I see the Watchtower going to the Protestant Reformation model. Everyone show up to the Kingdom Hall on Sunday to listen to a 30 minute sermon. Soon, those sermons will all be live streamed from HQ in NY. Just be sure to donate before leaving. The ministry will be scaled down to handing out a single tract that tells the reader to go to JW.org for the answer to life's questions.
truth_b_known
JoinedPosts by truth_b_known
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37
Weekly Meeting Importance Being Reduced - Your Thoughts?
by JWTom ini am pimo, but now have 40+ years of being a jw as i was raised in a 3rd generation family of witnesses and continue to fake my way through things - fading as i can.. for the vast majority of my time as a jw, the meetings were the central focus for all jws to get teaching, association, information and so on.
nothing was more important than being at the meetings!
over the last 20 years starting with the elimination of the weekly book study in homes and continuing down to today - my opinion is that the value/purpose of the weekly meetings continues to be diluted or minimized.
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37
Weekly Meeting Importance Being Reduced - Your Thoughts?
by JWTom ini am pimo, but now have 40+ years of being a jw as i was raised in a 3rd generation family of witnesses and continue to fake my way through things - fading as i can.. for the vast majority of my time as a jw, the meetings were the central focus for all jws to get teaching, association, information and so on.
nothing was more important than being at the meetings!
over the last 20 years starting with the elimination of the weekly book study in homes and continuing down to today - my opinion is that the value/purpose of the weekly meetings continues to be diluted or minimized.
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truth_b_known
It's like the old saying - you reap what you sow.
The Watchtower is and has always been a business, period. It began as a publishing company pretending to be a religion. Free labor and sales generated revenue from the publications printed by the Watchtower. Then in the U.S., tax exempt statuses were being questioned by the federal government in regards to Christian evangelical tv ministries.
The Watchtower answer was to stop selling its publications and go to the voluntary donation model. This killed the company. It use to be that JWs (i.e. "publishers") would pay $0.25 U.S. for each magazine. If a "householder" purchased the magazine the publisher normally sent that money back to the Watchtower via the World Wide Work fund. So, each magazine grosses $0.50 U.S.
Soon, publishers stopped asking for donations and even stopped donating for the literature they took themselves. The Watchtower tried combating this by stopping practices such as only publishing books with paperback. Then they started reducing the number of issues published of their magazines. Then they started reducing the size of the magazines. Now, they are making members print their own copies of literature previously printed by the Watchtower off their online website.
Then the high control model of the Watchtower increased. Meeting in small groups, such as the weekly Book Study, or even having social events were ended. Everyone had to go to the Kingdom Hall, which is also the only location where contribution boxes exist for weekly meetings. This was to discourage any teaching that did not line up exactly with the Watchtower.
Next came talks for meetings, assemblies, and conventions produced in video format. This only bolsters the idea that headquarters wants one narrative and no individual thought. With the introduction of the internet and with access being made even easier thanks to cellular phone technology, the control of narrative is become near impossible. Add in the news media publishing one story after another of child abuse cover up by the Watchtower.
Witnesses are strongly discouraged to do an personal study. They are literally told that the 8 members of the Governing Body will directly tell them what they need to know. This means that Witnesses are no longer capable of carrying on public ministry because they lack both the knowledge and the training. The cart "Witnessing" and directing the public to JW.org has replaced the door-to-door ministry.
I do see the Watchtower eventually going completely paperless. The JW ministry will soon consist of Witnesses simply walking around with sandwich boards that read "Find Happiness at JW.org". Meetings will be nothing more than showing up to the Kingdom Hall to watch streamed or pre-recorded talks by Governing Body members.
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Another heart-worming story
by StephaneLaliberte intoday, i got an email from an old friend with a story told by brother andre ramseyer who attended training at patterson in england.
a service dog regularly attended the meetings with his owner.
when the owner passed away, the dog was given to another blind man.
