tonight i did wake up and i knew it!
the reason for splitting up the watchtower editions in a public and a study version.
the reason is the same as for splitting up the watchtower society in ccjw, kingdom support, inc, religious order of jw (and local convention planning organisations, read the anderson-files about having no agents everywhere), just juridical!
Having now seen the magazine, I also think it has to do with money - partly. The cover is going to be the same on every issue. It hasn't got much colour in it. It will cost much less to produce.
Apart from the fact that they will be able to put more brainwashing information in the JW-only articles - no-one will need to be embarrassed thinking how are they going to offer this to the public.
my family have been members of the wts since the 1980's.
they never went to college,don't read any books besides watchtower material,have no hobbies,don't have any friends besides witness "friends",worked manual labor jobs all their lives,never questioned anything the wts changes,and have never looked into any other teachings besides the wts propaganda.
{ in other words: they are closed minded and not very inquisitive}.
It can be any kind really. I know well educated, widely read and intelligent people who are JWs. The message got to them at a susceptible time in their lives. They married someone similar, have a happy relationship and the JW lifestyle apparently meets their needs.
We all filter what we read. So when they read something that contradicts what they believe, they don't notice it.
Unfortunately, those born in and therefore thoroughly brainwashed, look up to the older, intelligent ones as role models (ie if they believe it, it must be right).
having read some of the previous posts, i'm pretty sure what the majority answer will be.
my situation is similar.
we met a little over a year ago, she got df over her relationship with me, something that put her in a pretty long depression that she gradually grew out of (with some notable setbacks along the way).
Are there ways for a person to go back and find these items using JW reference materials
Yes, if you know where to look. JWs produce a CD called "Watchtower Library" - the latest version being from 2006. Most JWs have a copy. This CD library includes all issues of the Watchtower magazine from 1975 - 2006 plus other publications.
If you do a search under the topic "1975" you will find references to predictions about 1975. In the 1960s and early 1970s, JWs believed that "Armageddon" would occur by 1975, with Jehovah's Witnesses being the only survivors. Their publications made indirect references to this belief. You can find examples of this on the CD by checking references from Watchtower magazines of 1968 - 1970.
If you do a search under the topic "generation", you will find comments like the following, from Watchtower of 15 May 1984:
Revelation 17:16 indicates that radical political elements within the United Nations (the "scarlet-colored wild beast") will hate the religious harlot and devastate her. Already, powerful atheistic and antireligious elements in the UN have taken steps to stamp out religion within their domain. But more drastic action is expected in the near future when these political elements devastate not only Christendom but also the other great religious systems. Logically, the anti-God forces will also attack Jehovah’s Witnesses who faithfully proclaim God’s Kingdom. This will be tantamount to attacking God himself and will provoke retaliation—God’s war of Armageddon!—Revelation 17:3, 12-16; 16:14-16; Ezekiel 38:10-12, 18-23; Zechariah 2:8.
From a purely human viewpoint, it could appear that these developments could hardly take place before the generation of 1914 disappears from the scene. But fulfillment of all the foretold events affecting the generation of 1914 does not depend on comparatively slow human action. Jehovah’s prophetic word through Christ Jesus is: "This generation [of 1914] will by no means pass away until all things occur." (Luke 21:32) And Jehovah, who is the source of inspired and unfailing prophecy, will bring about the fulfillment of his Son’s words in a relatively short time.—Isaiah 46:9, 10; 55:10, 11.
In other words, JWs at the time, believed that some who were alive in 1914 would still be alive when the United Nations would destroy religion and try to attack JWs, then Jehovah would start Armageddon and the only survivors would be JWs.
This belief was changed in 1995 when it was obvious that the generation of 1914 was dying out.
There are websites such as www.jwfacts.com - this has a section on "Changed Teachings".
Hope this is helpful.
what are your experiences with career changes?
how did you decide on your new career?
did it work out as you planned?
How about work in the same field with a smaller company?
I worked in the corporate sector for years - very long hours and stressful. Now I work for a small company doing similar work but I choose my hours, the people are friendly and I'm a lot happier.
When you work less hours, your job isn't the whole focus of your life. You can put up with the negatives knowing you're earning money and have things to look forward to outside of working hours.
The downside is less pay - so use any surplus money wisely by paying off debt etc.
so... hubby and i have been getting into discussions with a lot of people lately about the wts.
i want so bad to know what to believe... i don't believe that the 'truth' is the one true religion anymore, but i don't know what to believe anymore when it comes to certain things... what happens to you after you die, etc.
so, i've been praying a lot (i still believe in god) asking him to direct me somewhere, just give me something to believe in.
