Well, I did. It took less than six months. And my copy of the book was battered with notes in the margins and all that. Didn't let any of them brothers see it. That was the beginning of my search into WT literature for answers. There were weird things. I remember Goat for Azazel. I remember asking why did children have to be killed, sometimes only the men and women and all except virgins... there were many questions that kept me busy for a while. Until WT Lit. couldn't do it for me anymore. There were too many "the FDS haven't commented on that", " that is old light".... etc etc... It was interesting though. After that, it became tough for anyone to mention sth I wouldn't remember. I could do it again.
Posts by hurt
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37Who read the WHOLE bible at least once?
by JH in.
how often did they tell us that we should at least once read the whole bible from cover to cover.. i never did that, why, because i was overloaded with meetings and field service, and my job.. did you??
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30
Cain and Abel..... why the disagreements?
by anti-absolutism inwhen i was quite young, (about 8 years old) and i was told about the abel being favoured by god, cain getting jealous and killing abel story, i couldn't help but wonder why god was so hard on cain.
i am certainly not condoning cain killing his brother, but since god made both the animals that abel was offering and the veggies that cain was offering, why was cain looked down on?.
also, why did it seem better to god to kill an animal that abel offered, as opposed to thinking, well at least cain is only wasting some food.
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hurt
Neon,
it would seem that there's much more to the "by faith" expression than it being the reson for the acceptance/rejection of the sacrificies. The subsequent "by faith" expressions, in the same scripture, do not form a harmonious whole. How do we explain Abel speaking "by faith" after he had died, even if that's only figurative? For example, are we to conclude that Enoch, in verse 5, was taken away because he had faith?
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Help - what is the very latest on blood transfusions?
by twinkletoes inwe are in the process of writing our final letter to the elders, which will no doubt end in our disfellowshipping or disassociation, and require some up to date info on the blood issue.. due to the wbts policy on blood over the years and my acceptance of it, i almost lost two of my sons at birth.
i am amazed at the u-turn on this blood policy by the org.
and feel very bitter about all that they have taught us for the last thirty years.
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hurt
Jourles,
a witness might answer by focussing on the example of unbled meat fromt he old Testament (Leviticus?). Unbled meat may not be deliberately eaten by the Jew, but he could sell it to some foreigner (alien resident?). This seems to show that while not allowed to benefit nutritionally form unbled meat, the Jew may benefit in an indirect way, namely, getting something in return from the forbidden meat. Now to blood and blood transfusions: it is the choice of the people of the nations to donate their blood, violating God's law, but the Witness may benefit from it by taking advantage of the service... Something is wrong with that, isn't it?
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Help - what is the very latest on blood transfusions?
by twinkletoes inwe are in the process of writing our final letter to the elders, which will no doubt end in our disfellowshipping or disassociation, and require some up to date info on the blood issue.. due to the wbts policy on blood over the years and my acceptance of it, i almost lost two of my sons at birth.
i am amazed at the u-turn on this blood policy by the org.
and feel very bitter about all that they have taught us for the last thirty years.
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hurt
The latest? The Org's swept the matter under the ready carpet for now. Until it's time to fill the forms again, or some youth is offerred, a sacrifice at the altar of the Tower. Blood... Some legal forms are now filled in Europe (and America?), power of attroney or something like that. the brothers in Africa don't need that complication. They still fill the simple Blood Card form, not the one with the allogenic twist, that was phased out before it got distributed. They'll never need it in Africa and parts of Asia anyway. As I was saying, the brothers in the third world don't know very well yet that JWs in other parts of the world are taking fractions of fractions of blood. Their ignorance is their bliss. the Tower's yet to publish the deal they struck with an European country, that there'll be no disfelllowshipping of anyone taking blood transfusions...
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25
Name Things That Used To Get You Upset And Now Don't
by minimus ini remember people getting very upset because they didn't called on to answer by the watchtower conductor like they felt they should.
some people used to get very upset if they had to work out in service with the same person, twice in a row.
of course, now, it's no big deal.
