Posts by tim3l0rd

29

Why do most Christians churches have masonic and/or pagan symbols?

by kabwell in

has anyone looked at the local churches in their area and seen pagan and freemason symbols both inside and outside.

i am not a jw but at least they don't seem to follow this trend.

why do "christians" wear a symbol of torture and death ?

tim3l0rd

Recently someone posted their reasoning about the cross and I had never looked at it from that viewpoint.

Here's the post. Below is the reasoning that I found interesting and understandable.

We then went into the subject of the Cross. David raised the objection that the biggest issue he had with Christians is that they "Worship the cross"
This is when I chimed in. I said "David, whenever you have faith involved, there are always symbols representing the object of faith. Take for example the Watchtower. You have a "Symbol" of a Watchtower on that magazine, would it be unfair for me to say that you Worship a watchtower simply because of the symbol?"
...."Well...we don't worship a Watchtower!"
.."I agree, I suspect that this Watchtower Symbol is used to represent keeping on the Watch for Gods Kingdom, in the same way the Cross is for Christians. Its symbolic of Christ Death, burial and resurrection, conquering death and giving salvation to all who believe. Notice that Jesus isn't on the cross, he is absent from it. This is symbolic of his victory over death. So its not the cross we worship at all. Its a symbol of our salvation. Now this is not to say some Christians make a talisman out of an object, to this I would agree that it would be wrong to make this symbol into something its not. But its quite another thing to broad brush every Christian who has a cross as somebody who worships it."
..." Well its still an issue because this was a death instrument, would you wear a symbol of a gun if your best friend was murdered by one?"
.." Ok, the only issue is Christians don't see the cross as a torture device primarily, its a symbol of Atonement, the very place where your sins were paid for. So its a symbol of victory and salvation. Its not murder since Jesus voluntarily went to the cross"

19

Elder On Tablet During Prayer

by jw07 in

during a prayer in the kh all our eyes are supposed to be closed, right?

i've never been one to fully my eyes during prayers.

i'll close them down, but just enough that i can still peep around at what's happening without being noticed.. there's something i've noticed a certain elder doing for the second time now.

tim3l0rd

I have the opposite problem. I've been in ASL so long that it feels weird to close my eyes and bow my head during a prayer.

58

Now you don't even have to go to the Kingdom Hall - ALL meetings to be recorded & available on jw.org (if you have a password)

by sir82 in

jw
friends

latest boe letter:.

october 22, 2015. to all bodies of eldersre: use of jw stream.

dear brothers:we are writing to inform you that arrangements are being made for video recordings ofcongregation meetings, circuit assemblies, and conventions to be uploaded to jw stream (accessibleat http://stream.jw.org) in various languages.

tim3l0rd

Oubliette-

Are you saying they've jumped the shark?

-TL

44

Are Jehovah's Witnesses marriages even legit?

by Joliette in

jw
friends

i ask this because of the circumstances behind why they get married and who they get married by.

i know people say that they are really in love, they love jehovah, etc, but are these marriages even legit.

i've talked to older jw's sister who are now widowed, some of them say that they were trapped in a marriages.

tim3l0rd

sex is actually very overrated, well for women it is.

Either my wife is really good at faking it and faking desire or that's not the case for all women. :)

my dad told me recently the only thing holding his marriage together was Jehovah.

Unfortunately, I think that's the case for many JW marriages. I know my parents were in that situation for many years while I was growing up. I'm not saying they should have divorced or I would have been better off if they had, but I saw some stuff that I wish I hadn't also. I will say it impressed on me my mom's patience and forgiveness.

I think too many non-JW marriages end too soon because people don't understand what marriage entails and are too self-centered, but I also thing too many JW marriages don't end soon enough.

121

No more printing of WT and Awake in my country.. Shit just got real

by cognitivedizzy in

jw
friends

guys .

a letter was just read in out kh stating that all printing of wt and awake is ceased for the coming year and we will just place tracts on fs, countries which were cared by our branch will be cared by other countries...along with this they read the new fs form and stuff about reporting links of videos wtf..lol.

i can't tell which country perhaps that will give away a lot, any one with a similar information.

tim3l0rd

Can anyone else verify this?

18

2 John 10

by What Now? in

just looking for some rebuttals to 2 john 10, specifically when it comes to shunning family.

we essentially admitted to our families that we do not want to raise our kids as witnesses and do not believe what jehovah's witnesses teach.

predictably, they use 2 john 10 to justify shunning us, specifically the portion of the verse where it says "if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your homes or say a greeting to him".. since we are apostates (according to the jw definition), and no longer "bring this teaching", would our family be correct in interpreting this verse to mean that they should shun us?.

tim3l0rd

Look back at vs 9: (from the rNWT)

Everyone who pushes ahead and does not remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God. The one who does remain in this teaching is the one who has both the Father and the Son.

