Not sure if that was a joke. ;-)
But stick it out means: "to continue to the end of a difficult or unpleasant situation"
contrary to common belief, neither the bible nor the watchtower condemns homosexuality; however, they do condemn the practice of fornication.
homosexuality is same sex attraction whether such attraction is acted upon or not.
leviticus 20:13 describes a man having sexual relations with a man, or the act of fornication.
Not sure if that was a joke. ;-)
But stick it out means: "to continue to the end of a difficult or unpleasant situation"
contrary to common belief, neither the bible nor the watchtower condemns homosexuality; however, they do condemn the practice of fornication.
homosexuality is same sex attraction whether such attraction is acted upon or not.
leviticus 20:13 describes a man having sexual relations with a man, or the act of fornication.
Around 5% of the population is estimated to be gay. What would surprise me is if JWs were significantly different.
However I do think there are greater incentives for gay JWs to leave these days. Because decades ago mainstream society objected to gay love just as JWs do. So gay JWs might as well have stayed where they were. Nowadays there is a huge gulf between mainstream opinion and JW views on gay love. So the attraction of leaving JWs now is acceptance, freedom and love. No wonder so many gay JWs are leaving these days rather than sticking it out.
since leaving the borg i jumped both feet first into classes i've always wanted to do but was never "allowed" to.
two of which are life drawing and photography.
i've been studying for almost two years now and have seen more nude men and women in our classes than i care to remember.. today in the photography studio i was working in with three others (two women, one man) we were told we had a new person modelling for us.
If you recognised her it's probably best to assume she recognised you. At least it's my own observation about myself, that other people tend to see and realise a lot more than I intuitively give them credit for, so I have to check myself and adjust my perception. Young people in particular are highly observant, and if she was in a convention drama with you and others, then it's very likely she will remember the other people including you in detail. That she acted as if she didn't recognise you is of course to be expected in any case. And women (again in my limited experience) are particularly good at hiding the difference.
as descibed by the title here is a link to reddit of a what i believe is a powerful post with heaps of information.
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https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/7ovq5o/watchtowers_decline_what_will_the_future_hold_for/?utm_source=reddit-android.
Funny enough, I was at a Seventh Day Adventist divine service a few weeks ago and the pastor said that the church is introducing a new "electronic membership database" in 2018 to help record members worldwide. The main advantage was said to be that membership could be transfers from one church to another, which at the moment requires physical correspondence. I wonder if JWs and SDAs are using the same software.
maybe some of you remember me, maybe not.
for general information i am now 19 years old, and living by myself.
for the past 1 year (more like 1.5 years) i have been quietly fading out of the hypocrisy of this organization, but since i still live in the town i grew up in it has been hard, and filled with different challenges.
Sorry you are going through this. There seems little way around it now. Even grovelling might not work, which you are probably not prepared to do anyway.
But I do wonder about one thing. When they confronted you about spending time with DFed people, couldn't you simply have lied? You could have said sorry, and you won't do it again, but then carry on seeing them regardless. In other words, why did you feel that these people deserved the truth? I take the position that no one has a right to my personal information if they will use that information to harm me or others. If they ask a question that crosses that boundary they should not expect a truthful answer. They were wrong to ask the question in the first place, you are not wrong if you give a misleading answer.
if you see someone about to be struck by a car or otherwise step into harms way but choose not to call out a warning or act in some way to prevent disaster, are you responsible for any harm caused?.
what defence, if any, can be offered for choosing inaction?
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I think this is something it is difficult for former JWs to get our head around. Mainstream Christian theology doesn't tend to deny the problem of evil or pretend there is an easy answer as JWs do. The honest admission of many Christians is that we don't know how a loving God could allow evil things to happen. There's no point denying the extent of the suffering nor the contradiction of a loving God who allows it. And there is no point pretending we have an answer when all the answers people come up with are flawed, such as the free will argument. If there is an all powerful and loving God then we don't know why he allows evil in the world. Many Christians would agree with atheists about that. So it doesn't necessarily need to be a point of disagreement.
each individual may have their own views as to why they feel the meetings are boring and uninspiring.
in my case i find the midweek meeting so, because of the constant emphasis on pitching watchtower literature.
its just monotonous and one big yawn.. i watch other christian faiths where they open up a chapter of the bible and discuss it's contents.
It is true, there is little worship at KH compared with other religions. There's comparatively little real Bible study too compared with some other groups. I can say this from experience.
The religion with the same or possibly less "worship" I found was Christian Scientists. I guess I should say Unitarians too, but they have moments of "contemplation" which in their way are more worshipful than what you get at KH.
i am guessing but based on what i have noted over 2 years of low to inactivity.. everytime a new book is started on the clam a new video pops up giving info on the book (my area btw so i can say all of them are wrong).
a new audio version is put out of that book at the same time.
(this is ok. the newer audio version can't hold a candle to the other 4 readers for the 1984 version, but at least it's semi-dramatized).
I don't follow the post totally, but I think you're onto something.
each individual may have their own views as to why they feel the meetings are boring and uninspiring.
in my case i find the midweek meeting so, because of the constant emphasis on pitching watchtower literature.
its just monotonous and one big yawn.. i watch other christian faiths where they open up a chapter of the bible and discuss it's contents.
Maybe they are actually trying to discourage people, reduce attendances, and sell Kingdo Halls.
i know this sounds very outlandish by the title but hear this one out:.
a few months back i spoke to an old friend of mine raised "around the truth", but never baptized and wanting nothing to do with the wt.
he is very hip to what is going on in the wt however.
At the very least I think it's fair to say that Watchtower has not acted in a way that will Improve relations with the Russian state. Which shows a level of disregard for those JWs living in the country.