Posts by sir82

9

2 new brothers added to governing body

by TweetieBird in

jw
friends

forgive me if this has already been discussed, but i don't get to visit here much anymore.

someone forwarded me an email from a friend that said that 2 new brothers have been added to the gb.

their names are geoffrey jackson and anthony morris.

sir82

One of my sources of amusement is fantasizing about a "smoking gun" type of revelation that would cause the society enormous amounts of embarrassment...

One such scenario would be if some young "rising star" would come out and admit that at some point a member of the GB, or at the very least some high-ranking Service Desk poobah, began dropping broad hints about "you know, if you were to begin partaking of the emblems now, in 10-15 years there may well be an opening on the GB..."

My cynical side can't help but wonder if a similar conversation has been made once or twice or more over the past 10-20 years...

22

JWs picking and choosing which rules to follow

by kristyann in

jw
friends

does anyone else find that many, many jehovah's witnesses pick and choose which rules they want to follow?

my boyfriend's parents are jws and i have many, many examples to share with you!

i'd love to hear if any of you have known of similar type things, or if you know any other rules that jws commonly break.

sir82

Just a few observations...

These folks are very likely considered "spitirually weak" by the uber-witnesses in their congregation. Those who are really into it likely ignore them completely--which probably doesn't bother the family you describe in the least.

What surprises me is that there are more and more families like this, and many elders don't seem to care. A generation or 2 ago, such a family would be getting shepherding calls every 3 months. Now elders can't be bothered, until/unless some rule from the ~~Mishnah~~ elder manual is broken.

At least that is my experience in my area. Your results may vary.

5

Watchtower Growth To Get Difficult

by metatron in

jw
friends

headline from the financial times aug. 24, 2005: page 3.

"shrinking population - number of japanese falls ahead of expectations".

"deaths exceeded births in japan by 31,000 in the first six months of this year, raising the .

sir82

500 fewer congregations in Japan?

All praise Jah, for this simplification is evidence of his loving kindness!

16

"Brave New World" -- have you read it?

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

i've heard alot about this book, but i've never read it.

today we happened upon a yard sale and there it was!

so i grabbed it.. i can't put the thing down.

sir82

There is a rather obscure novel by a Russian novelist named Zamyatin (or something similar) from the 20's named "We". It is also one of those "negative utopia" novels along those lines, and I believe even served as inspiration for Huxley & Orwell. I would recommend that one as well for all who enjoy the books noted here (if you can find it).

239

Watchtower Gives Up Explaining 607 BCE Date!

by VM44 in

this is a very important observation, that the watchtower has not tried to explain in print why 607 bce is the year for the destruction of jerusalem for the last 17 years!!!.

all that the watchtower has done over most of the last two decades is to repeat over and over the year "607bce" in its publications as if it is an unquestioned fact!.

the last time an explaination for the year was attempted by the watchtower was in 1988 when the "insight" volumes were published, but since then, no explaination for the validity of the year has appeared in print.. this must mean something, but what?

sir82

Good points on the generation of 1914...

I foresee a growing problem with the 1914 date as 2014 approaches...it is going to be increasingly harder to convince people that when Jesus talked about "the last days", he really meant "the last centuries"...

28

IS AIDS AIRBORNE??( AND OTHER CONCERNS BASED ON SUNDAY WT.)

by stillAwitness in

the wt study article for sunday was: a law of love in hearts taken from jerimaiah 31:33: "i will put my law within them and in their heart i shall write it.

" (anyone who knows the basis for this scripture please let me know.

this wt study really intrigued me b/c a lot of the points and even the comments that were made from the congregation a lot of times did not make sense or were just totally out of context.

sir82

Someone pretty high up at Bethel is still stuck in the 80's, when the thought was that the least physical contact with an AIDS patient would immediately & irrevocably infect the toucher.

If you want a bigger laugh, take a gander at the new baptism questions in the "Organized to do Jehovah's Will" book, section 2. There are quite literally about half a dozen questions on why it is "loving" to inform the PO if you have a "communicable disease" (politically correct code name for AIDS), why it is "loving" not to get upset if people refuse to invite you to their homes, why it is "loving" not to initiate physical contact if you have such disease, etc. etc. ad nauseaum.

