Agreed Sab.
What's more is they say that it is God's instruction. They won't put their own name to it because then they could be held accountable.
Gladring
JoinedPosts by Gladring
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138
Still a hard line on DF family members WTApr15 2012
by Gladring inthe april 2012 wt study article has some of the most strongly worded statements about contact with disfellowshipped family members.. page 12, paragraph 17: -.
good that can come when a family loyally.
upholds jehovahs decree not to associate.
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138
Still a hard line on DF family members WTApr15 2012
by Gladring inthe april 2012 wt study article has some of the most strongly worded statements about contact with disfellowshipped family members.. page 12, paragraph 17: -.
good that can come when a family loyally.
upholds jehovahs decree not to associate.
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Gladring
http://download.jw.org/files/media_magazines/w_E_20120415.pdf
Direct download link for the pdf.
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138
Still a hard line on DF family members WTApr15 2012
by Gladring inthe april 2012 wt study article has some of the most strongly worded statements about contact with disfellowshipped family members.. page 12, paragraph 17: -.
good that can come when a family loyally.
upholds jehovahs decree not to associate.
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Gladring
The April 2012 WT study article has some of the most strongly worded statements about contact with disfellowshipped family members.
Page 12, paragraph 17: -
17 Consider just one example of the
good that can come when a family loyally
upholds Jehovah’s decree not to associate
with disfellowshipped relatives. A
young man had been disfellowshipped
for over ten years, during which time his
father, mother, and four brothers “quit
mixing in company” with him. At times,
he tried to involve himself in their activities,
but to their credit, each member
of the family was steadfast in not
having any contact with him. After he
was reinstated, he said that he always
missed the association with his family,
especially at night when he was alone.
But, he admitted, had the family associated
with him even a little, that small
dose would have satisfied him. However,
because he did not receive even
the slightest communication from any
of his family, the burning desire to be
with them became one motivating factor
in his restoring his relationship with
Jehovah. Think of that if you are ever
tempted to violate God’s command not
to associate with your disfellowshipped
relatives. -
34
Neutrinos faster than the speed of light...
by EntirelyPossible inreferencing back to this thread, http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/216165/1/what-is-truth-could-einstein-have-been-wrong..... i was doing some reading on the neutrino thing and i discovered somthing i didn't know, a subtle but important distinction i think a lot of us get wrong about relativity and nothing being able to move faster than the speed of light.. there are two theories of relativity from einstein, general and special.
general relativity (gr) describes gravity, gravity wells, the expansion of the universe, gravitional lensing, among other things.
special relativity (sr) describes things like mass-energy equivalence (e=mc^2), the expansion of the universe and spacetime itself.. sr doesn't say nothing can go faster than the speed of light (c in the equation).
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Gladring
Thanks for explaining that.
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41
is it moral and or rational to teach children and adults that Santa is real?
by mankkeli in1) yes it is moral and rational.
2) yes it is moral.
3) yes it is rational.
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Gladring
There's no strictly right or wrong answer to this (and the other Christmas questions).
I would agree with some of the earlier posters - don't lie if they ask, but have fun with the santa thing. We bring our guys to see a Santa if he's at a Christmas party. At home though, we put all the presents under the tree a week before Christmas and open them on Christmas morning - everyone knows where the presents come from.
Have fun with it. Don't put yourself under pressure. Make your own traditions for your kids to follow. One of the great things about leaving the jws is you start with a clean slate. See what other people and cultures do, and keep the bits you like.
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IN NEW YORK
by Cagefighter inany one wanna f* me.. lol.. seriously, covering the protest and it's awesome.
people are in the streets and talking, debating, not just posting randon copy and paste shit on facebook or forwarding emails.. thought...it's dangerous..
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5
Elders as volunteers/ Shunning instructions
by Gladring inwas just checking the jw-media.org website and found this:.
http://www.jw-media.org/aboutjw/article41.htm.
how we are organizedfollowing the model of first-century christianity, jehovahs witnesses have no clergy-laity division.
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Gladring
The word "disfellowshipped" in the above article is a hyperlink. It points to this article on watchtower.org http://www.watchtower.org/e/19880415/article_01.htm about disfellowshipping. This particular article includes the gem that " It might be possible to have almost no contact at all with the relative [who has been disfellowshipped]."
And that article further references The Watchtower of September 15, 1981, pages 26-31.
