Posts by sir82

30

To Fade or Not Fade

by daniel-p in

jw
friends

so it's been five months that i've been on jwd and i've made a lot of progress.

first i want to thank everyone, wholeheartedly, for the encouragement i've recieved here.

when i first posted i was still an ms, and being used in the cong.

sir82

She expressed to me that she felt she had a man who would take the spiritual lead when she married me, and now things are not turning out how she thought

Just an idea...

Why not be the "spiritual head" of the family, just not a JW sense.

Read the Bible together, just the Bible, without the convoluted JW interpretations and commentaries. Read one of the gospels together, and discuss it afterward. Try to steer clear of the JW understandings that have been burned into your brains. Perhaps something along the lines of, "If I didn't have the JW understanding of these verses, I might come to XYZ conclusion. If you met me in service, and only had to use your Bible, how would you refute me?"

Perhaps, gradually, you can steer her to see that the JW interpretations are not the only reasonable ones, and in many cases are far less reasonable than others. From there, perhaps it is a shorter step to bringing her along with you.

I am thinking of trying something along those lines myself, but as I am a cautious sort, I want to plan it well before embarking.

25

Elder's school.

by ithinkisee in

my father-in-law and i had a big discussion about elders and how they are not loving.

i said this was indicative of the society as a whole.

he countered by saying, "i go to the elder's school, and it is full of loving advice.

sir82

The typical answer was, "Let me read it to you again, brother."

it's possible to attend a KS school expecting to get clarity on a number of shifting points and to come away more confused than before.

I clearly remember the school in late 2000. This was after the June 15 & October 15, 2000 Watchtowers, which basically reversed 40 years of blood transfusion teachings by saying that any and all fractions, aside from the "4 major components", of blood were now acceptable.

I was still rather naive, not the cynical @#%^& I've become today. As I looked at the program for the first day, I saw a half-hour part on exactly that topic, the new understanding on blood. "A-ha!", I thought. "My prayers have been answered! We will get a better explanation of this confusing policy, and we'll be better able to understand and explain why, for example, hemoglobin is now acceptable while plasma is not."

And do you know what the half-hour part was?

The CO reading the entire June 15 Watchtower blood article again, word-for-word, re-a-a-a-l slow, like the reason we didn't understand it the first time was that we were reading it too fast, or English wasn't our native language.

This was one more straw on the camel's back, as it were...

69

A long overdue statement

by truthsetsonefree in

most of you have seen me post under my alias truthsetsonefree.

some call me "tsof" which is cool too.

one or two of you know me by my real name.

sir82

participating in "apostate" websites , it isn't a disfellowshipping offence per se.

I don't have my "Flock" book handy, but as I recall, deliberately associating with disfellowshipped persons is a judicial matter. At the very least, you would be "strongly counseled", and if you ignored the counsel, you'd be on trial for "loose conduct".

In addition , many posters here are active witnesses , interested persons or are "unbelievers" married to JWs - so it isn't an "apostate board" as such.

I see. So, for example, it would be perfectly acceptable to attend a wedding reception where d-f'ed persons were in attendance, since there would also be "active witnesses, interested persons, and unbelievers" there? What was that scripture about lumps & leaven?

To donate blood is a voluntary act

...as is posting to a board where disfellowshipped / apostate persons comprise the majority of the posters.

I'm not really trying to "get" you, I'm just saying...your clothes are muddy, and insisting that they are clean does not make them so.

69

A long overdue statement

by truthsetsonefree in

most of you have seen me post under my alias truthsetsonefree.

some call me "tsof" which is cool too.

one or two of you know me by my real name.

sir82

The very act is a pre-meditated "apostasy" as defined.

Wouldn't deliberately posting on a board frequented by disfellowshipped JWs, and sharing in "spiritual discussions" with them, also qualify as the above?

23

Tremendous changes in a short time.....

by AK - Jeff in

jw
friends

i mean if you think about it - and i might be off on the time a little - in the past 6 months we have heard of the following;elimination of the hard cover biblereducing of awake to monthly additionsdownsizing at bethel worldwideelimination of bethel elders.

there may be others that i forgot about.

but these are all very significant, and they are all happening at once, in a relative sense.those of us in the apostate circles may not realize just how the total impact might be on the flock.

sir82

You will see suicide, depression, family breakdown, chronic auto immune disease, and every other
side effect of this cold hearted cult get worse. It's not going to be pretty.

