Lol, good catch. The disfellowshipping article is in the regular study edition, but not the simplified. Probably because it takes too many words and lots of stretching to come up with their explanation, something that isn't ever simple to explain. There aren't any examples of people being shunned in the Bible that I can think of. No mention of the word "disfellowship" that I've seen. Nothing simple to point to. It requires mental gymnastics and kind of a "because we say so" attitude to really grasp the concept.
dubstepped
JoinedPosts by dubstepped
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april 15th simplified why is the article dissfelowship a loving arrangement missing
by poopie inthoghts
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Wanted to Share a Watchtower Quote with you
by FusionTheism injust thought this was interesting and wanted to see all of your thoughts and opinions on it.. watchtower, november 15, 2014, simplified study edition, pages 11-12:.
9 let us examine the words of three brothers who for many years have worked closely with members of the governing body.
one brother mentioned: while this has indeed been a unique privilege of service, the close association has from time to time revealed that, although spirit anointed, these brothers are imperfect.
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dubstepped
Blind obedience isn't "obedience from the heart". In fact, it cannot be because there are times the organization directs us to do things that don't feel right to us. I can't have my heart into something that I think is wrong factually or that isn't reflective of Jehovah as I see him in my relationship with him. The organization puts themselves between us and Jehovah. I can't tell you how many experiences I've had that others will negate to my face simply because it doesn't fit the reasoning from the FDS. Well, you might not believe that Jehovah could bless me in this way or that, but a man with an experience isn't at the mercy of a man with an opinion. JWs think they have God in a box. They can tell you what he thinks and feels and what your experiences can and will be basef on their rigid box. I've always liked to think outside the box. That's where growth is made. -
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Are JW's inflating their numbers?
by thedepressedsoul init can be anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes!
as long as you've had a literature discussion three times, you can start counting it as a study.
first, they say you can now count only 15 minutes a month.
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dubstepped
I got a kick out of people posting inflated attendance numbers on Facebook from the International Conventions. No, you didn't have 100k in attendance at YOUR convention. The tie ins were being counted.
And hey, if they lower the numbers enough everybody can be an auxiliary pioneer. The funny thing there is watching people lament it when the hours go back up. "I wish the goal were 30 hours again. I could do that." Well, if it's about serving Jehovah and not about titles, what's stopping you? You can get the old school 60 hours in if tyou want. It's supposed to be about giving your best, right?
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Being lied to by parents
by What is Truth? ini mean pretty much all parents lie to their children at some point about something and usually it was to protect them or just wasn't something important and it normally doesn't affect the relationship between them and their child.
but how does a person reconcile and recover their appreciation for their parents after finding out almost everything they taught them was an evil lie?
i don't mean going back to the same relationship as i know that is gone, especially if the parents are still deceived.
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dubstepped
For me, I just had to realize that things couldn't have been different. They were doing their best and what they thought was right. The intent was good. So, I forgave them. Fogiveness is about letting it go for me, not necessarily for them. At one point pretty much all of us here were doing our best and tried to teach people things that we no longer believe in. That's just where we were back then. None of us were bad people, just mislead people. We were doing our best with good intentions.
It isn't fair to expect our parents to have seen TTAT. They either could or they couldn't, and they couldn't. Lots of people get manipulated into lots of things. They were overmatched and were just different people than us. They grew up in a different era, they have different experiences and perceptions, and they have different cognitive abilities. Just because you or I can see something it doesn't mean that others should be able to. I can see color, but others may be colorblind. They are blind in that way and doing their best. I think our parents were much the same. It doesn't mean that the upbringing doesn't hurt, but just that I don't have to be held in its prison forever by never forgiving them. I accept our differences and limitations. To do otherwise wouldn't be much better than what JW's do.
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Help? :(
by BlackWolf ini apologize for how rantish this is but please hear me out.
anyways i'm a 15 year old girl and i've never really wanted to be a jw.
its just never been something thats made me feel happy or loved.
