dropoffyourkeylee

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Posts by dropoffyourkeylee

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  62

  Mark Sanderson - Why Is the Newest GB Member Suddenly So Prominent?

  by Oubliette in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've noticed something that is very odd even by wt/gb standards.

  why is mark sanderson suddenly so prominent in all things wt/jw?.

  others have commented on the obvious narcissism of the gb pushing themselves to the fore recently, in particular after their huge doctrinal change at proclaiming themselves and only themselves as the faithful and discreet slave.. this is clearly true as evidenced at the agm, not only throughout the agm, but also in the video that was featured as part of that meeting.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I am with some of the comments that Sanderson is not particularly prominent, any more than the others. But I do think that we are looking at a conscious change. In years past most Witnesses would have had difficulty naming the GB members, let alone identify them by sight. They were seldom pictured in the literature at all, and you might only see their names a time or two a year, maybe in the Gilead graduation article. But now it is almost like they are deliberately creating a PR image for them. Hero worship of prominent people is common in the world-- just watch the news-- but the WT has studiously avoided it until now.
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  29

  Watchtower Farms Cemetery

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did someone post this already?.

  the list of the watchtower farms cementery.... http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&gscid=2403939.

  gorby.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Giovanni DeCecca

  1879-1965

  When I visited Bethel in abt 1976, Sister DeCecca was still living and was one of the highlights to be able to meet. She was quite old and had little to say except simple greetings. Believe it or not, she had a Bethel job even at that age and was working in the Bethel laundry, though honestly she didn't seem to be doing anything.

  Her husband Giovanni DeCecca was one of the 7 people sent with Rutherford to the Atlanta Pen in 1918. He was of very short stature, and was born in Italy. In 1918 he was not one of the directors of the Society, contrary to some of the published accounts, but I think he was a director in the later years.

  I am surprised to see his name listed as buried at WT farms, at the same time I wonder where his wife is.
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  29

  Watchtower Farms Cemetery

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did someone post this already?.

  the list of the watchtower farms cementery.... http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&gscid=2403939.

  gorby.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  bump, in case anyone else cares to comment
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  29

  Watchtower Farms Cemetery

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did someone post this already?.

  the list of the watchtower farms cementery.... http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&gscid=2403939.

  gorby.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  How about compiling a brief bio of each of the 160 names at the WT cemetery. Here's one that I remember meeting back in the day.

  John Kurzen 1913-1980

  Mr Kurzen was a longtime Bethelite. He had his brother Russell had both been there since the 30's when I met them in the late 70's. John was a bit of an inventor and tinkerer. He had supposedly designed the Fisher body emblem and received royalties for each car that Chrysler made. He had enough money to have his own car (a Citroen). He was the man who designed the folding phonograph that the JW's carried door to door to play Rutherford's sermons. Both the Kurzens were friendly and pleasant to talk to.
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  29

  Watchtower Farms Cemetery

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did someone post this already?.

  the list of the watchtower farms cementery.... http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&gscid=2403939.

  gorby.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Here's a question. I thought I would look to see which of the burials was the oldest, and found A H MacMillan who died in 1966. But the attached obit says "He was buried August 29, 1966 at the Bethel Family plot in Staten Island. " Were his remains removed or is the obit in error?
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  6

  1984 Bible release vs. now

  by rebel8 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in 1984 a revised nwt was released.. i lived in jw fundieland at the time and i believe thats the year i got baptized.

  this was the tail end of the great apostasy scare and a great gearing up for armageddon because we were told, in print, that it would come in the 20th century.

  we were positively whipped up into a fervor.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I agree, this is a very different release than the '84 version. That one had almost no change to the wording of the text, only single words changed here and there. Also added were cross references, appendix, etc. This time they have actually reworded large parts for the sake of readability. While the way the NWT had been translated (literal, which retains some of the original flavor) has some merit, overall it was so difficult to read for any period of time that it discouraged Bible reading. This time it is actually readable. It is a very significant change in the intent of the translation.
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  49

  My highlights from the AGM

  by Apognophos in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some of this will not be new to those of you who read other people's notes, but i bet there are a few new bits for you here, so i've provided a user-friendly table of contents, as an homage to the contents that appear before each book of the bible in the new nwt.

  i might remember more highlights later, as i'm rather tired right now, but this is what i can recall off the top of my head.. contents (use of quote marks in this section is facetious; these are not actual quotes).

  "say, did you notice that 2014 is the 100th anniversary, people?".

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Thanks Apog and all for the comments and insights.

  I'm a little confused by this one:

  Have they changed John 8:58. Apart from the disputed theology, "I was" has been criticised as simply poor English. Has it been altered to "I have been" or rephrased altogether?

  Good guess, slimboyfat. This verse now indeed ends "I have been"!

  because in the NWT I have it has always read 'I have been'. The one I have is the 1984 study version.
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  22

  A major change in the new song book I initially overlooked

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it occurred to me the other day that i am beginning to forget the tunes to all the old kingdom songs i once knew by heart.

  so i have started recording myself singing a few of my favourites from the old song book and uploading them to youtube.

  and it struck me as i was singing them how many of the old songs have a military theme running through them, with references to warfare, soldiers, weapons and so on.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Good observations everyone. I have noticed the same thing, but to see all the changes commented on in one place is very convincing. I personally think it has a lot to do with making the songbook acceptable to different cultures and languages. After all, some of the hymns in the US from the 1800's had a military theme, so didn't sound too much out of place in the WT heartland in the early part of the last century. But you take the same words, translate to Swahili and try to get an African audience to sing it... I'm sure there were some awkward moments.

  On another related note, the song 'Shulamite Maiden' has had the words completely changed, though the tune remains in the new songbook. I'm sure it is because the words were a little too explicit, even though they came right from the Song of Solomon.
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  15

  Demon materialization image in 1978 booklet Unseen spirits page 13 ?

  by trackregister99 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the image of page 13 of booklet "unseen spirits" from 1978 show a animal similar to a monkey, but it have the pointy ears.

  it is a demon materialization?.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  It is human nature to see patterns and attribute motives where none exist. My opinion is that all the supposed subliminal artwork is simply artwork that is bad, followed by equally bad (or worse) duplication in cheap publication. I knew a guy once who went to work for the Society in the art department. He said that even the best artwork really gets butchered by the time it appears in print.
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  3

  WT and dual prophecies

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  growing up, i knew of two, maybe three dual prophecies in the bible espoused by wt, matt 24 being the main one (last days), daniel 4 being the other (2520 years), and possibly one other, but i can't recall from back then.

  nowadays, it seems as if nearly every prophecy in the bible has two fulfillments, according to wt.

  prophecies in jeremiah, malachi 3:1 (yep, right from the 7/15/13... how they get the "jesus inspected the spiritual temple" thing and now that russell was a forerunner to fds 2.0), even psalm 37 has a dual prophecy... most often applied to "paradise earth", it also applied during solomon's reign, when it was a time of peace.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  When I was growing up, it seemed like every single prophecy in the Old Testament was supposed to have a second fulfilment. Back then it was called 'type' and 'antitype'. I found out later that the concept was common in Bible literature of the 1800's