Posts by Doubting Bro

15

The End...Finally!

by XJW4EVR in

jw
friends

this morning the bastard that attacked my wife with the intention of raping her was sentenced to 25 years to life plus five years.

he must serve a minimum of 30 years.

thank god for the three strikes law (i know that some of the liberals on this board may not join me in my gratitude for the voters of california's wisdom in making that law).

Doubting Bro

Glad to hear that the justice system worked! I hope you guys will finally be able to heal.

21

Do JWs pave the way for Agnosticism/Atheism? My story.

by Open mind in

most j.w.s i grew up around werent superstitious.

friday the 13th, walking under ladders and spilled salt were for the blind and the ignorant.

we had been set free and knew better.. to be sure, some j.w.s had their own special theocratic superstitions.

Absolutely! I had a very similar experience to you in that even though I was raised JW, my parents never really attributed good or bad things to the influence of spiritual beings other than to say "Satan's system" is doing this or that or "we need the New System". Otherwise, I was taught that to succeed, you need to work hard.

I think JWs are trained to be so skeptical of "organized religion" that once we realize that God doesn't have a "channel of communication" on earth, doubting his existence is the next logical step.

Miss your comments by the way!

91

Questions From Readers Nov 15th 2009

by dozy in

the latest flip-flop (allbeit a minor one.).

the "wise instruction" (as described by the society) given is that sisters now have to wear head coverings when interpreting sign language public talks.. differs from the previous instructions that sisters didn't need to do so.. .

w02 7/15p.27 questions from readers.

Doubting Bro

bennyk brings up a good point. Aren't women in FS teaching others? Granted, they're teaching WT doctrine but still they are teaching the public. Shouldn't they be wearing head coverings?

I guess they'd rather have the rank & file talk about this than some of the other issues they'd rather avoid.

40

U.S. Life Expectancy Hits All-Time High

by leavingwt in

some good news.

life expectancy at all time high; death rates reach new low, new report showsu.s.

life expectancy reached nearly 78 years (77.9), and the age-adjusted death rate dropped to 760.3 deaths per 100,000 population, both records, according to the latest mortality statistics from the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc).. the report, deaths: preliminary data for 2007, was issued today by cdcs national center for health statistics.

Doubting Bro

Life is sure bad during these "critical times hard to deal with"

100 years ago, the life expectancy was in the 40s. Now, we've almost doubled it.

100

WTS attends as a NGO to OSCE in July- 4 branches present!

by yknot in

so i was just cruising www.extj.com/foro.

mary received a interesting bit of osce information via a brother (peter) from germany....... http://www.extj.com/foro/showthread.php?t=14643.

here is the pdf she has uploaded..... http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2009/07/38763_en.pdf.

Doubting Bro

1 -The UN is NOT a modern day equilvent of Rome. If you want to compare a world powers of different eras, then compare the US to Rome. The UN is a political organization that doesn't really accomplish much of anything. The only reason it is important in this discussion is that WT has identified it as the wild beast of Revelation. So, by working closely with them and supporting their mission, they are going against their own theology which makes them a hypocrite. Paul appealed to the supreme power of his time in the empire he lived in. How is that even close to lobbying for democracy which is one of the OSCEs stated goals? It's already been stated that no one objects to them defending their ability to practice their religion in court. That is what Paul did.

2. Who cares what "Christendom" supports? That's not the subject here. But, their own theology says that it's ok to get involved in politics. Whether that is supported by scripture is irrelevant because they're not reviling others about getting involved politically while at the same time doing it themselves.

If the WT really thought they had Jehovah's backing, then why can't they let him take care of things? Why violate their own theology to get things done.

Also, if it's such a great thing, why isn't there a WT or Awake or KM article updating the average JW on the conference and why they are attending? Aren't they proud of their work?

19

The Watchtower & Logical Fallacies (Long)

by darkl1ght3r in

- w86 7/15 p. 20 par.

3 p. 37 par.

- w86 7/15 p. 10 par.

