ThomasCovenant

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Posts by ThomasCovenant

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  35

  New exJW Pamphlet to leave with Bible Studies

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  recently someone asked for a pamphlet to leave with a neighbour that started studying with jws.

  i noticed that they was not a lot available, so have put together something.

  please let me know your opinion and any errors.

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  ThomasCovenant

  Thanks again jwfacts.

  Shouldn't it be Witnesses instead of Witness in the main title?
• 
  85

  Introduction

  by dontplaceliterature in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  before i begin my introductory post, i would like to mention that a number of my initial comments here may be viewed by several of you as watchtower apologist or as sympathetic to the views of the jehovahs witnesses.

  the last thing i want to do is incite a flame war regarding my legitimacy or intentions in joining this forum.

  mostly, i would describe myself as on the fence.

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  ThomasCovenant

  Hello again,

  Your comments

  ''I would say the thing that has kept me in the organization and will likely keep me there for sometime (if I become a full-fledged fader), is the immense amount of love these people have for one another.''

  and

  ''Love is the capital identification of Christ's true followers. I've been in The World while in college and was inactive for most of my young adulthood, and I never once found the deeply fulling relationships that exist for me within the organization.''

  I find interesting. I too was brought up in the religion but I doubted it from the minute I reached my early teens and very quickly came to the conclusion that it wasn't what it said it was.

  Why then did I stay in till I was in my mid 40's? Because as you said ' It's all I've every known from a spiritual standpoint and It's mostly what I'm familiar with from a social standpoint.''

  However, I had to eventually come to the realization that that wasn't a good enough reason to be associated with a religion that I believed was morally, physically and intellectually wrong.

  While I was waiting in the hospital to find out whether my wife was going to survive [she did] her emergency operation due to heavy blood loss I wondered how the hell I was going to justify to my (and my wife's) children that their mother had died because of a doctrine of a religious organization that neither of us believed in but carried on with because 'It's all I've every known from a spiritual standpoint and It's mostly what I'm familiar with from a social standpoint.'

  Hardly a justification when the shit hits the fan.

  I stayed with the Witnesses for 30 years because it was all I knew and I enjoyed the fellowship. Whether it was love or camaraderie I don't know. I've come to realize that that feeling of fellowship is not unique to Jehovah's Witnesses.

  Do you believe that ONLY Jehovah's Witnesses are able to experience that loving fellowship?

  Do you believe that that feeling is impossible to be replicated in any other social group of people who share the same upbringing and viewpoints?

  Do you believe that Muslim mosques do not have the same feeling?

  ##Disclaimer

  I hope I'm not coming across to you as too aggressive. I really do think your posting is one of the best I've read

  ##Disclaimer
• 
  85

  Introduction

  by dontplaceliterature in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  before i begin my introductory post, i would like to mention that a number of my initial comments here may be viewed by several of you as watchtower apologist or as sympathetic to the views of the jehovahs witnesses.

  the last thing i want to do is incite a flame war regarding my legitimacy or intentions in joining this forum.

  mostly, i would describe myself as on the fence.

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  ThomasCovenant

  Hello and welcome,

  That is one of the more interesting introductions I have read on this site in a while. Hope you stick around and continue. Certainly gives some food for thought on the effects the site has on newcomers and those just looking. Thank you.

  My own view?

  If someone can read the

  whole of 'Crisis of Conscience',

  the whole of www.jwfacts.com,

  the whole of www.quotes-watchtower.co.uk,

  the whole of the wikipedia article on JW's

  maybe have a loved one die from the blood or organ transplant (former) doctrine,

  and still be linked in any sort of positive way with the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

  I tip my hat to them (as long as they are not a woman).
• 
  35

  New exJW Pamphlet to leave with Bible Studies

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  recently someone asked for a pamphlet to leave with a neighbour that started studying with jws.

  i noticed that they was not a lot available, so have put together something.

