when i was a jw i did and still enjoy visiting old churches and cathedrals because of the history and amazing architecture of these wonderful old buildings.
a sister in my old congregation regaled us with a story of a visit to the tower of london and walking up this crowded narrow staircase only to discover it led to an old chapel.
the way she described her horror at almost entering you would have thought they were doing human sacrifices.
I have no great interest in churches although I have been in big cathedrals. I agree that the architecture is amazing. I don’t think dubs in general object . Certainly my family has and when in the company of other Witnesses.
I have it on good authority that when they had a convention in Moscow, the Society organised a trip around a big orthodox cathedral that stands within the Kremlin. That itself is the seat of the King of the North……
i read a comment somewhere that having a beard ( before such was allowed) was never a disfellowshippable offence.
but does that mean that no-one who grew a beard was ever eventually disfellowshipped?.
growing a beard when such was frowned upon would surely attract the attention of those with nothing better to do, and possibly lead to sniffing around to try and find things that the "disobedient" one was up to.
It didn’t always mean even a loss of privileges. In the late 70’s when the beard thing broke we wanted to appoint to be a MS a bro who was bearded. The C/O at the time didn’t like it , he said it was just because he was smart & educated and we wanted to park the account’s position on him ( truth is he was right about that)
Anyway it went up to Bethel for ratification and they agreed it , with knowledge of his beard. He held the accounts servant position for years.
a thread about steve hassan re-emerged and got me looking him up.
his wikipedia entry had a point under "criticism" that there is an underlying assumption in his approach that all members of high control groups ultimately want to leave*.. while it is generally believed that there are a lot of pimos still attending, doing field service and giving lip service to the wt, i doubt that everyone within the congregations want to get out.
it's not always internally and logically consistent, but it's been around long enough for enough workarounds to make it tolerable to emerge.. what do you think?
I wish it were true but sadly the ones I know seem more blinkered and locked into it than ever.. Iain my young day we would have a laugh about things and at the shortcomings of the Society but now they seem to go about in reverential awe of the GB and the WTS .
holy nativity batman!
on jw broadcasting.
final song for this year's convention.
We should recognise that the song is new for the Summer Convention, not Christmastime . They have never contested the birth of Christ in Bethlehem so there is no reason to not sing about it .
However, I do agree that the words do sound Christmassy … I think in the past they would have avoided it . It will pass into their library of songs , just don’t choose it in December !
BTW … if you play the audio on the site .. it is pretty dire ..
i stumbled, via a google search, upon a part of jw space that is usually heavily defended against outsiders like my good self.
in a discussion, someone started their post with "i (started doing x)... when the slave began to suggest doing so"*.
do pimis really talk that way?
Yes , they do…. I think you would hear it more in U.S.A. than Europe but I have heard it a lot on at the same sort of site you were at.
secret recording 14th april:ralph walls: more changes are coming!.
( broadcasted to all british congregations today).
https://youtu.be/owg4bqj7pd0?si=yvfpkkos_qoy9u10.
After 90 minutes to 2hrs of mundane stuff , beset by technical glitches and delays, the Witnesses I know were happy to have Bro Walls as a final speaker. People warmed to his easy conversational style of speaking. He was a cut above the normal Bethel Speaker.
I appreciated his skill in talking although I withhold on what he was saying. He did use the ‘Revelation book’ , it is still available to download. His selected bits were scriptural rather than prophetic and so not subject to change .
Look… I am not agreeing with what any of them said but , to me , he came across as as a warm, approachable guy .
posting a link to the animal farm movie on youtube.
in the comment section, you will see comment on similarities between the animals and jw.
i watched the movie and i thought, this so reminds me of the jw.
As a fan of Orwell I rather like this thread . If we were Animal Farm characters, which one would we be?
I might be old Benjamin the donkey. He is a cynic who does not believe in the culture of the revolution but keeps quiet because he does not want to get cast out . NB I have been Inactive for many years but stay in touch to keep my marriage intact .
Over the years I have known a few “ Mollie the ponies “ , young women who skip the Org for a life outside.
There are also plenty of elders like Squealer the pig who defend the hierarchy’s every statement and make justifications for it all.
posting a link to the animal farm movie on youtube.
in the comment section, you will see comment on similarities between the animals and jw.
i watched the movie and i thought, this so reminds me of the jw.
The rank and file JWs fit exactly the sheep of Animal Farm . On command or in response to any questioning of a order from the pigs , the bleated mindlessly “4 legs good 2 legs bad” .... just like the other sheep in the JW world.
it's been a long time since i last posted here.
however in light of recent changes i have thought a bit about things and have come to the conclusion that the society might.
.. use the "evil slave" argument.
The sheepees will accept whatever they are told. We have to remember that , to them, the GB are the voice of God On Earth. They would never dare to say, “How dare you” .Also they are clever at manipulating words and scripture to make it seem reasonable. Just like in Orwell’s 1984, “ Whatever the Party holds to be truth, IS truth “
They already watered down the blood issue to accept fractions. They just told the people that if you feel grieved because of past losses , don’t think that way but rejoice that the matter is clarified..
it's no longer a year tying to the present (the old pre-1995 generation belief).
realistically, that's the only reason why it mattered.
and if it doesn't really matter what it is anymore, why would jw not do away with it?.
It is still officiall teaching but rarely mentioned. The numerical formula that we knew is now only known by old timers with memory. It is just by observation of the World war and looking at the world today , that they say ...” This is the time” .
