Posts by Super

35

JW couples don't love each other

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

has anyone else ever noticed this in the kh?

married couples don't seem to show any affection to each other.

however, when a couple is dating, they will hold hands.

Super_Becka

Married couples don't seem to show any affection to each other. However, when a couple is dating, they will hold hands. It all stops after the wedding.

Actually it seems to me to be a matter of the right place and time. I doubt you would find a lot of cooing in the pews of any church at their services. Mature people don't have to 'display' in the public forum to be in love, do they?

I'm with AK - Jeff on this one, I think there's a time and a place for showing affection.

Now, I'm not a JW, but if I was in church with my boyfriend, I most certainly not be showing any affection beyond sitting next to him, just because a house of worship doesn't seem like the most appropriate place to show affection. That sort of thing is best kept to more appropriate places, not churches. I just think that it would be disrespectful to do that sort of thing in church - after all, you're supposed to be worshipping God and giving Him your attention, not canoodling with your significant other.

And for me, I'm way too shy to be all lovey-dovey in public, anyway - I don't do anything besides holding hands when I'm out with my boyfriend, and maybe a quick kiss on the cheek. After all, what if someone I know saw us!! I'd die of embarrassment!!

As for JW couples, I can't say anything about what it's like inside a KH, I've never been inside one before, but I can speak for one JW couple that I know. My boyfriend's parents have both been JWs their entire lives and they've been married for nearly 32 years, and they still act like lovey-dovey teenagers together. They tease each other and play with each other and giggle and smile a lot and just look really happy together. They even still shower together every single morning before work. They're definitely very much so in love, it's kinda nice to see a married couple like that.

My boyfriend mentioned once that if I ever went to the KH with him (ooo, just the thought scares me, though I did say that I'd go with him if he asked - luckily, he never goes on his own and I certainly won't be asking to go, that's for sure!!), we wouldn't be able to give any sign of being a couple and he'd have to introduce me as his "friend", not his "girlfriend". I don't think he's ashamed of me, he's already introduced me to his parents and siblings and they all know that I'm not a JW, but they accept me anyway, but I do think that he's concerned about his image in his congregation. After all, a "good JW" doesn't date "unbelievers" and certainly doesn't express any affection for them, especially not in the KH.

Just some observations.

-Becka :)

9

April 1, 2006 WT: You Can Understand The Bible (deliberate lies)

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

on the front cover of the april 15, 2006 wt is a picture of a bible with the title, "you can understand the bible".

now bear in mind, that the wt magazine is considered the more scholarly of the mags that come out, where the awake!

is considered little more than a cut-down version of reader's digest for 12 year olds.. i'm only including the interesting bits.

Super_Becka

Hey, thanks for the post, it just goes to show how hypocritical the WTS really is!!

On one hand, they're telling JWs that the Bible can't be understood completely and that they need to use WTS mags to interpret the Bible.

Then, on the other hand, they're saying that God would never give us a book that we couldn't understand, so if you really want to, you can understand the Bible, no sweat.

I think this part would be their disclaimer, though:

Thus, you can be sure that an understanding of the Bible is well within your reach and that if you ask God sincerely, he will provide the help you need to understand his Word

I think that's their way of covering their a$$es if someone says, "Hey, we can understand the Bible on our own, with the mags!!". With that one line, saying that "God will provide" the help that people need to understand the Bible, the WTS can simply claim that their magazines are that God-given help.

-Becka :)

10

How do they decide which is which??

by Super_Becka in

ok, i know the notion of pagan symbolism has been beaten to death on this board, but i still have a question about the whole concept.. so, the wts bans pagan elements.

we can see that in their arguments against christmas and christmas decorations, and other similar things.

they forbid the use of anything with pagan origins.

Super_Becka

OK, I know the notion of pagan symbolism has been beaten to death on this board, but I still have a question about the whole concept.

So, the WTS bans pagan elements. We can see that in their arguments against Christmas and Christmas decorations, and other similar things. They forbid the use of anything with pagan origins. A little extreme, in my opinion, but fair enough.

But then they turn around and say that some "pagan" things, like wind chimes, pinatas and Hawaiian luaus are OK for "True Christians" to use. They argue that these things, among others, have lost their religious/pagan meanings and are merely customary now.

