Posts by easyreader1970

5

I'm going to be destroyed by Jehovah. Yay!

by easyreader1970 in

jw
friends

then maybe this twisted nightmare can end, finally.

so lately i haven't been doing much in the meetings.

well that has been the case for a while, but lately i have pretty much shut down.

easyreader1970

Then maybe this twisted nightmare can end, finally.

So lately I haven't been doing much in the meetings. Well that has been the case for a while, but lately I have pretty much shut down. I sit there and listen. I sometimes even look at the material before the meeting. But I seldom comment in the book study and never in the Watchtower study. I used to be a ministerial servant some years ago but I have no desire to return to that. She has been beating up on me about that lately. This morning she about had a fit because I didn't comment in the book study.

"You are supposed to be setting an example for your children and working for the congregation!" She exploded all over the van. She then says that I will be destroyed and so will everyone else if I don't start doing what they tell me to, namely commenting at all the meetings.

Well, it's been nice knowing you all. Somewhere in scripture (though I don't know where) apparently Yahweh has decreed that people who don't comment enough will be gutted like fish. If I was more spiritual I guess I could find it.

er

8

Can i just ask about the public and non public watchtowers..

by dobbie in

for those of you that know, is there any difference between the two?i haven't been here for a few months and wondered if the public wt is tolerant and friendly than the witnesses one,and if the witnesses one was more hardline, covering the more controversial things?would just be really interested to find out if the public one has articles more designed to catch householders out, without putting anything in them that could put them off ie discipline (shunning) or blood etc.

thanks!

easyreader1970

1. What is the difference?

The "public" edition contains your normally field-service friendly articles that appeal to the religious people with the right "heart condition". They describe world conditions and encourage a study of the Bible. There are no study articles in the public edition. The "study" edition consists of about five study articles and usually a couple of other articles thrown in. Since January 2008, almost all of the articles have had to do with the Witness Christian relationship with God and with one-another. Every now and then there will be an important doctrinal article (e.g., the "this generation" change).

2. Will you be given one if you attend a public Watchtower study?

I don't know what the official stance on this is from Brooklyn or even if there is one. It seems to change from congregation to congregation. My current congregation will make a few copies to pass out but other congregations will not make extras. I don't know if this is because of the cost of paper and ink or because they feel that only those who actually are important enough (baptized Witnesses) to have the magazines should have them.

er

36

Awake quotes Forrest Gump!!

by dinah in

jw
friends

just got a september '08 awake in my paws.. the cover asks "is there life beyond the grave".

they have a quote from forrest gump (of course he wasn't mentioned by name but i've seen the movie a million times).

it says roughly: in a movie a young man is shown standing by his mother's grave.

easyreader1970

Will they have Lieutenant Dan in a photo and a caption that reads something like: The paradise will restore the disabled.

er

16

If JW's ever had a University..what would the football team's nickname be?

by IreallydidwalkoutofaKH in

jw
friends

i was thinking it could be the university of bethel fighting janitors!

with toilets on each side of the helmet.

easyreader1970

Warning. This topic is invalid. The Witnesses do not believe in healthy competition.

33

If Jesus Has Been Ruling In Heaven Since 1914, What The Hell Is He Doing???

by minimus in

jw
friends

can anyone please tell me?

easyreader1970

Silly! If a thousand years is like a day then 94 years is something like fifteen seconds. Jesus is on the move. That fifteen seconds was just the time it took him to put his jacket on.

er

27

Specific TV, Film, Music or Computer Game references deemed inappropriate?

by veen in

jw
friends

i was down the pub tonight and my sister said she went to see 'sex and the city' in the cinema.

i gave a lol and said the title of the film sounds just like something which would be specifically singled out at 'inappropriate for true christians' in a district assembly talk just because of it's title.. .

immediately everyone started having a go saying that what i said sounded like the criticisms of an apostate and if i went to assemblies or meetings or read the literature anymore i would know that they don't single out specific shows etc anymore.. .

easyreader1970

UNTIMELY

HUMOR

A recent movie, which brought its North American producers $125 million (U.S.) in just two months, portrays sadism and extreme violence in a humorous light. A review of the film in Brazil’s magazine Veja describes one example. A driver’s head is cut off by a surfboard. "As the decapitation is shown, the scene is more funny than shocking," notes the review. "The result is that the countless scenes of shootings, murders, and massacres, all bathed in much blood, . . . convey comicalness instead of repugnance. The spectator winds up being entertained with violence. . . . The violence, the brutal lacerating of bodies, the inconceivable suffering, are transformed into an excuse for jokes."

Feb 22 1990 Awake, Watching the World

The above is a specific reference to Lethal Weapon 2, released in 1989.

er

28

"Only active "jw's will survive armageddon"....a list please.......

by oompa in

i find it interesting that jw's so often think they are in full harmony with all wt teachings, but in reality, they have softend a tough jw position in there own mind.

for instance, a close jw friend of mine....my age....actually told me he did not think wt ever said that only jw's will survive armageddon!!!!

of course this is because he does not want to think of billions of good decent people that are not dubs dying....i believed that way....and my elder dad does too.

easyreader1970

I would like to point out that they send mixed messages these days. In the "public" Watchtower magazines and in the newer field service material to be distributed, the ones that are to be destroyed by Jehovah are only the "incorrigibly wicked".

