Monday, June 17, 2013

STORYLINE Happenings around Sacramento

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For the first time, the annual convention of Jehovah's Witnesses is happening at Sacramento's Convention Center on J Street. For eight weekends, including Fridays, the 134,000 square feet Convention Center Complex is filled with Jehovah's Witnesses. Over each 3-day weekend, over 12,000 Jehovah's Witness have/will attend the event.

Their annual convention runs until Aug. 22nd. There are concurrently 57 conventions in 90 USA cities.

I dropped by Friday morning and discovered this weekend is devoted to Spanish speaking folks. It was all spoken in Spanish. The two men who showed me around laughed when I told them I flunked Spanish in Junior High. Even the signs were in Spanish as seen below.

Samuel M. Nevarez of Carmichael, the main speaker for this weekend.

Marco Escobar of Pittsburg, CA holds his grand-daughter, Samantha Gonzales, in the Convention room.

These gentlemen (left to right)Jason Garcia, Salvatore Jimenez, Ignacio Poszles, Jaime Guzman and Santo Banuelos, were some of the many volunteers keeping things organized and running on time.

According to a press release, Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a worldwide Christian religion (7.3 million) who actively share with others information about God, whose name is Jehovah, and about his Son, Jesus Christ. They base their beliefs solely on the principles found in the Holy Bible and view first-century Christianity as the model.

They believe that in addition to drawing one closer to God, living by Bible principles gives purpose to life, promotes strong family ties, and develops productive and honest citizens.

They are Christians. They follow Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and put faith in the ransom sacrifice he provided for the salvation of mankind. They imitate his example in preaching and teaching and in their dealings with fellow humans. They also look forward to living in true peace on earth under his heavenly Kingdom.

While they have strong religious convictions, they are not fundamentalists in the sense that the term has come to be used.They do not believe that every passage in the Bible is to be interpreted literally. They do not pressure political leaders to promote a certain point of view, nor do we resort to demonstrations and violence against those who disagree with them. The Bible teaches Christians to be kind, good, mild, and reasonable—qualities that do not allow for the kind of fanaticism that is sometimes associated with fundamentalism.

They do not consider themselves the only ones to be saved. Many millions who have lived in centuries past and who were not Jehovah’s Witnesses will come back in a resurrection and have an opportunity for life. Many now living may yet take a stand for truth and righteousness before God’s time of judgment, and they will gain salvation. Moreover, Jesus said that we should not be judging one another. Humans look at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart. He sees accurately and judges mercifully. God has committed judgment into Jesus’ hands, not human's.

For further info:jw-media.org and www.jw.org.

SacPress Photos | Kati Garner

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Conversation Express your views, debate, and be heard with those in your area closest to the issue.

bassic34

July 4, 2010 | 7:33 PM

I am not a Jehovah's Witness, but I am related to several. I really appreciate your accurate representation of their beliefs as well as this event. They are not often portrayed accurately in the media (see the above posts links), and I find it very refreshing when they are.
Thank you.

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advocate

July 6, 2010 | 10:14 AM

A reality check is now in order. Sacpress writers need to do an article by interviewing ex-JW's or ex-JW's need to write an article about JW's commanding family members never to speak to other family members once they have left the "faith" and no longer follow JW narrow dogma. OR how about their intolerance of gays and their rigid anti-gay stance? I've never seen either of those issues mentioned in their hand outs.

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Casey Kirk

edited on July 9, 2010 | 11:56 AM

If you can keep the focus on Sacramento so it meets our guidelines, we would love for you to interview someone to tell the other side of the story if interested.

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jdgamma

June 26, 2011 | 2:30 PM

Some priests have abused children, some others have become thieves, some criminals; if these people are not told it's wrong , and keep doing it . Would it be fair to say: let them be, or would you try to adjust their behavior by let it them know; this is not acceptable. Society, has become permissive; what is morally wrong, is now acceptable. Just because the norms have changed (according to the world) does not mean God has. Let me ask you: do you believe in The Bible? , if the answer is: Yes! Then read Rom. 1:24-27,1 Tim. 1:9-11, Leviticus 20:13, and last 1 Cor. 6:9-11. The scriptures are very clear about morality, but then is up to each of us to follow it

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CCC

July 6, 2010 | 12:04 PM

Can we knock on the door during their convention?

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Brian Lambert

July 6, 2010 | 2:36 PM

"According to a press release, ..... " is it SP policy to print every claim in a press release?
"The Bible teaches Christians to be kind, good, mild, and reasonable" sure, just don't ask questions or try to have a discussion.
"What Do You Really Know About The Bible?" Find out.
I had quite an enlighting experience taking this quiz. Check it out.
http://ffrf.org/quiz/bquiz.php
-

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sawyerbob

July 8, 2010 | 7:59 PM

I am one of Jehovah's witnesses since 1996. After having inquired for better than 30 yrs of life's experiences for the TRUE way to worship our Creator, I was at once RE-Freshed and joyful
to learn what the Bible says about Jehovah's purposes. His name having been removed from
most versions of the Bible, people have easily been led to believe things which are in no way
in accord w/ the Words spoken by God thru His prophets and His Son. The Prayer which Jesus
instructed us to pray first asks for God's NAME to be hallowed--kept Holy--or pure. This is
the first and most crucial of Jesus' instructions. Please contact Jehovah's Witnesses in your area
to learn What Does The Bible Really Teach.

