Posts by GLTirebiter

i don't believe anything witnessy...(i was raised in the assembly of god church and now the closest thing i "do" with religion is yoga or sometimes the buddhist temple).... but the man i'm in love with is a df'd jw (we've been together for 6 years).... and he wants to get reinstated just to talk to his family again (i can assure you he does not believe it).... and he wants his family to accept me because we are about to get married... so, i'm going to meetings...its very interesting, but only because it shows me more about how he was raised.

GLTirebiter

Welcome, LKM!

I feel its a compromise I'm making for our relationship. I can go to a meeting here and there so he has the chance of speaking to his family again.... Sigh. Any suggestions of how to pull this off? I don't want to study. I just want to go to meetings to make things easier for him and his family. I'm a peace maker.

Pursuing family peace is a noble goal, but a difficult one. Don't think this is the only compromise you will have to make, nor the most difficult. Others will follow. For now, it's "go to the meetings". Then associations with Witnesses dominate your social life, to the detriment of non-Witness friends and family members. Then you should start a "Bible study", the better to fit in with the congregation. And if you have children (now or later), of course you need to give them a "good spiritual and moral example".

Your partner will be under pressure too, if he's started going back to meetings. The Watchtower teaches there is only one truth: their "Truth" as expounded in their publiocations, and there are only two kinds of people: good Witnesses (including prospects for conversion) and evil "Worldlies" (everyone else). Being a Witness in good standing is a full-time proposition, not just a few hours on Sundays.

It is a very difficult to straddle the Watchtower fence, keeping the family peace without outright capitulation. Some have managed to do it; others (self included) have tried and failed. If you both are committed to facing this challenge, I wish you the strength and resolve to be true to yourselves. If you do go this route, he will need your support just as much as you will need his. But if you are not of one mind and agree up front to the boundaries on involvement, then "divide" has already happened and "conquer" will be next on the agenda.

WRONG place to be asking questions about the Witnesses dear.

I disagree. For somebody who is not a Witness, and is involved with a lapsed Witness who is showing signs of returning to that practice, this forum (and freeminds.org) is is the RIGHT place to be reading and asking questions! You will learn from former Witnesses, nominal Witnesses who are in the organization only to appease family (exactly the situation LKM is facing), other non-believers who have Witnesses as family members, and even from an active Witness or two (though they are not supposed to be active here, according to Watchtower teachings). There are many different opinions, and you won't agree with all of them. There is fluff and nonsense to separate from facts, as there is in any open and honest discussion. But paying attention to all sides is how you come to understand different perspectives on the Watchtower organization, the Witnesses who follow those teachings, and spiritual philosphies in general. You have heard the Watchtower's version in the Kingdom Hall; now learn about other points of view here.

150

Out Of All JW Beliefs Which Is The Weirdest?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i know there's plenty.. one that comes to mind is the blood doctrine.

whole blood is bad, blood fractions may be ok but not all.....wtf?

?.

GLTirebiter

"Faithful and Discreet Slave"

Literally 144,000 have the "heavenly hope", but that doesn't mean 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel (that part is figurative)

Two classes of Christians (and you were born too late, so second class salvation is the only hope you have)

Jesus was Michael the Archangel, then He wasn't for about 30 years, but now He is again

141

"Theocratic Warfare" and the Annual Report

by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

one of the things i certainly noticed as a jw, and even during the time i was in bethel, was the complexities of reporting "truth.".

beginning with an observation on a personal level, i consider myself an honest person.

but something happened along the way, beginning when i pioneered.

GLTirebiter

Well, I also think the reports of increase are coming from countries that are more likely to use "theocratic warfare strategy" and fatten up their reports to satisfy Brooklyn and keep their branches open.

This account sounds a lot like what happens in big business when the belt-tightening gets intense. Executives who want to protect their divisions and regional offices will tell the Big Boss whatever he wants to hear, and keep up appearances to convince the big-wigs that it's true. If you want favorable reports, we can write them for you!

It tells you what is important to the leaders. The GB surely knows that time reports are exaggerated, but they have no problem repeating that bogus data. Conclusion: "preaching work" really isn't the huge priority they say it is.

Who's going to check their figures?

Field service numbers? Probably nobody. But the branch's financial figures are another story!

22

Are Jehovah's Witnesses considered a Catholic schism?

by sabastious in

i was reading through this article: http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org/thechurch.html.

