first a bit of background about this poster... married, 2kids, 12 year old and 15 month old, wife and i inactive for about 4 years and spotty at meetings at best for various reasons.i've had doubts ever since 95 and the generation thing, and my wife, well she's always had some resentment from the truf being drilled into her when she was growing up.
however i put off deciding what to do about the future of my own spirituality (and my family's) till recently when i got tired of feeling guilty about not following an outline for the only way to be a good person.
also my wifey wanted to know what the hell we were doing so she wouldn't feel like a fence sitter.
Tim,
In 1966 Hurricane Inez was in the Gulf of Mexico with landfall predicted to be extreme south Texas. Madam Palm, a local palm reader had a home/office on Boca Chica Blvd. in Brownsville, TX in the alleged path of the storm.
All of the windows of Madam Palm's residence were covered with plywood for hurricane protection.
Before making landfall, Hurricane Inez turned more due west striking Tampico, Mexico.
tms
it was made by a women who in later years wore crotchless panties and bras which had holes in the nipple areas.
he not only knew the woman in question (she's now deceased), he has met her numerous times.
up until recently this secret of her year's long sexual affair with rutherford was kept by the family.
Athanasius,
This quote caused me concern:
" Arthur said: "If a brother and sister wanted to get married, all they had to do was to inform the Company Servant of their intentions and then they would live together as husband and wife." It was that simple. Apparently Rutherford did the same with Berta and Bonnie."
While I appreciate the research you have done on Judge Rutherford, I'm hopeful that you submit your manuscript to someone on this board who is more familiar with actual Watchtower policy. Publishing inaccuracies such as the above will destroy the credibility of your research.
tms
it was made by a women who in later years wore crotchless panties and bras which had holes in the nipple areas.
he not only knew the woman in question (she's now deceased), he has met her numerous times.
up until recently this secret of her year's long sexual affair with rutherford was kept by the family.
Besides the obvious, I've picked up several tidbits in this thread.
Having been a Knorr era JW, the reference to his overlooking JFR's sins was new to me. Perhaps, I bought into the image: "a little gruff, but a straight shooter."
Blondie mentioned a basic thread running through all the Rutherford books. That brought to mind the old phonograph record I used to play with as a kid:
"Jehovah is the True God.
Satan the Devil is the false god.
Jehovah has an organization.
Satan has an organization."
tms
dear brothers,
it has been brought to our attention that certain brothers have had questions regarding the societies' membership as a non governmental organization with the united nations from 1991-2001. rest assured that we are no longer members, having removed ourselves from this organization over 3 years ago.
it was only in our undaunted zeal to proclaim the good news to "all nations" (as was jesus' admonition), in these critical last days, that the faithful slave class approved membership as an ngo.
The governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses has had numerous opportunities
to show manhood, humility and intestinal fortitude.
Their 1975 spin control was almost Adamic, blaming the subservient
flock Jehovah had given them.
Apologies make for good PR even if insincere. The GB's association with
the illusory FDS puts them between a rock and a hard place. They are
not infallible, just never wrong.
tms
i resisted it for years.
i was dragged kicking and screaming into the evolution theory camp.. i would rather have had my arm lopped off at the elbow;but, facts are facts.
i had to be intellectually honest.
In the tiny portion of the universe I can observe, I see:
design
neglect
order
desertion
beauty
animals coexist peacefully and kill each other savagely
humans coexist peacefully and kill each other savagely
would-be explainers-of-the-universe come in a myriad of
manifestations in coffee houses, campuses and pulpits
there are "true believers" everywhere
I know so little for certain
tms
there have been a couple of posts recently about the 144,000. since the wt theory is bogus, i ask the forum, "who are the 144,000"?
i know the traditional view of some religions is that they are 144,000 literal jews who will convert near the gt to witness to the jewish population.
not sure that makes a whole lot of sense to me.
I took the liberty of adding a zero and subtracting a question mark.
. . . but to your question:
The 144,000 are made up of two primary groups both of narrow ethnicity.
The bulk and first to be invited were apostate Jews who rejected the religion of their forefathers and joined a first century sect.
The last 30,000 or so were individuals primarily of European descent living in the United States during the latter part of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century. The females of this group wore pillbox hats. The males wore the Sunday go-to-meeting clothes common to North America in those years.
Over the years since 1935 a few suffering schizophrenia, delusions of grandeur, plagued by visions or pure egotism stepped forward as "replacements" for some who proved unfaithful and had to be "lopped off."
An extremely small sampling of persons of color also got the calling.
tms
although i'm unlicensed, untrained and beyond doubt unqualified in this field,.
i'm thinking about designing, creating a god.
don't laugh.
LittleToe
""You'll go straight to hell for that one..."
Been there, done that! lol!
TMS
although i'm unlicensed, untrained and beyond doubt unqualified in this field,.
i'm thinking about designing, creating a god.
don't laugh.
Craig, Oh yes. The Genesis account. God and Satan both seem like game-players here. If the account is to be believed, everyone(Satan included) wants to be "like God." 4000 years later "Satan" even requests an "act of worship." TMS ps. I think Yeru and XQ missed the thrust of my post. I was trying to hint at the ludricous nature of the biblical god. I guess I'm not a "Great Communicator!" "sigh"
although i'm unlicensed, untrained and beyond doubt unqualified in this field,.
i'm thinking about designing, creating a god.
don't laugh.
XQ,
"you eat with a spoon/fork right? "
You've lost me. Perhaps, I'm just very different from you. I select an appropriate utencil, if needed. No more. No less.I don't put out a salad fork without a salad . . . . You may be confusing habits that serve some purpose with religious rituals.
My original point was that a god does not need a fingered Rosary, lit candles, a field service report, chants or the fat of a lamb. A secondary point is that humans do not NEED to perform those rituals.
TMS
although i'm unlicensed, untrained and beyond doubt unqualified in this field,.
i'm thinking about designing, creating a god.
don't laugh.
Yeru,
I understand and appreciate your counterpoints.
You prefer the status quo.
"The human need for ritual"? Not so sure about that.
TMS
