Posts by compound complex

21

Do the FDS use Spiritism to contact the '24 Elders' and the 144000?

by Gill in

the watchtower has always, in its publications, talks etc warned against contact with spirit creatures!.

jws are notoriously terrified of anything that might even remotely be to do with spiritism.. however, i find it totally bizarre that they can accept 'spirit guidance from the 24 elders' as an explanation to how the holy spirit guides the fds!.

i would, in simple terms call this a form of spiritism.

compound complex

Dear Gill,

I do not have quotations and references at hand, but at first glance at your topic title I thought of the following. Some accusations are alleged, some proved:

1) automatic handwriting

2) Rutherford's saying that dear Br. Russell, beyond the veil, is directing the Society, or words to that effect.

3) Clayton Woodworth's admission to being under demon possession yet acting as editor of CONSOLATION some 20 years and concocting medical and other bizarre tenets that are still harming to this day.

4) occultic connections

5) Johannes Greber's in and out of "favor" with the Society.

6) "Satanic" images

7) how JFR came upon name "Jehovah's Witnesses"

8) JFR's claim that Holy Spirit is no longer directing the work

Whether all or none of the above are supported by sufficient evidence, yet vats of ink have been spilt on these claims. Your friendly little neighborhood church is, I would venture to guess, a spiritual "virgin" compared to the WT. The Society, IMHO, is under some sort of influence HOWEVER much she protests otherwise. JFR got his spirits from above and a bottle.

Hating demonism with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns,

Compound-Complex

58

Watchtower logo on side of kingdom hall

by cyberdyne systems 101 in

jw
friends

my old kingdom hall has the watchtower logo built into the brick work on the side that faces the road - to me for a hall that is supposed to be dedicated to god, its a bit wrong to have a corporation logo on the side of it.

maybe its there to show they and not the congregation own it???

cs 101.

compound complex

Fled from the Tower,

During breakfast and morning worship one tempest-tossed day at Bethel, circa 1970, we heard thunder and then a huge crash. Upon dismissal, we hurried out of the 124 building. To the right of our dorms (107 C.H.) was a newly-built, modern brick structure, sporting atop the facade, as I recall, a stylized watchtower battlement. It was lying, scattered about the sidewalk---struck moments before by lightning. 'Why did Jehovah allow this to happen?', we mused. This is a true story.

Thunder-struck,

Compound-Complex

58

Watchtower logo on side of kingdom hall

by cyberdyne systems 101 in

jw
friends

my old kingdom hall has the watchtower logo built into the brick work on the side that faces the road - to me for a hall that is supposed to be dedicated to god, its a bit wrong to have a corporation logo on the side of it.

maybe its there to show they and not the congregation own it???

cs 101.

compound complex

FYI re: Battlement (please look in your dictionary; you'll likely find illustrated a watchtower):

A parapet with open spaces that surmounts a wall and is used for defense or decoration. WEBSTER'S NEW COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY, 1977

merlon: one of the solid intervals between crenels of a battlement parapet.

crenel: one of the embrasures [an opening with sides flaring outward in a wall or parapet of a fortification usually for allowing the firing of cannon.] alternating with merlons in a battlement.

Next time a volley of arrows comes hurtling toward you, it could have come through a crenel.

CoCo Crenelated

32

What was your final straw that broke your back in terms of doctrine?

by ukescott in

as ex-mormon, my exposure to a different version of the first vision story which was quite different from the offical first vision was my beginning way out of mormonism.

what about you ex-jw's?

what, in terms of wt doctrine, made you realize that the wt is a fraud?.

compound complex

Hi Ukescott,

It is not doctrine that broke my spiritual camel's back, though I certainly do have gripes there. What absolutely sent me over the edge is the WT publication, 2003, LEARN FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. As a teacher, I am enraged at what the Society has allowed in that most horrid of childrens books. If I were still a proofreader at Bethel, I would publicly shred that rag at the entranceway! There! I've had my say!

Confrontationally yours,

Compound-Complex

43

HAVE JWS RUINED YOUR LIFE??????

by chuckyy in

jw
friends

im sitting here today thinking:.

"my daughter should have had open heart surgery years ago and she would have been too young to know anything about it.

instead, she is about to face it now....the surgeons were relectant to do it when we were jws and she was so young.

compound complex

Dear Chuck,

I'm sorry for the grief you've personally experienced and can absolutely relate to it myself (but for the medical aspects; sorry about your daughter's condition). I too left behind the 'temporary enjoyment of sin' and forewent college and a degree, etc. I then subscribed to the mantra "Jehovah will provide". I realize it's anecdotal and purely subjective on my part, but I honestly feel I HAVE been cared for. Some say serendipity, the Universe, Karma, but I continue to feel God provides and teaches us valuable lessons outside the obvious need for material sustenance. Now that my spiritual horizons have broadened, I can see outside the JW box and sympathize with a point of view different from my own. That is, one's experience may be that "Jehovah" DID NOT provide. I tend to be philosophic, so I don't feel that my life has been ruined. But I do feel anger at having been lied to and I am on a crusade. I'm past the initial stages of denial, anger [rage?], bargaining, depression. Now it's acceptance---of what cannot be changed (the GB's attitude) but moving heaven and earth to be one of many people who makes a difference. You'll find your way. Venting here, you'll get many a hearing ear and helpful direction so that, once recovered, you can do what we all endeavor to do---help our fellow man! I wish you peace and contentment; they are around the corner. Armageddon? The jury is out on that one.

