another thread sparked this one.. if 1914 had come and gone without the advent of wwi, would the sect of bible students have just faded into the woodwork?.
was the war [obviously heavily referenced as proof of their claims] the bouy that allowed and spurned the growth into what we see today?.
jeff .
Well, 1874 came and went and Russell was able to explain that one away...I have often wondered if 1914 was actually as big a dissapointment for the bible students of the day as 1975 was for most of us. After all - one might ask: Ok - so where is Jesus? How come all those bad religions are still here? I bet it was a big bummer for CT himself...
Maybe only a massive disinformation campaign by Rutherford saved the day by recooking it to 1925...which in turn got fixed by the great crowd, etc...
i know this topic has been beat to death probably in here...but i was watching some of the "friends" going down my street the other day (and they categorically skip my house because satan and i are tight you know) and it reminded me so much of how much i hated going door to door and how i prayed when it was my turn to knock that nobody was home.
and we walked down those streets with our little territory cards in hand, making anywhere from meticulous to rediculous notes about the house we were just at...and moving our feet as slowly as we possibly could to maintain a forward motion at all, to eat up the time we were forced to (yes i said forced to) report every month.
field service was what you called the time you spent between when you were at mcdonalds and dunkin donuts.
And let us not forget the "return visit shuffle". If you carefully plan your RV list for minimum efficiency (i.e. - the addresses are as far apart as possible) - you can burn 15 minutes or more between calls. Even better; cook up rural return visits using the non-proximity principle.
After all, gas was cheap when I was a pioneer.
it really makes me angry when they say i love jehovah.
they don't know what they are talking about.
if they read with an open mind the carry-ons of this cruel mesopotanian god they would feel ridiculous and embarrassed for putting this god before their family, their children.
"We really only take our beliefs from the Bible - the Watchtower is merely an aid to help us understand the Bible"
the watchtower claims that hisorians say 1914 was when the world changed forever.
as a jw the year 1914 is repeated so endlessly that it seems it must have been the turning point in history and hence the beginning of the last days.
but i have never really heard anyone else ever mention that year, apart from the odd history lesson on ww1.. do people in general ever think of or discuss 1914 as being a year of any significance?.
I would just guess that only people who habitually watch History Channel could tell you offhand when WW1 or WW2 started. I bet that Jay Leno could find plenty of people on the sidewalk who could not answer what year the War of 1812 started. Most anyone today would say WW2 was a far more significant event than the first WW.
It is really pretty shameless of the JW to try to say they prophesied WW1 - show me one shred of evidence. However, in the 60's they would incessantly quote some newspaper guy who erroneously claimed that they had prophecied WW1 as "a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy" or some such. In point of fact they were expecting the coming of Christ and the end of the worlds "false religions". I always wondered to myself when they brought this up - "well, OK...but where did you prophecy the BIG ONE, WW2"?
How ironic - they did the false prophecy, and then later modify what they said - quoting a worldly source who was flat wrong about their actual teaching.
it really makes me angry when they say i love jehovah.
they don't know what they are talking about.
if they read with an open mind the carry-ons of this cruel mesopotanian god they would feel ridiculous and embarrassed for putting this god before their family, their children.
How about the old shuffle-step during the door-to-door work to avoid admitting you are a JW as long as possible so you don't get that door slammed in your face.
"Hi, we are doing a bible educational service in your neighborhood". "Hi, we were conducting a survey of peoples thoughts on the news of the day"...etc.
Avoid pulling out any literature until the very last thing. Sometimes just give it away without asking for a quarter when you need the numbers.
And how many would desperately buy the maroon or black deluxe edition of the NWT to avoid flashing the dreaded green thing.
wow, it's been forever since i posted on here.
anyway, in the last three years i've managed to completely separate myself from the jw way of thinking.
at this point, i know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's crap, and their teachings mean nothing to me... but my best friend made a terrible mistake, so i need some advice regarding his situation.. .
Could it be that the issue here is more about "Mother in Law" control than about the religion per-se?
My whole family broke away from JW in the early '80s. I just quit doing org religion altogether. My sister joined a bible-thumping fundie church. I do not think she has any idea about their doctrines. For her, it is a social club and a source of potential students for her dancing studio - IMHO. She makes a big deal out of dragging my mom there every Sunday - (mom has some dementia now, so the roles are getting reversed)
The incredible thing is that the mother-daughter power play and infighting just continued right on, JW religion or no, with the only modification being that now it is daughter controlling mom rather than the reverse. And the new holy roller church in the round rather than kingdum hall...
If that is the case with this family, then not only the religion thing, but also the control freaking must be dealt with. If I were him, I would see a lawyer.
Just a thought, James
a rumor alert indeed, but it could be related to the distribution of kingdom news no.37, "false religions end is near.".
the following is posted from e-watchman's forum.. make of it what you will, but in light of all the rhetoric about "deliverance at hand" and "independent thinking", nothing would surprise me anymore.. http://e-jehovahs-witnesses.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1502&st=0 we posted about an announcement it was only local to our cong.
however we have found out that there is going to be an announcement sometime in september and it is supposed to be shocking.
Just had a thought --- let's assume that Armaggedon is actually coming this October...can you imagine what the child workers in some backwater Chinese sweatshop would think when the flaming blobs start coming down? They wouldn't even know that it was God who was destroying them - I guess they would think it was either the Russians, George W., or maybe the N. Koreans. Or maybe the work of the actual European fashion brands whose products they were busy knocking off...
But, I bet you they would be no more surprised than those louts on the Governing Body who were hyping this nonsense to sell their magazines.
I really don't think the majority of the power elite actually believe it is coming in their lifetime. It is, rather, a convenient teaching to keep them in power.
here's part of the text of another boe letter read recently.
i'm going to see if i can get these scanned so someone can post them.in line with the letters to all bodies of elders dated july 1, 1989, august 1, 1995, march 14, 1997, and february 15, 2002, elders should call the legal department regarding any inmate who may have been accused of child maltreatment in the past and who is now associating with the organization, whether he is baptized or not.
(child maltreatment includes physical or sexual abuse.
I really go for that last sentence:
Elders should also follow the direction in the August 1, 1995 and March 14, 1997, letters if a child-maltreatment offender is released from prison and moves to another area of the country or if he is recommended for regular pioneer service in the future.
WTF??? recommended for regular pioneer service?
Heck, lets just send him to Bethel and put him in the service department...
im trying to figure something out concerning the wts 607-1914 chronology that has me confused.
i thought they based the chronology on when jerusalem was destroyed.
however, the following is taken from the daniel book and it seems to base it on something else.
While you are at it, see if you can get a simple factual answer (which has a clear historic reference source) - on:
What year did Nebuchadnezzar die?
Just a year date, and a credible source of the reference.
Thanks
you'll feel better once you get it off your chest....
Middle aged Dentists and Lawyers buying $25,000 Harley Davidsons and then trying to dress up like the Hell's Angels.
Ferraris being sold with those panty-waste sequential automatic gearchanges instead of a proper gearchange in the slotted gate. If you are going to buy this kind of car, then learn to drive!
Trolls on this board who take on self-aggrandizing titles and/or avatars. "My wonderfulness", "Bible Knowledgable" , "Revealer of Truth", etc. - and those avatars that appear to be angelic or christ-like.
( the names have been disguised to avoid personal injury, but we know who these high and mighty apologists are...)
