Posts by TerryWalstrom

The GB has had to reinvent the entire structure of its doctrine. How they are spinning it depends on the ignorance of the eight million JW's around the world.

If few JW's know what WAS actually taught for over 100 years by direction of Holy Spirit, you can't expect them to be upset when it is scrapped and rebuilt!

51

EXPERTS ONLY! A Pop Quiz on (current) Watchtower teaching

by TerryWalstrom in

pop quiz on jw (current) teaching.

1. was jesus 2nd coming in 1914?.

2. is jesus 2nd (parousia) presence the same thing as his coming?.

TerryWalstrom

You two should be writing for Comedy Central!

or the writing committee for the Watchtower!

51

EXPERTS ONLY! A Pop Quiz on (current) Watchtower teaching

by TerryWalstrom in

pop quiz on jw (current) teaching.

1. was jesus 2nd coming in 1914?.

2. is jesus 2nd (parousia) presence the same thing as his coming?.

TerryWalstrom

Pop Quiz on JW (current) Teaching

1. Was Jesus’ 2nd coming in 1914?

2. Is Jesus’ 2nd (parousia) presence the same thing as his ‘coming?’

3. Is the doctrine of the ‘faithful and discreet slave’ still regarded as a prophecy instead of a parable?

4. Were the FDS appointed over ‘all His belongings’ in 1919?

5. Did the Gentile Times end in 1914, or is that yet to come at a future date?

6. Is the ‘great tribulation’ in the past, the present, or yet to come in the future?

7. Did Jesus die in order to save the ‘Great Crowd’?

8. If the Bible was only written for the anointed, why should non-anointed bother to read it?

9. Was Charles Taze Russell a member of the anointed 144,000? If so, since what date?

_________________________

I won't post the answers for several days. Why? I'm wondering who has been keeping up!

21

Elders refused to help police investigation into the rape of a teenage girl

by Gadget in

church leaders refused to co-operate with a police investigation into a sex attack by one of their congregation on a teenage girl.. jehovahs witness paul atkin has now been jailed for five years after he admitted sexual activity with a 15-year-old.. a court heard the south shields based branch of the church carried out their own investigation after the allegation came to light and atkin was booted out.. but when police came knocking, church officials refused to help what was then a rape allegation, on the grounds of confidentiality.. prosecutor deborah smith told newcastle crown court: it would appear there was some form of investigation by the church.. we know the defendant was disfellowshipped as a consequence of that investigation but there has been no disclosure of any minutes of meetings with the defendant and the elders have refused to provide statements to the police, despite the fact the defendant is no longer a member of their congregation, on the grounds of confidentiality.. atkin, of east moffat street, south shields, was initially accused of rape but the charge was dropped when he admitted sexual activity with a child.. the court heard his victim was 15-and-a-half when he had sex with her.. miss smith said: she did not wish to have sexual intercourse with him.. the crown accept, having discussed matters with her, the defendant may reasonably have believed that she did.. she did not fight back or shout out at the time of the incident.. the court heard the woman is still on anti-depressants and says her self confidence has been shattered by the ordeal.. in a statement read to the court, the victim, who is now an adult, said: this has had a major effect on me and i cannot trust men.. i bottled everything up and as a teenager i turned to drink and drugs.. i hope he gets sent to prison and gets what he deserves.. judge simon hickey jailed atkin for five years and said he must sign the sex offenders register for life and abide by the terms of a sexual offences prevention order for five years.. the judge told him: this has had a huge effect upon this young lady.. gavin doig, defending, said atkin has a good, supportive family and partner and said his family describe him as a hard working man with a job who will face devastating consequences if sent to jail.. he added that it was atkin himself who had brought the matter to the attention of police.. mr doig told the court: this defendant made a very bad mistake a number of years ago.

he has not made any further mistakes.. he is extremely sorry he committed this offence knowing, as he did, the complainant was under age.. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/south-shields-jehovahs-witness-jailed-8567927.

TerryWalstrom

This takes the prize:

A spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in the North East said: “Paul Atkin has not been one of Jehovah’s Witnesses for seven years.

“We understand that the elders had no significant information related to the prosecution of this case that the police were not already aware of. Jehovah’s Witnesses have an absolute and unequivocal abhorrence of child abuse. We never would shield a perpetrator from the consequences of his crime.

“Victims or their families are entirely free to report crimes to the police. We respect and support the valuable role of the police in protecting the community from such individuals.

