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The Librarian

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  1. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Joy in Have a Great weekend, serving Jehovah with Joy of heart!   
    Have a Great weekend, serving Jehovah with Joy of heart!
    View the full article
  2. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Joy in On the beach in Oregon, USA. Photo shared by @artforestjames   
    On the beach in Oregon, USA. Photo shared by @artforestjames
    View the full article
  3. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Joy in Enjoying Circuit Overseer visit this week. Morning Preaching in...   
    Enjoying Circuit Overseer visit this week. Morning Preaching in our territory ta-sclc @jamacajosee
    Thank you
    View the full article
  4. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Joy in Enjoying a day at Brazil Bethel. Photo shared by @_jonathan_ps   
    Enjoying a day at Brazil Bethel. Photo shared by @_jonathan_ps
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  5. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Joy in @wlove24 shares : ““Be dressed and ready and have your...   
    @wlove24 shares : ““Be dressed and ready and have your lamps burning” -( Luke 12:35) Will you, Keep on the Watch? Are you ready with your lamp lit when the bridegroom arrives? A little something we did for family worship. ☺️"
    View the full article
  6. Upvote
    The Librarian reacted to The Librarian in The Prodigal Returns   
  7. Upvote
    The Librarian reacted to John Houston in New Light! - Beards are now ok.   
    You make me look stuff up, I'm getting too old for,this!!
  8. Upvote
    The Librarian reacted to JAMMY in California news: Dispute over Los Angeles convent sale   
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36356429
    Elderly nuns  concerned over loss of home
  9. Upvote
    The Librarian reacted to JW Insider in "New Light" Question   
    This is a common judgment. We often say that they didn't wait on Jehovah, or they ran ahead of the organization. Ann has made a very important point, and the support she has presented from Watchtower material is just a very small portion of many other articles and ideas that support her point.
    But, like any other judgment, it's a dangerous judgment to make. One can make a case that many of these persons were disfellowshipped for just the opposite. They were disfellowshipped because they DID submit to theocratic order. That's because "theocratic order" starts with Jehovah and his Son first - the heavenly part of his organization. If anyone submits to the earthly part of the organization first, when their conscience tells them there is a discrepancy, they have NOT submitted to the theocratic order.
    These types of disfellowshippings are not as common as disfellowshippings for immorality. With immorality the person is often immediately repentant but a certain amount of time is required for disfellowshipping anyway, to show the person, the congregation and the rest of the world that we are serious about keeping the congregation clean.
    But there are also many of these types of disfellowshippings that do happen when a person questions the Watchtower's teachings. Even if this is not as common as opposers have sometimes indicated, every such case is a very serious matter. In fact, the problem has been known since the beginning of the Watchtower's history. All you have to do is look up "Harvest Siftings" in the old Watchtowers, and you realize that most of the "sifted" persons who were rejected from the early Watchtower organization were rejected because they had rejected the most blatant of the early false teachings.
    In the 1970's I have seen letters from many of these persons who sent questions in to "the Society" and these questions were invariably from persons who were very serious about congregational unity, prayer, Bible study and obedience to Jehovah. But they had made a discovery about a supposed discrepancy that the local elders couldn't answer and those elders had asked them to "write the Society." If it was about a particularly controversial question the local elders were often contacted privately by the Service Department to watch this person for signs of disloyalty. Sometimes a couple of elders would visit them to make sure they were not making trouble or making an issue of the topic. The Circuit Overseer was sometimes asked to make a shepherding visit, too. This often happened even though the "Society" had not yet answered the question or even sent a response to the person who had the original question. I hope this practice has stopped, because the person who asks if made to feel very disturbed or guilty for even asking.
