So many historical mistakes Jonathan Drake. Crusades were originally called by Greek Emperor to fight Sultanate of Rum which they lost to it at the battle of Manzikert (1071), and they had problem to recapture the their territory back. Constantinople appealed to help to the West, which just recently was officially split between Catholic and Orthodox churches (1054). I Crusades war born. It not against the Ottoman empire as it did not exist as the state entity. Initial success boosted moral and several crusades were waged to either preserve or increase the size of the knight kingdoms in Levant. For the next 200 years, Crusades fought Byzantine Empire (1204), Ayyubids in Egypt, Suljuks in Syria, and so on. When Ottoman empire emerged from consolidation of territories in the Little Asia around 1300, Crusades were in history. Do not mix with Crusades against Ottomans who were invading Balkans in 15th century. Ottomans took large part of Europe until they were defeated in 1683 at Vienna. Ottomans depopulated large part of Hungary, Romania, and chunk of Poland during that time. In Czech Republic more than 100,000 were taken into the slavery in 1666. Countless cities from England to France to Italy were plundered by Ottomans and their population sold to slavery. Ottoman Empire was extremely cruel and one of the largest massacres in Central Europe before WWII occurred due Ottomans. Widespread slaughter of POW outside Vienna is one of them.
Posts by kaik
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13The god of the bible doesn't care and here's some proof.
by Crazyguy inaround 600 ad a man named muhammed created a book called the quran.
a few hundred years later the followers of this new religion called islam went on a holy crusade out of arabia to spread their religion.
in one key battle they were met by the ruling government army and were out numbered at least by 3 to 1. they could of easily lost and if god would of made sure of this most likely thier religion would of stayed an insagnificant religion of just arabia.
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I'm studying with Jehovah's Witnesses!!
by Kulotti79 inhello all... i currently studying the bible teach book and i'm just curious what information does the study conductor record about the student and is it passed on??
and they keep on saying "the truth" which is starting to get on my nerves.
lol.
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kaik
Kulotti79, in Czech we have saying when they trying to catch a bird, they sing nice to him. Moment you are in the cage and door locked behind you in the name of spiritual baptism, all the sweet talk and singing is gone. Any questioning of their doctrine is strictly forbidden and you do not question FDS. Nobody will damn rat if you are dying on the street anymore at all once you are baptized. I grew up in that cult, have a huge JW family and I know. My favorite JW hypocrisy time was when CO visited our KH and mention to reach out people were inactivate. Someone had mentioned elderly lonely sister, one of the women who never married, and available after Armageddon, somewhat disorganized, not always on program and never on time. They tried to locate her, but nobody knew where she lived in small city, but they eventually find out that she died at home and her body was discovered by neighbors by smell and was buried at the city expenses. Nobody gave the f- about her. Even some of the women in the KH commented that she may not be resurrected because she was not really good JW and doubtful over doctrine and may died as apostate and thus forever condemned.
As about being gay, JWs do not are what is your sexual orientation as long you do not act on it and do not have a physical relationship. I knew couple gay JWs who even were persecuted by communist regime for their faith and were gay and feminine. One turned out crazy and was stalking young men which was cause for his DFs and other broke up from the cult and lives with his partner while his parent (one is elder) never accepted it. The reasoning behind the JW mind is that you can be gay, but as long you stay celibate until the arrival of the new world, where you will be fixed and turned into fully productive heterosexual. It should not take long, time is running out for this world, Armageddon is about to happen, really, it is just behind the corner... since 1879! -
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Why are JW talks & publications never uplifting?
by thedepressedsoul ini was sitting at the meeting the other night and for the first time it hit, jw talks or magazines are never uplifting!
i rarely, if ever hear a talk or read a magazines and have it give nothing but praise to jehovahs servants or just praise jehovah and jesus throughout it.
they never just a read through the bible or just a bible story explained or told.
