Topics Started by no-zombie

5
Revising History
by no-zombie in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
while i'm aware of wt books being revised without noting the differences on newer editions (the truth book is a classic example of this) ... is there evidence of the writing committee revising the online versions of wt articles, as compared to the printed editions?.

if there is a previous thread on this topic, just link it ... as these is no need to reinvent the wheel.. thanks.
40
How does the Govering Body get enlightenment?
by no-zombie in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
from the earliest of times of the catholic church's ecumenical councils were used to make major changes to its doctrinal direction.

decisions were made by bishops, they were ratified by the pope ... and it was done.

and the laity had to accepted them or not.. and while splinter catholic religions accepted most of these councils, non-trinitarian faiths which developed latter (of which jehovah's witnesses are apart) did not.
3
The Times of Restoration of All Things
by no-zombie in
1. watchtower
2. bible
i thought of something during last weekend's wt study article, that made me think that perhaps we are on the wrong track on how the governing body is going to handle the whole 607-1914 thing.in paragraph 9 it referred to the the messianic kingdom rule as a period as called 'times of restoration of all things' taken from acts 3:21. this period of 'restoration', started in 1914 with jesus becoming king in heaven, and led to pure worship being restored 'soon after that'.and it was the last comment, that got me going.you see, in previous wt study articles (and i went through the 1990-2024 references) this term of 'times of restoration' was applied rather generally and more like a description of what jesus and jehovah was going to do during the messianic rule, rather than a formal title and a fulfillment of prophesy.however, what if the governing body keeps 1914 as jesus' invisible crowning ... but dumps 1918 as the date for the beginning of true worship?

firstly this paragraph reinforces the previously announced removal of russell being a part of the slave class, for obvious reasons.

but if 'true worship' had a soft start around the 1920s and making that the elastic part, then the embarrassment of his teachings and maybe even rutherford's, all of it could be excused as the speech of john the baptist.
7
Does anyone have .... ?
by no-zombie in
1. watchtower
2. bible
does anyone have a good pdf of the 1989 questions young people ask, they could share?

you know ... the one with the deleted kid on the front..
6
The Future
by no-zombie in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
do you want to see into the future?.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhyi3h7beea.
8
For the Disillusioned
by no-zombie in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
a problem for all who come to realize that our faith is just another manmade religion, is that we start questioning everything we've previously believed.

where ultimately its possible to spiral down past believing in the bible, to the point of questioning god's actual existence.however while some may be happy to think of themselves now as atheists or agnostics (which i doubt that most really are, as living with the full mental and emotional consequences of being one is a lot harder than most understand), i don't think it is necessary to abandon being a spiritual person.

while others might like the idea of drifting into a modern animistic philosophy (which rather conveniently excludes personal accountability), the keeping of the core teachings of jesus has historically proven to give many people a balanced and practical moral code to live by.but what is meant by the term: 'the core teachings of jesus'?interestingly many thinkers from the enlightenment period of the late 1700s, had similar a question.
5
In the spirit of Christmas
by no-zombie in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
on this auspicious day, i'd like to propose a question (half in fun and the other half not) to ask, ... if the governing body reviewed the origins of christmas and now proclaimed that it was now a matter of conscience, how many of the brotherhood would pick it up and start practicing it?.

for me, i think that very, very few would take issue of the change and disassociate themselves.

yes, many would question it in their minds for a while but since it would be a governing body sanctioned holiday, i think a very surprising large number would do so with zeal ... particularly in europe, were it still has wholesome family traditions.
4
Have Kingdom Halls ever been used as evacuation centres?
by no-zombie in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
while our attentions has been drawn many times to kingdom halls being used as distribution centres (often distributing government supplied relief goods), during a local disaster.

i can't remember reading or hearing of, kingdom halls being opened to house displaced witnesses during these times.. can any one else?.
5
Looking for quotes
by no-zombie in
1. jw
2. friends
i've tried but failed to find these quotes.

if anyone knows where they are, that would be great.. #1 reading the wt and awake magazines for a few years, is like getting a uni degree.. #2 don't bother learning old greek or hebrew because its a waste of time, besides we've got it covered.. thanks.
8
Fellow exElders: did you ever get to hear of ...
by no-zombie in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
when i was serving as an elder, it because relatively common to hear of wild drunken house parties of witness youths.

i investigated one, it was so bad that the cops turned up and found empty bottles of whiskey on the lawn and smashed out on the road.

but every led went cold, with all the kids clamming up.