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dubstepped
Eating disorders are often about control. Food being the one thing you think you can control, although it actually has control of you. And who wouldn't have control issues growing up in an organization that tells you how to think and feel? Not to mention it sounds like your parents are overly controlling. Right now you don't have much choice, which is making you try to control other things like food. It would probably help to try and find things you like about your life and to focus on them. Remember that your parents are doing what they think is in your best interests, even if they're not doing it the best way. I have lots of control issues and attribute much of it to growing up like I did. However, the more I let go of the need to control the more joy I find in life. Like others said, see a counselor or therapist, and above all, be open with them. They can't help what they don't know about. Use them as a place to leave things behind.
You sound like a good person that is just living an isolated life that isn't authentic to you. You have plenty of time ahead of you. So find things to make your own and appreciate now and then later you can live according to who you are, not who others want to force you to be.
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The Power Of "IF"
by dubstepped inso, the whole may money grab episode of jwtv really looks bad to me and many others, obviously many here.
i was looking on another website dedicated to active jw's and if you'll notice on post number 109 a little ways down (<click there to read) a person named luca dares to express some concerns over the latest episode.
the following pages do contain one more person that has some issue with how things were presented.
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dubstepped
I feel ya FMF, my intent wasn't to get anyone bent out of shape. It pissed me off too. But beyond my reaction was just how mind blowing it is the free pass that they give the FDS for any and everything they do when even the scriptures that they use as a basis for the FDS are not conclusive that they would indeed be doing right by the work they had to do. It wasn't a given, but JW's set them on high in a way that resembles any cult out there. -
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The Power Of "IF"
by dubstepped inso, the whole may money grab episode of jwtv really looks bad to me and many others, obviously many here.
i was looking on another website dedicated to active jw's and if you'll notice on post number 109 a little ways down (<click there to read) a person named luca dares to express some concerns over the latest episode.
the following pages do contain one more person that has some issue with how things were presented.
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dubstepped
So, the whole May Money Grab episode of JWTV really looks bad to me and many others, obviously many here. I was looking on another website dedicated to active JW's and if you'll notice on post number 109 a little ways down (<click there to read) a person named Luca dares to express some concerns over the latest episode. The following pages do contain one more person that has some issue with how things were presented. However, what is of interest to me is to watch the mental gymnastics required by the other brothers and sisters to make the doubters feel bad, and themselves feel better. The misapplication of scriptures, the things the FDS has said like that there would be some times where people would be asked to do something that they didn't understand, but to do it anyway like it was some test from Jehovah. Apparently it isn't that the organization has bitten off more than it can chew, it is that they were biting off an appropriate amount but then the brothers and sisters are at fault because they shrunk back in their donations.
So it is clear from the attitudes of those in the organization as a majority that the FDS can do no wrong. They are directly inspired by Jehovah, and whatever they do is indeed the hand of God reaching down and making them do it. It is laughable that even in the Bible Jehovah allowed himself to be questioned, but not these men. If nothing else, as one member there shows, to question openly in anything seen in public could be discouraging to others, and as we all know, they are ALL about appearances. As long as the cup looks clean on the outside, who cares what's in it.
Now, here comes the "IF" that JW's seem to completely ignore. The scriptures in Matthew 24 near the end talk about the FDS. Verse 45 mentions the FDS that would be appointed over the domestics, to give them food at the proper time. However, the very next verse that nobody seems to mention says "Happy is that slave IF his master on coming finds him doing so!" IF.......if.........if. Not WHEN, as if it was a foregone conclusion, but if, indicating that there would be doubt.
Now, I'm not going to sit here and condemn anyone. I do believe that lots of spiritual food has been dispensed. It isn't like there isn't zeal for doing so. However, is it possible even one bit that maybe they're overzealous? Could they be running ahead of Jehovah and trying to force projects and such when it isn't clear that Jehovah is blessing it, as they don't have the funds for the plans they're making? A person that is overzealous often cares and out of that care they are unbalanced and become manipulative and controlling. It is just as bad as a person without any zeal. They end up hurting lots of people in the process, whichever way they go.
