post 51 of 52. since 3/27/2009.
google_ad_section_start i can't verify the authenticity of this information as i have not personally attended.
however this is what is posted on another site.. friday:.
I doubt there is a revised version of the NWT, this would be a big undertaking & I'm sure we would have heard about it. Also I don't suppose the society wants to have to print and give away 7 million new Bibles all at once.
If there is a revision however I bet they get the word 'organisation' in there somehow.
for more than 30 years i believed everything that came from the watchtower society, especially since i lived at bethel for a while and i knew a lot of the gb members, who to me seemed intelligent and personable.
at the beginning, the emphasis was on the bible, the kingdom, jehovah and jesus.
but gradually over time, there would appear an elephant in the room that no one seemed to talk about, such as the change in the understanding of "generation.
In my experience, there ended up being so many elephants in the room, there was no space left for me! I jusr realised my 'wait on Jehovah' mental file outweighed the 'this is the truth file'.
I don't think the society has become more authoritarian though, I think they always were, it's just when you start thinking for yourself the 'we're always right do what we say' attitude increasingly grates. You don't mind it so much when you truely believe they are speaking for God / God's mouthpiece / the expression of the heavenly kingdom on earth etc etc.
new message from website reader: silvio.
their email address is: and their message is:.
hello mrs anderson.
Feh, anyway the Jezebel class dresses better.
new message from website reader: silvio.
their email address is: and their message is:.
hello mrs anderson.
It does indeed sound like a rage explosion. Notice he uses your son's shunning of you as a weapon. Likewise he uses racism; 'anglo-saxon' people wrongly (in his opinion) wanting equality for women.
You should be ashamed for not 'staying in your place', not 'waiting on Jehovah' - never mind the other children who would have been abused.
I think sir82 is right, he'll be joining us on here in a few years.
Keep up the good work Barb!
in contemplating my current beliefs in life right now, it occured to me that my views as an agnostic would probably make for a strange funeral service if my friends and family were to have one.
strange in that most funeral services always have some mention of god, and some religious context with afterlife explanations.
has anyone ever been to a non-religious funeral service for someone who was atheist or agnostic and what was it like?
Agnostic, atheist funerals are usually about the person that died. Usually a friend reads something that the dead friend especially liked. Other friends or family members speak about their favourite memories of the person etc. Just like other funerals but without the 'they're not really dead' bit.
page 28, paragraph 13:.
"an improper romantic relationship could develop within the congregation.
daniel and his wife, sarah, were regular pioneers.
Poor 'Sarah', not only does her husband neglect her, palm off the newly baptised ones he can't count his time on and not notice her 'spiritual condition', when she finally finds some pleasure elsewhere she ends up as a true life experience in the WT. 'Daniel' comes across as a major douche - he's probably bursting with righteous pride right now at being used in the magazines.
i like the "sudductive woman with long dark hair", for one.
very funny pictures..
Bowls of colourful fruit served at wholesome get-togethers. Bonus points if one of the spiritually strong attendees is wearing national dress of somewhere exotic. Treble points if the exotic national dress wearer is caucasian but is 'learning the language'.
Also, that one guy who has already made it to paradise & managed to take a millenium's supply of red checked shirts with him. Often seen next to 'woman with fruit'.
in the latest 'study' version of the wt (aug 15, 2012) there is a report on the agm last year.. "balsatar perla interviewed three fellow members of the mexico bethel family regarding the merger of six central american branch offices with the mexico branch.
because of this merger, the bethel family in mexico has become more multicultural and international.
the influx of fellow believers from different lands has resulted in an interchange of encouragement.
Interchange of encouragement my arse.
What will be happening is the refugees/survivors from the branch closures will be insecure, worried about jockying for position in the Mexico branch, missing their families & friends they've had to leave 100's of miles away yet clinging on to a shred of relief that they haven't been made redundant aka 'sent in to the field'. The existing Mexico 'family' will be anxious to ensure these new upstarts know their place and are suitably grateful for the 'loving kindness' extended to them.
.
"if you consistently reject our message you will deserve the death our god brings upon you"..
Sincere JWs preaching for the love of people? Yes there are quite a few. I wasn't one of them, even when I was a true believer I hated 'the service'.
I imagine if the society was to stop mandaory reporting of preaching time, abandon the pioneer hierachy and make it voluntary, numbers spent door knocking would decline by 90% at least.
drop its teaching on paradise earth.. the primary issue facing the watchtower results from it's teaching that members will never die, but live forever on this earth in paradise.
this teaching is cause of most of the doctrinal failures, and will be its eventual demise.. the promise of never dying is one of the foremost motivations for people that join the religion, and the message of living forever in paradise is compelling.
however, it is also the watchtower's achilles heel, as it forces false predictions of the nearness of the end.
Good point Besty made upthread. In the last 20 years the WT have baptised about 5.5 million people. The average publishers in 1992 was about 4.5 million, average publishers today is about 7 million. That means around three million publishers have left, died, been d'f'd or faded in 20 years.
JW membership has an extremely high turnover. It seems to me there is a demographic 'hollowing' out now. The congregations are full of old people, mentally ill people and single sisters. It seems like the teenage boys disappear but their sisters stay in. Strange really, since JWism reward system is inadequate for women.
Doctrinally to survive, they don't need to do anything. They lost any remaining intellectual coherence with the 1995 generation change. The further we get away from 1914, the more the 'last days' concept plausibility is stretched, but that doesn't really hurt them. People join for the paradise and stay due to emotional blackmail.
