Top Five Forbidden Watchtower Subjects (page 4)

Big Tex

I haven't read any of their literature in 14 years, but after reading this thread I'm left wondering: just what exactly do Jehovah's Witnesses believe now? It sounds as if they have devolved to such a degree that the teachings have been replaced by platitudes. It seems as if the whole point of the religon now is to attend meetings and go out in service. Just what will this organization look like 14 years from now? I wonder if it will be recognizable?

czarofmischief

My parents are oldstyle Witnesses - came in in the late sixties.

They've seen it all - the huge increase before 75, the collapse after that, the excitement about the Berlin Wall coming down, the disillusionment after the generation meaning changed. I don't know. That whole house of cards is teetering on the brink of a meltdown.

My mama asked me if I still believe in Jehovah. I said, sure. I just don't believe in the Watchtower, 'cause they're lying fools.

I asked her what she thought. She said she wondered if Armageddon was going to come in her lifetime. Poor woman. I love her so much, and it hurts me to see her virtual reality suffering cracks in its programming.

In 14 years, if I am still alive and the world hasn't poisoned itself, I will be shaking my head as I begin burying the whole generation of idealistic sheep who were fleeced by arrogant, greedy, pigheaded old men.

CZAR

(of the tired young man picking up the mess of his forefathers class)

dsgal

Remember all those articles about JWs being attacked by demons?(Pulling up their night clothes,sexually molesting them,rendering them speechless and unable to walk.)I never see any articles like this anymore.Maybe the demons are nice to them now.

uriah

Yeah, I remember about the demons. There were loads of urban myths about people being held in chairs so they couldn't open the door to have a study and paintings that wouldn't burn and other such stuff. Mind you, they still cling to 'It's a blessing' if something good happens and 'It's satan' if something bad happens. I noted that armed forces etc was mentioned - as not being mentioned by the Soc. Maybe it is to do with the Mexican scam of bribing officials to say you had done service to get a cartilla, or whatever, despite also being enrolled as a reservist - how many were read out as D'ad themselves.

In fact, the whole witness work is dumbed down. I looked through so old and not so old books and noted that there was hardly a line and wash illustration in them. Now they are all pictures. Maybe they should come with little pencils and puzzles to do or dot-to-dot. 'My book of bible dot-to-dot'

or 'Colouring in the Great Teacher' (with pack of six bright colouring pencils)

Or 'My witnessing outfit' complete with suit and tie (safe knot), play bible with one or two verses, S8 (except UK and Europe - data protection act) play mags and blow up biblestudy person with no naughty bits.

Hmmm, might be a business opportunity there if I can get the FDS to endorse it as a family study aid.

Reborn2002

Remember all those articles about JWs being attacked by demons?(Pulling up their night clothes,sexually molesting them,rendering them speechless and unable to walk.)I never see any articles like this anymore.Maybe the demons are nice to them now.

Being raised in the JW's in the 1980's, I remember those horror stories too. We had a Circuit Overseer in Illinois Circuit 20 (USA) by the name of William McGee who often resorted to scare tactics to keep people in line.

I remember demon stories he told children including myself of Smurf dolls being possessed and choking their owners to death in their sleep, or of adults who went on a vacation and came back with some object that was once a part of voodoo or witchcraft (if you were a JW, you remember how they warned so strongly against possessions from trips overseas) and it was an invitation for the demons to enter into their home and set things on fire, levitate beds, and rape the women.

His quackery cure all for this supernatural behavior? Burn everything while chanting the name Jehovah! Only fire and God's name could cleanse the taint of Satan's minions.

This guy preached that stuff over the platform his entire stay.

I'd venture to guess you dont see CO's talking like that now to the public, for it would be too extreme to attract any new potential converts.

out4good3

Remember all those articles about JWs being attacked by demons?(Pulling up their night clothes,sexually molesting them,rendering them speechless and unable to walk.)I never see any articles like this anymore.Maybe the demons are nice to them now.

Yeah...I remember all that quackery. I remember in the early eighties when there was this big write up somewhere that had something to do with the proctor and gamble Logo, the thirteen stars and the half moon being a sign of demon inspiration. A witness family I knew at the time went nuts throwing out everything that had the logo on it.

Then there's the time my wife threw out all the cabbage patch dolls, smurfs, and all my horror novels claiming that they wre inviting demons into the house and keeping her awake at night. Had the kids afraid of playing The Legend Of Zelda bacause there was magic in the game. It got to the point where those little ole pioneer sisters had more influence in my house than I did.

It's funny how they like to make fun of Catholics for seeing the virgin Mary in a tortilla chip or a statue of Christ crying when some of thier behaivior is just as irrational.

jack2

Good post Met, and interesting (and funny) replies.

I'd tend to agree about the seeming phasing out of certain subject matter. And, I wonder if these guys will ever write another article on child abuse. With their credibilty so much in question, I would imagine they'll avoid broaching that subject for awhile.

Farkel

czarofmischief,

: My parents are oldstyle Witnesses - came in in the late sixties.

: They've seen it all - the huge increase before 75, the collapse after that, the excitement about the Berlin Wall coming down, the disillusionment after the generation meaning changed. I don't know. That whole house of cards is teetering on the brink of a meltdown.

I guess that's all relative. My parents came in in about 1950. They saw more of the "all" than your parents saw: the outstanding growth Knorr oversaw, the huge International Assemblies they had in 1953, 1955 and most notably 1958. I grew up in the so-called "good times" when dubs were friendly, enthusiastic and united not by dictim, but by purpose.

I was 21 in 1969 and a pioneer to boot. Even then those were "good times" considering the malaise the WTS has experienced since the death of Freddie and the obvious non-fulfillment of any of their major predictions.

The WTS with all of its goofy doctrines was in the toilet in 1950-1969, though. In 2002 or soon, someone is finally going to do them a favor and flush it.

Farkel

thewiz

i was wondering about the voting thing.

in the USA isn't it a federal offense to prevent someone from voting? one being an employer demanding they their employees cannot leave work to vote

and maybe other orgs that prevent people from voting by threat of excommunication ? lets say the catholic church told it members they could not vote in the country they are in or they could ONLY vote democrat/republican. that would be illegal right?

outbackaussie

Wow, things have certainly changed since I last paid attention to the JW publications.

As someone said earlier...what exactly does the Society "teach" these days? Everything I grew up with seems to be on this list LOL

Top Five Forbidden Watchtower Subjects

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