the march service report shows 1,010,868 publishers.
that is 18,136 more than the same month last year.
with the exception of the month of august, this is also the most number of publishers reporting for any other month, ever.
The problem with stats is that they can be made to say anything. It's only by comparison that they mean anything. The WT used to say thet 6 million members was greater than some countries! WOW
3.7 million in the USA alone voted every week for "So you think you can dance" to keep their favorite dancer. Woohoo
48 million people around the earth are blind.
6 million witnesses out of a population of 6 BILLION is peanuts! fact.
this you gotta see!
philippines jw cleared in supreme court of shacking up
supreme court says living-in not immoral
Sorry Guys, but I agree with the WT on this one.
You cannot get a divorce in the Philippines. If you get a divorce in another country it is not recognised there.
You can apply for an anullment. Not only is it hard to get, and expensive - more than $2000 when 40% of the population is surviving on a dollar a day - but if one of the partners does not cooperate it is impossible. In this case the woman had been abandoned. As part of the annulment procedure, both parties have to undergo a psycological examination to determine they were not 'capable' of making their vows.
The Philippines is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and the Catholic Church has an iron grip on the political scene. It is one of only five countries left in the world that denies its citizens this basic human right.
There are enough reasons for being critical of the WT without selecting a story that highlights an ignorance of the facts. As for those who say thw WT expects its members to obey the law in other countries; it is not true. Where local law conflicts with their understanding of scripture it is not followed. This is one such example.
if one of the annointed disagrees with current thoughts does the gb say, well, they mustnt be annointed?
is anointed status simply another matter of 'the slaves opinion' ?
how does someone get to be an "annointed" anyway ?
If one of the “annointed” disagrees with current ‘thoughts’ does the gb say, “Well, they mustn’t be annointed”?
More than that, they are disfellowshipped for apostasy. Only 'anointed' ones who blindly follow the GB are accepted as such.
They may be part of the FDS, but that means nothing since it is an illusion - all power is held by the GB, as 'representatives' of the FDS, which has no say in who represents them. Anyone who objects is removed from the Org.
i can remember studying the isaiah books 1 & 2 back-to-back.
during this time i simply never wanted to go to the book study.
it was all so repetative and boring.
"Deep" is usually coded language meaning "impossible for anybody to understand." Most Witnesses feel this way.
I think this is deliberate--for a lot of Witnesses, it's a faith STRENGTHENER. It increases their faith in the Society--if the Governing Body understands this stuff, they must be REALLY smart.
Most of the deep books tied my brain in knots.
Yes, most Witnesses do indeed feel that way.
That's why the WT make most of their literature so simple a five year old child can read it. And studying those books was very painful to anyone with any intelligence.
As for the criticism of Ray's writing - perhaps he can make a Marvel Comic Book version especially for those unable to comprehend grown-up writing.
i've been visiting this site for awhile now and have been fascinated by many of the posts.
i have an aunt in arkansas who has been trying for decades to get me into the fellowship of the watchtower.
in this course of time i have become very interested in the wts and their publications, but have yet to fall into their system of thought.. i for the past couple of years have attempted, unsuccessfully, to have them send me the awake and watchtower publications.
I have nearly all the older books if anyone is interested
matthew 24:5, nwt says:.
for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, i am the christ, and will mislead many.. the watchtower society, representative of the "faithful slave class", not only has claimed approval as god's channel, but well after this claimed appointment has freely claimed to be the christ.
the watchtower, august 1, 1944, p. 237:.
In another way the GB claim to be christ: They claim to be a part of the promised seed, a composite seed of 144001 (Not to be found in the Bible)
yes this issue came up when the twins towers went down.
did you recognise the fear of those who either lost someone in the 9/11...was it a religous attack or a commercial attack???
whatever attack it was, the bible foretold the prophecy.. are you araid to die??
As terrible as it was, 9/11 was just one of a never ending list of atrocities committed over many thousands of years. If it happened anywhere else the Americans would have forgotten about it by now.
The US is NOT the world, and one incident is NOT a fullfillment of prophesy.
EVERY DAY thousands are dying terrible deaths. And it's not just something that started after 1914 - it has always been that way - check your history books if you don't believe that.
yesterday, we got an email from our former best friends (for about 15years).
they never told us directly that they are going to shun us but just did not phone any more.
now, there was a reason to email them because we had a not jw related question.
The fact that we broke the tie with you does not mean that we are no longer friends or that we do not like you. It is just our belief that contradicts with it."
Maybe I am wrong but I think you may have missed the point. They are saying the reason they broke ties is because the religion requires it of them. They are saying it would not be their action of choice. Remember, the religion is very controlling and for many it is very difficult to break free from its constraints.
Put another way, 'we stil wish we could be friends, but the religion stops us."
Show them some empathy and you might just plant seeds of doubt that can grow until they can challenge the WT in their lives.
us president george w bush has paid a surprise visit to the iraqi capital - his first since november 2003. .
iraq's prime minister nouri maliki was only given a five-minute warning before meeting the guest for talks at the us embassy in the fortified green zone.
"iraq's future is in your hands," mr bush told the iraqi prime minister.
Al Qaeda uses the media as one of it's major tools to gathering support...
he biggest ad for Al Queda in the Middle East is George Bush. He has mis-handled the War on Terror from the beginning. He shouldn't even be in Iraq! Iraq was not involved with 9/11 in any way.
As for his excuse it was to remove a tyrant, what about all the others? Oh sorry I forgot; Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are 'allies', so their dictators are OK.
a number of people have asked where i disappeared to and why i stopped posting.
so that i dont have to keep typing the reason out im putting it here.
it might just make some of you think about what a loving god you serve.
I am so sorry to hear of your loss.
Russeau contended that the Creator has a responsibility towards the Created. That meant, that by doing nothing when possessing the power to do something positive, the Creator can rightly be blamed for, or share responsibility for, what befalls the creation.
God did not cause the little boys death, but shares responsibility for it.
The pain you feel is powerful. If you were able to cure him, and all the other children in the ward, hospital and all hospitals everywhere, you would have done so. To turn your back on all that suffering whilst able to stop it is cruel beyond comprehension.
Yet that is what God does every day, a God claiming to be the personification of love. And I have yet to hear any explanation that remotely justifies it.
