There were mass exodus in the past within the WT and nothing happened to the core business of the organization. Nothing. Not fiasco in 1919/1925-1975. There were some waves in the past and will happen in the future, but WT is not going anywere. In 1990s WT lost 1/6 of males in Czech republic due flip flopping doctrine on alternative service, many predicted it will be the end of the Czech WT. JW are still there, even when branch office was closed and they never achieved the same prevelance as they did in 1975-1994. Even some areas were consolidated, the attendance is down and the number of publisher is down, the organization have not collapsed on local level. There are suckers born every time and many will stay with WT until they die.
Posts by kaik
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31The more people who leave the Witnesses, the more people will leave. True?
by ThomasCovenant inif more faders stopped fading and just stopped,.
would more of the many closet unbelieving attendees just stop too, creating a momentum?.
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University Application Personal Statement dilemma - Should I mention my jw past?
by will-be-apostate ini am applying to chemical engineering course in the uk through ucas (a lot of things changed since i've posted last time).. i have a lot of skills i developed while regular pioneering, like public speaking skills, ability to reason (even if it's bs), presentational skills etc.. i feel it would boost my personal statement a lot, but i'm also afraid they would say "this guy beleives in god, and loves science, he must be creationist.
away with him".. how could i mention that i gave interviews front of thousands of people and did voluntary work in my hometown without giving a bad impression?.
i don't want to go into details and start explaining myself that "however i don't beleive in god", or something like that.
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kaik
I never mentioned my JW past on school application and I have done both undergrad and postgrad from state university. I do not think it is relevant to your field at all. The issue may exist in specific field like philosophy or social studies, but not in chemical engineering.
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Did Jehovah program us to have a free will? If so, how free are we?
by I_love_Jeff insince the jehovah's witnesses believe we have no indwelling immortal spirit, are we like robots programmed with a special code called "free will"??
since robots have no indwelling immortal spirit, they can be programmed to do whatever man wants them to.
nice control tactic.. .
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kaik
NAVYTOWN, excellent point in which I agree. Humans as all living organism will die. There is no whatsoever any proof that there is alife after death, nor anyone returned from the death years after their burial. Billions of people lived before us, they died, forgotten, lost in history. Billinons of current members of humanity, including me and you will certainly die, so will future generations. There is no any assurance nor certainity that we will get any other chance than this life.
When it comes to freedom of will there is no universal concensus what it actually meant for the humanity. Jews believe that humans have the freedom of will to obey G-d laws. Failure of Adam and Eve was not disobedience but lust and Eve having intimate relationship with the Serpent and lying about it. Judaism also teaches that angels do not have free will, because they are inheritently good by presence of G-d. They got free will once the became human.
So , it is crucial to have analysis what freedom of will is. Is being hungry and eat forbidden fruit as a sign of freedom or necessity? St. Augustine defines freedom of will as freedom to inquire on God's will. And we have freedom to sin. St. Thomas said that man is not in master of his own action which pertains to freedom of will.
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Sleep Paralysis - YOUR EXPERIENCES
by Black Man inso what have been your experiences with sleep paralysis?
any connection to astral projection?
this has interested me recently as i used to have sleep paralysis quite often years ago.
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kaik
I used to suffer with this when I was between 20 and 30, but as I got older this got less prevalnet. I have not experienced one for a while. It is generally caused by dischronization between various stages of sleep where my brain was awake but the body was still in sleep. I could hear everything and recognize light but I could not move at all. The initial feeling was always scary, I would like to scream but I could not. However, I could always control my breathing so I will relax and start to breath deeply. This will eventually awake my entire body.
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Account of Jehovah's Witness Women Prisoners in Auschwitz (very creepy)
by objectivetruth ina book titled written by a long ti me ss member .rudolf franz ferdinand hoess.
here is a quote from this book : .
"a pleasant contrast to this type were the female jehovah's witnesses, called "bible bees" or "bible worms.
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kaik
I think the best resources will be in archives in Germany, Austria, and Czech republic that would deal with the situation of JWs before, during, and after war within Germany. I would not rely on WT publications or hersay from others as I have heard or read. Unfortunatelly many of the contemporary people died long time ago, and we do not have anymore direct witnesses of these events. I remember hersay that JWs were after 1945 charged with complinace and later defense at the retributional court in postwar Czechoslovakia. These courts were closed between summer of 1947 and spring of 1948. Only court records in archives of department of Justice and Institute of totalitarian regimes in Prague would have these information. However, I am not aware that anyone have really looked into these records, especially in East Germany and Czechoslovakia, which were not avialable until 1990's.
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Account of Jehovah's Witness Women Prisoners in Auschwitz (very creepy)
by objectivetruth ina book titled written by a long ti me ss member .rudolf franz ferdinand hoess.
here is a quote from this book : .
"a pleasant contrast to this type were the female jehovah's witnesses, called "bible bees" or "bible worms.
