Posts by lepermessiah

52

Are the Dubbers still preaching the end is very close?

by dogon in

we use to joke around and use the line from danny deveto on romancing the stone where he is asking michael dougless when he is coming back, soon very soon as a way to make fun of the believers who would keep telling us on stage the end was soon very soon.

they started this after the 75 and 2000 failure.

what are they saying now?.

lepermessiah

EOM - Those events have been around for a long time.......now we just here about more and more of them because of the media and technology.

Did you know about the worst school disaster in US History?

It was the Bath School disaster in Bath Michigan in 1927 - like 49 people died and 58 wounded.

For the longest time, it was the worst act of terrorism/mass murder on US soil.

If you want to read of the arguably worst example of human behavior, read a book about the Nazi's. They were total butchers with no regard for human life. They went well beyond the boundaries of warfare. That was 65 years ago..........

Yes, things are bad, but actually we have come a long way.

One of my heroes is Jackie Robinson, who was the first black man to play pro baseball in the USA. I think he died an early death due to the enormous stress and bigotry he endured, along with many other black folks in the USA.... Now we have a black President. Even 10 years ago, most people would have thought that to be unthinkable.

There are some positives to dwell on too!

3

Jeremiah 10:23 - Have you used it against the WTBS

by lepermessiah in

the wtbs loves to throw that scripture around.. we shouldnt follow goverments because it is not up to "man who is walking even to direct his steps".

we shouldnt follow the world because it is not up to "man who is walking even to direct his steps".

but - we should follow a group of men "the faithful and discreet slave" ?

lepermessiah

The WTBS loves to throw that scripture around.

We shouldnt follow goverments because it is not up to "man who is walking even to direct his steps"

We shouldnt follow the world because it is not up to "man who is walking even to direct his steps"

BUT - WE should follow a group of men "The Faithful and Discreet Slave" ?

Well, have you ever used that or Ecclessiastes 8:9 (man has dominated man to his own injury)

back in their face? - I was thinking about that today.....

My "Reasoning from the Scriptures for Faders" project!

14

Strange Words in an Old Book

by cameo-d in

from an old wt book entitled enemies by rutherford, p. 293. .

'peace and safety; we have silenced all opponents.'.

i guess i never realized that "we have silenced all opponents" was their definition of "peace and safety".. i wonder what they have in mind to accomplish that?.

lepermessiah

'Peace and safety; we have silenced all opponents.'

I think old Joe lifted that right from "Mein Kampf"!

Of course, the JW's had their own "Night of the Long Knives" back in 1980.

God, the WTBS parallels Nazi Germany so close that it is scary.

27

Useless street witnessing in the Carribean Islands.......................

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

i just came back from a 12 day carribean cruise and visited the islands of grenada, saint lucia, barbados,and 4 other islands.

the temperature was around 90 degrees every day.

it is that warm all year round for them.. all around the street markets and shopping areas we saw jehovah's witnesses street witnessing .

lepermessiah

There was a local family who used to drive to Florida every year - it was I think almost a 20 hour drive.

They would stick WT's in the windows of the car and count the time on the way down.......LOL

Believe me, its too stupid to make up! I couldnt believe it when the son told me.......

20

Is the Door to Door Preaching Obsolete?

by lepermessiah in

i wanted to get some opinions on this.. the last few years i was active as a jw, i thought that the door-to-door preaching work was the biggest waste of time.

you rarely got anyone home, those you did get home were rarely interested, and it seemed like a huge waste of resources.. in line with that thought, i was speaking with a gentleman at work the other day - he is a very active pastor in the community, and him and i have gotten to be pretty good friends - we have had a ton of interesting conversations.he recently moved his church to a bigger location due to past and expected future growth.. he was telling me that one of his big concerns was the fall-off of church attendance in our area.

he had a company actually come in and do a study for him with census information, demographics, etc.

lepermessiah

Thanks for everone's comments. I think this is such an interesting topic.

Its another one of those core beliefs that has very flimsy, if any scriptural support.

Also, its proven that in developed countries, the door-to-door is totally ineffective for most people.

People simply DO NOT want to be called on in this manner for the most part. The only people I know of in our area who do not seem to mind as much are those from foreign cultures that would consider it extremely rude not to be hospitible or polite. Even those folks are very busy and try to cut it short most of the time.

I know my wife and I never answer the door if we get a "cold call" - I always tell her "remember that the next Saturday you go pounding the pavement!"

It like what Ray Franz talked about in CoC, that any arrangements in the first century seemingly would have been in the best interests of the Christians, would have been more free-flowing and less rigid, would not be about lining the coffers of the WTBS with $$$$etc........

Mary, I really enjoyed your comments on that past WT article.

The point about lesser-developed countries was good as well - It makes you realize though how much the people in the developed countries carry the financing of the work. Im sure they get very little if any money from those poorer areas.

I still laugh when I see the publisher count increase in the USA, because in my area, there are hardly ever any new ones, and people are leaving left and right.

20

Is the Door to Door Preaching Obsolete?

by lepermessiah in

i wanted to get some opinions on this.. the last few years i was active as a jw, i thought that the door-to-door preaching work was the biggest waste of time.

you rarely got anyone home, those you did get home were rarely interested, and it seemed like a huge waste of resources.. in line with that thought, i was speaking with a gentleman at work the other day - he is a very active pastor in the community, and him and i have gotten to be pretty good friends - we have had a ton of interesting conversations.he recently moved his church to a bigger location due to past and expected future growth.. he was telling me that one of his big concerns was the fall-off of church attendance in our area.

he had a company actually come in and do a study for him with census information, demographics, etc.

lepermessiah

I wanted to get some opinions on this.

