Demonism and the Watchtower

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

29 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

This is just plain dumb. When you start railing about Donald Duck or Fred Flintstone I'll know you are sincere.

GREAT !

Plain dumb was what I was LOOKING for!

( JTR does a Snoopy "Happy Dance" across the monitor ... )

[JW Insider]

9 minutes ago, Nana Fofana said:

Pleiades lore was respectable academic anthropology for some while beyond the time  you indicate WT publications stopped references, it looks like-

Not sure what you mean. What you showed is completely unrelated to Pleiades. Pleiades lore has never been "respectable academic anthropology."

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

I think a JW artist at Bethel pulled a fast one.

In this month's WT, in the article "Why Worship God", the opening picture shows  a Jew, or "somebody"  looking at the Pleiades Star  Constellation ... if my memory of the sky, and of the WT are correct.  

My suit coat is out in the car, and it's too much trouble to check.

 

[JW Insider]

17 minutes ago, Anna said:

I know who you're talking about as I saw their remark too. I would like to believe though it was made because the person lacked maturity and said it in more of a "cut my nose off to spite my face" manner. But I could be wrong. As Fishing says, some people have all the fun But not me, I have not met anyone in real life who says that, but who knows, they might be thinking it!

Good point again. It's easy to create an over-the-top persona and whip up a pile-on of up-votes to go with it. There appears to be a lot less of this in real life. But it's still something to be careful about. One of the elders in our congregation has created a kind of "formula" at the end of all his prayers over the last few years, where he thanks Jehovah for the Governing Body, then "redundantly" offers thanks for the  wonderful food provided by the Slave, through Jesus Christ. Amen.  He prayed at a backyard bar-b-que this summer and accidentally thanked Jehovah for "this food provided by the Slave."  I thought he meant one of our wives.

[TrueTomHarley]

58 minutes ago, Anna said:

The Mormons (what is it that I've got with the Mormon's - I seem to bring them up all the time)

I have an entire Mormon category on my blog. And it isn't all negative. Though we are anything but "two peas in a pod," there are some similarities. Such as a child superstar of the 70's. Our Michael Jackson soared far higher than their Donny and Marie Osborn, but he singed his wings on the sun and plummeted to ruin, leaving us with only the two Mormon dullards.

[Anna]

3 hours ago, JW Insider said:

One of the elders in our congregation has created a kind of "formula" at the end of all his prayers over the last few years, where he thanks Jehovah for the Governing Body, then "redundantly" offers thanks for the  wonderful food provided by the Slave, through Jesus Christ. Amen.  He prayed at a backyard bar-b-que this summer and accidentally thanked Jehovah for "this food provided by the Slave."  I thought he meant one of our wives.

Hahaha, that is hilarious! There must be an  elder like that in every hall, we have one! (And don’t tell me you don’t @Gone Fishing)  The curious thing is, off the platform this brother can be quite crass and has made some rather dirty and inapropriate (as in sexually) remarks about some women to my husband. Maybe when he’s up there he feels the need to make atonement and that’s his way of doing it. A few weeks ago we had a speaker from another hall and in his talk he asked if we thank Jehovah regularly for the Bible and the publications he has authored. To be fair to him, maybe he was nervous and didn’t mean to say it quite this way. In any case, my husband and I looked at each other and he whispered in my ear “I thought Jehovah only authored the Bible”. Sometimes I think some of us say things, as you say, as if it was a “formula”. How many times do you hear friends saying, when there is a disaster, Jehovah protected them etc. when you know that if that was the case, then Jehovah is partial, because he helped brother Albert, but sister Mildred unfortunately got struck by flying debris and died.

[Anna]

3 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

1.       Pastor Russell Pyramid stone was NOT sanctioned by the Watchtower. It was placed by loyal Bible Students to Russell.

I don't know what exactly you mean by "the Watchtower". Surely it was sanctioned by whoever was in charge of the society at the time.

