jwfacts

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Posts by jwfacts

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  78

  More bad chronology from the Watch Tower Society

  by Jeffro in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  it seems that more often than not, when the watch tower society says something about biblical chronology, they're probably wrong.

  this seems to be the case even for uncontroversial matters!

  insight on the scriptures volume 1, page 584 states (bold formatting added):.

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  jwfacts

  JWs dogmatically insist that Jesus was baptised in 29CE , so 458 doesn't suit their purposes.

  I should have guessed it would have been something as simple as that. The Watchtower is the master of Eisegesis interpretation.
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  127

  Anyone else an Ex Bethel "volunteer"

  by BackseatDevil in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was wondering if there were any other ex-bethelites on here.

  i personally regularly went for temporary work at brooklyn then was assigned to the farm for a year and a half.

  it was... one of the most bizaare experiences of my life.. so i wrote it all down (finally, after some 15 years) so i won't bore anyone on here with the details of the story - because bethel doesn't show up until chapter 15... and for you straight folks, it gets a bit gay in two places... but nothing gross.

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  jwfacts

  I'm reading your story. Your writing is beautiful, you have such a unique style and perspective.

  I was in Sydney Bethel 1991 - 1995. It was what made me realise the religion is not the truth. I volunteered occasionally before signing up, and always found Bethel so depressing. It all seemed so slow and pointless. Why have 400 people just to run a few presses. Any worldly company could have had 10 staff print all the magazines for a fraction of the cost. Yet I applied anyway and got accepted within a month. I felt Bethel would keep my on track, as I was having issues with my faith. I had just graduated with an accounting degree, so they put me in factory cleaning - toilets, floors and windows day after day - to make sure I knew how little regard there was for my skills and to enforce humility upon me. I was moved eventually into waitering, which was much easier to deal with. But by the end of three years I drifted into depression and struggled to keep my thoughts of death.

  The place was soul sapping, a cult version of Stepford Wives. Despite many nice people, there was an equal amount of weirdos and the power hungry. Many of the management were pompous and second rate and I could not understand how getting time off for Bethel assignments was more difficult than when I worked for worldly companies. Bethel destroyed what should be the best years of ones life, but at least it opened my eyes, and gave me the foundation to be able to do what I do now to help people leave.
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  3

  Former Jehovah's Witnesses Talk About The Painful Process Of Adapting To Secular Life

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  former jehovah's witnesses talk about the painful process of adapting to secular life.

  http://vueweekly.com/front/story/walking_out_of_the_kingdom_hall/.

  bangalore.

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  jwfacts

  That is a well written article.
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  78

  More bad chronology from the Watch Tower Society

  by Jeffro in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  it seems that more often than not, when the watch tower society says something about biblical chronology, they're probably wrong.

  this seems to be the case even for uncontroversial matters!

  insight on the scriptures volume 1, page 584 states (bold formatting added):.

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  jwfacts

  Thanks Jeffro.

  They (and various other Christian groups) shift the start of Artaxerxes' reign from 465 BCE to 475 BCE in order to move his20th year to 455 BCE, to in turn shift the alleged start of their interpretation of the '70 weeks' of Daniel chapter 9 to 'fit' the '69th' week to 29 CE.

  Why does the historical-messianic interpretation begin with the decree by Artaxerxes I in 458/7 BCE (Ezra 7) but JW's use Nehemiah 2:1, 5-8, to pinpoint Nehemiah going forth to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem “in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king" as 455?
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  78

  More bad chronology from the Watch Tower Society

  by Jeffro in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  it seems that more often than not, when the watch tower society says something about biblical chronology, they're probably wrong.

  this seems to be the case even for uncontroversial matters!

  insight on the scriptures volume 1, page 584 states (bold formatting added):.

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  jwfacts

  Their assignment of 443 BCE for Artexerxes 32nd year is also wrong. The correct year is 433 BCE . This error is introduced by their incorrect placement of the reigns of Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I in order to preserve the fraudulent interpretation of the 'seventy weeks' 'prophecy' as pointing to 'Jesus'.

  Can you provide more detail on that?
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  11

  List of DMCA copyright complaints by watchtower

  by JeffJ in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i was just trying to reach the end of the internet and found a great database of dmca filings over at chillingeffects.org.. the society's lawyers look like they have been busy lately.. some of them are pretty enlightening.

  there are a couple apps in google marketplace that were poaching off jw.org.. they look like ones that would be made by a well meaning witness.

  just imagine their reaction when they got the "cease and desist" notice and saw it came from the borg.. sorry if people were aware of this site already.

