Posts by DocBob

3

Bible not for the individual

by TowerWatch in

anyone remember the publication where the watchtower bible and tract society stated that the bible was not written for the individual but for god?s people as a group, something like that.

it was an older watchtower i think.. thank you,.

towerwatch.

DocBob

Anyone remember the publication where the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society stated that the Bible was not written for the individual but for God?s people as a group, something like that. It was an older Watchtower I think.

I think the first one is the one you are looking for.

*** w67 10/1 p. 587 Finding Freedom with Jehovah's Visible Organization ***

Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible organization in mind.

*** w83 9/1 p. 31 Catholic Scholarship-Is It Loyal to God's Word? ***

However, what about you? Do you view the Bible as God's inspired Word? If you do, then be loyal to it. Read and study the Scriptures regularly. Of course, the Bible is written in such a way that human instruments are needed to help make its message clear. But should not all truth lovers be careful that those to whom they go for help to understand God's Word are indeed loyal to it?

*** w81 2/15 p. 17 Do We Need Help to Understand the Bible? ***

From such experiences it can be seen that Jehovah God caused the Bible to be written in such a way that one needs to come in touch with His human channel before one can fully and accurately understand it. True, we need the help of God's holy spirit, but its help also comes to us primarily by association with the channel Jehovah God sees fit to use.-1 Cor. 2:6-10.

Creepy, eh?

4

Portland Meetup, this Saturday!!

by Huxley in

jw
friends

hey!.

whose up for the meetup?.

saturday july 10. mcmenamin's at 1716 nw 23rd 5:00pm.

DocBob

Whose up for the meetup?
Saturday July 10
Mcmenamin's at 1716 NW 23rd 5:00pm
Let's have a beer and swap funny 'theocraptic' tales..

Ah, this brings up fond memories of hoisting a few Terminator stouts, eating great burgers and mountains of fries with Alan F and Julie at the McM's Cornelius Pass Roadhouse & Brewery. This was late 1994 to early 1995, just before I stepped down from being an elder.

52

What's the closest you've ever been to death? ever think "this is it?"

by doodle-v in

jw
friends

have you had any close calls?

what's the closest you've ever been to kissing it good-bye?

did your outlook on life change because of it?

DocBob

I got zapped with 400 volts of the interlock of the door to the final power amp tube of a 1 Kw transmitter on the ship I was on. It threw me across the room up against a file cabinet. As I slipped to the floor I saw a gray curtain coming down. I remember very clearly thinking "This is is, I'm gone." No fear, no sorrow, just a calm acceptance. I was quite surprised when I woke up right there in the radio room. No major changes, but my right arm was sore for a week.

16

Apology for 1975, what the Watchtower said ???

by run dont walk in

i'm reading crisis of conscience again, on page 253, at the end of the chapter on 1975, he says the watchtower made an apology for all the hype regarding 1975, apparently stated in the march 15, 1980 watchtower.. can someone please post this ????????.

blondie, where are you !!!!!!!!!!.

anyone know of any other statements the watchtower said regarding their mistake in hyping this ??

DocBob

i'm reading crisis of conscience again, on page 253, at the end of the chapter on 1975, he says the Watchtower made an apology for all the hype regarding 1975, apparently stated in the March 15, 1980 Watchtower.

See my web article at http://docbob1.home.comcast.net/apologies.htm

5

Millions now living will never die - regular Wt quote, book 1920

by Deleted in

evenin' all.

does anyone have a good feel for when was the last time the borg used "millions now living will never die" in a study article and quoted a date (if my memory serves me it was a talk from 1918, forever quoted as a "look!

we nearly got one right refereence").

DocBob

Blondie wrote:

w90 4/1 p. 31 Questions From Readers

For example, the lecture "Millions Now Living May Never Die," first delivered in 1918 and published in booklet form in 1920, told of Christendom?s failure and of the approaching end of this world.

Later it was changed to:

w02 9/1 p. 25 "I Would Not Change a Thing!"

IN THE summer of 1929, when I was two years old, something wonderful happened to my father, Matthew Allen. He obtained the booklet Millions Now Living Will Never Die!, published by the International Bible Students, as Jehovah?s Witnesses were then known.

