Posts by sd-7

48

Do you pray over your meals? If so why? If not, when did you stop and why?

by BU2B in

jw
friends

to answer my question, no i do not pray over meals anymore exept for when i am with other jws i do a 15 second head bow for appearances sake.

i just came to the realization god had nothing to do with whether i ate or not.

many believers are starving right now whilst many non-believers are eating like kings.. also why should god give me food while he lets little children in dprk concentration camps starve to death.

sd-7

Not anymore. I realized that I was talking to no one. At some point, I finally had it out with what I imagined was God and pretty much told him off. He never did reply before or after that anyway.

I also recognized the absurdity of thanking the person who, if he's the same guy from the Bible, actually condemned man to 'eat bread in the sweat of your face', the same guy who cursed the ground and made it harder for man to grow crops. So why would I thank the person who makes it hard for me to earn my food every day? If anything, I would manage to eat in spite of God's efforts to prevent humans from eating, not because of him.

The food still tastes the same without saying thanks to anyone. So...apparently no harm done.

--sd-7

53

Did Jesus say his followers would be witnesses of Jehovah?

by blondie in

jw
friends

what did jesus say?.

(acts 1:8)8 but you will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.

by "divine providence" what did jesus' followers become known as?.

sd-7

John 8:14-18

New International Version (NIV)

14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

Huh. So maybe that answers the question. Jesus was bearing witness to himself, and his Father was bearing witness to him.

John 18:37

New International Version (NIV)

37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

John 14:6

New International Version (NIV)

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you put all that together, it kinda sounds like Jesus was bearing witness to himself, as the means of approaching the Father. Whereas JWs seem to focus on the Father's name/qualities as the means to understanding Jesus or some such thing, like you can only understand Jesus by knowing Jehovah (and "his organization", of course) first.

I may be wrong here.

--sd-7

24

CIRCUIT ASSEMBLIES KEEP SHRINKING IN SIZE - WAY TO GO!!

by steve2 in

the recent boe letter announcing changes to the duration of circuit assemblies was warmly received by congregations the worldover.

it was as if the brothers and sisters were already in the new world for, upon hearing this news, there were no tears at all.

instead, it is a humble acknowledgement from the gb of the mind-numbing, yawn-inducing 2-day circuit assemblies.. .

sd-7

I never really understood the point of them anyway. I mean, reprogramming is the obvious point, but it's basically just you, crammed into a seat for 8 hours of the same stuff you've been hearing at every meeting anyway, maybe presented in a different way. Except for the verbatim WT quotes cut and pasted into the talk outline, that is. I recognized quite a few of those over the years.

--sd-7

13

Watchtowers Prophesy Date's DON'T ADD UP! .

by Londo111 in

snarky's version is much more entertaining:.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqluxvfvalm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu7030iiabu.

sd-7

Also, if that's the Snarky Apologist, I rather like his videos, though I don't watch much ex-JW stuff on YouTube these days. He's a funny guy. I think I've commented on one of his threads at some point.

--sd-7

13

Watchtowers Prophesy Date's DON'T ADD UP! .

by Londo111 in

snarky's version is much more entertaining:.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqluxvfvalm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu7030iiabu.

sd-7

Marked. No, we can't just say "Marked", we have to give a talk that mentions this specific thread without mentioning any names, but only the situation, thus sending a signal to all who visit here to limit association with it.

"Some individuals believe the 'faithful slave' has failed in matters of Bible prophecy. They reason that the numbers don't add up. Perhaps they have been listening to some who think they are smarter than Jehovah and his organization. We would do well to turn away from such ones and continue trusting in and partaking in the fine spiritual food Jehovah has provided through the faithful and discreet slave."

There. Marked.

--sd-7

142

How do JWs Not see how barbaric YHWH is? Its what started my awakening.

by BU2B in

if one reads genesis from the first chapter through the end with an open mind, it is clear that not only is it not true, but that god is potrayed as a cruel, petty, childish micromanaging tyrant.

if one continues reading the ot this is just further solidified.

how do jws not see the obvious?

sd-7

This is something I noticed long before I had any disagreements with the WT. Some of the OT accounts were just chilling to read, in my opinion. The images of men, women and children being slaughtered really stuck with me. I couldn't help thinking, so...no one could be spared? Some of the violence was pretty graphic. I just couldn't wrap my head around how God was not only okay with it, but actually commanded that it be done.

I figured, well, if God is okay with this sort of thing, then he's nothing more than a dictator in his own right. His ultimate goal seems to be to kill everyone who doesn't measure up. I thought of the 'new system' as a world where the slightest wrong thought would get you killed. And no one would even remember you were there, because God would wipe their memories. Didn't seem like a safe and happy place to me. Just a place where happiness would be a thin disguise for fear.