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hurt
Being called a Bible Student. I was a student then alright. But my conductor, good guy, then, before they stopped calling budding recruits Bible Student, would call me a BS. It sounded like Bool Sheet. And there was this sister, we used to jam at the clubs Friday nights then, she would give me that look like "you don't know what the hell you're doing"... I never got it. She got out before I did. Now, I wish I would jam her again... Now I'm not even a dub anymore... they got me Inactive. And I'm Active.
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How dishonest is this?
by RR intoday i was reading the feb 15, 2003 watchtower, they quote volume 6 of "studies in the scriptures", "the new creation" written by c.t.
russell in 1904. there was an asterisk next to the "studies in the scriptures", know what the footnote said?
"published by jehovah's witnesses but now out of print.
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hurt
From the article, Volume 6 of The New Creation series, we have below the original words written by Russell, and in the context of his extended discussion of The New Creation.
Who May Celebrate?
We answer, first of all, that none should commune who do not trust in the precious blood of Christ as the sacrifice for sins. None should commune except by faith he have on the doorposts and lintel of his earthly tabernacle the blood of sprinkling that speaketh peace for us, instead of calling for vengeance, as did the blood of Abel. (`Heb. 12:24`) None should celebrate the symbolical feast unless in his heart he <473> has the true feast, and has accepted Christ as his Life-giver. Further, none should commune unless he is a member of the one body, the one loaf, and unless he has reckoned his life, his blood, sacrificed with the Lord's in the same chalice, or cup. There is here a clearly drawn line of distinction, not only between the believers and unbelievers, but also between the consecrated and the unconsecrated. However, the line is to be drawn by each individual for himself--so long as his professions are good and reasonably attested by his outward conduct. It is not for one member to be the judge of another, nor even for the Church to judge, unless, as already pointed out, the matter has come before it in some definite form, according to the prescribed regulations. Otherwise the elders, or representatives of the Church, should set before those who assemble themselves these terms and conditions--(1) faith in the blood; and (2) consecration to the Lord and his service, even unto death. They should then invite all who are thus minded and thus consecrated to join in celebrating the Lord's death and their own. This, and all invitations connected with this celebration, should be so comprehensively stated as to leave no thought of sectarianism. All should be welcomed to participate, regardless of their faith and harmony on other subjects, if they are in full accord in respect to these foundation truths--the redemption through the precious blood, and a full consecration unto death, giving them justification.
It is appropriate here to consider the words of the Apostle:
"Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh condemnation to himself, if he discern not the Lord's body." `1 Cor. 11:27-29`
The Apostle's warning here seems to be against a careless celebration of this Memorial, which would make of it a feast, and against inviting persons to it in a promiscuous manner. It is not such a feast. It is a solemn Memorial, intended only for the members of the Lord's "body"; and <474> whoever does not discern this, whoever does not discern that the loaf represents the flesh of Jesus, and that the cup represents his blood, would, in partaking of it, properly come under condemnation--not "damnation" as in the common version, but a condemnation in the Lord's sight, and a condemnation also in his own conscience. Before partaking of these emblems each individual, therefore, should decide for himself whether or not he believes and trusts in the broken body and shed blood of our Lord as being his ransom price; and secondly, whether or not he has made the consecration of his all that he may thus be counted in as a member of that "one body."
Having noted who are excluded, and who properly have access to the Lord's table, we see that every true member of the Ecclesia has the right to participate, unless that right has been debarred by a public action of the whole Church, according to the rule therefor laid down by the Lord. (`Matt. 18:15-17`) All such may celebrate; all such will surely desire to celebrate--will surely desire to conform to the Master's dying admonition, "Eat ye all of it; drink ye all of it." They will realize that unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, we have no life in us; and that if they have in heart and mind partaken of the merits of the Lord's sacrifice really, and of his life, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure to memorialize this, and to confess it before each other and before the Lord.
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The Watchtower writer, as usual, makes a selective quotation of words frozen in print, amde immortal by history unalterable. The bad faith of the writer is clear. He misinforms Jehovah's Witnesses that the article is out of print, and throws dust in their eyes by deliberately attemting a revision of history. More than 6 million worshippers of Jehovah, many of them innocent as doves, will believe this writer. Who willl rescue rank and file Jehovah's Witnesses from the iron grip of their devilish captors? Why does the writer selectively quote Russell? He wrote:
All should be welcomed to participate, regardless of their faith and harmony on other subjects, if they are in full accord in respect to these foundation truths--the redemption through the precious blood, and a full consecration unto death, giving them justification.
