first off, i can happily say that this year i did not attend a single day at this years district convention.. on saturday during the convention, my wife asked me to drop her off after lunch and later pick her up when the convention was over.
while i was dropping her off, i noticed a single individual holding picket signs protesting the convention.
it said things like, "was the ransom sacrifice worth it?
Not a rational way to enlight people, yelling and screaming drives peaceful ones far away.
I am ashamed people behave this indecently, how would his conduct have affected you? The police should have arrested him for harrassment, getting into people's face is wrong. Why did anyone entertain any dialogue with him, he was baiting them all!
Terry, James Wood and Momma make strong validate points on his worthless approach, will end up as a local needs on "dealing with insane ones!"
i don't accept this lawyer's explanation of "ever evolving", he knows more than he is telling.
there are more cases going to come forward, elder's who are sinners are going to get smarter, they will evolve in their approach to hurting little children.
the policy of " do not bring reproach to jehovah's name by revealing confidential talk to the public" provides the perfect cover, silence accusers with threats of disfellowshiping, the victim will be punished for "slander, gossip", "causing divisions in the congregation".
I don't accept this lawyer's explanation of "ever evolving", he knows more than he is telling. There are more cases going to come forward, elder's who are sinners are going to get smarter, they will evolve in their approach to hurting little children. The policy of " do not bring reproach to Jehovah's name by revealing confidential talk to the public" provides the perfect cover, silence accusers with threats of disfellowshiping, the victim will be punished for "slander, gossip", "causing divisions in the congregation".
Is it possible to write the society and tell them you were a child sex offender and remain in good standing as an elder?
"That letter would be presented to the congregation to which that person would move. And so, again, that's taking steps to help prevent child abuse.
Mr. Shuster also testified, when he was up on the stand, that the church has a long history, since he has been an elder, since '79, that child abusers cannot be appointed to serve as elders, as ministerial servants or pioneers.
That was reiterated in the March 14, 1997 that I just referenced.
The policy of Watchtower has continued to emerge on a case-by-case basis in which the Service Department elders sent letters to the local congregations, to the local elders to strongly warn, if they have a known child abuser within their congregation, that he should not be alone with children, and how the elders can deal with that if the member that is an abuser violates those instructions.
Now, I have no doubt that your verdict yesterday has already sent a message to Watchtower, and we will soon see another All Bodies of Elders Letter addressing the very issues that were raised.
One thing I would ask you to keep in mind."
and what do you make of the overall social structures within the org?
and not just in the usa............................oompa.
it is not a caste system...you can move up the ranks.
Yes, there are self-made JW millionaires, I know two who have assets exceeding $200 million, everything these brothers touch turns to gold.
question of the day (every day!
) for jehovah's witnesses: "if it's the truth, then, why does it keep changing?".
second question is, for the truth that hasn't changed, what is the shelf life?.
1. The Jehovah's Witness religion will still be here, long after you and I are dead. A little group of Christians in 36 AD started a movement that has lasted up to our current day. Jehovah's Witnesses are not going away, not matter how much you desire them too. Voltaire said Christianity would be extinct with in one hundred years of his time. Voltaire was much smarter than either one of us, he badly underestimated people's desire for hope, and a longing for meaning in life.
2. How long is the shelf life? Naysayers thought Mormons would last no longer than a decade, Joseph Smith had a very interesting background, Brigham Young and Joseph Smith Jr, the Republican presidential candidate is a Mormon! Joseph Smith started in 1820, we are in the year 2012, Mormons are still running strong after 200 years, the Watchtower had some strange ideas (not as weird as Mormons), given the long run of the Mormon church, JWs will make it to another hundred years. Rome attempted to dismantle early Christians, trying to strike terror into Christians backfired, shelf life of Christianity, almost two thousand years now and no end in sight.
3. Most of the followers of Jesus Christ for the first three hundred years did not have a high education. Our times are cake walk compared to the economic struggles, political attacks, martyrdom endured by early Christians. JWs will get by just as well, they be enjoying a fulfilling life of wealth, we are aware of the correlation between higher education, wealth and happiness.
4. Christians for close to Two Thousand Years have been thinking the "End is near", countless Christians over this period have lived simple lives, other Christians who made it big have donated huge amounts to charity. The "End" has not come, Christendom evolved into believing Christ would reward them at death. You can hope the Organization will crumble but there are to many diehards who don't find enlightenment or comfort knowing there is no hope.
5. "We feed people for 100 years" Parts of Christendom believe they have been feeding their sheep since Pentecost, close to two thousand years. Terry you can hope the Society will crumble but history reveals groups live on past our lives. The crazy beliefs Russell and Rutherford were teaching one hundred years ago are gone, a more sanitized version now exist. The Watchtower will become more friendly as the system of things continues.
6. "Events driven" religions like the Society will add people when wars, chaos, masscres take place. Chaos, massacres, injustice is good business for the church, atheism won't plug the emotional bleeding our Americans are feeling in Colorado. I can't imagine myself telling a victim of this tragic event something like "your child is gone forever, you won't see them again!" the killer robbed them of their child, and we can give them hope or rob them of it. If you were to deliver a funeral talk for one of the victims, the talk being for the living, how would you word it?
question of the day (every day!