So, a Christmas tree, which is used only as a decoration at Christmas and has no "pagan" connotations in the modern world, is evil, along with Christmas itself, but a wind chime, which was created with the sole purpose of "scaring away demons" by pagans centuries ago, is A-OK.

How the hell does that work??

How does the WTS decide which things are "pagan and evil" and which things are "safe" for its members to use/partake in?? Is there a set of criteria or is it all based on the whims of the old fogies in Brooklyn?? Like, does a member of the GB say, "Hey, my wife really likes wind chimes, she thinks they're pretty, so let's not ban them anymore so she can put one up at our house", or "You know, smashing a pinata is sort of fun, I enjoy it, let's not ban it anymore so I can smash them and not have to hide it from other JWs"??

Things like Christmas trees and mistletoe are considered heathen pagan elements of a pagan holiday, but things like pinatas and Hawaiian luaus, which have very strong religious connotations in their respective cultures, are no longer banned by the WTS, and I want to know who gets to decide what's pagan and what isn't, and how they can say that pinatas, for example, have lost their "pagan" origins and have no religious meaning now, but that Christmas trees are still horrible and evil pagan decorations.

How do they decide what makes something pagan or not, and how do they decide what is no longer pagan??

Any help and references would be very helpful.

Thanks guys!!

-Becka :)

26

So what about Lent and Easter??

by Super_Becka in

ok, so today is the first day of lent (which is painfully obvious to me because i've chosen to give up my favourite snacks for lent and right now, i have a really bad craving for doritos), and it got me to thinking, once again, about wts doctrine and the whole banning of holidays thing that they have going on.. i've read the reasons behind banning things like birthdays, christmas, halloween, mother's and father's day and national holidays like canada day and independence day, but i have yet to read anything about lent and easter.. so, what's the line of reasoning behind the banning of lent and easter??

and i don't mean easter as in chocolate bunnies and easter eggs and all of that, i mean easter as a religious celebration of the resurrection of christ.

after all, jws have the memorial of the crucifixion, don't they??

Super_Becka

What really amazes me is that with the JWs there are only the annointed few who are allowed to partake and these annointed are the only ones who have Jesus as their mediator, the remainder of the faithful have to go through the annointed, now where is that in the Bible.

The Last Supper is specifically celebrated in the Gospels, but at least in my reading of the Gospel it does not tell one how or when one should partake, only that when one partakes that it is in remembrance of the sacrifice made for the believers.
The Easter Vigil is one of the most meaningful services of the year for me, for if it were not for the empty tomb, death would have won the battle, and the tomb and the empty cross make me KNOW the salvation that MY savior Jesus provides me, because I BELIEVE and his sacrifice.
I guess I am also in the "JWs make no sense to me" class

Precisely, isot - when Jesus said "do this in remembrance of me", he meant for Christians to partake in the bread and wine to remember him, I don't imagine that he meant for only "the annointed" to take part and just have everyone else be there to watch.

Of course, we all know that Jesus is the mediator for all Christians, not just "the annointed", but that's another thread.

I also agree in that I don't see anything wrong with celebrating the Last Supper as often as possible, and partaking in the Holy Communion always makes me feel good, but I can't criticize other faiths for observing it less often, since the Bible doesn't tell us when to do this or how often, so I can't badmouth the WTS for only having it once a year. I can, however, criticize them for taking the Bible-commanded right to partake in the Communion away from ordinary JWs and allowing only a chosen few to partake, I think that that constitutes a violation of Christian rights within the Church. But that's just me.

Glad to have you along in the "JWs make no sense to me" class, isot.

Yes, jesus words to "do this in remembrance of me" is the basis for the memorial.

OK, I can see how the WTS could use that quote to justify their use of the Communion, or the observance of the Last Supper, whatever they want to call it, but how does that justify the remembrace of Christ's death as part of the same ritual??

-Becka :)

EDIT: Oops, typo, I meant to say "crucifixion" or "Christ's death" in the last paragraph, not "resurrection" - sorry!!