The last few years I was active as a JW, I thought that the door-to-door preaching work was the biggest waste of time. You rarely got anyone home, those you did get home were rarely interested, and it seemed like a huge waste of resources.

In line with that thought, I was speaking with a gentleman at work the other day - he is a very active pastor in the community, and him and I have gotten to be pretty good friends - we have had a ton of interesting conversations.He recently moved his church to a bigger location due to past and expected future growth.

He was telling me that one of his big concerns was the fall-off of church attendance in our area. He had a company actually come in and do a study for him with census information, demographics, etc. This company also gave recommendations for how people are contacted. Guess which method of "recruitment" were the least effective? Yep - the "door to door" method of contact.

He told me over 85% of the people asked objected to that method. They preferred mailers, email, telephone, you name it......

In fact, the pastor told me when he started the church, he tried to door-to-door method for a couple of days and gave up - it was totally fruitless.

I mentioned this a JW friend and she freaked out - I could tell it bothered her that I said it.

She said "well, Jesus told us to go from door to door"

I said, "thats because when he was alive, that was the only way to contact people!"

If Jesus was alive in the 1800's and said "go from Pony Express point to Pony Express point" would the JW's still use horses to preach?

What do you think?

8

Eight year old boy baptised

by dozy in

jw
friends

http://news.peacefmonline.com/religion/200912/33715.php.

.

lepermessiah

I didnt think Witnesses performed Infant Baptism!

Seriously, those experiences really break my heart. That kid barely knows how to tie his shoes, let along make a decision like that. (especially in JW world where if he changes his mind later in life, he is going to be ostracized)

So many of my friends were baptised at 9,10,11.....many of them are now DF'ed.

A really good friend of mine waited until he was 19 since he had some doubts. Of course, he had an incident and was DF'ed a couple of years later by a witch-hunt of a committee...Needless to say he has never come back.

I was considered old when I was baptised at 14. That is still way too young.

Of course, at this point to be baptised as a JW, I think any age is too young!!!!

11

So, is this really the reason why home Cong. Book Studies ended?

by Gayle in

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/respected-jehovahs-witness-groomed-and.5911846.jp.

lepermessiah

Thank you for that article!

I think there were a number of factors that weighed into it, but I would be suprised if they considered the molestation issue as a factor at the book studies.

1) They still seem very reluctant to admit there is a problem- articles like this still come up all the time, and yet the organziation says that they have addressed the problem - yeah right

2) You cant get people to open up their homes hardly anymore

3) The elders and MS are getting so burned out that they are losing men left and right

4) Those pieces of filth usually do it when no adults are around

As the article alluded to - In my experience, those dirtbags were very subtle on building relationships with the kids and their families , and then striking when the opportunity came up. We had the "grandfatherly" elder who had the kids in service, or over to his pool and taught them how to swim - with the little girls though, he liked to fondle them as well. Then we had the guy who was like an "Uncle" to some of the kids who would end up watching them or picking them up for movies, shopping, etc after a a day in service, WT study at a home....then he did his thing.

People in the JW community tend to be way too trusting and assume that a brother or sister would never do that. We all know that is a load of garbage - I think it attracts those type of individuals, or if they were "born-ins" it gives them a fertile ground to behave that way.

I noticed this from the article:

He used the "cloak of religious activities" to abuse some of the girls, in doing so betraying the responsibility placed in him as an elder in the community.

John Nixon representing O'Brien told the court he was ashamed and remorseful.

As a result "his marriage has disappeared and he has been stripped of many possessions, being made bankrupt".

He got off LIGHT.....too bad he didnt get wiped out of the gene pool.

12

Is it possible for an Elder to get back his "priviledges" after being demoted?

by african GB Member in

for example, if he was demoted due to one of his children(who are still under him) being df'd or is no longer "exemplary".. agbm.

lepermessiah

Like the above folks said, its very common.

If you are male, breathing, and get 10 hours in field service a month, you are a prime candidate regardless of your past.

I personally know of someone who was DFd for immorality, Divorced, and then was later made an Elder.

Thats common as well.

I know of at least 4 cases locally where the guy was an elder, cheated on his wife, was DF'ed, never missed a meeting and was reinstated quickly, and then was re-appointed as an elder several years later.

The WTBS has an "unofficial" year limit if I remember (7 years or something like that)

Nice to see the holy spirit picks such charming guys!

26

alcoholism a clear and present danger for JWs and XJWs?

by quietlyleaving in

i was having an interesting discussion with an xjw recently and we both knew of elders who were alcoholic but who were allowed to keep their privileges because their condition was described as a disease.

the elder i knew was also spotted in a drunken state on a couple of occasions.

he kept his privileges.

lepermessiah

All I have seen is the disgusting double-standard in my experiences.

I know so many elders, MS, etc....who have drinking problems or are alcoholics. The majority of them kept all priviliges and rarely received anything more than a slap on the wrist.

I had a friend who was a wonderful person, but had a horrible drinking problem. He was disfellowshipped for alcholism. The committee that was working on his case told him that he not only had to remain sober for 2 YEARS before they would consider his reinstatement but that he was not to consume ANY alcohol.

I was serving as an elder at the time and still kept tabs on him. I told him that was the biggest bunch of BS I had ever heard - where is it in writing that was the requirement for reinstatement? Also, I told him that his problem was going to be a life-long battle. He may slip and fall many times along the way, and need to get back up.

The guy finally managed to stay sober and was reinstated. A few months later, he fell off the wagon hard. He was disfellowshipped again, and eventually passed away.

Very sad story....