All of these show that it is the WTBTS current policy to shun former members, making a complete arse of Mr. Fenton's response to the Independent article -
Rick Fenton, a spokesperson for the Watchtower Society, insisted last night that ostracisation was "a personal matter for each individual to decide for himself". "Any one of Jehovah's Witnesses is free to express their feelings and to ask questions," he said. "If a person changes their mind about Bible-based teachings they once held dear, we recognise their right to leave."
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5
Elders as volunteers/ Shunning instructions
by Gladring inwas just checking the jw-media.org website and found this:.
http://www.jw-media.org/aboutjw/article41.htm.
how we are organizedfollowing the model of first-century christianity, jehovahs witnesses have no clergy-laity division.
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Gladring
Was just checking the jw-media.org website and found this:
http://www.jw-media.org/aboutjw/article41.htm
How we are organized
Following the model of first-century Christianity, Jehovah’s Witnesses have no clergy-laity division. All baptized members are ordained ministers and share in the preaching and teaching work. Witnesses are organized into congregations of up to 200 members. Spiritually mature men in each congregation serve as elders. A body of elders supervises each congregation. About 20 congregations form a circuit, and about 10 circuits are grouped into a district. Congregations receive periodic visits from traveling elders. Guidance and instructions are provided by a multinational governing body made up of longtime Witnesses who currently serve at the international offices of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York.— Acts 15:23-29 ; 1 Timothy 3:1-7 .
This international brotherhood of people of all races is made up of about 7.3 million practicing members organized into more than 105,000 congregations in more than 230 lands.
...
Do you shun former members?
Those who become inactive in the congregation, perhaps even drifting away from association with fellow believers, are not shunned. In fact, special effort is made to reach out to them and rekindle their spiritual interest. If, however, someone unrepentantly practices serious sins, such as drunkenness, stealing or adultery, he will be disfellowshipped and such an individual is avoided by former fellow worshippers. Every effort is made to help wrongdoers. But if they are unrepentant, the congregation needs to be protected from their influence. The Bible clearly states: “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” ( 1 Corinthians 5:13 ) Those who formally say they do not want to be part of the organization anymore are also avoided. What of a man who is disfellowshipped but whose wife and children are still Jehovah’s Witnesses? The spiritual ties he had with his family change, but blood ties remain. The marriage relationship and normal family affections and dealings can continue. As for disfellowshipped relatives not living in the same household, we apply the Bible’s counsel: “Quit mixing” with them. ( 1 Corinthians 5:11 ) Disfellowshipped individuals may continue to attend religious services and, if they wish, they may receive spiritual counsel from the elders with a view to their being restored. They are always welcome to return to the faith if they reject the improper course of conduct for which they were disfellowshipped.
It would seem that the claims that elders are not volunteers for the org, and that shunning is a personal decision are both contradicted by the information on the jw-media website.
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"Mentally diseased" article to be published in The Independent tomorrow
by cedars inhi everyone.
as a parting gift to you all before i take a much needed break from this forum, i thought you would be pleased to know that the independent, a leading uk newspaper, will be publishing a piece on the "mentally diseased" watchtower article in tomorrow's edition.. i would like to thank everybody who has assisted the journalist, jerome taylor, in his investigation.. best wishes to all of you,.
cedars.
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Gladring
An interesting comment on the Independent online article:
It would be an interesting issue if raised in a child custody case - that the parent remaining in the church regards his/her departing spouse as "'mentally diseased'," - "seeking to infect others with the" disease - and teaching children vis-a-vis the departing parent "not receive them into our homes or greet them."
I would be inclined to think that a judge facing proof the this was the doctrine of the church of which a parent seeking to retain custody - or even have unsupervised access and visitation would take a very poor view of. Indeed, it likely would tip the balance against the Jehovah's witness parent.In previous discussions about the offending article, it was mentioned that police/ human rights officials stated that unless the article led to discrimination then no action could be taken. I wonder if it's only a matter of time before this comes out?
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311
"Mentally diseased" article to be published in The Independent tomorrow
by cedars inhi everyone.
as a parting gift to you all before i take a much needed break from this forum, i thought you would be pleased to know that the independent, a leading uk newspaper, will be publishing a piece on the "mentally diseased" watchtower article in tomorrow's edition.. i would like to thank everybody who has assisted the journalist, jerome taylor, in his investigation.. best wishes to all of you,.
cedars.
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Gladring
Just nipped out to get a copy of the Independent. It's not just a small side note, it's a full half page article.
Well done for getting the attention, I know how hard it can be to get media interest in this stuff.
I've also forwarded a link for the Independent article to a contact I have who works with Irish newspapers. Maybe we can attract some interest here too.