  please let me know your opinion and any errors.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  ThomasCovenant

  A4 in UK
• 
  35

  New exJW Pamphlet to leave with Bible Studies

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  recently someone asked for a pamphlet to leave with a neighbour that started studying with jws.

  i noticed that they was not a lot available, so have put together something.

  please let me know your opinion and any errors.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  ThomasCovenant

  I prefer one link to 'jwfacts'. I'm not that keen on 'freeminds'.
• 
  35

  New exJW Pamphlet to leave with Bible Studies

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  recently someone asked for a pamphlet to leave with a neighbour that started studying with jws.

  i noticed that they was not a lot available, so have put together something.

  please let me know your opinion and any errors.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  ThomasCovenant

  Excellent, thank you.

  I prefer the 2 page

  My wife prefers the 4 page
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  86

  Do You Folks Wanna Hear My Story?

  by Farkel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've already written "my story".

  i've been "out" for 35 years.

  but that is not a story that contains the little stuff.

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  ThomasCovenant

  ''given my age and the context of those stories in an other generation''

  Don't you know? We're all one big happy overlapping generation anyway so yes please.
• 
  18

  Can anyone ask to see the congregation or assembly accounts report?

  by ThomasCovenant in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  from memory once a month someone would read out the accounts report from the platform.

  this usually said how much went in, how much went out and what the balance was.

  details were given as to utility bills etc.. at circuit and district assemblies no details were given, apart from the fact that we were always in a deficit by the sunday lunchtime.. has anyone asked or can anyone ask to see the details?

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  ThomasCovenant

  From memory once a month someone would read out the accounts report from the platform. This usually said how much went in, how much went out and what the balance was. Details were given as to utility bills etc.

  At Circuit and District Assemblies no details were given, apart from the fact that we were always in a deficit by the Sunday lunchtime.

  Has anyone asked or can anyone ask to see the details? I believe at a local congregation level this wouldn't be too difficult although it probably wouldn't be viewed kindly.

  However, if you asked at the end of an assembly I doubt if the answer would be positive.

  If you are a member of a local congregation then maybe you are entitled to have access but what about being a member of an assembly who contributes to that assembly? Are you still entitled to see the accounts report for that particular assembly?
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  57

  Attention Lurkers- Consider the effectiveness of your lifesaving work

  by stuckinamovement in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hypothetical scenario.

  you are a city manager in a major metropolitan city with a population of 3,000,000.. .

  if the governing body was truly convinced themselves of the impending disaster and the fact that the end is imminent would they not focus their efforts in spreading the message through effective means such as telephone, television, internet, social networks etc?

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  ThomasCovenant

  Thank you very much stuckinamovement.

  That was excellent.

  When it is put like that there is no way not to see the futility of it all. It seems to me that any Witness that couldn't see it would be a very proud person. Cognitive dissonance gives them some leeway in their denial but I think that pride is what would stop them admitting that it's all shite.

  Following on with the analogy, the City Manager would at best be charged with incompetence and lose his job. At worst he would probably be lynched.

  What, though, about the 3,000 employees?

  They would have also known nearly all the facts of the terrorist attack. Would any of them use their heads and try and spread the warning via other more practical methods? Because of their prior knowledge they took their own precautions to make sure they didn't suffer from the contaminated water. Because they didn't want to lose their jobs they carried out the bosses orders on how to warn others.

  How would you feel about the 3,000 employees?
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  23

  What Are Some Stupid Things JW's Ban

  by Pig in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i wanted to make a dramatic video to remind jw's to be faithful in what is least.. i need as many things as possible, each will only get a few seconds each but it will speed up until the things arent visable to the naked eye and it will end with a spining grinning satan head.

  huh, i know it's nuts but trust me it wil work.. these are the types of things i'm looking for.

  april fools day.

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  ThomasCovenant

  I should have said that it wasn't my compilation. Typed in ''things jehovahs witnesses cannot do'' into the great Google.