Yes indeed, making sure you have a full understanding of the hysteria related to the discovery of AIDS in the 1980's, and the common misunderstandings of that time, is one of the core doctrines you must fully understand to be fully acceptable to God & be baptized!

This is one wacky religion.

8

Inquiring People Want To Know......

by Honesty in

can anyone enlighten us as to what aspect of following in jesus' footsteps do jw's adhere?

sir82

They drink wine at weddings!

10

how to respond?

by carla in

jw
friends

in conversations in the past with him, i have asked him if it was a 'right teaching' at the 'right time'.

his answer was,'yes, at that time it was a right teaching'.

then goes on about how 'we are known for changing', new light, etc.. goes on about how scientist change their view as they learn more.

sir82

My reply would be something along these lines:

Yes, it is all well and good that our "understanding of the truth" changes over the course of time.

However, that also implies that one, a few, many, perhaps many things that are believed now, will change in the future.

So, following that line of reasoning, many things taught now may well be incorrect. Perhpas even teh complete opposite of what God's unchangeable standards are (examples: Sodom & Gomorrah--inhabitants resurrected or no...rape victim--no scream = guilty of fornication?...alternative service for the military draft--OK or not?)

But, the problem is, I as a JW, must be in full accord, 100%, with everything currently taught. If I can clearly perceive something from the Bible that is in direct conflict with a WT teaching, and I persist in talking about it, I will be disfellowshipped. Even if the Society later changes its mind, and comes around to my way of thinking, my D-F will not be retroactively rescinded.

Why is there enforced shunning of persons who merely disagree with a particular teaching which may well prove to be incorrect?

93

SHOULD I PIONEER OR COLLEGE?

by stillAwitness in

do you think the wt has become more lenient or stricter over the year?.

i am 21 and i remember just 4 years ago going to college was looked at as something negative.

girls my age, we had plans to be ft pioneers and become secretaries.

sir82

My recommendation:

Get out the WT CD, and do a search on articles related to education from the 60's 70's and early 80's. You will notice a few things:

-- The almost universal admionition was "avoid college at all costs"

-- The reason was, "this old system is almost over! The new system is right around the corner"

-- Getting a well-paying job in this "system of things" was at best a waste of time, since the end was so close.

Now think. You are 21 years old. Imagine that you had been born 30 years earlier, that you were 21 years old in 1975, not 2005. If you had followed that counsel, not gotten any more education, what position would you be in?

You'd be 51 years old, working a boring, unchallenging, dead-end job, 0 savings for retirement, 0 savings for your kids education. The society was wrong then. The new system was not "right around the corner". Why do you think they are right now?

The society will be saying "the end is going to be real soon now" for the next 100 years.

Get yourself an education, you will not regret it.

28

The Anointed, the Numbers and the GB

by thinker in

have you ever considered the anointed, the number of partakers at the memorial and the governing body together?

if you examine the number of partakers you can clearly see that sometimes the numbers increase.

i asked some jws about this and their reply was, "those are replacements for unfaithful ones".

sir82

Thinker

This seems to be taking place already. As I was researching the numbers I ran across another forum where someone said that 3 in their congregation partook, but only one was counted for the number sent to Bethel. If I can find it again I'll post a link.

Yes, I recall receiving instructions many years ago about who to count, and not count.

But, to the best of my knowledge, there has not been, at least in the past 15 years, any BOE letter, nor even any "super-secret, oral-only" instruction from COs, on being much more judicious on who to count. My idea was that there perhaps there would soon be a new BOE letter, or a CO missive to be read in the Friday night "elders only" meeting, giving specific points that could be checked off, to see if you count a person. Something like:

-- Is he/she regular in the field ministry?

-- Does he/she comment at the meetngs?

-- Does he/she have an appointed position? (elder/MS/pioneer)

-- Does he/she promote ideas not in line with current understanding?

Enough "negative answers" would then disqualify persons from being counted.

Elders would love a checklist like this, it would be one less area they would have to think on.