3 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

2.       Judge Rutherford Beth Sarim home in San Diego was NOT sanctioned by the Watchtower. It was provided by loyal friends of Rutherford after developing breathing problems from being imprisoned for sedition by the Catholic Church

Again, not sure what you mean by "the Watchtower". And no, that is not the only reason, Proclaimers book:

Box/Picture on page 76]
“House of the Princes”
 Brother Rutherford had a severe case of pneumonia after his release from unjust imprisonment in 1919. Thereafter, he had only one good lung. In the 1920’s, under a doctor’s treatment, he went to San Diego, California, and the doctor urged him to spend as much time as possible there. From 1929 on, Brother Rutherford spent the winters working at a San Diego residence he had named Beth-Sarim. Beth-Sarim was built with funds that were a direct contribution for that purpose. The deed, which was published in full in “The Golden Age” of March 19, 1930, conveyed this property to J. F. Rutherford and thereafter to the Watch Tower Society.
  Concerning Beth-Sarim, the book “Salvation,” published in 1939, explains: “The Hebrew words ‘Beth Sarim’ mean ‘House of the Princes’; and the purpose of acquiring that property and building the house was that there might be some tangible proof that there are those on earth today who fully believe God and Christ Jesus and in His kingdom, and who believe that the faithful men of old will soon be resurrected by the Lord, be back on earth, and take charge of the visible affairs of earth.”
  A few years after Brother Rutherford’s death, the board of directors of the Watch Tower Society decided to sell Beth-Sarim. Why? “The Watchtower” of December 15, 1947, explained: “It had fully served its purpose and was now only serving as a monument quite expensive to keep; our faith in the return of the men of old time whom the King Christ Jesus will make princes in ALL the earth (not merely in California) is based, not upon that house Beth-Sarim, but upon God’s Word of promise.”
[Footnote]
At the time, it was believed that faithful men of old times, such as Abraham, Joseph, and David, would be resurrected before the end of this system of things and would serve as “princes in all the earth,” in fulfillment of Psalm 45:16. This view was adjusted in 1950, when further study of the Scriptures indicated that those earthly forefathers of Jesus Christ would be resurrected after Armageddon.—See “The Watchtower,” November 1, 1950, pages 414-17.

 

[Anna]

4 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

I have an entire Mormon category on my blog

I  know, you already told me that on the other thread, and I did reply And it's Donny and Marie Osmond if I'm not mistaken

 

[Anna]

26 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

Then you have a KNOWN ERROR! to understand the pyramid gravestone was placed way after Russell's burial, buy friends of Russell NOT the Peoples' Pulpit association or the Watchtower Bible and tract society. The same can be said about Rutherford. A few good people bought and paid for the house in San Diego, NOT the Watchtower. So, the only reason to bring up such distortion becomes a KNOWN ERROR. So, should we use this as a constant here?

Whatever.....I think you just want to argue....I wasn't even worried about who sanctioned what, and who bought what, the fact is Russell's theory about the great pyramid didn't die with him but much later, and the belief about the ancient worthies coming to earth before Armageddon didn't die with Rutherford, but quite a number of years later.

Just some funny trivia; when Br. Rutherford was interviewed by the Time magazine when it became known he deeded the house to the ancient worthies, he said "I have purposely landscaped the place with palm and olive trees so these princes of the universe will feel at home when they come to offer man a chance to become perfect.” Here is the whole article:

and here is the deed:

 

[Anna]

@AllenSmith

I'm afraid we might be misunderstanding one another.  I for my part find it difficult to see what you are trying to say sometimes because I know English is not your first language.  And you might find it difficult understanding what I am saying for the same reason. It’s not your fault. And I am partly to blame for this confusion as  I have clearly veered off topic. None of this has anything to do with demonism and the WT.  I joined the thread when it was already very well along and to be honest I never even read the initial post for this topic......I will go back and take a look at it.  In any case, I don’t think the WT, as in the organization now, nor during Russel or Rutherford's day, has ever had anything to do with demonism, at least not intentionally. As for past mistakes, I don't have any problem with those.

3 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

By the way. Russell wasn’t buried under the pyramid stone. The pyramid stone is simply a “marker” that was placed 5 years after his death by close friends of Russell, NOT the Watchtower

I know, I have been there, his grave is a couple of steps to one side, and apparently the "Bible Students" keep stealing his photograph that's there on his grave stone.

I still don't know what you mean by "the Watchtower".

[Anna]

3 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

How would you qualify your message different than that of ex-witnesses, then?

I am not trying to convey a "message". I hope I am merely presenting facts.