    I have often been particularly interested in the "controversial" questions that come up here and there precisely because I have felt so badly about persons who left the organization due to the treatment they got for asking a question. They often end up feeling "marked" for having questioned the "faithful and discreet slave." A fairly good friend of mine, a Bethel elder, was disfellowshipped in 1980, not even 24 hours after Brother Sydlik had been involved directly in a multi-day inquisition of the brother and his wife and another couple. I said "hello" to him after the first day, and he said that I shouldn't be seen talking to him. Because he was a good friend, I asked him how things were going the next day, and he said he felt better because Brother Sydlik had told him he wouldn't be DF'd because he was trying to do the right thing, had never tried to convince anyone else, and that he obviously really loved Jehovah. My friend was almost crying, he was so happy. I was happy about this too because I believed (and confirmed later) that his only issue was our then-current view about 1935 and the possibility that there was still an open call to many Christians to partake of the emblems. He felt that some who believed they were anointed were being discouraged from being openly happy and rejoicing about such a calling due to the expectation that they very likely were not anointed, since Jehovah was only replacing those who had proved unfaithful since 1935. But my friend had also come to believe that the other sheep were the "Gentiles" and the "little flock" was a reference to the Jewish Christians who were the ones Jesus went to first, before opening up the fold to persons of the nations. He said the "verdict" was going to be that afternoon, and he was very hopeful (and thankful) that he would not be DF'd. But he was called back and everything had changed in just a few hours. He was called a worm, a cancer, a dog who had returned his vomit, and other names. They were both dismissed, and I was sure I would never see my friend again.
    But what made this such a concern to me was the fact that I already knew that Brother Sydlik believed exactly the same about 1935 and about the meaning of the "little flock" and the "other sheep." I knew it from others but also had first-hand knowledge of it, because I had an opportunity to speak to him about it in his factory office just a couple months before I left Bethel. (This may have been related to why Brother Sydlik had wanted to reassure the couple that they would not be disfellowshipped.)
    I won't push one way or another for a final resolution of this issue, but I realized it wasn't fair that serious elders who have quietly questioned specific beliefs, like 1935, had to be disfellowshipped by persons who believed the exact same thing - and also, I think, for the exact same reasons.
    Brother Sydlik stated that "we don't want to be guilty of closing the doors to the kingdom of heavens." In my own discussion with him, I had said that I didn't think it necessarily made a huge difference in the long run, because Jehovah will place each vessel according to his own good purpose, and those who felt "anointed" would surely be used in the right place according to Jehovah's choice, which might end up being on earth, and those who felt "not anointed" would surely be used in the right place, just the same, even if it turned out not to be in heaven. After all, it is BOTH a new heavens AND a new earth we are awaiting. He kind of laughed it off and said that my suggestion was probably just as dangerous as his own, and the main thing is that we always guard the tongue, so we don't start any fires.
  10. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Carmen Erwin in September 2016 - THE WATCHTOWER (STUDY EDITION)   
    Regular PDF - w_E_201609.pdf
     
