Posts by Athanasius

21

Chapter 26 New Boy 50 years a Watchtower slave

by new boy in

jw
friends

we wanted sex too.

so why did he get married?

so they punishment you for leaving bethel and getting married?

Athanasius

I registered for the Draft when I turned 18. I began pioneering in 1966 and all I had to do was show my Draft Board the letter from the Society stating that I had been accepted as a Pioneer Minister and they gave me the 4D classification. The 4D was given to ministers of religion and divinity students. My wife got pregnant in 1968 so I had to quit pioneering. But all I had to do was take a letter from my wife's doctor confirming the pregnancy to the Draft Board and they gave me a 3A classification which exempted me from the draft for the time being.

However, if there was a national emergency on the scale of World War II, then it was possible I could be drafted.

Back in those days all young single male JWs pioneered and kept their 4D classification as long as they stayed in the Pioneer service. But if they got removed as pioneers, they could be drafted.

There were several other JWs that I knew who didn't pioneer and served time in prison.

JWs didn't have to go to prison, they could have accepted alternate service and performed work in hospitals or non-military government service. But the Watchtower leadership of that time considered alternate service to be compromising.

I knew one JW who quit pioneering during the Vietnam War. However, he never notified the Draft Board of his status change. The local Draft Board never found out and the guy stayed free and never went to prison. As far as I know he's still an active JW.

11

You tired of me asking for help yet?

by vienne in

an early watch tower evangelist was e. c. leigh.

in 1882, he was a student in allegheny city, pennsylvania.

he traveled through the central states in the 1880s and early 1890s.

Athanasius

Have you checked with some of the independent Bible Student groups? Perhaps the Dawn Bible Students, the Layman's Home Missionary Movement, the Chicago Bible Students, or the Pastoral Bible Institute could be of help.

9

Missing the Memorial first time in 34 years

by oppostate in

my wife has left to pick someone else's bible study half an hours drive north of us to bring them to the kh 20 minutes south of us, and pick up two other people on the way.. this is the first memorial in 34 years that i won't be at the kh to "celebrate".. if i want to "remember" jesus christ sacrifice and his command to keep doing so, i'm doing so on my own terms.

not controlled by a despotic, oligarchical gobo which directs most attending folks to be there but to "skip" the very thing jesus command explicitly mentions to do.

i'm also convinced that it doesn't have to be exactly on the same lunar month evening as the jewish passover, but that "whenever" it is commemorated by someone, with faith in christ, and belief in his promises it would be best to do it not for show or for the sake of appearances but sincerely out of one's feeling of "communion".. if you are a christian believer are you going to the memorial this year?

Athanasius

I won't be attending the Memorial this year. I left the JWs 33 years ago and don't plan to go back. Instead I'll probably attend Easter Services at the local Anglican Church this Sunday.

37

Abandoned literature carts, maybe the end of them?

by sp74bb in

jw
friends

an innocent picture of a city in my country, spain.

the pic says everything.

many jw are really disgusted about everything, even their new preaching cart.

Athanasius

I often see the JWs with their literature trolleys at our local shopping centre. Usually they set up two trolleys about 30 or 40 feet distance from each other. However, instead of one or two JWs attending each trolley, here they always have three JWs minding a trolley.

Why the local JWs here feel they need three persons at each trolley is strange, as hardly anyone pays attention to them. On occasion if I have some time to kill, I'll stop and chat with the JWs. Surprisingly one older JW lady admitted that business was slow.

20

Business Slow at JW Literature Trolley

by Athanasius in

yesterday i stopped at a local shopping center to pick up a few things.

i arrived at 9:45 am and two jw ladies had already set up their literature trolley and had opened for business.

but i didn't see anyone stopping by and taking advantage of their free literature.

Athanasius

Yesterday I stopped at a local shopping center to pick up a few things. I arrived at 9:45 AM and two JW ladies had already set up their literature trolley and had opened for business. But I didn't see anyone stopping by and taking advantage of their free literature. So I visited one store and purchased a few items, but as I was leaving here comes two more JW ladies with their trolley.