26

So what about Lent and Easter??

by Super_Becka in

ok, so today is the first day of lent (which is painfully obvious to me because i've chosen to give up my favourite snacks for lent and right now, i have a really bad craving for doritos), and it got me to thinking, once again, about wts doctrine and the whole banning of holidays thing that they have going on.. i've read the reasons behind banning things like birthdays, christmas, halloween, mother's and father's day and national holidays like canada day and independence day, but i have yet to read anything about lent and easter.. so, what's the line of reasoning behind the banning of lent and easter??

and i don't mean easter as in chocolate bunnies and easter eggs and all of that, i mean easter as a religious celebration of the resurrection of christ.

after all, jws have the memorial of the crucifixion, don't they??

Super_Becka

The memorial celebrations are supposed to be a remembrance and observance on this sacrifice/means of salvation as well as the final supper (but only for the mighty anointed).

OK, so we all know that JWs refuse to do anything that isn't specifically commanded in the Bible - my question is, since I'm not overly familiar with the Bible, is there a command to remember and acknowledge the crucifixion and the Last Supper every single year at the appropriate time (in this case, Nisan 14)??

I know that Christ said, during the Last Supper when he was sharing the bread and wine, to "do this in remembrance of me", so is that the basis of the Memorial and the Communion for JW?? In the Anglican Church, the Communion is part of the weekly services - there is Holy Communion at least every Sunday.

Really, I don't see the difference between remembering that and celebrating Easter - the only difference is, when we celebrate Easter, we celebrate Christ's resurrection and the JWs ignore that part. Good Friday is a solemn day for Christians as we remember Christ's sacrifice for us, then Easter Sunday is a celebration of his glorious resurrection. How can that be so wrong??

-Becka :) (of the "JWs make no sense to me" class)

26

So what about Lent and Easter??

by Super_Becka in

ok, so today is the first day of lent (which is painfully obvious to me because i've chosen to give up my favourite snacks for lent and right now, i have a really bad craving for doritos), and it got me to thinking, once again, about wts doctrine and the whole banning of holidays thing that they have going on.. i've read the reasons behind banning things like birthdays, christmas, halloween, mother's and father's day and national holidays like canada day and independence day, but i have yet to read anything about lent and easter.. so, what's the line of reasoning behind the banning of lent and easter??

and i don't mean easter as in chocolate bunnies and easter eggs and all of that, i mean easter as a religious celebration of the resurrection of christ.

after all, jws have the memorial of the crucifixion, don't they??

Super_Becka

I think that is what my wife was saying to, that Jesus did not have a bodily resurrection, but a spiritual resurrection and when one dies, they are I guess in essence returned to the earth and if they are to come back to live on 'paradise earth' they are recreated as an exact duplicate?!?!
I can not understand the sense or logic behind this, but it was what she told me.

I think I've read something about the JW notion of the resurrection of Christ. They don't believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, even though the Bible states that the tomb was empty after the resurrection. They claim that Jesus was resurrected spiritually and that his body just kinda evaporated, hence the empty tomb.

Doesn't make any sense to me, not at all. But of course, I grew up reciting the Apostle's Creed, which ends:

...I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.

And like isot said, we remember the resurrection because, without it, Jesus would've just been another man. But he was resurrected because he is the Son of God and not just "some man", and so we celebrate that.

Any other views on Lent and Easter out there?? What else do JWs say about this particular season??

-Becka :) (of the "I don't worship chocolate bunnies, I just like to eat them" class)

20

Old Light!

by Deputy Dog in

the jws just walked away from my front door, while i'm sitting here on jwd.

my wife is home, sick from work so i didn't answer the door.

the funny thing is, they left the october 1, 2004 watchtower.

Super_Becka

I love trick you played. I took a picture of The Time is at Hand with Luke 21:8 in the background and showed a witness, they almost puked.
If I can ever figure out how to post a picture I'll upload it.

If anyone has a scan of this, I'd love to see it!!

-Becka :)

19

Yayyyyyy it's snowing !!!

by Aiesha Harley in

jw
friends

just thought i'd share my utter joy that it's started snowing again in surrey - hopefully it'll settle properly as it's dry outside.

we had about 2 cm of snow last week but it soon went away with the sleet.. is it snowing anywhere else?

come on, make me jealous with tales of 3 feet of snow in scotland !

