I agree WingCommander , something just doesn`t ring true.
How about some explanations James Jack to clarify some of your comments,? So as their is no misunderstanding ?
smiddy
i ran into my old bible study at the kingdom hall recently, he was baptized as a jw 8 years ago.
we started talking about small things and catching up about our families and then the bombshell.. "my wife and i are deeply troubled by the watchtower change of doctrine, prophecy, and their history"!
"did you know about charles russell and his failed marriage... his view of pyramids... generation mistakes... and dates... that place in california for returning prophets..."and on and on he went.. i told him i knew all about it and then show him a publication on display in the foyer (i think it is divine plan of the ages), and it had a fold out of a pyramid and a description on bible verses that showed 1914 was the year the big a was going to happen.
I agree WingCommander , something just doesn`t ring true.
How about some explanations James Jack to clarify some of your comments,? So as their is no misunderstanding ?
smiddy
http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20131115/seven-shepherds-eight-dukes/.
from paragraph 17-. at that time, the life-saving direction that we receive from jehovah’s organization may not appear practical from a human standpoint.
all of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.. i think i know what the instructions will be.it's nothing new.
That quote from that magazine should have been a wake up call to every Jehovah`s Witness regardless of their intellect .
It should have been a red flag waving frantically at all members ,
"Get out of her my people if you don`t want to share in her sins "
Any lurkers here should look up the typical signs of what constitutes a cult , you may be surprised at how many fit the Jehovah`s Witness Religion .
Just saying
smiddy
They are becoming more mainstream everyday , whats next ,
your conscience decision on the cross or a stake ?
To take a blood transfusion or not ?
How about tithing ?
Island Man , has summed it up nicely .
Just to add : Approving / Endorsing of Celebrities such as Prince ? Music Idols , Sports Idols , the Williams sisters , never mind they may not be baptized they have invoked Jehovah and their Witness faith , and the Society has kept it`s mouth shut.
I believe Alec Rance is treated like a celebrity here in Melbourne Aust. being a J.W.in good standing and a professional footballer for the Richmond Tigers in the AFL code.You don`t reach this level unless you spend years in dedication and training to get their. And as his contract comes up for review , he plays the card of possibly leaving the code to pursue his faith ........yeah right...... you guessed it he signed a lucrative contract to remain a footballer
What happened to the Scriptual injunction not to be competitive ? Our children were discouraged from playing team sports , or any other sport for that matter ,during the 60`s to 90`s .
smiddy
i am a male, born into the jw cult(ure), baptized as a teen, now mid fifties.
most of my life i dreamed of hugging pandas and lions, punctuated at times by nightmares of armageddon or jw drama and politics.
still going through the motions for still-in wife.
Dreamerdude
G`day mate and welcome to the TTATT. Obviously you have been lurking for a long time and i`m glad you have taken the step to post.
Posters from all over the world here do offer words of wisdom sadly lacking at J.W. H.Q.`s
I wish you well as far as your wife is concerned in waking up , we all have different experiences as to what woke us up.
Their is always hope.
Take care
smiddy
250 million years ago a plume of molten basalt gushed up from the earth's core.
it erupted in an area now known as the siberian traps - back then it was part of the supercontinent pangaea.
a curtain of lava a mile high and hundreds of miles long lit up the sky.
What i would think would be a typical creationist response. and creationists correct me if I am wrong.
Cofty ,I am playing the devils Advocate here :
Creationist . 250 million years ago ? Oh , ? were you an eye-witness ? Nobody can say with any certainty what happened 1 million years ago let alone 250 million years ago.
Then all the rest you suppose happened is just pure speculation that cannot be substantiated by actual facts ,
What you propose are theories based on evidence you believe supports your view , I would think creationists would have theories that support their view on the available evidence they can rely on .
Just as their are a multitude of Christian beliefs , I guess their could be a multitude of Creationist views also
You list seven major points in Earths cycle with percentages and degrees that cannot be substantiated by facts due to the time involved .
As for your last point :
For creationists they pose an impossible dilemma ?
I wait with baited breath
Of course i stand to be corrected by both sides of this post where need be.
smiddy
3:1 then the word of the lord came to jonah a second time: 2 “go to the great city of nineveh and proclaim to it the message i give you.”3 jonah obeyed the word of the lord and went to nineveh.
now nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.
4 jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “forty more days and nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 the ninevites believed god.
The majority of Jehovah`s Witnesses and I am speaking of the rank and file publishers who would average 10 hours a month going from door to door for the bulk of their life , say 20-30 years preaching would not gain one convert in all the time they have witnessed door to door.
I was preaching for 33 years and I never gained one convert in the door to door work , however I gained a few converts with family and thankfully none are in the religion anymore except one niece ,sadly.
A congregation of 100 witnesses spends on average 10 hours a month , how many interested people from all that witnessing come to the Kingdom hall , more often than not.?....... none.
Multiply this by thousands of congregations in any Country and what do you get.........not much
smiddy
609 african independent charismatic.
black american apostolic.
african independent charismatic.
Christians cherry pick the positive things Jesus Christ says , and his followers attribute to him and his teachings in the Bible , however they conveniently ignore the negative things he says and his followers attribute to him and his teachings in the Bible.
It`s all in the Bible to see Bible students.
Last count I heard their were over 40,000 christian sects ,and obviously some are offshoots of C.T.Russell`s early movement and the Jehovah`s Witness religion , especially in the Phillpines .
smiddy
ours started out with matt.
25:23. he brought out that "good and faithful slave" was talking about the anointed but wait for it.........yes the principle can be applied to our cong.
well tonight it was about getting all the territories worked once a year.
They only cover their territory once a year ? GEEEEzus , I`d be ashamed to admit that .
In a congregation I was in 25 years ago we covered our territory about once every 5 months ,admittedly it was saturated with publishers 20 miles north of Brisbane ,Aust.
I dreaded going back over the same territory with the current offer when only last week we covered it with the magazines.
No wonder my hours dropped off to about 5 or 6 a month.
smiddy
zalkin proposing huge sanctions if jw leadership fails to produce documents.
unredacted this time!
feds need to get involved with this.
"Everyone should obey the law."....cha ching., true my friend ,
however the governing body has lawyers that employ theocratic warfare to find loopholes in the law that they can exploit for their benefit , there by negating a said law.
Is that even ethical ? for a Christian religion ? or even moral ?
A tactic that Jehovah`s Witnesses employ .
"Theocratic Warfare ":.....
Definition:,
Withholding information from one who is not entitled to know that information , such as law enforcement officers if it is not mandatory for them to have that information .
or if opposers seek information they are not entitled to have.....Then it`s O.K. to mislead them indirectly .
Deflecting questions while under investigation if your answer would have an adverse affect on the organization .Play dumb. { not hard to do }
Have selective memory
Have no memory at all of the said event..
Play dumb again.
smiddy
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/apr/24/ticker-tough-build-jehovahs-witness-sex-abuse-case.
tough to build jehovah's witness sex-abuse case.
11. without documents, says plaintiff, he can’t get justice.
What the Pope says and what the Catholic church does can be two different things.
What the spokesperson for Jehovah`s Witnesses says { We abhor child sexual abuse }
and what the Jehovah`s witnesses do in practice is another matter.
smiddy