Posts by easyreader1970

93

What's The Biggest Difference In Today's JWs And The Witnesses From Decades Ago?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i believe today's witnesses lack zeal, resolve, "love" of the "truth"......just to name a few things.. years ago, witnesses were excited to knock on doors and tell people they were gonna die if they didn't accept paradise.. now, when you see jws in service, they all look zombied out.. it's a slowly dying religion that will last probably forever like an ancient rotted out tree..

easyreader1970

If you ask me, the reason that so much information has been dumbed down is because people today can easily use the internet to research and analyze the literature. Twenty or thirty years ago, you just believed whatever you were told. Not just by the Watchtower, but by anyone. Nobody was going to the library to verify and validate. But people today have access to so much information, the Governing Body has to be a little more careful when they go cherry-picking information or misquoting people.

The only time they will be a little more detailed than usual is when the information can't be verified anyway.

449

"Feeling sorry for yourself" about being hit by your husband is not Christian 2/15/12 WT Page 25 P 12

by yourmomma in

have anyone of you read, the absolutly jaw dropping paragraph in this article about a women who was hit by her husband?

its in page 25 of the 2/15/12 wt study edition (i read the dumbed down version).. .

if there was any question, that the watchtowers stance is for wives to simply take it when their husbands abuse them, this makes it crystal clear.. who the hell is scanning these things before they go to print?

easyreader1970

The Slave has never really been against male on female spousal abuse. Not in any real way.

The Watchtower March 15, 1983.

Honor Godly Marriage.

In some cases there may be verbal and physical abuse, threats and beatings. But does this mean that the Christian marriage mate should leave the unbeliever? The apostle Paul counsels: “A wife should not depart from her husband; but if she should actually depart, let her remain unmarried or else make up again with her husband; and a husband should not leave his wife.” As Paul points out, preserving the marriage will be to the spiritual benefit of any children. In a practical way, also, it may be to the material benefit of the believing parent and children. Still, in the event that abuse becomes unbearable, or life itself is endangered, the believing mate may choose to “depart.” But the endeavor should be to “make up again” in due course. (1 Corinthians 7:10-16) However, ‘departing’ does not of itself provide Scriptural grounds for divorce and remarriage; still, a legal divorce or a legal separation may provide a measure of protection from further abuse.

Awake! January 22, 1976 Working at Improving Marriage But what of a situation where one subjects one’s mate to physical abuse, though not committing “fornication”? Here the counsel found at 1 Corinthians 7:10, 11 is appropriate: “A wife should not depart from her husband; but if she should actually depart, let her remain unmarried or else make up again with her husband; and a husband should not leave his wife.” Thus, while the Word of God permits divorce on the ground of “fornication” and allows for separation, it does not encourage couples to split up. Rather, the admonition is to work at improving marriage, to “make up again.” And the Bible contains simple principles that have helped thousands of couples to improve their marriages. Let us consider some of these principles.

As I was looking this information up, I noticed one other thing. The Watchtower condones physical punishment for children, but not for dogs as I discovered in an Awake! article entitled How to Train Your Dog. I presume this is because dogs cannot be indoctrinated.

20

Is flirting just harmless fun ?

by caliber in

on some base level, flirting is not destructive.

in fact, it may be a perfectly natural and healthy way for two people to interact.

yet, as the level of involvement in flirting increases, the emotional stakes rise for the two involved parties and the uninvolved member of the relationship.

easyreader1970

In my experience, I have found flirting to be more dangerous than fun. People misread signals. It's not cool to put disclaimers at the openings of all of your flirtations that say: What follows is merely a harmless flirt. I'm not really that attracted to you and I don't want to make out with yout this evening. I'm the furthest thing from eye-candy possible, and I have absolutely zero skill in wooing women. But some women love to be told wonderful things about themselves. And so do men. And the back and forth can be fun, especially if you're not this treatment normally. But too many times after flirting have I gotten invitations to "hang out", even though they know I am married. I have been asked to help move furniture, give rides home, go look at furnace filters, newborn puppies, all after harmlessly flirting. I only actually accepted one of these offers, thinking she was being honest. This almost ended in disaster. We were both married.

7

Love-bombing - the best deterrent of all time.

by easyreader1970 in

jw
friends

my wife was recently in a car accident.

she's okay, but was incapacitated for a few days because of the injuries.

she missed a couple of meetings.

easyreader1970

My wife was recently in a car accident. She's okay, but was incapacitated for a few days because of the injuries. She missed a couple of meetings. On a Sunday, they made an announcement about my family possibly needing some things like food, snacks, etc. That Sunday afternoon was like the miltary had been called in. The phone rang non stop all day as hordes of people from the congregation came by to check on everyone, hug my wife, and shower us with enough food, cooked and unprepared, to last us into the next millenium. Further evidence of the kindness of the Jehovah. The people on her job with whom she works for 8 hours every day barely bought her a get well card.

