could the religion have survived?.
i know it was never forbidden, but i remember growing up, how we were encouraged to put it off until the new system, and instead focus on a career in the full time service.. can you imagine if every young jw had chosen to follow that counsel?
it's difficult to imagine the religion being sustainable without the next generation of born-ins..
YES! Great topic.
Many times throughout the organizations history, they have implied that "spiritually strong" ones would devote themselves to the ministry and would "forgo having a family in this doomed system".
It was only the "weaker or less spiritual ones" that had families!
The irony is that without the growth from born-ins, the society would have suffered in numbers greatly!
i think this may be a bigger issue for the society than we realise.. when you consider that witnesses have now had well over a year of regularly seeing their 'channel to god' with their own eyes, what do you think they're thinking?.
i'm going to put this as respectfully as i can; these men are clearly a bunch of utter clowns who are laughably inadequate to present a tv show, but also, they are now ridiculously discredited due to the absolute shite that they've spoken in these laughable productions.. consider things from a jw's perspective; tony morris, stephen lett & geoffrey jackson are 'the channel' that makes their religion 'special'.
these men are the channel god is using to lead his people in the modern day.
Yep, I am sure that many witnesses are secretly having "what the heck?" moments when they see these "glorious ones" on the broadcasts....
i wrote the following in relation to the mother in quebec who died for refusing a blood transfusion.
enjoy.
i personally grew up within the jehovah's witnesses and was a member in good standing until 2013 (aged 35), date at which i became inactive.
well written!
Any group that TELLS its people what choices they should make, is stepping beyond appropriate boundaries. They are in fact acting like the scribes and pharasees who "made the word of god invalid by their traditions"
Any group that tells its members "what they should think" is displaying 'cult-like' tendencies. Pure and simple.
i was at my assembly when this was discussed last week.
of course i hadn't prepared and i heard "no rules about limits", or at least i thought i did.. here's the direct quote from the watchtower study article.. "although the bible does not provide specific rules about the kinds and limits of love play that might be associated with natural sexual intimacy, it mentions displays of affection.
the watchtower (study edition) august 2016 : making christian marriage a success, paragraph 8.. what say you?.
Once again here is example of how the GB oversteps the boundaries of appropriate behaviour, while interfering in the lives of people they don't even know....
Yes!
The caption reads:
"How did we not see things for what they really were earlier?!"
so our congregation is full of hardliner elders, 3 of them, who are not gentle, kind or loving.. people have either moved away or quit trying because one elder inparticular was going to drive them crazy with all his rules and nit picking and being righteous over much.
(and he is pissed that he hasn't been accepted to the school.
hmmm, i wonder why!).
Most bodies of elders have bullies on them that create a dominant spirit or attitude in their congregation.
It sounds like the bullies won....
i just wanted to share a perspective related to my experience with leaving the jw.
at this point, i have been df'd since i was 18. i'm 25, happily married with 2 fantastic children.
after being miserably at odds with my parents and extended family, i've come to some realizations as follows.. i struggled with the conditional nature of my parent's love- talking to me until it bothered their conscience, then cutting me off.
Welcome Derrick!
Beautifully expressed post. Thanks for sharing.
Your observations and comments are Spot On! I couldn't agree more with the things you have expressed.
Just keep your dignity and self worth. Recognise that you and your children do NOT have to play the games or by the rules imposed by witnesses. THEY have the problem-not you.
Much love and support to you and those close to you!
i posted the elders training school video of how to conduct a judicial committee on my youtube channel last night.
it got me thinking of the hypocrisy of the whole thing.
and also how in their own publications they ridiculed the pharisees for the way they dealt with jesus... which is the very same manner they use on the flock.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lzmgjjpafk.
Disgusting abuse of power, and flies in the face of Christlike love and grace.
The very premise is wrong. They assume guilt and want to see a "sinner" grovel before three men behind closed doors. The prying questions into ones personal life is appalling and breaches so many appropriate boundaries!
The very fact that the society has a book of secret instructions for elders smacks of cult like behaviour.
bob dylan has been awarded the nobel prize in literature.
i wonder if they'll let him sing at the ceremony.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/bob-dylan-wins-2016-nobel-prize-in-literature/ar-aaitpmb?li=bbnb7kz?ocid=ansmsnnews11.
Yep, I heard that Kanye West has also been nominated for the "dopest rhymes" category of the Nobel Prize....
i have just returned from visiting friends and family.
when i was disassociated my parents had contact with me a few months before my dad was diagnosed with cancer.
i was reinstated 20 months after his funeral and then they disfellowshipped me 5 months later as they are convinced i had not changed my life enough to be a jw again.
And yet the society has the audacity to say "we are NOT a cult"
