismissing the inconvenient bits, it ceases to be Holy. It becomes just a biblia or collection of books. Bible also means authoritative book which other religions also have. If The Holy Bible is just a collection of men’s opinions and not the Holy writings of a god, we have to ask if it even qualifies to be called an authoritative book?
Personaly, I have no problem with accepting the Bible as just a collection of man made attempts to understand the Christian god. But then I do not claim to belong to a Bible based religion that is now working its way back to its roots and trying to manage without a Holy Bible.
and a related question, what work is there in heaven.
if everything in heaven is instant and requires no work, where is the satisfaction in that?.
with the first question, we are a prodoct of random replication of various genetic code, and later we develop differences due to our environment and up-bringing.
The bible has always portrayed angels as sons of God. Of course the Bible could be wrong. But if we stop taking the Bible seriously, we could find ourselves questioning whether angels exist at all and that could upset a lot of people.
and a related question, what work is there in heaven.
if everything in heaven is instant and requires no work, where is the satisfaction in that?.
with the first question, we are a prodoct of random replication of various genetic code, and later we develop differences due to our environment and up-bringing.
Angels are, allegedly, messengers who convey the wishes of their god to mortal man. Unless they are on strike, like most of Greece , we should expect them to be calling in on earth on a daily basis.
Perhaps next time someone on this forum receives a visit from an angle, they can ask him if angels were born perfect.
I say ‘he’ because for reasons unknown there are no female angels. In the days before equality it was decreed that being an angel is a man’s job.
