Posts by CyrusThePersian

28

So I'm

by lola28 in

jw
friends

going to the convention this weekend for the first time in about three years...will i survive?.

.

lola.

CyrusThePersian

You have my deepest sympathies! Any particular reason why you're putting yourself through this torture?

I went to a convention a couple of years ago and it was awful-even worse than I remember. I could only stand to go for two days.

CyrusThePersian

10

Pale Blue Dot

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

this is our home.

earth from 4 billion miles.

this video puts it all in perspective.

CyrusThePersian

Thanks for posting this Purplesofa! I was looking at this exact same video yesterday. Carl Sagan is my absolute hero!

Here's another good one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M&mode=related&search=

CyrusThePersian

25

What sort of a witness were you?

by brinjen in

i'm talking door to door service work here.

were you the kind who would insist on getting a conversation at ever door?

or where you (like me) the kind who would take a "not interested" as an excuse to get the hell out of the householders face?

I admit that field service was my weak point. I couldn't wait to get my hour or two in and then get the hell back home. (or to the doughnut shop! Yes, I confess, I was one of those elders!) God help me if I got into any kind of real discussion with a householder, the best I could do was spout off some nonsense from the Reasoning book.

I was much more adept at giving talks and conducting Watchtower and book studies where I could prepare ahead of time what I would say. I never was any good at thinking on my feet as it were.

CyrusThePersian

13

Is God A Mafioso?

by nvrgnbk in

jw
friends

don yahweh: the "king" of the universeor consider the christian radio preacher, whom i heard the other day as he exclaimed that the bible says that, on the judgment day, all will bend down before jesus christ, some willingly because of love of his appearance.

others will be brought to their knees by an iron rod that will break their legs.

so the preacher pleaded, "submit willingly or have your legs broken.

CyrusThePersian

This reminds me of one of James Thomas' posts, when he said:

"How can you love a god who says he will kill you if you don't?"

...a very thought provoking question.

CyrusThePersian

35

You Were My First Love And Youll Be My Last Love ...

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

you were my first love and youll be my last love ...living in florida has given me the opportunity to see couples who have been.

together for decades sometimes dating back to the second world war.. .

it has always amazed me how some couples can stay together for 20, 30, 40 .

CyrusThePersian

To go along with Brother Dave's comment...

(How many times have you heard that at the Kingdom Hell?)

I hate to sound cynical, but I think one big reason marriages seemed much more stable in the "good old days" was the social stigma attached to divorce back then. A divorced person was looked down on as a failure. And today, as Dave says, these ones with the thirty and forty year long marriages have so much invested in their relationship that they stay together regardless.

I myself was in a twenty year long marriage. We would have divorced much sooner had their been no repercussions from the brothers at the hall. Bottom line-I don't think our ancestors had any sort of magic elixir that enabled them to find a true and lasting love. I think it was merely a difference in social customs between our time and theirs.If you were able to delve deep into their feelings you would find that they were probably no more successful at finding that special one than today's generation.

Again, I hate sounding so cynical, but I'm an old man and I've earned it!

CyrusThePersian

24

Will the WTS ever show a decrease in publishers?

by cultswatter in

the world wide jw publishers increased by only 1.6% in recent years, so it is only a matter of time until the wts will have to start showing a decrease in publishers.

here are some reasons why.

1. many young jw are 'rebellng' against wts authority and are becoming just like mini satans according to a recent wt article.

CyrusThePersian

I'm with Zico, we will not see a decrease for a while because of the Watchtower's thrust into third world countries as well as outreaches to foreign language groups in first world countries like the USA and the United Kingdom.

However, just like any other apocalyptic group, time is against them. As the world continues on, day after day, year after year, with no Army-geddon in sight, people will inevitably lose interest therefore change and readjustment become necessary. The WT's tactic so far has been to push Armageddon into the unknown (but real soon!) future. Even this will wear thin in time. I wonder what their future tactic will be?

