Srecko Sostar

Would you want to get on an airplane designed by the average very theocratic Pioneer?
NOT ME!

I am very sad because all kids in the world who died because of various reasons.   

I am very sad because all kids in the world who died because of various reasons.   

Indeed others also believe that Jesus and Michael are one and the same, however they also believe that Jesus is God the Son, although they didn't always hold to that belief. In the Finished Mystery, Russell, if indeed it was Russell, wrote that Michael was the Pope and his angels were the bishops ?

As my memory serves me, MAIN, PRIMAR reason for collecting money (in this or that methodology or organizational way how to do it)
 IS TO HELP POOR MEMBERS OR CONGREGATIONS. Read the Bible, not old Jew type and anti-type GB illustrations.  and explanations models.
NOT to building headquarter (cathedral :))), branch Bethels, ..... but helping people to have enough for life, in flesh and spirit.  
 
 

As my memory serves me, MAIN, PRIMAR reason for collecting money (in this or that methodology or organizational way how to do it)
 IS TO HELP POOR MEMBERS OR CONGREGATIONS. Read the Bible, not old Jew type and anti-type GB illustrations.  and explanations models.
NOT to building headquarter (cathedral :))), branch Bethels, ..... but helping people to have enough for life, in flesh and spirit.  
 
 

Russell said, Beware of "organization." It is wholly unnecessary. The Bible rules will be the only rules you will need. Do not seek to bind others' consciences, and do not permit others to bind yours."   Wt. 9/15/1895 pg 216

Rutherford:  “Religion is a snare and a racket”  1939
Wt 1953 3/1  p. 143 “Ask yourself now, Did Christ Jesus, who set our example and told us to follow his example to gain life, join any church organization in his day? No, God does not require us to do that; but he requires us to worship him... We have the Bible to show us the right way. Certainly it is not necessary for a person to become a member of a church to gain everlasting life."
"Jehovah’s visible organization can use you, but can get along without you too. But you cannot get along without it. Fruitless ones are eventually pruned off and never missed as new ones are grafted in. Pruned-off branches soon wither and die, being cut off from the circulating, life-giving sap." Watchtower 1950 Jan 15 p.26
"Come to Jehovah's organization for salvation" - Watchtower 1981 Nov 15 p.212
WHO IS RIGHT? WHICH WATCHTOWER LEADER IS SHOWING COMMON SENSE?
Beasts need to eat; symbolic “Beasts” suck the life blood out of those who follow their hypocritical teachings.  Rev chapter 13.  
 
 
 
 
 
 

Since you mention it, I don’t start my morning with Cheerios, but with God’s Word.  Seriously. 
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
 Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.”  Isa 55:1,2
 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”  John 6:35
He also said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”  Luke 12:1 
With “leaven”, the GB is telling you that the organization’s need for money comes directly from scripture. 
"Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Matt 16:12
 
I am only beginning to know the Bible, better than I had in the past.    Rev 3:20; 19:9
 

It's a lot EASIER to defend actual TRUTH .... wherever it is found.

Reading comprehension is NOT one of TTH's strong points.
They say "You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink".
The facts speak for themselves.

In your use of sarcasm, you actually speak truth.
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.  Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.”  Acts 17:24,25
 
Weigh these scriptures against the broadcast which calls an assembly hall, “Jehovah’s house”.   Blasphemy. 

I was outraged when I read this! My blood pressure shot to the moon! They had to call NASA! @Shiwiii is right to warn us about this disgusting book - the Bible. How dare Paul TELL the Corinthian congregation AND the Galatian one and probably every other one - what a racket he had going - to set some money aside every day of the week!!! What a greedy self-serving scoundrel!
What? Is he trying to pretend God needs it? Why does God need our money. It's ours!! Tell him to keep his grubby hands off it!!
Yeah! Sure! You expect me to believe that? He's going to take their kind 'gift'  (extorted, if you ask me!) to the Riviera or Las Vegas for some high living - and fly business class to get there!!! Thank you, Shiwiii, for alerted me to this blatant greed and Bible money-loving. You make a fine investigative reporter.

Watchtower is determined to get blood out of a turnip.
http://dailypost.ng/2016/09/05/nigeria-one-poorest-countries-world-80m-living-poverty-line-un-report/

October 1, 2017
TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS IN NIGERIA
Re: Local Needs For the Week of October 16-22
Dear Brothers:
The mid-week meeting for the week of October 16-22 has a 15 minute local needs
part regarding donations that includes a video on ways to contribute electronically. During
that part, the following information should be conveyed to the congregation.
Please stress that regularity is very important when contributing. Some 20 years after
Pentecost of 33 C.E., the apostle Paul reminds the Corinth congregation about the need for a
certain contribution. “Now concerning the collection that is for the holy ones, just as I gave
orders to the congregations of Galatia, do that way also yourselves,” he writes. Then he adds
a piece of advice: “Every first day of the week let each of you at his own house set something
aside in store as he may be prospering, so that when I arrive collections will not take place
then. But when I get there, whatever men you approve of by letters, these I shall send to
carry your kind gift to Jerusalem.” The resolving of how much to give appears to have
included the whole family, whether rich or poor, because it was to take place at their “own
house.”—1 Corinthians 16:1-3.
Paul’s suggestion on the manner of contributing can be applied by congregation
members today. How? Regularity is the key. If your congregation is to pay the monthly rent
and maintenance expenses of your meeting place or Kingdom Hall, it will take “contributing,
not so much the amount, but the regularity of setting something aside each week or month for
Kingdom interests,” writes the branch office in Peru. Does this idea appeal to you? Even
children can be taught to appreciate how regularity in contributing is part of their worship.
We all regularly set aside money for school fees, food, rent and other necessities.
How much more important it is to do so for kingdom interests. Taking advantage of
whichever way is most convenient for us personally, whether electronically or by using the
contribution box in our local Kingdom Hall, regularity in contribution will help us to put true
worship first in our lives.
As we wish you Jehovah’s rich blessing on your efforts, please
 
 
Is this the head start to tithing? Seems so. More and more the wt and gb are assimilating themselves after that in which they denounce. 