My wife isn't an idiot. She chooses not to dwell on things that simply do not make sense about the Organization. I used to try to talk to her about my concerns years ago but after she kept thinking I was going apostate, I pulled back. But it is things like this that make me realize that it doesn't matter if she honestly considered my points or not.

As long as the congregation is well-skilled at love-bombing, logic and critical thinking fly right out of the window. A very long time ago, my wife told me that if it somehow turned out that the Witnesses weren't right or if she found out it was all just a sham, she'd probably just kill herself or go crazy because it is the only reality she knows or that makes sense to her.

There really isn't a point to this post. I just felt like writing it out.

74

CO's putting the screws on elder bodies, and ministerial servants to auxilliary pioneer this April.

by miseryloveselders in

jw
friends

i have such a love/hate, 50/50 relationship with this organization any more, but a letter was read to the elders and ministerial servants that has pushed me to the 30/70 range in favor of hate, if even momentarily.

most of you if not all are aware of the auxilliary pioneering initiative for this upcoming april.

it's no secret that i'm not real fond of pioneering as its unscriptural for one thing.

easyreader1970

In my congregation, they have already started the high pressure/guilt tactics. As of this past Tuesday, only 23 people had signed up and the remark was made that there was no reason why everybody could not sign up. Then one speaker went on about the zillion ways just about anybody could gobble up thirty hours, even if you worked at night, weekends, or had a job in the day time. Now granted, if someone was really interested in going out in field service fairly regularly, it probably wouldn't be that hard to come up with thirty hours - especially since the Witness way is to spend alot of that time driving or standing around, making sure they say "boo" to someone every fifteen minutes just to keep the clock from stopping. The stupidity of recording idle time warrants another topic itself.

But, yes, our last meeting seemed like a time-share sales meeting but worse because they try to shame people. We had two speakers go on about it. They like to mention things like "Sister Old-as-dirt-who-can-barely-walk-while-dragging-her-oxygen-tank" has signed up.

Hourly numbers are meaningless. Why not set a goal for something else like bible studies that actually has some meaning? For me to tell you that I spend thirty hours is indicative of what? Certainly not how many people I spoke to. I could spend the entire thirty standing around at the train station looking like an idiot. But they look good on paper, and the larger the numbers the better, right? If you can report that your congregation reported 3,000 hours, that sounds much better than saying they reported 30 bible studies.

Anyway, so they had attendants at the ready, ready to hand out applications to people mid-meeting and, just like an experienced car salesman, the speaker said that all you have to do is sign the form! No pressure, right?

28

"Field Service Groups" are more important now than ever before?

by easyreader1970 in

the scare bells are ringing again in the congregations.

this past week, the field service group leader/commander/overlord/whatever made a pretty lengthy announcement that, going forward, the field service groups are going to be of the utmost importance as we wind down towards the end here.

while no indication on when this end might actually be, it was hinted that we might not always have access to the congregation proper and that the few families that are part of the fsg would have to become close knit that they might depend on one another when things get ugly.. i haven't read everything that has passed through the wbts' sphincter lately, but did i miss something?

easyreader1970

The scare bells are ringing again in the congregations. Well, at least the one I am in. This past week, the Field Service Group leader/commander/overlord/whatever made a pretty lengthy announcement that, going forward, the field service groups are going to be of the utmost importance as we wind down towards the end here. While no indication on when this end might actually be, it was hinted that we might not always have access to the congregation proper and that the few families that are part of the FSG would have to become close knit that they might depend on one another when things get ugly.

I haven't read everything that has passed through the WBTS' sphincter lately, but did I miss something? Or did the elder's receive some special propaganda for the followers over the last month or two?

It could also be that this elder was just talking out of his butt.

37

If The Watchtower discourages Greek language study, why did they publish the KIT?

by VM44 in

if the watchtower discourages the study of biblical languages, then why did they publish twice, in 1969 and 1985. the kingdom interlinear translation of the greek scriptures?.

would this not actually encourage the study of the greek language?.

easyreader1970

The Watchtower published a heap of garbage over the last few decades. Much of what they published had to be taken at face value at the time. There was no internet to speak of back then and a determined researching publisher had to have insane amounts of time and resources at his disposal to determine the validity of what the WBTS printed. For the average person, it would be just undoable.

You will notice that since the late 90s, they've stopped printing material in books and articles that could be easily refuted or argued against. You will never see books again going on about the ridiculous calculation used to come up with the date 1914 or detailed evidence against evolution. They still fudge and misrepresent quotes in their current material, but they don't print volumes as they used to.