So...I didn't know this would become relevant to my future awakening, I just figured it was part of all the 'warning examples' and the warning was: Obey or Die. I assumed the end would be good, so maybe God was right in wiping out people who opposed him. I couldn't say how exactly. I just trusted it to be true. My mistake.

--sd-7

26

New May WT continuing to beat persecution/organization drum

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

check out the new may wt.

" is nauseating.

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20140515/moving-ahead-jehovahs-organization/.

sd-7

What I find amazing is that "THE CHANNEL OF TRUTH" cannot even fully quote it's own literature....

Right, LOL! You know it's bad when that's how it has to be! Truth Version 3.1!

--sd-7

14

Is the Watchtower Really Rewriting their History through the DVDs and CD-ROM?s Historical Revisionist.

by RottenRiley in

i am searching for the materials showing the watchtower changing the original content like or examples of the following.. .

"the preaching work will be finished in the 20th century and never be repeated".

i heard they changed this gem, and many others, why are they so dishonest, their members are stuck in the mental mud, doubt they even read the new magazines so why are they going to the trouble of changing or revising their past magazines when the members wanting true christian freedom, practicing love and compassion will locate the revised materials?.

sd-7

*** w66 10/15 p. 631 Rejoicing over “God’s Sons of Liberty” Spiritual Feast ***
‘Does it mean that Armageddon is going to be finished, with Satan bound, by 1975? It could! It could! All things are possible with God. Does it mean that Babylon the Great is going to go down by 1975? It could. Does it mean that the attack of Gog of Magog is going to be made on Jehovah’s witnesses to wipe them out, then Gog himself will be put out of action? It could. But we are not saying. All things are possible with God. But we are not saying. And don’t any of you be specific in saying anything that is going to happen between now and 1975. But the big point of it all is this, dear friends: Time is short. Time is running out, no question about that.

*** jv chap. 8 p. 104 Declaring the Good News Without Letup (1942-1975) ***
Brother Franz then referred to the many questions that had arisen as to whether the material in the new book meant that by 1975 Armageddon would be finished, and Satan would be bound. He stated, in essence: ‘It could. But we are not saying. All things are possible with God. But we are not saying. And don’t any of you be specific in saying anything that is going to happen between now and 1975. But the big point of it all is this, dear friends: Time is short. Time is running out, no question about that.’

Well...the same words are there, but the tone is vastly different in the Proclaimers book than in the 1966 WT article. They mean two entirely different things to the person living in 1966 and hearing that talk and the person in the '90s who wasn't there and is reading the Proclaimers book.

So...does this mean that history is being rewritten by the Watchtower? It could! It could! All things are possible with them. Does it mean that the Proclaimers book and the Faith in Action DVDs are revising the history of the org? It could. But we are not saying. And don't any of you be specific in saying anything that may have been revised between 1874 and now.

--sd-7

10

no Valentiene's Day stress - there is one benefit to being married to a Witness

by Frazzled UBM in

but i plan to buy her a gift and a blank card in a week or two to show appreciation to her as wife and mother in substitution for valentine's day and mother's day.

sd-7

Good point, there. But you know...I've always hated this day. It usually brings back memories of the first girl who rejected me in high school.

I just don't feel a need to participate in these traditions anyhow. There's no rule that says I shouldn't and no rule that says I should. It's just stuff that people choose to do, still alien to me. I still can't get into it.

I guess I've just been too tired and probably depressed to be romantic. Was just thinking about the book of love songs I wrote for my wife and gave to her years ago, when we first got married. It was like, almost 50 of them. But she didn't want to read it.

I was reading some of them today and maybe I understand why. Mostly I wrote about how sad it was when she broke up with me back when we dated the first time, and how much I missed her. I guess reading them all might have made her feel sad about it or something. But hey, she had every right to leave and go her own way. I had no claim on her and wasn't able to judge her on her own merits free of JW interference back then. It's just sad that...well, never mind.

But yeah, that's about the only perk about being married to a JW.

--sd-7

26

Sing Dirges to Jehovah?

by donny in

back in 1985 my then-wife and i were having a lunchtime "gathering" at our place to show some support to the ones in our congregation who were full-time pioneers.

i had just recently received the vinyl collection of the songs featured in the song book "sing praises to jehovah" which had been released the previous year.. .

many of these melodies sounded depressing to me although i would have never admitted it at the time.

sd-7

Great point. As a child, some of the songs actually made me cry because the music and lyrics were so sad. And we used to sing several songs before starting our Family Study. "Be Steadfast, Unmovable" was one that got me. And...was it "The Bible's Hope for Mankind"? That one that was all like "Dark days are here, man lives in fear" and so on. Goodness that was depressing.

"But the Bible tells us that soon there will be, resurrections that will not involve zombies. No it's not the same person, tech-ni-ca-lly, it's sort of like a clone with the same memories..."

--sd-7