"One of" Jehovah's Witnesses (page 3)

wantstoleave

Baba....ooo please explain!! Juicy! So, is this site solely for those wishing to or who have left? Or for witnesses too? Do you mean that the songwriters you talk about are no longer witnesses?

BabaYaga

Baba....ooo please explain!! Juicy! So, is this site solely for those wishing to or who have left? Or for witnesses too? Do you mean that the songwriters you talk about are no longer witnesses?

No, this site is not solely for those who have left, but the majority who post here are ex-JW's. In fact, this site was not even STARTED by ex-JW's... they just became ex-JW's by using their own reasoning and by having in-depth discussions on this very board. Go check out the very first posts ever made on the site, you'll see what I mean.

In actuality, it is open for discussion to anyone, but of course we know Bethel does not want the rank and file JW's here... too dangerous, they might learn something! When active JW's do come here, though, they get quite an earfull, because so many here have been hurt so badly by the Watchtower demands and they are still dealing with their wounds. Try to remember that many here are still trying to heal, and hurt does not always express itself well.

And yes, I do mean that there are songwriters of the Kingdom Melodies that are considered to be "apostates", and that yes, one of them very recently joined us here. I'll see if I can find the thread for you.

In the meantime, you might have limited posts being a newbie, so if you do run out of posts, we'll look for you tomorrow.

edited to say: I found the thread... you will enjoy reading the entire story.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/180013/1/DNCall-Unmasked-Part-3-of-5

We have many celebrities here.

wantstoleave

Dont worry, Im not going to indoctrinate anyone...lol. Ive come here myself because I doubt. Im looking for support more than anything, to help me through my thinking. Ill also never push my thinking on anyone else. Im not like that. Probably why I havent been on service in a year and before that, 3yrs. I look forward to spending more time here :)

Leolaia

It should be recalled that when the JW name was adopted in the 1930s, it was not intended (at least openly) to be the name of a religious sect. This was the time when Rutherford declared religion to be a "snare and a racket". The name always referred to the group of people affiliated with Rutherford who, in his words, "make a stand for Jehovah and his kingdom" (since Rutherford claimed that the Theocracy incorporated his organization as its earthly portion, a person had to be part of his organization to be protected in the day of God's anger). That is how Fred Franz was able to also declare that Abel and Noah were "one of Jehovah's witnesses", as they too were righteous followers of Jehovah — not that they belonged to a particular religion. The "w" in "witnesses" was not capitalized in those days to emphasize that "Jehovah's witnesses" was a description, not a title. In actual practice, the Society has strayed from that early ideal; it now regularly capitalizes the "W" and occasionally uses the title in the singular (although the vast majority of instances of the latter in the WT-CDROM occur within quotations, i.e. saying someone is "a Jehovah's Witness" is limited mainly to quotations from regular R&F or non-JWs). The regular use of the plural "Jehovah's Witnesses" (necessitating the "one of" expression in order to individuate) reinforces the dominant collective ideology, that God saves groups not individuals. The same idea is used to explain that entire nations need not receive a witness before Armageddon because the people within those countries bear "community responsibility". In certain small ways the usage of the term betrays the understanding that "Jehovah's Witnesses" is a particular community and not a religious faith. So when a person is declared from the podium to "no longer be one of Jehovah's Witnesses", this does not mean that there has been a change in faith. It means that the person has been excluded (and must be shunned) from the congregation. A disfellowshipped person may still have a JW faith and regard it as his or her religion. Of course, most of the time the two overlap since officially only Jehovah's Witnesses are viewed as "holding on to the pattern of healthful words".

moggy lover

I have it on the best authority [namely me uncle Solly] that in the heyday of J Edgar Hoover, one time head of the FBI, that his agents when coming to a person's door would identify themselves with the words.......

wait for it ......wait for it.....

"I am one of J Hoover's witnesses!!"

Its a joke Maggie...a joke...now be luv and getus a cuppa.

BarefootServant

huh? What's the matter with you people? It's nothing to do with plural or belonging. "I'm a Jehovah's witness" is simply bad grammar. If I was a witness at a trial for my friend Brian, I wouldn't say "I'm a Brian's witness" - I'm Brian's witness or one of Brian's witnesses. The 's stands for his.

When I was in, I used correct people whenever they said "I'm a Jehovah's witness" (I'm a pedantic bugger about that sort of thing), not that they ever took any notice.

Hello?

Leolaia

That is an interesting point, but it doesn't quite work. While you can say "I'm Brian's witness", nobody among the JWs would say "I'm Jehovah's witness" -- it sounds like something is missing (because in actual usage an indefinate article is widely used) or it sounds haughty, as if you are claiming that Jehovah has no other witnesses than yourself. The difference is that "Jehovah's Witness" has become something of a set phrase, a lexicalized compound that may be pluralized or preceded with an indefinite article like any other noun (i.e. a Jehovah's Witness = a fish, Jehovah's Witness-es = fish-es). This is probably why non-JWs frequently omit the -'s because it is non-functional for them and they are not as well acquainted with the actual pronunciation. English is littered with similar examples. Holidays like "New Year's Day" and "Valentine's Day" have an apostraphied -'s that can be ignored (e.g. I want to go to a New Year's Day party; compare "I want to go to a Brian's witness party" vs "I want to go to a Jehovah's Witness convention"), and more recent holidays have dropped the inflection altogether (e.g. Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day). "Season's Greetings" is similar: "Wish me a Merry Christmas, I don't want you to give me a Season's Greetings"). Or one could mention the set phrase "rat's ass" in the expression: "I don't give a rat's ass about that". This same process produced long ago words like steersman and craftsman, so it has been going on a very long time. It's just one of the funny irregularities we have come to expect in the English language.

poppers

What is the meaning then of "One of " Jehovah's Christian Witnesses?

Maybe there are people who can claim to be "One of Jehovah's Hindu Witnesses."

angel eyes

a servant of Jehovah :)

isaacaustin

How about a cult member? Or a vassal to the governing body? Or a servant of men?

"One of" Jehovah's Witnesses

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