Posts by jwfacts

51

Help needed: transgender people and other unclear topics

by TeaBiscuit in

first of all, i am not quite sure whether this is the right place to ask my questions.

if this is not really appropriate, please tell me in advance, but i really did not know who to turn to, so i thought why not ask the internet... now, i know many of you are apostates and i'm not really looking for "leave it all behind you" answers, but really for experiences, thoughts and ideas... as well as maybe some verses if you can think of any.. anyway, first things first.

since this is very anonymous and i'd like to keep it that way, i will not give you my name, but still, i think some background info might be helpful.

jwfacts

Welcome teabiscuit.

I have addressed this topic at http://jwfacts.com/watchtower/homosexuality-gay-jehovahs-witnesses.php

To get baptised you are expected to go back to your "biological" gender.

“Mutilating the sex organs, such as having the male organ surgically removed and an artificial female organ created, does not change the facts or make the person into the opposite sex. Someone desiring to be baptized who has already undergone a mutilating operation of this sort (a transsexual) would be expected to take his or her place in life in accord with what the individual biologically is, not in accord with what the person has been mutilated to appear to be. This may even require that the person leave a “mate” to whom the person is “married,” since the mutilated one is actually (biologically) of the same sex as the “mate.””Correspondence Guidelines (2011) p.98

You really need to get out of that religion as quick as possible for your own mental heath. You do not need to join a high control religion to worship Jehovah, particularly one that refers to you as depraved and mutilated.

My best friend is an exJW and transgender. If you ever are in Sydney Australia it would be nice to meet up.

39

Why do witnesses feel the need to put JW ORG on all their social media sites?

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

have you all noticed the obsession witnesses have of putting jw.org on all their social media sites like facebook, twitter, instagram etc?.

so many put it in their bio section...like some sort of loud proclamation to other witnesses that they are righteous and spreading the message.. it's also very lazy.

now with no personal effort at all, they can just say jw.org and be "witnessing".

jwfacts

They have always been a sales organisation. Just like sales people are pressured to do free marketing through social media, so are JWs.

57

You wear tight pants and you will be in trouble

by wannaexit in

jw
friends

i was reading in another forum, that a letter to the elders instructed them to speak to anybody who persists in wearing tight pants.

if changes don't happen then the instructions are to disqualify him from being a publisher but it won't be announced to the congregation.

i am am curious to see if this letter will surface.

jwfacts

Here is the information presented to elders at the last round of CO visits.

53

"The Bunker" WT Conventions 2016 (Gag Me)

by Poztate in

in the very near future the gang will be down in a bunker,cellar awaiting the police,military to break in and take them away to camps or executions .

(paranoid much) this is the foretold "prophecy" of the governments turning on religion and saving them for last.since the couple portrayed as simplifying their life by getting rid of a lot of material things is shown to be (about) the same age in the bunker we know it must be any minute now that it will happen.

i have been out for over 35 years and things seem to be getting more bizarre each year.. when did this doctrine really become main stream?

jwfacts

It seemed to be a morbid fascination at the time
I remember it well. It was a sadomasochistic obsession.
Very unhealthy environment for children.

I was a child at the time and remember being afraid of having pins stuck under my fingernails, or being tickled to death (a bizarre fear of mine.)

13

Best place to "Advertise, Advertise, Advertise!"

by Captain Schmideo2 in

jw
friends

i was at a hippyish restaurant today, this was on the washroom wall.

no, this is not a fake or a photoshop....

jwfacts

I love that picture. So dirty. Like it belongs in a scene from American Horror Story. People are going to think it is a hook up site, maybe short for Just Whores .com

40

New Article - Watchtower View of Homosexuality

by jwfacts in

i have thought about writing this article for many years, and the awake!

2014 no.4 was the final straw.

there it states that jehovah's witnesses show no prejudice towards homosexuals, and "they neither mock nor mistreat people whose practices differ from their own.

jwfacts

I have read that the defection from Christianity in the US in the last decade by younger generations is related to views on homosexuality more than any other reason. Just stating the facts about what the Bible and Watchtower says is hopefully enough that people start to realise the viewpoints are not inspired and can be questioned.

40

New Article - Watchtower View of Homosexuality

by jwfacts in

i have thought about writing this article for many years, and the awake!

