Posts by garyneal

39

I told my wife I will start pioneering next month ...

by Albert Einstein in

jw
friends

... if she will prove me from the bible accuracy of 1914. and i stressed i really mean it.. we had one of the usual evening discussions and this was the result.. she said she is not ready for this and must do some preparation and aditional study (which is funny for somebody raised up in a hard-core jw family, baptized over 25 years, who spent over a decade in regular pioneering, reads wt for hours every week and have brought several people into jw cult...).

but ok, she pulled out several publications and is doing her preparation now and tonight we will have the discussion.. to motivate her i told her:.

1) if you will be succesfull i will go to preach to everybody in our street about 1914/607 during my pioneering.

garyneal

I agree with Tuesday in that they will do just enough 'research' to satisfy themselves (which isn't much) and believe that you are not being a teachable student and leaning too much 'on your own understanding.'

74

I need answers to so MANY questions.....

by Confuzzled in

jw
friends

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garyneal

Satanus, Confuzzled: My wife and I talked about the issue of policemen and JW's. Blondie posted some excellent WT articles and everyone pretty much agreed that one can be a police man but was not allowed to carry a gun. View our little 'exchange' here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/182472/1/A-few-questions-concerning-Jehovahs-Witnesses-doctrines

38

A sad call from an older brother

by life is to short in

jw
friends

we got a call a couple of days ago from this older brother in the hall.

he is a great guy who is in his eighties.

he has a very hard time walking and just getting around because of old age but he is the kindest man.

garyneal

This reminds me of the old lady who my wife and I spoke to at the first KH wedding I attended. She kept explaining to herself, over and over, how she could not make as many meetings because she was caring for her ailing relatives. I kept wanting to tell her that she has no need to explain herself and I wanted to reassure her that pleasing God does not equate attending every meeting but I never know how to handle these situations.

13

Question About Tithing

by Confuzzled in

some of you may have read my post about my lasped jw boyfriend, and his pressure on me to consider to convert eventually (i'm not going too!

) but i still would like to better understand the church and watch tower society better so i can understand this mindset he has.

he makes much to do about the lack of an offering plate, and "the 2 boxes, one for the church, the other for the needy, nobody is put on the spot to donate".

garyneal

He makes much to do about the lack of an offering plate, and "The 2 boxes, one for the church, the other for the needy, nobody is put on the spot to donate".

Ah but the church I attend also has two boxes in the fourier area and two more in front of the platform. No collection plates are passed during service. This isn't unique to Jehovah's Witnesses though I will admit, it is rare amongst churches outside of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

The church I attend also enables people to contribute via their website by paypal or credit card. I wonder if the Watchtower Society will ever consider this method of donation considering how cash is used less and less these days?

74

I need answers to so MANY questions.....

by Confuzzled in

jw
friends

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garyneal

Me: Quit tryin 2court me in2 this, it isnt goin 2work

Him: Im not but I jus really wish u would talk 2some1 who can answer ur ?

Me: M I goin 2get honest answrs

Him: ur info u got off intrnet how u know thos arnt jus rumors

Me: I don know but mayb ill look in2 talkin prof of religion 1st

Him: need talk some1 who lives the faith not some1 thinks they know

Sounds just like my wife, perhaps you can ask him how is it that these witnesses seem to be able to say things about all of Christendom when they don't attend Christian churches. Sounds like they need to talk to someone who lives the faith and not someone who thinks they know. (I am old fashion and I don't get into texting and that shorthand that is used.)

But wait a minute, aren't you talking to him? Isn't he someone who has LIVED THE FAITH?

74

I need answers to so MANY questions.....

by Confuzzled in

jw
friends

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garyneal

They will not participate in any kind of inter-faith or investigate other religions (other than to criticize it)

So True and I speak from personal experience.

29

Is Hating Always Bad?

by Farkel in

jw
friends

before you answer that question, ponder it for a bit.. farkel.

garyneal

I've heard it said before that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Kind of makes me wonder that for those among us will eventually move on from being so angry with the WTBTS to an attitude found in the world at large in that we no longer care one about this religion.

But to answer your question, I suppose it isn't given the proper context. Now I have to consider exactly what that context is.

110

According to bookstudy, it's ok to beat wife.....occassionally

by JWinprotest in

jw
friends

i apologize if this has been mentioned, but i don't have the time to come on here as often.

yesterday's bookstudy on divorce got my shorts in a bit of a knot.

apparently, according to the god's love book, a wife could consider legal separation from her husband if she is physically abused, but (get this) only in the case of extreme physical abuse, and if the wife's life is in danger.

garyneal

The "reality" is that organization does NOT respect women in any way except to do the preaching work and even then it is "ify."

