that book is just as insane as the others...and focuses on building why 1914 is the year, while glossing over the failed prophesies.
yet, my husband thinks it answers many of the questions i had.
.
Watchtower-Free:
http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/the-cedars-review-gods-kingdom-rules
Background:
"God's Kingdom Rules" is the 2014 rehash of "Jehovah’s Witnesses – Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom".
That book was a disgusting attempted whitewash of 120 years of cult crime.
The new fiction-book goes even further; the usual technique is omitting events entirely, but there's also creative dissembling.
That's all the Sicksiety has got better at - LYING and SWINDLING.
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Focus
("Hating Liars" Class)
greetings, all those still searching, still wondering .
.. in one of many faith-related books i have read, i recall the author declaring that there's a difference between what we know and what we believe.
while i cannot recall the author nor his commentary, i acknowledge that, while i do know ttatt and that the bible in not without error, yet there's a part of me deep inside that holds onto the so-called spiritual.. how is it for you personally as you make the transition from the invisible to the visible?
Yes, Scully.
Furthermore, the more deep-rooted is the suspicion that the faith may be at least a bit "off", the more strenuous will be the preaching. The preacher is largely preaching to himself and trying to shut out those (in the case of WTS teaching, "Satan-inspired") doubts.
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Focus
("Shrink" Class)
..specifically, the suffering of animals.
you can talk about free will/sin/people choosing to not listen to god etc to explain human suffering being allowed.. but how can you love a god that allows animals, that haven't sinned or chosen to not have anything to do with god, to have their short lives ended in often long, drawn out, painful ways.
i could list stories i've read that would probably make you feel ill, but i'm not looking to shock anyone or start an emotional debate.
ablebodiedman, how did God drown the fishes and other marine creatures during the Great Flood?
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Focus
("Me Bible is Busted!" Class)
greetings, all those still searching, still wondering .
.. in one of many faith-related books i have read, i recall the author declaring that there's a difference between what we know and what we believe.
while i cannot recall the author nor his commentary, i acknowledge that, while i do know ttatt and that the bible in not without error, yet there's a part of me deep inside that holds onto the so-called spiritual.. how is it for you personally as you make the transition from the invisible to the visible?
Noted, FadeToBlack, lol.
OP Question: Do you "believe" differently from what you "know"?
Focus Answer: For reasons I can't go into, I'm linked to Samuel Langhorne Clemens , of whom you probably know (by his pen name, at least).
He and I usually think identically too.
He wrote:
FAITH IS BELIEVING WHAT YOU KNOW AIN'T SO.
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Focus
("Succinct" Class)
most of us are reasonably familiar with reports of scandalous goings-on of that old jellyfish lecher, the founder of the watchtower cult, the one and only charles taze russell.. but, are these stories true?.
this thread is going to be devoted to his allegedly scurrilous activities.
so, bookmark it, please, bro' focus is in possession of noo light, and we're going to explore russell like you've never seen him explored before.. we're approaching his 100th death anniversary, and for all i know this virtual exhumation may lead to a real one.
Scott77, you are right. On checking, I see it is because the bulletin-board code automatically converted the .COM I had put in the link into .NET within the generated HTML - you can see this by hovering your cursor over the link in your own post, and seeing the URL indicated will be to .NET even though the text below your cursor says .COM.
The .COM address is the correct one. The other one doesn't work.
Clearly, this has been done intentionally, so don't bother Simon about it - there's obviously a reason somewhere. In general, the programming quality on this BB is excellent; all the other anti-WTS ones were absurdly clunky by comparison.
It is easy to get around. Indeed, I've bodged around this - go back and look at my post, please, and use the proxy/redirection link there.
I generally avoid using such shorteners as there, as it requires trust - the clicker doesn't know where the link is going to.
However, you can trust me, and further you can explicitly find where a tinyurl link goes to by inserting preview before the tinyurl
e.g. to see where http://tinyurl.com/FarkelFocus redirects to, without actually going there, use http://preview.tinyurl.com/FarkelFocus
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Focus
("Linked" Class)
i will make this clear, i am not a christian (but i am a former jw).
i have noticed a trend among christians and something i wanted to discuss.
it is that those with the strongest faith, the deepest emotional connection to hope and swallow the stories of the bible the deepest.
Your point is sound, free2beme:
those with the strongest faith, the deepest emotional connection to hope and swallow the stories of the bible the deepest. Are often people with serious drug and alchohol problems in the past
On a slightly light-hearted note, it is pretty obvious that the non-Prophet Daniel was on drugs when he made his contributions to the Babble, wasn't he?
And what about those loonies in Bethel who came up with:
... they simply must have been on drugs, right?
Anyone thinking that if this weird, possibly drug-addicted chap on the throne was ever going to get away with forcing me to change my diet to grass / straw / carrots , while having to watch my old enemies lying down with lambs, better think again!
The reason I'm apparently snoozing in that tree on the right is probably because I'm waiting for the clouds to blow the throne a bit closer - and then I'll take out the weirdo.
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Focus
("Carnivore" Class)
most of us are reasonably familiar with reports of scandalous goings-on of that old jellyfish lecher, the founder of the watchtower cult, the one and only charles taze russell.. but, are these stories true?.
this thread is going to be devoted to his allegedly scurrilous activities.
so, bookmark it, please, bro' focus is in possession of noo light, and we're going to explore russell like you've never seen him explored before.. we're approaching his 100th death anniversary, and for all i know this virtual exhumation may lead to a real one.