Doubting Bro

BTTT & marking for later.

100

WTS attends as a NGO to OSCE in July- 4 branches present!

by yknot in

so i was just cruising www.extj.com/foro.

mary received a interesting bit of osce information via a brother (peter) from germany....... http://www.extj.com/foro/showthread.php?t=14643.

here is the pdf she has uploaded..... http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2009/07/38763_en.pdf.

Doubting Bro

The UN is not a government. It has none of the powers of a government and no binding authority. Even when it's members vote to take action, each country can decide whether or not to support the action.

The OSCE by their own website is really just a political forum in which participants attempt to influence governments on the three areas listed above.

These organizations are not inherently evil but the UN has been identified in WT theology as the wild beast of Revelation. That's the problem. The WTS has always claimed to be politically neutral yet participating in a political forum is not being neutral.

If they were called to testify, although neither organization has the authority to compel anyone to do anything, I could see them giving testimony. But to tell the average rank & file JW that they can't join the YMCA under the threat of disfellowshipping, an organization that started out with religious ties but according to their website does not require any sort of religious declaration to join their gyms, while at the same time supporting a political organization such as the OSCE and working with other religions that according to WTS theology will soon (very soon?) be destroyed smacks of hypocrisy.

You can't possibly compare Paul appealing to Ceasar with this. A good comparision with Paul would be the WTS or any other religion appealing to the Supreme Court. The WTS has made good use of the courts around the world to secure their ability to worship as they wish and there is nothing political about that.

What would happen to the average JW if they joined a community group with a bunch of local churches that sought to change laws and influence politicians? You know what would happen, they would be dragged in front of a JC. How is this any different?

28

Ordained Ministers of J.W. part 1

by bobld in

jw
friends

baptisms are usually performed at assemblies.at the conclusion of the baptism talk,the baptism candidates are asked two q.affirmative answers qualifies the candidates as ordained ministers of j.w..we all have seen some candidates as young as 13 years,some as young as 12 years and even some as young as 9 years old.now in the eyes of the wbts these are qualified ordained ministers.. to my way of thinking these ordained ministers should be qualified to give sound advise or council.example,a 17 year old teenage boy has a problem with masturbation and is seeking advise.do you think he would receive sound advise on his masturbation problem from a 9 year old ordained minister of j.w.

(girl).in other religions this ordained minister would be qualified but i don't think a j.w.

is.. bob.

Doubting Bro

Blues Brother is 100% correct. In JW lingo, ordained minister is not the same as clergy in other Christian religions. Elders and higher are legally considered JW clergy (and before someone says anything about there being no JW clergy see every child abuse court case where the WTS sucessfully argued clergy privilege for their elders & COs)

However, the comments about child baptism being unusual is most certainly not the case in the English speaking congregations in the US. For example, at a DC I recently attended with around 7,000 folks there were around 35 baptized. Of that number, the youngest was 9, the oldest was in her 70s. But, I kept count and of the 35 that were baptized, 25 of them appeared to be 18 or younger. And, no I didn't ask each one for their ID but they were clearly very young. In my opinion and experience with children, there is little difference between an infant getting baptized and a 9 year old. Especially when the penalty of changing your mind at a later date means being cut off from your entire social and support circle.

As for young kids getting pregnant, it is a huge SOCIETIAL problem. Again, a local example in local congregation here in the past 2 years, 4 different girls (1 - 16, 1-17,1-19 and 1 - 22) ALL unmarried, all pregnant. There are only 10 girls in that age range in the congregation. I'm not saying that 40% of the teenage JW kids are having kids out of wedlock, but to make the statement that it doesn't happen is outrageous. I would venture to say that the instance of JW teenage pregnancy is on par with the rest of society as we know from the Pew report that their divorce rate is about the same as the general population.

Bottom line, JWs are no different from society in having family problems. However, that flies in the whole "spiritual paradise" claim that JWs are the happiest, most well adjusted group on the planet - comments that I've directly heard from WTS representatives including GB members.

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