Thank you. That answers my question about where does the money come from to cover litigation costs.

Law enforcement will not take any action either if they cannot prove someone guilty. And if they do convict someone of child sexual molestation, then guess what, after serving a prison sentence, sometimes of only 6 moths to a year, they are released back into the community, and unless you have a sex offender tracker, you will have no idea there is one living in your neighborhood.

Care to make a guess whether or not the WTB&TS has "signed up"?
They confiscated a home that a Sister left to the Local Congregation I attend and SOLD IT for the money.
If you ask the German Branch office, do you think they will give you a truthful answer ? ... or send three Elders to your home ?
 

In Germany, as in MANY of the European countries, you put your religious denomination on your tax filing documents, and the German Government takes out additional taxes FROM YOUR PAY,  to pay your registered affiliation organization.
FREE MONEY ... and a LOT OF IT!
Many religious people list as "atheists" so as to not have their pay confiscated and forwarded.
This is certainly WORTH a 26 year legal battle ... as the money spent can be made up very quickly, and the rest is pure PROFIT for the religious organization.  
It also forges an almost unbreakable bond between that religious organization, and the European Governments, as they are now surgically joined at the hip, the religious organizations promising NOT to have sex with the "Kings of the Earth", ... but hey ... things happen!
Such are the immutable lessons of civilization's history.
Primarily, the legal status they now have ... is a tax collection status.
Who needs a collection plate with a scheme like that?
" Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany are grateful that their sincere religious activity has been recognized by the government as qualifying for public law status. They hope that such recognition will alleviate some of their past challenges and will benefit them as individuals and as a religious community. "
If you are a JW in Germany .... Check your pay-stub next payday .
 

To some people Rap "Music" is harmonious.
I like bagpipe music, but many people think someone is squeezing a cat to death.
IN CONTEXT of the people living at the time ... a grandmother ... a mother ... and her daughter .... were THREE generations.
YES THEY DO OVERLAP ... but they are still ... still ... THREE generations ... not ONE generation.
This has historically ALWAYS been the case ... it is the case now, and always will be the case, all over the world, and in every ... EVERY ... culture.
... except OURS ... here and now ... and ONLY because false prophesy needs to be "explained away" so the money does not stop rolling in.

Hi, as i see you have good intention. But in JW org there is/are no alternative nor suggestions. Only "obey" WT. :)  

We only celebrate a little the first days, when a Baby was born, bec. SO much joy   After that its finished with birthdays !   JESUS  NEVER  celebrated his birthday, NOBODY  knows this exactly day.  Maria and Joseph made it perfect !  Who are WE,  that we want celebrate it ?  JESUS is SO much bigger than all humans...  we've NO right to do that.  Only our last day is importend, if we were loyal in the Truth ! 
So we learned it from the Bible,  Jesus'  last day,  the 14. Nisan❤️  the highest ceremony for us JW !   THANK YOU JEHOVAH❤️  THANK YOU JESUS❤️

Since when did "baptism dates" have
ANYTHING to do with how long a generation is?

Of course, Jesus never said anything about these things happening either in greater, more terrifying, or more "concentrated measure." So even if earthquakes, for example, really had started to happen in "concentrated measure" in 1914 (they didn't!) this would still have nothing to do with the sign of Matthew 24. All Jesus said was that great earthquakes, for example, would happen and therefore not to be misled by them, because these are not signs that the end is imminent. ("Do not be misled . . . the end is not yet!").
Of course, what you are talking about would still be the common reasoning, even if we somehow found a way to restart the generation with the start of the Governing Body around 1972, or the apostasy in 1980, or AIDS, or cart witnessing, or the re-assignment of the Governing Body as "guardians of doctrine" around 2000, or even some brand new unexpected event in 2018.
So I brought up the point about the sign in Matthew 24 to propose that we would still be wrong to try to find new reasons to claim that earthquakes and wars were somehow more "concentrated" after a new starting date -- even if they WERE!

When the "house slaves" get uppity ... the "field slaves" always suffer.

When someone has incorrectly identified a 2017 Blue Corvette Convertible as an Elephant ... I know for an absolute FACT that is WRONG.
I may not be able to tell cars apart (although a Corvette may be an exception ...) but I can safely bet my life, and the lives of my children on the fact it is NOT an Elephant.
I no longer care WHAT the case is ... I can do absolutely NOTHING about it ... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about it, no matter what the case really is.
If you want to search for that specific elusive truth... knock yourself out ! 
To me it does not matter ... I am in a state of perpetual preparedness for things I CAN do something about ... or try to be.
The footpads in your life will try to load you up with heavy bags of sand, and being tired and worn out carrying unnecessary loads because someone WANTS you to be anxious, and afraid ... and MAKES you anxious and afraid, is a game I leave to others.
As the War Computer W.O.P.R. once said, about 35 years ago, in the movie "War Games" ..
"The only way to win ...is NOT PLAY."