Everytime my parents cried and begged me to "come back to Jehovah", I felt guilty. I felt that I was a disappointment. Well of course I was a disappointment - to my parents. But these were only my feelings. My "feelings" are no indication of truth. Real truth.
People feel guilty about all sorts of things. If you were brought up a Catholic and leave, you will be a disappointment to your parents. The same with any religion. It's just with JWs, the feelings are magnified.
If you are brought up to believe you must be the best at everything and then come second, you will feel a disappointment. It's all relative.
You prayed - and then looked for the answer you were expecting - or wanting to hear. In the last week, you may have walked past a bookshop with a display stand advertising, "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. Now why wasn't that an answer to your prayer?
why are we here on date nite, all the singles????.
big d.
It's Saturday afternoon where I am. I was on here last night though. Just spending time with friends (ie you guys).
well it's a beauutiful day and it got better in the last hour .. two sisters and a daughter came to our door witnessing and after what i told them i think they are very thankful.. they first spoke to my wife and she told them why she is da'd over the societys stand on them protecting pedophiles ,but she had to go shopping and left me with it.. we had a meaningful discussion and i was able to enlighten them on the facts of the society and the recent cases settled in court in america ,and of course they did'nt know about it .
it came out that they both had observed the society hiding things and especially the pedophiles in the congos.. well then i explained that at least one is in their congregation and one sister said she knew of the same one because an elder had told her to watch out for him because he was seen touching and loitering around one of her children .
well i said that's pretty terrible that a pedophile has to touch your child before an elder will warn you of the pedophile 's history.. then the other sister who is a newly baptised witness asked the other sister why she had'nt warned her too.
her fathers lawyer has forced me into court to discredit me as a witness for my wife
I can't help but think this wouldn't have made much of an impression on the judge. If they think there is no case to answer, they'll soon throw it out of court. These cases are quite costly and the courts don't like to waste time.
well it's a beauutiful day and it got better in the last hour .. two sisters and a daughter came to our door witnessing and after what i told them i think they are very thankful.. they first spoke to my wife and she told them why she is da'd over the societys stand on them protecting pedophiles ,but she had to go shopping and left me with it.. we had a meaningful discussion and i was able to enlighten them on the facts of the society and the recent cases settled in court in america ,and of course they did'nt know about it .
it came out that they both had observed the society hiding things and especially the pedophiles in the congos.. well then i explained that at least one is in their congregation and one sister said she knew of the same one because an elder had told her to watch out for him because he was seen touching and loitering around one of her children .
well i said that's pretty terrible that a pedophile has to touch your child before an elder will warn you of the pedophile 's history.. then the other sister who is a newly baptised witness asked the other sister why she had'nt warned her too.
Woza, that's fantastic, I am so heartened to read your post. Hopefully this information will now spread throughout the surrounding congregations.
I was just thinking what a beautiful day it is and how it would be spoiled by a knock on the door. But with news like yours, my day just got even better.
The beauty about you not being DS'd or DA'd is that they can talk to you without guilt. And because what you are saying is all true and can be verified by others in the congregation, they can't label you as a raving apostate either.
I bet your wife feels good about the news being spread. The term "good news" just took on a new meaning.
i posted this at the end of worldlygirl's question, but i think it got bared into so many posts...
hi there, i am pretty much in the same situation here as the worldly girl(minus the children).
my boyfriend is an ex jw his ex wife cheated on him they divorced.
We are no longer sexual active
That means he's serious about going back.
Why not meet with the elders? That could be interesting. Seeing you work for the UN, you could fully inform them of what's been going on between the Watchtower Society and the UN. A JW can't do that freely (they risk being disfellowshipped). You have nothing to lose. Don't be scared of them just because they are called "elders". They are just men - mostly uneducated men, full of their own importance which amounts to nothing. Many of them don't have a clue about UN related issues, the child abuse scandals etc.
Good luck - I'd be interested to hear what happens if you do meet with them.
penny
having read some of the previous posts, i'm pretty sure what the majority answer will be.
my situation is similar.
we met a little over a year ago, she got df over her relationship with me, something that put her in a pretty long depression that she gradually grew out of (with some notable setbacks along the way).
When someone is disfellowshipped, they can no longer associate with their JW family. This is a pretty awful thing to do to a young person and a very successful tactic for keeping people trapped in the cult.
Sometimes a DF'd JW goes back only so that they can talk to their family again. If this is the case with her, there may be hope for your relationship.
If she firmly believes that JWs are the "true religion" and she is feeling a lot of guilt over "sins" committed with you, there probably is not much hope for your relationship.
You can't pull her out - she has to work it out for herself. The best advice I can give is to encourage her to seek counselling.