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kaik
Problem with WT and its membership, it is a totalitarian organization. As such, it needs to feed itself on fear and guilt of the people to survive and to control. All hard coded totalitarian regimes works on the same principles, let's be Nazi Germany, Stalin USSR, communist states, or Jacobin's I. French Republic. Such system works on denunciation and suppression of individuality. This is done by erasing anyone uniqueness, by collective infusion of guilt. It is like Robespierre standing at the Convention in 1794 shrieking that anyone who is not a model citizen and patriot is a traitor deserving guillotine; but refusing name names, he infused fear in everyone with doubts that they are indeed traitors.
So you have book study, some public speaking, WT analysis, and the premises are the same. There are people who are "traitors" in their mind and hearts by doubting what FDS had said, and if they are doubtful than they will die in "imminent" Armageddon. People are doubting their action, thinking, and attitudes with each study and try to comply to the model role in order to survive. They do not want to end up like opposition of Robespierre that was chopping heads in hundreds a week.
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I'm studying with Jehovah's Witnesses!!
by Kulotti79 inhello all... i currently studying the bible teach book and i'm just curious what information does the study conductor record about the student and is it passed on??
and they keep on saying "the truth" which is starting to get on my nerves.
lol.
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kaik
Run, run faraway and don't look back. This religion will destroy your life as you know it, and there is not happiness. The bible study is pretty much a study of their literature based on their own momentary interpretation of the Bible. JWs won't be honest about their beliefs and will lie to you to get to the organization. Lying is considered appropriate if it servers the purpose. I remember around 1990, there was a paper which put who was the student, what they studied, how long, when, where, and some other details, something similar what JWFacts had posted.
Any case, use your own judgement and be warned.
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Remember Those in Full-Time Service (1945 - 2015)
by jwleaks inthe saddest story ever told.
despite being childhood sweethearts, in the year 1941 they decided to postpone marriage and remain single and childless in this system so as to put the the theocracy first, albeit under the control of the watch tower society.. in the final pages of the children book john and eunice walk silently through the fields and stop by a great tree on the river bank where they had sometime before discussed their future plans.
the young lovers seat themselves down and look over the landscape.
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kaik
In my KH were several elderly who never married because they were told in the 1940's not to do so. I remember one woman who was probably the oldest person in the KH since interwar period (she talked a lot about WWII persecution) and she was single until her death at very old age in the 1990's. There are two women who were close friends with my mom, single and never married. One must be in her mid 80's, and the other even more. So many destroyed, lonely lives for publishing company. -
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Your worst convention experience.
by zeb inby a split second rescuing our handicapped son from being pushed down the stairs by a flood of sisters rushing out to see as the drama had started.. the main offender being a special pioneer..
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kaik
My convention in Prague-Strahov in 1991. It was summer, in stadium pan where temperature was soaring to 36C and we were sitting on the sunny side. There was no sufficient refreshment to replenish I was dehydrated. We had constant argument with family between my mom and my siblings and relatives who accused us being spiritually weak because we were dripping with sweat and started to be nauseous by afternoon. My family being extremely fair complexion had a heat stroke. My mom turned into red lobster and I was afraid about her health, but fellow KH did not call anyone for medical care as it was non existent. My elder instead started to criticize everyone who was sweating and said that brothers in Africa have to sit in the convention during much higher temperature. When I completely sweated through my white shirt and tie, I decided to sit only in my T-top, which caused my elder to sent me home. There was very little care for families with children who supposed to get refreshments and care, but they suffered as the rest of us. I was glad that my niece who was a toddler was not there with us.
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NEW LIGHT FROM SLO CIRCUIT OVERSEER "Warning, Blood on Doorposts", "The Couple who Missed One Meeting Died With Their Kids, Don't Miss Any!
by Trailer Park Pioneer insorry, i messed up before i could put the right title on this new light from our circuit overseer, his visit show's a great desperation in the organization's mindset, adding more anxiety and guilt to jws who already feel they don't measure up!.
hi, i attended the circuit overseers visit and got really angry because our c.o.
gave information coming from the governing body's chief apologists regarding "meeting attendance" and "the couple who missed one meeting and lost their entire family because they did not get the "411" when armageddon was coming!
