Posts by City Fan

5

Jehovah will take care of it

by Dawn in

jw
friends

i called my mother last night (an active jw) right after the dateline segment and said "well, what'd ya think?".

we talked a little bit, then i said "well, i noticed quite a few times it was said 'jehovah will take care of things' or 'we need to wait on jehovah'.

she replied that was correct - jehovah would take care of things.. so i responded "mom - i think he just did!".

City Fan

Dawn, you're doing a great job.

You've got the right attitude. When someone has been a JW for that long they will maybe only respond to very gentle reasoning.

My mum's been a Witness for about 40 years. When I first left we had some massive arguments but over the years I've learnt to bite my tongue, not get angry when the "truth" is mentioned and will even ask about how certain brothers are doing.
One thing I do is ask what their current thinking is on certain subjects. If this has changed since I left I might remark on it. I hope this helps my mum to see how much doctrine actually has changed in a relatively short time period.

And maybe its working -

I got a shock this week. My young niece (non-JW) had asked my mum for a bible stories book. Instead of a Society book she's gone and bought her a normal Bible Stories book from a shop. She then said to me that the Society's children's books were very inferior in quality to the one she has just bought!

It's only a start but I do feel she is much less judgemental than she used to be.

12

NATO/Russia pact-WTS prophecies fail again........

by ISP in

jw
friends

the wts made many prophetic statements regarding russia and nato/us/uk.

the wts has realized that since the disbanding of the warsaw pact that the prophecies had to be incorrect.

it must now be the ultimate irony that russia has entered a partnership with nato with the prospect of closer ties in the future.

City Fan

I just mentioned this on another thread - I think it is very, very sad.
I asked a relative who the WT now thought the King of the North was.
After a week of research he came back and said that they didn't know who he was at the moment.

Why can't the average JW see that what the WT says is just guess work.
How can they put their lives on the line over a blood doctrine that could be changed at any time ?

20

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF JW BABES...........

by deddaisy in

jw
friends

this is addressed to the jw lurkers.....according to my brother, who is a devout jw, no "good" witness would be found on this site....but since he's a jw, we'll assume he's naive....... dear jehovah's witness:.

my family, whom i love, is comprised of jehovah's witnesses.

i was never baptised, as anything, but attended meetings for years, until i turned eighteen.

City Fan

And it's not just children - I worked with an elder once who, when told politely by the guy at the door that he was not interested, replied:
"Well, it's your funeral mate!"

That elder never did get any bible studies!

You're right dedaisy. Their tactics are no different from used car salesmen. They can call it Theocratic Warfare not to give straight answers - I call it lying.

One thing that finally put me off the whole religion was a book that was released (can't remember its name) which was designed to "sell" the religion. It had numerous answers to various objections e.g.
Householder: "oh I'm not interested"
JW: "Could I just ask - is it the bible or Jehovah's Witnesses that you're not interested in?"

The book was full of sales techniques that could easily be applied to selling insurance or double glazing.
"Would you like to use my pen or yours"
JW equivalent:
"Would you like to use my bible or yours?"

Something that was the truth would never need to be "sold" like insurance.

7

Deus Ex Machina

by metatron in

jw
friends

much as i would like to see an unbroken string of.

watchtower defeats, unfortunately they may find encouragement.

in a possible coming event - nuclear war between pakistan.

City Fan

I like your posts Metatron !

PM Tony Blair has hailed closer security ties between Nato and Russia - and says a new pact is a "great sign of optimism".

If Russia joins Nato will that mean the King of the North has packed his bags and moved South ?

I recently asked a relative who the WT thought the King of the North was now after the breakup of the Soviet Union. He came back a week later (obviously after scouring the WT literature for an answer) and said: "We actually don't know who he is at the moment"

Who will the WT scholars crown as the new King ? I think they must put names in a hat and draw one out. China ? Muslim nations ?
Your guess is as good as mine (and theirs)

But all the world news could be just the diversion the WT needs. New security pact between Nato and Russia. Then Pakistan and India go to war. The US get Putin's approval and invade Iraq....

There's no good news like bad news for the Watchtower.

