If the JWs believe that their own persecution has been foretold in the Bible, especially in the "time of the end" with governments turning on religion, then why do they try to fight it - if it is their destiny?
The most recent issue is Russia banning their activity. Well if this is all part of the divine plan, then why resist? Why not just allow things to happen as God foretold instead of trying to buck the system?
easyreader1970
JoinedPosts by easyreader1970
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Why do JWs resist their own destiny in the "time of the end"?
by easyreader1970 inif the jws believe that their own persecution has been foretold in the bible, especially in the "time of the end" with governments turning on religion, then why do they try to fight it - if it is their destiny?
the most recent issue is russia banning their activity.
well if this is all part of the divine plan, then why resist?
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easyreader1970
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Proof Jehovah's Witnesses have been declining for nearly 20 years? (At least in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand)
by slimboyfat insee the tables on pages 124 and 125 of this book:.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mtw90ykkb3gc&oi=fnd&pg=pa117&dq=scientology+jehovah%27s+stark&ots=0-yvd6jk_o&sig=vualoe-l3bxezaqktnbfhpsdj8u#v=onepage&q=scientology%20jehovah's%20stark&f=false.
admittedly these statistics don't measure the same thing official watchtower statistics do (i.e.
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easyreader1970
I don't have any statistical evidence to back this up, but many congregations in my area are slowly shrinking. The main reason for the shrinkage is the exodus of the young people. There is one congregation that is almost entirely full of people 30+, mostly with no children, and most of the capable brothers are 50+. So there are brothers in their sixties carrying the microphones because there just aren't any younger males. I hate to see the old guys shuffling around, half-awake trying to deliver the microphones, but it must happen. This particular congregation is in a relatively small Kingdom Hall, so the shrinkage isn't as visibly apparent.
There is another congregation in a much larger hall that looks completely deserted because of all of the early departures. They have even had to get elders shipped in from other congregations. When you go to one of their Thursday night meetings, you wonder if you are in the right place because there just isn't anybody there. The same six or ten people answer all of the Watchtower questions.
Because the territory isn't producing any more recruits, these two congregations will end up extinct within the next few years, probably swallowed whole by some of the larger congregations in adjoining territories.
Strangely enough, the congregations that are doing well are the ones where many of the publishers and elders are financially well off. The parking lots are full of pricey SUVs, Mercedes-Benz, Audis, and other vehicles as they try to keep up with one another in vehicles and house sizes. But since they can't really one-up one another in home size or vehicle price anymore (they are all about even), now they try to outdo each other with their vacations. Still, their Kingdom Halls stay packed. I don't know why unless they somehow they feel like they are going to miss something if they don't show up.
If you are new to the congregation and you are not able to keep up with them financially when they have their outings (shopping sprees, vacations, Saturday trips out of town, etc), you are going to be left out.
I don't know how I got so far off-topic.
Anyway, back to the point - I have noticed that many, many congregations are shrinking and it's not due to people moving away.
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They Don't Pass a Collection Plate Because.....
by OnTheWayOut in...it just isn't big enough!.
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easyreader1970
What you need to do is try to learn why they always always always always announce a deficit for the assembly or convention early on the last day. Their deficit tabulation never includes "money on hand" or "money already dedicated to send to the WTS" and it never includes money collected that same morning after the "announcement of a deficit" was written and tabulated. So "God's representatives" make it appear that they are being upfront with information by telling everyone expenses, but they do it for self-serving reasons. Also, why does using their own assembly hall cost so many tens of thousands of dolllars for a weekend? They just set a "cost" per person attending and stick to it, regardless of reality.
I asked my wife this question after our most recent two-day. They said that the expenses were something like ten-thousand dollars. Even she had to mimic my "for what?!". If theJW slaves volunteers do all of the groundskeeping, all of the cleaning, and all of the maintenance, and we feed ourselves, what in the world cost ten or more thousand dollars? Soap and toilet paper? I wish they would actually itemize that list instead of just calling it "expenses".
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New Light on Lions Eating Straw ! ? !
by Open mind innewbie poster here looking for advice.
i've been looking for posts on the borg moving away from a literal understanding of isaiah 65:25 and couldn't find any.
i posted in the private support members only area with a much longer post and it's been pretty much ignored.
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easyreader1970
I referred to this recently in another topic I made, but I have spoken to a few JWs who do not believe that this scripture is to be taken literally because ecologically it doesn't make sense/seem possible.
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Could the GB Perceive Preaching As Worthless?
by metatron inwe're seeing a lot of changes that suggest that a drift in attitude may be occuring in regard to the "preaching" work.
the latest info on having (real) love for your neighbor(i.e.
charity) is just more of the same.. they cut literature, magazines - and distribution of magazines and pray, pray, pray and still the donations don't come in to allow them to do what they want.
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easyreader1970
What is this new information on helping neighbors with charity? I must have missed it.
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new WT rule: no holding hands durning public prayer!
by leftchica inso i just caught a glimpse of this new wt magazine(study edition) of course.. from dec 28th titled.
"what do your prayers say about you".
so now they are focosing on every aspect of our lifes even our actions during prayer.