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kaik
Entertaining. This kind of talk brings me back to 1980-1985 where the Angel of Death was imminent and these who would not be warned by message from the elders will die. -
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Is The Borg going back to “Old School” thinking & getting more hardcore?
by thedepressedsoul inim still in and i cant help but feel nervous as more and more changes are coming forward.
i cant help but feel that they are starting to get more hardcore again.
let me explain.
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kaik
WT always was one step forward, one step back. I remember little melting and freezing, and this is nothing new. We had always a list of forbidden movies because they considered inappropriate. One movie stick me 30 years later, and it is Polish one Sexmission (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexmission). I seen this movie after I left and realize that the movie was not about sex, but about totalitarian regime defiance. Maybe the Borg was afraid that JWs will see association between WT and totalitarian regime depicted in the movie. -
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Jewish Exegesis of the OT Scriptures in the days of Jesus
by fulltimestudent inthe sub-structure of the nt, as understood by new testament scholar, charles harold dodd, is based on,.
... passages of ot scripture with their application to the gospel facts ... it provided the starting point of the theological constructions of paul, (and) the author of to the hebrews, and the fourth evangelist.
it is the substructure of all christian theology and contains already its chief regulative ideas.
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kaik
FTS, thanks for your answer. When I studied at university and also under rabbi, both mentioned that majority of Jews lived outside Judea at the time of Jesus and small minority was in their homeland. Jews scattered across two empires-Persian and Roman- were not even aware of Jesus existence. I have read different demographic estimates, where 10% of the population in the Roman Empire had Jewish religion in the peak or Trajan, and only 2% of them lived in Jerusalem and vicinity. Alexandria was the biggest Jewish city, which had tremendous impact on Jewish philosophy, religion, culture; so did Persian and Parthian empire for Jews integrated in the society there. While there is not any indication that Jesus ever was in Babylonia, NT mentions Jesus living Egypt, where he would certainly encounter Jewish thoughts and education radiating from the biggest Jewish centers of learning at his time.
I love Midrash and I had a borrowed copy, but it was too extensive to read. Midrash is very interesting literature to read, as it add much of the information into the OT. For example explain who was father of Kain, how Serpent seduced Eve, why she is called mother of all living but the same is not said about Adam, what was Serpent seed, and so on. Midrash were written in span of 1400 centuries with increased interest outside Judaism. The stories were also popular in the 12/13th century monasteries and during Renaissance when they were translated into different languages like Polish, Czech, Italian, and German. Definitely, it is more interesting than Studies in the Scripture. -
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Is Watchtower's stance against education only for North American witnesses
by wannaexit ini was reading on a european ex jw forum where some feel that watchtower's railing against higher education is primarily for north america issue.
this is due that many in usa and canada leave home to leave on campus.
it was mentioned that many young european jw attend universities and its not frowned on.. i found this odd because i heard what morris and losch said about education in italy.
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kaik
In Eastern Europe WT was against higher education as far I remember. There were handful college educated people in my KH, but majority of the JWs are barely literate there, usually having only mandatory education to the age 16. During communist rule, many JWs were denied higher education by the government and were forced to work in the coal mining areas. This education deficit caused by repressive government is very visible in the group born before 1968.
Other refused to got to professional schools because they were discouraged by the elder. I had numerous talks about my higher education with my elders and I got my undergrad and postgrad after WT world. All my JW relatives have basic education. My mom got her education before she got involved with the cult. Various studies in Czech Republic and Slovakia had often put JWs as one the least literate demographic group out there, just bit better than gypsies. The Czech census from 2011 indicates that less than 7% of JWs have college education, while 13.5% of Catholics, 42% of Jews, 16% of 7DA, and 20% of Czech protestants.