And it will all be blamed on "Satan", "persecution", and be seen as a sign that the end has to be "real soon now". So just hang on a little longer....

...and the vicious cycle continues.

25

Elder's school.

by ithinkisee in

my father-in-law and i had a big discussion about elders and how they are not loving.

i said this was indicative of the society as a whole.

he countered by saying, "i go to the elder's school, and it is full of loving advice.

sir82

For your viewing pleasure, Here are links to my copious notes on the school I attended:

Part 1: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/102237/1.ashx

Part 2: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/102248/1.ashx

Part 3: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/102299/1.ashx

Part 4: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/102312/1.ashx

Part 5: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/102350/1.ashx

Part 6: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/102445/1.ashx

Part 7: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/102646/1.ashx

14

NO Kingdom Halls rebuilt or repaired in NOLA - 6 months after Katrina?

by sir82 in

jw
friends

my mother attends a different congregation, and they recently had a "special" saturday afternoon talk/slide show from someone who spent some time in the post-katrina society-organized relief effort.. she says that this brother reported that all of the kingdom halls in new orleans were damaged or destroyed by katrina, and that to date, none of them have been repaired or rebuilt.

the reason that was given was that all of the jws who lived in new orleans are living elsewhere, and the society has little or no idea of where they are.

if i remember correctly, the number of jws there was given as 7000(?).

sir82

Not dreaming, there was a letter maybe 2-3 months ago, asking for displaced hurricane refugees to contact the Society.

But I was quite shocked to hear that NONE of them have returned to New Orleans.

32

Scary JW Thinking About the Benefits of Bird Flu

by Severus in

i heard this from a pioneer recently.

"this bird flu will be the next major pestilence.

even if it wipes out millions, that would be a good thing because jehovah will be able to resurrect them.

sir82

Following such reasoning to its logical conclusion, the best thing that could happen to humanity would be for unrestricted & total nuclear warfare to break out. That way, billions of people would get a chance at resurrection!

On a more serious & unfortunate note, such a line of reasoning has been the cause of more than one disturbed individual killing off their family...

14

NO Kingdom Halls rebuilt or repaired in NOLA - 6 months after Katrina?

by sir82 in

jw
friends

my mother attends a different congregation, and they recently had a "special" saturday afternoon talk/slide show from someone who spent some time in the post-katrina society-organized relief effort.. she says that this brother reported that all of the kingdom halls in new orleans were damaged or destroyed by katrina, and that to date, none of them have been repaired or rebuilt.

the reason that was given was that all of the jws who lived in new orleans are living elsewhere, and the society has little or no idea of where they are.

if i remember correctly, the number of jws there was given as 7000(?).

sir82

My mother attends a different congregation, and they recently had a "special" Saturday afternoon talk/slide show from someone who spent some time in the post-Katrina Society-organized relief effort.

She says that this brother reported that ALL of the Kingdom Halls in New Orleans were damaged or destroyed by Katrina, and that to date, NONE of them have been repaired or rebuilt. The reason that was given was that ALL of the JWs who lived in New Orleans are living elsewhere, and the Society has little or no idea of where they are. If I remember correctly, the number of JWs there was given as 7000(?). With no JWs living there, the Society is concentrating on rebuilding homes & Kingdom Halls in other parts of Louisiana, and other states affected by the hurricanes.

I found that really hard to believe, but who knows? Has anybody else heard anything like this?

122

BETHEL NEWS: Bethel Elder Arrangement to be dissolved as of Aug. 31, 2006

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

here is some news from a source within one of the wts branches:

hot news from todays morning worship announcement worldwide -- letter from gb being read on 1st of march 2006 to every branch (hopefully we will have a copy of the letter soon.).

as of aug. 31, 2006 the bethel elder arrangement will be dissolved!

sir82

Re: Elsewhere's post

So, the "Gestapo" will still exist, but there will no longer be a recognizable "uniform" for its members. Virtually anyone could be an "informer" to the higher-ups.

Brilliant! Morale at Bethel has plunged to an all-time low due to the downsizing. And how to the gerontocrats respond? Ratchet up the paranoia level!

Has Inspector Clouseau been promoted to the Service Desk?