Posts by OnTheWayOut

51

Did Jesus exist? Probably not

by The 12 Apostates in

jw
friends

threads about this have been made before, but none have been made for a few years.

i was very much on the fence with this one, i never really cared.

but i became curious recently, having had a few interactions with street preachers.

While I am pretty confident that there was no "Jesus" keep in mind that this is a can of worms.

"They" will tell you that virtually all the scholars, the people in the know somehow, the professors and archaeologists, all of them will confirm that Jesus existed and was crucified. It just isn't so, but because it is so widely believed, it is very hard to present evidence against his existence without them belittling the evidence.

14

"They are so keen, they need to be locked up for the first 6 months!"

by stuckinarut2 in

do we all remember that expression when we were jws?.

someone new would "come into the truth", and be so enthusiastic and keen, that we would all joke about "locking them up for the first 6 months because they would preach to everyone".

jws thought that the passion for "learning the truth" was the issue.

OnTheWayOut

Oh, the same can be true not only when we discover "The truth about The Truth" but also when we discover truths about the Bible itself, the God of Christianity, the length of time man has been on earth, all religion, science.

Most of us know these things, but good reminders.

44

Big Announcement in Montreal

by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

just got the heads up from montreal that 16 congregations will cease to exist from 1 april 2019. also 3 kh are no longer going to be used anymore.

this was a major announcement for many and upsetting.

wonder where the r& f are going to be dispersed with what sacrifices in the way!.

OnTheWayOut

ToesUp: Once the $ is shuffled around, the glorious GB will "disappear in the twinkling of an eye (to the Cayman Islands)." lol

I have said this before. I will help them pack if they hurry up and leave.
(They are going to take the money anyway, might as well end it sooner.)

15

When The Truth - is Not -The Truth

by Esau in

is 607bc being a made up, “plug in” date the only thing that invalidates 1914 from being christ’s time of kingly rein?.

i mean, screw the math & bs formulas.

can 1914 simply work as a starting date for “the last days” simply by the events that occurred??

OnTheWayOut

I posted this on this forum ten years ago:

Here's the real simple version of the complicated doctrine of when Jesus supposedly returned and the last days arrived/ended/started.

William Miller said that Jesus' Return would be in 1844. (See The Great Disappointment at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment ) People who believed what he said were known as "Millerites." It (Jesus' return) didn't happen. This return of Jesus was also known as his second advent, and believers came to be known as Adventists.
Adventist Jonas Wendell suffered in his faith at the Great Disappointment, but later carried the same type of "Millerites" talk in a sermon where Wendell had picked the new date of 1873 or 1874 for Jesus' 2nd return (after studying Bible chronology and being wrong about 1868). 18 year old C. T. Russell heard Wendell in 1870 speak of such a date. Wendell had already published The Present Truth, or Meat in Due Season highlighting such dates. So Wendell invented those terms that would haunt the WT organization and morph into New Light and food at the proper time.

Wendell died in August of 1873, probably confident that his 1873 to 1874 date was correct. When Jesus didn't appear as expected, Russell still believed it (or at least wanted to keep selling pamplets that explained it). He taught that Jesus must have returned invisibly, meaning that Jesus was ruling from Heaven starting in 1874. He taught that 40 years later, a literal application of how long a "generation" was, in 1914, Jesus would take power on the earth. That would mean an end to the Gentile Times in 1914 and an end to the last days- destruction and death and stuff.

Because World War One (coincidentally) started in 1914, Russell used that as a sign that he was correct in his complicated doctrines. He was already good at reinventing understanding rather than admitting he was wrong.

All the rest is just calculated backwards- the stuff about 607 BCE and the 2520 years and the Seven Times.
All of it was just made to fit that understanding. When things didn't work out as planned (again) the people in charge just reinvented the understandings and adjusted the math to fit whatever they wanted it to fit to sell more pamphlets/magazines/books. The end of the last days became the beginning of the last days. 1874 was forgotten. They just kept changing the end-date. They even made terrible errors and just changed the math to fit- they forgot there was no "Year Zero" and changed 606 BCE to 607 BCE.
They kept 1914 because it was so well-known to the followers and they already said "See, we were right" when World War One started. Everything about Nebuchadnezzar and the destruction/building of the temple was just made to fit the math. You can find anything if you work backwards. It's like writing a Sherlock Holmes story. Just work backwards from what a great detective would expect to find and make him look like a genius in discovering those things.

It is so unnecessary to understand the ridiculous theories of WT's present understanding when you can see what it was based on and how it changed to suit their need to get a following and sell pamphlets/magazines/books. It saddens me that I bothered to understand it at one time.

85

''Special Letter'' to be Read In Canada Week of Feb 3,2019

by Beth Sarim in

i have just been informed that there is a 'special letter' to be read at the meetings week of feb 3,2019 in canada.

anybody heard of this!!

just a heads-up!

OnTheWayOut

Codes on lapel badges. I can't help it.

Badges? We don't need badges. I don't have to show them any stinking badges.

Seriously, they invite the public to these events. You don't need a badge and you aren't crashing when there's a public invitation.

30

Legal concerns about: "picnics"

by Darth FayDehr in

"congregation picnic"2.

"congregation gathering"3.

"spontaneous gathering of jws”.

OnTheWayOut

Don't y'all remember the words of Jesus from somewhere in the JW Bible?

"Wherever two or more are gathered in my name.......

......I will deny any responsibility for all of it."

121

What Are Your Rights?

by Simon in

jw
friends

rights seem to be everywhere nowadays.

say hello to someone in the wrong way and you've violated 101 of their human rights.

people imagine they have the right to all sorts of things - food, healthcare, housing, internet ... so many things are labelled basic rights and then you get onto their human rights - a favourite of the do-nothing bodies such as the un to declare.

OnTheWayOut

I think the biggest problem in America (and apparently spreading to Canada) is the huge chasm between the left and the right. We used to be able to agree on some things and disagree on some things. Now, people talk from one extreme end and just piss off the people on the other.

Simon replying to OTWO:
"Yes, and the evidence is that the left has lurched hard to the left but the right has hardly moved...."

Thanks for making my point.

121

What Are Your Rights?

by Simon in

jw
friends

rights seem to be everywhere nowadays.

say hello to someone in the wrong way and you've violated 101 of their human rights.

people imagine they have the right to all sorts of things - food, healthcare, housing, internet ... so many things are labelled basic rights and then you get onto their human rights - a favourite of the do-nothing bodies such as the un to declare.

OnTheWayOut

There are no ideas on the left, there is only lack of thought.

Well, the government cannot take away my thoughts.
I think I have the right to deny such sweeping generalizations.

I think the biggest problem in America (and apparently spreading to Canada) is the huge chasm between the left and the right. We used to be able to agree on some things and disagree on some things. Now, people talk from one extreme end and just piss off the people on the other.

85

''Special Letter'' to be Read In Canada Week of Feb 3,2019

by Beth Sarim in

i have just been informed that there is a 'special letter' to be read at the meetings week of feb 3,2019 in canada.

anybody heard of this!!

just a heads-up!

OnTheWayOut

Dear Canada,

Exciting exciting news.

Either y'all will no longer have half empty halls because we are selling them, .....or the color of your new carts is gray instead of black.

31

Jehovah's Witnesses Called At My Door

by Roger Kirkpatrick in

last saturday morning, i answered a knock at my door to see a man standing next to a young boy who handed me a pamphlet posing the question, "how do you view the bible?

would you say it is (1) a book of human wisdom?

(2) a book of myths and legends?

OnTheWayOut

Your encounter sounded smooth.