Posts by teel

7

discussion with wife

by inbetween in

recently i had a discussion with my wife..she always feels guilty for not doing enough for jehovah.. i tried to slowly show her, that we are not saved by works, that fear of armageddon should not motivate us at all , she agreed with everything, then she said something like "well, we have to know the scripures better, because one time we will not know, whom to follow, we have to know, what the scriptures tell us".

wow, i thought, there is a reasonable basis, i can built on, to slowly show her the corruption of the gb, but i have to be careful, baby-steps, i really had to hold back from just unloading everything i learned the past few months (which btw, just confirmed my own doubts i had for years).

next, on appropriate time, i will point out more stupitidy and controling issues, like in the new wt (about prayer and married couple) or the rules in the gods love book.....but i have to be careful, because she is were i was just a while ago, being loyal to gods org.... .

teel

I'm in the same boat - my wife is nearly always tired, she complains that she has no time for anything - yet she spends in average about 2 hours a day for the service of the Corporation. She even wanted to start pioneering, and was extremely upset that I objected on grounds that she herself said almost daily that she has no time.

As said by Black Sheep, they are trained to not listen to anything critical. A couple of days ago it was really freakish, we had a friendly talk about how we should know an advice from the GB was really God's will, if they changed the advices over the years, and as we know God's will won't change. After a while she tells me to stop with this, now she feels that she has to study a lot to repair the damage I've done. The mind control is so obvious, it smacks you in the face.

31

November 15 2009 Watchtower (Study Edition) - Treasure Your Place in the Congregation...

by CrazyBlonde in

jw
friends

thought this one was quite creepy - the article to be studied january 11-17 "treasure your place in the congregation", page 13 para 5 reads (italics mine):.

"the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience" is so widespread that it is like the air we breathe.

(eph.

teel

It's so amazing how the GB keeps drawing parallels with people who were undoubtedly directed by God. Moses and Korah are one of their favorites. They expect us to make a mental jump and accept them as directed by God, even though they make doctrinal mistakes. How many of the ten commandments were updated by Moses because of "new light"? And oh, if they do make mistakes they're suddenly "just human". But if I don't think independently how am I supposed to know that when I submit to their human laws, they aren't in fact against God's laws? Ultimately God could make me resposible for following men's teachings instead of God's teachings.

Oh, and there's a difference between "independent thinking" and "disrespectful". Funny how the bereans very rarely come up in WT literature, except when advising outsiders to check their faith. The bereans had respectful independent thinking, and they were commended for it.

31

how are the JW's viewed from the outside?

by tigeress in

jw
friends

i know while in the org we get told alot to tell everyone that we are jw's, cos its reputation is so good.

but that dosn't explain why people still refuse to answer the doors to them, or hide when they come aknocking.. so how are jw's really viewed by the outside world?.

teel

JW's have this duality in their minds: the outside world loves them for their high morale, and at the same time they hate them for the same morale, and being the followers of God. The world however, as said by others, have one prominent oppinion: they are inoffensive bothersome people. Someone on this forum on an other thread exemplified this lack of concern with the death of Michael Jackson: even when the whole world was only talking about him, noone gived a damn about his religious beliefs.

20

Let's Welcome LifeIsTooShort to the Board

by snowbird in

jw
friends

post #1 .

my husband insisted that we go to the doors even if they had no trespassing sings.

we have had guns drawn on us and shot up in the air.

teel

Welcome aboard girl! Group hug! I know it isn't a consolation, but know that many have been through similar experiences, and can give support here to ya. My marriage is also having a difficult time due to what's called affectionately on this forum as the Borg.

