Posts by JWoods

96

How much apostate is in each JW ?

by inbetween in

recently i talked to some jw, even so called strong ones in the truth:.

i noticed, they do not believe everything from the wts, for example:.

one older sister, a close relative of mine, she has been pioneering for years, babtizes over 40 years ago, mentioned, that sometimes she wonders about certain teaching, but she can not say anything, because somebody would say, she speaks against jehovah himself..further she said, she remmebers 1975, and that the society tried to blame the brothers, but was clearly responsible itself... i was quit shocked to hear that from her, and i added some careful comments in the same direction.... other brothers do not agree with certain teachings, like resurrected ones will not marry, or animals will not eat each other etc.... maybe those are "minor" issues, but if you doubt one teaching of gods channel, doesnt that mean, you doubt the whole thing ?.

JWoods

The older ones all think that some of the new teachings are "debatable" , but apostasy? No ...because they would never say it out loud.

But they will secretly say it to one another if they feel completely safe. I can honestly tell you that I was not at all the only one horrified by the scientific stupidity of that "heart and mind" nonsense and discussed it with other elders.

Only about one out of ten (elders!) actually endorsed it - the vast majority thought it was a figment of some young writer's imagination and would be phased out in time.

17

What Inventions Helped the JW's Recruitment Ministry

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

on a thread called stupidest jw meeting answers, here was an answer by dissed:.

i don't remember other's stupid comments, just mine.. a co asked us during his service talk about inventions that have helped us in the ministry?.

several answers came forth, then i raised my hand and said.

JWoods

In antiquity - the hand cranked record player and the electronic vacuum-tube "sound car".

Think of it - this obscure religion practically invented the walkman and the modern-day "rap boomer car".

96

How much apostate is in each JW ?

by inbetween in

recently i talked to some jw, even so called strong ones in the truth:.

i noticed, they do not believe everything from the wts, for example:.

one older sister, a close relative of mine, she has been pioneering for years, babtizes over 40 years ago, mentioned, that sometimes she wonders about certain teaching, but she can not say anything, because somebody would say, she speaks against jehovah himself..further she said, she remmebers 1975, and that the society tried to blame the brothers, but was clearly responsible itself... i was quit shocked to hear that from her, and i added some careful comments in the same direction.... other brothers do not agree with certain teachings, like resurrected ones will not marry, or animals will not eat each other etc.... maybe those are "minor" issues, but if you doubt one teaching of gods channel, doesnt that mean, you doubt the whole thing ?.

JWoods

I will have to say that I spent a good 10 years in it as an elder and the whole while did not believe these:

NONE of the dates. No, not even 1975 (before the year 1975.) I actually knew other elders prior 1975 breakdown to say: probably Jehovah is testing his people to see what they do if he does not bring the end.

NONE of the earth chronology - 7,000 year creative day, geologically recent global flood, none of it. I was a good science student in school.

NONE of the demon stories. I was the go-to guy when somebody saw a walking smurf, so they appreciated this somewhat.

Name Jehovah belongs in the Bible NT - researched it myself, it is ridiculous.

Everlasting life on "Earth" in human fleshly state. Implausible on so many levels that there is really nowhere to begin.

I rationalized it all as that they were after all a "young religion" and might someday get a clue. Finally, I realized that I was getting older and needed to do something more useful than this dementia with the rest of my life.

66

Stupidest JW meeting answers

by GapingMouth in

jw
friends

i was thinking about some stupid non-sensical answers i have heard over the years.

"we all know the blue whale is the biggest fish"

"we were on the ministry and met a coloured couple.

JWoods

Another one: At the group for field service, one sister said to the group “did anyone see that amazing sunset last night….? It looked just like as if the sun was on fire.”

I looked at her as if she was stupid and said “the sun is on fire”.

Sun reference stupid line number two: Older sister answers "we all know that the annointed will be in orbit around the earth all through the new system to watch us and save us from accidents. They will gain their power from the Sun - because we all know the Sun is everlasting."

I somehow did not want to try to explain the Hydrogen-Helium cycle, etc. And yes, yours truly was conducting the WT study.

Read the paragraph, Major Tom.

21

HOW MANY OF THE GOVENING BODY ARE NOT ANOINTED??

by Mr. Majestic in

anyone know...??

?.

JWoods

though I believe the Governing Body still have high-ranking assistants.

I would suggest many in Legal are like this, even if they no longer call themselves the nethinem. And ironically, may be really the ones calling the shots - both doctrine (fear of lawsuit) and business (fear of tax, liability, etc.)

86

Opening Pandora's Box - By Barbara Anderson

by flipper in

barbara wanted me to ost this information about her discussion at a seminar which was held in europe first, then chicago just a week or two ago.

you'll find this link interesting.

all comments welcome.

JWoods

One or another thought occurs to me - and this is probably why I reacted with skepticism when this "thousands die per year" theory was presented:

Most likely thousands of witnesses certainly die per year - simple actuarial statistics can readily prove this. These deaths can of course be from a myriad of causes - ranging from simple old age through accident through childbirth complications.

