much as been revealed over the years to the date setting doctrines made by the wts.
such as ( 1874, 1914, 1925 , 1975 this generation, the last days, the end times etc.... which were not created by other christian based faiths.. as to critically examine why might reveal a hidden agenda to all these date setting proclamations.. the point in question is did the wts and its leaders intentionally manipulate or exploit the preaching of the gospel to enhance the proliferation of their own printed publications ?.
i would say convincingly yes, no question.
Generally I thought Edmond Gruss was a good writer. Mostly his books consist of extensive quotations from a vast collection of Watchtower literature. Lots of them very illuminating. I would be interested to know where he goes wrong.
Incidentally Gruss also had a JW parent but chose never to get baptised himself and studied JWs academically instead. So in some ways a similar background?
much as been revealed over the years to the date setting doctrines made by the wts.
such as ( 1874, 1914, 1925 , 1975 this generation, the last days, the end times etc.... which were not created by other christian based faiths.. as to critically examine why might reveal a hidden agenda to all these date setting proclamations.. the point in question is did the wts and its leaders intentionally manipulate or exploit the preaching of the gospel to enhance the proliferation of their own printed publications ?.
i would say convincingly yes, no question.
Thanks for the further explanation of background. I appreciate you never chose to be a JW yourself, nevertheless interaction with JWs may be fairly described as more than academic.
I can’t show it written down anywhere, but I can certainly say that my experience is that giving to charity was frowned upon. The basic attitude was that money donated to charity could be better spent on the “world wide work”. Because what charity could be more important than the good news? If you really believe the JW worldview then they would have a point.
This was not a hard rule. Some openly donated and even volunteered for charities. But those doing this seemed to need to “justify” their actions to others.
much as been revealed over the years to the date setting doctrines made by the wts.
such as ( 1874, 1914, 1925 , 1975 this generation, the last days, the end times etc.... which were not created by other christian based faiths.. as to critically examine why might reveal a hidden agenda to all these date setting proclamations.. the point in question is did the wts and its leaders intentionally manipulate or exploit the preaching of the gospel to enhance the proliferation of their own printed publications ?.
i would say convincingly yes, no question.
Was I ever a Witness? No. I only have an academic interest.
Did I mix you up with another poster? I thought you said your mother became a JW late in your childhood and you are glad it didn't prevent you from college education, but that it prevented your younger sibling(s). And that Jack Barr visited your congregation decades ago, and you discussed issues with him and found him to be a kind individual but it didn't resolve your issues. So at some point you stopped attending.
If I remember the post accurately, I think many people would fairly describe interest as more than academic.
i love the rifleman!
i’ve seen it a million times and still will watch it !
and goodfellas, the movie as well as the sopranos.
Breaking Bad
Distant Drums
i am having a conversation with a jw and they say you can not be disfellowshiped for this.
is this true?
i thought you can be disfellowshiped for this.
I remember overhearing a weird conversation in another congregation years ago.
Sister 1: I've got a talk with you next week.
Sister 2: okay let's meet up to practise, what's it about?
Sister 1: it's something about apostates.
Sister 2: okay that's fine, I've read that book by Raymond Franz the big apostate, so I know all about that.
Sister 1: okay where will we meet up.
a growing discourse on this forum has been around what "the end" means.
as jws, many here spent varying proportions of our lives waiting for the end when an unsettling realization was that the end that approaches is more likely to be from old age than the world's end.
through the centuries, group after group, has claimed it has "inside" information on the end of the world, drawing in the desperate-for-comfort like moths to flames.
1990
And yes.
only in the uk.. a woman who was worried her jehovah's witness husband was cheating set him up and then watched in horror as he was seduced after knocking on someone's door.
the honeytrap was laid for the suspicious wife with the help of youtubers to catch a cheater.
they arranged for an actress to wait at one of the houses on the husband's outreach round and try to seduce him.
About as reliable as a Watchtower article on neo-Babylonian chrnonology.
in this picture from the latest watchtower, what in the world is the guy watching on the left side of the picture??
it looks like a female vampire holding a lightsaber.
am i missing something?.
If it was the witch of Endor they'd approve and make it a feature on JW broadcasting,
spoonfed nomore, has uploaded a video on his youtube site, of exjw activists protesting inside a kingdom hall during this sunday meeting.
several people speak out.
if some one can put a link on here that would be awesome, i can’t figure out how to do it with an i phone.
october 31, 2017 to all congregations re: new visitor exhibit at bethel.
Luke 14:28 For example, who of you wanting to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the expense to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, he might lay its foundation but not be able to finish it, and all the onlookers would start to ridicule him,
However, if you ask me, completing a project that is no longer necessary is just as foolish, or more foolish than failing to complete one.
