Posts by eyeslice

13

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 1-23-05 WT Study (Abbreviated)

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the 1-23-05 wt study (december 15, 2004)

help through holy spirit.

in bible times, how did jehovah provide help through fellow believers?.

eyeslice

Has the WTS even approached spreading the Kingdom message through the now known world? What about China, India, and Muslim countries? Are they keeping up with the population growth even?
w65 9/15 pp. 575-576 Questions from Readers ***
Since millions of persons in China and other places have never heard the Kingdom message, will these people be preserved through the destruction of Babylon the Great and the war of Armageddon, or perhaps be resurrected later??H.S., U.S.A.

This was always one of my biggest concerns about JW theology. Then again the title of the article is 'Jehovah is our Helper', which in JW terms really means; Jehovah is the Helper of Jehovah's Witnesses'.

Eyeslice

48

Beatles or Rolling Stones Fan, which were/are you?

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

perhaps you have to be one of those who grew up in the 60's to really appreciate this thread, but then my kids love 60's music too.

who did you think were the best, the beatles or the rolling stones?

is there a bit of a psychological angle here too?

eyeslice

Good to see George Harrison getting a mention - he certainly seems to have been the most spiritual of all the Beatles. I was really sad to hear of his untimely death.

I was once trying to buy a set guitar strings in Delhi and wandered into a back street music shop. Over the counter was a picture of George Harrison with a slightly younger version of the shop owner; the photo had been taken a few years previous. It was the shop where George had bought the sitar he played on the Beatles albums.

Eyeslice

48

Beatles or Rolling Stones Fan, which were/are you?

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

perhaps you have to be one of those who grew up in the 60's to really appreciate this thread, but then my kids love 60's music too.

who did you think were the best, the beatles or the rolling stones?

is there a bit of a psychological angle here too?

eyeslice

I see Led Zepplin are sort of attempting a take over bid here - I would say they were more on the rebellious side!

Eyeslice

48

congregational cliques

by chuckyy in

it was my experience during my 13 yrs as a jw that congregations usually had a social clique.

in other words, there would be a group of people in a congregation that would only associate (and sometimes only go out on field service too) with people within that social clique.

if you were in the clique, fine.

eyeslice

Cliques - of course there are. I am sad to say I didn't realise this when I was in but as soon as I stepped down as being an elder (not removed mind), I suddenly found myself out in the cold.

Again, cliques and the associated hierarchy are part of the control mechanism of high control organizations.

Eyeslice

48

Beatles or Rolling Stones Fan, which were/are you?

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

perhaps you have to be one of those who grew up in the 60's to really appreciate this thread, but then my kids love 60's music too.

who did you think were the best, the beatles or the rolling stones?

is there a bit of a psychological angle here too?

eyeslice

Perhaps you have to be one of those who grew up in the 60's to really appreciate this thread, but then my kids love 60's music too.

Who did you think were the best, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones? Is there a bit of a psychological angle here too? The Beatles were the sort of lads your granny probably would have liked (yes, I know, they got into drugs and things but you know what I mean); the Rolling Stones - a lot more rebellious.

Me? I'll answer last

Peace man - Eyeslice

10

Why don't JW's Fast ????

by Why Georgia in

jw
friends

.

there are references in the bible to jesus fasting and prayfully meditating.. so my question then is why don't jehovahs witnesses as an organization ask their members to fast?.

why don't you ever hear about fasting at the kh?.

eyeslice

The official line is that there is no reason why an individual may not choose to fast. Personally, I don't see this as a big issue myself.

Watchtower 1996 - 11/15
Decision-making by bodies of elders in the early Christian congregation was sometimes accompanied by fasting. Today, congregation elders faced with difficult decisions, perhaps in connection with a judicial case, may abstain from food while considering the matter.
Choosing to fast in certain circumstances is an individual decision. One person should not judge another on this matter. We should not want to "appear righteous to men"; nor should we make food so important that it interferes with our caring for serious obligations. (Matthew 23:28; Luke 12:22, 23) And the Bible shows that God neither requires that we fast nor prohibits us from fasting.

Eyeslice

5

Huge Assembly in Bangalore - is this exploitation?

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

when the service began shortly after dark, official estimates placed the number of people who had already found their place in the vast area at more than 1.5 million.

as the 2,100-voice choir began to minister, the people kept streaming into the area, and by the time the service was less than an hour old, more than 2 million were lifting their hands and praising god.

benny hinn is currently in india preaching to hundreds of thousands of people.

eyeslice

As far as I can gather he is making the claim that the India exercise is being paid for from his own mission funds, hence it probably isn't being seen as financially exploiting the poor of India.

However, the exploitation I was thinking of is the religious and emotional one.

Eyeslice

24

Reinstatement procedure

by Pebbles RC in

does anyone out there know the procedure to being reinstated?

i have been df'd for almost 5 years now and i'm considering... possibly getting reinstated.

however, i have been to a few meetings in the last few weeks and i am constantly ignored (i thought the elders were allowed to talk to me... there are at least 10 elders) also, i enquired about getting a bible study and was told that i could not have a bible study because df'd people do not get studied with.

eyeslice

Hi Pebbles,

Doubtfully Yours has summarised it very well. Everything in JW land is all a bit of a game and you have to know the rules.

Please ignore some of the more negative comments about never going back. Many of us here have very sounds reasons, such as close family still Jws. for not wanting to be shunned. If that is your reason, then play their game, get re-instated and do whatever you feel comfortable with afterwards. Why people made such efforts to get re-instated and then were never seen again at any more meetings was a topic that often came up at elders meetings but the there is nothing the body of elders can do about it.

Eyeslice

27

How did you feel about "apostates" when you were a devout JW?

by booker-t in

jw
friends

when i was a devout jw i would literally look at "apostates" picketing the assemblies and want to spit at them because i hated them that much and felt that they were of satan.

i remember one time i saw an "apostate" walking from the assembly and a friend of mine an myself were actually talking about confronting him and telling him off.

i just cannot believe how much i hated "apostates" when i was a jw.

eyeslice

I was always very wary of the reasons given to avoid apostates.

I have always been of the opinion of that the truth is always strong than the lie. In other words, whatever apostates can come with, there should always be a clear truth that would expose it. The closed nature of JWs only shows they have some thing to hide.

Eyeslice

29

Would Jesus shun anyone?

by JH in

jw
friends

i can't imagine jesus shunning anyone.

on the contrary, he went towards those who needed help the most.

if the jw's followed jesus footsteps, they wouldn't shun.

eyeslice

No - the whole shunning thing is a JW dogma not a Bible directive.

As far as I can see, Jesus had nothing but sympathy and kind words for his betrayer, Judas. During my departure from the JWs, I argued that Jesus always treated individuals with dignity and kindness. Where Jesus had strong words, it was against the attitude and action of 'groups', e.g. the Pharisees, money changers; not any individual within that group.

Shunning is used by cults to maintain power and control over the rank and file.

Eyeslice