I visited a couple more stores, then stopped at a thrift store that has a huge selection of books. I spent over an hour there, so It was 11:30 AM when I left the store and stopped and visited the first JW literature trolley. It was attended by an older JW lady and a teenage JW girl. So I asked them: "How is business?

Surprisingly the older JW lady was honest about the public's lack of interest in their work. Because in a rather dry tone she replied: "We gave away a Watchtower this morning."

So, pointing to the other JW literature trolley only thirty feet away, I said: "Looks like you have some competition."

To which the JW lady explained: "They have Spanish literature. We also have Spanish literature, so please take what you like."

Not being a Spanish speaker, I took one of their English Watchtowers and told the JWs that I was surprised at how thin it was. To which the older JW said printing costs forced them to reduce the size of their magazines.

Both the JWs looked bored, and didn't seem at all excited about what they were doing. Still one would have thought they would have been excited because in two hours they had given away two Watchtowers. Now both JWs could record a Watchtower placement on their time sheets.

16

The Guardian: In Russia, the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses begins all over again

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2017/mar/09/in-russia-the-persecution-of-jehovahs-witnesses-begins-all-over-again.

in russia, the persecution of jehovah’s witnesses begins all over again.

giles fraser.

Athanasius

The sad thing about this potential ban on JWs in Russia, is that the Watchtower will play this up to draw attention away from their child abuse scandals.

18

School bus driver accused of telling boy he would go to hell because of moms.

by ToesUp in

school-bus-driver-accused-of-telling-boy-hed-go-to-hell-because-of-his-mom/.

Athanasius

That is a possibility Village Idiot. But it's not accurate reporting. Moreover, it makes me wonder what else have they misinterpreted about the incident.

18

School bus driver accused of telling boy he would go to hell because of moms.

by ToesUp in

school-bus-driver-accused-of-telling-boy-hed-go-to-hell-because-of-his-mom/.

Athanasius

Something about this story is suspect. If the bus driver is a JW, she doesn't really know what her religion teaches, or more likely she's someone's Bible Study, as JWs don't believe in Hell, nor do they believe everyone goes to Heaven. A fanatical JW would have told the boy that he'd be destroyed in the Great Tribulation and wouldn't make it into the New World. But the way the news clip describes the encounter, I doubt the bus driver is a JW.

Also it's possible that the boy or the mother is embellishing their story.

While I don't approve of the JW religion or the way they treat persons whose lifestyle they don't approve of, reporters who fail to get their facts straight lose credibility, causing their story to be suspect.

26

Bethel Library moving to Warwick, are older items 'vanishing'

by Lostandfound in

in a post re dates etc from fatfreek reference was made to huge library at bethel with items dating back to pastor rs day.

like the year 1975 which has vanished from wt theology, are gb using move to let them put all old and inconvenient items into some sort of cold storage and off library shelves.

already the revelation book has gone from the orgs website, and that was quite recent relatively, we studied it 3 times at congregation book study, yet now, like type and antitype it mysteriously was never there.

Athanasius

The Watchtower might find it helpful to put an expiration date on their publications, like one finds on the milk cartons. So if the Watchtower published and released a new book at their 2017 conventions, they could print on the cover: "Best if read before 12/31/2025. Discard after 12/31/2027."

12

USA: NYPD undercover cop resigns as he struggles with grief from killing innocent man

by darkspilver in

jw
friends

from the new york daily post - tuesday 21 february 2017, page 14. the headline in the newspaper is: exclusive - cop quits in grief - undercover traumatized over killing innocent man.

nypd undercover cop resigns as he struggles with grief from killing innocent man.

an undercover cop who fatally shot a bystander during a gun-buy operation has resigned from the nypd — too distraught to remain on the force, the daily news has learned.. the former detective, who sources say suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, left the nypd in october with a tax-free disability pension.

Athanasius

Unfortunately the above posted links don't say much about the medical treatment Mr. Kumi received. All I could find was this information: "A married father of two and devout Jehovah’s Witness, he died at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx the next day."

No doubt the doctors did all they could to save him. But what if , due to JW regulations, Mr. Kumi refused a medical procedure that could have saved his life, would he not also share responsibility for his own death?