bats in the belfry

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Posts by bats in the belfry

• 
  15

  Does the Bible talk about Conscience Matter?

  by Iamallcool in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  just wondering.

  thanks!.

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  bats in the belfry

  I only read about invisible matter. If it's conscious I don't know.
• 
  7

  end times article in watchtower library 2011 cd

  by rather be in hades in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  *** g95 6/22 p. 3 predictions of the worlds end ***.

  anyone read this article?.

  i love how it mentions that end times prophecies have been around forever and they've all failed.. goes on to mention william miller and 1844. mentions harold camping lol.

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  bats in the belfry

  You got to love their footnote explanations.

  Why So Many False Alarms?

  The World's End-How Near?

  THE story is told of a boy who watched the sheep of the villagers. To stir up a bit of excitement, one day he cried out, "Wolf! Wolf!" when there was no wolf. The villagers rushed out with clubs to drive off the wolf, only to find that there was none. It was such great fun that later on the boy repeated his cry. Again the villagers rushed out with their clubs, only to discover that it was another false alarm. After that a wolf did come, and the boy sounded the warning, "Wolf! Wolf!" but the villagers dismissed his cry as another false alarm. They had been fooled too often.

  So it has become with those who proclaim the end of the world. Down through the centuries since Jesus' day, so many unfulfilled predictions have been made that many no longer take them seriously.

  Gregory I, pope from 590 to 604 C.E., in a letter to a European monarch, said: "We also wish Your Majesty to know, as we have learned from the words of Almighty God in Holy Scriptures, that the end of the present world is already near and that the unending Kingdom of the Saints is approaching."

  In the 16th century, Martin Luther, progenitor of the Lutheran Church, predicted that the end was imminent. According to one authority, he stated: "For my part, I am sure that the day of judgment is just around the corner."

  Concerning one of the first Baptist groups, it is reported: "The Anabaptists of the early Sixteenth Century believed that the Millennium would occur in 1533."

  "Edwin Sandys (1519-1588), Archbishop of York and Primate of England . . . says, . . . 'Let us be assured that this coming of the Lord is near.'"

  William Miller, generally credited with founding the Adventist Church, is quoted as saying: "I am fully convinced that sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844, according to the Jewish mode of computation of time, Christ will come."

  Does the failure of such predictions to come true convict as false prophets those who made them, within the meaning of Deuteronomy 18:20-22? That text reads: "The prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. And in case you should say in your heart: 'How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?' when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak."

  There are some who make spectacular predictions of the world's end to grab attention and a following, but others are sincerely convinced that their proclamations are true. They are voicing expectations based on their own interpretation of some scripture text or physical event. They do not claim that their predictions are direct revelations from Jehovah and that in this sense they are prophesying in Jehovah's name. Hence, in such cases, when their words do not come true, they should not be viewed as false prophets such as those warned against at Deuteronomy 18:20-22. In their human fallibility, they misinterpreted matters.

  Undeterred by previous failures, some seem to have been spurred on by the approach of the year 2000 and have made further predictions of the end of the world. TheWallStreetJournal of December 5, 1989, published an article entitled "Millennium Fever: Prophets Proliferate, the End Is Near." With the year 2000 approaching, various evangelicals are predicting that Jesus is coming and that the 1990's will be "a time of troubles that has not been seen before." At the time of this writing, the latest occurrence was in the Republic of Korea, where the Mission for the Coming Days predicted that on October 28, 1992, at midnight, Christ would come and take believers to heaven. Several other doomsday groups made similar predictions.

  The flood of false alarms is unfortunate. They are like the wolf-wolf cries of the shepherd boy-people soon dismiss them, and when the true warning comes, it too is ignored.

  But why has there been such a tendency through the centuries and down to our day for false alarms to be sounded, as Jesus said they would be? (Matthew 24:23-26) Jesus, after telling his followers about different events that would mark his return, said to them, as we read at Matthew 24:36-42: "Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. . . . Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming."

  They were told not only to be on the watch and to be prepared but also to watch with eagerness. Romans 8:19 says: "For the eager expectation of the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God." Human nature is such that when we fervently hope and yearn for something and wait in eager expectation of it, a powerful temptation arises within us to see it at the door even when the evidence is insufficient. In our eagerness false alarms may be sounded.

  What, then, will distinguish the true warning from the false ones? For the answer, please see the following article.