Why does nobody mention the IF? Why do so many JW's see them as infallible when they have actually admitted to being fallible? Heck, they've even said themselves that they are the FDS, now with more discreet, as they were apparently lacking discretion at times but things have been progressively revealed. But the rank and file have put them up on such a pedestal that they are almost seen as God himself.
I know that many just see everything they do as tainted and manipulative garbage. I know that many too don't see them as representative of God because God isn't real. But whatever the case, if you look at it even with eyes of a JW with any thinking ability whatsoever, it is just appalling how much power they give the organization and in particular the FDS in their lives. One person is apparently cashing out life insurance policies and others applaud them in doing so because one person even said that they would literally give everything they had to the organization if they could. That just wreaks of really unstable people and mental disease so severe that is is really sad. I know what it was like to not think for myself. It wasn't that long ago. Actually, I always could, and I questioned things that didn't make sense since I was a kid, but it wasn't until recently that I could get past all of the stops that the FDS put in my head that made me unable to walk away. You know, fear of eternal death. Not keeping up with the chariot, which is how they can justify anything. The catch phrases are too many to go over, but it took a while for me to get over those hurdles. The manipulation and mind control makes me very sad.
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Why I remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses
by Brother Jeramy inallow me to begin with a clarification: when i say i am one of jehovah's witnesses, i don't mean that i am an advocate of the watchtower society or a devotee of some of its more controversial false teachings.
i mean that i am a christian, a disciple of jesus christ dedicated to jehovah god, and who remains in union with my brothers and sisters who make up the family of faith that globally refers to itself as jehovah's witnesses.
some totally understand the distinction between the family of brothers and sisters and the corporate organization known as the watchtower society (wts).
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dubstepped
The OP lost me as soon as I saw that he couldn't spell "Jeremy".
Honestly though, I have no major issues with his post. Many in the organization want to label it 100% truth, and many out of it want to label it 100% false, so at least he seemed to realize that there are issues. I'm fading happily and although I see a lot of things that make me mad, I can see some teachings that I do respect and lessons that were good in my life. I also want to scream if I attend a meeting and listen to people spout off the latest buzzwords of the organization and repeat falsehoods and hyperbole, so I can't go. It is the yin and the yang, the good and bad, and the organization seems more and more to be going down the path of ridiculous group dynamics whereby the people get sucked in more and the leaders gain more influence. It happens all of the time in human groups. I just can't be there while it goes down. If the emperor has no clothes and people don't want to see it, I can't live in that kind of denial while others may be able to. At this point in life the organization only takes from me. I get nothing out of the meetings or anything else. You can only treat people like objects instead of human beings for so long before they decide not to take it any longer. I know that for others, their mileage varies greatly. A lot has to do with the congregational attitude in your locale, the mental and emotional makeup of the individual, etc.
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How Do You Feel About All The Time You Wasted Being. A Jehovah's Witness?
by minimus inall that i can say is....what a shame!
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dubstepped
No regrets here. Few things are all good or all bad. There were positives in with the negatives, though at this point the negatives win out. It isn't like if I had been doing something else life would have been sunshine and rainbows and unicorn farts. Everybody has good and bad in their lives no matter what they do. I don't really believe that things would have been all that different in the ratio of good to bad. Sure, I missed out on some time with people that I could have had better relationships with, but thosr also could have been destructive relationships that I avoided. I was both denied experiences and protected from experiences that could have been devastating. -
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Icons, venerated symbols, and organizations
by CloseTheDoor ina recently published article called "a feast to jehovah" at http://meletivivlon.com/2015/05/12/a-feast-to-jehovah/ discusses the use of icons, venerated symbols and organizations, the jw.org logo, and more being used in the org.some of you might find it interesting as some of the comments on the site (and in other article) which are often from current (but thinking) jws.
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dubstepped
Thanks for the links. I stumbled upon that site once and never bookmarked it and certainly couldn't remember the name or url. I've got it now and really enjoy the site. Started poking around there last night. I like the commentary without the harsh attitude that some have.