1822: mormons founded by joseph smith, who made his appearance with supposed revelations in 1822.. .

1872: the jehovah's witness church was developed by charles russell.. .

GLTirebiter

The tone in the link I provided sounded as if Catholics, or at least the ones that wrote the article, look at Jehovah's Witnesses as some sort of offshoot or schism.

I agree that it is a schismatic religion, but not from the Catholic Church per se. In the narrow sense, Witnesses are many branches removed from Catholicism. I understand the lineage is (please forgive any omissions on my part): Catholics --> several Protestant groups --> Second Adventists (Miller) --> Bible Students (Russell) --> Jehovah's Witnesses (Rutherford, Fred Franz). (Yes, Rutherford's coup d' etat was a schism--Russell would hardly recognize what the Watchtower preaches today.)

In a wider sense, Jehovah's Witnesses are a schism from Christianity as a whole: Catholic, Orthodox, mainline Protestant, Baptist, Evangelical, Pentecostal, all other believers but themselves--and they're mighty proud of it! If the Watchtower takes offense at being called "schismatic", that's because the word implies legitimacy of those from whom they have separated themeselves--the ones they call "Babylon the Great", "False Religions", "Christendom", etc.

So Schism--yes, but Catholic--not in particular.

18

untitled

by MissAloha in

jw
friends

i post in the wrong topic.

i am sorry!.

noob.

GLTirebiter

The answers are somewhere in the text above the questions. It's in there, your job is to look for the official answer in the article and use it. Finding and underlining the responses is part of the preparation a Witness is expected to do before the meeting. Going "beyond what is written" in the Watchtower publications is frowned upon. This is especially so for females; you should never make a display of knowing more than the brothers and elders--even if the "elder" is, in fact, far younger than you.

Your avatar image comes from gravatar.com. The default monster images are randomly chosen, based on the email address you registered with. You can go to gravatar and upload a different one, if you wish.

And welcome to the forum, MissAloha (I hope you mean "greetings" rather than "farewell")

17

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 10-23-2011 WT Study (PURSUE PEACE)

by blondie in

jw
friends

review comments will be headed by comments.

comments.

GLTirebiter

I can remember 2 congregations that shared a building.

Two congregations near me share a local hall, one English speaking and the other Spanish. Come Memorial night, guess which one uses the hall, and which has theirs announced on the marquee for the hotel conference room? Considering how short that event is, they could accommodate both groups in one evening much more easily that their separate meetings on Sunday. Or, if they insist on starting exactly at sunset, they could join together and have a somewhat longer bilingual service, showing their unity and brotherhood, with two sets of elders presenting the talks in both languages.

Let us, therefore, examine how we may pursue peace within the congregation.

"Within the congregation": is that all that matters? Is that what Jesus taught? Consider Matthew 5:43-48:

"...For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so?..."

34

Why do Jehovahs Witnesses preach from house to house?

by mankkeli in

jw
friends

this explanation is extracted from the reasoning book, page 205. .

jesus foretold for our day this work: this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.

he also instructed his followers: go .

GLTirebiter

Why is the organisation so keen? Because it reinforces your 'otherness' from everyone around you.

One of the "I am Mormon" commercials just came on TV. Contrast those ads to the way the Watchtower spreads their message.

Mormons emphasize the ways they are like the rest of us, the ways Mormons are average folks--not their peculiarities, the ways in which they are "no part of this world". Also, the commercials help them make contact with those people who are interested in their message as easily as possible. Using mass media is an effective way to identify potential converts, and to improve their reputation among the population at large.

This ad campaign seems a much better use of resources than printing Watchtower and Awake magazines that go into the trash bin unread, spending longs hours hoping to find one person willing to listen to you, and annoying the neighbors so that they will be unfriendly to you and prejudiced against your religion.

Considering these two different approaches and their results, it is reasonable to conclude that the Watchtower wants the Witnesses to be seen as different, and to emphasize the differences between them and everybody else. That's why it is an effective loyalty test, as I said in an earlier post.

41

"we don't need holidays as an excuse to give gifts to our children"

by Sour Grapes in

before my mother became a jehovah's witness i remember.

the fun of christmas and opening the beautifully wrapped.

gifts under the christmas tree.

GLTirebiter

the "joy" of life was sucked out of the JW convert...

.. and the unbelieving spouse, and the children!