inbetween

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Posts by inbetween

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  33

  Branch offices in Europe are closing

  by Samuel Thorsen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have from a safe source that the bethel branch office in austria, ireland, italy and switzerland are closing down in the near future.

  most of the business will be taken care of from the german bethel.

  nothing is said thru official channels yet, but there is no reason to doubt my source.. can anyone tell more about this topic?.

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  inbetween

  yes its true, they are closing several branches in Europe, what i heard, at the end of the year...and Selters takes over.

  its propbaly reasonable from a business point of view.

  However, it will be conveyed to the bros as blessing from Jehovah.....
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  32

  What Is The Watchtower Afraid Of?

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you follow the current nonsense being taught by the society, in its latest magazines and assembly parts, there seems to be a dominant theme about near worship of the "faithful slave" and tiresome nagging about 'obey, obey, obey'.. my unanswered question is: why?.

  if they were the empire in star wars, i would expect to hear dark-robed members of the evil governing body muttering about " a disturbance in the force".. anyhow, what has changed to generate this sudden demand for obedience to their supposed authority?

  some years ago, they panicked after contributions collapsed in the 'voluntary donation arrangement'.

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  inbetween

  consfearacy said:

  "If there's an organization dedicated to this purpose, why should they be subjected to harsh and unreasonable criticism when new understanding is discovered?"

  my reply: that is not the issue. The problem of the org is, that they claim to be spirit directed, to be the only true religion, they demand strict obedience ("may we never question the FDS", "follow the FDS no matter what"), they sanction objection against their teaching harshly, they deny past wrong views and blame it on the flock, and so on..

  If they would humbly admit that they are often just guessing, and act accordingly, nobody would harshly or unreasonable critisize them...
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  74

  When Was The Last Time You Went To A Meeting?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i think it's been around 7 years for me.

  and i never ever missed going or being with the "friends"..

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  inbetween

  XPeterX - me too, 2 days ago...
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  46

  Pagan Origins

  by brotherdan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so all of us that grew up as witnesses never did certain things because of them having pagan origins.

  why don't we celebrate christmas?

  pagan origins.

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  inbetween

  For the sake of argument:

  According to my old JW understanding: anything that is still religious and the same time of pagan origin is wrong.

  example: Christmas, still a religiuos festival today (mostly ) and has clear pagan connections (birth of sun, god Mithra etc)

  this I can compare to the calf worship in Israel, dedicated to God, but origins in Egyptian religion.

  on the other hand, I never understood the birthday thing, yes it is connected to pagan origins, but its not religious anymore, its the same as wedding rings, or make-up etc...

  I asked once about the thanksgiving, since there is no pagan origin at all, and they came up with some strange explanation about connection to nationalism...didnt make sense...
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  59

  Question for Titus

  by Albert Einstein in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  titus, you today made a statement regarding an essential wt doctrine: .

  i am an active jw.. can i tell you what that doctrine is?.

  bullshit!.

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  inbetween

  Titus: its up to you, but personally I´d like you to stay. Why ? This board is very interesting, I learned incredibly much, and I made some very beneficial internet-acquaintances. This board also benefits from its variety. IMHO it needs all kind of opinions, from bitter x-JW, to inactive ones, to those of the conscious class, even those apologists (like debator and BANE). All their differing opinions, experiences together helps to find out the facts and also the path for oneself.

  A little remark to your assessment about 97% right, 3% wrong.

  Its probably difficult to determine a percentage. Is it by the number of statements ? How would other Christian religions perform on such a scale ?

  maybe catholics are 60% right, and 40% wrong ? What about babstists ? 80 : 20 ratio ?

  When does it start to become the "truth" ? With 90 % ? or 95 %?

  How do you weigh certain things ? for example: Witnesses are right about trinity ? but wrong about 1914 ? What is more important ?

  or another example: witnesses are right about hellfire ? but wrong about blood issue ? what is heavier ? what caused more good or more harm ?

  If somebody was always scared about hellfire, becoming a JW might freed him from that, so he might view this as something important. On the other hand, what about somebody who lost his loved ones, because he/she refused a blood fraction, that is now allowed ? What counts more for him ?

  So to asses how much witnesses are right or wrong, it very much depends on the method of counting and even more so on personal experiences
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  13

  tract campaigns

  by seenitall in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why the tract & invitation campaigns?

  it is the only way to get the regular pubs out into the field.

  there is now a general letdown of activity to go out, followup and keep going.

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  inbetween

  every time such a tract campaign is coming up, its always been emphasized, how new ones, children, or even reactivated ones can use this simple method of preaching to get started (again)

  its not for the people, its for the witnesses, ...or better for the numbers on the Borg...
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  55

  God's Name Discussion

  by garyneal in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  several weeks ago, i was attending a meeting with my wife and i brought my king james translation of the bible with me.

  one of the brothers came up to me after the meeting and asked me what translation did i have and i showed it to him.

  he asked if i knew that god's name appeared in that translation and i said, "yes, psalms 83:18 i do believe.

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  inbetween

  Maybe you can ask:

  Do you believe the bible was preserved accurately to our time ? So that we have to take into consideration even each single word to understand the scriptures right ? (JW does this all the time, example: "abstain from blood", or "flee from fornication", etc, and then they ellaborate on those words)

  He most likely will say, yes Jehovah preserved his word, so we can rely on it today .

  Ok, so why was he not able to preserve his own name in there ?

  worst case answer: Well, he did, because he uses his modern day people to restore it again....
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  11

  Exchange of Literature between God's Organization and Babylon The Great

  by garyneal in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read a similar thread concerning scars that a boy got from and alligator and from his loving mother and how that was related to scars in our life from satan and god (jehovah).

  reading this and other threads here that shows how witnesses use material from "babylon the great" for spiritual uplifting made me think of an couple of experiences my wife shared with me during her field service.. .

  one experience was when she was out in service with her dad.

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  inbetween

  no personal experience, but second hand from somebody in my congo, heard it quite a few times, different occasions, were pastors used material from WT for their sermons.

  hm, thinking about it, I did not ask, how he used it ? Did he use it as an example for false teaching ? who knows...

  anyway most brothers viewed it as an additional way of distributing the content of the mags...

  btw. literature exchange: I remember as a little boy, my mom (a JW) received from a neighbor, who was an adventist, one of their books, she kept if for a few days (I guess to be polite) and I peeked in it. apparently this book was designed for talking to JW.

  still remember what it said about the "great crowd" in Rev. 7, that there is the same word in Rev. 19, were this crowd is in heaven. This bugged me for a long time, because in my mind I could not really refute it...
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  11

  elder school 2011

  by inbetween in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we received a letter announcing elder school starting fall 2011, it will be one whole week !!!!!.

  the kms school for 1 1/2 days were already long enough, now 5 long days ?.

  what can possibly be taught in 5 days ?.

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  inbetween

  we received a letter announcing elder school starting Fall 2011, it will be one whole week !!!!!

  What is going on ? The KMS School for 1 1/2 days were already long enough, now 5 long days ?

  Is there something up ? Has this been already in the US ? What can possibly be taught in 5 days ?

  I know in the sixties there were schools even longer, but nowadays ?
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  81

  David Splane in Pictures

  by VM44 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  inbetween

  he looks like Gollum....."my precious",