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kaik
The estate of Lina Heydrich was at the outskirt of Prague, but today it is just couple miles from end of the subway station "C" almost at the entrance of the city. There were actually two chateaus in Panenské Břežany, one owned by K.H. Frank and second by Lina Heydrich. Lina employed mostly German and Dutch JWs who lived there until arrival of the Red Army. I am not sure if any JWs were working at second chateau at the service of Carola Blazek Frank, the wife of K.H. Frank for certainity, because Czech records have Lina listed as Bible students, but other records mentions the word Jehovah witnesses at the service of Reichprotector (but no mention which one both K.H Frank and Heydrich were Reichprotectors during WWII). In Czechoslovakia the Jehovah Witness name was used since 1930'. I have seen books published in Czech language with this name, not under Bible Students. I think this is source for some of the confussions when dealing with JW/BS from Bohemia versus Germany. Carola would employ most likely JW from her native city of Most, which was in Sudetenland, and headquarters of the JW community for German speaking population of interwar Czechoslovakia. The oldest KH in Bohemia was in Most since 1911. Carola was fluent in Czech and German; extremely beautifull, charming, and liked by everyone. After war she was arrested and deported into USSR, and she suppossed to be seen in Prague in the 60's-80's. All her workers employed at Prague and Panenské Břežany were arrested and brought in front of retributional tribunal to investigate their conduct during WWII, which included nany and medical staff (Carola was also doctor working at Bulovka hosptial). JWs/BS who were at Lina Heydrich were not native to Bohemia and Czechoslovakia, were sent back o their native country. This would not be the case for JWs who were at service of Carola. I wish to know more, but there is just fraction of information I heard and read over these years. I remember than around 1980 there were talks that some JWs in Protectorate were investigated after war for compliance and non-resistance to Nazis and they won because they pointed to persecution of JWs under Hitler. Communist regime did not start until 1948 where most of the retribution courts were already closed.
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Walking Dead, evidently a hit show
by nonjwspouse innot my cup o tea for sure, but i found out my nephew is a regular zombie on the show.. anyone here like the show?
i'm kinda afraid to even watch it ...my imagination is a bit to active.. .
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kaik
I like movie Warm Bodies, it is interesting concept of love between a human and zombie.
After long night of studyging an dlack of sleep and no coffee in the morning, I am like zombie as well.
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Question for those converted to JW as adults
by DaleRivers inwhy did you become a jw, what particular teachings attracted you to 'the truth' ?.
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in my case (baptized at 20/21) it was the only religion i knew; my mom, her mom, and favorite sister were jw; and the teachings of no hellfire or immortal soul made sense to me.. .
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kaik
I grew up with it. My mom was brought into cult by my father sister-in-law who was JW since 1950's. She started to study with both of them, my father was a victim of political purges in 1969, difficult times socially and economically. Then came the buzz to 1975, I think my parents studied for years, but my dad refused to get baptised, but my mom did around 1975 or so. Many people who joined in 1960's & 1970's saw only god Jehovah capable smashing communist system.
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Account of Jehovah's Witness Women Prisoners in Auschwitz (very creepy)
by objectivetruth ina book titled written by a long ti me ss member .rudolf franz ferdinand hoess.
here is a quote from this book : .
"a pleasant contrast to this type were the female jehovah's witnesses, called "bible bees" or "bible worms.
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kaik
I think it is important to say that JWs did indeed suffered and many died for their beliefs. Other thing is that many JWs are anti-semitics, especially the older generation I knew and many were interwar and postwar convert. Addtionally, not all JWs sufferred equally, and many lived in the WWII imprisonment in relative comfortability working as servant for highest Nazi officials likes Heydrich and after war revolutionary and various retribution tribunals wanted to prosecute them for compliance with the Nazis. The same issue is raised with victims of Stalinist oppression where some JWs collaborated with the communist regime and were informant for the state police. I had checked some of the names in the communist files opened after 1989 and I was actually suprised to see one of the elder name there as informant with his wife, DOB, addresses, and various information they provided to the state police. Some of the JWs that were well known in 1960's but died since since then were actually very active with the communist police. These information are well known and published. If there was collaboration during Stalin era, there was certainly during A.H.
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Account of Jehovah's Witness Women Prisoners in Auschwitz (very creepy)
by objectivetruth ina book titled written by a long ti me ss member .rudolf franz ferdinand hoess.
here is a quote from this book : .
"a pleasant contrast to this type were the female jehovah's witnesses, called "bible bees" or "bible worms.
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kaik
I have experienced anti-semitism from elder JWs in Eastern Europe long time ago. Anti-semitism was widespread in KH especially among JWs who went to cult before, during and right after WWII. One elder sister regularly called Jews as Jesus killers who will not be resurrected.
I am also skeptical on some of the WWII accounts as I have read some postwar documents from retribution tribunals that charged some of the JWs with collaboration and compliance with Nazi regime. When I will be back in Prague, I am thinking to request from DoJ material on JW that deal with this issue. While I am not aware of any case when JW was prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but some of these accussations were brought up into the court and they will be available at archives per requests. For example Reinhard Heydrich, third highest ranking Nazi official assassinated by Czech underground resistance in 1942 employed bunch of JWs as his servants at chateau outside of Prague. These JWs lived there in relative comfortability and abundance at Brezany until May 1945. After war some of the JWs were indeed charged by revolutionary tribunal as did many people who were employed by Nazi regime.