Posts by BluesBrother

14

Describe life as a JW.

by Overrated in

jw
friends

under constant watch of other jw.

being told how your life is run.

everything you do under a microscope.

Like living in any highly controlled society, it can be ok if you are happy to obey the rules and have your thinking done for you. Some people are like that. They feel safe in controlled environment and become afraid to trust their own judgement.

If you, and all your family and friends are in it then you have your own social world , quite a big one and you don't miss the birthdaysand Christmases because all that is alien to you.

The trouble comes if you are a bit of a maverick and buck the rules or, worse still, you start to think and question things.. Then you see The Society in a different light.

4

Article: Trial scheduled for Jehovah’s Witnesses elders accused of failing to report sexual abuse

by AndersonsInfo in

https://www.shawlocal.com/northwest-herald/news/crime-brief/2021/05/27/trial-scheduled-for-jehovahs-witnesses-elders-accused-of-failing-to-report-sexual-abuse/.

trial scheduled for jehovah’s witnesses elders accused of failing to report sexual abuse.

judge denies request to bar testimony regarding statements made during religious confession.

BluesBrother

Thanks Barbara for keeping us informed

27

Devout JW's Beat Their 12 Year Old Daughter to Death

by Sea Breeze in

jw
friends

i know this happened several years ago but.... holy christ!

they beat the poor girl 160 times with a 3/4 inch cable!

"in a slow, steady voice, assistant state's atty.

BluesBrother

A shocking case and a total twisting of any Biblical, or WT direction on child discipline. I acccept that the WT books have upheld corporal punishment but never anything like that. The trouble is that if a man is by nature a controlling bully he can use it to justify his bullying.

I have never known any as bad but some very controlling husbands and fathers.

The more recent stuff on families has played down the “rod of discipline “ approach and been a lot softer.. going with the times, I guess

31

What does the Watchtower Society's History of Prophetic Speculation Prove?

by Vanderhoven7 in

question: what does the watchtower society's history of prophetic speculation prove?.

how would you respond to this answer provided by paul coom... yesterday on quora?.

"our organization has never been a prophetic speculator.

BluesBrother

What does it prove? To put it bluntly it proves they know ##'## all! They are groping in the dark as much as the rest of us.

To use their own comments :

Wt April 2020.

"For one thing, Bible prophecies are often best understood when they are undergoing fulfillment or after they have been fulfilled. But there is another factor. To understand a prophecy correctly, we generally have to consider its context. If we focus on only one aspect of the prophecy and ignore the rest, we may draw the wrong conclusion. In hindsight, ........"

So we cannot know the fulfilment until AFTER the event. Excuse me but that is what anyone can do. I can tell you now that Finland beat Denmark at football last night, in bizarre circumstances. If a man had understood that in advance that would have been something - but we can all see it now.

You are just stating what is evident it is not Spirit direction or gifted insight just human observation . Hindsight is a different thing..

9

Time Indefinite

by StephaneLaliberte in

from a very young age, i was always annoyed by this translation time indefinite simply means: time that has not been defined.

where the new world translation uses "time indefinite", other translations use "everlasting" and "eternal".

honestly, it makes much more sense to me "everlasting" and "eternal" as "time indefinite" would leave room for god to define that time later on.

BluesBrother

It seems that the WTS have dropped the phrase nowadays. I compared several texts in the old NWT against the 2013 edition and I could not find it in the later index.

Lev.3 : 17. (1984 NWT)

‘It is a statute to time indefinite for YOUR generations, in all YOUR dwelling places: YOU must not eat any fat or any blood+ at all.’”

(2013 NWT)

"It is a lasting statute for your generations, in all your dwelling places: You must not eat any fat or any blood+ at all.’”

There were plenty of other example but I had to look up my old printed Comprehensive Concordance.

20

wt's tale of the two mothers.

by waton in

in retrospect, for lurkerking fence sitters.

, today's( may 30 ) study article.:.

a mother un lovingly, on "apostate" advice, does everything, right and wrong to keep her daughter from becoming a wt slave.

BluesBrother

Yesterday’s WT study article put forward some thoughts that I was not comfortable with. It dealt with enduring persecution with joy , particularly persecution from family. In my view that only encourages the persecution complex that too many dubs have anyway.

The experience given was a teen girl 14/15, whose mother opposed her studying . She used “apostate arguments” that did not break her faith. Sadly she also resorted to physical abuse . Eventually the girl was put in a home with delinquent youngsters. ( I wondered if she was removed for her own safety?) Anyway she is now grown and a JW relating the experience.

That is a sad case, child abuse is never right so we cannot support the Mother .

The article overall left the reader convinced that persecution was inevitable, it was to be endured as evidence that they were true Christians, and it will all be made right at the end.

3

Has anyone heard...

by Biahi in

the latest news out of crystal lake, il?

mchenry county courthouse, supposed to be a trial tomorrow?

2 elders accused of not reporting a case of csa, a man (now in prison) who molested his own daughter.

BluesBrother

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20210527/trial-scheduled-for-jehovahs-witnesses-elders-accused-of-failing-to-report-sexual-abuse https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20210527/trial-scheduled-for-jehovahs-witnesses-elders-accused-of-failing-to-report-sexual-abuse

Hope you can make that work.

It is duplicitous to claim parity with a Catholic confessional . We all know it is nothing like it

12

Watchower and BMG agreed confidential settlement ?

by keinlezard in

i just read that watchtower pennsylvania and bmg music ave agreed to a confidential settlement .

about "listen,obey and be blessed" by aled jones ?

anybody have more information ?

BluesBrother

The letter confirms what the opening post said, , with no further information.

It all seems fair enough , I can imagine the WT believing they had to take action to protect their copyright, although no harm was done to their material, quite the opposite in fact. Since loads of c d s and downloads have already been sold there was no going back on the record .

I would imagine a fairly modest settlement just to make a point.

20

So telling that there are no little children

by eyeslice in

watching in on my wife's zoom meeting last night, there was an item about discipline is love.

they played a 'caleb' animated cartoon and then the instructions were 'if possible, ask selected young children' several questions.. it seems however, that there are no children in my wife's current congregation so the questions were all answered by retired brothers and sisters.

the congregation mainly consists of elderly people (like us) and the few of childbearing age seem not interested in having children.

BluesBrother

Predictions of their demise can be wishful thinking.

Congregations reflect the catchment area that they are from. A part of town with a lot of retirees in it will make an old congregation. The next one from an area of town with the sort of housing for families will have a lot of kids. It can also be cyclical. Todays children will in a few years be a congo full of teenagers. .. then they grow up and move . That's life

36

DISFELLOWSHIPPING, How bad is it really?

by pistolpete in

i found this experience on reddit today.

disfellowshipping never really bothered me.

i always thought it was just another way of getting rid of members that weren't welcome anymore.. but i've changed my mind.

BluesBrother

It is not the basic principle of d/f that is bad , but the way that it is applied. The movement has its rules , you break them continually, they can tell you to leave said movement. However should that stretch to shunning family members? That is a another add on of The Society.

In this case , even within WT rules , the elders had no right to tell them to kick out their son. The parents, should have told them it was a family matter and not their business

it reads like a case of stupid hard necked elders and weak minded parents.....