Posts by OnTheWayOut

22

Could this be the future for the Watchtower?

by C0ntr013r in

been researching the mormons a little since they are quite similar to the jws.

they have a similar webpage and many videos to "help" the mormons in their faith.

i found this video done by abc4 news:.

OnTheWayOut

A huge difference between Mormons and JW's is in counting membership. JW's still count those "publisher's record cards" for their numbers. So their numbers are of active members. But there may be quite a bit of cheating on those numbers. Peak numbers would include counting the same person more than once when they turn in more than one slip for current and past months. Peak numbers include the elderly that they decide must still be counted so someone turns in a slip for them. Peak numbers include parents that never go out in recruiting but turn in a slip for their home study with the kids, and others who never go out but turn in an hour.

Also, a huge percentage of JW numbers would be over 50 years old (many way over that) and there just aren't numbers coming in to replace them as they die. So they are in a similar situation as the Mormons, but may be a decade or two behind before it reaches a critical point of shrinking membership. Yes, that could be the future for the Watchtower.

9

What does it mean to be inactive??

by DATA-DOG in

well, i sat through day 1 or the "imitate jesus" convention.

they released the new brochure for inactive ones.

while no tomo-esque rants took place, it seems that the official policy is that "inactivity" merits the death sentence.

OnTheWayOut

If being "inactive" and attending no meetings led to being automatically disassociated, I would go to the kingdom hall in my best t-shirt and shorts with sandals about once every 5 months (don't want to slip and let it get to 6 and they say that's close enough) and arrive late in the Sunday talk, sit in the front, and during the Watchtower meeting go to the back and say "Who should I turn in this time slip (1 hour) to for this month?"

42

GeeJay at the RC: highlights, paraphrases and translations.

by sparrowdown in

q: is there anyone that has the permanent role of coordinator or chairman?.

geejay: no, we rotate yearly...... (translaton) we are all sparticus.. geejay: we are a faith driven org, we are not a group of lawyers, being overly concerned with legal matters..... fave quotes .

on establishing headship principle 1cor 14: 33-35, 1 cor 11:3. geejay:...... that's talking about women not excitedly jumping up arguing with others..... geejay: ......our literature has said it, and we agree!.

OnTheWayOut

I would kinda like women to be excitedly jumping up during meetings.

19

Is Jackson embarrassed to be a JW?

by Doubting Bro in

jw
friends

i listened to the majority of jackson's part one testimony and it seems apparent to me that he either:1) is embarrassed to be a jw or 2) doesn't really believe.

i've heard countless times from the platform and in print that we should be proud to be jws and take every opportunity to defend our beliefs.

yet, it seems jackson didn't even want to admit that he believed he was being directly used by jehovah to lead the congregation as his spokesman.

OnTheWayOut

Remember theocratic warfare and their always having two different answers for controversial stuff. For the high courts and kings of the world, "why, we are just elders gathered in Brooklyn from among thousands of anointed ones, and we just pray over matters the same as anyone can do."

12

How many Jehovahs witnesses do you think watched the royal commission

by Sabin in

do you think any jws watched the hearing to lend soupport to their gb member.

brother jackson?

OnTheWayOut

There were at least 6 G.B. members and 30 helpers that watched. A handful of lawyers and of course, G. Jackson's father. I imagine a high number of Australian JW's watched in secret. But not so many others.

33

Did you hear Stewart use the bible to prove an incredibly good point to Jackson!!

by umbertoecho in

i thought at the end, stewart made brilliant use of scripture (about establishing fornication or other sexually immoral practises) how, in such a clever way stewart used scripture to point out that some one could basically stake out someone's house to see if a person stayed over night be they homosexual or heterosexual............that on the basis of a sort of stakeout, the two witness rule was ambivalent yet it prevailed.

due to sufficient suspicion.. and therefore why did this "suspicion" not prevail with child sexual abuse.

OnTheWayOut

Jackson is doing well "in the eyes of Jehovah's Witnesses." He's ducking and weaving and they will be proud of him. But he is pissing these RC folks off and I think the outcome will be damning to Watchtower because they are not really willing to do anything to prevent child abuse in the Good Ole Boys Club in the future beyond mandatory reporting. The RC wants to protect children. The RC will see that if the perpetrator is a male JW, particularly an elder, that the Governing Body is not willing to change policy enough to make the child feel safer coming forward with an allegation.

