Posts by Downtowner

2

Longview / Tyler, Texas

by Downtowner in

anyone from the tyler/longview area in east texas?

i grew up in the org in longview.

would be really net to run into someone i know.. -d.

Downtowner

Anyone from the Tyler/Longview area in East Texas? I grew up in the Org in Longview. Would be really net to run into someone I know.

-D

25

Song 151

by ab.ortega in

any idea what could have happened to song 151?

what logical reason could they have had to skip a number.

is the number 151 now an evil number accordig to new light?

I noticed the skip in song numbers also with #151. My opinion is since all of the new songs released are completely new tunes that #151 may be a classic tune that was deleted from the 2009 song book that's revised and brought back and will be released in the 'new' song book whenever they decide to release it.

I never figured out why the Org couldn't release songs in numerical order. The Kingdom Melodies, the original single CD vocal renditions from Sing Praises to Jehovah, and even the new orchestra arrangement music for use at the Hall have missing songs. To date the Org have not produced an entire song book in music except for piano.

24

Mormons vs. Jehovah's Witnesses

by Downtowner in

jw
friends

forgive me if this has been covered before but i haven't seen anything about it recently.. in exploring the two faiths, mormons vs. jehovah's witnesses, which were both founded in the 1800s with the mormons being slightly a slightly older religion it seems mormons is a more attractive religion than jehovah's witnesses.

do not get me wrong, i'm not looking at joining the mormon church.

but i still enjoy studying other faiths and different belief systems.

Downtowner

Yeeessss, Starbucks with the controversial cup and let's grab the controversial Reeses LOL!!

Actually I'm currently drinking a Chi Tea Latte... my favorite! I guess I'm going to hell hahaha!

24

Mormons vs. Jehovah's Witnesses

by Downtowner in

jw
friends

forgive me if this has been covered before but i haven't seen anything about it recently.. in exploring the two faiths, mormons vs. jehovah's witnesses, which were both founded in the 1800s with the mormons being slightly a slightly older religion it seems mormons is a more attractive religion than jehovah's witnesses.

do not get me wrong, i'm not looking at joining the mormon church.

but i still enjoy studying other faiths and different belief systems.

Downtowner

Clambake, you made a good point. That is why they say pray to Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit will tell you if it is true or not. That is more important than historical evidence. So why does the scriptures say test what you are hearing is true? To me a form of testing is to research the history, and in the LDS case, the archeology.

There is a good film out there called Latter Days. It's about this Mormon Missionary who ends up coming out of the closet as gay and faces excommunication and the ordeal he has to go through with his parents. His father distances himself from the family spending most of his time at the church, the mother falls apart yelling at her son. He is brought before a 'court' (their version of JW judicial committee) and formally excommunicated. Just to let you know if you do watch it it;s rated R with some gay love scenes in but they are accurate in a lot of ways by showing the Missionary with his 'magic' underwear. Growing up a JW I saw a huge parallel in how the guy was treated vs. how JW's treat their own who do not agree.

Mormons may not destroy lives to the extent the JW's do (Like breaking up families by encouraging JW members not to socialize with non-JW/excommunicated family) but it is there if one decides to leave the church. They may not have a church practice of shunning but all church rites are stripped and the emotional impact is just as bad on families. I saw the LDS 'true colors' when the LDS church supported Proposition 8 in California a few years ago and most recently it's public announcement for same sex couples who were married with children at home who are wanting to join the LDS church could not get baptized until they were of mature age (18 in the USA) and renounce their same sex parents.

In my opinion, any religion that says you have to believe a certain way or threatens you with excommunication is enough to define it a cult. I was watching an LDS sermon once and the 'apostle' even stated that one of the ways a member can get excommunicated is by teaching doctrines that aren't true (aka true according to LDS theology). He even mentioned the word apostasy in his sermon. The cult red flat raised so fast it flew off the pole after watching that sermon.

Think about it... if a church is spiritually strong, why do they need to silence those who may teach something that is not in line with the church teachings? Only if they are trying to hide something.

24

Mormons vs. Jehovah's Witnesses

by Downtowner in

jw
friends

forgive me if this has been covered before but i haven't seen anything about it recently.. in exploring the two faiths, mormons vs. jehovah's witnesses, which were both founded in the 1800s with the mormons being slightly a slightly older religion it seems mormons is a more attractive religion than jehovah's witnesses.

do not get me wrong, i'm not looking at joining the mormon church.

but i still enjoy studying other faiths and different belief systems.

Downtowner

Thanks for everyone's comments! The Girl Next Door, the point of "comparing" the two religions is as I stated I enjoy studying different faiths and comparing the differences. It was something I noticed that popped in my head and thought I would share what I observed. Ya know, conversation.

In studying the LDS and JW religions during a time JW's are cutting back while the LDS church is moving forward. So if Jehovah is with a organization because of their growth, based on JW teachings, he must have taken his blessing away from Watchtower and put it on Mormons.

