Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

I noticed that, too. I haven't had much of a chance to look at it yet. I'll need to get a new 'air sick' barf bag first. I assume it is looking back to the "good ole days" when that evil king on the north was abusive toward our faithful brethren. The JWs behind the iron curtain endured a lot of abuse at the hands of the commies. So, when you look at how wrong, and what a failure communism was, I guess it's supposed to make JWs look that much more 'right' and 'successful'.

Having lived through the 70s as a JW, we were taught that the USSR was going to somehow invade the US, destroy false religion, and start armageddon. I'm assuming the yearbook won't talk about the JW false prophecies about Russia. Seems odd that in all those meetings of the GB and with the Holy Spirit all over the place, they never predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union and their eastern bloc.

That's way better than my joke:

Last month I got two bottles of these great weight loss pills. In the last 2 weeks I've already lost 45 dollars!

The account at 2 Sam. 24 is a most unpleasant picture of YHWH. David took a census, which for whatever reason was a sin. The consequence:

(2 Samuel 24:15-16) 15 Then Jehovah gave a pestilence in Israel from the morning until the time appointed, so that out of the people from Dan to Be´er-she´ba seventy thousand persons died. 16 And the angel kept his hand thrust out toward Jerusalem to bring it to ruin; and Jehovah began to feel regret over the calamity, and so he said to the angel that was bringing ruin among the people: "It is enough! Now let your hand drop."

Oh yeah, great move God, David does something you don't like, so you slaughter 70,000 ISRAELITES ! HE KILLED HIS OWN PEOPLE !! So, Jehovah felt regret. But he didn't resurrect the 70,000. After all, he wanted to make sure that David was suitably punished... by killing 70,000 innocent Israelite worshippers of Jehovah. Real smart. The FDS justifies this:

***w693/15p.191QuestionsFromReaders***

Realizing this, commentators have offered various possible reasons for Jehovah’s viewing David’s census taking as a sin. Some have thought that David erred in not collecting the head tax as God said should be done at such times. Others have felt that the king was showing weakness in trying to find out how large his military force was, instead of depending on God for victory no matter what its size. Yet others say that David might have given in to human pride, wanting to be able to boast over Israel’s importance and glory.

But, as noted, we simply do not know why David’s census was a sin....

As a punishment for this sin Jehovah brought three days of pestilence that killed 70,000 Israelites. (2 Sam. 24:12-16) Was that unjust? Were 70,000 innocent people dying for the king’s error? The Bible plainly shows that we all are sinners deserving of death; it is only by God’s undeserved kindness that we live. (Rom. 3:23; 6:23; Lam. 3:22, 23) So those who died had no special "right" to life. Additionally, can any human today say for sure that those 70,000 were not guilty of some serious sin not mentioned in the historical record?

If those 70,000 were indeed "guilty of some serious sin", I'm sure JHWH would have enumerated their every error.

Putting this account in modern terms, since the FDS keeps a census of how many JWs attend the Memorial, that probably makes God really mad. Right? Would it be righteous on God's part to decide to kill by pestilence Snowbird and 69,999 other worshippers of him. After all, "The Bible plainly shows that we all are sinners deserving of death" and have "no special "right" to life". Or should God just have given the FDS a really painful case of hemorroids? (1 Sam. 5:1-12)

How many more examples of the random murders by the God of the Old Testament would you like to read about?

Oh, and if Jesus is God, who the heck did he pray to all the time? Satan? Michael?

How tragic. Seeing their beautiful young faces, and reading of their decision that life isn't worth living. So sad.

Good job VS!

After a discussion like that, the family will probably be less eager to go door knocking at strangers' houses for quite some time.

Tornadoes suck. Armageddon blows. Therefore, tornadoes have no direct correlation to Armageddon.

No, wait, maybe it's the other way around...

Anyway, take shelter, protect your head, and if you see a scarecrow, tinman, and talking lion, tell them 'hi' from everybody at JWD.

I don't have that issue yet, but I'm amazed at how crappy all the articles have been since the new Study Edition. They are dripping with that type of mind control.

The book study with the Revelation book is something of a joke since some of us have old books and have to make the 'new light' changes, and others have the new printing which also seems outdated. What a waste of time.

TMS and Service Meeting are just sales meetings telling everyone their stupid if they aren't pioneering and don't have several Bible Studies.

At least the Public Talks are shorter. That's good.

I've been meaning to post this gem from the Keep on the Watch brochure:

***

Would

If you knew for sure that the impending execution of divine judgment would not come for a few more years, would that change how you are using your life? If the end of this old system is already later than you expected, have you allowed this to slow you down in Jehovah’s service?—Hebrews 10:36-38.

Our not knowing the exact time gives us opportunity to show that we serve God out of pure motives. Those who know Jehovah realize that a last-minute display of zeal will not impress God, who sees what the heart is.—Jeremiah 17:10; Hebrews 4:13.

For those who truly love Jehovah, he always comes first. Like other people, true Christians may do secular work. However, their goal is, not to get rich, but to have sufficient material goods and a little to share. (Ephesians 4:28; 1 Timothy 6:7-12) They also enjoy wholesome recreation and a change of pace, but their desire is to be refreshed, not simply to do what everyone else is doing. (Mark 6:31; Romans 12:2) Like Jesus Christ, they delight in doing God’s will.—Psalm 37:4; 40:8.

True Christians want to live and serve Jehovah forever. That prospect is not less precious because they must wait for certain blessings a little longer than some may have expected.

This one short series of paragraphs in a box were instrumental in convincing me that everything they had said or written were lies. Talk about mind control cult-speak. The fact is that it was the WTBTS that has fed us the anticipation about the impending end of this system and inflated the expectations of the R&F. The bOrg is the one setting the date, the fact that they have been consistently wrong, means that they are false prophets and do not know God at all. They are not qualified to speak for God. They have no right to tell me what to think. They have no right to tell me to go door-to-door pushing their lies on others. They have no right to tell me that I have to go to their stupid meetings and listen to garbage of their own making.

Of course they can't admit they're wrong. Everyone would leave and the Watchtower would shrivel and die.