Posts by careful

30

NBA Player Retires to Serve as Jehovah's Witness

by 720Reddog in

jw
friends

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27078092/collison-retires-nba-31-focus-faith .

careful

As DNCall and sparky1 said, Dave Meyers became a Witness. Note that he was preceded by Elmore Smith. That makes at least 3 ex-NBA players who converted. In 1985 Meyers' story appeared in the Awake! magazine:

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101985368

Meyers' death in 2015:

https://exnba.com/articles-news/ex-nba-star-who-shocked-world-in-1980-dead/

Update on Elmore Smith (2017):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJRaZ7GcTUc

It's interesting that, at least in this short YouTube blurb, he never mentions being a Witness. Perhaps he just didn't bring it up, or did and that didn't make it into the video. He still lives in Cleveland since his speech has Cavalier logos in the background. More on his life in wiki, but no mention of JWs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmore_Smith

And he runs a Bar-B-Q sauce business and restaurant in Cleveland:

https://www.elmoresmithbbqsauce.com/

https://restaurantguru.com/Elmore-Smiths-Smokehouse-Cleveland

Does anyone know if he is still a Witness?

There was also the case of NFL player Jason Worilds, a defensive outside linebacker with the Pittsburgh Steelers who packed it up in 2015 in order to devote more time to JWs, giving up at least $15 million.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/181700002/nfl-player-quits-career-become-idiot

20

The Hell of the POMI!

by The Bethelite in

jw
friends

i called a jehovah's witness friend of mine a couple weeks ago, yes i still consider him a friend though he would not say the same of me.

i've known him for almost 40 years.

our families went on many vacations together including my only trip back to bethel in 1996. this trip was made with 40 other "brothers and sisters.

careful

If I remember correctly, prominent Witness Hayden Covington was DFed for drunkenness. I think he came back and died in, though disgraced.

28

16.000 JWs rebel against Bethel and GB

by Edison Trent in

jw
friends

some hot news:.

last weekend was a convention in frankfurt, germany and 11 other locations.

all were connected to the international convention in berlin.. in sum about 94.000 attended.

careful

If we have been coming to this forum regularly, we've seen various Witnesses making these grass-roots music vids on their own outside of the convention program proper. It was just a matter of time until this enthusiasm spilled over into the official program. The inept eight at Warwick will clamp down, but probably at least somewhat gently. In a way, they are partially responsible for this, by their letting the informal stuff take root and grow, and by their lowering the quality of the official music as they have—thank David Splane!

"Must have been the best convention ever...." tiki, love it!

31

Satan Hurled Out in 1914 - Will They Say It Was Never Taught?

by Anna Marina in

wbts rewrites/carefully edits their own history.

since 2005, i have been through a lot with with wbts.

recently i came across a suggestions that they will start denying that they ever said satan was hurled out of heaven in 1914.. in my experience, it is one doctrine many ordinary members are clear about - you ask them what supposedly took place in 1914 and they'll say, "satan was hurled out of heaven, therefore world war i started.".

careful

The "about" thing is an interesting find. The publications so rarely discuss doctrine any more. I get the impression that the rest of the GB let Splane go on with his conjectures and ravings privately, but they seem reluctant to okay his ideas in print. Whatever the case there, doctrine just isn't important any more. It's all about electronic glitz and presentation, not content. The assemblies/conventions/meetings focus on videos and the dramas, not teachings and the interpretation of the Bible. It's all part of that new look that is so foreign to many at this forum.

13

"Its not about the numbers...Its about Love"

by Solzhenitsyn in

in the org did anyone ever tell you that its not about the numbers...yet the reality was that it was all about the numbers?.

i ran into a pimi who asked why my family and i were awol.

i told him that it was private and personal and i wasn't at liberty to discuss it.

careful

SBF,

Yes, but the real issue is motive here. The numbers have all been down for years now. If they were like they used to be, overall increasing, do you think they'd be playing them down or stressing them?

Of course, they would be highlighting them. So then, it's not because of any good motive—like imitating the first Christians—that they've cut back on the stats. They have to or it will cause them embarrassment and a multitude of problems. You can be sure that behind closed doors with the CO, it is just like Solzhenitsyn put it.

32

30 years after leaving utterly unrecognisable

by Number 6 in

this is the first time i have posted on here in many years..... i seldom visit now although this forum was instrumental to me in gaining my sanity in the early 2000's and recovering from the watchtower religion.. by chance tonight i was on youtube and caught a jw.org video which out of curiosity prompted me to look at the official website and amongst other things i looked up the music section.. why that i hear you ask?

music is my passion and nothing reminds me more or evokes more memories than the kingdom songs i grew up listening to.. i am 49 years old and my mother was baptised in 1974. i grew up in the era of pink songbooks and green bibles.

of the theology of fred franz and types and anti-types.

careful

What a marvelous thread. Loved the OP's words "Presentation and media dominate. Teachings take second place to appearance."

Also liked BluesBrother's and others' comments about how the old ones feel so out-of-place and just want the current JW world to end.

20

Jehovah's Witnesses as medical records employees, and Medical Privacy laws.

by Balaamsass2 in

this subject has been brought up before.

the governing body and watchtower have repeatedly encouraged jws to show loyalty to the organization to "keep the congregation clean" by reporting wrongdoing to the elders.. i know directly of two cases.

two jws working in the records department of our local hospital "outed" 3rd gens 1st husband to the local elders when he and his mistress sought medical treatment together for stds.

careful

This is an interesting topic. It makes me wonder if medical employers will soon begin asking specific questions during interviews with prospective hires like, "Are the are any reasons you might feel the need to break patient confidentiality?" and/or make all employees sign statements that would make them personally liable for damage done for such breaches. It might also make lawmakers stiffen the penalties for violating such laws, say, from making them civil to criminal.

10

Observation on the external appearance of Kingdom Halls (or are they JW.ORG facilities?)

by sd-7 in

i happened to be picking up the family from the kingdom hall today, and it struck me how the outside appearance has changed a little.

i know it's not new, but perhaps being away from it all for so long made a difference.. of course i noticed the blue jw.org box on the side labeled "kingdom hall of jehovah's witnesses", but it was two things that stood out to me.

the first thing was the meeting times.

careful

Why "Midweek Meeting" and "Weekend Meeting"? This way they can change the meeting names, like they did from TMS and SM to CLAM and so on with some regularity and they won't have to change the sign outside.

Changing meeting names can be a big deal in Witnessland. It makes the R&F feel like they're aboard Jah's chariot, that "new light" is beaming down, etc. So a switch in meeting names is easier now with such generic titles available to passers-by, you know, the poor uninitiated.

40

Question- do JWs use the term overlapping generations

by Xanthippe in

... or is that one of our memes?

thanks..

careful

From the WT article pictured above. "A generation is not overly long." What does that mean?

62

Subliminal Messaging

by truthlover123 in

for over 20 years subliminal pictures showed up in most books, wt, and awakes- eighties, nineties and into 2000's.... demons, gods, you name it-- .

question: is anyone seeing anything like this in todays publications?

.

careful

If you're interested, a chap named Darek Barefoot (real spelling of his first name) documented a lot of this back in the late 1980s. He, along with his entire family, was DFed for bringing it to the attention of the brothers/org. He later wrote a book about it all. This has been discussed here:

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/267758/hour-darkness-derek-barefoot

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/176541/author-book-j-w-hour-darkness-darek-barefoot-speaks-up-on-conference-call-concerning-subliminal-images-watchtower-lit