This won't be the end of the changes. The WTS has created a culture in which change is the only thing that keeps the R/F going. It's the only thing that causes any excitement. They have to keep finding random shit to change, because that's what the religion is about, now more than ever.
OneEyedJoe
JoinedPosts by OneEyedJoe
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35
Is This ALL the Society Meant By Big Stuff Coming?
by millie210 inok, internet tv, some new songs and updates on a couple obscure prophecies no one cares about.... .
i for one was so disappointed at the smallness of it.
i guess i bought the hype that when they said "big", they meant it.. .
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68
New December KM with changes all over
by pixel inis not on the public website yet, but here it is, full more changes:.
to the 2015 school:.
bible highlights: brothers as- signed this part will have two min- utes to consider one interesting and practical scriptural point from the weekly bible reading.
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OneEyedJoe
This business with the song book seems like it may be a test to see if they can get the flock to either use a tablet for all literature, or print thier own literature. When they do release the song book, they'll encourage people not to get one if they have other means of accessing the songs. If they don't sell very many song books, they'll know they've been successful. The next step will be to do the same thing with new releases that aren't intended for use in service (i.e. the god's kingdom rules book, or the next book about some OT prophet) - release online only for 6-12 months, then make the book available to the congregations just before it is to be studied. All this will allow them to reduce costs tremendously.
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68
New December KM with changes all over
by pixel inis not on the public website yet, but here it is, full more changes:.
to the 2015 school:.
bible highlights: brothers as- signed this part will have two min- utes to consider one interesting and practical scriptural point from the weekly bible reading.
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OneEyedJoe
So, you get a 3-minute bible reading assignment, and the school overseer has to spend 2 minutes talking about it? That makes sense.
That #3 sounds like a good excuse to finally remove myself from the school. I wasn't in drama in school for a reason, I'm sure as hell not doing it in a cult.
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OneEyedJoe
Bottom line, you cannot prove it....
Neither can you.
If you're willing to test your gut feeling that the JW's have the truth, I'd recomend you check out this video series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrZkzLANdJU
This was created by a former mormon who left in part due to comparisons he drew between mormonism and JWims. The stuff about JWs in there isn't what I'm trying to point you to, though. In one of the videos he talks about the mormon testimony, in which they believe that they've recieved a direct revelation from god that mormonism is the correct way to worship. The problem, though, is that many religions (cults especially) rely on the exact same phenomena to keep a hold on members. If a bunch of people pray to god for a sign and they all recieve one, you'd expect them all to point in the same direction. Instead, the sign recieved invariably points in the direction of the religion with which they have the most emotional investment. An emotional or "gut" feeling about the cult is no reason to remain mentally captivated, especially when you're currently subject to shunning. That's a terrible place to be that no one deserves.
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39
Implications of Dropping "Types/Anti-Types"
by Antioch ini've seen this part of the agm folded in with other topics and poked around, but no really critical discussion of the implications.. .
the hermenuetics of the type/anti-type practice was a big deal to me in realizing the tatt.
i searched high and low for a rational basis for concluding that god was communicating in a type/anti-type format that wasn't special pleading and circular.
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OneEyedJoe
Thinking on this a little further, I suspect another reason that they're dropping the "deep truths" one after another is that they're probably going to try to emulate the mormons in yet another way - the "testimony." As I understand it, the end of the book of mormon basically says to pray to god for confirmation that the things in the book are true. This essentially plays into an aspect of the human psyche, in which you don't want to believe that you've just wasted all that time reading a stupid worthless book, so your mind plays a trick on you and you become convinced that you've recieved a direct message from god that the book of mormon is the true word of god. A similar tactic was used in the heaven's gate recruitment videos - he told people to go into a closet and pray for a revelation to determine if what he said was true.
I think this is the direction they're heading. They'll put something in the end of the books that are to be studied with people (and in bookstudy) that says that we should all pray to god and ask him if the religion is true (probably with some out-of-context scriptural citation that no one will read). It will work for essentially 100% of JWs, because even if they don't feel that they've recieved the personal testimony from god, they'll have to say that they did. If they say it enough, they'll start to believe it.
This will be a much more powerful hold on the members. Currently, there are still many members (mostly older ones) that feel that the "truth" can be proven. This is dangerous because it gives an opening for the truth to be disproven to them, which is easier now than it's ever been, thanks to the internet. Once they go the personal testimony route of the mormons, no one will ever be able to disprove it. Any attack on the cult will be an attack on a personal religious experience.
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If Extraterrestrials are found existing, will people abandon the Bible?
by Kalos ini have heard people say: if space exploration proves extraterrestrials do exist, that would be the end of the bible (which teaches earth is the only place there is life).. i feel this will not happen, because already science proved certain views reflected in the bible are wrong:.
1) joshua stopped the sun to win the war (joshua 10:3).
