Posts by civicsi00

69

Can't speak with me, unless they need something

by Stan Conroy in

jw
friends

after many, many years outside of the jw world, my elderly parents finally decided to give me an ultimatum.

i either rejoin the jw's or they will never speak with me again.

apparently my brother is going to get the same choice.

civicsi00

Speaking about "Excommunication", consider the following from the January 8, 1947 Awake!, pages 27, 28:

"This is "canon law" which the Roman Catholic Hierarchy seeks to enforce on the pretext that it is God's law. The authority for excommunication, they claim, is based on the teachings of Christ and the apostles... But the Hierarchy's excommunication, as a punishment and "medicinal" remedy finds no support in these scriptures. In fact, it is altogether foreign to Bible teachings... Where, then, did this practice originate? The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that papal excommunication is not without pagan influence, 'and its variations cannot be adequately explained unless account be taken of several non-Christian analogues of excommunication.' "

So in 1947, excommunication (or disfellowshipping) found no support in scripture... yet the WT now says it's OK??

19

First Century Jehovah's Witnesses

by cameo-d in

what proof does wt cite that the formation of jw movement began in "first century"?.

did the grassroots originate before jesus came on the scene?

or was it during the time of his ministry?

civicsi00

What Blondie and Journey-on said.

IMO, the WT twists and pulls stories out of several arses in order to appear as if they are the only true religion. They put out so many stories, that it can be hard to keep up with. For example, they say the first "witness" was Abel. Ok. But then they teach that there's only been one "true organization" on earth that Jehovah has used. Ok. But then they also say that Jehovah is using a "faithful and discreet slave" class of people to feed the sheeple. Soo... which is it?? It's all three of them!

I have a headache...

53

Long term effects of Armageddon images

by Lady Lee in

someone i know is having a hard time with anxiety attacks.

she hasn't been a jw since a teen.

recently she has started seeing a therapist.

civicsi00

I grew up with the images in the "you can live forever on a paradise earth" book. But there was one book that really terrified me, and I'm not even sure what it's called right now (it's an old one). I think it had images of hell of some sort. I'm gonna have to research it, come to think of it...

This affected me a lot, because I feared dying at Armageddon. I thought for sure my family wasn't going to make it because we weren't very spiritual (active) in the congregation.

It's definitely very hard to get over, and it could take many years.

24

What I love about "worldly" Bibles

by civicsi00 in

jw
friends

when i was still a witness, i used to peek into "worldly" bibles just to see if there were any differences.

what i really loved about these so-called "worldly" bibles was that some of them changed the font color of jesus' words to red.

i always wished the society would bring more emphasis to jesus' words, maybe just putting them in bold or something.. anyone else ever feel this way?.

civicsi00

Hmm, using 3 different colours (for the Father, Son, HS) wouldn't be a bad idea! Is there such a Bible out there? I wonder...

I'd always been under the impression that, post-ascension, He had humans speak for Him. That little shocker started me on the road to questioning the validity of the FDS.

Snowbird- One of the texts that I noticed (and contradicts the idea of the "FDS") was this one from Hebrews 1:1, 2:

"In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe." (NIV) (emphasis mine)

To me, if there were such a "faithful and discreet slave" class of people in the 1st century, this would have been the PERFECT opportunity to point it out. But we see that in order to approach God, we must go through Jesus.

It sad to see how JW's truly believe (and most of us did here, too) that they "know" the Bible. But they only know whatever the WT has deceived them to know. And it's been twisted out of context to the point that a JW has to use WT magazines to explain what they believe.

13

Just heard a great one from my JW brother...

by tenyearsafter in

jw
friends

one of my nephews just was married and i was invited to the wedding on the day of the wedding (not the reception of course)!

i thanked him for the invite but declined so as to not make the day uncomfortable for my nephew and his new bride.

my other nephew (the brother of the groom), who is df'ed, went and said he was treated like a dead man walking.

civicsi00

I loathe the way the WT organization inserts itself into FAMILY like this. Since when does being a family member dependent on which religious organization you belong to?

I liked Mouthy's response best...

24

What I love about "worldly" Bibles

by civicsi00 in

jw
friends

when i was still a witness, i used to peek into "worldly" bibles just to see if there were any differences.

what i really loved about these so-called "worldly" bibles was that some of them changed the font color of jesus' words to red.

i always wished the society would bring more emphasis to jesus' words, maybe just putting them in bold or something.. anyone else ever feel this way?.

civicsi00

When I was still a Witness, I used to peek into "worldly" Bibles just to see if there were any differences. What I really LOVED about these so-called "worldly" Bibles was that some of them changed the font color of Jesus' words to RED. I always wished the Society would bring more emphasis to Jesus' words, maybe just putting them in Bold or something.

Anyone else ever feel this way?

(By the way, I can see that if the Society DID do this, it would probably bring more people OUT of the "truth" than bring them in... Jesus said some very powerful, meaningful things...)

58

Jehovah created Jesus? Jesus is "a god" and "mighty god"? Consider these...

by Chalam in

good to see all the thread on jesus recently :).

10 "you are my witnesses," declares the lord, .

"and my servant whom i have chosen, .

civicsi00

Colton, it's Hebrews 1:8 (just to clarify).

5

A JW Baptism

by kurtbethel in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxmv85wjgbc.

civicsi00

Sad, ain't it?

61

A Secret about DF'ing that Elders will NEVER tell you.

by Amazing in

jw
friends

when i discussed this with some ex-jws in the past, they have pointed out to me that the following is not done in actual pracrice.

of course it is not done in practrice ... that is why i referred to it as a "secret" because elders do not normally disclose such information, either because they fear its effect, or because they have not thoroughly paid attention to the "pay attention" book.

in this post, i am not arguing about actual practice ... rather what the undisclosed, withheld, secretive information is ... and how being armed may allow """some""" jws to relax their conscience.. a secret that elders will not openly tell you.

civicsi00

New Flock book coming out?? How soon can we get a scan?!

If you tried to pull something on the elders during a JC, especially something out of THEIR Flock book, I imagine they'd immediately turn on you like the ravenous wolves they are.

There's no point arguing over fictitious beliefs during a JC. Let it go.

If you want to keep family, fade and/or move far away.

If you don't care about family, fade and let them D/F you.

26

Wasn't it the BEST when the speaker DIDN'T SHOW for the Public Talk?

by lurk3r in

jw
friends

and all we had to do was sit thorugh the watchtower sudy?

it was a jw christmas!.

civicsi00

I think it only happened twice in my whole lifetime. It was the BEST feeling when they didn't show (I did feel slightly guilty for feeling relieved)...until they showed up so the public talk went on as planned after the magazine study.