Posts by slimboyfat

49

Check out this shameless image on jw.org.

by nicolaou in

another generation of children being fed the same lie we, our parents and grandparents were told.

this is the link, it's image number 8. https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/united-states/2019-love-never-fails-international-convention-series-overview/.

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slimboyfat

Well 1 John 2:18 said it was the “last hour”, so it didn’t start with JWs. It probably won’t end with them either.

If they could combine their belief in the end time with a more reasonable approach to equipping their children for life in this system in the meantime, it wouldn’t be so bad. There’s no reason why they can’t retain belief in the end with living a fulfilling life now. So I don’t think it’s the belief in the end in itself that’s the problem. (After all, who can disprove that God will intervene in human history at some point?) It’s the encouragement to give up education, careers, families and good life here and now that is the problem.

21

Alternate military service pre and post 1996 witness policies. Please comments.

by benny in

what are the thoughts on the changes made by the society in the 1996 watchtower [new light] where one can then accept alternate army service where before you would have to be sentenced to do this.

i feel many were sent to prison needlessly or even executed.

this was not a matter of conscience as the watchtower claims..

slimboyfat

Thanks Earnest, I remember those study articles well, because I was a fully believing JW at that time and studied the magazines carefully. This paragraph in the previous study always stuck out to me as quite extraordinary:

13 In 1929, at a time when laws of various governments were beginning to forbid things that God commands or demand things that God’s laws forbid, it was felt that the higher powers must be Jehovah God and Jesus Christ.* This was the understanding Jehovah’s servants had during the crucial period before and during World War II and on into the Cold War, with its balance of terror and its military preparedness. Looking back, it must be said that this view of things, exalting as it did the supremacy of Jehovah and his Christ, helped God’s people to maintain an uncompromisingly neutral stand throughout this difficult period.

Because it seems to say, without explicitly stating it, that Jehovah allowed JWs to teach falsehood in a particular situation, for their own benefit. I have never read this idea articulated elsewhere in Watchtower literature,

18

New York Times article by ex-JW Missionary Amber Scorah

by Room 215 in

amber recently published a book about her ex-jw experiences in china.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/opinion/sunday/life-after-death.html?action=click&module=opinion&pgtype=homepage.

slimboyfat

When she says “missionary” it’s clear she means pioneer, because she said she did missionary work when she finished school as many JWs do. She also describes JWs as a church, which is language JWs don’t use. I think she is simply using these words in ways that most people would understand, which seems reasonable. She was a missionary by most people’s understanding of the term, if not the JW definition.

I am curious now what happened to Jean.

I can certainly relate to the insight that most foreigners only listen to JWs initially because it is an opportunity to learn English. Many JWs who think they are conducting Bible studies are in fact providing English lessons. The double irony of course, is that sometimes these English-learning opportunists do end up becoming JWs despite their best intentions. So who is fooling who in the end in this situation?

21

Alternate military service pre and post 1996 witness policies. Please comments.

by benny in

what are the thoughts on the changes made by the society in the 1996 watchtower [new light] where one can then accept alternate army service where before you would have to be sentenced to do this.

i feel many were sent to prison needlessly or even executed.

this was not a matter of conscience as the watchtower claims..

slimboyfat

Yes wasn’t this a story in Crisis of Conscience, that this change nearly went through a decade or so earlier, but they were just short of 2/3 majority, Lloyd Barry was away on a zone visit/holiday or something crazy like that, and thousands of JWs continued to go to prison needlessly.

192

Question for SBF

by Fisherman in

slimboyfat, it appears that wts is going, gone digital.

can you show your view what is wts next move after they are completely gone from kings county and settled in warwick?

- this thread is your if you want it..

slimboyfat

Two years on, I’m not sure we are much wiser what is going on with Watchtower finances.

Cutbacks continue and legal payouts loom larger than they did a couple of years ago, yet the organisational panic surrounding finances seems to have dissipated.

24

Interesting observations at an SDA church

by joe134cd in

i’ve just attended a sda church service today.

i have to say the attendance was similar to what i would expect to see in a jw service.

the style and nature of the service was also very jwish (formal, drab and boring).

slimboyfat

Interesting observations at an SDA church

by joe134cd in

i’ve just attended a sda church service today.

i have to say the attendance was similar to what i would expect to see in a jw service.

the style and nature of the service was also very jwish (formal, drab and boring).

slimboyfat

I think Ellen White produced so many books, like whole libraries full of material, they are still reading through it to see what it contains. No doubt a lot of it was borrowed material. Charles Russell borrowed some material for Studies in the Scriptures too, much of it attributed, but perhaps not all. One day it should be possible to run early Watchtower literature through a plagiarism database and establish just how much was borrowed and from where.

7

David A. Reed books anyone??

by Beth Sarim in

i have 5 of david a. reed books;.

'behind the watchtower curtain'.

'index of watchtower errors'.

slimboyfat

They are a bit old-fashioned, evangelical and proof-text focussed, with a dash of Waco style anti-cult hysteria mixed in. Many who leave JWs these days tend to miss out the evangelical phase of their transition. And anti JW books these days tend to focus of social issues of abuse, shunning and blood, rather than doctrines and chronology and so on.

22

Shift in beliefs?

by blankspace in

i was wondering whether anyone observed this point in the previous week's wt study, in paragraph 17: "jehovah’s spirit moves “the faithful steward” to keep giving his servants their food supply.".

i see this as a subtle move away from earlier claims to be channel for spiritual food.

the gb earlier said that they weren't inspired or infallible.

slimboyfat

Yes it sounds like watering down I think you are correct.

49

When Will Jehovah`s Witnesses Appoint A Woman As A Governing Body Member.? It`s Long Overdue !

by smiddy3 in

jw
friends

jehovah himself gives the saying "the women telling the good news are a large army" psalms 68 : 11 coupled with the fact that a good portion of women partake of the emblems and wine at the annual memorial celebration.. identifying themselves as part of the 144000 that are taken from the earth to rule with christ jesus in the heavens.. isn`t it about time they were recognized for their contributions and given the fact that gods word the bible clearly states that 144,000 of anointed are to be taken from the earth which many women are a large part of.?.

revelation ch.14 :4 could be argued that they are not lesbians { "these are the ones who do not defile themselves with women ,in fact they are virgins, etc,etc.}.

i wonder just how many men who claim to be of the anointed have not defiled themselves with women and are virgins.?.

slimboyfat

Apparently just as soon as the government imposes fines for organisations that don’t include women in leadership, the GB will fold and comply immediately to avoid financial loss.