Melinda Mills

You can look into the 2016 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 176,  for the figures based on year 2015, then in a couple of months you will get the figures year 2016 in the 2017 yearbook.  Last figure was 8.2 million.  Headquarters would have to up-to-date figures now almost ready for print.  But why would we need to get them before they are published?

Hello Dolly(s).................
Novel idea. S'pose you think this applies to Jesus as well??
Doesn't this statement contradict the definition of the word CLONE?
There's nothing new about folks having difficulty with the Bilble's teaching on the resurrection.  And nothing new about certain of those folks holding that teaching up to ridicule as a result. 
Jesus summed up their problem better than anyone could do today when he said:
“You are mistaken, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God."  Matt.22:29
 

Thank you, Melinda.
At least in this one, reference to one's intellect is still intact.
It is a very beautiful song. 

The composition of music and lyrics has changed throughout history and time.  I sometimes write poems and it can be very difficult at times trying to find the right words to get the right flow along with the thoughts in my head.  I learned it can be the same way with music to find the right words to fit comfortably with a melody or rhythm from music class and a few musicians in the family.  The only language that seems to flow and move beautiful with any music is Hebrew.  No matter the arrangement, every word is perfect.  Every word is music in itself.  This is just my opinion of course from listening to many beautiful psalms and songs sung in Hebrew.
 
 
 

So from what I see for the Witnesses word changing and tune changing probably went on for some time. Apparently the original music was from Mozart and lyrics were from Havergal.  Right now now I remember two tunes to this song. Just heard a third tune on Youtube.
 
 

Those old songbooks are no longer around. Here is what I found on the Internet. When I was a small child lots of our songs had words in common with the best songs/the most truthful songs of Christendom. They evolved to being more truthful according the enlightened understanding of truth. So maybe one of the older versions of this song probably had those words, and I probably remembered it faintly.
======
Take my life and let it be
consecrated Lord to Thee
Take my moments and my days,
let them flow in ceaseless praise
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee
Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my King
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee
 
Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold
 
Take my intellect and use every power as You choose
Here am I, all of me, take my life, it's all for Thee
Take my will and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine
Take my heart, it is Thine own, it shall be Thy royal throne
Take my love, my Lord I pour at Your feet, it's treasure store
Take myself and I will be ever, only, all for Thee
Songwriters Christopher Tomlin;Louie Giglio

Those old songbooks are no longer around. Here is what I found on the Internet. When I was a small child lots of our songs had words in common with the best songs/the most truthful songs of Christendom. They evolved to being more truthful according the enlightened understanding of truth. So maybe one of the older versions of this song probably had those words, and I probably remembered it faintly.
======
Take my life and let it be
consecrated Lord to Thee
Take my moments and my days,
let them flow in ceaseless praise
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee
Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my King
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee
 
Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold
 
Take my intellect and use every power as You choose
Here am I, all of me, take my life, it's all for Thee
Take my will and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine
Take my heart, it is Thine own, it shall be Thy royal throne
Take my love, my Lord I pour at Your feet, it's treasure store
Take myself and I will be ever, only, all for Thee
Songwriters Christopher Tomlin;Louie Giglio

Ann, is that anger I read in your answer? We must follow, not go ahead with how we feel. Too many examples in scripture on the outcome of those who did. Can we speak? Does this include, hugs and kisses? Casual conversation? Plans for dinner?
a child that has been disfellowedshipped,,knows the stigma of what they've done and if repentant want to return to family and friends, and want to do it Jehovah's way, not what they feel,is how it should be done. Can we speak to them? Yes, for as you point out, we empathize with ones, but we do no more than that. Can't act like they are invisible, but they also know what is going on. If their heart is in the right place, as the example given above,,they will return and this exercise of questions will be moot, correct?

Actually, Watchtower no 3 for 2016 has two study articles which set out Jehovah's Witnesses view on this matter quite clearly.
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-march-2016/young-ones-ready-baptism/

A brother compiled a spreadsheet of a comparison of the songs from the current and new songbooks to make it easier to find where a song is in the new book. I took this info and made a PDF so it is easier to print.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0udkagzgpd8vmy8/Song Book Comparison.pdf?dl=0
Song Book Comparison.pdf

Actually when I first saw your question I thought of the birth of the kingdom in heaven and I also thought about the great tribulation which Jesus said nothing would be like it in the future and nothing would have been like it in the past, but I still answered as I did. So as Pilate said, "What I have written I have written". The organization have also written lots of things that they no longer believe, or had to make adjustments on, so let's not start an Inquisition. Let's allow these things to digest. Just as we have no quarrel with the organization when they see something different and eventually all come to realize the truth of it, let others believe what they are convinced about. The early Christians took about 30 years to accept the truth surrounding the circumcision, for example, but God still used them. So be careful.

