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  103

  Further Punishements

  by passwordprotected in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  praise gathering 2009 is taking place in glasgow this weekend.

  we've been given tickets to tonight's concert as a gift.

  to explain, praise gathering is a concert with a full orchestra and 400 singers.

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  passwordprotected

  I sent my father an email;

  Just got your message re. babysitting tomorrow night, that's fine.
  The tickets, that were bought for us as a gift, won't go to waste; I'm going to take Cameron.
  
  M
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  46

  "Bearing Thorough Witness" book: New light about Governing Body

  by kurtbethel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  they are not your leaders!.

  here it is, in print, on page 110 above the picture of "the nine".. "the governing body relies on god's holy spirit for direction.

  its members do not regard themselves as the leaders of jehovah's people.

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  passwordprotected

  The Watchtower of January 15 2008;

  "The other sheep companions of the congregation of anointed Christians prove their faith in various ways. First they support the anointed in proclaiming the good news of God's Kingdom. Second, they willingly submit themselves to the direction provided by the Governing Body. Third, they support their anointed brothers by living in harmony with Jehovah's righteous principles."

  This is a bit confusing. Who provides direction? Does a leader provide direction?

  From the same Watchtower, page 26 paragraph 6'

  "In a symbolic way, Christians with an earthly hope today walk behind the anointed slave class and its Governing Body, following their leadership"

  Is the leadership of the Governing Body symbolic? Can you symbolically disagree with their symbolic leadership?
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  103

  Further Punishements

  by passwordprotected in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  praise gathering 2009 is taking place in glasgow this weekend.

  we've been given tickets to tonight's concert as a gift.

  to explain, praise gathering is a concert with a full orchestra and 400 singers.

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  passwordprotected

  Praise Gathering 2009 is taking place in Glasgow this weekend. We've been given tickets to tonight's concert as a gift. To explain, Praise Gathering is a concert with a full orchestra and 400 singers. The songs are all praises to God. So, it's a Christian event. Fairly harmless. We'd asked my JW parents to babysit for us. As is our custom, we didn't tell them any details about where we're going. They asked, and I said it was to a concert. End of.

  We got home last night from the wedding (see this thread Share: Where have you been shunned?) to find a voicemail from my father saying that he'd seen a news item about Praise Gather and that if that's where we were going, they could not in good conscience, babysit for us.

  This is further punishment for our decision to no longer be known as Jehovah's Witnesses.

  What would you do?
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  32

  Share: Where have you been shunned?

  by mrsjones5 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences
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  passwordprotected

  We were at my brother-in-law's (my wife's non-JW brother) wedding yesterday. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and her husband (and two young kids) are JWs and they were there too.

  We were shunned the most by my sister-in-law, she wouldn't even look in the direction of my wife, she didn't even acknowledge the existence of our 12 week old son (who is, by all standards, absolutely gorgeous, so all the women say. People were making a big fuss of him all day) and at one point - in front of my non-JW father-in-law (who, until that point, did not believe us re. shunning), walked past my wife, shoulder to shoulder, and completely shunned her.

  There had been an issue over whether or not we should attend the wedding reception or not. Obviously the two people who actually matter, the bride and groom, wanted us there. We were concerned about 'creating a scene' in that we arrive at the reception and all the JWs, including the groom's mother, get up and leave. My mother-in-law had actually asked us not to attend the reception, to just come to the dance at night instead. My wife had pointed out that, as we have a 12 week old baby, we wouldn't be lingering too long at the dance and that both us and our children were really looking forward to the reception. It was suggested that we send the children to the reception without us...

  It was a difficult situation. The JW family members had explained their 'reasonable' position to the bride and groom; if we come to the reception they won't be there. It wouldn't be ideal for the mother-of-the-groom not to be at the wedding, so we decided to bow out.

  However, my father-in-law spent 3 weeks pleading with us to come to the reception, that there won't be scene etc etc. We tried to explain, over and over, that we know the Witnesses better than he does, that they will shun us and they will cause a scene if need be and that if anything is said to them about this they will view it as persecution and thus confirmation that they are in the right. He consistently refused to believe us re. shunning, which was really frustrating as he clearly thought we were exaggerating and/or completely off our heads.

  Our position was that we would go and see the ceremony, then leave quietly so as not to cause an issue for the JW guests. Obviously, this went completely against the grain as we, like them, were invited guests. However, my father-in-law sat in our home until midnight this Wednesday pleading with us to just come to reception, to turn up a bit later than everyone else and that there won't be a scene. Eventually we relented...

  Yesterday arrived, we went to the ceremony, were roundly shunned by my sister-in-law, as already explained. Afterwards the guests walked down to the hotel while we lingered. We eventually arrived at the hotel, but by this time my wife felt it was a bit too upsetting to go into the hotel; she was stunned at how cold her sister was towards her - it really was above and beyond the call of JW duty, IMO. My father-in-law came outside to give us a 'pep talk' and we decided to sit outside the bar with the groom, the best man and a few other guests and have a drink. At the appointed time the guests were called into the reception. Again we lingered. My father-in-law gave us further assurance that his JW wife would not cause a scene if we came into the reception, however, we noticed my sister-in-law and her husband also lingering back. It became like a stand-off; we were waiting until they went upstairs and they were waiting to see if we were going to go upstairs.

