Exactly what Gill said.
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JoinedPosts by yadda yadda 2
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Just in case you missed it -- great comment by "easyreader" from another thread
by Alpaca inon metatron's thread about dubs going mainstream easyreader said this:.
another issue causing the decay is the lack of a "date".
in order for a cult to work, there has to be a date where everything will culminate.
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The WTS need a new tentacle of control
by passwordprotected inthe watch tower bible and tract society was founded on the belief that armageddon is imminent.
in the late 1870s when charles t russell gave up his business interests and began preaching that christ had returned - invisibly, of course - in 1874 and that by 1914 the current system would be over with, a religious model pinched from the adventists and millerites, was established.. 1914 came and went, this old system lumbered on, and the wtbts in the person of russell began re-reading his favourite biblical texts and re-calibrating his 'pyramidological' calculations.
yes, his prophecies hadn't come true, but the bible students lived to predict another end of the world.
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Very well written and a nice little summary of the Society's date-based predictions. I always enjoy reading your considered posts Passwordprotected.
Excellent food-for-thought but cannot agree entirely with the conclusion. The organisation has had periods where there was no date in view. You allude to that in your article. After 1925 there was a big gap until 1975 was touted. So what kept the organisation growing between 1926 to the late 1960s?? It was the world events, the depression, famines, another even bigger world war, increasing immorality, etc. Its the same today. We have a global economic recession that could get much worse, there are always wars and rumours of wars going on and increasing fear of nuke weapons, increasing terrorism and sophistication of terrorists, lawlessness and worsening morals, horrible diseases, famine, etc. What keeps the growth continuing is their creed that all these things form a general 'composite sign' since 1914 that will culminate in the Great Tribulation. In fact, most non-JW Christians would also say that we are in the 'season' Jesus spoke about before his return.
All Christians hold to the hope of Christ's return and they are taught in scripture to keep in expectation of this. This scriptural Christian worldview is, however, abused by the likes of the Watchtower organisation to keep control and money flowing in. They have warped the legitimate Christian hope of Christ's return into speculative wishful thinking and cultic mind control.
Of course, they have always used fear, to varying degrees, to keep people afraid of leaving. I agree we are seeing a slight escalation in the directness of the fear language used in the new internal study editions of the Watchtower. Whether this turns into something more extreme remains to be seen but if it does, that won't happen for quite some time I think.
Otherwise, I agree entirely with Lost-in-Translations very insightful comments. We are undoubtedly seeing a more liberal influence at the top level in terms of the JW's works programme (meetings, FS, etc). The agenda indeed appears to be make it easier to be a JW but keep beating the 'end is near' and 'you must stay with us for salvation' drums as loud as ever.
However, I do believe that if the growth begins to severely drop off after 2014, which I expect it will, the Society will begin to hint at 2034 more (120 from 1914; parallel with the "last days" of Noah's system), possibly culiminating in another fairly firm prediction in the late 2020's. But any increasing emphasis on a possible future date like 2034 won't be noticed until a clear trend emerges of a long-term drop in publisher numbers, which trend I expect to start between 2015-2020.
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Here Comes the "Sons Of Light"
by cameo-d inlooks like we have some changes that will probably come about in the next few years.. has anyone heard hints dropped about melchizedek in the wt materials lately?.
i would imagine they will begin with subtle references in preparation.
you know they use tip-toe methods and not any great big announcements.. .
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Yeah that's right WTWizard, blame the Watchtower Society for this one. I bet the Watchtower created Marilyn Manson too.
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Apostates: Weeds in the Garden
by cameo-d inmatthew 13:30. let them come up together till the getting in of the grain; and then i will say to the workers, take up first the evil plants, and put them together for burning: but put the grain into my store-house.. .
this does not refer to jws only.
it refers to all who may have dropped out of the churches; it includes all who do not bow to the controlling man-made religions.. .
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Impressive. The debil himself couldn't have done a better job of twisting Jesus analogy cameo.
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Russia: Nationwide strike at Jehovah's Witnesses
by truthseeker ininteresting news.
to forum 18 news service from the jehovah's witnesses' st petersburg.
russian confessions," the moscow regional public prosecutor's office order.
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JWs have every damn right to refuse to take part in military service of any kind. Go suck eggs on that one Vladimir Putin, you neo-despot. However, the JW's blood policy really is rotten and deserves exposing.
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Exciting News!!!!! Helping Step by Step
by coffee_black ini have posted the beginning of this story a while back.
my 14 year old grandson founded helping step by step to call attention to the plight of homeless children in this country.
he will walk from orlando fl to washington dc this summer, living as close as possible to how a homeless child lives.
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That's absolutely amazing and very inspiring. I hope he has a huge amount of success in helping homeless children through this. JW teenagers could sure take a leaf out of his book.
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If Israel is nuked off the map by Iran ...
by sacolton inwould that mean the bible isn't true?
israel plays a very important part to fulfill prophecy.
your thoughts?.
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What Blondie said. Israel will never be nuked because the Dome of the Rock may be destroyed and because the surrounding Muslim states would also suffer horribly. And if it was nuked the Israelis/USA would nuke Mecca haha.
And in any event, JW's do not believe modern-day Israel plays any part whatsoever in the fulfillment of bible prophecy. Are you even a former JW?
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I agree. The lack of compassion at the JC level and willingness to disfellowship makes me sick. I take it as proof that they do not have genuine love for their own, a mark of true Christianity.
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Why do JW's hate EX-JW'S more than WORLDLIES?
by african GB Member indo they feel intimidated by the fact that ex-jw's know all about the way they function as an organization?
(well except what happens at the "back room" and at gb decision making meetings)..... is it because they can still "catch" worldlies?.
...or is it because ex-jw's could poison those still in "the truth"?.
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When I was a JW (I was born into the religion) my feelings about ex-JW's depended on why they were an ex-JW. For example, for someone I used to like who got disfellowshipped for general sins, immorality, etc, I never hated them...in fact I felt kind of sorry for them. I only shunned them because I thought that was the correct scriptural position to take (never having researched and examined other interpretations on the matter). But if I knew the person had dissassociated themselves (much worse than being disfellowshipped) or had been disfellowshipped for apostacy, well, that was another matter. I actually believed they were kind of EVIL! Gone to the dark side...spiritually perverted and perhaps under demonic influence or something. But even then it wasn't a case of hating them. It was more a feeling of disgust and fear (with a smattering of morbid curiosity).
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1914: Look what REALLY Happened!
by cameo-d in1. eschatology of jehovah's witnesses - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia... ground-breaking magic lanternand cinema production the photo-drama of creation in 1914, suggesting that the great pyramid was built by the old testament king-priest melchizedek.
a ...... i know jws who are spooked by using even the word "magic".
they feel it is demonic.
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Weird, very weird.