Actually when I first saw your question I thought of the birth of the kingdom in heaven and I also thought about the great tribulation which Jesus said nothing would be like it in the future and nothing would have been like it in the past, but I still answered as I did. So as Pilate said, "What I have written I have written". The organization have also written lots of things that they no longer believe, or had to make adjustments on, so let's not start an Inquisition. Let's allow these things to digest. Just as we have no quarrel with the organization when they see something different and eventually all come to realize the truth of it, let others believe what they are convinced about. The early Christians took about 30 years to accept the truth surrounding the circumcision, for example, but God still used them. So be careful.

And maybe follow up with, "Does anyone believe there's an even greater event than this.....from the Bible, not the paragraph.....an event that caused rejoicing and singing in heaven" (as Melinda pointed out) (Read Luke 2:10-14).
 

No!
[speaking only for myself, of course!]

According to reports I have heard from some who were at the Annual Meeting today, the new songbook has been released. It is not known if copies were distributed to those in attendance, but electronic copies will be available on jw.org Monday in English (and apparently in Haitian Creole). It will have a new title: "Sing Out Joyfully to Jehovah," and some songs will have new titles, new lyrics, and some will be renumbered. It will start being used in all English congregations the week of January 2, 2017. The book will contain only 151 songs, not 154 as we were expecting. Three songs were deleted, but there was no mention of which ones. The book will be in three formats: regular edition, large print, and lyrics only.
I also heard, in connection with that new songbook, that new videos of the Watchtower Chorus will be released shortly. The chorus will be singing all of the songs in the book! We’ll see.
So keep your eyes open for the new songbook and other goodies on Monday on jw.org and tv.jw.org. And Monday also comes the monthly broadcast on JW Broadcasting. Ohh those servers are going to be working hard!

Why are you posting this every couple of months. Saw it more than once.  The heading is incorrect. It was not Pope Francis. 
This is what it said:  "The Catholic Church raised a "cry of alarm", according to La Repubblica, because every year ten thousand thousand Catholics  become Jehovah's Witnesses.
The Jesuit Giusseppe De Rosa said that "from a religious point of view the most dangerous are Jehovah's Witneses.  They come fully trained; they always have the Bible in their hand."
In an editorial dealing specifically with Jehovah's Witnesses, the Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica of February 18, 1984, wrote:  "The first reason for the spread of the movement lies in the propaganda techniques [that is, in the preaching work]. The work on the one hand is painstaking, carried out from door to door by people who are scrupulously trained in this work and strongly convinced ... " etc etc
Why are we so hungry for the plaudits of worldly men?
 

Who knows what we all eat, drink, breathe, and whatever else in this rumor-ridden, pathetic excuse for a civilised society?
Surely with your talent for digging you could find some information on this interesting topic? I know it would be a bit different from your usual area of expertise but your skills are presumably transferable?
...and I've ingested a fair bit from some of the posts on this site, but thanks still for the immunity from it's toxic effects that you have apparently granted me!"
C'mon @JayWitness, this is not up to your usual standard. Let's have some real news!
 
 

Why are you posting this every couple of months. Saw it more than once.  The heading is incorrect. It was not Pope Francis. 
This is what it said:  "The Catholic Church raised a "cry of alarm", according to La Repubblica, because every year ten thousand thousand Catholics  become Jehovah's Witnesses.
The Jesuit Giusseppe De Rosa said that "from a religious point of view the most dangerous are Jehovah's Witneses.  They come fully trained; they always have the Bible in their hand."
In an editorial dealing specifically with Jehovah's Witnesses, the Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica of February 18, 1984, wrote:  "The first reason for the spread of the movement lies in the propaganda techniques [that is, in the preaching work]. The work on the one hand is painstaking, carried out from door to door by people who are scrupulously trained in this work and strongly convinced ... " etc etc
Why are we so hungry for the plaudits of worldly men?
 

