slimboyfat

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Posts by slimboyfat

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  32

  The Noble Fir

  by Oubliette in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the noble fir.

  the fir tree stands silently in the corner of our living room: proud, erect, strong.

  even unadorned, it is beautiful.

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  slimboyfat

  Yes oubliette was a good poster.
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  32

  What JW Beliefs Did You Find Difficult To Explain?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there are a lot.

  anything blood related was difficult to reasonably prove from a witness perspective.. 1914 was another one.

  what can you add to the list?

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  slimboyfat

  Hands down the overlapping generation. I can’t even explain how it’s meant to work in theory never mind explain it from the point of view of someone who believes it. It’s got to be some sort of joke, no? Although I admit I fail to see the funny side.
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  15

  Shocking Example of JW Elder Corruption

  by Roger Kirkpatrick in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  let's play a game of believe it or not, shall we?

  i'll relate a story, and you decide whether you believe it or not.

  what would you think of an elder who told his daughter's fiance that he would kill him if he ever did anything to hurt his daughter?

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  slimboyfat

  This doesn’t strike me a particularly shocking to be honest. The age wouldn’t even be illegal in the UK. And if they ended up happily married where is the problem? Would it be better if they had been publicly shamed, shunned, relationship ruined and so on. Would that be less of a scandal?

  The only problematic angle is that such common sense is often not extended to individuals without important connections. But that’s the problem, not the action itself. Am I way out or what?
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  20

  Connections between Christadelphians and Russell´s Biblestudents

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the bible students and the christadelphians have a lot in common.. i searched on facebook... .

  and look what i found:https://www.facebook.com/christadelphianbiblestudents/.

  there´s even a group named like that..

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  slimboyfat

  The vast majority of members of the Iglesia ni Cristo Church live in the Philippines, and those congregations in other countries largely comprise migrants from the Philippines.

  If you think JWs are controlling then Iglesia ni Cristo are even more so.

  Other groups that are a bit similar to JWs worth checking out include the New Apostolic Church and Grace Communion International. Both these groups were sectarian in the past but have moved considerably more mainstream. In the case of Grace Communion Internarional they now accept the Trinity and they really emphasise this in their meetings. They often sing a song “we worship you God in Trinity” and they make frequent refenreces to the Trinity in sermons and prayers. In the case of the New Apostolic Church they are now at pains to emphasise that they do not regard their church as infallible or the only true church and state this often in their meetings.
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  20

  Connections between Christadelphians and Russell´s Biblestudents

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the bible students and the christadelphians have a lot in common.. i searched on facebook... .

  and look what i found:https://www.facebook.com/christadelphianbiblestudents/.

  there´s even a group named like that..

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  slimboyfat

  The Christadelphian rejection of a personal devil is often cited as the main difference between JWs and Christadelphians.

  What I’ve found interesting is that some of the apparent similarities between JWs and Christadelphians are not as clear cut when you look at the details.
  

  For example both JWs and Christadelphians refuse to vote in elections. But when you look at the explanations for that stance, then clear differences emerge. JWs are essentially disinterested when it comes to politics. Many JWs are uncomfortable if the subject is discussed at all, even if no particular political views are promoted. They don’t vote in elections because they believe that Jehovah does not approve of any political leaders in this system and therefore Christians should not be interested in politics. Christadelphians on the other hand believe that God actively manoeuvres events in the world including elections and rulers and political developments. The reason Christadelphians don’t vote is because they worry they may vote for the wrong person “against the will of God”, so they abstain and stand aside to allow God to work out his plan. Christadelphians even believe that God uses the weather in order to shape world events including elections. One Christadelphian told me he believes that God sent poor weather during the EU referendum in order to get a Brexit result. As zionists Christadelphians are also intensely interested in events in Israel/Palestine and how they relate to prophecy and God’s plan. JWs on the other hand tend to ignore the details of political events, preferring to see the whole shape of the news as evidence the system of things is getting worse leading up to Armageddon.

  Christadelphians and JWs also reject the Trinity and do not believe that Jesus is almighty God. But once again that is pretty much where the similarities end. Christadelphians believe that Jesus came into existence as a human on earth and did not have a prehuman life as an angel. They do not believe that Jesus is the archangel Michael. While JWs and Christadelphians both oppose the Trinity as a false post-biblical teaching, JWs are closer (although not identical, as they point out) to Arianism whereas Christadelphians are Socinians.