31

Could I Make It As A Professional Gambler?

by gilwarrior in

jw
friends

as i have mentioned before, at the end of august i plan on moving to las vegas.

however, i am wondering if i could acually make a living as a professional gambler.

i recently bought a cd-rom game that has many casino games.

City Fan

My advice - go there and bet with $50 - if you end up with $270 then you've proved it can be done, then gradually increase your stake.
Only gamble with money you can afford to lose.

9

Big Brother - UK Style

by KenUK in

jw
friends

well here we go in the uk - big brother for the next 64 days.... but here i was watching "have i got news for you", the slaughtering of the presenter for being caught with his pants down etc in the wonderful sunday tabloid "news of the world" last weekend, when the 'phone rings.... my ex-wife, (conversation once a year etc etc), on the telephone, saying look at big brother , its spencer... and yes as i turned over... it was spencer... bear with me guys:-).

now i can see spencer knocking on doors and giving talks not many moons ago, prior to and after my d/f... yup, big brother's got (to the best of my knowledge) its first ex jw.... interesting watching (and i enjoy big brother as much as eastenders and corrie...) guess i'll watch now:-).

(spencer, eldest of 3 jw children (surname witheld by me), parents still in the "truth", and regular drinking partners of myself and ex a few years back whilst in the same cong and still only a few miles away..)

City Fan

spider -

I seem to remember Dean last year saying he grew up as a witness. My wife even watches Big Brother when they're all asleep !!

Only 64 days left till I get the remote back !

15

The new "Generation" doctrine

by Dawn in

could someone explain to me how the generation doctrine changed?

i know that originally they thought it applied to the generation of 1914 and i heard that it changed.

i asked my dad to explain it to me but his explanation didn't make any sense to me - something like "a generation can last forever" ???

City Fan

JanH - very well put.

I'm no prophet - but when I left the JWs I told my parents that the generation doctrine would have to change after 1994 because that was 80 years after 1914.

When they changed the doctine a year later I felt vindicated but also saddened. I thought at least a few family and friends would have left after this. I'd wondered how they would get out of it without losing half their membership but when I read the Watchtower 11/1 1995 article I felt sick. They'd got out of it because Witnesses will believe anything they print without question!

The 2 words I used to hate in the Watchtower were "evidently" and "apparently". They are always used when there is no evidence or where nothing is apparent.

On a slightly different topic, I'm sure I was told that the seperating of the Sheep and Goats doctrine was changed about the same time. I'm sure I was told that I could change my mind during the Great Tribulation. Is this right ?

39

Jesus- Ignored, Forgotten& Unemployed at WTS

by metatron in

wouldn't it be fair to say that early christians were.

obsessed with the name and person of jesus?

wish to deny that?.

City Fan

Another great post Metatron !

I once remember inviting a few Christian schoolmates over to my house to prove to them that Jesus was just Michael the Archangel.
I only had a couple of scriptures to prove this including John 1:1 which was different in their bible anyway.
My classmate showed me scripture after scripture that I'd never seen before in JW literature to prove me otherwise.

The Witnesses are far too obsessed with the blood thirsty God of the old testament.

JW's are taught that to be Christian means to go knocking on doors. I now think my schoolmates were right - to be Christian simply means to be followers of Christ.

11

What is this 15 min new minimum about?

by lydia in

jw
friends

this is the first i've heard about this - but i may be behind ( as usuual.

but do i understand that the borg has now lowered the minimum hours of service some more??

what are the requirements now for a full time pioneer??.

City Fan

I thought it was something to do with sex !

12

THESE ARE THE SIGNS OF THE LAST DAYS

by In_between_days in

i was talking to a reletive lately (j.w), and we had quite a discussion about my problems with the w.t - child abuse, u.n and other various scandals.. this person informed me that this proves that we are in the last days, because if people believe that there are things wrong with the organisation they will leave and many will discredit it, showing that jehovah is weeding out the goats.

when i asked "why would jehovah allow his organisation to do things like this"?.

he replied: "it cant be a totally good and perfect organisation, or else people will be flocking to it, what would be the point in having the test for people?".

City Fan

Is it God's purpose to save as few people as possible ??

quote:
"what would be the point in having the test for people?"

The God of the bible has to constantly test and retest his followers to prove their obedience and love to him. If you pass one test then you get another !!