last night, i went to my parents' house to wash clothes--or so i thought.
apparently, someone's been talking.
so...i get slammed for listening to people on the internet.
im a man of few words, but my comment is this: MOTHER FUCK sitting there for the annoucement. but thats just me, im not setting foot in another kingdom hall again, ever.
part of the disipline? LOL, those elders can only "disipline" you if they have power or authority of you, which they dont have.
that cracks me up that an elder would think that on an apostasy case. what a nut.
gb getting involved with pregnancy........... jwf.
ps.
please don't ask me for a pdf scan, as the copies i get are interbranch copies from the us branch with individual coding on them.
thanks WuzLovesDubs for the heads up. if that happens so be it, i'll glady get DF'd if it saves the life of my family. excuse my french, but fuck them.
the received wisdom is that the internet has dramatically damaged the ability of the watchtower society to gain and retain followers.
there was a very eloquent article to that effect written some time ago by a commentator who attempted to buttress his argument with reference to the postmodern condition and the breakdown of metanarratives in todays secular society, nay, even the come-back for enlightenment notions of truth.
in the 1970/80s there were major challenges to the watchtowers theology (great crowd in heaven) and chronology (1914) in norway, alberta canada, dublin ireland and in the newyork bethel itself: but the damage caused by those involved in the dissent was limited because knowledge was dispersed merely through personal contact and minimal use of obscure publications that seldom met the eyes of witnesses innocent of the watchtowers doctrinal and chronological vacillations in any case.
I would like to point out a post that Terry made in this thread that was almost prophetic. You can seen in 2010 that what he points to as a way the WTS can hurt itself is tightening its grip on the rank and file. That is exactly what has been happening in the past 2 years. The stuff that is going on now is insane, and people that i know who never would have considered leaving are, because the WTS is insane with their micromanaging. I feel the WTS is drunk with power and are crushing the rank and file in every aspect of their lives. This will keep the nut jobs in, and sift out any JW's with an ounce of liberal thinking. thats how i see it. here is Terry's post, I have to say between this post below and his post on debates, they are 2 of the best posts i've read on this board:
Terry's post: "The greatest danger to the Watchtower Society is that which they do to themselves by tightening the controls on the rank and file. By wringing every last drop of obedience and conformity from them, the FDS burns them out. The burnout reduces them to a cinder useless to their own selves, their family and to the Kingdom Hall.
Just like alcoholics, the mind-controlled Jehovah's Witness has to hit the very bottom of their existence to seek an alternative. Only the most empty-of-self non-person clings to the fantasy hopes of the New Order now. Busy-busy-busy....tired...sick...exhausted....faltering...WARNED!....slow...slower......DISFELLOWSHIPPED!The ranks of the EX-JW are a kind of corollary to this natural sifting process.The utter failure of Watchtower policies automatically increases the ranks of the Ex-JW. But, not all Ex-JW's become apostate!The craving of a person who has lost "self" is to be told what to do by an authority figure! That is how the churches will benefit from this winnowing process of Watchtower failure.Only the THINKING few who examine the cause of their plight will ever escape the mind-control destiny and become Apostate.From the state of Apostacy, only a few will linger to battle the giant feckless machine of Watchtowerdom.Such sites as this, The Jehovah's Witness Discussion Forum, afford a glimpse to the confused, the sick, the faltering and pig-headed. The glimpse is a damning one!Ultimately, only a thinking mind can see the way clear of control is to control yourself."
gb getting involved with pregnancy........... jwf.
ps.
please don't ask me for a pdf scan, as the copies i get are interbranch copies from the us branch with individual coding on them.
hey guys, my wife is expecting, i havent been to a meeting in about 1 and 1/2 years. do you think that they will try to find us to make sure my wife doesnt take blood in case of a problem? i guess im paranoid. i mean, they would have to call all the local hospitals and birth centers to find out if any jw's are there. i havent spoken to anyone from my hall for a year and a half. i am pretty much off the radar. i guess i have answered my own question. LOL.
if by chance while she is delevering they arrive, i will tell the staff to let no one near her. we ripped up our watchtower no blood death cards a while ago.
here are my notes from his service talk theme:.
isa 65:3 = we live in a rich spiritual paradise (isa 65:3).
what is the history of the faithful and discreet slave?.
so let me get this straight, the CO is claiming that Polycarp and Irenaeus were part of the faithful and discreet slave? correct me if I am wrong, but Irenaeus wrote that Christ was God incarnate. How can a person who believed Jesus to be God be a member of the faithful slave? Also, Polycarp taught that anyone who didnt believe Jesus was resurrected in the flesh was an anti christ.
