it is an often asked question i know, but it perplexes me.. if witnesses are so convinced that they have "the truth", why is the act of researching information from external sources so taboo?
didn't the bible itself tell people to "use their powers of reason" and also praised ones like the boreans for researching things they were told??.
seriously, if there is no doubt about the organization being "god's channel" on earth, and it alone having the "truth", surely researching would only enhance such 'facts'?.
The truth is...... Jehovahs Witnesses cant handle the truth ...... and thats the truth.
Edit to add : Jehovahs Witnesses have been conditioned to not think for themselves , they have been conditioned to only believe what the GB tells them to believe .
They claim they only believe the Bible ....,nonsence ,....why else would they change what they believe the Bible says when the GB says they have new light on a belief .....and then they change what they previously believed the Bible said.
let's start by saying that slavery is of course a terrible thing, one of the worst crimes imaginable, and that "slavery" rarely implies good treatment, anything noble or defensible.
nowadays, even god doesn't escape judgement from our enlightened views with passages about slavery in the bible usually glossed over because they are shameful.. but not all slavery was equal.. because of the media, movie industry, racial tensions in the us regularly shown on the news and our taught history, i think most people's knowledge and idea of slavery is that of the north atlantic slave trade where white people took africans to work in cotton fields.
this idea is probably also re-enforced because the largest group of descendents of slaves we see today are african americans (usually in the us or places they subsequently migrated to).. but it's incomplete.. it's only when you look into it more that you discover that there was much more to the slave trade than that, otherwise it would have been just called "the slave trade" and not "the north atlantic slave trade".. some 12.5 million slaves were taken from africa to the us with just under 11 million surviving the trip so it obviously took a terrible toll immediately, even before any maltreatment once they landed in the americas where conditions and treatment were truly awful.
Thanks for this topic its very interesting and informative.Another aspect I find about slavery is the treatment of women in the Muslim world , isnt this another form of slavery ?
The subjection of women to be less than 2nd class citizens having little or no rights in their own society , the genital mutilation that is rife against young females in their own lands and performed illegally in most other countries with inadequate laws enforced to end this abuse , yet condoned by their own culture and sadly by their own women.
And it always puzzeled me why the Bible never condemned slavery and actually condoned it.
a relative of mine was telling me, that in his, and a few neighboring congregations, there is a little confusion amongst some of the jw's about this "issue".
some families are having a hard time about whether certain relatives will be attending certain family functions, because some family members that are no longer in the "truth", might be invited to these functions.
mind you, these persons were never disfellowshipped.
Isnt marking a person in the congregation a form of shunning anyway ? and thats been going on for decades so I dont see anything really new about it.
Then again confusion about how to apply counsel JW`s are given has also been around for a long time it makes a mockery of "they all speak in agreement" BS.
One person is stumbled by some action or dress on your part but another one isnt one will mark you the other one wont.
Marking one is similar to shunning one., whats the difference.
so jesus said in acts 1:8 .... you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you,+ and you will be witnesses+ of me in jerusalem,+ in all ju·deʹa and sa·marʹi·a,+ and to the most distant part* of the earth.. .
witnesses of jesus and not jehovah.
so i was a witness for years.
Did the Jews in Isaiah`s day Isa.43:10-12 have any idea about a spiritual Israel ? Wouldnt they have understood naturally that scripture applied to them as a people ?
Yet they never took on the name Jehovah`s Witnesses or called themselves such
And Jesus never rebuked them for not doing so .
Their is not one scripture in the New Testament that says Jesus Disciples are to be witnesses of Jehovah yet their are about 30 that state his disciples are to be witnesses of Jesus.
Note : the name Jehovah didnt exist before the 13th Century it was represented by 4 Hebrew letters YHWH
and nowhere in the New Testament do these four Hebrew letters exist,so no "Jehovah" in the New Testament
i don't think for one moment i will ever be other than the person i am.
by that i mean i will be me, a kind person who has chosen a vocation as a nurse to help others, to comfort relatives, hold dying ones and just, well carry on as me.. now i'm 46. i love my mum, and even my dad.
he isn't all that bad nowadays.
Good for you bro.the world needs more compassionate caring people who do good for other people
You are fortunate that mom & dad didnt disown you as many others have done for not believing.
Take care S.R.
Edit to add: Watching that clip all I could see was the bethelites singing and dancing through Bethel with mops and toilet brushes and brooms. LOL
i have been doing research on the arc as some people on here have suggested.
i find it interesting on the case file analysis some of the findings.
it looks like queensland and new south wales had the biggest problems with this.
ioo6 cases of child sexual abuse handled by Jehovahs Witness judicial committe`s conducted by 3 Elders on each sitting equates to 3018 Elders who never reported them to any appropiate authority.
Child protection Authorities or the police
Thats the problem here not how many were JW`s in responsible positions or not who committed the acts ,the problem is 3018 Elders sought to cover up these crimes from the appropiate authorities.
Do you understand that R.O.?
we all know that one of the major advantages the society now has with everything being on its official website, is the ability to quickly change content when they desire.. so older articles that show them to have made mistakes, are simply re-written or edited...or even just deleted!
simple!
"nothing to see here...carry on".
So true anders A sometimes I too forget how insignificant they really are.
we all know that one of the major advantages the society now has with everything being on its official website, is the ability to quickly change content when they desire.. so older articles that show them to have made mistakes, are simply re-written or edited...or even just deleted!
simple!
"nothing to see here...carry on".
I wonder sometimes why other religious organizations dont call out the JW`s on their obvious backflips ,revising of their history and so forth and exposing them as frauds.
this post may be disturbing and i apologize, but i'm just trying to find out if this is a practice the jw teaches.
i was taken advantage of by a guy claiming to be a jw preacher.
he took me to his house supposedly so i could give his daughter piano lessons, and then he basically forced himself on me while telling me he was in love with me and wanted to marry me.
Sequoia has replied to my post saying it happened (then 5 days ago ) she has told a few people close to her and also the police. She hasnt pressed charges and she doesnt even know his last name .And she is 30 years old and she has known him for 18 months. And then she comes out she is disabled .
She says she has a hard time talking about it but comes on to a Discussion forum speaking to a lot of strangers ,opening up about personal details
She hasnt answered questions about what her friends or family have done regarding these allegations nor has she answered questions about what the police have done with her allegations.
Seeing she is disabled surely they would be taking it seriously ?
But even her initial question "Is This Normal JW Practice ?" beggars belief she is genuine
Prove me wrong Sequoia ,and I will be the first to apologise to you.
beardless jesus in watchtower publications between 1930s and 1960s.
a simple detail 'deliberately' left out.
the question is why?.
Appreciating the fact that Rutherford was against beards and the later appearnce of rebels/hippies against western society was attributed to many young people wearing beards coupled with revolutionaries of the 60`s-70`s ,the society came down hard on men wearing beards as if that was what they were supporting.
However what they are overlooking or playing down is the fact that the faithful men of old in the" Old Testament" were instructed by GOD to wear a beard and that it should be well trimmed/groomed.
If GOD ALMIGHTY instructed his male subjects/servants to wear a beard who are humans to go against his wishes ?
Their is no scripture in the New Testament to nullify that decree.