I'm sure any closet reformers at the Watchtower headquarters are well aware of the radical reform undertaken by the Worldwide Church of God ( an organization similar to the Witnesses in practice and teachings) in the late 1980's and how their attempts at mainstreaming led to the splintering from which that organization never recovered.

...but change is a must, unless they want to see their org die a slow painful death. I'm interested in seeing what they try. I think we are already seeing the beginnings of change with these tract campaigns, making service easier. What's next do you think? What ideas do they have up their sleeves to stave off the inevitable? It's interesting to me to watch the org in its death throes!

CyrusThePersian

21

How do/did you imagine Armageddon will/would be?

by JH in

and how do/did you imagine it would start.. i say, it would start a big cloud in the sky .

.

CyrusThePersian

I always imagined it would be like this:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/3405/1.ashx

CyrusThePersian

3

The text of Cyrus' Decree?

by Doug Mason in

i am looking for an authoritative english translation of the decree issued by cyrus that allowed the captives in babylon to return to their homes.

CyrusThePersian

Hmmm.... I don't remember making such a decree...

Seriously, try The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East edited by Charles F. Horne (an old book, probably available only in a university library, I got mine at a yard sale.) Here is his translation of the Kurash Prism, found in volume 1, page 460 of his book:

I am Kurash, King of the World, Great King, Legitimate King, King of Babilani, King of Kiengir and Akkade, King of the four rims of the earth, Son of Kanbujiya, Great King, King of Hakhamanish, Grandson of Kurash, Great king, King of Hakhamanish, descendant of Chishpish, Great king, King of Hakhamanish, of a family which always exercised kingship; whose rule Bel and Nebo love, whom they want as king to please their hearts.
When I entered Babilani as a friend and when I established the seat of the government in the palace of the ruler under jubilation and rejoicing, Marduk, the great lord, induced the magnanimous inhabitants of Babilani to love me, and I was daily endeavoring to worship him.... As to the region from as far as Assura and Susa, Akkade, Eshnunna, the towns Zamban, Me-turnu, Der as well as the region of the Gutians, I returned to these sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time, the images which used to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries.
I also gathered all their former inhabitants and returned them to their habitations. Furthermore, I resettled upon the command of Marduk, the great lord, all the gods of Kiengir and Akkade whom Nabonidus had brought into Babilani to the anger of the lord of the gods, unharmed, in their former temples, the places which make them happy.
CyrusThePersian

40

You Must Marry Only In The Lord!

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

you must marry only in the lord!how many times do you recall that expression blaring from .

the sound system at a district convention or circuit assembly?

you must marry only in the lord!

CyrusThePersian

When I was young, my problem in "marrying only in the Lord" was exactly the opposite from most people here. Growing up in Memphis TN, there were LOTS of single guys and very few single sisters. (Based on my fuzzy memory, back in the seventies there were 17 single brothers in their teens to early twenties and only four sisters in the same age range in my old congregation.) Of course the sisters only went with the most gung-ho fast-track-to-be-elder types which left the rest of us slobs with nothing to do on Saturday night. Most of us would go out of town, visiting other congregations, scoping out the prospects in Arkansas, Mississippi and west Tennessee or waiting for the conventions.

I eventually married a woman who lived sixty miles away from me. My best friend married a girl from Columbia, South Carolina. (He went WAAAYY out of town!). Another friend moved to Arkansas to get married.

Ironically, my daughter, who still lives in Memphis, says that the situation is still the same. She is the only single sister in her congregation and is constantly hit on by all the single brothers there!

CyrusThePersian

1

Tennesee PBS air times for Knocking

by candidlynuts in

jw
friends

independent lens: knocking.

tuesday, may 22, 9:00pm.

knocking examines the jehovah's witness religion.. independent lens: knocking.

CyrusThePersian

Ewww!

Channel 8 Nashville, that's my PBS station. I think I'll be busy that night...doin' something else!

CyrusThePersian