9

I will be insane soon. Conditional love. Thought terminating cliches.

by easyreader1970 in

jw
friends

when i first started to doubt the watchtower, i thought they were just a bit misguided.

this was some years ago.

but i felt like maybe they had most of it right and that things would sort themselves out in the end.

easyreader1970

She is a tough cookie to crack. She is gung ho for the Watchtower. I find myself constantly trying to find a crack that I can get a wedge into but I can't. The Watchtower does a good job of filling holes with the "thought terminating cliches". Basically, Witnesses are instructed to shut down if they are faced with certain statements or to scream apostasy at the top of their lungs. I find myself waiting for the WBTS to slip up, but in such an obvious way that not even she can ignore it.

I did bring up the 1914/generation change thing but she shrugged that off. The end of the book study, she shrugged that one off, too. She was a little on edge about that book study change for a minute but some elder made her feel better about it so that opportunity was lost. I tried sneaking in some comments about education but the way the Watchtower wins that battle is simply by saying that spending your time "serving Jehovah" is better than spending your time "going to school." As a side note, she has been to college and she agrees with the WBTS in that the social course are very anti-theist.

I have some Witness relatives that are a bit less hardcore that I can discuss some things with and they participate in discussion about them. Like Charles Taze Russell's dabblings in pyramidology or the generation change being a stalling tactic. But my wife would immediately dismiss any of this as clear apostasy and I would be brought before elders to be charged with such.

If it was just my wife, I might be able to come out and say some things but knowing what her reaction might be and how this might also change the relationship I have with my children, I am very hesitant.

er

36

Did You Have Respect For The Elders In Your Hall?

by minimus in

jw
friends

one day after a sunday meeting, 2 elders got into it with each other and started screaming at one another in the back of the hall just as service arrangements were being made.

of course, the boe counseled them strongly but the result was that the congregation lost respect for the whole body.

easyreader1970

In my current hall, yes. They are men with imperfections, I am sure. But they have acted in ways that don't cause you to lose respect for them.

In the hall I was in previously, not at all. They were the worst elders I had ever seen. One of them flirted with married sisters on the building committee and cursed regularly at his workplace. His son, a ministerial servant, once cursed out his own mother (the elder's wife). That elder has since left his wife to run off with anothe woman.

Another one of the elders was only interested in making himself appear to be smart and wealthy (he was neither).

There were a few other bad seeds. The elders never disfellowshipped anybody because so many people had goods on them. They would have to go down, too.

It was one of those congregations that you hear tales about getting disbanded. You've heard about them:Entire congregations broken up for practicing open racism, pornography rings, wife swapping, etc.

er

9

I will be insane soon. Conditional love. Thought terminating cliches.

by easyreader1970 in

jw
friends

when i first started to doubt the watchtower, i thought they were just a bit misguided.

this was some years ago.

but i felt like maybe they had most of it right and that things would sort themselves out in the end.

easyreader1970

When I first started to doubt the Watchtower, I thought they were just a bit misguided. This was some years ago. But I felt like maybe they had most of it right and that things would sort themselves out in the end. Later on, I felt that they had a great many things wrong but their hearts were in the right places. I could see why people would not want to be a part of the Organization but I didn't personally have any animosity towards the Society. I have reached the point now--after doing months and months of reading, listening, and other research--that I hate them. Not the rank-and-file. Most of them are pretty cool people. It's the Big O that I hate. The All-Seeing Eye. The people that sit in the ivory tower in Brooklyn who don't have even a toe in reality, yes, I am talking about them.

I couldn't understand the motivation for their deceit at first. Was it money? Control? Power? Pride?

I don't even care anymore. Harboring all of the feelings I have now is making me crazy. I guess eventually my brain will explode.

The thing I hate worst of all? Is that they teach conditional love. My wife loves me. I am sure of it. Yet I can't talk to her about my innermost feelings because if I do, she has been obligated to report me to the elders who will then force me to disassociate myself or whatever their terminology is these days. This requires for my wife to pretty much quit having anything to do with me. I find this to be the most evil thing of all the things that they do, even worse than the rejection of blood transfusions.

The Witnesses refuse to use their brains because the Watchtower fills every article, paragraph, talk, booklet, tract, magazine, and brochure with thought terminating cliches. You know them.

Trust in Jehovah. Jehovah has a plan. Trust in the faithful discreet slave class. Jehovah is our grand creator. There are many, many more.

All of these statements basically kill any argument or debate, especially when the Watchtower side is the side that makes no sense. If you still insist on pushing, now you're creating disunity in the organization by not willfully submitting.

Psychologically, I have just had it and I can't take it anymore. The meetings are a joke to me now. I just sit there and look at the expressions on some other people's faces. Some of them sit there paying attention as if their life depended on it, others are just fidgeting waiting for the meeting to end, others go wander the lobby to pass the time, some are sleeping. I bet that some of them are thinking the same thing I am thinking but are trapped in exactly the same way. So there is also pain.

er