Is there actually any point to the “for elders eyes only” section of the letter, other than to make elders feel special? And yet now the whole world can read the elders secret messages before they do. What a blow to the ego, if they realise. Is there any other religion as secretive as JWs? It’s not even as it is very interesting information they keep secret. Scientologists, when they get to level 10 or whatever, find out that humans descend from aliens from planet Radom, or some such. JWs make it to super duper overseer level only to find out... how to exclude sisters from attendant duties at assemblies, among other fascinating information.
slimboyfat
JoinedPosts by slimboyfat
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2019--June Announcements and Reminders and More!
by Atlantis in2019 international bible students branch construction project.
https://docdro.id/sstm2u5 .
2019 ireland branch construction project.
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Check out this shameless image on jw.org.
by nicolaou inanother 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
Maybe so. But I think it’s worth trying. Sometimes I get the impression you wouldn’t like JWs to become better! No religion is all good or bad, but JWs certainly have a lot of room for improvement. I like this book about good and bad religion.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Bad-Religion-Peter-Vardy-ebook/dp/B005ER6OW2/
Spoiler: the book argues that “good” religions promote education, connections between people rather than barriers, openness to new ideas, empathy for others, among other characteristics.
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Check out this shameless image on jw.org.
by nicolaou inanother 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 JWs need to stop shunning, that’s first priority. Other issues will tend to get better from that one change.
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Check out this shameless image on jw.org.
by nicolaou inanother 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
Not all endtime religions teach that most humans will die.
The New Apostolic Church is a really interesting example. From what I can make out, they teach that Armageddon is very close, but that prior to the end there will be a huge influx of people into their church. I attended a service where the entire focus of the sermon was that members of the church should not resent all the new converts that will join their church before Armageddon. They apparently worry that some members will look down on newer converts as Armageddon approaches. They seem to believe that the end is near and that most of humanity will be saved in the end.
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Check out this shameless image on jw.org.
by nicolaou inanother 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
I can understand why the proposition “all apocalyptic religions cause people to put their lives on hold” makes intuitive sense. Of course it does. What I am saying is that the facts suggest otherwise. Not all endtime religions need to curtail life opportunities. The SDAs are a case in point. I speak from personal observation of SDAs in addition to reading about them. Where are you getting your information?
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Check out this shameless image on jw.org.
by nicolaou inanother 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
There’s no doubt that many unhelpful JW practices arise from their belief in the end times. But does it need to be that way? That’s the question.
Seventh-day Adventists believe in the end times just as much as JWs, as far as I can make out. Yet they encourage members to study and become doctors and nurses and engineers - lots of different professions. They run schools and hospitals and encourage a healthy diet and lifestyle that make SDAs famous for their longevity.
So it is possible to believe in the end times and channel beliefs in a good direction rather than a destructive one.
Just turn JW end time responses on their head. Instead of devaluing education, family, career, and so on because the end is near, it’s possible to promote the opposite: focus on making the best of education, family, personal development, health and so on because the end is near.
It would take imagination and leadership to pull it off. But in the midst of Watchtower upheaval resulting from multiple organisational crises, it’s just about possible that a fundamental rethink and reorientation could happen.
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Check out this shameless image on jw.org.
by nicolaou inanother 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.
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Alternate military service pre and post 1996 witness policies. Please comments.
by benny inwhat 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..
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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,
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New York Times article by ex-JW Missionary Amber Scorah
by Room 215 inamber 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.
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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?
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Alternate military service pre and post 1996 witness policies. Please comments.
by benny inwhat 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..
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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.