So sorry to hear of your loss. Much strength to you & your family
Doubting Bro
JoinedPosts by Doubting Bro
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77
My Dad Died Today
by cantleave inhe has been ill for some time, but it was still unexpected.
he was never a jw and i didn't really have a close relationship with him, since he remarried after my parents divorced.
i reunited with him in the mid 90's after over 10 years of not seeing him.. .
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32
I Believe McNabb Is Tired
by snowbird inhe should move over and allow room for michael vick.. did anyone see vick's touchdown pass against dallas in the playoff?.
awesome!.
a little something from vick's bio: .
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Doubting Bro
Kolb will be the Eagles starting QB. Vicks best chance to start again is to fill in for Kolb for a few games during the season and hope to be traded.
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32
I Believe McNabb Is Tired
by snowbird inhe should move over and allow room for michael vick.. did anyone see vick's touchdown pass against dallas in the playoff?.
awesome!.
a little something from vick's bio: .
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Doubting Bro
I think its a good deal for the Redskins. McNabb has gas left in the tank and Campbell probably needs a change of venue.
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43
CO visit provides preview of April generation change!
by agent zero ini thought the april wt's brazen generation doctrine change would barely get an official mention before nor after the two paragraphs that deal with it, but yesterday i went to the circuit overseer's visit and in a talk from a bethel outline, he specifically mentioned the change, and i quote... "the very very very newest information we have available, from the april 15th 2010 watchtower!
" ..reads the infamous paragraphs.. and then, "isn't that wonderful brothers and sisters?
so now we understand that it means that brother russell's life overlapped with brother rutherford's who's life overlapped (he went through them all), so clearly, this means the end is near.".
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Doubting Bro
I can confirm this wasn't isolated to one CO. I (unfortunately) listened to this same talk Sunday at the CO visit and while he didn't mention this was a completely new teaching, he spent at least 10 minutes of the last part on Sunday speaking on this subject. A couple of things he mentioned:
Compared the generation mentioned in Matt 24 to the use of the word generation to describe Joseph's brothers
My comment - exactly, a group of brothers would make up a generation even if there was a good bit of age between them but to include parents + kids in a generation is stupid and incorrect. That's like saying I'm in the same generation as my grandmother because we both witnessed 9-11!
Specifically said this "generation doesn't include "new" annointed, only those who became annointed while the "first part" of the generation who saw 1914 was still alive. To illustrate, he said that Franz was the last of that first group and (direct quote) " younger members of the GB whose lives overlapped with Franz were the second group. These ones are in their 60s and 70s now so the time left is short".
My comment - I really think they are trying to set up a senario where 2034 is the new 1975. They know that an end time religion needs a date or you get what the WTS has become, a hollow shell of its former zeal. They can't risk moving the 1914 date and realize the wishy washy generation is all annointed argument didn't motivate anyone. So, they've created a 2 part generation in hopes of rejuvinating the troops. But after the meeting, not one person mentioned that they just heard a major change!
We've talked about how the WTS is at a crossroads. Do they mainstream and try to retain the 2nd and 3rd generation JWs in the West or do they go full bore into wackiness and end up with a smaller but more dedicated and motivated flock. It seems they are choosing door #2.
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38
I'm new and wanted to introduce myself
by MarkedFragile inhello everyone.. i'm new to this forum.
i left the organization several months ago, and am on a new path now.
though i didn't grow up in the organization, i have basically lived a life of pretending to be something i'm not, sheltering my feelings from everyone, and not feeling "enough" to anyone.
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Doubting Bro
Welcome!! This board is a great place to vent to folks who know where you're coming from. Know this - it will get better.
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78
Brand New: Currently Totally Devastated
by daringhart13 ini'm brand new to the board.
long time, "big shot" elder, ....taught at km school, conventions, etc.
yeah, i know it means nothing....but it gives you an idea of how deep i've been a jw.. i don't even really know what to write at this point.
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Doubting Bro
daringheart13 - Welcome to the board. You are not alone my friend. The politics on the BOE (coupled with finding out the organization wasn't what they claimed) really pushed me over the edge. But I will say that it does get better. Look forward to reading your story.
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79
IT'S OFFICIAL - New Elder's Manual by end of 2010
by sir82 inper a "top secret, confidential, burn this after you read it" letter to all boes, dated march 2, 2010, but not read in our congregation until this past week:.
new "kingdom ministry" school for all elders and ministerial servants, to be held (in the us anyway) between november 2010 and january 2011.. 6 hours of jaw dropping tedium instruction for ms, 9 for elders.
ms session to be held on a sunday, elders on friday and saturday.. the "super secret surprise", for elders only: a new textbook will be released to be studied at this "school".
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Doubting Bro
I'm actually suprised it took them this long!!
Sir brings up a good point. I wonder if they're going to get the elders to sign something saying they will not disclose the contents. I know they always told you not to show the book to anyone but nothing in writing from the individual elder. Also, I'll bet they will require sitting elders to turn in their old book to get their new book. When you are deleted (I love that term because it doesn't matter if you step down or are removed) you are supposed to turn in your book. So, it would make sense that they collect the old books.