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mimenteismine

edited on July 12, 2010 | 4:03 PM

This is great information about the group:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/oct/08/religion.world
www.watchtowerdocuments.com
www.watchtowercomments.com
www.freeminds.org

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mimenteismine

July 12, 2010 | 3:54 PM

The whole thing about not being the only ones saved is a half truth. Yes they believe that those who have died without having the opportunity of knowing the "truth" will resurrect but all those who have been preached to and do not accept their teachings will be destroyed in Armageddon. This is in fact what they believe. Please do more research before publishing articles like this that are one side. Many do not know that children are never given a choice. They are indoctrinated in the religion. That in itself is not the problem. The problem is that they are coerced into baptism at a young age. (I was baptized at 12) Once this happens there is no honorable way out of the group.
Shunning is to be practiced on all those who do not remain in the group. So if you find out as an adult that your religion is a cult and decide to disassociate yourself all 7 million Jehovah's witnesses are ordered to shun you. Even family members are told to maintain there distance from you and not talk about anything "spiritual" with you. They are to only have contact with you at bare minimum such as health emergency etc. You are told your whole life to distrust outsiders as they are considered part of Satan's world and anyone outside the organization is bad association. So you depend on the group for everything. The day you leave you suffer severe psychological distress. Please do your research.

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jdgamma

June 26, 2011 | 1:43 PM

The Bible does not agree with the modern view of been many acceptable ways of venerating God, Ephesian 4:5 reads: " one Lord, one faith", and Jesus declared: "Whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it.{...}Not everyone saying to me , Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my father who is in heaven will. (Mat. 7:13, 14, 21.). In some places it has been called "Cult" to a religion not considered orthodox, or gives emphasis to a devotion according to some prescribed ritual. Many of these "Cults" follow a live human leader, and often their followers separate themselves from the rest of society. Nevertheless, the norm for what is orthodox must be The Word of God, and Jehovah's Witness adhered strictly to The Bible. Their worshiping is a way of living, it is not a ritualistic devotion. Neither they follow a human leader, nor they shun themselves from the rest of the world. They live and work amid other people. Do you know what 2 John 9,10 says?, or Heb 6:4-6 . No one is forced to get baptized, is a personal choice, and it takes a little over a year to come to that decision. Not everybody listen to Jesus... is got to be in you heart.

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agalindo

July 12, 2010 | 4:30 PM

Sometimes what you believe you see is not fact,What is important is the way they hide facts,
For example how would you react if you were at one of these conventions and were alerted about pedifiles amoung you,what about your children how safe are they.Well they have not disclosed this to you But they run among youalthough the Watchtower knows exactly who he are.....................BE CAREFUL.

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Arasabu

August 6, 2010 | 7:10 AM

Excelente articulo acerca de los Testigos de Jehova!. Los conoci cuando vine a vivir a EEUU hace 20 anos, yo tenia 26 anos de edad, y es lo mejor que me ha pasado. Desde aquel entonces mas de una docena de miembros de mi familia han llegado ser Testigos de Jehova, lo unico que lamentamos es no haberlos conocido antes, pues nos habriamos ahorrado muchos dolores de cabeza!.

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beeps3

October 2, 2011 | 11:23 PM

There is WAY too much hysterical reaction to the Witnesses.
They are just as imperfect as you, they are just as capable of being good
decent members of society as you. I came back to the religion after 30 years
of blundering because there are indeed momentous times in the near future.
NO person can say who will be approved by God, that is the creator's right.
Our responsibility is to present ourselves as spiritually clean as possible
to hopefully be approved by Him. This IS His world....

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light

February 28, 2012 | 12:39 PM

Do you notice how close we are to the end of this old system of things, where all religions will be shut down? That doesn't exempt the Jehovah's witnesses because it's also a religion. It's in the prophecy, so whether we like or not it is going to happen pretty soon. Jehovah has already set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin, and you might think it's the kingdomhall? NO!!!!! obviously not the kingdomhalls. Kingdomhalls will be shut down too. Do you know why Jehovah doesn't approve of the kingdomhalls? Because many elders are abusing their members. They coerce their members to go in the ministry service and collect their times just to look good during the inspections of the circuit overseers. That is not a loving procedure, the elders are just taunting Jehovah, and the governing body. That the reason why many are acting in hypocrisy. Some even partake during the memorial just to gain respect from the other witnesses. They make flattery reports to the governing body. Jehovah's witnesses don't get mad and afraid if you can't go out in the ministry because the prophecy of the good news to be preached to all the nation has already fulfilled. If you continue to go out in the ministry, it's not a sin also, but if you stop it's not a sin either. It's just up to you. But be ready when you thrown into prison, or get beaten don't blame anybody because it's your own choice. Going out knocking doors is no longer a practical idea nowadays, and besides many elders have shamed Jehovah by their ignorant characters. Jehovah has already set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin and that would glorify his name, and that is not through the elders in the kingdomhalls.

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