24

What do you think....can they???

by Heartbreaker in

can the elders disfellowship a person for using their own literature and scriptures in a way that makes them look bad to discipline a person?

i am getting ready to send an email to my torn and tortured sister who is df'd regarding the practice of it, how the wtbts adopted it, and scriptural reasoning that show its a harmful practice at best.

she is still convinced that she should try to be reinstated, and i am partially afraid she could print it and show it to the brothers.

teel

sunrising: very well said. One who is disfellowshipped on the grounds of doctrine could (or should) feel that he is on the path of the few, and people hate him, because he chose Jesus instead of teachings of men.

Edit, an answer to Heartbreaker from my point of view: I feel the WTBTS indeed showed some sound reasoning to some Bible doctrines. Even though I don't trust it as the ultimate Truth(tm), I accept for example that a loving God would not torment people eternally for sins made in a couple of decades. So this sort of makes them God's channel. However seeing the history of the Society, I regard these teachings as not coming from God's personal direction, but from careful examination of the Scriptures. And as such, they can fail on some interpretations, and I won't take anything from them at face value, just like I won't take it from anyone else.

37

2010: What next for Jehovahs Witnesses?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

in the last two years we have seen many changes in the watchtower - a few are listed below.

what are your thoughts concerning the movement and direction of jehovah's witnesses for 2010 and beyond?.

doctrinal changes:.

teel

angel eyes: you have kind of a weird congregation. Women in trousers, on the platforms, elders not mindig that you are visiting an apostate webpage, etc.? That doesn't sound like anything I experienced. Are you sure you aren't from an other dimension where Jehovah's Witnesses went mainstream? (BTW the "dishtowels" comment was about sisters giving public speach in front of the congregation or being elders, while covering their heads).

37

2010: What next for Jehovahs Witnesses?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

in the last two years we have seen many changes in the watchtower - a few are listed below.

what are your thoughts concerning the movement and direction of jehovah's witnesses for 2010 and beyond?.

doctrinal changes:.

teel

I am sure a doctrinal change regarding 144.000 is on its way. Now that the limit regarding '35 was lifted, we can see a wave of new annointed. Last year it almost hit 10k, this year I bet the number was close to 11k. The group can only grow so much before maths won't add up. It won't happen in 2010, but most probably it will in the next 10 years. After setting the 144.000 limit as symbolic, we'll see a huge wave of newly annointed ones, making up of at least 20-25% of the JWs.

I also aggree with willyloman's prediction about field service - it's a pain to many JWs, and it has to be reformed in some way.

81

Are the Jehovah's Witnesses, under the direction of the GB Jah's org?

by isaacaustin in

please let active jws comment here first.

i am especially inerested in their response as to whether the governing body is god's channel of truth, leading the members of the congregations, the sum of whom cumulatively make up jehovah's organization.

if so, why, and on what basis..

teel

Once a brother argued, that even if in 1914-19 the WTS was full of inaccuracies, and they were not really different from other religions, they were the only ones who accepted guidance from Jehovah (aka the Light that is getting brighter), and that was the basis of Jehovah's choice on them.

15

IF THIS DOESN'T SOUND CULTISH, I DON'NT WHAT DOES!!!

by whereami in

jw
friends

email going around.

gag alert!!.

jehovah's directions - not man's!.

teel

Yeah, all good. Except! In absolutely all of the cases in the Bible the outcome showed any bystander they were truly led by God. Now ask this brothers: were all directions coming from the faithful slave for the benefit of the ones directed? Has Moses, after giving out a direction to the israelites ever needed to say "Ooops"?

37

Serving Jehovah Doesn't Take Much Effort

by God_Delusion in

when you where at the demon hall, did you ever get a talk about how easy it was to serve jehovah?.

i was having a conversation with a friend recently about this and i wrote down what is expected of a jehovah's witness;.

go to 4 meeting per week.

teel

Add caring for the elders (I mean the old people). Although this is in fact a loving and godly thing to do, it feels so artificial. Here the congregation elders have made a list of the old people who need special attention, and divided them to a couple of volunteers, so that they get visited every week once. I'm not sure, but I think they even count that time as field service. However this is all a facade, it's not what love and caring is really about.