Who is guilty of pushing ahead? How many times have JWs pushed ahead of the teaching of the Christ? When they taught that the end might come in 1975 did they "push ahead"? When they taught that those who saw the events of 1914 would not pass away before Armageddon came did they "push ahead"? What did Jesus say at Matt 24:36, 42-44 about the end?

44

Are Jehovah's Witnesses marriages even legit?

by Joliette in

jw
friends

i ask this because of the circumstances behind why they get married and who they get married by.

i know people say that they are really in love, they love jehovah, etc, but are these marriages even legit.

i've talked to older jw's sister who are now widowed, some of them say that they were trapped in a marriages.

tim3l0rd

They are legal marriages, at least in the US. It does suck to be "stuck" in a marriage though.

8

Promoting Hate & Shunning of their own people, how does Watchtower do it?

by clarity in

short clip from pbs presentation the brain.. fascinating studies of the brain & its function.

watch as people become mind controlled to hate & kill their own people ....people they loved.

propaganda from watchtower literature, convention battering accomplishes the same thing as seen on this clip.

tim3l0rd

I posted this video to Facebook. Not a single JW liked it.

19

Book Review: The Hunt for Vulcan: . . . And How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet, Discovered Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe

by Viviane in

i recently read this book and found it to be excellent.

it's the story of how we never stop knowing, how science works (even when it doesn't), how gracefully math can describe the world we live in and more.

the story begins with how sir isaac newton, author of pricipia mathematica and holder of the lucasian chair at cambridge, developed math to describe the gravity and the motion of the planets with no need god holding them in place.

tim3l0rd

Thanks for the suggestion. I need to read more science. I would have been a math major had I actually gone to college. Maybe I still will at some point.

183

JWs have more good points than bad

by lsw1961 in

1) many who were on the destructive path have been transformed by their teachings (this includes me who was once vicious, and presumptuous and atheistic).

2) equal monthly pay to all members of the bethel community regardless of whether they are bc members or sweepers.

this is something that still remains as an unattainable dream for the world.

tim3l0rd

ISW1961-

I think you are one of the more level-headed JWs. I include my parents (to some degree) in that group. I am still a JW, but am wrestling with how to continue. I have seen many atrocities over the years. I have seen many many changes in doctrine. What I can't get past is two things. How can I stay when the current doctrines make no sense and I'm not allowed to express any disagreement with those doctrines? It isn't mentally healthy. Secondly, how can I teach to others doctrines that I don't agree with and are probably false? As an example the generation doctrine that I brought to my RVs and studies from the 80s to 95 and from 95 - 08 were false doctrines by our current understanding.

Interestingly, I mentioned the above, but stated it differently, in my first post to you and you ignored it. Instead you replied to my rebuttal of your analogy of us being like an ex-husband.

My analogy:

You ask why many of us don't just go away. Part of it has to do with how we are treated as ex-JWs. The organization doesn't leave us alone. We are cast as "mentally diseased" and our friends and family are told not to associate with us. Many of us don't even want to discuss religion with our families. We'd just like to have a normal family relationship. Unfortunately, the WT org makes that impossible as there is no way to leave the org and not lose family and/or friends. So comparing us attacking the org to an ex-husband monitoring and attacking his wife is only a proper analogy if the wife was unfairly keeping the kids from her ex-husband and lying to them and to the authorities to keep the kids away. In that case it would be proper for the ex-husband to monitor his wife and use whatever legal means necessary to get his kids back. That is how we feel and why we continue to "attack" the org.

Your response:

You have a point that can strengthen my analogy. When children are choosing to stay with mother and consider the dad as one who has gone astray, dad is wasting time monitoring his ex-wife.

The question comes down to why are the children choosing to stay with the mother? You say that they consider the dad as one who has gone astray, but why? Did the dad really go astray? I haven't gone astray. I haven't done one immoral thing by bible standards, yet if I let on to my family or friends that I disagree with a teaching I am now to be shunned. Understand that in your example it's the mother (the org) that is telling the children (all JWs) that dad (us) has gone astray. The children are not allowed to make up their own mind. They are told that if they listen to us then they will become like us, so they don't hear our side. Not only that but even if we don't care to pull them away from their mother (the org) she's telling them that they cannot even speak to us. It is mother who is enforcing the shunning by telling the children that it's the right, loving, and faithful (to god, but really to the org) thing to do.