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  jwfacts

  It looks like someone put a few current Watchtower books up on Google Play to read. How does a religion interested it getting its doctrine to the entire inhabited earth take offence at that?
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  73

  What on earth happened to the magazines?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for the first time in years today.

  to say that it took me five minutes to read the whole thing would be to flatter the rag.

  it doesn't even seem to contain actual articles any more, just headings and bullet points and pictures.

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  jwfacts

  I read my first 16 page one the other day, and was also shocked at how quickly I got to the end. Even Watching the World, my favourite part as a kid, only has 5 snippets, yet fills a whole page.

  I thought the reason was that they are providing the other half interactively online. Yet there was no real links in the article. The June issue just directs the reader to the Bible Stories book online, not to any unique information as part of this particular issue. They are getting lazy. It has gone from 64 pages to 16 half filled pages. Yet, with the internet, it is now a lot easier to find interesting world events that the Awake used to be full of.
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  20

  Will Google Balloons help turn the tide in developing countries?

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  well, i'm back on jwn so i may as well start a new thread!.

  this story caught my eye on sky news recently.... http://news.sky.com/story/1104007/google-balloon-project-gets-off-the-ground.

  it's basically a new initiative from google to bring the internet to far flung parts of the earth including parts of africa that are simply not wired up to the internet yet.. i'm not sure how the accessibility will work in terms of subscriptions etc, but google seem serious about it and early tests have been positive.. so, the question raised in my mind was, could this turn the tide against the watchtower?

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  jwfacts

  I had thought the same when I read the article last week.

  Sorry, most of these countries need clean safe water, adequate food, and security more than the internet.

  I don't agree. The reason those countries are still in the situation they are, is due to lack of education. Handouts from charities over the last century has done little for the long term good. People in the poorest countries, kept that way through corruption and war, need the next generations to be aware of how much better off they could be through education. There are great initiatives for cheap laptops, it is internet connectivity that is a bigger issue.
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  82

  My Mom has decided to turn me in... I am not afraid (Letter Inside)

  by sosoconfused in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the only reason i am posting this is because i know many of you are going or will be going through something similar and wonder if it is worth it.

  i personally feel that it is worth it regardless of what i lose.

  my wife is backing me and i have my children.

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  jwfacts

  I hate reading letters like that. The delusion makes me lose respect for human ability to think.

  "As the apostle Peter said to Jesus,... 'Lord, where will we go away to?' This is Jehovah's organization ..."

  This is an extremely common misquotation by JWs. The change may be subtle, but the implications are profound.

  No. You probably know this, but compare how your mom misquoted this verse to the actual wording from the NWT:

  Simon Peter answered him: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? - John 6:6 8

  I was going to write exactly the same. She could be responded to simply by pointing out her error. "You think Peter said where, whereas he said whom. That perfectly sums up the why the Watchtower does not represent the message of the Bible, since it too makes such statements. The "Slave" takes the place of Jesus."
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  77

  I just informed the parents about me and the TTATT... heart wrenching

  by sosoconfused in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  well first i want to thank everyone here for the good points etc... i have received over the last few months.

  you guys have really been helpful!.

  so the other day my mother wrote me a 3 page letter telling me how she was so scared for me because she could tell my love for the truth was gone etc.. so i decided i wanted to totally rip the band-aid off and get this matter over and done with.

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  jwfacts

  However there was one point that hit both of them like a ton of bricks, the same point that hurts me. I said, "If the bible says one thing and the society says the complete opposite would you trust the bible or the society. They both said obviously the bible. sooooo I said, The bible says that Jesus is the mediator for all - yet the society says something else. My mother said I was telling a bold -facedlie and if I was going to lie we can't talk. So I told her if I show you this in print what would you do? She responds, "There is no way that my brothers would say such a thing". I showed her - she left the house - never came back in.

  You handled it very well. That is the perfect way to present the question. Don't expect her to change her beliefs. She will likely come to some internal acceptance that the Watchtower justification sort of makes sense. But you have given her solid reason for your decision to leave, and will no longer be on the back foot with them. Hopefully you have provided your mum with enough doubt that she can accept you have good motives, and can keep her bond with you.

  Me and my dad talked for a bit, he was mad but then said, "Lets not let this mess up our relationship..." That was the best thing I could have heard.

  What a relief. You could not expect a better outcome.