  One area where JWs and Christadelphians appear to be in simple agreement is over rejection of the immortal soul in favour of soul sleep and awaiting resurrection to a paradise earth. They both reject hell as a literal place of torment.

  And another difference, of course, is over the divine name. Christadelphian hymns sometimes use the name Jehovah, and individual Christadelphians will use the name Jehovah or Yahweh, but not to the extent as JWs or as the unique name of God.
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  43

  Are the G.B.members really good business people ?

  by smiddy3 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if i was an author of a book i think i would be over the moon if i was guaranteed a sale of around 5 million or more books for my work.. the jehovah`s witnesses have over 8 million members plus relatives that are fringe dwellers who come to the memorial once a year ,.

  so what a gold mine they have been sitting on as a publishing house .. why didn`t they keep publishing books for the faithful ,they could have even upped the price , and the faithful would have paid especially in prosperous country`s in the west.. they could have milked this venture for years to come as the faithful would have bought anything they would have published .. and their prophets (profits) would have soared ,literally and figuratively for many more years to come ..

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  slimboyfat

  Amen, brother.
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  42

  2018-Annual Service Report!

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if this has already been posted just disregard.. 2018 annual service report one in english and one in spanish.

  other news included.

  zipped folder.

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  slimboyfat

  That’s why I think the congregation numbers are so important. They can be checked and so are less likely to be fabricated in the official figures. If the number of congregations starts going down while the other numbers keep going up then it raises questions. We have already seen the number of congregations stagnate or fall in Japan, Germany, even the United States, and elsewhere.
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  42

  2018-Annual Service Report!

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if this has already been posted just disregard.. 2018 annual service report one in english and one in spanish.

  other news included.

  zipped folder.

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  slimboyfat

  A 1.4% increase, again, this year? I find this very hard to believe to be honest. We really need to scrutinise where this increase is coming from, when/if the full figures are released. It can’t all be coming from Angola and the Congo. And does it offset the decreases in Japan, Germany and elsewhere?

  After all the cutbacks, closures, aging membership, scandals, payouts, bans, media exposure, JWs are still growing 1.4%? I don’t know whether to be surprised or skeptical, to be honest. I really expected growth to be zero or negative.
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  42

  2018-Annual Service Report!

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if this has already been posted just disregard.. 2018 annual service report one in english and one in spanish.

  other news included.

  zipped folder.

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  slimboyfat

  The figure I’m most interested in is number of congregations.

  Number if baptisms is down in absolute numbers and down even more as a percentage of publishers. It must be the lowest baptisms/publisher ratio ever recorded. A very poor sign for future growth.
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  47

  Do elders still ask inactive members to write a letter to disassociating yourself from the Congregation?

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  do today's elders ever meet with inactive members and pressure them to write a letter disassociating themselves from the congregation stating that, ''you no longer wish to a jehovah witness"?.

  i was baptized at the young age of 16. after turning 18, i stopped attending meetings, field service, and all jehovah's witness activities.

  i wanted to be with my high school friends, go to rock concerts, have a girlfriend, and live like a normal teen.

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  slimboyfat

  It’s interesting how to read the evidence from the elders manual. It states, “at no time should the elders ask the accused if he wishes to disassociate himself”. On the one hand this is a simple statement what elders should not do. On the other hand it does raise some questions. First of all, the instruction does seem to imply that elders have been known to suggest disassociation in this situation, as an easy way out for everyone concerned, hence the “clarification” that this should not be done.

  Plus the paragraph does seem to have a particular situation in mind, where someone is being investigated, and to avoid embarrasssment (discussing sex usually) or process individuals may seek an easy way out for themselves and disassociate to halt the proceeedings. The paragraph acknowledges this as a loophole in the investigation process but instructs elders not to inform the publisher of the loophole in order to abbreviate the process.

  What the paragraph doesn’t seem to have in mind is the kind of situation we are discussing here, where elders may suspect a publisher of apostasy or other “wrongdoing” which they cannot prove. It’s entirely plausible, in those particular circumstances, that elders will pressure the individual to “out” themselves, disassociate, and clean them off the books. Many on the forum have experienced exactly that.

  In other words disassociation is not to be recommended to publishers when it makes the life of the publisher easier. (To avoid an embarrassing judicial committee) But it seems that elders would and do recommend disassociation when it makes their own life easier. (To “clean out” apostates or gay people or the like)