Do current JWs like to have Bible discussions?

by Magnum 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  andrekish

  Hello.  Hope I'm not speaking out of turn here since I never actually joined the WTBS so I may be unqualified to say the following:

  
  I have a feeling that the message distribution methods, ie, Watchtower and Awake plus associated published materials are a little out of date as a medium these days.  Very few youngsters want to pick up a magazine or leaflet or even a book since modern media is internet and video/social media driven.  In today's world if a person says 'verse this and chapter' they get very little further attention.  I cannot help but wonder how this affects the young JWs since the info they require is generally in a format that is considered 'Old Fashioned' and irrelevant.  It won't make the young JWs appear anything but boring and out of touch to their peers.  This may be part of the reasons that youngsters in the JW congregation are hesitant to speak.

  
  It could be that a radical overhaul of the way the information available to Witnesses is needed.  I recently noticed cartoons and videos on the JW Broadcasting channel so the organisation is slowly updating but could be far more interactive online - ie, publish all materials online so that we can all see what they are talking about.  There is very little info about the king of the north/south etc, etc, online yet in a modern format that young Witnesses would feel proud to show their friends.  I'm not trying to overly moan at the JW Old-Guard here - they can't help being old, can they?  I do think they need radical modernisation though, and a vast amount of greater transparency.

  It would be great to see a pioneer in the street with a tablet PC given the huge amount of info available online.  All queries and debates could be thoroughly investigated with any curious person and the truth of the words that Witnesses speak can be verified or dismissed.  Witnesses appear to have very little training in modern day witnessing. At their disposal is the greatest information online database humanity has ever had at it's disposal but I have yet to see any JW using modern technology to get their message across.  They seem scared of it's ability to corrupt them.
  

  No wonder they keep quiet.

  
  
• 

  Magnum

  andrekish: It would be great to see a pioneer in the street with a tablet PC given the huge amount of info available online.  All queries and debates could be thoroughly investigated with any curious person and the truth of the words that Witnesses speak can be verified or dismissed.  Witnesses appear to have very little training in modern day witnessing. At their disposal is the greatest information online database humanity has ever had at it's disposal but I have yet to see any JW using modern technology to get their message across.  They seem scared of it's ability to corrupt them.

  I believe JWs are using tablets and smart phones in their witnessing now, but only to direct people to their own website.There is a "huge amount of info" online, but JWs are trained and conditioned to only use that tiny fraction that is sanctioned by their leaders - that is, what is presented on their own website. And what is presented on their website is a tiny fraction of what JWs have published and presents only a tiny portion of JW history. Also, the history that is presented is whitewashed, rewritten, and deceptive.

  So, I don't think they're scared of being corrupted by modern technology; it's the info that the technology makes available that scares JWs, and it's more so the leaders who fear the info. They know that the info available online will reveal the problems with JWdom - the wrong doctrine, the false prophecies, the bad history, the deception, etc.  It will show that JWs don't have the truth, or at least that they can't defend their "truth" as easily as they thought they could.

  That's why JW leaders don't want JWs using the full range of info available in their preaching. They don't even want JWs to use some of their own older publications; they're trying to erase such from their history.

  All queries and debates could be thoroughly investigated with any curious person and the truth of the words that Witnesses speak can be verified or dismissed.

  Wow! The open-minded, investigative, reasoning approach to witnessing implied by those words is as far removed from the JW method as one can get. If you were really familiar with JWs, I think you'd know that they don't want 'all queries and debates to be thoroughly investigated.' They fear such. They want others to read a paragraph in one of their childish publications, and then, in answer to one of their printed questions, mindlessly repeat something they just read in the paragraph, and then move on to the next paragraph. JWdom would come crashing down if all queries and debates were thoroughly investigated using info available outside that small fraction sanctioned by JW leaders.

  JW leaders know that JW doctrine, practices, and history can't stand up to 'thorough investigation.' That's why they don't even thoroughly investigate among themselves. Their meetings are formatted to disallow any kind of analysis, questioning, and investigation.

  
  
• 

  kaik

  In the 1980's behind the Iron Curtain with insufficient WT publications, we used to conduct Bible studies at home in group of 5 to 10. We discussed what we read and shared one WT publication to trying to figure out what was written there. These studies were really nice as many people had different opinion, and there was not strict guidelines as they were mostly transmitted orally and not official. After 1989, these biblical discussion ended, and primary responsibility on christian ideology was derived from WT only. It was also discouraged that we should not study bible on our own that could sidetrack us to apostate thinking. I have noticed that many JWs who came into the cult at that time had very limited knowledge of the Bible and could not even locate many well known events in it. When I talk to my JWs relatives and point stuff in the Scriptures they are often surprised to see them but they are not aware at all that it was even there.
  