2014 no.4 was the final straw.

there it states that jehovah's witnesses show no prejudice towards homosexuals, and "they neither mock nor mistreat people whose practices differ from their own.

jwfacts

The difficulty that I faced with this article is that there are passages in the Bible quite blatantly against homosexuality. I have read articles that attempt to prove otherwise, but the reasoning is quite a stretch. So I have tried to steer clear of any doctrinal debate on the topic, and rather highlight how Watchtower is unnecessarily harsh with its stance. If a person concludes that the Bible stand is unreasonable in the process of researching the topic, then that is not a bad outcome as well.

Steve - To be 'fair', if you go back to the 1970s, many organizations, religious or otherwise, were writing incredibly uninformed things about causal factors in homosexuality - in that regard, the organization's literature hardly 'stands out'.

As Jehovah's spokesmen, they should not be swayed by public ignorance. I agree though that JWs will dismiss those articles as old light, as illogical a stance as that is, which is why I have included a range of quotes from each decade since then.

Steve - it does seem a bit OTT to describe the literature as "slanderous" - unless you are speaking figuratively?

I will change slanderous to malicious. Then again, Watchtower does love searching for figurative statements, it allows so much flexibility in interpretation, so maybe JWs will feel comfortable if I leave in some figurative terminology.

40

New Article - Watchtower View of Homosexuality

by jwfacts in

i have thought about writing this article for many years, and the awake!

2014 no.4 was the final straw.

there it states that jehovah's witnesses show no prejudice towards homosexuals, and "they neither mock nor mistreat people whose practices differ from their own.

jwfacts

A person is born homosexual; it is not a choice
There is no evidence that the first part of this statement is true. From genetics we learn that at birth the individual's sexual proclivity is not differentiated or determined. There is no test which could determine that a baby is born homosexual or heterosexual.
Nevertheless the second part of the statement

Half Banana, thank you for the clarification. I will adjust that sentence.

40

New Article - Watchtower View of Homosexuality

by jwfacts in

i have thought about writing this article for many years, and the awake!

2014 no.4 was the final straw.

there it states that jehovah's witnesses show no prejudice towards homosexuals, and "they neither mock nor mistreat people whose practices differ from their own.

jwfacts

Thanks for the comments. Listener, I have updated the article to account for your observations. DS, I will post on JWR as well.

13

Galatians 5:26 was used in and before the 1960`s to not be involved in competitive sports for yourself or for your children

by smiddy in

myself and my peers in the jw organization in the 1960`s discouraged our children from entering into competitive sports because of the jw policy , regarding that scripture .. has their been a radical change since then ?

a re-interpretation of that scripture ?.

why i ask this question is : here in victoria australia where afl football ( aussie rules ) is often regarded as a religion , especially to the state, victoria , we have, according to the media , a devout jehovah`s witness playing professional afl football at a competitive level.. and at their latest win , the team , including alec rance a jw of the richmond club was enthusiastically singing the club victory song along with his teammates on their win .. are their other examples of this in other parts of the world or is this an australian hiccup.. smiddy.

jwfacts

Here is an article about Rance. http://www.theage.com.au/sport/alex-rances-dilemma-jehovahs-witnesses-in-sport-20150429-1mw11w.html

Interesting that the last reference in the index to Gal 5:26 is back from 1996, where Watchtower was jusftifying their misuse of this scripture.

*** g96 11/8 p. 30 From Our Readers ***

Sports Competition Your article “Is Competition in Sports Wrong?” (December 8, 1995) was very confusing to me, in that it used Galatians 5:26. What does the book of Galatians have to do with sports and games? Paul is speaking about spirit versus flesh and freedom versus slavery. The King James Version renders that verse: “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another.”

P. O., United States

It is true that the apostle did not specifically have in mind athletic competition when he penned those words. However, some Christians were evidently making unfair comparisons with one another. This gave rise to ‘fleshly’ attitudes such as ‘enmities, strife, jealousy, contentions, and divisions.’ (Galatians 5:20, 21; 6:3, 4) Paul thus cautioned Christians not to be “stirring up competition with one another.” According to “The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon,” the Greek word rendered “competition” means “to challenge to a combat or contest with one.” This principle would certainly apply to sports activities or to any activity that could cause Christians to compete with one another in an unwholesome way.—ED.