received revealing "witness" in parking lot

by Magnum 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  John Aquila

  Great work Magnum,

   

  Actually you planted a virus on that girl and that virus is lodging in one of her thinking cells. One of these days she well be in a weak state, perhaps get reproved unjustly, or be the center of gossip, or lose a boyfriend, or husband, and then when she if feeling upset and down she will remember your words. Bam!

  The virus is not dormant anymore, it starts multiplying and she starts researching, and the next thing you know she is on this site relating her experience:

  “You know, one day at a parking lot,  I talked to this man………..”
• 

  Xanthippe

  Great work Magnum. How typical that they are being taught ad hominem phrases but no scriptural argumentation of the kind we learned. As you say all they can do is hand you a leaflet and keep repeating the web site. Truly a dumbing down especially after living through the overlapping generations fiasco she doesn't even know about it.
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  millie210

  I thought too that maybe one day she will be here relating her experience...
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  kairos

  Great experience. I can only hope that I can be patient enough to imitate it someday.

  
  
• 

  Magnum

  2 hours ago

  Magnum: I believe that in a few more years even GB members won’t be familiar with the old JWdom. JWdom is in a transitional phase in that area, also. I bet Mark Sanderson knows less actual JW history than a lot of us do. The current GB members (GB 2.0) know less about old JWdom than GB 1.0, and GB 3.0 will know very little.

  Oubliette: I suspect this is already the case. How would Sanderson know all about the looney ideas of Russell, Rutherford or Fred Franz?

  I wonder about that often. I wonder whether he knows anything about R Franz and Crisis of Conscience or 1925 or pyramidology or the old crazy books. For that matter, I wonder whether the other GB members know anything about that stuff.

  I believe there are a few old-timers at Bethel (like the Adams brothers) who know a lot more than GB members, but they'll be gone soon.
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  Magnum

  Brokeback Watchtower: As far as older/past JWs being able to defend their beliefs better than today's modern JWs, I think the internet and its instant information and reams of it has a lot to do with the seeming difference. We were just a dumb and delusional as the currant ones but all the information we have access to make the older seem some how smarter and better able to defend their faith.

  I respectfully disagree. I really don't think we were "just as dumb and delusional as the current ones." I think we studied deeper stuff, we appealed to reason and common sense and logic more, we were more intelligent, we were more knowledge of JW doctrine and the Bible, etc.

  I believe that the collective JW IQ is becoming lower and lower as the intelligent, reasonable, logical ones (like a lot of us) leave. JWdom doesn't appeal to intelligent, reason, logical thinkers anymore as it once did. It truly is different now.

  
  
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  Village Idiot

  "I think we studied deeper stuff, we appealed to reason and common sense and logic more, we were more intelligent, we were more knowledge of JW doctrine and the Bible, etc."

  During my days as a witness in the 1970s, I and some older brothers who were ministerial servants would peer into the original Hebrew and Greek words of the Bible and at times even listen to apostate books and audio recordings in order to refute them. We were not typical of your average witness back then but it showed that there was some 'scholastic' ability among some of them.
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  Magnum

  Village Idiot, In my earlier years as JW, I saw JWs sitting around by pools at hotels after district convention sessions having deep Bible conversations about prophecy, doctrine, etc.  In my later years as a JW, I did not see such.
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  Oubliette

  Fred Franz was a nut, but at least his ideas were interesting and had a creative shred of plausibility.

  The modern GB's ideas such as the "overlapping generation" are just silly nonsense. How can you have an intelligent, meaningful conversation about goofy ideas that are incoherent? You can't.

  Let's just do the happy dance and pretend we have "the Truth!"

  
  
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  Magnum

  Fred Franz was a nut, but at least his ideas were interesting and had a creative shred of plausibility.

  I agree. I realize now that he was a nut, but I also think that even though he was a nut, he had some raw intelligence, unlike GB members today. I believe he was more of a scholar. I also believe that he really believed the stuff he came up with or at least thought it was close to the truth. I believe he was more real in that he holed himself up and read and studied and at least tried to figure things out. I kind of like the fact that he wasn't a flashy dresser and didn't seem to want as much attention as the GB members do today.

  His ideas did have a shred of plausibility. They also just felt more scholarly.