What is their reasoning for this? It is that they are only seeking "honest-hearted" ones. These are people who can just accept the "Truth" as they print it, not people who are cynical or skeptical. They no longer train or encourage witnesses to engage in debates or arguments against those who are unwilling to believe.

Anyone now who studies the WBTS Greek translation even on the surface will find glaring problems, blatant mistranslations with no explanation.

67

What makes J.Ws worse than any other organisation?

by acolytes in

jw
friends

many outsiders see good in the w.t.

and many insiders see good in the w.t.. so is not the w:t like any other organisation based on idealisam and growth.

acolytes.

easyreader1970

My main criticism of the WBTS is that there is no honorable way to leave it. Members are duty bound to shun the person that decides to leave, regardless of their relationship to that person. Your family can be destroyed, but that doesn't matter to the WBTS.

My second criticism is that you are required to accept and believe everything that you are told. Everything. You cannot disagree with a statement made by the WBTS or the Bible and if you do so openly, that is grounds for being expelled. The Governing Body is allowed to get things wrong (see the different interpretations of "this generation" over the years), but if you had suggested the current understanding was correct fifteen years ago, you would have been viewed as an apostate and removed from the congregation.

I won't call th WBTS a mind-controll cult, because many members maintain the ability to think for themselves. I will call it a behavior-control cult, because regardless of what you think, you risk great emotional punishment for stepping out of line.

21

Unbelievable WT Oct 15/2010 2nd study article

by bobld in

"our viewpoint may be distorted or limited" par 16 "mosaic law-he(god) did not enforce his own law"wtf.. so the gb/fds will tell us their distorted viewpoint.they say law given to imperfect judges who could not read hearts.yet the gb/fds says they can by their pharisaic laws and rules ie child abuse/shunning/etc.. why did god give the mosaic law if they could not read hearts.oh it was ok for the israelites to kill some people for adultery/murder but not david because they could not read his heart.wtf does it matter if he was sorry and repentent were not the others just as sorry and repentent.. b.

easyreader1970

I logged in today to post this exact same thing. I'm glad to see someone else beat me to it.

This paragraph made me sick to my stomach and I can't believe that anyone would want to serve a god who would do this. Oh, well, these guys can't read hearts so tell them to just kill everybody in order to make it consistent? WTF?

First of all, I don't believe the Bible so my anger isn't directed at an imaginary tooth fairy in the sky. However, to suggest that this "loving God" would tell his earthly judges to just kill everyone that has committed adultery (without committing murder) just for the sake of neatness is the most awful thing I have ever heard. And all the Witnesses just nod their heads in agreement with this?

Even if God did exist, he would be a rat bastard and I wouldn't want to serve someone like this.

18

I feel like a coward weakling. Not like a man. It doesn't feel good.

by easyreader1970 in

jw
friends

i'm trying to figure out a way to deal with these feelings of cowardice, worthlessness, unmanliness, etc.. i'm not afraid of anyone or even what would happen to me (nothing), but i do not want to witness the utter destruction of my family.

so i shut up and go along.

i am often reminded of the scene in ben hur when charleton heston's bravery is threatened with the loss of his family.

easyreader1970

I'm trying to figure out a way to deal with these feelings of cowardice, worthlessness, unmanliness, etc.

I'm not afraid of anyone or even what would happen to me (nothing), but I do not want to witness the utter destruction of my family. So I shut up and go along. I am often reminded of the scene in Ben Hur when Charleton Heston's bravery is threatened with the loss of his family. So he restrains himself and he ends up as a slave in the galley of some ship. He wasn't a coward. He just wanted the safety of his family. I don't think I am a coward - even though I have been called such even by at least one person on this forum (though not recently). Were it not for the children involved, I'm sure I would have broken camp quite a long time ago.

But I feel neutered. I can't express myself or act in the way I think I should. I feel weak and worthless. Some people cry out that I should just go ahead and bite the bullet, allow the deconstruction of the family, and just move on in whatever shattered form my life will take on afterwards. I need to be there for my kids, not just a few days a week or every other weekend. I like being there every day. It'll be quite some time before they are able to take care of themselves.

My brother-in-law did it. He broke free and appears to be happy. But he only sees his daughter once a month, during the summers, and on holidays. That's enough for him. But it's not for me. And for those who say I should sue for custody, it's not really possible or likely. I don't have the network and resources to assist me in taking care of them (since I would be shunned by both families) and furthermore even if it was remotely possible, I think it's wrong to separate them from their mother since I am partially responsible for them being here anyway.

There isn't any solution to this problem. I'd just like to not feel like a bunny all the time.