) for jehovah's witnesses: "if it's the truth, then, why does it keep changing?".
second question is, for the truth that hasn't changed, what is the shelf life?.
the bible, ot & nt, certainty doesn't prohibit the most basic of human civil rights, freedom from slavery.
of course, the bible was used to justify the ownership of slaves in america, as in many other lands.. an often-forgotten footnote in the history of america is that there was a time when poor white irish were imported from ireland to be sold as slaves during the 17th and 18th century.
in fact, their worth was considered even lower than that of black slaves, who often fetched a price 10x that of an irish slave!
King Solomon which early cultures from 1000 B.C to 3000 B.C did not adopt the practice of slave trade? How did slaves fare under the "Law of Moses" versus other laws of relevant cultures at the time.
I think we forget the United States was not a perfect government, neither was the empire of the United Kingdom but they tried to grow from their mistakes. We can point out the evil acts done, but how often do we reflect on the good these cultures did against evil forces throughout their empires?
Slaves were better off in which cultures, Roman or the Christian worldview? Africa shares plenty of guilt, hunting down weaker, less developed tribes and selling them to the Dutch. There are voices who wrote against this kind of evil, greed and gain of money have a tendancy to drown out humanity.
the ancient roman empire practiced "infanticide", the killing of newborn babies for any cause deemed appropriate.
why are mass burial graves of little babies shocking to archeologist when this practice was common in the ancient roman empire?
newborns who displayed birth defects were taken by parents, or local authorities to a city dump, placed on top of the trash.
Early Christians abolished this practice when they converted from pagan religons. No man could be a Christian who abandoned this child, no woman could remain a Christian that drank a herbal concoction or killed their child. Early Christianity who practiced what they preached, pricked the consciences of baby killers.
A art teacher who passed away had taught "that Abraham's attempt to kill Isaac was the ending of child sacrifices to God". Abraham knew God could bring Isaac back to life, this issue has been a thorn even though Jehovah never intended for Abraham to kill Isaac. Jehovah's illustration of showing humans what he was going to put himself through, is beyond words. I am beyond grateful for the love he showed humanity by allowing Jesus to suffer for our sins at Calvary.
The Old Testament does not condone baby killing, Moses Law did not leave behind detailed instructions for the pagan custom. Christians need to embrace the efforts, love and kind behaviour left behind for us to model ourselves with. Bertrand Russell wrote his theory how India gained it's independance from the U.K.. B.R. wrote that Gandi was able to push his movement that impacted the Christian conscienes of the Western world.
i have a new article at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/birthdays.php outlining why the watchtower stance against birthdays is wrong.
there have been a number of threads on jwn discussing this, and the article collates and summarises the points raised in these threads.
please feel free to point out any errors in grammar or logic.
The argument the Watchtower Society takes could be applied to a wedding day, plenty of wedding material has the origen in the pagan world. Christians need to be aware of their intent, their heart condition along with their humanity. Have you meet a wicked person who abstain's from preceived pagan festivals while indulging in evil actions? I thought of different items accepted in our culture for a wedding day, why do they continue today?
The "wedding dress", "wedding ring", "wedding cake" have pagan origins we adopted into our culture, but nobody mentions these, except the "throwing of rice" which is highly frowned upon. Christians are not asking pagan gods for blessing on their wedding day, no fertility ritual (maybe learning about sex before hand would help men better understand their new bride and her wishes?) is performed to appease, invoke the diety to help a couple get pregnant. The intent and motive are what matter when worshiping and bringing honor to Jehovah and his Son Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in Collosians 2:16:
"herefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day."
I know the history of birthday cakes, candles, well wishes, gift giving, making a wish, astrological ("Horoscopes were of very early use in Egypt... and Cicero speaks of the Egyptians and Chaldees predicting... a man's destiny at his birth") We can go the route of ancient Jews who avoided this practice as well, the Jews had a bad reputation in Bible times for obeying Jehovah, their heart was heavy on perfunction and light on real issues Jehovah wanted his people to perform. There is too much to reconcile, people need to learn to read history, and decide from their learning, what a Christian is. According to first century historian Flavious Josephus, birthdays:
Nay, indeed, the law does not permit us to make festivals at the birth of our children, and thereby afford occasion of drinking to excess (Josephus. Translated by W. Whiston. Against Apion, Book II, Chapter 26. Extracted from Josephus Complete Works, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids (MI), 14th printing, 1977, p. 632
i had been watching jwfairytale's videos recently, and he's been including snippets of this short film about a guy that becomes a jw and then changes to a born again, or so i think.
you can watch it here.
it's very dated, but quite enjoyable:.
Sulla, which pre 250 A.D promoted a complete Trinity concept of God? In "Dialogue with Trypho the Jew" early Church apologist Justin's writings demonstrate his fluency with Greek and Roman philosophy, his arguments of the Christian way of life are very intriguing. Where does Justin promote the idea that Jesus is God's equal? I am working my way through many writings of these early Christians, Origen, Irenaeus, Justin, along with Eusebius's (4th century Church father) collection of early elders (Polycarp, Papias) of Christ from the late first and second century. I am open to learn new ideas, I am no longer taking people's opinions as "gospel", help me out.
new story on my google alerts today.
one more real life experience to counter what i have heard old jws, assembly parts and c.o.s spout for years.. jws kidnapped and beheaded;.
abu bandit with p6-m bounty nabbed in basilan.
Why would Jehovah prevent his children from being glorified with Christ? The early Christians were not afraid of their imminent martyrdom, claiming Jesus would protect us from Satan's world or "Time and Unforeseen events" is "going beyond what is written."
Jesus said every one of our days was uncertain "So Jesus said to them, "My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune." (John 7:6)