Is this an official outline from the society? If so there are getting really sloppy. Its very easy to find out what the early church fathers wrote. I guess they figure that most jw's will never research it.
If they are going to retroactively appoint people as members of the faithful and discreet slave, why not use Arius? That would at least make sense.
did you 'break the rules' full force?
did you go celebrate a birthday?
buy xmas decorations?
hi everyone.... just curious how many of you knew when you were active, about the societys official teaching regarding jesus the mediator.
i was floored to find in my research, that they teach jesus is the mediator for the 144,000 only.
and it is only by our association with them that we might have salvation.. i don't know about you guys but i was blown away when i learned they taught this.
I had no idea either. In fact, when i started researching the WTS my mom was worried about it, and she said to be careful because she knew people who have done the same and ended up leaving. I told her "dont worry, I would never leave, unless they did something crazy and came out with a watchtower that said Jesus wasent our mediator." LOL! How freaking ironic. Once I saw this, I was stunned. Then shortly after finding this out, I then found out that the society teaches that the Bible was coruppted by the church by removing the name Jehovah from all the NT manuscripts. I had been doing research on textual critisism and the transmission of the Bible, and knew this was simply physically impossible. (Unless of course the church had time traveling capabilities like Dr friggin Who). And then finally I discovered that the NWT changes the NT text to support their theology. Strike 3! On a side note, I then showed my mom what the society teaches about Jesus not being our mediator, and that was it for her. This is a woman who had been a faithful witness for 30 years. Now I know each of us have different reasons for leaving, and each of us has different beliefs, but as far as the Christians I know who left the WTS, who really had an apperciating for Jesus, when they found out what the society teaches, they felt is was basicly blasphomy. I mean it would be like if you were Jewish and the society taught that Moses was a punk. LOL. You cant help but be offended, thats at least my take. I find the societys teachings on Jesus to be offesensive and blaspemous. As blaspemous as my spelling, and as unacceptable as my not using spell check.
from whom are they taking the lead?
does that mean that the previous leader is not leading anymore?
moses is used as an example when he appointed "chiefs" over different groups of isrealites.
AWF,
excellent and honest exegesis. you allow the text to speak. very refreshing. thanks
some of you may know of a longstanding jw owned and operated forum named "touchstone forum" (www.touchstoneforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/yabb.pl).
wrench, the elder who ran the board, closed its doors rather quickly a couple of weeks ago, and has refused to discuss the reasons for the closure.
no announcement of closing.
i frequented that forum, im not sure if this has anything to do with it, but wrench was really getting destroyed in debates in the past month or so. perhaps that was his only way to get out of it. the entire mission statement of that forum is a lie, but im disapointed its gone, but not suprised.
funny how these people think that jehovah will arrange for a backhoe to fill a basement, or a storm to knock down a tree that the city won't let you remove, but doesn't prevent his young servants from being sexually abused, or whatever.. (gag-me email follow).
does jehovah know what is going on, and does he help?.
(as told by bro.
come on guys, you are just too skeptical. i mean, stuff like this happens to me every day. just the other day, i was making a sandwhich, and it was a nice one, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomatoe, and then i realized that i had no mayo. i cant eat a sandwhich without mayo. i looked and looked inside the frig and couldnt find any. then i noticed there was a new jar in my cabinet. now clearly this was a blessing from Jehovah. I mean how else could you explain this?
joking aside, probably the funniest one of this type of stuff i ever heard was a sister straight told my friend that she was running late to the meeting, but caught all green lights while driving to the meeting and made it just in time, and that was all Jehovahs doing. classic, lol