• 

  mgmelkat

  I love bible discussions!!! My mum doesn't like to discuss the bible with me, she tells me to talk to my father about it. My father slammed shut the door to bible discussion with me years ago. He gets too defensive and quick to name call me for discussing non JW beliefs, so we don't discuss the Bible at all. Sad really.
• 

  sylvlef

  Well in my area i see those kind of dubs:

   

   - those who keep talking about jw.org stuff That they should do (meaning pioneers,how do they get their hours, does X or Y wear tight dress or not,does Brother X and Y want to be Elder or MS). Those are from various ages, and are considered as the "spiritual " ones...My wife, my Elder step father and all Family,etc.

   

  - those who keep talking about each évent in the world (war,accident, etc) as fuldilling of the prophecies and bring up the topic at each occasion they have,usually to Say the same thing every time...my parents, and my side of the Family... Even the "spiritual" of the first category thinkd That they are lunatic people and try to avoid them...

   

   - people in their 30's, keep talking about movies,parties, holiday trips,etc. They still show up at the hall and in field service each week, but once those activities are done, they have better fish to fry...not far from many people from other religions.once out of the church,life goes on. They are viewed as "not very serious" by category 1, and as "Nice enough" by crazy category 2!

   

  - myself: Don't give a sh**t about religious thing and saying it each time category 1 or 2 wants my opinion on a jw stuff, but trying to keep a low profile nonetheless because doesn not want to be DF...yet. Can not fraternize toi much with category 3, because some times with those people, jw reflexes are back and it Is annoying...

   

   

   well That représents 90% or so of JW,don't You think?
• 

  AndDontCallMeShirley

  My take:

  1. Apathy. The Bible or 'spiritual' things have little relevance in a JWs life anymore. Following Organizational procedure ("listen, obey and be blessed") takes priority over everything; blindly follow WT and you are golden. Who needs the Bible? People generally do not have a problem freely talking about what really interests them. The fact that JWs talk very little, or not at all, about the Bible speaks volumes. You don't talk about things you're not thinking about. Period.

  2. As others have noted, "Bible discussions" are nothing more than regurgitating what has been printed in a magazine. Not very interesting (and most likely few JWs have actually even read the magazine anyway. Nothing to discuss). 

  3.  I also think there's a growing number of JWs who secretly do not agree with WT. I recently heard of several long-time JWs mocking the stupidity of ToMo's  "Spanx" rant. It's a revealing attitude from these JWs toward someone who's allegedly anointed and a GB member. If JWs really believed that they wouldn't criticize good 'ol Tony at all.

  4. Bringing up an honest Bible discussion (or anything else WT-related) would most likely result in disagreement with WT, which sends up the JW red flag of apostate suspicions. Why go there?

  5. The new replacement for the Bible: jw org. The JW Golden Calf. Why open a Bible or even discuss it when you have a website? 
• 

  Vidiot

  Kinda hard for JWs to carry on a conversation about the Bible when these days, most of the people willing to discuss it seem to know more about the Bible than they do.

  Not to mention that at this point, most aspects of WT ideology are indefensible in the face of reason and evidence.
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  crazyguy1

  In all my years of being a jw 40+ the only ones that ever made much of an effort were the older ones maybe just to Puff up the ego. When i was waking up I was pushed twards the one older brother in both congregations that was supposedly a smart one. What I found is all he could do is repeat jw doctrine and he also had all these print offs of paper work per subject, but on further investigation all this paperwork was, was print offs of the reasoning book or  the insite book. I tested him a bit by asking some questions and throwing out another idea on a particular subject and his brain could not handle it and he seezed up, truly just a parrot. 
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  confuzzlediam

  When one attends the meetings 2 days a week, goes out in service 10 hours a month and is supposed to do personal study and family study, who wants to talk about spiritual things in their free time?  There is plenty of time before, during and after meeting to have spiritual discussions.  

  Or maybe that is how I felt when I used to go.  When with my witness friends at the time, the only thing spiritual we would discuss would be gossiping about what's going on with who in the congregation!  LOL Or discuss life in general.  No need to talk about the bible any other time then the allotted time given each week at the required meetings.  
• 

  Magnum

  confuzzlediam: When one attends the meetings 2 days a week, goes out in service 10 hours a month and is supposed to do personal study and family study, who wants to talk about spiritual things in their free time? 

  When one thinks the end of the world is coming literally any day and that billions of lives are at stake and that he and a relatively few others have the only available special knowledge that leads to survival, spiritual things should be his main topic of conversation - 24hrs/day.

  Or maybe that is how I felt when I used to go. When with my witness friends at the time, the only thing spiritual we would discuss would be gossiping about what's going on with who in the congregation! LOL Or discuss life in general. No need to talk about the bible any other time then the allotted time given each week at the required meetings. 

  Then you just wore the label "JW", but were not real; you might as well have gone to the local church.

  No need to talk about the bible any other time then the allotted time given each week at the required meetings.  

  There was not (and even more so now, is not) any talk about the Bible or serious discussion at the meetings.