Posts by wozza

33

Can the dead hear?

by AmyWatson916 in

the "what does the bible really teach?

" book says we cannot speak to the dead (page 64) and that the dead do not hear (page 58) but on page 68 the book has jesus talking to a dead man and the dead man apparently hearing and responding.

the same thing happens on page 69 when peter talks to a dead woman and the dead woman apparently hears and responds.

Yes if we were blindfolded.....................but then it could be said that the writer (my mother) of what was said wrote down not what appeared on the table . Also note that no-one was touching the glass ,they were and the glass did not move ,but when I put my hand above the glass and they removed their hands that's when it started going from letter to letter . If my mother had rigged it somehow I don't know how she did it (like magnets), but I remember feeling like my skin on my back was lifting off when I approached the table.

The table was just a Formica covered kitchen table ,letters and yes / no written on ordinary writing pad strips torn off a page and the glass used was an upturned Vegemite glass that was now used as a drinking vessel (every Australian home had a few of these).

I can't explain this and won't attempt to convince anyone but my mother especially had a history of dabbling in occult practices as the JWs say ( telepathy etc) I've stopped searching for answers to this and many other things I've witnessed and just getting on with life ,the things we can see are enough to deal with let alone things we can't see.

65

Major changes to convention security beginning in 2017

by Edison Trent in

short info on interesting changes to the major conventions this year: there will be a new security concept that will be implemented at all regional conventions in 2017.. similar to other major events (e.g.

festivals, concerts), there will be admittance controls in stadiums.. - at each entrance, there will be a massive presence of attendants that look at each visitor.. - there will be pocket checks at the entrance.. - suspicious persons are no longer left on the convention grounds.. - suppliers to the stadium will be intensively inspected by attendants.. - there will be a special sign for attendants that must enter the stadium before 7.30 am.

all others (even all attendants) can only enter after 7.30 am..

wozza

Years ago I used to be an attendant (security) at conventions in Australia and I saw some very unsavoury people come thru the gate ,like perverts with extendable mirrors to look into the ladies toilets etc.

We had to surround them and convince them to leave except in the cases above where the police were called .

Ah the days when I had to get there at 6 AM and check for bombs and re-check at the lunch break, some of the attendants took it too seriously though and would have cb radios with a shoulder mounted microphone like a cop and strut about ....ha ha what a bunch of cowboys .

At the Melbourne convention in 1988 one of these guys came from Adelaide to be on security with his bright red station wagon with so many antennae and spot lights it looked like a porcupine .The Melbourne brothers in attendants had never seen this much over the top stuff before one of them referred to the Adelaide "wankers" are here!

But we never then checked peoples bags ,that would have been viewed as bad as touching a person to remove them from the convention site ,but I guess Jehovahs chariot needs to keep up!

33

Can the dead hear?

by AmyWatson916 in

the "what does the bible really teach?

" book says we cannot speak to the dead (page 64) and that the dead do not hear (page 58) but on page 68 the book has jesus talking to a dead man and the dead man apparently hearing and responding.

the same thing happens on page 69 when peter talks to a dead woman and the dead woman apparently hears and responds.

wozza

I don't want to sidetrack this but I would like to give a personal experience in relation to this topic. But if the dead can hear then it seems they have already been brought back in some other form it appears.

Here it is : I was about twelve at home with my brother , mother and 2 or 3 friends and we were bored because the weather I think kept us inside from kicking the football in the street. Well my mother cleared the kitchen table and proceeded to make a oija board of bits of paper and an upturned glass ,and said let's have some fun. i guess it was a simple parlour game to her as she was born in the early 1920's.

The other kids were keen and mystified ,I felt uncomfortable for by my age I'd worked out my mother was a bit loopy and different to other mothers. But she called me closer and when I put my hand over the glass it started moving (yes that's over not on) and in time began quickly sliding and pointing to the letters etc .

Mother excitedly wrote down the whole session while we all freaked out but were terrified to move. She gave an explanation that we were actually talking to a dead person (hows that for irresponsible parenting,especially to other peoples kids ,but that was not even half of what I endured with her).

Well the kids left and it was then I asked what was the message she wrote down as I'd missed some of the words and we proceeded to read it in it's entirety ,it was supposed to be from a friend of my mothers dead husband telling his wife how he was and enquiries about their children ,very specific things.

How do explain this ?,over the years I tried to find explanations which lead me to the JW's who said it was demons and that seemed to cover alot of other things I'd experienced . This was one of the things that kept me in the org for so long they seemed to have an explanation ,but over the years the org revealed itself to be man made to me and I left .

So what am I left with now as an explanation for the condition of the dead or the many other wierd things in life that can't be easily explained even by science? I find myself at the blunt end of life retired ,godless but not searching as hard for answers as I did in my youth ,but at least I'm not tormented by the quest and have learnt to be more chilled about the things in life that I can't possibly get the truthful story on ,I spent decades believing in an org that said it taught truth and yet that truth is not truth today led by a body of chiefly American people who are just people despite what they think they are ,and the Bible ? well it gives conflicting answers standing on it's own , let alone when any bunch of people give their personal opinion on what it says especially on the condition of the dead. Whwew glad I got that of my chest

80

Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses launches worldwide campaign againt Russia

by jwleaks in

jehovah's witnesses mobilize global response to threat of ban in russia.

march 21, 2017. https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/russia/jw-mobilize-global-response-to-threat-of-ban/.

new york—threatened with an imminent ban on their worship in russia, jehovah’s witnesses are responding with a direct appeal to kremlin and supreme court officials for relief through a global letter-writing campaign.

wozza

Was'nt it Gamaliel who pointed out taking physical action could actually be seen as taking opposition to god,

In a similar way could the watchtower be encouraging JW.s to take action when it actually might be what god wants?