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easyreader1970
This might be when I get forcibly removed from the congregation because I still intend to put my arm around my wife and also children during prayer. They'll be reading my name off from the platform as "no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses" for not cooperating with lame-ass rules and regulations that don't have a damn thing to do with worshipping the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I hate them.
EDIT: Furthermore, how in the hell do you misinterpret, say, a child putting both of their arms around their parents' waist? How can somebody be stumbled by this? The text clearly indicates that while they won't outlaw "handholding", they still don't prefer it - based on the military style photograph in the corner. Still, even if you concede to them that husband/wife embraces are inappropriate (which is completely idiotic, but let's keep moving), how do you deny a ten year old boy from wrapping his arms around his mother or father? What then, pedophilia?
This is an example of an organization that is full of itself to the extreme and it's clear that they don't have anything else to do. I guess they've run out of false prophecies and inane eschatology.
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I was able to get my wife to agree with one case where the WBTS is wrong. Shot down later by the RBC.
by easyreader1970 inmy wife knows i am skeptical about everything, even stuff coming from the mouths and pens of the wbts.
recently, i flat told her that i did not believe that animals were all "created" vegetarians, no matter what the wacthtower said.
there was an article (i don't remember if it was watchtower or awake!
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easyreader1970
Thanks Tom.
I'll have to regroup and try again later when she's not high on the JWs. Right now I would describe her as euphoric. She woke up this morning talking about it all. She even questioned whether or not our son should leave the school Beta Club because it's promoting worldly advancement and not the "Truth".
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I was able to get my wife to agree with one case where the WBTS is wrong. Shot down later by the RBC.
by easyreader1970 inmy wife knows i am skeptical about everything, even stuff coming from the mouths and pens of the wbts.
recently, i flat told her that i did not believe that animals were all "created" vegetarians, no matter what the wacthtower said.
there was an article (i don't remember if it was watchtower or awake!
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easyreader1970
My wife knows I am skeptical about everything, even stuff coming from the mouths and pens of the WBTS. Recently, I flat told her that I did not believe that animals were all "created" vegetarians, no matter what the Wacthtower said. There was an article (I don't remember if it was Watchtower or Awake!) that said that they were all vegetarians and that they "adapted" to eating meat after the flood. I think it may have been a question from readers section because I remember their trying to explain an animal's adapting its features to eating meat just as a human could adapt its hands from one thing to another.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hands have many uses, but please tell me how snake or spider venom or even their fangs have anything to do with vegetables. Explain what type of vegetation a great white shark would have eaten. There is a list from here to the moon of animals that cannot do anything but eat other animals. She was forced to agree (I didn't take it a step further into evolution because this was the furthest I have ever gotten my wife to move without her calling me an apostate).
Movement! It was minimal, sure, but maybe there is hope?
Two days later we are at the service meeting. Our area was recently flooded pretty badly due to heavy rains. The Regional Building Committee showed up and has been quickly cleaning out mold and throwing Witness houses back together. Proof! Proof that this is Jehovah's organization because no other religious group has this degree of cooperation, synchronization, and organization. She was almost teary-eyed when the brothers and sisters in the congregation explained how the RBC saved them from thousands and thousands of dollars of repairs.
Failure. Damn. It took me years to get her to even mostly agree that the WBTS might be wrong on something. And then this. Her faith level is now back to 127%.
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So, Was Your Life RUINED Because You Were A JW?
by minimus inthe fact that you were a witness, did it actually "ruin" your life?
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easyreader1970
Yes. Though I am still in. Faced with a choice of only my unhappiness or everyone's (in my family, that is) unhappiness, I chose to be the only unhappy party. I figured it is ruined either way. If I leave, I'm no longer a slave of the WTBS, but my family is destroyed and I am still miserable because they mean everything to me. If I stay, I'm unhappy with the religion and pretending to be remotely interested, but I do get to enjoy my family every day.
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Statistics: When one leaves does the other follow or is there usually separation?
by easyreader1970 inhas anyone ever given any serious consideration or even any done any actual research to find out what happens to couples when one person starts to fade or leaves outright?.
i've been reading lots of messages, reading blogs, listening to podcasts, and watching youtube videos.
it seems like the odds are 50/50.
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easyreader1970
Has anyone ever given any serious consideration or even any done any actual research to find out what happens to couples when one person starts to fade or leaves outright?
I've been reading lots of messages, reading blogs, listening to podcasts, and watching youtube videos. It seems like the odds are 50/50. I am always hopeful when I read posts or messages about people who were (somehow) able to get their spouse to see the problems behind the WBTS. Then I feel down when I read or hear of someone who lost their children and spouse in a nasty separation. Or even if they do still have access to their kids, it's not natural to see your kids every other week or on weekends.
Personally, I have a problem with the Bible in general. I no longer believe it to be the inerrant word of God. However, I believe that the JWs have twisted even that into something horrible. I don't necessarily believe that the JWs as a whole are "evil" or "out to cause mischief", but there is something very wrong with this religion.
But back to my point: What has been your experience? For those of you who left, were your spouses also eager to jump ship? Or were you demonized and vilified when you revealed that you did not believe that the WBTS had the truth?
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