i mean e cigs and vaping.
not even tobacco inhaling but inhaling other stuff like herbs etc.
is this allowed?
The correlation to spiritism blows me away. I was not taught this growing up, but discovered it later. I was taught, like most other JWs, that smoking was banned because we should be physically clean.
I like how some very addictive rx drugs are ok because a doctor signed off on it. Or how the drug alcohol is ok, because Jesus drank it. If only there was an account of him smoking weed.
i'm just wondering if the book is available to be listened to in any format?
i know that it can be found online and read freely, and i've been through some of it, but i just wondered if it was available in any other way.
i guess it would be lacking some of the copies of articles and such that were in the original book, but it would still be interesting.
it seems to me that the religion is nearly dead.
or dying.
very little pulse exists for the organization.
All the "growth" is in the foreign language congregations. The zealous JWs moved to those congregations a long time ago. It's not uncommon for 50% or more of a foreign language congregation to be pioneers. My guess is that when the zealous ones left to "expand their ministry" the result was that the English congregations were left with those who are in mainly because of family or because it's what they are used to.
It is a tired religion. I'm tired of hearing the end is soon. I'm tired of being beaten with guilt. I'm tired of having to re-learn "The Truth" every decade. I'm tired of the double standards for elders vs the rest of the congregation. I'm tired of hearing from pioneers and other full time servants how Jehovah provides for them while they take handouts and gifts from those who work in the real world and give in order to assuage some of the guilt for not being a full time servant themselves.
I could go on, but you get my drift. :)
a situation regarding this religion has developed which i fear might have negative implications on me and wifes lives, and i'm looking for thoughts and advice in how to approach the situation.
i'll start with some background information to enlighten the situation.. i'm a male in mid-twenties, raised secularly, married to an ex-jw woman (on paper still a jw though), who's been raised in the jw religion, although somewhat untheocratically shall i say.
for instance her mother has 5 children with 3 different men, all non-jws, and has had many other relationships as well.
If she's not against it, now is the time to get her to view "apostate" material: jwfacts, Cedar's YouTube channel, etc. If she won't do that, then definitely start discussions about all things JW that don't make sense: 1914, 1925, 1975, child abuse scandals, UN scandal, etc. JWFacts has a great page on using the Socratic method to help someone wake up from the cult: JWFacts - Helping Someone Leave.
hey everybody, been here lurking for years now... i tired of all the gb 2.0 shit and need to fade successfullydo we have a guide, i am very tempted to go out with a bang, but i want my wife with me, she aint a strong witness and would happily trust me ... i love her a lot.
status as of now,,, read coc isocf, been through jw facts and am convinced this religion is bs, also a ms now :( damn.
You can't blame them. They are desperate for servants. I've never been an MS. I tried for quite a while, but my time was never enough or my meeting attendance was never enough. They've recently stepped up efforts to encourage me to do more. Oh if they only knew...
Wish I had advice for your situation. Maybe if they take away your responsibilities and you're a MS in name only for a while you can revisit the stepping down again later. If you end up moving, it would be a moot point.
i almost had a freaking heart attack.
i even threw my coffee cup at the wall and starting yelling like crazy when i got the the 5th number correct.
i was checking my texas lottery ticket for this past saturday.
so something i never knew was the fact jw's were taught that jesus is only the mediator for the anointed class and not for everyone.
i only found this out after reading "crisis of conscience" and i was actually pretty shocked to learn so.
if that is the case, when they pray why even bother saying the words "in the name of jesus christ we ask"?
I love how they say Jesus is not the mediator of the "Great Crowd" but don't actually use those terms. Now that I'm awake and thinking again, I can see their innuendos that I missed just a few months ago.
The same article that pixel quoted above states the following about those that are not part of the 144,000:
14. Why should all Christians, whatever their hope, truly appreciate Jesus’ role as Mediator?
14 What about those who are not in the new covenant, those who hope to live forever on earth, not in heaven? While not participants in the new covenant, these are beneficiaries of it. They receive forgiveness of their sins and are declared righteous as God’s friends. (Jas. 2:23; 1 John 2:1, 2) Whether we have a heavenly hope or an earthly hope, each one of us has good reason to appreciate Jesus’ role as the Mediator of the new covenant.
So they don't directly state that Jesus is not the mediator for the "Great Crowd", but state that they do not participate in the covenant that Jesus is mediating. It's easy for someone who is not reasoning or just looking for an answer in the paragraph to miss the connection.
so something i never knew was the fact jw's were taught that jesus is only the mediator for the anointed class and not for everyone.
i only found this out after reading "crisis of conscience" and i was actually pretty shocked to learn so.
if that is the case, when they pray why even bother saying the words "in the name of jesus christ we ask"?
Same here. Didn't realize this was a teaching until reading CoC. It was really a shock. I knew that they taught that we were "taking hold of the skirt" of the anointed, but I didn't realize that they meant that Jesus was not our mediator.
at some point in the future, it has to finally dawn on people that something is seriously flawed about the idea of jesus coming in the clouds to save everyone who believes- and kill everyone who doesnt..
will people still believe in jesus in another 1000 years?
will people still be saying in the year 5015;.
i was appointed as an elder when i turned 30, 25 years ago.
which was the norm back then.. now, i very rarely here of a young man becoming an elder.
in our town we have 2 english congregations.
Who would want to be appointed today? The hours are terrible. I know of one elder who has to read all of the talk outlines for the upcoming RC, then watch all of the talks before they are given so he knows where the cues are to show videos, setup the stage, cue demos, etc. So he will basically see the RC 3 times. Who has time for that and to provide for their family?
I saw it before I learned TTATT. I still wanted to be an MS and then an elder, but never thought I could handle the extra workload. My elders said to rely on Jehovah. Tried that and ended up with severe anxiety after I put everything on hold to care for an assignment that the elders gave me. Didn't feel Jehovah's assistance and eventually led to me learning TTATT.
