I don’t think that is an official practice. While inactive I was shunned by most witnesses and family witnesses. But when I started openly celebrating holidays, that’s when I was really shunned by all. No one actually called me an apostate to my face or in communication, but I am sure that’s how I am viewed.
sloppyjoe2
JoinedPosts by sloppyjoe2
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24
If a JW becomes inactive is he then labeled as an apostate?
by Pallbearer ini have heard a rumor that if a jw becomes inactive he or she is considered to be an apostate.
is this true?
has anyone here on this forum had such an experience?
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The Seven Trumpets
by Jehovah lol inis it still watchtower dogma that the seven trumpets of revelation refer to seven conventions in the 1920s?
would many jws these days even be aware of this?
i find it so amusing that seven little conventions in the distant past, almost a century ago, could be equated with such an iconic biblical passage.
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sloppyjoe2
Four times, because it was absolutely vital that we as JWs understood and could identify the book of revelation being fulfilled. Now current JWs would say aww that book is out of date and shrug it off. I find it amazing how easily they ignore that they spent so many weeks of their lives studying the same book at the book study for it to all be for not. I have yet to hear of a good explanation why Jehovah wanted us to study the same incorrect information three times, then an “updated” version that we had to paste in the old book, only to then say it’s out of date.
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Why Are More JWs Claiming to be Anointed?
by Ding inmost jws i know claim they are happy being in the great crowd.
they'd rather live on a paradise earth and pet lions than go to heaven.. heaven is a place they can't relate to, a place where they don't expect their friends and loved ones to be.. so why are more and more jws claiming to be of the anointed?.
aren't they looked down upon as if they are crazy, proud, ignorant, or engaging in apostate thinking?.
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sloppyjoe2
Personally I think the issue here is not how many people claim to be of the anointed, but that one day if the number keeps growing, they will have to change the doctrine of 144,000. The same thing will happen then as it does now when they change something and it is shown how it was absolutely claimed to be false before the change. Everyone will jump for joy and talk about how great Jehovah is and the light gets brighter if they ever say the 144,000 is no longer literal. We will point out how the GB said people who claimed to be of the anointed had mental issues and really made people believe they were crazy. JWs then will say we are apostates and blinded by satan and go on as if it's the greatest change ever. -
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What "Rules" Did The Elders In Your KH Make?
by minimus insome congregations were known as liberal and others were considered very conservative.
back in the 1970s a nearby congregation made all speakers who gave public talks a white shirt to wear.
if a speaker came in wearing anything but white they were brought into the library and were given a white shirt!
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sloppyjoe2
Black dress shirts from the platform, wearing a ball cap backwards was rebellious, for a very brief time walk mans were frowned upon because you could secretly listen to heavy metal music.
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Just a quick Poll...Do you think the GB is sincere?
by NikL ini've been thinking about this the past few days and curious what the honest consensus is here just for fun.. show of hands,.
is the governing body.... a: completely sincere.
they really do believe what they teach.. b: somewhat sincere.
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sloppyjoe2
I would go with somewhat sincere. Being in charge of a billion plus dollar corporation will eventually lead to making some decision or action related strictly to power and/or money. But as the saying goes, tell a lie long enough and you'll eventually believe it. I don't doubt they believe they're own BS. They truly believe they are directed by God due to success. As much as people on this board predict the demise of the watchtower, go back to the beginning of this board, and people were predicting it then, the org keeps growing. Stagnation and even decline can happen but in the long run, it will just keep getting bigger and outlast all of us. Their very existence confirms their belief. -
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Aren't you a bit amazed that the WTS/JWS is still around ?
by Finkelstein ini know i am, to me its a bit of a peculiar anomaly that the wts is still around and functioning in reflection of its decades and now complete century that the wts has been bullshitting to people .
organizations like the church of god have shrunk dramatically from its heyday of the 1980's, this too was another organization that spread and grew by publishing its own magazine proclaiming a armageddon soon doctrine and its main publication was called " the truth " .
i'm guessing some of this has to do with the fact that people who get lured into this cult aren't aware of its past, its doctrines, the people who started it and so forth.
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sloppyjoe2
The United church of God died because they changed their core doctrines. After Armstrong died they adopted the Trinity doctrine which they were adamantly opposed to as pagan. Something like that change would shake even JW land to the core. Hence they never would change.
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Worldwide campaign : Go to memorial , watch with respect and eat the emblems!
by lusitano o tuga inhey, ex-jw guys , .
if you believe in the bible and claim to be a christian, we invite you to attend the memorial this year in a place that.
the peoples don´t know you´re disfellowshipped and obey what jesus said in john chapter 6 and apostle paul tought in .
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sloppyjoe2
What difference would it make? In JW land they would change the teaching and say they don't know how many are going to heaven and the 144,000 are symbolic. They would say the increase in prat takers was Jehovah showing them they were mistaken in their understanding and he refined his slave to the correct teaching. Everyone would chalk it up to new light and a blessing. Anyone who points out that people who partook were considered mentally unstable or whatever the exact wording is from their own literature would be apostates. They can do and change whatever they want.
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Have you ever believed something that turned out to be wrong?
by slimboyfat inapart, of course, from the obvious example of believing the evidence-free assertion of the governing body to be god's representatives on earth.
not to side-step that issue, but i wonder if it might be interesting to relate that huge mistake to other things i've been wrong about and how they compare and contrast with the big one.
a couple of examples of things i was wrong about:.
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sloppyjoe2
I was a teenager when 9/11 happened. After that I got caught up in believing a lot of 9/11 conspiracies relating to the elite (the rich bankers, federal reserve) planning on changing our entire financial system. I believed they wanted one world government, would change currencies and wanted everything to collapse giving them the ability to do these things. Well 2008 happened where the banks did actually collapse and it was the very people who were supposed to be a part of this New World Order that stopped the collapse. The Fed got us out of it, or at least stopped it from getting worse when they should have allowed everything to go down. The world would have been at its knees. I recently asked this question to someone who still believes in all of this. And his answer was, he didn't know why they didn't let it collapse. Maybe they weren't prepared. I pointed out that since 9/11 the conspiracy theorists have said this is what they're going for and want. 8 years later they had exactly what they wanted and they weren't ready?
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Interest rates are up again.
by Fisherman inany economy people here who can explain how this will affect us economy?.
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sloppyjoe2
@NewYork44M I can tell you where it ends for the stock market. We very well will probably end up in the largest stock market bubble in history. The market has inflated on the Fed keeping interest rates low. It created artificial bull market runs, and continues to. I have no idea when it will happen but, one day, we go back way down and pay for this drunken party.
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Interest rates are up again.
by Fisherman inany economy people here who can explain how this will affect us economy?.
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sloppyjoe2
Property values are loosely based on interest rates but really depend on demand. Historically higher interest rates hurt property value because they make getting a loan more difficult. To get a buyer home prices are reduced to bring in a buyer that can afford the total loan with the interest rate. In a booming economy though, neither will matter because buyers will buy regardless of the rate.