a change to their doctrine came from jackson.
this isn't a transcript of his whole speech but i thought i would try and get some of his main speech in writing.. at around 1hr26 minutes he starts talking about some dangerous thinking in feeling there is some wiggle room in regards to the schedule for the gt.
but you see, we need to be careful about what we are thinking about the number of anointed ones left on earth.
"Where on earth does Jackson think that the rank and file got the idea that the number of anointed would decrease as we got closer to Armageddon?"
Well, because the number of partakers went down in 1995. The increase since then is not real. More have not been anointed. Those are just people who want to believe they have been anointed.
I'd say that there is just a handfull of anointed left on earth.
for jws who believe that jehovah had a hand in reviving the truth in the nineteenth century this is enough explanation for how jws managed to achieve a closer approximation to early christian beliefs and practices than other groups.
but is there an explanation for this phenomenon that doesn’t rely on supernatural intervention?
new testament scholar james dunn explains the difficulty of interpreting the biblical texts in this way:.
Simple. JWs want to serve the true God Jehovah. No one else does.
https://youtu.be/93h5zpbil6k?si=ffatfxjuxmj_na9i.
I like the newer songs. they are disco and reggae.
There is a good reason for that.
There is no need for negativity as in mentioning 1975 or the organization vs Jesus.
However they are not anointed.
Just because someone is working in the service department at Bethel does not place one in line to be anointed.
That is just something that is said of the governing body, because it is tradition.
the jw idea that believers are destined either for heavenly life or for endless life on earth comes in for significant criticism by critics of various kinds.
even some groups, such as the christadelphians, who share belief in a future paradise earth, don’t share the view that some christians are destined for life in heaven.
yet there is surprisingly quite a lot of evidence in the bible for the existence of two distinct groups of believers.
There are not two destinies.
Those that get resurrected to heaven do that to do a job. It is work, not a destiny. They do not sit on clouds to play harps with Jesus.
I will explain it in simple terms.
Ex 19:5,6 "Now if you will strictly obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will certainly become my special property out of all peoples, for the whole earth belongs to me. You will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
Jer 31:31 "“Look!
The days are coming,” declares Jehovah, “when I will make with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant"
1 Peter 2:9 "But you are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession," has him calling the Christians, Israel. The ones with the new covenant.
Rev 5:10 and 20:6 tells us that the first resurrection is of those ones that rule with Jesus in the heavens who will be kings and priests with him.
Kings and priests were anointed with oil as a sign of their being chosen for that job. Kings and priests with the new covenant are anointed with holy spirit as a sign or token of their being chosen for that job.
Rev 7 tells us that 12,000 out of 12 tribes is the total number of Israel of the spirit; the ones that Peter mentioned. The covenant having been transferred from physical Israel to spiritual Israel.
It's that simple.
So forget about "absent from the body is presence with the Lord". It does not fit the formula.
the jw idea that believers are destined either for heavenly life or for endless life on earth comes in for significant criticism by critics of various kinds.
even some groups, such as the christadelphians, who share belief in a future paradise earth, don’t share the view that some christians are destined for life in heaven.
yet there is surprisingly quite a lot of evidence in the bible for the existence of two distinct groups of believers.
" Revelation indicates a great crowd in heaven that rules as kings and priests for a thousand years and 144,000 ruling as kings forever from New Jerusalem on earth."
No. That great crowd seen in Rev 19 is a general term. It is not the same as the ones in Rev 7.
The 144,000 do not rule on earth.
Heb 12:22 says heavenly Jerusalem were Jesus and the 144,000 rule.
Jesus said his kingdom is no part of the world. That is because it is heavenly.
i find it amazing that the wtbts says that you should refuse blood, even if it could save your life.. look at the apostle paul.
he knew the injunctions of acts 15 - yet by his own admission in his letters to the corinthians admitted that he bought meat sacrificed to idols and ate it.
so would he have refused this meat if he were about to die of hunger?.
The law on blood is in Gen 9:4. Do not eat or drink blood.
The apostles do not have the authority to expand that law. Many say that abstain means to keep away from any use of blood, but abstain expands it from what God's law says. No one has the authority to expand the law, not the apostles and not the president or vice president of the Watchtower Society.
Thus blood transfusions are not against God's law. It's not about saving lives. The problem is their being pharisees in widening the scope of God's laws and saying that they obey it so they are more righteous; which is exactly what the pharisees did.
i’m an elder who is pima, i’m amazed how much info is available to all elders.
you can see all private details of every member of the congregation.
i wonder how these sisters feel about their private details being available to these creepy elders?.
You all are so paranoid. They have no info on anyone unless people give them that info.
The real question is, how would the Russian government or other governments know that people are JWs to arrest them?
... is just three weeks from this saturday.
the org has been tight-lipped, really, successfully secret about advance info on these in recent years,.
now that these relatively recent changes on dress and grooming, reporting fs time, judicial matters, etc.
Slimboyfat, there was never a 1919 date to stick to. 1919 was the convention after the War ended Advertise Advertise the king and his kingdom.
say it ain’t so!
.
in one sense it’s a no brainer because the figures just don’t add up any more.. in another (negative) sense it’s a no brainer because it’s been fundamental to jws since year dot and might undermine the whole thing?
Oh please. What the Governing body says at the annual meeting does not change God's plan.
There are 144,000 corulers with Jesus, the bride of Christ. period. That can not be changed.
It is in Ex 19:6 and 1 Peter 2:9 and in Rev 5:10; 20:6 and detailed in chapt 7 & 14.
It is not a 2 class 2 tier system.
While there may be 25,000 partaking, it means nothing. The partaking ended 30 years ago but people kept doing it and more joined in because they want to think that they are anointed.
End of story.