Yes Mormons do have strange practices and yes I agree they fall in the cult definition.

"To begin with, what is the point in comparing which cult is better?"

24

Mormons vs. Jehovah's Witnesses

by Downtowner in

jw
friends

forgive me if this has been covered before but i haven't seen anything about it recently.. in exploring the two faiths, mormons vs. jehovah's witnesses, which were both founded in the 1800s with the mormons being slightly a slightly older religion it seems mormons is a more attractive religion than jehovah's witnesses.

do not get me wrong, i'm not looking at joining the mormon church.

but i still enjoy studying other faiths and different belief systems.

Downtowner

Oh yes I almost forgot to mention... go to Mormon.org in the search box type "Jehovah's Witness" and you'll see testimonies of Mormons who mention they use to be Jehovah's Witnesses. Very interesting read.

24

Mormons vs. Jehovah's Witnesses

by Downtowner in

jw
friends

forgive me if this has been covered before but i haven't seen anything about it recently.. in exploring the two faiths, mormons vs. jehovah's witnesses, which were both founded in the 1800s with the mormons being slightly a slightly older religion it seems mormons is a more attractive religion than jehovah's witnesses.

do not get me wrong, i'm not looking at joining the mormon church.

but i still enjoy studying other faiths and different belief systems.

Downtowner

Forgive me if this has been covered before but I haven't seen anything about it recently.

In exploring the two faiths, Mormons vs. Jehovah's Witnesses, which were both founded in the 1800s with the Mormons being slightly a slightly older religion it seems Mormons is a more attractive religion than Jehovah's Witnesses.

Do not get me wrong, I'm not looking at joining the Mormon church. But I still enjoy studying other faiths and different belief systems. The Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses seem to parallel in some aspects but differ on their doctrines.

Compare the magazines. The LDS church publishes four monthly magazines: The two main magazines, Liahona and Ensign average 84 pages (Special issues even more), a magazine for church youth called New Era with about 54 pages, and a magazine for children called Friend with about 52 pages. The magazines are actual magazine size on quality magazine paper.

Compare with Jehovah's Witnesses. The Watchtower Study Edition 32 pages monthly. The Watchtower 16 pages bi-monthly, and Awake 16 pages bi-monthly. The magazines are smaller on thinner paper. The layout of the magazines reminds me more of the LDS youth and childrens' magazines layout.

The Mormons encourage getting an education so you can support your family and the church, encourage a mission of no more than two years, were first to start home family worship, encourage members to include those of other faiths and befriend them.

Yes the Mormons practice excommunication, but unlike Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons do not have a church doctrine of shunning. I spoke to a missionary once asking their policy on excommunicated members. They said they still speak to them, encourage them, study with them. Quite the opposite of Jehovah's Witnesses.

When listening to Jehovah's Witnesses talks it seems they all hing around Armageddon, shunning those who are disfellowshipped or disassociated, do not associate with non-Witnesses even family members, study articles why they should follow the governing body and trust them even if they don't agree, study articles on how Jehovah's Witnesses have the truth and how other religions do not. Making every prophecy in the Bible about them.

From the few Mormon sermons I've heard they do teach to follow the apostles to a degree but not as bad as the JW's do the governing body. The Mormon sermons seem more to teach love, follow Christ and God, study the scriptures, help those in need, even if they are not members. Reach out to non-members, etc.

I even find the Lds.org and Mormon.org websites more attractive than the simplified jw.org site. It's almost like two groups... the educated and non-educated. I'm sure you can figure out which religion falls in what category.

Well that's my thoughts for the day.

2

Dallas / Fort Worth meet up

by Israel Ricky Gonzales in

a couple of us xjws and awake jws meet for coffee and brunch every few sunday's.

im me if you are interested.

Downtowner

East Texas here, in the Tyler/Longview area! Would love to meet some Ex-Jw's in the area.

9

Annual JW Pride Day

by Esse quam videri in

what would be jw's reaction if the governing body, in all seriousness, announced a new jw pride day to be celebrated in the congregation every year?.

Downtowner

Gay or not it would be cool to have an annual ex-JW pride day. Dallas! It's central between the east coast and west coast.

8

Interview with an Apostate: Downtowner

by Downtowner in

tell us a little about yourself and your family.i grew up in the organization and baptized at age 10 years 11 months.

i lost my father to cancer and nearly lost my mom (thank goodness i didn't) to an illness both in 1999, i became inactive in 2000, and came out of the closet in 2001.. were you a born in or a convert?i was born in.

are your parents / family jws?

Downtowner

Ignoranceisbliss I was 23 when I realized it although I kept active because it wasn't for another year before I stopped. I had already been leading a double life through my teen years and I can see the same sex attraction by my desires as young as 6 years old. But interestingly enough that is not the reason I left the JWs. It was discouragement. But of course now being gay is keeping me away as well as all the different changes that what was right yesterday is wrong today and vice versa.