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truth_b_known
Does the dog operate automobiles or was there a home for the blind next door to the Kingdom Hall?
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Jehovah? Oh dear.
by Giordano insome recent new friends on this forum like friend kosonen are fixated with god's name being jehovah...unfortunately they are wrong:.
a quick bit of history:.
"about the 13th century the term “jehovah” appeared when christian scholars took the consonants of “yahweh” and pronounced it with the vowels of “adonai.” this resulted in the sound “yahowah,” which has a latinized spelling of “jehovah.” the first recorded use of this spelling was made by a spanish dominican monk, raymundus martini, in 1270.. interestingly, this fact is admitted in much jehovah’s witness literature, such as their aid to bible understanding (p. 885).
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truth_b_known
Adding the vowels of Adonai to YHWH was done to remind the reader to say "Lord" when seeing YHWH in print. The J comes into play from translating the Bible into German. J in German is pronounced like the English Y.
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Impacts of the Second Temple period of Judaism
by Doug Mason ini am part way through preparing a study on the second temple period of judaism.
it is this period that shaped christianity, not the ot.. to help me, i created a powerpoint file as a storyboard.
i am making this ppt file available with the hope i will receive help.
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truth_b_known
E-mail has been sent
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Jehovah provided zoom?!
by Tim207 inseems like every zoom meeting someone comments how happy they are that jehovah has provided us with this wonderful app called zoom.
does that mean jehovah knew about covid back in 2011 when zoom was founded?
why do people thank god for things people create?
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truth_b_known
If the Watchtower hand not ended the weekly Book Study arrangement Witnesses could still meet once a week. You know, like 1st century Christians did.
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Impacts of the Second Temple period of Judaism
by Doug Mason ini am part way through preparing a study on the second temple period of judaism.
it is this period that shaped christianity, not the ot.. to help me, i created a powerpoint file as a storyboard.
i am making this ppt file available with the hope i will receive help.
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truth_b_known
I would like to know your source material. This topic is a new interest of mine.
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Michael Palin: North Korea - Similarities In N.Korean and JW Mentality
by pale.emperor indid anyone catch michael palin's travel documentary in north korea?
it was a fascinating insight into such a secretive and controlled country.
totalitarian, suppressed and yet i found a few similarities to jw mentality.. particularly, this segment, where michael asks his handler about the limitations on freedom she has.
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truth_b_known
Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me you can't see a thing
Just call my name 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master!
Master! -
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Fruits of the spirit
by asp59 into all that been in betel service.
as 1440.000 are suppose to rule like kings they must also be an example of putting the fruits of the spirit in there daily life(charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity (kindness), goodness, longanimity (forbearance), mildness (gentleness), faith, modesty, continency (self-control), and chastity.).
have you meet a gb member or other from the 144.000 in betel when you were there that you could easy see that this person wakes up in the morning and is determined to apply fruits of the spirit in there life?
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truth_b_known
Anyone can display the fruit of the Spirit. All they have to do is put other people's interest first. Even prominent Christian pastors have scolded their fellow Christians that they have seen their non-Christian neighbors displaying the fruit of the Spirit better then their own parishioners.
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Fruits of the spirit
by asp59 into all that been in betel service.
as 1440.000 are suppose to rule like kings they must also be an example of putting the fruits of the spirit in there daily life(charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity (kindness), goodness, longanimity (forbearance), mildness (gentleness), faith, modesty, continency (self-control), and chastity.).
have you meet a gb member or other from the 144.000 in betel when you were there that you could easy see that this person wakes up in the morning and is determined to apply fruits of the spirit in there life?
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truth_b_known
It is "fruit of the spirit". Love, joy, peace, long suffering, self control, etc. are all a composite. It's all of them.
If the Holy Spirit is in a person, working with that person, that person displays all those qualities. You cannot artificially attempt to display them. I always hated it when I heard Witnesses say things like, "This week I am going to work on this fruit of the spirit and next week this fruit of the Spirit."