    Large Print PDF 1 - w_f-lp-1_E_201609.pdf
    Large Print PDF 2 - w_f-lp-2_E_201609.pdf
     
    Audio: w_E_201609.mp3.zip
  11. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Carmen Erwin in In my family worship night we had the chance to meditate on what...   
    In my family worship night we had the chance to meditate on what Paradise would look like. We all shared what we thought it would be like and then we where able to paint it on a canvas. It was so fun! We had the new song melodies in the background and we all sang as we painted. I love our family worship night! There is no doubt that this is the best life ever! Photo shared by @spidey1212
    View the full article
  12. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Christian-Francis Truelove in New DNA Study Confirms Noah   
    by Brian Thomas, M.S. 
    Evolutionary teachings hold that all mankind arose from a population of ape-like ancestors from which chimpanzees also evolved. But Genesis, the rest of the Bible, and Jesus teach that all mankind arose from Noah's three sons and their wives. A new analysis of human mitochondrial DNA exposes two new evidences that validate the biblical beginnings of mankind.
    Mitochondrial DNA comes from mothers. Mother egg cells transmit their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) into the cellular mitochondria of every child born. This unique annex of DNA contains 16,569 bases—either adenine, guanine, cytosine, or thymine (A, G, C, T)—that encode vital cellular information, like an instruction manual.
    Scientists have been comparing the genetic differences between every major people group around the globe. How did those differences arise?
    Assuming that God placed the ideal mtDNA sequence into Eve, all those differences arose by mutations since the Genesis 3 curse, about 6,000 years ago. Other scientists measured the rate at which these copying errors occur. Though very slow—we acquire about one mutation every 6 generations—a few dozen mutations could appear after several millennia.
    This sets the stage for researchers to compare competing models' predictions against measured mtDNA differences.
    Bible-believing molecular biologist Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson downloaded publicly available human mitochondrial genome sequence data to do exactly that. Publishing in Answers Research Journal, his results show that the number of today's mtDNA differences exactly matches the number predicted by the Bible's 6,000 years of human history.1 Mitochondrial DNA from around the world shows no trace of the 200,000 or so years' worth of mutations that the evolution model predicts.
    Geneticists construct tree diagrams using software that places the most similar genetic sequences near one another, and the most dissimilar sequences on the longest branches. Jeanson found at least two distinct patterns in the human mtDNA tree diagram that confirm Genesis.
    The center of the diagram shows three main trunks. Each reflects a specific mtDNA sequence with only a handful of differences from the other two.
    Could these three trunks represent the unique mtDNA from the wives of Shem, Ham, and Japheth?
    A second pattern emerges that also fits the three wives explanation. Assuming longer times between each generation, according to the biblical record of lifespans before the Flood, and using today's slow mutation rate, the 1,656 years between Adam and Noah would have produced the small number of differences that the short lines between each trunk represent.
    Jeanson compared the small number of mtDNA differences between each trunk, or central node, with the relatively large number of differences in the branches. He wrote, "About 1,660 years passed from Creation to the Flood, whereas 4,365 years passed from the Flood to the present—a ~2.6:1 time ratio. Consistent with this, the branches connecting the nodes to one another were much shorter than the branches spraying out from the nodes—as if the short branches represented pre-Flood mutations, and the long branches represented post-Flood mutations."1
    It appears that modern genetics confirms Genesis, which says, "So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him."
    This study produced two Genesis-confirming results. First, the human mtDNA tree has three trunks, which fits the Genesis model that all peoples descended from three foundational mothers—the wives of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Second, 6,000 years of today's slow mutation rate would exactly produce today's measured number of mtDNA differences. Genetics again confirms Genesis.
    http://www.icr.org/article/9325/
  13. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Carmen Erwin in The Prodigal Returns   
  14. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Anita Sarratt Floyd in New Light! - Beards are now ok.   
    From latest WT Study Edition
    This should cause some interesting showdowns in congregations all over the United States. LOL
     
    Which reminded me of this comical infographic:

  15. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from vandenbusschevanoostjosett in The Prodigal Returns   
  16. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from joel alarios sr. in New Light! - Beards are now ok.   
    From latest WT Study Edition
    This should cause some interesting showdowns in congregations all over the United States. LOL
     
    Which reminded me of this comical infographic:

  17. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Elisabeth Dolewka in How Can I Stop the Gossip?   
    How Can I Stop the Gossip? 
  18. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Elisabeth Dolewka in Tour of Wallkill Pressroom   
    Tour of Wallkill Pressroom 
    Brother Knorr gave me my first tour of Walkill back in the 1970's. Of course back then the pressroom was in a different location on the premises.
    You can search above for more about him.
    Agape!
     
  19. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from vandenbusschevanoostjosett in Tour of Wallkill Pressroom   
    Tour of Wallkill Pressroom 
    Brother Knorr gave me my first tour of Walkill back in the 1970's. Of course back then the pressroom was in a different location on the premises.
    You can search above for more about him.
    Agape!
     
  20. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from vandenbusschevanoostjosett in Preparing for Marriage—Part 1: Am I Ready to Date?   
    Preparing for Marriage—Part 1: Am I Ready to Date?
  21. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Carmen Erwin in Ten year old Andres running to get in line for baptism yesterday...   
    Ten year old Andres running to get in line for baptism yesterday in Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico. Photo shared by @peegeedeemmm
    View the full article
  22. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Richteresa in Preparing for Marriage—Part 1: Am I Ready to Date?   
    Preparing for Marriage—Part 1: Am I Ready to Date?
  23. Upvote
    The Librarian reacted to The Librarian in Tour of Wallkill Pressroom   
    Tour of Wallkill Pressroom 
    Brother Knorr gave me my first tour of Walkill back in the 1970's. Of course back then the pressroom was in a different location on the premises.
    You can search above for more about him.
    Agape!
     
  24. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from John Houston in Visit Romanian truckdrivers in the Netherlands. They were very...   
    Visit Romanian truckdrivers in the Netherlands. They were very happy that we visit ? pic by @laurendepauren
    View the full article
  25. Upvote
    The Librarian got a reaction from Sherrill Szumik in Kingdom Halls for a Million Witnesses   
    Since 1999, over 5,000 Kingdom Halls have been built in Mexico and the seven countries of Central America. Why are non-Witnesses eager to see new Kingdom Halls in their communities?
    Source
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