this makes me fume while i sit listening to this at the sunday beeting.... "hence, an elder who is tenderly compassionate does not try to control the sheep, making rules or using guilt to pressure them to do more when their circumstances do not permit them to.-w15 2/15 pp.
5-9. now this sentence makes the elders sound like they should not control, use guilt to pressure etc... but then it has a qualifying statement no one seems to hear.
when their circumstances do no permit them to.
And who is the judge of what someone's circumstances permit? Why, the elders, of course!
This sentence isn't meant to say that the elders should be kind to the congregation. It's meant to tell the r/f that if they feel pressured, it means that they have the circumstances that allow them to do more, but they're too lazy/selfish/sinful/unworthy that they're not doing enough.
today's watchtower study article is all about jesus.
this stuck out to me after a year of hanging out on here where one frequent point of criticism is that jws claim to be christians but never talk about jesus.. anyone think it's a coincidence that today was the "special talk" follow-up to the memorial?
i think not - this is the most attended sunday meeting of the year, complete with many ubms, studies, and miscellaneous other potential victims who have been subjected to a coordinated effort to pressure them into attending.
Para 17 was just glossed over in our cong! Why? because the elders felt so uncomfortable with the content of it!! "elders do not try and control the sheep, or make rules etc or pressure them to do more!"
I'm sure that would make any honest elder uncomfortable, since they're constantly told to pressure people to do more. I guess it would also make the typical egotistic elder uncomfortable too since it would be a threat to their authority.
today's watchtower study article is all about jesus.
this stuck out to me after a year of hanging out on here where one frequent point of criticism is that jws claim to be christians but never talk about jesus.. anyone think it's a coincidence that today was the "special talk" follow-up to the memorial?
i think not - this is the most attended sunday meeting of the year, complete with many ubms, studies, and miscellaneous other potential victims who have been subjected to a coordinated effort to pressure them into attending.
The doctrine is that the ransom is FOR the anointed, but the OS are fringe beneficiaries of it. It's always explained in a way that subtly makes the r/f jws feel lesser, but they have no choice but to accept it since they still get "sayings of eternal life" out of the deal.
A watcher - you should really do your own study, so I'm not going to do the busy work for you. You really need to be more spiritual and come to an understanding of the deeper things. Keep at it and soon you'll be eating solid food and not the milk meant for mere babes.
i had a discussion with a current jw member of +- 30 years, we got chatting about how you can be sure your faith is right and what checks can be done.
i then suggested looking at ex members view points and literature.
her response was her "i am not someone who takes initiative to look online at stuff, i doesn't feel my personality needs me look at outside view points" in summary she was saying her personality type is not interested in looking at other views.
I get a similar response when I point out doctrinal flaws to my wife, "that's never been that important to me."
I don't think it's a personality thing as much as defense mechanism. They sense a threat and come up with any reason they can to avoid it. Since jws are often pressed for time due to all the indoctrination sessions and busy work, the "it's a waste of time/effort/etc" excuse is an easy one.
i have thought about how ttatt came full circle for me.
how the connecting the dots was simple and just made sense,.
how silos of information are literally at our fingertips today.. why is it that the ones we love cannot get ttatt?.
Because JW's aren't looking for reasons to NOT serve Jehovah.
They do claim to be lovers of truth, though. Which makes it all the more curious that they have such an aversion to it.
today's watchtower study article is all about jesus.
this stuck out to me after a year of hanging out on here where one frequent point of criticism is that jws claim to be christians but never talk about jesus.. anyone think it's a coincidence that today was the "special talk" follow-up to the memorial?
i think not - this is the most attended sunday meeting of the year, complete with many ubms, studies, and miscellaneous other potential victims who have been subjected to a coordinated effort to pressure them into attending.
You diss us when we DON'T talk about Jesus and you diss us when we DO!
We point out that, for those claiming to be Christian, Christ is not a focus. When he is a focus, it is only in a transparent and dishonest attempt to appear more Christian. Have an ounce of intellectual honesty, and stop over simplifying things.
Also, learn what a hypocrite is.
page 6, paragraph 7 dishonestly makes the following 2 claims about jesus:.
"he never called undue attention to himself.
instead, he directed all glory to his father.".
today's watchtower study article is all about jesus.
this stuck out to me after a year of hanging out on here where one frequent point of criticism is that jws claim to be christians but never talk about jesus.. anyone think it's a coincidence that today was the "special talk" follow-up to the memorial?
i think not - this is the most attended sunday meeting of the year, complete with many ubms, studies, and miscellaneous other potential victims who have been subjected to a coordinated effort to pressure them into attending.
i have noticed that theists have an aversion to the word theory.
as it is mostly attached to evolution, and they have a deep misunderstanding of what the word means.. i'm probably botching the following statement but the general idea is as follows.
it has been said that whoever sets the parameters of the battle or frames the argument wins.
I like this idea. Obviously few theists will be swayed by it, since they will continue to misunderstand what a theory is , and god's existence isn't a theory to them. I guess it's not really a theory to anyone since it isn't fit to be called a theory in the way that evolution is.
My go-to rebuttal when the word theory is used as an argument against evolution is that gravity is also described by physicists as a theory. It's not completely understood, but it's effects are readily visible. The same is true of evolution. I posted something to that effect on here and someone suggested that my point boiled down to "if you don't believe in evolution because it's a theory, you should jump off a cliff."
today's watchtower study article is all about jesus.
this stuck out to me after a year of hanging out on here where one frequent point of criticism is that jws claim to be christians but never talk about jesus.. anyone think it's a coincidence that today was the "special talk" follow-up to the memorial?
i think not - this is the most attended sunday meeting of the year, complete with many ubms, studies, and miscellaneous other potential victims who have been subjected to a coordinated effort to pressure them into attending.
I don't think there are many of those people on this forum.
Probably not amongst long-time active posters, but I'll admit it took me a while after waking up to realize the level of deceptive recruiting that goes on, and I'm obviously still noticing new layers to it all the time.
It's the trick of the dog whistle - active JWs don't notice it as anything unusual, but visitors are comforted by the familiar emphasis on Jesus. They're able to get the r/f to deceive others without even realizing what they're doing, and I think it's important to call 'em on it.
