i am new to this site and am seeking a little advice from some of your more seasoned veterans.
i met my girlfriend about 7 years ago, when we met we fell in love and 2 years later had a baby and we moved in together.
i brought with me 2 children from a previous marriage and she had one from a previous as well.
Hi Dondi.
Bear in mind that this is very much an anti-witness forum , so most of the responses you will get will be very hostile towards Jehovah's witnesses.
For a more balanced view , feel free to ask some of the current elders from the congregation your girlfriend is studying with.
forget all the other smoke.
b-days, xmas, holidays.
forget doctrine issues.
Jeff - I'll try to explain my view & hope this makes sense...
To illustrate - many people have strong political views & join a political party.In the UK where I live (for obvious reasons , I won't say where!) many party members disagree even on fundamental issues with their party leaders. For example , many Labour members , even MPs disagree with Tony Blair on the Iraq war or on his educational reforms. But they don't generally resign from the party because they essentially agree with the "overall" package , as it were.If they do , they either "fade" or occasionally join another party.
I'm a religious person - I believe fundamentally in a Creator God & that he sent His son Jesus to die for us. The moral framework , structure & basic doctrines of Jehovah's witnesses appeal. I'm convinced that to preach a message worldwide in numerous languages requires some form of organisational structure. All religions have some kind of "human" leadership directing the troops who claim to be authorised by God.
I know there are some witnesses who are dogmatic , think the society is "wonderful" & hang on every word , just as there are political party members who are "worshippers" of their leaders , as it were. But most are not like that - they simply agree with the overall package.
there are many here who have been shunned or dis-owned by family members who are jehovah's witnesses.
the pain, hurt and agony over this treatment wreaks havock in our lives and at times to the point of being unbearable.
after much deliberation and thought i came to the conclusion that for me to be able to "move on" in my own life i needed to express my feelings and be heard on some level by my family.
Sorry - Am I being a bit thick or something? I keep reading posts from people who disassociate themselves & then complain that no witness will associate with them anymore. Does this make sense to anyone?
forget all the other smoke.
b-days, xmas, holidays.
forget doctrine issues.
If you received an answer to your satisfaction , would you return?
below is a graph of us wt numbers.
yellow is total annual baptisms, purple is average publishers, and cyan is attrition rate (total people who left the organization each year).
these numbers relate to calendar years, not service years.
Inevitably due to the demands and sacrifices involved , only a small percentage of people will become worshippers of God. Jesus made this clear when he spoke about 2 roads - a narrow road & a broad road. How many did he convert - despite the miracles he performed (if you still believe this). The good news has been preached in Western lands for well over 100 years now and most people have made their choice - the key (as Wal-Mart will tell you) is to break into new markets and try new methods.
Incidentally , it isn't conjecture that most are disfellowshipped for immorality - this has several times been stated in the Watchtower. From local experience , 80% are expelled for this reason. The number disfellowshipped for apostasy is negligible in comparison , despite the best efforts of some.
below is a graph of us wt numbers.
yellow is total annual baptisms, purple is average publishers, and cyan is attrition rate (total people who left the organization each year).
these numbers relate to calendar years, not service years.
Assuming that JW demographics are similar to the population at large , the US death rate is approx 0.8% per annum , so you would assume about 10K "attrition" caused by deaths.
The 2 main statistical factors are:
(1) Law of Diminishing Returns Inevitably , growth decreases over time , otherwise all the inhabitants of the USA will become witnesses. The same effect is felt by large companies (Wal-Mart , Shell etc) who find it very difficult to grow year on year.
(2) Moral Decline As the vast majority of JWs are disfellowshipped for immorality , inevitably the increasing "permissive society" has made it more common for people to leave for this reason.
it's 7 a.m. here in the east coast, and so far i haven't seen any news on t.v.
about the "big news".
so, to make it easier to find, i thought we could use one thread to keep track of any news that comes out in the next few days.
Don't hold your breath for an avalanche of news stories! The "big news" (or "big snooze" as some have termed it) is a bit of a damp squib!
if i told you that something bigger is on the horizon than dateline, bbc, cbc, sunday (australia), and all other tv programs which exposed the sexual child abuse cover-up by watchtower in 2002-2003, would you believe me?
have i ever misled you?
i'll answer that--no!
What a let-down! An essay published by a second-rate "Christian" American University. A newly graduated student whose mother supposedly died for refusing blood. Is this really the best that anti-Jws can come up with? Is it maybe time you guys all "got a life" and moved on!
my understanding of the "big snooze" is that the essay maintains that jws have misrepresented quotes from secular sources.
is this message board not an obvious misrepresentation?
it claims to represent jehovahs witnesses (in its title)yet the vast majority of posters are anti jw and many have been expelled.
My understanding of the "Big Snooze" is that the essay maintains that JWs have misrepresented quotes from secular sources.
Is this message board not an obvious misrepresentation? It claims to represent Jehovahs witnesses (in its title)yet the vast majority of posters are anti JW and many have been expelled. Most posters wish to "destroy" the society. An honest board would take a different name (eg ex jehovahs-witness.com) , so that onlookers would have a clear idea about the motives of the posters.
(baylor university, waco, tx) an essay entitled, "jehovah's witnesses, blood transfusions, and the tort of misrepresentation," found in the autumn issue of baylor universitys prestigious journal of church and state, published december 13, 2005, exposes the vulnerability of jehovahs witnesses religious organization to massive claims for compensation because of the religions misrepresentation of the medical risks of blood transfusions.
this milestone essay critically examines one of the religions main publications for teaching their children and new recruits about their blood beliefs, how can blood save your life?
the peer-reviewed essay details many misrepresentations of medical facts, which the religion partly relies on to support its blood prohibition, thus denying its members from making fully informed medical decisions.
The Big Snooze!
Wow - this was the big news we were awaiting! An embittered and prejudiced student in a college in USA produces an essay! Wow - this will have a tremendous impact! The lawyers will be descending in droves on Brooklyn as we speak!
