Posts by Rattigan350

49

Jehovah's Witnesses: remembering the weird and wacky!

by Vanderhoven7 in

do you remember some of the weird and wacky stuff emanating from the watchtower society?

let's make a list from memory that we can use to inject a little humor into our discussions with jehovah's witnesses.

- venus may be an enormous jurassic park.. - germs don't cause disease.. - no beards allowed.

Rattigan350

1914 and the tree and 607 is not wacky because that did not originate with JWs, not even Russell. That was before Barbour.

49

Jehovah's Witnesses: remembering the weird and wacky!

by Vanderhoven7 in

do you remember some of the weird and wacky stuff emanating from the watchtower society?

let's make a list from memory that we can use to inject a little humor into our discussions with jehovah's witnesses.

- venus may be an enormous jurassic park.. - germs don't cause disease.. - no beards allowed.

Rattigan350

I think a stupid thing is to not do jury duty.

Some would say that we don't want to be responsible for a death penalty. But how often does that happen?

If JWs don't serve, then that leaves it up to the finders of fact being people who believe in Santa Claus and people who are atheists, instead of people who believe and examine the truth.

35

No beards...even Jesus! Strange Watchower rule for brothers!

by Witness 007 in

watchtower 1954 p.511 "why do watchtower publications now show jesus with short hair and no beard?

because he is shown that way in older representations of him that are older then the traditional effeminate looking pictures.".

watchtower 1968 p.286 "bible evidence and a recent review shows that jesus did have a beard..." charles russell style of beard was popular at bethel...till rutherford took over.

Rattigan350

" spiritually "weak" person who would be stumbled by a brother with a beard."

I don't think people understand what it means to stumble someone and be stumbled.

It literally means someone is walking and encounters something that causes him to be tripped and not to continue or delays.

In this situation, a person is on the road to life and stumbling would stop the person on that road.

Why woud someone having a beard cause that? It's judgmentalism. 'That person has a beard, Christians don't have beards; this ain't the Christian congregation'. is what they think. There is nothing in the Bible to support such judgments. People need to stop learning them.

35

No beards...even Jesus! Strange Watchower rule for brothers!

by Witness 007 in

watchtower 1954 p.511 "why do watchtower publications now show jesus with short hair and no beard?

because he is shown that way in older representations of him that are older then the traditional effeminate looking pictures.".

watchtower 1968 p.286 "bible evidence and a recent review shows that jesus did have a beard..." charles russell style of beard was popular at bethel...till rutherford took over.

Rattigan350

Why is this always an issue? It is not just a watchtower thing, but a cultural thing. It's all about how the public views someone.

Presidents With Beards - Which of Them Had the Best Beard (beardoholic.com)

Clean-shaven presidents have always occupied the highest political office in the U.S.. This has been the norm across the whole political hemisphere.

From presidents, governors, to senators, very few have significant facial hair. It’s been more than a century since a bearded president served the office.

Facial hair has long been tied to male courage and masculinity. You would expect politicians to spot some mean facial hair, but that is not always the case.

We’re living at a time where beards are no longer frowned upon and campaign like the Movember trend every year. For some reason, this is yet to take shape when it comes to politicians and presidents in particular.

Beards became popular in the 1960s among the hippie counterculture. This notion led to their reduced popularity in politics. Today less than five percent of the members of the U.S. Congress have mustaches or beards.

There is little research about politicians and facial hair. Analysts have, however, concluded that voters make decisions based on factors like appearance. As such, it’s reasonable to assume that facial hair can influence voters’ perceptions. Because of this reason, politicians opt to be clean-shaven.

Voters perceive politicians with beards as more masculine. There is also that general feeling that beards and mustaches make a man look more mature. This is a quality that people want to see in a head of state.

Some, however, believe that men who have beards are not only unhygienic but have something to hide. In politics, public trust is everything if you want the votes.

Having a clean-shaven president shows that the person is tidy, clean, and bear with nothing to hide. These qualities would make a candidate look trustworthy, thereby winning more votes.

Subconsciously, our perceptions play a role in who we elect and who we don’t. This is all tied to their appearance.

22

Lies, Damn Lies.

by Lost in the fog in

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/home-and-garden/jehovahs-witnesses-to-resume-in-person-services-opt-not-to-resume-door-to-door-ministry/ar-aavnxv0 .

so apparently robert hendricks the spin doctor of the wt society has been proudly telling news channels how wonderful the wt org has been during the 2 years of the pandemic, checking in with each and every member to meet their needs on a weekly basis.. except, based on the comments of former jw friends on facebook, it's news to most of them since they are screaming out that they were totally neglected by the elders/ms throughout most of that period.

a couple even said that because of being ignored by the congregation during this time, that they have walked away completely.

Rattigan350

Whatever happened to Obey God as ruler rather than men? God said to meet. Didn't say a pandemic matters.