With hope,

CoCo

16

The Watchtower loves a dig at women!!!!

by Gill in

the watchtower loves to dig the knife into the backs of women whenever it gets half a chance.. january 15th watchtower, question from readers:.

'in what sense did the congregator find only 'one man out of a thousand' but 'not a woman among all these.'?

ecc 7:28.

compound complex

Dear Gill,

I posted a link on the thread 'Offense at WT Article' about the NT view of women. Am not sure about rules re: posting same info twice. It's by Lily Cruz on Freeminds. A must-read!

CoCo

28

Offended by this week's watchtower?

by Anony-Mouse in

jw
friends

it was about marriage.

personally, i think woman should be equals in a relationship, not the man as absolute ruler that listen's to his subject when it pleases him.

it just irritates me that women will never be considered truly equal in jws.

compound complex

Dear MJ,

Found in My Favorites:

Cultural View of Women in the Early Church

www.freeminds.org/women/womenchurch.htm

by Lily Cruz

CoCo

22

I am sooooooo upset

by megsmomma in

jw
friends

the wts makes me so angry....i just talked to my sh*t head step dad who treated me like crap all my life and who is now trying to tell me how apostate i have become and how it was me who left my mother in the first place when i left the dubs...(so i shunned her first????

) he said he could hear the "apostate" in my voice....god i hate it!!

there is no reasoning with them at all....it feels so hopeless.

compound complex

Dear Megs,

You must have just posted; the 7:01 news just came on. I'm just up again after spending some wee hours here at JWD. A bit in a fog. But your justifiable rage came piercing through. Please remember Pro. 19:11 about insight or discretion slowing down rage. We here have learned, if we didn't already know it, that either out of ignorance, or "upholding righteousness", or at the worst, maliciousness, JW's can drive you nuts. I am/was on both sides of the fence. Being labelled is horrible. A tormented friend I've been comforting has alerted me that his wife is threatening to turn me in. But I understand her and her emotional make-up, how she's so tied in to the Society. She is not yet able to reason as we here have learned to. Your life seems at the moment---and for longer, I guess---to be hell. Hang in and around today. You're going to get more loving help. Will check in again when I'm awake.

In loving support,

CoCo

33

The Seven Churches

by Pahpa in

here is a point to ponder:.

when john was instructed to write letters to the seven churches (rev.

1 - 3) as to "what is now and what will take place" (1:19) why were not the members of those bad churches advised "get out of her, my people?

compound complex

Dear Pahpa and Associate Scholars:

Re-evaluating my basis for religious belief of the last 45 years and then recategorizing all its elements may be neither possible nor absolutely necessary. But I am willing to do so; after all, I am here at JWD. As JWs, we were constrained to accept, from the pen of the "FDS" [actually, in more modern times, the "angelic direction" upon JFR and "the oracle" Fred Franz], that EVERY "utterance" was an earth-shaking, divine pronouncement. You know, the seven trumpet blasts, etc. Fall in line, march around symbolic Jericho, etc.

My thought, more precisely question, do YOU feel that in any way the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, in association with the WTBTS, could in reality be the very antithesis of whom they [JWs] claim to be? Could they in reality be a smaller or larger part of "the evil empire" (BTG or other entity)? They---we, formerly---felt that we were THE theatrical spectacle, THE Jonadabs, THE two witnesses, THE ones taking hold of the skirt of a Jew; you know---the never-ending list of self-ascribed prophetic applications. Is it more than just a "misunderstanding"? Merely one more religion's off-center interpretation? Could genuine evil be afoot in the midst of God's "chosen people"? As it were, should JWs heed their own warning and get out of BTG? Or incur divine judgment?

There is so much that I naively accepted as holy and pure; however, I feel that there is calculated evil behind the beautiful facade. I can handle this very large issue only incrementally.

Mildly confused,

Compound-Complex

36

Were You Ever a Victim of Jealousy?

by compound complex in

dear friends,.

despite our noble intentions and the hope that we'll behave ourselves, we are downright human.

i just saw beaches again last night (bought the used tape for four bucks) and was reminded how that evil, green-eyed monster can destroy the best of relationships.

compound complex

Dear Respondents,

As one pointed out, there is some reciprocity involved---the "Boomerang Effect". Perhaps "victim" is not the most comprehensive of words because victimization can, and often does, go both ways. The one receiving the "blows", however, can elect to do as many of you clearly have done:

A man's [woman's] discretion makes him [her] slow to anger,

And it is his [her] glory to overlook a transgression.

Proverbs 19:11, NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Reference Edition

I have truly benefited from your words, your wisdom borne of pain.

Never again a "victim",

Compound-Complex