Forget donations from ex-JWs. What about known prostitutes and known drug dealers who visit the kingdom hall? Do you think they will be debarred from donating money? No. Why? Because JWs, like much of organized religion, is very hypocritical. Sinners are not good enough to speak on the platform or have privileges in the congregation, but their money - even if earned by immoral or illegal means - is always welcomed in the contribution boxes. Such hypocrites!
Island Man
JoinedPosts by Island Man
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11
Will They Continue To Take Your Money After Booting You Out?
by steve2 inautomatic bank payments & being disfellowshipped.
as noted on this site, the organization has in place numerous electronic provisions for people to donate money, ranging from one-off payments through to monthly automatic payments from donors' bank accounts into the organization's.. this is all well and good - and consistent with what lots of organizations - religious or otherwise - do.. but, should a donor be disfellowshipped - or disassociated - is the pre-selected donation provision stopped by the organization itself?
do they have any policy at all on it?
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28
is the big show on 1914 at Service Meeting evidence of factions in the GB?
by Wasanelder Once insometimes the gb do end runs around each other, as when freddie franz didn't agree with the whole governing body concept and spoke against it at the gilead graduation.
could this video/demonstration at the service meeting tonight on why they believe in 1914 and how to explain it to others be an effort to bolster that belief because there is a challange coming against it by factions within?
i guess we can't really tell but i wouldn't put it past the boneheads running the society.
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Island Man
" But instead, they picked this topic - why this one?"
Maybe they're hoping that JWs will be sufficiently distracted and impressed by the use of technology at the kingdom hall, that they will pay less attention to the ridiculous nature of the teaching. The content is rubbish so they're trying to make up for it with presentation.
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is the big show on 1914 at Service Meeting evidence of factions in the GB?
by Wasanelder Once insometimes the gb do end runs around each other, as when freddie franz didn't agree with the whole governing body concept and spoke against it at the gilead graduation.
could this video/demonstration at the service meeting tonight on why they believe in 1914 and how to explain it to others be an effort to bolster that belief because there is a challange coming against it by factions within?
i guess we can't really tell but i wouldn't put it past the boneheads running the society.
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Island Man
" My best guess is "We the Service Dept. think the rank & file are utterly moronic and can't be trusted not to botch the demo, so we (eye-roll & dismissive sigh) will have to do it for them."
I don't think so. If it was as you say, then the letter would have been addressed to all elders (in all districts worldwide). But instead the letter about the video demo is addressed to elders in the US district. That means the video demo is not going to be done in all branch districts. So my guess is that this video demo seeks to accomplish two things:
1. Encourage congregations in the US to fork out money to install video equipment without outright telling them to. The GB doesn't want to send out a letter to all congregations telling them to fork out money to install TV equipment. Instead they're subtly enticing bodies of elders to do so by showing them how they stand to benefit if they have such equipment installed. Their hope is that BOEs will then take the initiative to table resolutions at cong. meetings for such equipment. That way, any possible 'heat' from rank and file members about having to donate more money falls on the backs of the elders and not the GB.
2. Serve as a test run of how video from the organization can be used to supplement the meetings and perhaps reduce dependence on the need for qualified brothers to deliver meeting parts at the local level. Remember that the org is suffering from a need for more qualified men to serve as elders. If meeting parts can be pre-recorded by qualified brothers at headquarters, then that reduces/alleviates the need for qualified brothers to give talks, at the local level. And then there's the added benefit of the GB being able to present their talk outlines exactly as they want it, with greater control.
I think Watchtower is moving in the direction of greater control over meeting parts by having them prerecorded from headquarters and piped into local kingdom halls as video. They're using the US as a test case perhaps because the US is widely seen as a developed country where congs will be more likely to be able to afford installing video equiment.
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New explanation of Gog of Magog: Two Gogs?
by leaving_quietly ini just finished watching the recording of the talk at the annual meeting that re-explains gog of magog.
i caught something not previously talked about, that i can recall.. gog of magog is thought to be a coalition of nations that attach god's people during the great tribulation.
this is from ezekiel 38 & 39.. gog and magog in revelation 20 represents those with the same attitude as gog of magog.. thus, the new teaching (maybe not new, but i'll have to research this) is that gog in ezekiel is not the same as gog in revelation 20. two different gogs, happening about a thousand years apart.. .
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Island Man
Doesn't the book of Esther mention a situation where Jews throughout the ancient world were in danger of being killed by wicked Haman's schemes? Couldn't that be the basis of the Gog of Magog "prophecy" in Ezekiel?
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This weeks #2 & #3 talk on homosexuality
by granada35 inafter a one year sucessful fade and no longer associated with any congreation, i was visiting my sister this week (who goes to the meeting to please her husband for now; i am slowly planting seeds though) and they decided to year this weeks midweek meeting via the telephone.
since i was a guest in her house, i sat with them in the living room to hear the meeting.
to my surprise (especially growing up as a gay jw with still alot of anger in my heart over how i was treated), the talks 2 and 3 where on, of course, homosexualiy.
