Posts by garybuss

23

Who Is Held Accountable?

by Funchback in

i am having a difficult time understanding something.

the bible says that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and unrighteous.

the jws apply this teaching as though the resurrection is an earthly one.

Hi Brian,

I also love the teaching that says that Witnesses will not be held responsible by God for practicing sins like, celebrating Christmas or be held responsible for teaching false teachings, like "this generation" refers to people alive in 1914, as long as they got those ideas and behaviors from the Watch Tower Publishing Corporation. That loyalty to the Corporation equals spiritual amnesty.

Or how about the doctrine of family merit, that says salvation will be granted to non-fertile children based on a parent's association with a book publishing corporation and all judged by the parent's level of unpaid literature distribution and ritual sales meeting attendance.

Thanks for the thread. I have enjoyed it.
***

Hi Robyn,

you wrote:

"Why can't the JWs see the insane delusions of the organization?"

I think the era of the blind true believer is ending with this generation in the Western world. Some may continue to be theists but the success of groups like the Witnesses and the End Time groups will decline as the superstition of theism is examined and discarded as is the current trend.

I think the reason it (Witnessism) works now is that so many WANT it to be true. The Witnesses are promising immortality. That's a huge claim and so bold as to be rejected by pragmatists. That's another reason the Watch Tower Publishing Corporation wants to keep the people poor and ignorant. Wealthy people are somewhat less inclined to be discontent with the nature of life itself like the Witness poor, and educated people have the tools to protect themselves from the hooks, the pegs, and the scams of exploitive religious groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Best wishes, and thanks for being here.

gary

The Way I See it http://www.freeminds.org/buss/buss.htm

8

Embarrassment

by JH in

jw
friends

at first, when you starting studying with the witnesses, were you ashamed of being part of that religion?

were you afraid that your neighbors would see you leave all dressed up with a suitcase?

how about at work, did you reveal to your colleagues that your were a witness?.

garybuss

Hi JH, All,

I was not proud to be a Witness and a lot of others were not either. The lady who had the Tuesday night literature study in her home would not go out in the door to door literature distribution work in her own neighborhood and was scared to death to be recognized as one of us.

One of my fantasies as a child was that my parents would announce no more Jehovah's Witness meetings and unpaid literature distribution. Another was my real parents, a nice couple, would come and get me an give me a better life away from the craziness and the religious rituals and the embarrassment of being required to be an outcast in school.

Of course I announced to my parents I was no longer a believer in the Watch Tower Corporation as an adult with the predictable results. I'm glad it's all over. It was all terrible.

gb

21

WTS and donations

by freedom96 in

jw
friends

many christian type religions, organized or not, believe in giving 10% like was done in the old days in the bible.

you even have the mormons, who must give 10%.. as money hungry as the wts is, why have they not gone for that as well?

they can always justify anything for any reason.

garybuss

Freedom Wrote:

As money hungry as the WTS is, why have they not gone for that as well?

It's because the churches ONLY look for 10%. The Watch Tower Corporation is going for it ALL! 100% Think about it:-)

Best wishes, and thanks for starting the thread. It's a very good subject.

gb

34

DF'ed for Organ Transplants?

by NeonMadman in

.

i'm in a discussion with a jw who is claiming that the society never actually prohibited organ transplants between 1967 and 1980. she has read the 1967 article, but feels that, since the article does not specifically state that anyone taking a transplant will be disfellowshipped, that it was simply discouraged, but not prohibited.. can anyone help with a reference demonstrating that jw's could be df'ed during that period for accepting a transplant?

garybuss

Hi JT,

We were faithful like children. We were trusting and we never had to defend our beliefs from critics. We just gladly accepted the information as it was presented to us and looked forward to the soon to come, promised rewards. The meetings were sometimes long and the seats were hard and I often didn't understand the atypical examples or the formulas involved in the timelines. It was all temporary and soon we would be living in leisure and comfort in the new world.

The assaults and the harassments came from within, from elders, from convention attendants, from circuit servants, from the brothers. The more I tried to reconcile what I was seeing and the more I asked for explanations for the way I was being treated, the worse it got. They made leaving easy.

gb

23

Who Is Held Accountable?

by Funchback in

i am having a difficult time understanding something.

the bible says that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and unrighteous.

the jws apply this teaching as though the resurrection is an earthly one.

garybuss

Hi Brian,

My favorite Witness teaching might be that the seven trumpets of Revelation were the seven Jehovah's Witness District assemblies from 1922 to 1928, starting with Cedar Point, Ohio and ending with Detroit, Michigan.

My second favorite is the one that says Jesus inspected all the religions of the world and their teachings and chose the International Bible Students Association in 1919 because they were teaching the truth. Of course virtually everything they taught then, except the dis-beliefs, has since been rejected and a Witness today who teaches the things that Jesus approved in 1919 would be disfellowshipped for apostasy. Hahahaha

Studying the Witnesses is a bit like trying to make sense out of a maze, there is only one right path and that leads you out.

gb

The Way I See it http://www.freeminds.org/buss/buss.htm

18

Masonic Temple Used for Worship by JWs

by blondie in

representatives of the jehovah's witnesses didn't show.

but their work on the former masonic temple at 385 broadway was praised by the commission's executive director, michael wing.. the jehovah's witnesses are cleaning up, repainting and refurbishing the temple in a way that meets their needs for worship but doesn't despoil the building's original intent, said wing.

a large masonic symbol in ornate floor tile has been covered with a circular rug, he said.

garybuss

Hi blondie,

Thanks for the information. I always appreciate your posts. Glad you are here.

