sorry if anyone has already posted on this but i did not see anything related in the few pages of active topics i checked.. last saturday i went to an oil change facilty and one of their perks is they give you a copy of the current usa today while you wait in your car.
on page 8a is a full page ad titled "liberty of conscience threatened.... a national sunday law will be established as the mark of the beast.".
the article then goes on a typical adventist rant about how saturday, not sunday, is the real sabbath established by god.
Athanasius,
Thanks for that.
CT Russell was for a time involved with a group that called themselves the Second Adventists, who - like the SDA - had emerged from the wreckage of William Miller's 1844 fiasco. Whether, though, he was exactly "friends" with the Second Adventist's Nelson Barbour could be open to question.
Bill.
i was looking on google earth the other day, take a look at it, the entire world.
notice how all of the countries and lands which were involved in all the biblical events are desert wastelands.
i thought to myself, did they destroy the soil and nothing will grow, well lets see how much rain they get a year.
Europe north of the Mediterranean lies in the path of year-round westerly winds, which ensure a regular and reliable rainfall:
- unlike the Mediterranean area (including its eastern margin) that receives the westerly winds only during the winter months (and sometimes not at all).
Furthermore, these moisture-laden westerly winds are forced to shed a higher than normal amount of precipitation as they ascend the mountain chain of the alps. (What is known as the orographic effect). There is no evidence to suggest that Europe was ever a desert, and it is extremely unlikely that any such evidence would ever be found!
Bill.
i was looking on google earth the other day, take a look at it, the entire world.
notice how all of the countries and lands which were involved in all the biblical events are desert wastelands.
i thought to myself, did they destroy the soil and nothing will grow, well lets see how much rain they get a year.
Niether.
The climate of any place on the western edge of a continent , and located approximately between latitudes 30 and 40 degrees, is determined by the Sub Tropical High Pressure Cells.
In years of higher rainfall (i.e what farmers would call a "good" year) agriculture has often been attempted in the more marginal areas of these zones (as was the case where I am currently working in South Australia). However, once the more normal rainfall pattern resumes, these efforts quickly fail - leaving behind evidence that could be interpreted as "the climate was once different."
The supernatural played little part in all this - and human activity not much more!
Bill.
my dad heard from the co who heard from a do that heard from his brother-in-law that heard from the friend of a governing body's wife, that the gb is getting very concerned that "the friends" are losing sight of the nearness of the panda-petting paradise.
many of these friends are also looking too critically at the "spiritual food" provided by the "faithful slave class.".
don't tell anyone else, but i hear that the gb has begun testing something new on some of the sheeple.
Satanus,
The accuracy of the Botchtower and Afake magazines reflects every one of those 70-odd steps, too!
Bill.
my dad heard from the co who heard from a do that heard from his brother-in-law that heard from the friend of a governing body's wife, that the gb is getting very concerned that "the friends" are losing sight of the nearness of the panda-petting paradise.
many of these friends are also looking too critically at the "spiritual food" provided by the "faithful slave class.".
don't tell anyone else, but i hear that the gb has begun testing something new on some of the sheeple.
Let's see:
- You heard it from your father,
- he heard it from the CO,
- the CO heard it from the DO,
- the DO heard it from his brother in law,
- the brother in law heard it from a friend of the wife of a member of the Governing Body.
Phew!!!!!!
No wonder rumours get started!
Bill.
maybe these occupations are quoted to make a point, but it loses meaning when maybe 1% of brothers i know actually has these as jobs..
snare&racket,
I know that this isn't directly related to the topic, but warrants a comment anyway.
In our part of the world (The South Pacific) and during the years leading up to 1975, we were even warned against learning a trade:
i.e. "Tying up five years of your life, when the system is almost finished."
That only left "career" options like commercial cleaning.
Following that debacle, I consider myself lucky to eventually qualify in one of the mal-aligned trades, namely, electrician:
- after having 40 years ago been ordered to abandon the Telecommunications Technician apprenticeship that I started out in.
Over the years, one of the tests I have had to carry out on Primary High Voltage Plant is the "Hot Collar" test - and I do continue to get rather hot under the collar when I hear them trying to dictate their career choices on their young people!
Bill.
maybe these occupations are quoted to make a point, but it loses meaning when maybe 1% of brothers i know actually has these as jobs..
Even if the term "window washers and cleaners" isn't always to be taken literally, there is more than a grain of truth in that expression (as there is with all other cliches).
The fact of the matter is that JWs are over-represented in the lower socio-economic strata;an inevitable result of theWTS's downer on education.
The Judicial Committee that handled my daughter's attempted suicide were certainly well qualified to handle such a sensitive matter (not!), consisting as it did of:
- one boilermaker.
- one laborer.
- and (almost inevitably) one office cleaner.
Bill
this is another fine spiritual gem from the january 2013 study edition.. .
as the great tribulation nears, we do not want to be plagued with such anxious thoughts as these:'could i have done more in god's service?
didn't i pioneer when i had the opportunity?
A rather common perception of religion is that it uses fear to manipulate its people (e.g. by threats of hellfire & damnation).
This lot, though, is more devious than that, and primarily uses guilt to get its way. I can only speak for myself, but guilt seems to be a much more effective means of manipulation than threats of physical harm.
Yeah ......... #%^& the lot of them!
Bill.
PS: How many generations of mugs have they spun this line to now - still insisting that The End is "just around the corner."
the new world translation is not a translation, is mere adaptation, to avoid paying royalties to biblical issues as, king james and other.
beware the glare of lights.
the translation they call "new world translation ... blah blah blah" is not a translation is an adaptation that have been made, it is not a translation, so we say it is anonymous, you can not know their authors and a thousand stories more, would not pay royalties for use other translations like the kjv, and other.
With reference to the Walsh trial of 1954, F.W. Franz actually said that he wouldn't translate into Hebrew the first verse of the Bible - he did NOT say that he couldn't.
Under the circumstances, I would have probably done the same:
- what was on issue during this trial was not Franz's abilities as a bible translator, but whether the Jehovahs Witnesses should be registered as an officially recognised religion (and by extension, its members thus recognised "ministers", who could then be exempted compulsory military service. It was the matter of compulsory military service that brought about this trial).
Some smart *$s of a lawyer, acting for the crown, (and with little or no knowledge himself of the Hebrew language) was trying to put Frederick Franz on the spot. However, as the question was irrelevant to the case, Franz to not have to answer it - and in effect handed back the good old two-fingered salute to the crown solicitor by not doing so!
Whoever this Dr. Martin is, he has not reported this incident accurately when he substitutes the word "wouldn't" with "couldn't."
Bill.
i did.. most of the elders were decent men but i'd say a third weren't the brightest bulbs in the sky..
In all honesty, I cannot recall even one elder who would have fitted in the the "Thick as two Short Planks" category. Most I knew were either of average intelligence, or slightly above. One elder I knew had an IQ level shared by less than 5% of the population (at the high end, too - not the low!)
Rather, what all suffered from, to varying degrees, was a lack of formal education. Given the WTS's downer on education, that was almost inevitable.
Bill.