I know for a fact that my father (an ex-JW) was given blood toward the very last of a long illness of old age. My personal experience here was that it neither saved him nor killed him. The doctor admitted that he simply did not know, and of course he was trying to do everything possible out of concern for the family and also concern for his own ethical standards.

This would certainly have been a "blood issue" had he still been a JW - non JW parts of the family would have raised an uproar, and then the issue is argued over the blood card, elders come to hospital, etc. But here is the deal - Paul Woods most certainly did NOT die from lack of a blood transfusion, and provision of this blood transfusion also most certainly did not extend his life at all; he was comatose at the time.

I submit that a great majority of the witness deaths under the shadow of the blood question are just like this - unfortunate ending of life where a blood transfusion is not going to pull the person through and get them back into a reasonable life.

Here is a second point of logic: The cases where a blood transfusion could plainly and simply SAVE A WITNESS LIFE (like a childbirth or a traumatic blood loss) are practically certain to receive a strong media coverage. Just like the sextuplets in Canada, or (in a similar non-JW ethical case) - like the boy with leukemia whose parents tried to hide him from court ordered treatment. This kind of tragedy will practically always find it's way out into the media if there is the slightest chance of saving the patient...and I personally don't think that thousands of such extreme cases could possibly be happening under public scrutiny.

Child molestation statistics, BTW, are far different from the above as loss of life is not involved, the cases are hidden in secret by the very nature of the crime, and so on. Also along the side points, it is thought by the most reliable figures that while the Malawi persecutions was unfair and terrible, there were only a few persons actually killed...

I still stand by the point that we ex-JWs who hate and abhor this ridiculous blood transfusion doctrine do not need to go to extreme or questionable lengths to prove our point. The doctrine itself condemns the Watchtower Society who thought it up all on its own - no matter what the numbers are. I just hate to hand our JW anti-blood adversaries "talking points" when we really don't have to by using a little more circumspect wording.

21

HOW MANY OF THE GOVENING BODY ARE NOT ANOINTED??

by Mr. Majestic in

anyone know...??

?.

JWoods

*** w07 4/1 p. 24 par. 11 Loyal to Christ and His Faithful Slave ***As in early Christian times, a small group of spirit-anointed overseers make up the

Governing Body of Christ’s followers on earth today.

Is it possible there could be something of a hidden message there? What I mean is - could there be a trend towards saying that there have always been a very few "annointed" (even in early times) and a larger great crowd?

This would remove any questions about the total number of 144,000 and further emphasize the "specialness" of the "few small group".

Of course, it involves tossing over the side the general rank and file from 1900 to 1935 who thought that every man woman and child was annointed - and, of course, the historical problem that this idea (one heavenly and one earthly class) never existed back in the ancient days. But such detail has failed to stop them before -

35

Is the "torture stake" dogma a reverse idolatry in itself?

by JWoods in

jw
friends

witnesses have famously (and gleefully) tossed the usual christain "t" cross symbol overboard after having used it themselves for quite some time.

one common arguement is that "if christ had been shot by a rifle, you would not worship the image of the gun" -.

and yet, they do not shy away from insisting on the notion of the upright torture stake.

JWoods

I don't think the WT lets something silly like "word definitions" dictate to them !!

Like many cults, they have developed a whole lexicon of "Watchtower Speak" - and like most cults, they are constantly changing JW wordings so that you have to keep on your toes to know the latest terminology.

And by the way, according to thr Epistle of Barnabas, the shape of the cross was the greek leter "Tau" = T

There was a History Channel program about this - and they made a pretty strong case that the standard cross of the first half century A.D. may indeed have been a simple T shape without the small upright part. Maybe this will someday be acceptable to the JW world - after all one of their big objections was that the three arms might represent the trinity...(also JW B.S. as no ancient Roman was thinking about the trinity, of course).

26

Young JW sisters in a hurry

by asilentone in

did you notice any young jw sisters in the past that did rush to get married too young and to have a baby right away before the end comes?

did you hear any stories of regret?

i was wondering if the watchtower is to blame for?.

JWoods

There was also a pressure to marry and have a baby ASAP back in the Vietnam Draft era - this was a way to avoid selective service for many.

45

New here

by goldensky in

jw
friends

dear all,.

i discovered this site only a couple of weeks ago and i already feel affection for you.. i am a 48-year-old woman and i live in spain, where i was born and raised, so i apologize in advance for my inevitable lack of style and possible grammar mistakes, due to english not being my native tongue.. i grew up in the truth and jehovah and the congregation have filled my whole life.

i've had little contact with the outside world.

JWoods

While I did not do that, I have since learned that I wished I had. I try to tell others on here that they can fade, but perhaps they can just stop cold turkey. Most would be happier in the long run if they did.

I think Goldensky may very well have done a very successful (and well hidden & silent) fade for those two years that she describes having doubts.

In my case I kind of did the same thing - dragging myself to a requisite few meetings and so on, until that one Saturday morning when I walked into that circuit assembly and just could not take one second more of it. Turned around, walked out, and never looked back.