  My wife nipped off to the loo and my sister-in-law's JW husband (elder) came over to me, followed by my father-in-law, to ask if we were staying. I replied that I was leaving that decision up to my wife. He had a quick look about for her, then headed up to the reception. I asked my father-in-law if he heard what I was asked, and he said that he did. He was starting to look concerned.

  My wife reappeared from the loo just as her JW sister was coming back downstairs. She passed shoulder to shoulder, shunned my wife, then turned around and asked if we were staying. My wife asked, "will you leave if we do?". She nodded and said yes. My wife immediately responded in a cheery voice, "that's ok, we'll just go." My father-in-law, sadly, was aghast. His two daughters can't even be in the same room at his son's wedding. How messed up is that? There was no protest from my sister-in-law. My oldest son was already upstairs at the reception, so we got our baby son and our 4 year old daughter, who burst into tears (got so upset she ended up with a nose bleed), and left.

  My wife was very relieved that, at last, my father-in-law could see that we weren't lying about the harshness of the shunning policy. Unfortunately, it means that his family is destroyed. Whereas once it was a close family who shared holidays together, met up for meals regularly etc, that would never, ever be able to happen again.

  We returned later in the evening for the dance. I was appalled that, at first, it looked like my sister-in-law and her family were actually going to stay! After about half-an-hour, though they left, but not before my 12 year old nephew and 10 year old niece shunning my wife and I several times. Once the JWs left, we actually had a quite a good time. Our kids had a ball and there was no scene from the petulant, persecuted JWs.
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  33

  Austrian Branch Participating in Interfaith Discussion

  by GermanXJW in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  on june 9th, 2009 austrian chancellor werner faymann met delegates from the 14 churches in austia that are registered under public law.it was called a dialogue about the cohesion of the austrian society in which things in common should be emphasized and not seperating things.

  among the participating churches were among others catholic, protestant, greek orthodox, jews, muslim, mormons, buddhist and - jehovah's witnesses!.

  you find the list here: http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung.php?schluessel=ots_20090608_ots0170.

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  passwordprotected

  Do Jehovah's Witnesses no longer trust that Christ is above all of these earthly authorities and that he can make them do whatever he needs them to do? Why lobby/represent/discuss or petition anything with these worldly leaders when you worship the God that is about to bring all of them to the valley of Meggido?

  Either they trust that he is in control or they admit that they are actually working under their own strength.
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  33

  Austrian Branch Participating in Interfaith Discussion

  by GermanXJW in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  on june 9th, 2009 austrian chancellor werner faymann met delegates from the 14 churches in austia that are registered under public law.it was called a dialogue about the cohesion of the austrian society in which things in common should be emphasized and not seperating things.

  among the participating churches were among others catholic, protestant, greek orthodox, jews, muslim, mormons, buddhist and - jehovah's witnesses!.

  you find the list here: http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung.php?schluessel=ots_20090608_ots0170.

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  passwordprotected

  Since when does the Governing Body want "a solidly united and integrated society" other than the one where they are the world rulers?

  And Reniaa, surely Jehovah will establish the work in his own time. Does the Governing Body need to send representative to kiss the ring of worldly rulers? Surely the Governing Body's 21st Century stance in their publications is very different from the 1st C model whereby rulers were appealed to. Doesn't the Society teach that the rulers are of Satan and that the Governing Body is going to crush them and rule in their stead? Where's the consistency?
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  46

  "Bearing Thorough Witness" book: New light about Governing Body

  by kurtbethel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  they are not your leaders!.

  here it is, in print, on page 110 above the picture of "the nine".. "the governing body relies on god's holy spirit for direction.

  its members do not regard themselves as the leaders of jehovah's people.

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  passwordprotected

  Then why does the Watchtower state that the "other sheep" follow the Governing Body?
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  57

  To Fade or Not To Fade... An Opinion.....

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just a couple of set of ground rules i would like to set for this.

  frequently, one of two options for those who want to leave jw's are 1) a purposeful, public, resignation (or disassociation as jw's call it) vs 2) what is commonly called in the ex jw internet world, "the fade".

  i know that emotions run deep on this subject for good reason, because of what is at stake, and all that is perceived to be lost.

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  passwordprotected

  @ besty - love it.
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  43

  To Mouthy and All Here

  by believingxjw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  dear mouthy and all here who love their fellow man,.

  mouthy, your sincere posts and steadfast belief have been a great encouragement to me after leaving the witnesses.. to all here who love their fellow man: your posts have also been a well of water in a dry land to me.. my thanks to all here and to those who have worked hard to set us free.. .

  believing.

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  passwordprotected

  Hear hear.
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  161

  Just my 2 Cents.......Go ahead and FLAME AWAY.....I won't reply

  by scrapmama777 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "inciting hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality or sexuality or other personal characteristic.".

  is this seriously one of the forum's rules to follow?

  how can that be so when this whole forum is based on inciting hatred towards one religion.....jehovah's witnesses.......wow this is funny!

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  passwordprotected

  I am not a strong witness as some are, but that does not mean that I will stop putting my faith in Jehovah.

  That's a good point. If you're able to, try and disentangle God from the Organisation. They are, in fact, very separate.