When I was being raised by my Witness parents and taken to meetings and assemblies, the location of meeting places and the compromises those meetings in those places implied, did not occur to me. One favorite meeting place for assemblies was a National Guard armory. The flags stayed and they were simply ignored. The glass front military displays in the lobbies had literature sales tables set up in front of them. The fenced side lot was stocked with camouflage green tanks, trucks and huge guns on trailers. All seemingly ignored by all.

So, it is okay to clean the Armory restrooms when there is an assembly held there, but it is a sin if the same Witness cleans the same restroom in the same Armory but is paid by the US Government.

The issue of separation as a conflict is no more highlighted by anything in the Witness lawbooks, to me, than the ritual of marriage. A Witness couple can commit, have a Witness minister marry them complete with vows, but be put on trial by the elders if they refuse to go to the Courthouse and get a secular marriage license and register it signed with the State. The State that they teach is a symbol of Satan's earthly organization.

I guess the principle of not appearing to compromise, is dispensed with if it benefits the group leaders.

Thanks again for your friendly posts.

gb

The Way I See it http://www.freeminds.org/buss/buss.htm

28

What is the WORST job you ever had?

by gilwarrior in

jw
friends

yes, more fluff!.

well my worst two jobs had to be when i lived in mexico about three years ago.

i got a job as a telemarketer.

garybuss

Eh? Worse job? . . . . Unpaid religious literature sales. No question!

gb

52

CALLING ALL BIKER TRASH!

by MYOHNSEPH in

jw
friends

from some of the posts i've seen, animal and i aren't the only 'biker trash' here.

i'll show you mine, if you'll show me yours!

garybuss

Hi MYOHNSEPH, All,

My dad bought my brother and I doodlebug scooters when I was 10 or so. Then a Cushman scooter when I was about 14. When I was 18 I bought a '48 Harley 74 hardtail panhead. The first summer I had it I rode it 7000 miles. That was 1963. I had that 74 for 5 years and sold it when I got married to make a down payment on a trailer house.

In 1991 I bought a Goldwing and had 3 different ones over the next 9 years. I rode the west coast in '94 and Skyline drive and the Blueridge Parkway and Natchez Trace in '95, all with my wife on the back pulling a popup camper.

We did Yellowstone, Glacier, Bear Tooth, much of the Mississippi river through Iowa and Wisconsin and the north shore drive to Thunder Bay several times. All total, I did Skyline Drive twice and the Blueridge three times.

I sold the last bike 2 years ago. I still have the pop up camper.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

gb

31

How many times in front of a committee??

by refiners fire in

jw
friends

geesh.

lets see.

when i got baptized the first time.

garybuss

I summoned all the elders I know to a public meeting to answer my charges against them and NONE of them showed.

I would love to meet with them. My place, my time! Cameras on, tape rolling.

They are gutless wimps.

gb

103

Keeping it in perspective

by Torn in

i've just joined up to silentlambs.

basically i still consider myself a jw, although i'm no longer active.

i do frequent the odd sunday meeting tho, as i still consider 95% of it to be the truth.

garybuss

Frank,

I have appreciated reading your posts and I am impressed with your intellect and manner. Thank you for posting here.

You wrote:

I think it's very sad indeed that some JWs and ex-JWs really believe that the WT Society is reformable.

It seems to me the Watch Tower Corporation has sold the concept of their own reform above all others. "Re-form", to form again. The Watch Tower Conglomerate's almost constant change (reform) is unlike any religion I have studied of it's size. About the only things that remain constants are the dis-beliefs like hell, soul, and trintiy, which are easy to maintain and sell as beliefs.

While I was a group member we used to look forward to the latest publication to see what the latest installment of "reform" was. We drove to the assemblies to hear the latest "reform". The Watch Tower Corporation has publishes volumes on the subject of their own "reform". Their Proclaimers book is nothing but a history of their re-form. The appointment doctrine is a "reform" teaching.

When Witnesses are dissatisfied with some element in the Corporate structure the Circuit Overseers and the elders encourage them to wait on Jehovah. What they are really saying it to wait for "re-form". Wait until the Society "reforms" and takes a form that is more to your liking, reforms and is just, reforms and is honest, reforms and allows blood medical treatment, reforms and quits shunning, and on and on . . .

The only need for a spirit channeler, like the Watch Tower Corporation owners claim to be, is to channel the reform. If reform ended, the Watch Tower Corporation would, according to their own literature, have no purpose.

All the teaching of Armageddon offers is the reform of the earth . . . an earth that the Watch Tower Society will control and cultivate and reform.

So is it any wonder a current or former Witness would look for reform of the Watch Tower Society? Your comments please.

Thanks again for your insight and rational comments. My best wishes to you.

gb

The Way I See it http://www.freeminds.org/buss/buss.htm