Proclaimers Book p. 719 Noteworthy Events in the Modern-day History of Jehovah?s Witnesses

1918 The discourse "The World Has Ended?Millions Now Living May Never Die" is first delivered, on February 24, in Los Angeles, California. On March 31, in Boston, Massachusetts, the talk is entitled "The World Has Ended?Millions Now Living Will Never Die"

Here's the final word on the "Millions" campaign

*** w95 2/15 p. 9 There Will Be a Resurrection of the Righteous ***

Many who had hoped to be among the "millions" who would never die have indeed died

22

The Hitler Files. The WT had relations with UN. Also with Hitler.

by avengers in

this is part of a letter that rutherford wrote to the german empire before ww 2. .

in the declaration of facts, rutherford wrote: .

the present government of germany has declared emphatically against big business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nation.

DocBob

Can you give us the rest of the letter? I'm no fan of Rutherford, but it sounds like the text you've quoted might be flattery to soften Hitler before asking him to be nicer to the witnesses. Nothing wrong with that.

You can find the "Declaration of Facts" and the letter to Hitler that accompanied it in the "Documents" section of http://docbob1.home.comcast.net

39

Where is the MONEY REALLY GOING? -- Special Assembly Days, etc

by EyeDrEvil in

i have always wondered why it cost so much to "rent" the space used for local special assembly days and circuit assemblies.... in our case, the society built a large assembly hall, on donated farm land (= free), in the middle of some corn fields 20 miles outside of columbus, ohio... the property has a couple of apartments where some of the travelling overseers live, who help with the upkeep of the building.

cleaning the building was taken care of because of our "privilege" to go out the day before the assembly to get it in good shape (free housekeeping and maintenance work).. so, the society owns the building.

it was built on free land.

DocBob

This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. I worked in the finance department at the circuit assemblies for about 5 years. Man! did I learn some stuff there. Here are a few things in no particular order.

The WTS does not support the circuit assemblies at all - zip, nada, zilch. In fact the circuit assemblies are a good money maker for the WTS. Our little circuit sent $2000 to the WTS each assembly. $1000 each to the worldwide work and the kingdom hall building fund.

They make the announcement at noon on Sunday about how far behind they are. They usually are pretty far behind. The Sunday afternoon contributions are always the largest by far. Only once did we end up short.

Each circuit's assemblies have to be accounted for separately. IOW if you run over on one, you can't carry the surplus over to the next one. The one time we came up short, we were told that we could not just take the money out of the circuit's bank account to cover the shortfall, but that the money had to come from the congregations. So a letter went out to the congregations telling them what their part of the shortfall was. All the while the circuit had money in the bank and several thousand dollar "on deposit with the Society" - meaning we were giving the WTS an interest free loan.

Circuit overseers are reimbursed for their expenses by the congregations. If a congregation declines to reimburse him, he must report it to Brooklyn.

All of this is the way it was when I stepped down in 1995 here in the U.S. Your mileage may vary.

10

NBC DATELINEU P D A T E!!!

by zev in

jw
friends

update!

they have changed the date of the dateline show.

it is tentatively scheduled for may 28 2004 at 8:00 pm (est) now .

DocBob

I lived in Spfld..was baptized at Narragansett racetrack in '72....

My wife and I were baptized at the old Nastygansett track in '74. We live in Maine

41

Powerful Lines from Powerful Movies

by dh in

jw
friends

la amistad

cinque speaking of his ancestors.

"i will call into the past from back to the beginning of time and beg them to come and help me at the judgment.

DocBob

You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale! And I won't have it! Is that clear?

You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow--tidal gravity--it is ecological balance.

You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no Third Worlds. There is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariant, multinational dominion of dollars. Petrodollars, electrodollars, multidollars, reichmarks, rheims, rubles, pounds and shekels.

It is the international system of currency which determines the quality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature!

And

you ... will ... atone!

NETWORK , Paddy Chayevsky (1976)

19

mother called!!

by boy@crossroads in

jw
friends

my mother knows i haven't been going to the meetings lately.

we haven't officially had a 'heart to heart' yet.

well she calls up today (sunday after about lunchtime) and immediately begins asking 'where were you yesterday, i tried to call you 5 times?

DocBob

Those of you whose parents (or anyone else) calls to invite you to the "Special Talk" might ask them just what it is about the "Special Talk" that is so "Special." I gave a few of them during my days as a JW. What usually happens is that after the "Special Talk" is given, the outline for the talk later becomes one of the normal talk outlines. At that point, I suppose it ceases to be special.

In the long run, the only thing that is special about the Special Talk is that it has been deemed "Special" by those who wrote it, distributed it and promoted it. Other than that, it is the same old bovine byproduct.