Too many of you to thank individually - so, instead, a group <<<THANKS!>>>I'll single out one person, startingover, for reply, as he mentioned my good friend and colleague, the recently departed Doug Checketts:
I feared with the passing of Farkel that an in depth expose' of WT history would be a thing of the past. Focus, it seems you have been absent for some years, and I wasn't familiar with you as I just missed the days of witnet and H2O and joined this site 9 months after you, but I am so glad you are back.
Well, if you look at http://tinyurl.com/FarkelFocus (a long and ridiculous thread, one of half a dozen such threads - not started by spannerintheworks, but by sinister sources - dedicated to tracking me down, lol; too long a tale to tell here, and too early to tell it yet as justice is still in progress), this is what Good Brother Farkel had written about Zone Overseer Focus...
Farkel
I know exactly who THAT focus is. The question is, is that focus the Focus who posts in here? In fact, Focus has already posted Crit's full name on this board. Those who want to know can look it up. Note my use of upper and lower case names when the talk about focus/Focus in this note. Frankly, I don't give a shit who Focus really is. He gives good information, doesn't tolerate fools and is a total asshole. He's a lot like me (except he has an extra dose of steroids and verbosity thrown in.) Farkel
Well, startingover, there you have it. Per Farkel, Farkel + Steroids = Focus. Who am I to argue, lol?
Knowing Farkel would not like to be remembered in a sad, doleful way, but instead celebrating life as he always did, I would add that while he was a lot older than I am, he was one of my most able students in online cult-crimefighting, kingdom-proclaiming, Good News preaching and convert-making.
Farkel's blend of wit, sarcasm and irony was all his own; I cannot replace it. But I can wield, and have often wielded, both the battle-ax and the rapier, just like he could and did.
And I salute Farkel...
Now, please do keep this thread bookmarked, because I have a LOT of material and research on the evil, immoral scammer Russell.
His illicit adulterous affair with Rose Ball (the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming that there was one) probably occurred after she had reached adulthood - then 21 years at that time (late 1880s and early 1890s) and place - or at the earliest started in the very last year of her minority.
However, both Emily Matthews and Ruth Galbraith were underage when they fell into the Pastor's clutches...
... all to be stripped bare here! I think previous researchers spent far too much time on Rose. Oh, I'll explore her too, never fear.
Now see Luke 6:43 or Matt. 7:18 - and since the Watchtower is the fruit of Russell's tree, I'm sure you will see the application.
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Focus
("Farkel" Class)
most of us are reasonably familiar with reports of scandalous goings-on of that old jellyfish lecher, the founder of the watchtower cult, the one and only charles taze russell.. but, are these stories true?.
this thread is going to be devoted to his allegedly scurrilous activities.
so, bookmark it, please, bro' focus is in possession of noo light, and we're going to explore russell like you've never seen him explored before.. we're approaching his 100th death anniversary, and for all i know this virtual exhumation may lead to a real one.
Oh man...keep these coming. Fascinating!
Thank you, daringhart13, Londo11 and Jeanette. There's much more to come, I assure you, and much of it "new".
For example, much has been made in this very forum of the fact that Rose Ball has been proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, to have been born in 1869 and so was not in her early teens when she came into the Russell household, for Russell to later prance with. She was probably 19 or so, and 25 when he jellyfished her. While there's little doubt, from all the intense activity, appointments (to the Top Seven in the WTS) of Rose, etc., that she and Russell conducted an affair, it wasn't pedophilia.
The mistake, made many a time, is that Rose Ball was the "servant girl" referred to in the divorce proceedings.
But she wasn't! A careful read of the transcript shows that either there was a mass hiccup, with no one noticing a gaffe, or "the servant girl" is someone else.
I can reveal the servant girl was one Emily Matthews ... and she was quite probably underage.
But, you must wait.
Jeanette, I don't think what you wrote was actually of interest to Russell. He had other perversions. Which we shall explore.
scroll down slowly (spoiler space below) so that the great god's plan is only progressively revealed to you:.
now, i ask you in all honesty - what could be clearer than the above?.
god's plan clearly jumps out of the illustration, doesn't it?.
Its plain to see that Jehovah had chosen only poorly educated idiots as his direct channel to all mankind
Yes, Finkelstein, but Russell did graduate in experiential phooosics with young Emily Matthews, the "servant girl" into whom he regularly went... Give academic credit where its due.
She's the one so many re-researchers missed - instead focussing on the older Rose Ball, with whom legal consent was possible even at the time she first entered the enchanted Russell lovenest.
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Focus
("Phoosics" Class)
scroll down slowly (spoiler space below) so that the great god's plan is only progressively revealed to you:.
now, i ask you in all honesty - what could be clearer than the above?.
god's plan clearly jumps out of the illustration, doesn't it?.
Thanks, Dis-Member! But that's how I typed it - promise! AMBURGH. "Demons Infest Focus's Keyboard!"- time for a booklet!
More seriously, I'm buried knee-deep in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and over their years they've used numerous creative variations on Van Amburgh's name. Deliberate errors or tweaking, I wouldn't know. Here's one:
One thing the BDE (almost) never forgot, and then was to put quotation marks around the "Pastor" in front of "Russell"
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Focus
("Error" Class)
