fresh out of the jw.org website http://www.jw.org/en/news/by-region/world/jehovahs-witnesses-office-consolidation/ .
the society as from september 2012 is closing 20 branches worldwide .the best bit is the last paragraph :.
workers are available to spend more time preachingbecause of the mergers, qualified ministers who had been serving in small branches can now concentrate on preaching the good news.. a witness in africa, who was reassigned to the preaching activity, wrote: "adjusting my lifestyle to suit the new circumstances was a challenge during the first few months.
Please, can anyone point out any African Branch that was closed? Then we figure out what statement that brother in question refers to.
The JW site in the original post has an accompanying map which seems to show the locations. The African one is somewhere near Nigeria.
Given that we have known about the Central America-to-Mexico consolidation for quite a while, I am uncertain how much of this is news, and how much is just a repeat of last years news.
watchtower's weirdest photograph?.
you wont believe it when you see it.
and is available at: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2012/10/watchtowers-weirdest-photograph.html.
Honestly, though I would like to think that there is some kind of cover-up/ photo manipulation (ala Lenin and Trotsky), I think it is just really poor photography. I think (someone correct me if I am wrong) this photo is in the 124 Columbia Hts dining room, which was still being used as a dining roome last time I was there (sorry so say that was in the late '70's... oops I just gave away my age...) It is disheartening to see how obviously sad those people are, especially Van Ambergh's wife... my god if I ever see my wife so downtrodden, just shoot me.
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.
This post has has raised a number of interesting observations about the SDA, but the original post is based on an apparent misprint. As someone else has already noticed, the New World Translation in English does not read as is stated in the OP, and does not use the word 'Saturday' there in Acts 20:7. The newspaper ad referred to must be a misprint and is referring to another translation.
oompa,.
i'm sorry that you had to endure the pain you did.
regardless if you believe in god or not, what you were going through was sheer hell.. i'll keep this short, i won't eulogize you too long, 'cause i can kind of detect that you'd hate that.
Eric, I have lost two other dear ones, besides you, my friend, I miss you all,
Andrea,
John,
and now Eric,
three times now I have dropped the ball and not recognized when the time was right to ask my friend, "What can I do?"
From the other side, Promise me this one thing, help me understand when to help
Here's a thought, sorry if someone has commented on this already, but I haven't read all the posts.
Up to now the GB has to be anointed partakers. Are they possibly moving away from that, so that non-partakers could be on the GB?
for the record:
26% in ten years translates to 2.31% per year compounded 10 years
i received the latest copy of the lhmm magazine (the laymen's home missionary movement, which is one of the bible student groups which shares a common russellite origin with the jws).
i was simply amazed by their supposedly scientific article about the deluge.
at the end of the article it says you can request a full treatise on the subject.
I received the latest copy of the LHMM magazine (The Laymen's Home Missionary Movement, which is one of the Bible Student groups which shares a common Russellite origin with the JWs). I was simply amazed by their supposedly scientific article about the Deluge. At the end of the article it says you can request a full treatise on the subject. Here is a quotation:
The Bible Standard, Sept-Oct 2012, p 72.
Published by LHMM ( Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement)
Article: ‘The Deluge Effect’, The first paragraph begins by saying “Scientific students are rapidly reaching the conclusion that we are fully justified in laughing at some scientists who have denied the Bible account of the Deluge. “ After some introductory statements the second paragraph contains some statements that I find astonishing,Here goes, “When we ask where such floods could come from, Astronomy answers us, pointing to Saturn and Jupiter with their ‘rings.’ Scientists declare that these rings consist of minerals and water thrown far off in a gaseous state when the planets were at white heat. They subsequently cooled and formed into various strata or rings. Because of their great distance from the planets their motions are different, and they are held in suspense by the same laws which hold the planets themselves in space. Nevertheless, the superior weight of the planets draws them nearer and nearer. The ring nearest the planet, and approaching it, is still held off by the ‘firmament’ of circumambient air. The rotation of the planets on their axes gives least resistance at the poles; and these rings, after spreading out as a great coverings, gradually thin at the center, or equator, and thicken at the poles, until the wight at the poles becomes so great as to overcome the power or the strength of the firmament, and then breaking through from both poles, causes great torrents.”
I know that the WT used to teach stuff like this, but that was 30-40 years ago. It's amazing that anyone could have ever believed such nonsense.
i listened to the august 4th episode of the healingxjws podcast where they interviewed a former jw circuit overseer.
he shared many great examples of how original meanings (especially poetry) were lost in this terrible translation.
it's worth listening to.
Here's one that always irked me:
John 5:30, "I seek, not my own will, but the will of him that sent me", where the wording should be "him who sent me". At least that is what I was taught in every English class, if it refers to a person the word should be 'who'. The NW translator did this repeatedly, especially in John:
John 3:36,5:30,5:32, 6:45, 7:16,8:26, as well as Matt 5:28.
You would think they could at least gotten the English grammar right.
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.
Thanks Cedars for putting the time and effort to put this together. The pre-71 photo of the Board of Directors was interesting, I think I remember seeing it before someplace (was it in MacMillen's book Faith on the March?).
The timeline of governing body members is good to have to. I would also like to see, if it is possible to even get the information, a timeline for all the Board of Director members from 1917 to 1971. It would be quite a task to compile, but interesting. While it is fair to say that there was NO governing body before 1971, and all major decisions were made by the President or Vice-president in the Knorr-Franz years, there was a Board of Directors all those years. The Board members, I suspect, were among the more influential individuals at Bethel, even though they did not function as a governing body.
Now, of course, the President, and board members of the legal corporations are not aligned at all with the governing body.
One thing that has always irked me is the way the 7 associates of Rutherford are referred to as the 'seven directors of the Society'. Maybe someone could confirm this, but I don't believe that was true. They were not directors at the time they were sent to prison (maybe later they were made directors, but in 1918 they were not. Especially DeCecca, who was not even at Bethel at the time.)
.
he apparently committed suicide in october 2010.... ex-bethelite's skull found near beach in delaware.
so tragic.... .
I am deeply sorry for his family and for him, first for their loss in 2010, then to have a loved ones remains found in this manner... tragic.
I believe that the WT society policies and culture places undue pressure on people to conform in ways that is not in their best interest, leading to unhappiness, depression, suicide for some. I've lost three friends to this in recent years.
That being said, this story has several things that don't add up or require additonal explanation.
Age 53, married for 34, this means they were married at 19, 7 children, yet he was 11 yrs at Bethel. It follows that he and his wife must have gone to Bethel as a couple. This is unusual unless there are special skills (computer programming, attorney, etc) which doesn't appear to be the case here.
If his remains were missing since 2010, how could the obit say confidently that he died 10-15-2010? Also, if his remains were missing, why did they need the services of a funeral home?
I don't know why I have spent so much time thinking about this, it just hits a little to close to home.
