Posts by wizzstick

47

Have The Witnesses Changed All That Much In The Last Few Years?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when i was in it, especially as a young person, it was rules oriented but not like it is now.

to me, the religion is a lot more fanatical than ever before....what do you think?

is it the same religion even as it was 20 years ago?.

wizzstick

Last Sundays WT perfectly sums up the JW's today.

It's not about 'deep' scriptural discussion.

It's no longer about prophetic understanding around kings of the north and south, or wheels within wheels, or revelations to John.

It's about obedience to the organisation. Sundays WT made the structure clear and the message was go to meetings, go on the ministry, confess your sins to elders and get their help. Was their any mention of apologising to God through Jesus for your sins? No. Bit by bit Jesus is being removed:

It is good for us to consider the work that is involved in making sure that we receive this regular flow of healthy spiritual provisions. The Writing Committee of the Governing Body oversees the process of researching, writing, proofreading, illustrating, and translating our printed publications as well as material posted on our Web site.

Really? As Jesus was king I would have thought that he oversaw such matters...

GB 2.0 are replacing Jesus more and more.

26

Tell us your strangest, weirdest, funniest encounters going D2D

by BluePill2 in

jw
friends

if you where a brave little witness soldier, or even a pioneer (gasp), you must have seen a lot of strange shit.

the probability of encountering "interesting" people or getting yourself into weird situations is pretty high.. i'll start.

i have to get them together, but today i remembered this ones:.

wizzstick

BluePill2 - you've got a PM.

Not sure if I've had any weird experiences. One I remember was working with a stand in CO who was black and we were in a white neighborhood of a town which (at that time) had almost no people of colour in. The stares he got were clearly very unsettling for him.

I did have a great call who was always suggesting having a drink. I took him up on an offer of russian vodka and had a very giggly few hours. Ended up in a shop buying hi-fi speakers I didn't need! Still, all time on the sheet...

8

How Do you Solve A Problem Like Maria (or more importantly 1914)

by wizzstick in

so how will they solve it?.

having researched the whole 607bce thing, it's clear that it's utter nonsense.

for example, the house of egibi transaction records closes the door on any questions about the reign of kings of this time.

wizzstick

So how will they solve it?

Having researched the whole 607BCE thing, it's clear that it's utter nonsense. For example, the House of Egibi transaction records closes the door on any questions about the reign of kings of this time. At some point, given the information age that we live in, the WTS will have to capitulate. But how can they do it and keep the Org together?

Here's my theory (dear WT Writing Commitee helpers - please feel free to use cos I reckon it's a good 'un):

They drop 607 BCE and agree it was 586 BCE. The '70 years' then becomes like Tyre's 70 years and refers to 'the period of Babylonia’s greatest domination' http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/pc/r1/lp-e/1200275991/23/0.

The return is shifted to 538 BCE rather than 537 BCE, solving any controversies with what most historians think.

So that means the 2,520 years guff (prophecy I mean), then runs to Oct 1913 CE.

What - no good? Oh yes it is, for two brilliant reasons.

Great Reason #1. As JW Facts and others highlight, WW1 was already chugging along nicely by Oct 1914, therefore Team Satan were a tad late for the party. By shifting to Oct 1913 CE, you then can neatly tie it in with the end of the Balkan Wars (last treaty was signed on 29 September 1913 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Constantinople_%281913%29 ) which many historians site as the forerunner of WW1. Thus Team Satan role up in Oct 1913 and starting brewing up problems on Earth.

Great Reason #2...if the WTS is thinking that the witnessing work ties in with Noah's 120 years preaching the that would be 1913 CE-2033 CE. So the 1,000 years reign of peace would neatly tie in to the 2,000th anniversary of the death of Christ.

Good huh?

Move over Franz, there's a new kid in town...

33

My street crawling with JWs

by punkofnice in

i went to post a packet today.

as i left my house i noticed a couple of jws boring a house holder to death.. as i returned from the post office i saw the area regailed with jws, many of whom i know.

they didn't see me as they were busy trying to foist leaflets onto people.

wizzstick

Interesting comment there:

Saturday was hell because after Dr Who had finished Dad would make us all sit as a family and study (TM) the watchtower for a the boring Sunday that followed.