Man, I do not miss sitting in those sessions! When I was a true believer, I used to leave the sessions thinking I was the worst person ever because they just made me feel like I could never do enough. Now I realize it's all part of the control mechanism.
Look forward to reading the review this fall!
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35
Possible Blood Doctrine Change: A Hypothetical Conversation with all JWs
by daniel-p injw>"but you lived anyway!".
jw>"...".
jw>"well, they'll be ressurected.".
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Doubting Bro
I see daniel-p's point about just how many folks are effected by the blood ban, but I would argue that the civil service issue affected as many. I know lots of folks in my parent generation that went to jail in the US over Vietnam when they could have been spared with performing civil service at home instead. Those boys who went to jail when they were 18 are still elders and such and didn't leave over the issue. I guess the main difference is the loss of life (obviously not even a real comparison).
I guess the closest comparison would be the allowance of fractions now vs the previous complete ban. I don't know a single person that left because the WTS allows "fractions". As a matter of fact, when the big change was made, there was a look of relief. Think of all the folks that could have been saved in the past if the now allowed fractions were allowed then! I know that much of the fractioning science is relatively new so maybe that portion of the ban didn't matter as much.
Let me ask, how many lawsuits have there been? I know the Hughes suit but Canada's courts seemed to have come down on the WTS side. You know the US courts will favor a religious body over an individual due to the 1st amendment. And since the US is by far and away the most litigious country in the world, I don't think the WTS is worried about losing too much.
I do believe that the perception of major liability is very concerning to the WTS. I think that countries in the EU, Russia and other places view the WTS with suspicion and have honed in on the blood ban as a reckless endangerment (which I agree). The old version of the WTS would try to get themselves thrown into jail. This version doesn't have any fight in them and if there's a change in policy, its probably going to be to try and be seen as a legitimate religion.
I agree with metatron in that most of the rank & file will say that "blood is still bad but the WTS can come out and say it due to Satan's wicked legal system". When I was a congo secretary, I was shocked at the number of folks that refused ALL fractions on their blood cards. I saw probably half of the congregation's because JWs will often provide a copy for the congregation's files in case of emergency. I also saw a lot of folks VERY confused as to what to do. I always recommended praying (of course) about it but when asked what I did, I gladly told them I said yes to everything. Immediately, folks that I had that conversation with decided if an elder said yes, then they would too.
Bottom line in my viewpoint the best that can be hoped for is making RBC, WBC & plasma fractions and allowed and keep the whole blood ban for another 5 to 10 years and then finally dropping. But, there will still be a large number that will continue to refuse those.
I really don't think they would lose membership over the issue. I think there will be a shrug of the shoulders and folks will continue on.
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57
New light on blood?
by Mickey mouse inthis is prompted by barbara's new article at freeminds and a message someone sent to my youtube account a month ago.. there are rumours that there will be "new light" this year about blood transfusions.
if this happens, i for one will be speaking up and asking who is accountable for all the lives lost due to the wt's death dealing policy.
this is an opportunity for all those who still have some connections with jws to make people think..
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Doubting Bro
And, its pretty much dropped anyway. You can take 100% of blood if it's broken into "fractions". I could see them moving WBC, RBC & Plasma into fractions and keeping the ban. They moved hemoglobin into the "fraction" definition a few years ago. I remember being shocked at the time because I knew how big of a component hemoglobin is.
I could see them either 1) changing the definition of fraction to include WBC, RBC & platlettes and/or 2) allowing autologous (your own blood) transfusions which they really are already doing with some of the cell saver type of procedures that recycle the patients blood and even store it for a "short" time.
The policy is so confusing to the average JW that many are not aware of what they can and can't do.
Remember, they used to ban organ transplants and 100% of blood (including vaccines). They reversed those stances. They can pretty much do what they want. They've always sort of worded it as an individual choice anyway (although we know its not). The courts here in the US I don't think would hold the WTS liable for damages at this point. But I'm sure the Legal department would love to see the ban go away because there's no guarantee that courts in the future will stay out of this issue.
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14
Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 03-07-10 WT Study (DEDICATE JAH)
by blondie inhe will even restore his loyal ones to their youth so that they can benefit from his care.
more happiness than dedication ourselves to anything or one else--even a spirit-directed organization?.
about making the choice to belong to jehovah.. comments.
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Doubting Bro
The illustration about the father and adopted child was sick. A parent's love is supposed to be unconditional. To ask a child to pledge love is a business relationship, not a family. They don't have to earn a parent's love, it should be there. Any parent that would do such a thing is a terrible parent.
Actually, 1 John 4:19 says that In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins NASB
Even the NWT says - As for us, we love, because he first loved us.
It's strange because on one hand, they speak about God's love yet on the other hand, paragraphs such as this one treat God as an unreasonable tyrant to whom no one can ever please. So which is it WTS? I know, the WTS is the unreasonable tyrant and they want all JWs to daily pledge their alligence. They're the ones that want the plegde of alligence before you're considered part of the "worldwide brotherhood".
Blondie - great point about the slave! I have no idea why they used that illustration but I'm sure they were betting that no one would read the surrounding verses.