just read a post on jwsurvey about the new donation arrangement.
congregations are to pledge a monthly amount to be sent to the society to fund the building of assembly halls and kingdom halls.
congregations who already have a loan from the society will no longer have to pay back the loan but the amount pledged should not be less than the current monthly repayments to the society.
Go therefore and build religious edifices, dedicating them to thy diety. You must cloth thyself with fine garments when entering and lay before my princes
gold and silver offerings as a token of thy loyalty. For all authority has been delivered unto my chosen channel to observe all things whatsoever they
command of you, sayeth the Lord.
Watchpower 28:19,20
obedience is key in the paragraph below and the urgency is also emphasised with an exclaimation mark.. .
10 the earthly part of gods organization is moving ahead in many ways.
it helps us understand bible truth more and more clearly.
Simplified Edition:
and the winner is...
Organization- 22 Jesus- 3
a few months prior to baptism i had shoulder length hair which i loved and had wanted ever since i was a child.
i remember sitting with an elder during a bible study and asking him point blank if i 'had' to cut my hair.
whilst the answer was given slightly awkwardly the answer was a no, "there are no rules that say you have to cut your hair".
'' what joys await me if I want to grow my hair back out? "
When you trimmed your hair, they percieved it as submission their groupthink or social norm.
If you choose to grow your hair back out to pre-baptism length, it will be percieved as a lack
of sincerity/weakness/worldliness or rebellion. It will trigger judgementally/gossip/marking. These fine
christian qualities should move you to repentance and re-submit to their self importance.
in my point of view, modest clothing is simple and humble.
so why are jw-men dressed like they own a big company or are challangers to the president post?
.
I'm sure Jesus' disciples wore normal clothes for their time period. He never instructed them to wear their
best clothes or try to impress anybody. The only nice thing Jesus wore was his undies. I'm sure not too many
were privledged to see it either. looking at the watchtower's illustrated pictures of 1st century gatherings
you'd think they were well off.
i'm just making a query into the red coloured book that had peoples faces stamped into the hard front cover.
the "you can live forever in paradise on earth" book.
this is so long ago so please forgive me if i get few things wrong.
Out of all the questionable illustrated images, the most blatant (to me) was in the Greatest Man Book.
Chapter 91 'When Lazarus was resurrected' : Top of the rock mass has a woman laying on her left side. Jesus' extended
hand appears to be touching her crotch. Just below his hand the letters SEX appears vertically in the rock. This is not made up!
a friend of mine recently had his co visit and in the elders meeting the co out-right asked the question: how are the friends doing in your cong.
as regards pursuing higher education?
the co continued...you know in view of all the counsel from the slave regarding the dangers.
College teaches critical thinking skills. That is impowerment. the Watchtower fears that. Once a person
learns things such as logical fallacies, the tower begins to crumbles. Empowerment increases when an individual
learns about pursuasive techniques beyond the overt and delves into the subliminal. Empowerment
increases when one begins to see the Watchtower's use of quoting it's own works. Intellectual dishonesty
in quote mining, the absence of proper references, anonymous quotes, ambiguous references. And even
worse, using monological discursive techniques both in print and the platform.
The organizational structure and social construct carefully orchestrated at the local level does not permit
a venue for frank, open discussion of thoughts, ideas, questions or criticism by active members during any meetings.
It is college that allows for growth and understanding about concepts, precepts and life in general.
To help prepare individuals for life. It's not just about having 'all' the answers for life's questions, as the Watchtower
tries to instill, it's about questioning the answers to life's questions as well.
i read steve hassan's book and he mentioned about buzz words or triggers that call out the cult personality of a victim of mind controlling cult.
when you were in, what triggered you?.
He/She left Jehovah. If that ain't a loaded statement.
ok i know ive been starting threads like a maniac but heres one.
where in the heck d they get the "when we survive armageddon we will probably have to start rebuilding while we resurrect ones, teach them, plant food, clean the planet, and grow to perfection"????
doesnt the scripture say that we die corrupted but raised an incorruptible body?
Here's a thought. Would it be righteous on Gods' part to resurrect people imperfect so they could grow to perfection? In effect,
instilling Adamic sin into their new bodies? On the other hand, can you picture a post apocalyptic world where imperfect 21st century survivors
are in charge initially of perfect asexual resurectees who's ancient knowledge and lifestyles are presumably restored into their
memory banks? Perhaps useful in a machineless primitive paradise earth? Is this God's plan of salvation?
at the meeting this week, there was a part about placing our trust in jehovah and not worrying about food and shelter (mat 6:33).
the part was based on the 2013 yearbook p138 and 139 where there were two examples:.
a family went to their convention leaving their chickens unattended for a number of days, worried about if they would survive.
Fernando, Witnesses are just following Jesus' command to build religious edifices and dedicate them to their diety.
Also, he commanded his followers to wear their finest garments at those buildings in imitation of Jesus' example of humility.
And last, when Jesus sent them out in pairs, he instructed them to also wear fine garments and carry scrolls and read them
so as not to draw attention to themseves. Witnesses always strive to follow the first century examples set before us.
according to this description, unless the elders determine that you really want to be a member of the watchtower corporation, then you are not worthy of dedicating your life to god.. .
w98 3/13 dedication and freedom of choice p.17 par.18.
before a person can qualify to become one of jehovahs witnesses, he must meet scriptural qualifications.
There are no scriptures in the NT that state 'dedication' is a pre-requisite for Christian baptism.
Nor 'living up' to that 'dedication' is God's plan of salvation;
Sounds good, feels good but deflects from what Christ did for humankind.
