Welcome
I was not kicked out...I walked out about 8 years ago.I couldn't see the love of God in these people. I found out that people in the "world" are really good people too and started questioning how God(the one I know)could even think of destroying them.
Recently I found the web and one of the first things I saw was the change in the stand on voting.....I couldn't believe that they would go back on this doctrine. How many people have died over this very issue. And how sneaky are they being? They are convincing JW's to actively be sneaky and dishonest. This is just downright disgusting in my eyes.
I unlike Trevor, haven't started turning green yet, but looking forward to it
wendy
Whats an Apostate
by hippikon 16 Replies latest jw friends
-
mommy
-
teejay
hippikon,
lacking the verbal skills and tact of "dark clouds", at a get-together amidst a housefull of JWs, i once made the comment that, strictly speaking, Jesus himself was an apostate. you cannot imagine the looks of terror i received. the host, far from an independent thinker (he's been appointed elder since then)but not a total dunce, either, gave my words some thought and finally agreed with me.
__________________________________________________
dark clouds,beautiful answer. a keeper!
peace-out.
-
Seeker
Mommy,
The Society has not changed it's stance on voting, though I can understand where you would have gotten that impression. All the QFR changed was the idea that if someone goes into a voting booth, outside observers cannot make any definite determination what went on in the booth, and therefore they are not to automatically DA the JW as they previously might. This change was made for those countries that force its citizens to go to the polls. So a JW there can go, step into the booth, do nothing (or void the ballot, or write "Jesus" or whatever), and leave without getting in trouble with the authorities. Of course, if they really did vote, and this came to be known, they would be in trouble as they always were before. But the elders can no longer assume they voted just because they saw them go into the booth.
One U.S. Circuit Overseer, when asked about this QFR, said, "Oh, that doesn't apply here [U.S.]", so you get the idea that the Society hasn't really changed anything other than to give an out to some JWs in certain lands to "pretend" to vote so as not to get in trouble.
To repeat, the policy on voting has NOT changed in any substantial way.
-
mommy
Seeker,
It is the org giving the ok to be decietful that I have a problem with. As I said before I was raised a jw, in school I could have avoided years of alienation, and persucution. If only I stood before the flag and put my hand on my heart and mouthed the words of the pledge of allegiance. Furthermore I could have done this just standing up to the flag. But I was told we are to make a stand for the "truth".
So when did it become ok to pretend to go along with the "world"? And do you really think this is ok? I for one don't.
wendy -
teejay
Venice,
Apostate is not a bad thing, and in no way is the same as heresey. As I brought out in my trial!
your trial? care to share?
-
Seeker
wendy,
Ah, I see the angle you are focusing on. I misunderstood and thought you were one of those ex-JWs who see one of the Society's shifty moves and thinks the whole teaching has been overturned and proceeds to tell the world about the new light that isn't really new light at all.
What do I think of this deceit? I find it one more sign of the mainstreaming of JWs. We all know that the brothers in Malawi sure could have used this maneuver to save their lives, but back then the policy was not only not to compromise, but to make sure no one even THOUGHT you were compromising. Now this new, mainstream, version of the Society seems to be saying, "Go ahead and do whatever is expedient to make others think you are just like them -- but don't really do it, just pretend for their sakes." So much for standing up for what is right!
Now if a JW in one of those countries goes to the polls just like every other citizen, can you imagine the conversation they would later have at the door of someone who saw them "voting":
Householder: Hey, I saw you vote! I thought JWs don't vote!
JW: We don't. Just because I went to the poll, it doesn't mean I necessarily voted.
Householder: Huh? What do you mean? What else would you be doing there?
JW: Leaving a blank ballot.
Householder: Oh, so it's not OK to vote, but it is OK to let others think you are voting by using deceit?Oh the tangled web they weave...
Seeker
-
dark clouds
TeeJay, thank you for the kind words, and allow me to welcome you on board for i see you are also a newbie, glad to have you here.
Hippikon, i was not assimilated properly, there must have been a virus in the software, i may have detected it when i heard myself thinking out loud or was it just simply thinking, any how it set off the alarm.
aChristian, you are right there was no quarrel, they simply threw his ass in jail, for stating a scientific fact, that was neither inspired by god, nor revealed to the church first. by the way (josh 10:13) did you say a misunderstod or misinterpreted scripture? funny how the misunderstanding and labeling continues, no?
Trevor, that was priceless, guess that explains the fangs that have sprouted in my gums. who would have known?
lurking in shadoows
CHUCK