Super_Becka

What's snow?
c

Pfft, Oregonians. Don't even know what snow is.

It's that cold, white, fluffy stuff that's on the ground in the best parts of the world right now - like most of Canada. It makes really good snowmen and it's great for sledding and snowboarding, and a good snowstorm means a snowday for us students. Right here, we have a good three feet of so of it on the ground right now, with lots of huge snowbanks, and back home, where my mom lives, they had a snowstorm over the weekend and 2.5 feet of fresh snow fell, just on Saturday!!

Me, I like winter. I say, BRING ON THE SNOW!!

-Becka :) (of the "I'm dating an Oregonian and he thinks half an inch is a lot of snow" class) PS: Carmel, see my avatar?? That picture was taken back in August at the beach in Lincoln City, FYI.

26

So what about Lent and Easter??

by Super_Becka in

ok, so today is the first day of lent (which is painfully obvious to me because i've chosen to give up my favourite snacks for lent and right now, i have a really bad craving for doritos), and it got me to thinking, once again, about wts doctrine and the whole banning of holidays thing that they have going on.. i've read the reasons behind banning things like birthdays, christmas, halloween, mother's and father's day and national holidays like canada day and independence day, but i have yet to read anything about lent and easter.. so, what's the line of reasoning behind the banning of lent and easter??

and i don't mean easter as in chocolate bunnies and easter eggs and all of that, i mean easter as a religious celebration of the resurrection of christ.

after all, jws have the memorial of the crucifixion, don't they??

Super_Becka

I thought about giving up chocolate but seeing all those chocolate bunnies and Dove milk chocolate truffle eggs make that way too difficult.

I was going to try to give up chocolate, too, but I don't think that would be in the best interests of those around me - I'm the kind of person who needs some chocolate every single day, and if I don't get it, it's not pretty. No chocolate till the middle of April?? Somebody might die, so it's best for me to keep eating my chocolate. Instead, I gave up potato chips and popcorn, my two favourite snacks. I'm suffering from withdrawal already!!

And besides, my birthday is in a couple of weeks, and I fully intend to eat a lot of chocolate cake!!

-Becka :) (of the "diehard chocoholic" class)

26

So what about Lent and Easter??

by Super_Becka in

ok, so today is the first day of lent (which is painfully obvious to me because i've chosen to give up my favourite snacks for lent and right now, i have a really bad craving for doritos), and it got me to thinking, once again, about wts doctrine and the whole banning of holidays thing that they have going on.. i've read the reasons behind banning things like birthdays, christmas, halloween, mother's and father's day and national holidays like canada day and independence day, but i have yet to read anything about lent and easter.. so, what's the line of reasoning behind the banning of lent and easter??

and i don't mean easter as in chocolate bunnies and easter eggs and all of that, i mean easter as a religious celebration of the resurrection of christ.

after all, jws have the memorial of the crucifixion, don't they??

Super_Becka

You weren't always Catholic if you had Sunday School, huh?

Actually, I've never been Catholic, my whole family, both sides, are Anglican, and so am I. My family has always been Anglican, it goes way back for us.

So I went to Anglican Sunday school every year from age 4 through age 12, then took confirmation classes at 12 and was confirmed just before I turned 13.

Maybe Lent and all of that is a Catholic thing, but it's also present in a lot of Protestant denominations. From what I know of Catholicism, there are a lot of similarities between it and Anglicanism anyway - I call Anglicanism, "Catholicism Lite", just because we have a lot of the same doctrines and beliefs, but only half the guilt. No confession for me!! (And women are allowed to be ordained, and ministers can get married, and we're allowed to use birth control, among other things.)

I'm not an avid churchgoer by any stretch of the imagination - I usually only go for special occasions, like Christmas and Easter and weddings - but I know that Lent and Easter are very important in the Anglican Church. This time of year, there are also church services on Wednesday nights, as well as the usual Sunday services, and there are special services on Palm Sunday (complete with palm crosses for the congregation, I have a bunch of them), Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I would even venture to say that Lent and Easter are more important in the Anglican Church than Christmas.

-Becka :) (of the "pure-bred Anglican" class)

Super_Becka

Posts by Super_Becka