My mother was one of the JW TV obsessives and banned me from watching Dr Who (horrific and nasty), Scooby Doo (demonic), Rentaghost (demonic), Grange Hill (far too worldy), 6 Million Dollar Man (too violent), Batman (too violent - even my brother and sister took her for task on that pointing out that the Wams and Bams covered up the screen). My kiddie TV was all Blue Peter and 'nice' programmes.

So it was great fun in the school playground having f*** all to talk about.

Needless to say, my kids watch Dr Who.

48

Pronouncing things differently so they don't sound rude. Typical CULT persona. Political correctness?

by punkofnice in

i noticed over the years how bros & sis(tm) would pronounce words/names differently or totally substitute them so as not to sound offensive.. egs:.

instead of 'bible aids' a bro(tm) said 'bible helps' thus avoiding aids disease!?!.

instead of sodom the bro(tm) pronounced it 'sow dom'.

wizzstick

Wasn't there a purple headed mountain in a scripture or a song?

Or did I dream that?!

5

Have JWs changed on taking Blood?

by dogon in

i left the cult in 97, and used to keep up on the bs.

i have since stopped watching the crazy crap they do.

but i ran across an article in canada that said they changed their stance on blood?

wizzstick

This article should help explain where they are (essentially no to whole blood, no to the primary four components, yes to fractions of the main components):

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/blood-transfusions.php

17

Elder writes a weekly newspaper article

by man in black in

hello, lately in our local newspaper i've noticed a weekly column that is written by a current elder.

when i left 6 years ago he was the po.

and for some added background info , if he saw someone who was df'ed or "spiritually weak" he would go out of his way, and do his best to avoid them.

wizzstick

USE.

PARAGRAPHS!

:)

22

Me. 2 weeks on.

by wizzstick in

jw
friends

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wizzstick

Thanks all.

I am being careful. Only two big conversations. With very liberal friends who know that I know where their skeletons in the closet are! I've not even said anything to my wife. Just that I'm researching.

I am reading CoC. Truly a book written in sadness rather than in anger.

22

Me. 2 weeks on.

by wizzstick in

jw
friends

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wizzstick

It's now two weeks since I started posting on this board. So how is my journey going?

Between this board, JW Facts, the WT Online Library, the WT CD-Rom, the Kingdom Interlinear, Strong’s Concordance and Wikipedia, I've been researching furiously. Literally furiously, to be honest. 25 years ago I was preparing for baptism. Simply accepting what a good family friend was telling me.

But now I'm looking for the first time in depth. Really studying and what do I find?

That as a prospective (they never highlight that point) member of the Great Crowd I'm off to heaven after the Big A. WHAT THE HELL? How come they never clarified that little point? The explanations on Naos are a sham, and the 1980 WT article was nothing short of a deception.
That Jesus is not my mediator?! WHAT? WHAAAT? Arguably the stupidest idea going. How do I avail myself of his mediatorship? Oh he's my High Priest only is he? And where is that in the Bible?
Then science...realising that radiocarbon dating now proves that men existed before Adam. That Neanderthals were people. That there is no evidence whatsoever for the flood...

*sigh*

So that sound you can hear is my faith smashing all over the place.

My dear wife and friends are of course still committed JW's. I've had a few conversations...a couple of penny dropping moments before they fell back on tried and tested "Satan deceives" conversation stoppers. But I'm already prepping for next time. If Satan wasn't created Satan, and only became Satan over what he did in Eden, then how could he have influenced things pre 4000BCE? Why would he have influenced such things? Afterall he wasn't Satan at that point! What things? Things like the carbon 14 levels 50,000 years ago. Man made settlements. Neanderthals.

This process is like having a close friend or family member die. It's painful, bewildering and has acute sense of loss. But I will carry on. And, I'll keep gently plugging away to bring others away too.

26

Do JW's even read the Watchtower?

by zound in

jw
friends

i know i rarely if ever read the magazines that i used to promote and place with householders (besides the watchtower study).

hypocritical no?.

wizzstick

I can even tell you when I gave up reading the mags.

A few months after coming out of Bethel and I read this:

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102000486?q=cows&p=par

I was in bed reading it and I actually said out loud "What the f8ck!". Such an obvious piece of space filler. A complete and udder waste of time.

It won’t be long, however, before it is time for another vacation in the mountains! What a life!

I then got a life and never bothered to read them regularly again.