  [Footnotes]

  Jehovah's Witnesses, in their eagerness for Jesus' second coming, have suggested dates that turned out to be incorrect. Because of this, some have called them false prophets. Never in these instances, however, did they presume to originate predictions 'in the name of Jehovah.' Never did they say, 'These are the words of Jehovah.' TheWatchtower, the official journal of Jehovah's Witnesses, has said: "We have not the gift of prophecy." (January 1883, page 425) "Nor would we have our writings reverenced or regarded as infallible." (December 15, 1896, page 306) TheWatchtower has also said that the fact that some have Jehovah's spirit "does not mean those now serving as Jehovah's witnesses are inspired. It does not mean that the writings in this magazine TheWatchtower are inspired and infallible and without mistakes." (May 15, 1947, page 157) "TheWatchtower does not claim to be inspired in its utterances, nor is it dogmatic." (August 15, 1950, page 263) "The brothers preparing these publications are not infallible. Their writings are not inspired as are those of Paul and the other Bible writers. (2 Tim. 3:16) And so, at times, it has been necessary, as understanding became clearer, to correct views. (Prov. 4:18)"-February 15, 1981, page 19.

  g93 3/22 pp. 3-4 / Why So Many False Alarms?
• 
  6

  Hierarchy in a bubble

  by irondork in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  wt doctrine can only go out to the public from the governing body.

  there is no way to for the public to get information back to the governing body - at least not in a public venue.. .

  their web site dispenses information only.

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  bats in the belfry

  . . . YOU FOOLS . . .

  to think you ever had any say in any matter !

  So, to say that we do not need organization or that God directs each individual independently is to deny the interdependent order of the universe and the common provision that Jehovah has made for the sustenance of our physical needs. In fact, our very possession of free will should emphasize to us the need for organization, theocratic organization, that is, ruled by God from the top down.

  w67 10/1 p. 586 par. 6
  
  
  This called for appointment theocratically, from the top down, for all officiating servants in all congregations.

  w71 12/1 p. 719 par. 8
  
  
  No legal corporation of earth shapes the evangelizing organization or governs it. Rather, it governs such corporations as mere temporary instruments useful in the work of the great Theocrat. Hence it is patterned according to His design for it. It is a theocratic organization, ruled from the divine Top down, and not from the rank and file up.

  w71 12/15 p. 754 par. 29
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  18

  Official link of the Disaffiliation of the Watchtower to the UN

  by TheScientist in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello folks,.

  i have other news.. i had seen in the brazilian forum that un had removed the document that speaks about the disaffiliation of the watchtower to it.. however, what really happened was the restructuring of the website, which caused the linkto got invalid... follow the official link of the document directly from the website of the un:.

  http://search.un.org/smb/secf10.un.org/digilib/$/digitallibrary/dig/www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/pdfs/watchtower.pdf.

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  bats in the belfry

  But we can flee from Christendom spiritually by abandoning her worldly, untheocratic system of things and thus get out of her danger zone, leaving her to her fate and having no part with her in her adulterous connections with the United Nations and any other political and commercial system of this old world.

  1953 The Watchtower, 9/15 p. 565 par. 2
• 
  38

  The biggest enemy the Watchtower Corporation faces now is "The Truth"

  by Finkelstein in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  thats my opinion because the wts really has been preaching false information now for so long about the end times and armageddon soon.. also the doctrine that jesus chirt has taken a position over his earthly and heavenly kingdom in 1914 .... etc.

  its been a winfall marketing scheme for such a long time, which now really doesn't have much leg to stand on.. time in conjunction with reality has made the wts's doctrines redundantly weak or useless more or less.. i'm even believing the leaders of the wts are even starting to know this for themselves.. the wts future and its main supporting pieces of literature, the watchtower and awake magazines may eventually be tossed aside.

  for some new doctrines as well newly named pieces of literature .

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  bats in the belfry

  That's why the WTBTS wants you to walk by faith (in them), and not by sight (non-WT authorized internet sites).
• 
  19

  2012 Convention Baptism reports yet?

  by Gayle in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible
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  bats in the belfry

  In Dortmund, Germany, approx 22,000 in attendance - 90 baptisms (0.4%).
• 
  67

  The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses - Explained

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've just finished putting together a fairly exhaustive article that summarizes a number of key details about the governing body that most jehovah's witnesses are completely unaware of.

  a link to the article is below:.

  http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/the-governing-body-of-jehovahs-witnesses-explained.

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  bats in the belfry

  blondie > > Make sure of all things (1953), page 200, heading: Jehovah's Witnesses
• 
  49

  Gutless WTS Leadership From the "Confidentiality" Letter

  by LostGeneration in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the letter leaked today on "confidentiality" had an infurating set of paragraphs on suicides, attempted suicides, and threatened suicides.

  here is the excerpt.. suicides and attempted or threatened suicides.

  20. at times, judicial committees may deal with someone who is so distraught that he attempts.

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  bats in the belfry

  Someone in research perused the old dictionaries Da Judge kept at the Bethel library.
• 
  38

  EARTHSHAKING events will soon occur!

  by dgp in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hey!

  i just read the watchtower for september 15 and learned that.

  momentous events are soon to take place.. .

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  bats in the belfry

  True earthshaking events you can follow here.
• 
  8

  Quick build kingdom Halls.

  by Mall Cop in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anyone know or have an update on the regional committee and the quick build kingdom halls.

  i haven't heard anything about this program for some time now.

  has it quietly gone under or what?

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  bats in the belfry

  In developed countries, and those with high internet accessability, more and more KHs are merged and sold for the sole survival of the core WTS.