Jackson wants them to institute mandatory reporting and be done with the matter. I think he will be in for a letdown.

33

Did you hear Stewart use the bible to prove an incredibly good point to Jackson!!

by umbertoecho in

i thought at the end, stewart made brilliant use of scripture (about establishing fornication or other sexually immoral practises) how, in such a clever way stewart used scripture to point out that some one could basically stake out someone's house to see if a person stayed over night be they homosexual or heterosexual............that on the basis of a sort of stakeout, the two witness rule was ambivalent yet it prevailed.

due to sufficient suspicion.. and therefore why did this "suspicion" not prevail with child sexual abuse.

OnTheWayOut

Stewart also did a fine job of talking about how the woman raped in the field did not have two witnesses and yet her assailant was stoned to death, so the Bible already has examples that violate JW rules.

100

GB member Geoffrey Jackson is lying!

by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

okay, i know the royal commission hasn't started yet.

but i'm confident enough that he will be telling some whoppers.

so i thought i'd be the first to get a thread started for something that will begin... very soon now!.

OnTheWayOut

I'm getting that ultimately, no one takes responsibility for wrong information-because every last one of 'em can slough it off on another department.

Yup.

He said something to the effect that "We don't typically direct the branch on local decisions!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InaRIYFPMiY

He was asked, "Do you (as an organization) support corporal punishment?" He directly said no after first trying to dodge such a question and refer to the family for such decisions. Previously, he tried to say that the "rod" in the Bible was symbolic of discipline and not a literal rod.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InaRIYFPMiY

22

Advice on Waiting for Jehovah

by Anon_SA1 in

jw
friends

hi guys, .

in discussions with a current jw, they told me that have big concerns with regards to the 607 bce date, but they are waiting on jehovah for refining.

any suggestions on questions to pose to them based on their feedback?.

OnTheWayOut

I will adapt a "Christendom" joke to the "Waiting on Jehovah" idea.

This terrible flooding occurred in conjunction with Hurricane Katrina and one man in his 70's decided that he would not simply abandon his home in the flood zone because "the lord will provide." When the police car showed up to help him out before the roads were impassible, he said "I am staying. The lord will provide." Eventually, he was on the second floor because the water rose so high. A boat pulled up to his window and a man tried to talk him into leaving. "No, thanks. The lord will provide." So later, he's on the roof and another boat goes by with the same outcome. Finally, he's on the chimney and a helicopter pilot on the loudspeaker says "We'll send you a rope." He pushes off the rope and says "The lord will provide."

Well, he drowned. At the pearly gates, he asks St. Peter why the lord did not provide. St. Peter says "According to my records, the lord sent a police car, two boats, and a helicopter. I think he provided."

So maybe an answer to "We will wait on Jehovah" could include how current research can be Jehovah's clear answer. "Maybe Jehovah is telling you that 607 is wrong and everything based on 607 is wrong."

13

How does the WTS view 'ancient humans' (i.e. fossils assigned to the genus Homo)?

by LoveUniHateExams in

having read i love ttatt's thread about evidence for humans living more than 6,000 years ago, i responded by using neanderthals and homo ergaster as evidence.

.

this got me thinking about the wt's current view on 'cavemen' (), etc.. so, how does the wts view 'ancient humans'?

OnTheWayOut

I will try to answer off the top of my head, and I hope it's close enough. They currently say very little about the subject as newer and newer evidence pours in. They lean on their old understandings and misconceptions that carbon dating is wrong because of the flood, DNA is real but only proves how marvelous Jehovah is while using it for backtracking anything is just 'theory,' there is only a small amount (about enough to fill a large coffin or footlocker) of actual fossils that reflect creatures that were not quite like modern humans. They said that science is driven by the need for funding and archaeology is full of nonsense theories and hoaxes and that the scant fossil evidence is largely from a few deformed or inbred human beings who are not millions of years old but miscalculated (because of the flood again), while the vast majority of normal fossils are simply ignored.

If they have any updates to this, I would be surprised. Even the Pope is backing down on this in the face of overwhelming new evidences and how well the Human Genome Project is filling in the blanks.