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Island Man
fulltimestudent: (which is why I was arguing above against someone else's concept of disgust at two men having sex)
fulltimestudent, do you think it's bad/wrong that I am repulsed by the thought of having sex with another man? Do you think it's bad/wrong that I'm repulsed by the idea of eating dog, cockroaches or some other bizzare food? Do you think it's impossible for me to respect people who choose to eat bizzare foods or engage in homosexual activity simply because I am repulsed by those practices? Do you think tolerance of others' lifestyles should mean having to give up your own dislikes?
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From A Bublical Point Of View Did You Ever Think The Trinity Doctrine Made Sense?
by minimus ini see no logic in it.
i see what appears to be some scriptural contradictions but i see no merit in a trinitarian view of god.. .
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Island Man
The Trinity doctrine came about in part because the NT does not mesh with the OT. Just contrast Isaiah 44:24 with Colossians 1:15-17 and You'll see what I mean. Another example Jehovah says there is no one like him. (Isaiah 46:9; Psalm 89:6) But 2 Corinthians 4:4 and Hebrews 1:3 refer to Jesus as being God's image and the exact representation of God's very being. So the NT contradicts the OT's point about God's unparalleled uniqueness.
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Scared of Armageddon?
by naja inin the light of the following promises made by jehovah, how can there be an armageddon?.
genesis 8:21: ... so jehovah said in his heart: never again will i cursethe groundon mans account, for the inclination of the heart of man is bad from his youth up;and never again will i strike down every living thing as i have done.. genesis 9:15, 16: and i will certainly remember my covenant that i made between me and you and every living creature of every kind;and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh.and the rainbow will occur in the cloud, and i will certainly see it and remember the everlasting covenant between god and every living creature of every kindon the earth.. does it make sense to say "i will never kill you by a flood, next time i will use fire?
just asking.. .
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Island Man
" Does it make sense to say "I will never kill you by a flood, next time I will use fire? Just asking."
Ummm . . . actually, that's kind of what Peter said. LOL.
"For, according to their wish, this fact escapes their notice, that there were heavens from of old and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God; 6 and by those [means] the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water. 7 But by the same word the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men." - 2 Peter 3:5-7, NWT
It just goes to show that the bible is an inconsistent book and its inconsistency is especially seen when comparing the OT with the NT which leads me to conclude that the NT is an unorthodox addition to the bible and christianity is actually a heretical offshoot from Judaeism. Here's an example that highlights how the NT contradicts the OT proving that the NT is not really part of the bible cannon but a later clumsy add-on:
"This is what Jehovah has said, your Repurchaser and the Former of you from the belly: “I, Jehovah, am doing everything, stretching out the heavens by myself, laying out the earth. Who was with me?" - Isaiah 44:24
Contrast this with Colossians 1:15-17:
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist,"
There is a clear contradiction here. In the OT Jehovah says that he created the earth and stretched out the heavens by himself. In Colossians it says all this was done through - and hence, with - Jesus. So which was it - Jehovah alone? Or Jehovah with Jesus? Christianity does not mesh seemlessly with the OT and I suppose this is partly responsible for the development of the trinity doctrine to smooth over the inconsistencies produced by texts like the last two I highlight above.
Then there is the problem of the messianic prophecies, many of which, if one is truly honest and objective, don't read like prophecies at all but were clearly twisted by NT writers to make them seem like prophecies. Jesus failed to fulfill all the important and explicit Messianic prophecies in the OT so the NT writers resorted to twisting obscure OT texts that weren't written as Messianic prophecies to make them seem like they were, and portray Jesus as fulfilling them. And the major, explicit Messianic prophecies in the OT, are conveniently deffered to a future fulfillment in a "second coming". How convenient.
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Evolution and spirits
by Chris Tann inas of now iam making an unbiased examination of evolution.
however one thing keeps me hanging on to the belief of a supreme spirit being; the existence of spirits.
i have heard countless accounts of people who have experienced frightening encounters with evil forces.
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Listen to the Pilot Episode of JW Podcast
by God_Delusion inhi guys,.
check out our first ever podcast here - http://www.jwpodcast.org/2014/10/19/s01e00-macclesfield-forest, or download this episode (right click and save).
it's finally here, our first ever jehovah's witness podcast!
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Island Man
The intro and conclusion sounds just like a program on BBC radio! LOL.
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This weeks #2 & #3 talk on homosexuality
by granada35 inafter a one year sucessful fade and no longer associated with any congreation, i was visiting my sister this week (who goes to the meeting to please her husband for now; i am slowly planting seeds though) and they decided to year this weeks midweek meeting via the telephone.
since i was a guest in her house, i sat with them in the living room to hear the meeting.
to my surprise (especially growing up as a gay jw with still alot of anger in my heart over how i was treated), the talks 2 and 3 where on, of course, homosexualiy.
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Island Man
The video linked above:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XZRNL9ZnyM&list=PLAFA0B8FB23E26E4F&index=40