a discussion of this talk on friday morning deserves its own thread.
as i said elsewhere, it was a remarkable one.
the speaker was manfred vencebi (google him - he's a bethel bigwig) and some of his remarks are real gems.
Technological accomplishments. Photodrama of Creation; jw.org, "and the list goes on." All to promote spiritual food, the Truth.
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Ironically, the technological advances WT use to the full, developed by Satan's world, are the same ones it just got done condemning.
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Satan's Rule: Keeps advancing forward, steadily improving human life
Jesus' Rule: hasn't done a damn thing for anybody for over 2,000 years
the old guys sided with hobby lobby today in denying birth control coverage to its female employees based on the owners religious views.
intact- is viagra for the guys.
funny how the far right evangelical owners of hobby lobby didn't want to touch that one.... read judge ginburg's scathing counter argument and opinion.. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf.
Intact- is Viagra for the guys. Funny how the Far Right Evangelical owners of Hobby Lobby didn't want to touch that one...
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Now that birth control is off the table, it'll be getting touched even less....
here is the link: http://seattledelegates.org/.
i would guess this is the wave of the future.
a secondary channel of business revenue for the wts - compensation for recommending restaurants, tours, etc.
The Seattle Hospitality Committee warmly welcomes you to the 2014 “Keep Seeking First God’s Kingdom” International Convention.
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"Seeking The Kingdom First" includes:
> Your evening program of entertainment
> all-day tour to Mt. Ranier
> tour of Boeing (part of Satan's commercial system)
> all day whale-watching cruise
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At every convention I've gone to, the counsel is always don't stay out too late, don't focus on entertainment- we're not on vacation, an assembly is a program of worship...don't distract yourself or waste time on "worldly" pursuits and entertainment.
I guess when the GB endorses entertainment then magically it's acceptable.
here is the link: http://seattledelegates.org/.
i would guess this is the wave of the future.
a secondary channel of business revenue for the wts - compensation for recommending restaurants, tours, etc.
"Congregations are now being invited to assist in the initial cleaning of Husky Stadium on Thursday, July 3rd starting at 9:00 a.m. Due to the compressed schedule, all who come on that day must be focused on working while at the stadium. No young children will be allowed. Workers must be at least 16 years old, although those 13-15 will be permitted if working directly with their parent."
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So a child of 6 or 8 years old qualifies for baptism (a lifelong "contract")....but isn't considered old enough or mature enough to clean the stadium as slave labor? Really?
http://trcofliberia.org/press_releases/51.
http://trcofliberia.org/press_releases/51.
So if his profession was acceptable to WT, why can't a JW be a director of a blood donation clinic or sit on the Board of a tobacco company? As long as the JW doesn't smoke or take blood, it should be completely within the rules.
just saw a facebook post from an acquaintance who just went to the international convention in dallas, tx.
according to his post, there were approximately 50,000 in attendance on sunday, with 468 baptized.
there were an additional 9 conventions tied to this one, with an attendance of approximately 100,000 and 609 baptisms total, including dallas.
let's say that all 100,000 in attendance are JWs and they each reported 10 hours per month since the convention last year.
12,000,000 hours for 609 baptisms. Historically, half of all baptisms are children of JWs or others that were not converted due to door-to-door preaching.
12,000,000 hours for what MAY BE, at best, 305 baptisms.
Pathetic.
my thread was inspired by gentledawn's insightful comment about the effect the events in wales had on her jw husband.... hope any lurkers out there can filter out the signal (storys and experiences like this) to noise (the current trolls running amok on the forums) ratios.
this the problem with those who focus on outrageous fantasies about the watchtower.
it distracts from the real issues that need to be highlighted.. what happened in wales was for real.
He likes to tell everyone how much more clever he is compared to everyone
It is fair to say that, without exception, when a person has to tell you: how funny they are; how smart they are; how clever they are, etc...they aren't.
in some ways i just have to admire wt for the amount of crap they can take and despite this can keep it from the r&f, and still keep coming up smelling of roses.
you think about all the dramas they have had and can yet still keep showing an increase - all be it in internet deprived developing countries.
but even still an over all increase is still an increase.
You think about all the dramas they have had and can yet still keep showing an increase
Since WT has exclusive control of all data they publish, and no outside verification process exists to verify/contradict published data, who's to say what the real numbers are? IMO they are cooking the books to hide stagnation, or more likely, decrease.
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It is quite amazing how they've been able to keep many members in the dark about all this.
It is the predictable result when JWs are trained to never ask questions, never doubt, never do any critical thinking, do not accept any information as valid other than what WT publishes. Even if a JW has questions or has done research to learn facts, what outlet do they have to do anything about it? Answer: none.
there were many great comments on the " theist/suffering" thread, but terry's really caught my eye.
its the simplest way to describe what believers do.
we simply give the "god" of the bible a free pass.
"Silence is god's natural language. Everything else is a bad translation."