Idiots

32

Have you ever believed something that turned out to be wrong?

by slimboyfat in

apart, of course, from the obvious example of believing the evidence-free assertion of the governing body to be god's representatives on earth.

not to side-step that issue, but i wonder if it might be interesting to relate that huge mistake to other things i've been wrong about and how they compare and contrast with the big one.

a couple of examples of things i was wrong about:.

wozza

I once believed my first marraige would last ,and when I became a witness with my wife I believed the Watchtower advice would keep our marraige even more stable...............stupid young fool I was

41

Observations From an Ex-Elder Part 3 - Searching for the Lost Sheep

by doubtfull1799 in

"what man among you with 100 sheep, on losing one of them, will not leave the 99 behind in the wilderness and go after the lost one until he finds it?

" - luke 15:4. disclaimer: by posting the following observations i am not complaining.

i am happy to be left alone.

wozza

I used to take that scripture seriously when I was a ministerial servant and help as many as possible in our congregation - the end of it was that the Elders warned me not to usurp their headship in this matter , I explained that I enjoyed helping my brothers and sisters in need - another warning,

I was risking my "privileges" so I said that at least I was fulfilling the bibles commands and that they were not doing any more than they had to, as a body . Basically you are an odd ball if you do the right thing - I gave my up priveledges not long after and my wife left me with two kids to raise.

No CO visits or elders ,I'd sit near the front of the Hall so people could'nt see my tears.

11

Covering the territory

by Ding in

how often are jws trying to cover a given territory nowadays?.

logically, they should be trying to cover the territory more and more often the closer armageddon gets, but it seems to me i see them out far less often than i used to..

wozza

Here south of Adelaide 30 years ago we would average 10 days to 2 weeks for most maps ,some rural ones were once a month , but sometimes when pioneering we would be short of maps and cover the territory fully 3 times ,hand the map back in and get it back to go within a week . The urgency was strong to not dawdle on the streets and cover fully the houses .

At times with the total territory being covered in under 10 days we would finish a map and then start it again immediately ,with the elders stressing that the angels are working hard and we are there to help them find the last of "the ones sighing and groaning " ,that's how close the end was.

Fast forward to today mmmmm....trolleys ,shuffling along , taking coffee breaks etc.

When I moved to Queensland north of Brisbane for a few years it was hard to adjust to a much slower pace on the territory ,they EVEN HAD COFFEE breaks an hour after being out , one elder even told me to slow down as we'll get the territory done .

When I moved back to my old area in South Australia over the years I saw the complacency begin to grow as "The Generation " was obviously getting old to all observing.

26

I thought it was time to talk.....

by wozza in

i'd like to relate an experience i had yesterday with a couple of jw's "working" with a cart yesterday.. been coming to this site for many years and these days i don't feel i've got much to contribute ,but i was out yesterday doing some voluntary work for a friend who has gone on an overseas trip .travelling around my local seaside area doing the job at hand ,i came across a couple of jw's sitting in a shelter overlooking the beach and had their trolley propped against a large public rubbish bin ,it was actually hard to see ithe trolley from most angles - whatever happened to lifting the basket to show the light stuff ...oh well .the large carpark was pretty empty except for us ,we've had pretty wet weather here lately ,bad storms and here they were set up for a days witnessing rugged up with wind and spitting rain ,i sort of thought " well that's dedication " ....that was my first thought then i pulled myself together and then thought "if i wanted to get some time in and not have to work at it too hard this maybe the place to go if i was a jw still".. well i finished my pickup and looked over at the two and realised i'd read other's experiences about approaching the cart people and wondered if talking to them would be of any benefit as i had witnessed this area for many years and my stance against the wts for hiding molestation of children is well known ,i thought, and they avoid me like the plague.. they were'nt familiar to me so i went up to them and introduced myself and quickly let them know who i was and what i am doing now as regards jw's.

they were a married couple middle aged been in for a long time and could relate to changes in the org very well to pre 1975 when i had first contact.

they pretty much suggested i was blinded to the truth ,when challenged on the royal commission into sex abuse they pointed to a case where they believed a victim they supposedly knew of in the jws was a liar ,so that's their case for the org -unbelievable.

wozza

Well it's been many months now and it's summer ,still no signs of a trolley.......

39

Is the year 2020 the new prediction for Armageddon?

by Disassociated Lady 2 in

i have had a conversation this evening with a jw friend i have known since childhood.

he is of the opinion that armageddon will have come and gone within the next 5 years.

are the jws now pinpointing 2020 as the supposed year?

wozza

Thanks for giving me another failure to look forward to in 2020 ,I look forward this failure it's given me reason to live for 3 more years......

12

Why I admire the more risky O.P starters.

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

starting an o.p is a challenge.the person who starts the o.p then relies on fellow posters to obtain feedback and hopefully keep the o.p, informative and positive.

so starting an o.p becomes " shared accountabilility" between o.p starter, and thread poster.. some o.p's will be more of a risk factor than others, because some topics are more controversial.

so when i start an o.p i now ask myself what is:-.

wozza

I wonder if you now think Randall's OP is risky and worth your admiration