“For decades Jehovah’s Witnesses have published ground-breaking articles on child safeguarding.”

10

Map of blasphemy laws

by rebel8 in

jw
friends

wth canada?!

that one surprised me the most.. end-blasphemy-laws.org.

TerryWalstrom

A week or so back, I spent the day researching the meaning of 'blasphemy' in order to understand how the definition has radically changed over the years.

The act consists of the crime of assuming to oneself the rights or qualities of God.

Currently, this meaning is ignored. Instead of blasphemy being a question of offending God by bestowing worship on false objects or persons, it is now used rather selectively. The injury is assigned to the believer rather than to God!

If I think you've slandered my God, it is my sense of offense which creates your blasphemy. Compare this to sexual harassment law whereby, the person who feels harassed automatically defines your guilt by their interpretation of your actions or speech.

I find this problematic, but nobody cares what I think.

Practically speaking, if there is a law against blasphemy, I am de facto guilty if anybody claims offense at my actions or words!

Is this the world we want to live in? The lowest common denominator of hurt feelings now determines reality?

Really?

4

WHY MONOTHEISM WINS the historical competition among gods and beliefs

by TerryWalstrom in

among the hundreds (if not thousands) of competing religious beliefs, practices, rituals, and faiths in the developing years of early christianity--and arguably against all odds--christian monotheism won.

for awhile, the thoroughly pagan roman empire became officially christianized.. why?.

could it be a simple fact?.

TerryWalstrom

Among the hundreds (if not thousands) of competing religious beliefs, practices, rituals, and faiths in the developing years of early Christianity--and arguably against all odds--Christian monotheism won. For awhile, the thoroughly pagan Roman Empire became officially Christianized.

WHY?

HOW?

Could it be a simple fact?

1. Jews did not evangelize, kept to themselves, and treated outsiders as unclean. How was Judaism going to grow by any other means but pregnant Jewish women having lots of children?

2. Pagans had no problem at all accepting any and all beliefs simultaneously because polytheism was 'normal' and conventional. Christians were seen as 'atheists' due to the fact they DID NOT BELIEVE in ALL the gods (except their own.)

3. In a worldwide marketplace of ideas, EVANGELISTS who bad-mouthed competing religions had a remarkable advantage.

A missionary religion that insisted it was right and all others were wrong won out because: as it spread, and gained converts, it destroyed all the other religions in its wake. Unlike other religions that spread throughout the Roman world, as Christianity grew, it necessarily shrunk all its competitors.

How did Christianity shrink all its competitors?

EXAMPLE:

Suppose I am a Christian evangelist trying to convince a crowd of a hundred pagans that the God of Jesus alone should be worshiped, and suppose I am competing with a pagan evangelist who is trying to convince, at the same time, the same hundred pagan people to start worshipping the God Apollo. And suppose each of us is equally successful so that I convince half the crowd to worship the God of Jesus and he convinces half to worship Apollo. In so doing, Christianity has gained fifty members and lost none, and paganism has lost fifty members and gained none! (This example is suggested by the book, Ramsey MacMullen’s Christianizing the Roman Empire.)

As Christianity grows, the other religions shrink because Christianity is exclusive in its claims. Over time, that starts mattering. And as converts begin to increase, Christianity starts not only to grow but to overwhelm the opposition.

______________________

SCARY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Jehovah's Witnesses' extreme evangelizing and exclusions border on the pathological. Could this strategy be the sole reason such cults as JW's, Mormons, and the phobic Islam, are growing like weeds in an untended garden?

27

An interesting comment given by an older brother during the prayer yesterday.

by My Name is of No Consequence in

i have been a regular visitor to this site for several years now.

i never really felt the need to set up an account and post...until now.

at the close of yesterdays meeting, an older brother gave the prayer.

TerryWalstrom

I'm an 'old folk' at age 68.

Old people have one trait that drives me up the wall.

Well--no, that's a lie. They have MORE than one.

1. They can't just relax and listen to instructions.

2. They are quick to make (false) assumptions. This blocks out everything else.

3. They are quick to limit themselves.

4. They are extremely NEGATIVE about anything outside their wheelhouse.

5. About half of everything they believe is true is totally bogus nonsense, but this doesn't keep them from thinking they know everything.

Whew!

Glad I got that off my chest.

My eldest daughter worked at the Apple Store.

Old people drove her insane. They are grumpy, demanding, rude, silly, and refuse to follow instructions. And those are the easy customers:)

As an older person I can get away with saying all this. . . can't I?