When did Pope Francis do this? Which Catholic conference was it? As will become apparent, Pope Francis did no such thing. 
Alan Murdock has pointed out that this is old news. The catholicsay article goes on to copy much of the March 22, 1987 Awake! article verbatim.
Given how old the information is, the 10,000 figure attributed to La Republica will reflect peak numbers of converts in the 1970s and '80s. If anyone's that interested, they can access Yearbooks from that period online to check the numbers being baptized. But it has to be said that firstly, not all who were baptized would have been Catholics (e.g. what about all the homegrown JW children?) and secondly, there have only been about 4,000 or 5,000 baptisms per year in more recent times.
The Awake! provides a more specific reference ...
In an editorial dealing specifically with Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Jesuit magazine La Civiltá Cattolica of February 18, 1984, wrote: [etc.]
[bold emphasis mine]
 
... and here is the original online, for any Italian speakers here - scroll to pp. 313f.
La Civiltà cattolica, Issues 3205-3210, 1984, 'I Testimoni di Geova'
 
 
 

This is not new. See the Awake of March 22, 1987, page 5.

I thought the story was familiar.  Some are not satisfied unless they are the bearer of bad news and picking apart everything that could possibly be wrong.

Why are you posting this every couple of months. Saw it more than once.  The heading is incorrect. It was not Pope Francis. 
This is what it said:  "The Catholic Church raised a "cry of alarm", according to La Repubblica, because every year ten thousand thousand Catholics  become Jehovah's Witnesses.
The Jesuit Giusseppe De Rosa said that "from a religious point of view the most dangerous are Jehovah's Witneses.  They come fully trained; they always have the Bible in their hand."
In an editorial dealing specifically with Jehovah's Witnesses, the Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica of February 18, 1984, wrote:  "The first reason for the spread of the movement lies in the propaganda techniques [that is, in the preaching work]. The work on the one hand is painstaking, carried out from door to door by people who are scrupulously trained in this work and strongly convinced ... " etc etc
Why are we so hungry for the plaudits of worldly men?
 

I'm sorry, but I did not see where it mentions you must believe in the year 1914 in order to receive salvation but to be associated as one of Jehovah's Witnesses:
*** w86 4/1 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***
Approved association with Jehovah’s Witnesses requires accepting the entire range of the true teachings of the Bible, including those Scriptural beliefs that are unique to Jehovah’s Witnesses.
 
Therefore, I would have to agree to disagree.  At one point an elder mentioned they do not always agree when coming together to meet on issues, but in the end they have to come to a meeting of minds so that there is not a split or cause for angry divisions, which throughout history resulted in many denominations that sprang up.  I can agree with the main tenets of my faith, and whatever thoughts I harbor will be between me and Jehovah and not big enough issues for me to cause chaos. 

I understand your concern.  However, the same would apply to any other religious organization that demand its members uphold their beliefs or consider them gone astray.  It was once considered apostasy by the church to read the Bible among many other rules and regulations.  I would have to say I've never agreed with the all the beliefs of any denomination and that includes my own.  If considered apostasy, ultimately eternal judgement or condemnation is by means of Christ.  My God-given common sense would tell me the entire range does not include jumping off a bridge or drinking poisoned kool aid.
 
Because we have freedom of speech, anyone can give their opinions or reverse their opinions.  If there's a point so strongly that we can't reconcile what we believe is true, we have a choice to allow God to direct us to make the right decision whether to stay in place or move on in our endeavors.  Despite any imperfections in word or deed, we are commanded to continue preaching the good news of God's kingdom.
 
(Acts 5:38-40) . . . if this scheme or this work is from men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. Otherwise, you may even be found fighters against God himself.” 40 . . .
 
The scriptures in 1 Thessalonians read:
 
i*** Bible Citations ***
1 Thess 4:15 For this is what we tell you by Jehovah’s word, that we the living who survive to the presence of the Lord will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep in death; 16 because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. 17 Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord. 18 So keep comforting one another with these words.
 
 
it does not sound like an immediate event for I assume many of the apostles and disciples were still alive at that time, and all have since died.  If Paul spoke of any living until Christ descent, it appears the event would have reached down to our time beginning with the first ones fallen asleep in death. 
 
If the Watchtower or society wrote an opinion or something different in this aspect from 1879-2016, I don't think I will have a great issue with it.  The important thing is the resurrection will occur and we will have righteous rulers to benefit all of society for the better.  I do have some things to do, so excuse me if I don't respond right away.