2) satanthinking earth is flattook jesus to the top of the mountain so that all kingdoms of the earth could be visible to the eyes (to person like jesus, just saying is enoughwhy need a vision of all kingdoms of the earth.
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OneEyedJoe
Christians have never been ones to let facts get between them and their religion. There's plenty of evidence right here on this planet that the bible is a man-made book with no divine inspiration, and that hasn't stopped billions of people from sticking with their faith.
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Rumor: New light comes from outside marketing consultants
by Londo111 inthis is a rumor i heard back in november, it comes to me third or fourth-hand.
feel free to poke holes.
i have many doubts about this myself.
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OneEyedJoe
I'm not really sure how they can drop 1914 and still hold onto their alleged 1919 appointment.
I don't think they really need the 1919 appointment, honestly. I'd be willing to bet that 90% don't even know the significance of 1919, nor do they care. They've already been doing without it in spirit for years. Here's how it works:
1. JWs are the only true religion (they're the only ones known for d2d work, they have brotherly love, etc, etc)
2. God is a god of organization (twisting the scripture "god is a god not of disorder but of peace")
3. Obey those taking the lead (Heb 13:17)
4. The GB is taking the lead in the organization.
And that's all it takes. The GB is to be obeyed, they don't have to deal with the pesky details of a 1919 "appointment" that can easily be demonstrated as false. Just unquestioning obedience.
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39
Implications of Dropping "Types/Anti-Types"
by Antioch ini've seen this part of the agm folded in with other topics and poked around, but no really critical discussion of the implications.. .
the hermenuetics of the type/anti-type practice was a big deal to me in realizing the tatt.
i searched high and low for a rational basis for concluding that god was communicating in a type/anti-type format that wasn't special pleading and circular.
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OneEyedJoe
While I certainly won't claim to have a "better mind" than yours - I think this is just the next step on the path of dumbing down the religion. They've realized that doing such deep analysis of the bible is a mine field these days since it can easily be shown to be false. It also would encourage independant study of the bible, which they don't want (only independent study of WT magazines!). By sticking to a simpler message, they no longer intimidate the idiots in the flock with a bunch of stuff they can't understand, and they stop shoving so much obviously absurd doctrine in the faces of the few that are smart enough to work it all out if they're pushed to do so.
It's also important that they dumb things down since they seem to be in a shortage of "qualified" brothers to be used as elders/ms/etc. The ones that are there, are mostly idiots that couldn't explain any of the more complex doctrine without reading it straight from an app. If they get rid of the complicated doctrine and pare it down to a more managable "obey the FDS or you'll (soon) die at armageddon" then they don't have to worry about finding elders that have two brain cells to rub together.
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JWs and Exclusivity
by Don Schneider injesus, mark 9-40 (nwt).
the jehovahs witnesses assert exclusivity.
that is, they are the only true christian faith.
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OneEyedJoe
I'll throw in my $.02 in (which is probably grossly overvalued).
First off, thanks for the scripture. In my 30 years as a JW, I can't recall Mark 9:40 ever being read at the meetings. Interestingly enough, though, Mark 9:42 is one of the favorite scriptures of JWs to use, as that scripture is handy when you need to beat the flock into obeying non-scriptural counsel (obviously only individual members can stumble someone, the leadership never can!)
Given the context as you stated it, Mark 9:40 is also interesting to contrast with Matt. 7:22-23 (which is probably one of the top 5 verses cited in JW meetings).
As for the observation that the christian teachings (as set forth mostly by Paul) seem to set the framework for a cult, I think it is probably not coincidental. The bible itself acknowledges that there were a number of different versions of christianity in the first century (2 John 10) so it shouldn't be surprising to learn that the one that developed traits that made it more successful at self replicating (i.e. recruiting new members and retention of current members and their children) would be the one to win out and eventually become the dominant form. This eventual dominant form of christianity then had sufficient control to form the official bible from the "inspired writings" that backed their particular flavor of the fledgling religion.
The concept of exclusivity is certainly one that lends itself to retention of adherents, and to a certain extent, recruitment as well. The factor in play is similar to Pascal's wager - if you're a member of religion A that teaches that all religions are a viable path to god, but there's another religion B that teaches that only people who are adherents of religion B can obtain salvation, the only logical course of action would be to switch from A to B. As an adherent to religion B, you can obtain salvation if the doctrine of A is correct, or if the doctrine of B is correct. As an adherent of religion A, you'd better be right or else you're going to be left out when the adherents of B are saved.
Of course things get complicated when you have several thousand religions fitting into each category, at which point you'd better hope that your specific denomination isn't the determining factor in your salvation, because the chances of you picking the right one are vanishingly small when you only get one chance.
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10
don't say "worldly" say non-jehovahs witness
by hoser inhere's another buzzword that burns my butt.
worldly.
i refuse to say it.
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OneEyedJoe
Onager - there's been a couple threads on the topic. A few of the highlights for ya:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/280904/2/What-words-has-the-WT-redefined
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/6021/1/Dub-Glossary