That was before the invention of disfellowshipping, and the addition of several other pharasiacal conditions, not so? Do Jehovah's Witnesses still teach that the Memorial is a celebration of the death of the Lord and of the participants?
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Are JW kids really better that Christendom's or even the world's?
by starScream ini dont mean to put down my cousin but if she and her boyfriend (now husband) have been loyal jws all their lives why is it that he was arrested for cocaine posession, (he was actually trafficking while a jw!!!!
)she got knocked up by him, and then they got married by a judge instead of an elder.
do these sound like jw kids or do they sound like the real jw kids that you dont see on the poster or cover of awake.
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hurt
Yeah, there are JW kids who really want to do what is right. They do what is right because they've been taught, and do believe, it's the right thing to do. And there are several such kids elsewhere in Christendom too. I was such a kid. Brought up by Christiandom parents. Fornication, no! Smooching, no! But I don't ever remember Father and Mother saying anything directly about them. It was just a body of 'principles' of right, and wrong. then I became a JW. The tragedy of JW doctrine is the compartmentaization of sins, into those leading to death and not. I recall, with clarity, how I would wonder how hypocritical some of the disctinctions were. Then it became a pastime to play with the rules: what would lead to reproof, private or public? Would would not lead to disfellowshipment. There were many in the game, veteran Dub kids. And there were the sisters who knew exactly what to do after some awful act; just the right thing to do, how to behave before the elders and not get the axe. No, not all JW kids are like that, but the smart ones learn it all fast. The most important thing is being in good standing with the Org. That's what counts. It's a tragedy of morals, a facade, perpetuated by the self righteousness of old men at Brooklyn. And there stooges in the local congregation.
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Hi Everyone! I'm homeless now!
by Yizuman ini just arrived there yesterday afternoon where my bro-in-law dropped me off.
my first night's sleep wasn't exactly eventful since there is no beds available and i have to sleep on the pews which my body doesn't exactly agree with hard wood and no cushion on it.
so i didn't sleep very well.
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hurt
Dear Yizuman,
can't help but be touched. MY family's been homeless before, all our things thrown out because we couldn't pay the bills. Was it tough. Your words bring back those horrible memories of fear, depression, and haunting insecurity. Please hang in there man. Hang on there. I can't do much more than words, I hope they bring you a semblance of peace. And may your efforts be successful.
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The Long Prayer
by Beans inamen, probably the most relieving word for a witness!
remember how those meetings went on and on and on and then you get that brother who loves to turn his prayer into the "sermon on the podium".
yes delivering words as if they were being channeled through jehovah right to you!.
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hurt
There's this supremely sensitive brother. There would always be some dramatic twist to his prayers. He loved to praise. "Our most gracious heavenly father, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the maker of the forest and the trees, the former of the rivers and the oceans, the demarcator of their boundaries, the distiller of pure air, [a few chuckles from the brothers here], the giver of light and sound, the maker of the stars of the heavens, the provider of food, the sustainer of life... you made the snow fall today during the night, and gave us sunshine during the day, the weather was perfect for field service, you made it so to accomplish your work..." On and on it would go. And in the end, there would be this relief of an amen, then ebveryone beams liek they were kosher with it... I remember him with some affection, he was such a fragile gentle thing...
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Did You Really Understand What You Were Getting Into When You Got Baptized?
by minimus inthe majority of people who become jehovah's witnesses, really have no idea what they've gotten themselves into.
did you truly understand those baptismal vows that you made?
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hurt
Did I? Probably. First off, I didn't answer "Yes!" to those two questions. I was mute. So they probably should get my bap annulled. Really, I didn't know it would be this messy, with all the discoveries that came later. I'd tell one ofmy friends years later: had I known what I know today then I wouldn't have gotten dunked. No truer thing. But even God can't change the past...