You know, I find it interesting that before we went into the Kingdom Hall for that meeting my wife told me that when she was little she use to envy the boys in the congregation. I asked her why and she told me because they would get to do all kinds of neat things like carry the microphone, operate the sound equipment, etc.. I said, hmmm, funny because at the church I attend women do all kinds of things such as help set up the instruments for playing the songs, even playing in the band, and teach Sunday school. While we don't ordain women pastors or have women elders in accords with the Bible, we do have several women deacons heading various functions within the church such as the church thrift store, and the food banks, among other things.

I then asked her if she recalls food being served at the Assemblies. Her eyes lit up, "Yes, I use to love eating the food served at the assemblies!" Then I asked, "Couldn't you have volunteered to cook in the kitchen then?" She said yes but was never interested in doing that.

110

According to bookstudy, it's ok to beat wife.....occassionally

by JWinprotest in

jw
friends

i apologize if this has been mentioned, but i don't have the time to come on here as often.

yesterday's bookstudy on divorce got my shorts in a bit of a knot.

apparently, according to the god's love book, a wife could consider legal separation from her husband if she is physically abused, but (get this) only in the case of extreme physical abuse, and if the wife's life is in danger.

garyneal

let me get this right, abuse is OK but if one mate doesn't believe in WT then all bets are off?

THANK YOU... I was thinking the EXACT same thing.

I went with my wife last night to that book study after our daughter had her soccer practice. Needless to say, I had another "Please pass the Jelly moment" when we got up to sing the last song. My daughter had thrown the song book to the row of seats ahead of us and my wife would not let her (or me) get it until the song started. Then I said, "Go get it," in what I thought was a normal volume voice (as opposed to a whisper) because everyone was standing up to sing the song. Immediately, my wife said, "Could you have said that any louder?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xBydH93eDY

Concerning the song itself, the entire first stanza seem to talk about Satan being thrown from Heaven and Christ beginning His 'invisible reign' and the way the song flowed I could not help but to add before the chorus, "in nine-teen-four-teen!" I then realized that I was probably not treating her with the respect that I would expect her to treat me with so I tried to fall more in line.

I guess my main concern is that given the six years we were married and the first few years of it being extremely stressful. Then lately dealing with one instance where she actually put the feelings of a JW friend of hers (some chick she had just recently met) above mine own (her husband of six years). Meanwhile, dealing with my own feelings regarding my own Christian beliefs (marred by the WT teachings) only to think that inspite of all that I invested in this marraige, it can be destroyed if ever my wife begins to think I am a 'spiritual threat' to her.

As icing on the cake, during the book study and talk from the CO, I notice in the back of the song book a few songs listed under the heading "Theocratic Warfare." If I recall, they allow there witnesses to lie (even under oath) when a witness believes he or she is engaged in this. Reminds me of the accounts of Jesus where He never lied while being tried by Pontias Pilate and how the Bible describes Him as never having "any deceit in his mouth." (Isaiah 53:9) Yet they call themselves Christians.

Needless to say, I've been on an emotional roller coaster ride for the past 5 months.

15

WHY DO ELDERS LABEL THOSE EXPOSING ERROR AS APOSTATES?

by Fernando in

first topic posted - sorry if it is a bit too long.. why do elders accept this absurd teaching of demons: "anyone rejecting what is not of god, is rejecting god"???.

evidence that these elders - not their victims - are apostates (wolves, weeds, the man of lawlessness, the antichrist, practicers of spiritism).

having gone through extreme adversity and consequently deep spiritual waters our family has come to understand apostasy to fundamentally mean the following:.

garyneal

I can't imagine not being able to speak my mind, or not being able to ask "Why?".

Agreed, I've been attending church where I came across what some would call a 'minor' issue regarding the belief in speaking in an unknown tongue with an interpreter. My background of being baptized in an Independent Fundamental Baptist church taught me that tongues were done away with and the only speaking of tongues allowed are speaking other languages. Therefore, I raised the issue with both the lead pastor and associate pastor of the church. They were more than happy to show me scripture explaining why they practice what they do. Result, while I am still unsure and still tend to disagree with the practice (mainly because of the potential for abuse) I can at least accept that they're following the Bible as closely as possibly and that their interpretation could be correct.

Publicly agreeing to disagree on certain teachings is not allowed under the Watchtower.

Concerning the "gay marraige" and "ordaining women" issues in your church. The church I attend actually has 6 (or maybe 7) different types of churches holding services there and one of them is an Anglican church. They made a statement concerning the goings on in the Episcopalian churches stating that they do not take part of it. When I told my wife about this she asked, "Why not just stop associating with the Episcopalians even in name?" I'm not exactly sure how to answer that but I do wonder if she were to ever find out about the goings on in the Watchtower society whether or not she would stop associating with them.