WT exegesis
That is a bit of a faux pas. In Watchtower's case it is Eisegesis.
hey forum goers.
i'd like your opinions on constructing an email reply to this shocker below.
bit of background about the sender: she is a middle-aged, cheery uberdub whose siblings left when a schism occured in her congregation in canada way back when.
WT exegesis
That is a bit of a faux pas. In Watchtower's case it is Eisegesis.
many have said that jesus never shunned anyone.
yet it seems that the apostle paul said to shun an unrepentant sinner, "stop keeping company" and "not even eating with such a man" 1co 5:9-12. it seems like shunning is what paul wanted us to do.
but honestly, it doesn't seem right to me.
Sir82's post is excellent, showing that the Bible discusses "marking" people that do not adhere to Christian standards, even restricting association, but not complete isolation and shunning of that person. Watchtower has created a policy that does not appear in the Bible, and introduced the word disfellowship for that policy.
http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/disfellowship-shunning.php has a section that shows the numerous ways that Watchtower applies its practice of disfellowshipping beyond the Bible.
i was reading about the american slave trade again recently.
as anyone who has read anything about the subject knows, it makes for very uncomfortable reading.
every time i read the history, i'm left with a sense of outrage and seething anger at the pure inhumanity and injustice of what life must have been like for those people.
The GB should be renamed “the Faithful and Discreet Slave Owners.”
i am thinking that this could be an interesting topic.
most of us never had a chance to go to college, many of us were involved in various service industries like cleaning and such, and we have had some limitations placed on us.
so i thought it might be interested to see what has worked for people, what hasn't, what the progression has been, where people went wrong and where they got it right.
Sales is the highest paid job that often does not require a degree to get into. JWs are highly trained in sales. The word persistence is one of the key words that defines a successful sales person, and no one is more persistent than a JW that tried to sell God week in week out since the first time they opened their mouth.
I'm not sure with the new format CLAM though, it seems a lot of the sales training from the old TMS has gone.
so almost two weeks ago, my boyfriend(who was disfellowshiped) went to the memorial.
he hasn’t spoken to his parents, friends, or siblings for over a year because of it.
the only person he keeps in contact with is his grandma, which is who he went along with.
he was telling me the whole time his parents were just telling him the reasons why they can’t talk to him, and why they have blocked him, trying to get him to see where they are coming from. trying to get him to see their truth.
Whilst I am sure that is what they did, it is total nonsense that they needed to do so. He knows exactly why they don't talk to him, as he has also been indoctrinated by their religion. There are no good reason why they cannot talk to him; it is unnatural and unscriptural. They mindlessly would have parroted Watchtower propaganda that shunning is loving, and it is to help him come back to Jehovah. What they didn't say is that deep down they know what they are doing is wrong but they don't have any choice in the matter.
just joking i really don't think so...but the situation in syria is pretty worrisome...just hearing the news that france and great britain are attacking with cruise missiles in 72 hours.
i mean assad is not gonna gasify his adversaries when he almost won the civil war.
trump too suspended a very important trip to the latinoamerican presidents summit in peru, just to 'oversee the american response to syria.
just imagine if the predictions of the bible unfolded before our very eyesatomant - wow, the Bible has predictions about this? Exactly what predictions did the Bible make that has any relevance to the situation in Syria?
ok.. we have often heard secret recordings online of jc hearings.
but, what i would like to know is if individuals are entitled to the right of officially recording their judicial hearings?.
supposing i was to attend a judicial committee and i explained up front that i would like to record the proceedings and then place a dictaphone on the table.
From personal experience, if you ask to record it, they will so no, and refuse to go ahead with the meeting unless you switch off any recording equipment that they are aware of.
don’t know if it was part of the script.. at the memorial the remark about growing annointed numbers including this numbers from 2015 to 2017 was made (from 13.000 to 18.000+).. reason for the growing numbers could be:.
- feeling annointed because of former believe.
- psychical reasons.
Smiddy3 - want the reward when they die and not be waiting in a grave for God knows how long.
Seeing so many of their elderly faithful brothers and sisters die without gaining their reward or seeing the New System in their lifetime.
Two really good points. An immediate resurrection to heaven is a better hope than waiting indefinitely in the grave.
The second point about seeing so many die that expected to walk into the New System, may be weakening the faith of some. If they don’t want to leave the religion for various reasons, but no longer fully believe the GB, they may be starting to realize that all are supposed to partake and don’t want to risk not properly being involved in the memorial celebrations.
i see there has already been discussion over lloyd’s new book how to leave the jehovah's witnesses.
this includes discussion around his personality, motives and financial gains.
i have written a foreword for this book, because it is an important topic that has not been covered in such a complete format before.
Merov - you make a great point about attaining your own personality, independent of the Watchtower imposed one.
When we leave we make a lot of mistakes. Regardless of age, those raised as JWs often are like teenagers, having to shed an imposed moral code and belief system and develop a new one. We will make mistakes, as teenagers do, but teenagers are excused for it whilst as adults we are not.
ExJWs have a unique set of struggles, and these forums by and large accept and support that. You know where I am going with this comment.
i see there has already been discussion over lloyd’s new book how to leave the jehovah's witnesses.
this includes discussion around his personality, motives and financial gains.
i have written a foreword for this book, because it is an important topic that has not been covered in such a complete format before.
Here is an interesting article about how much can be made off YouTube. Why ‘Success’ on YouTube Still Means a Life of Poverty I found it interesting because my 10 year old son is one of the "one-third of children" that want to become a YouTuber when he grows up.
"Breaking into the top 3 percent of most-viewed channels could bring in advertising revenue of about $16,800 a year, Bärtl said. That’s a bit more than the U.S. federal poverty line of $12,140 for a single person. (The guideline for a two-person household is $16,460.) The top 3 percent of video creators of all time in Bärtl’s sample attracted more than 1.4 million views per month."
No JW related YouTuber is getting anywhere near 1 million views per month, and even 1 million views does not get a person above the US poverty line.
notsurewheretogo - I agree with most what you say but disagree that he is making "far less" based on what is publically available for all to see the potential earnings he makes from his activism.
I stand by that comment because I was not referring to a freelance, paid-per-word translator. Lloyd could be working full time running or owning his own translation company. He has the capability and personality for it. He is certainly more capable and emotionally stable than some of my managers that earn 6 and 7 figure incomes.
I did not want to make this thread about money, but discussions over financial motives regularly pops up, and they are an ad hominem attack that are not accurate and should not have any relevance to the effectiveness of the work being achieved.