10

Law of Diminishing Returns

by Rattigan350 in

the law of diminishing returns states: the law of diminishing returns is an economic principle stating that as investment in a particular area increases, the rate of profit from that investment, after a certain point, cannot continue to increase if other variables remain at a constant.

as investment continues past that point, the return diminishes progressively.. from 1900 through the 1980s, the more witnesses that got baptized and pioneered, the more bible studies that could be had and the more additional witnesses that could join and then congregations would get bigger and they would divide and form in other areas.

but in the 1990s the law of diminishing returns kicked in, particularly in the bigger cities.

Rattigan350

The Law of Diminishing Returns states: The law of diminishing returns is an economic principle stating that as investment in a particular area increases, the rate of profit from that investment, after a certain point, cannot continue to increase if other variables remain at a constant. As investment continues past that point, the return diminishes progressively.

From 1900 through the 1980s, the more Witnesses that got baptized and pioneered, the more Bible studies that could be had and the more additional Witnesses that could join and then congregations would get bigger and they would divide and form in other areas. But in the 1990s the law of Diminishing Returns kicked in, particularly in the bigger cities. I've heard of service groups being given a floor of an apartment building to work. They get a few doors and then done.

The Service Dept suggested that territories be checked out and worked in 3 months and turned in and put back in the rotation. But some congregations had territories that were worked every month or more often. The people got tired of them coming by. The growth and activity of the 1990s and 2000s couldn't be sustained. Field service just became something to do to get time and nothing real resulted.

Same with congregations that had a dozen or more elders. They were too elder heavy. Too many middle managers.

All they know is this push for marketing and results but don't know how to manage those results anymore particularly when the workers don't have anything to do.

Is there a cooling down lately because of this?

19

May 2022 Study Watchtower - FAKE prophecy again for JW's

by BoogerMan in

may 2022 study watchtower page 6, par.

5 “satan instigated an attack on the anointed brothers who were taking the lead in the kingdom-preaching work.

prominent ones among them were the figurative “two witnesses” spoken of as being killed.”.

Rattigan350

" "scarlet beast" of Rev 17 (the one the harlot rides) and not the "wild beast" of Rev 11?"

The Scarlet beast is the UN as it is the 8th king but not a king that is made up of the others.. This is Rev 17. The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is about to ascend out of the abyss,l and it is to go off into destruction... And the wild beast that was but is not,o it is also an eighth king, but it springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction.

The Wild beast of Rev 11 is the kingdoms of the past and present.

19

Any in-house word on Ukrainian Witnesses form HQ?

by careful in

has anyone heard any word on active witnesses inside the ukraine and what has been happening with them the last week or so?

i checked the official org website but there was just the expected "fulfilling bible prophecy" stuff.

perhaps someone here has bethel contacts who have leaked some info on what the gb is trying to do for these victims of putin's madness?.

Rattigan350

They take the stand of neutrality, but Jesus never said Christian Neutrality.

He said to be no part of the world, but we are the world.

If your home is being attacked, you defend it.

The JW males should be joining the freedom fighters.

19

This good news of the kingdom

by Rattigan350 in

growing up around the faith, whenever i heard something taught, i'd always think there is a different way of looking at that, probably better.. we always hear "this good news of the kingdom will be preached... " matt 24:14.. so i think, is there more to it than preaching the kingdom?.

luke 17:21 the kjv and asv says "neither shall they say, lo here!

or, lo there!

Rattigan350

Growing up around the faith, Whenever I heard something taught, I'd always think there is a different way of looking at that, probably better.

We always hear "This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached... " Matt 24:14.

So I think, is there more to it than preaching the kingdom?

Luke 17:21 the KJV and ASV says "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you", (which is where they get the wrong belief that the kingdom is in their hearts) but many other bibles including the NWT say "nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you"

What was in the midst of them was Jesus. So the Kingdom of God was also another way of saying it's king, Jesus.

So, in Matt 24:14 "This good news of the Kingdom" could also mean the king of that kingdom. Jesus would be preached in all the inhabited earth.

Which is what Act 1:8 in the NLT says "And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”"

The Witnesses are preaching about the Kingdom when they should be preaching about the King.

But if you write to the GB and tell them that, you will be brought before a committee. Sad.

8

Awake magazine 1980 -Movie "The Exorcist" caused demonic possessions and murders!

by Witness 007 in

awake 12/8 p.11 "since the release of the movie the excorsist some years ago many reports are on file of the adverse effects on those who saw it...mareen was an atheist who went to see it saying it was the most terrifying thing i had ever seen.

i was shaking all over.

during the coming weeks i was frightened to go to bed.

Rattigan350

And in the late 70s conservative religious ministers would teach that Satan put backwards messages in records and that KISS stood for Knights in Satan's Service.