Diogenesister

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Posts by Diogenesister

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  24

  Latest Circuit Assembly Money Assault!

  by eyeuse2badub in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  probably not new to many of you but i'm gonna post it anyway!.

  i went to a circuit assembly last week at the fremont, ca assembly hall in fremont, ca to be with my wife so she could be there to 'witness' the baptism of a person she "studied" with about 2 decades ago!.

  at the main entry to the assembly hall there are 3 or 4 large double door entrances.

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  Diogenesister

  very conspicuously located contribution boxes with 2 sisters posted on each side of each of the boxes........

  ................clad in nothing but the latest watchtower HOT off the press!....let the reader use discernment!!
  
  
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  40

  Has Anything Really Changed For JWs In The Last 10 Years?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  2020 is days away.

  has anything really changed for the witnesses or the religion?

  ?.

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  Diogenesister

  Slim boy fat Gilead stops training new missionaries

  They still have Gilead graduations though, don’t they?

  This has always confused me, since I heard they were closing the missionary school, too.

  I wonder what the excuse they gave for that was, no.1, and No.2 what do the current Gilead graduations represent?
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  10

  Quote Misquote Misleading

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the latest watchtowel (march 2020) study edition has a question from readers ‘what evidence exists outside the bible that the israelites were slaves in egypt?’ from what i read in the bible unearthed there being nothing to base any claims on.

  the article gives a quote by ‘dr.

  bimson : “the biblical traditions of the bondage in egypt and of the exodus have a firm historical basis.” no links or sources given.

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  Diogenesister

  I’m given to understand two things which raises questions before we even begin to look for evidence.

  firstly, during the era the Israelites fled Slavery, Egypt had a vast empire which stretched right through Canaan all the way to modern day Iraq.

  So effectively the Israelites fled Egypt to......Egypt.

  secondly, if the Biblical figures are correct for the number of Israeli slaves, if they marched 5 abreast the last slaves would be leaving Egypt when the first slaves were approaching the promised land (I have not verified this myself but given it was only 9 days away by chariot, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility).
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  14

  meeting attendance

  by asp59 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how much has meeting attendance gone down say the last 10-15 years at khs do you think?

  in percentage.

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  Diogenesister

  Waton when a local hall is sold, that had a decent easy walk - to attendance , when the longer travel for the drivel to the new, distant hall becomes onerous, attendance will really decline,

  That's what I think!

  Particularly when it's generally older folks attending. They are going to be the first ones to cut down attendence during bad weather or winter months that get dark early.

  Not to mention it's easier for PiMOs to disappear and fade from the new, larger merged congs where no one knows them. I think it's a mistake for Watchtower to do this.
  
  
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  20

  'Jehovah's Witnesses' Label Added to Trolley

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  yesterday i noticed on four trolleys i passed (and had a long useful conversation at one but more on that later) they had added a label identifying themselves as jehovah's witnesses.

  it was just a simple printed piece of white card stuck on next the logo.. is this a new requirement?

  was it a directive from hq or i wonder if the local council require it..

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  Diogenesister

  As in a label with " Jehovahs Witnesses" written on it?

  Maybe put there by the publishers because people don't know what "JW.Org" is (where once they would have had a Watchtower sign that is widely recognized) ?
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  4

  Bounded choice

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  currently reading bounded choice true believers and charismatic cults.

  i am intrigued by this book in the first few sentences and then on find it hard to put it down.. a taster:"these nineteen men, we learned, were part of the worldwide al-qaeda network, which is guided by the elusive and charismatic osama bin laden.

  alqaeda training manuals and handbooks found during intelligence investigations describe the type of indoctrination and training required by bin laden.

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  Diogenesister

  Fantastic. I'm definitely going to order these books.

  It seems the world at large is finally coming to terms with how damaging these controlling fundamentalist groups are.

  And when members of a group are that controlled, we know there is undue influence at play. That's when things become dangerous.

  In their efforts to root out these organizations, governments Will inevitably come across groups like Jehovahs Witnesses, who more than tick all the criteria for a cult. Watchtower is also likely to fall foul of the governments need to appear as if they don't only target & penalize Muslims when rooting out extremist groups, too. So even though Watchtower promotes non violence, it's undue influence makes it a risk, if not to outsiders, at least to its own members.

  This lady, Dr. Florence Gaub, also got the ball rolling with her peer reviewed paper "The Cult of Isis". Unfortunately the paper has to be purchased, but the interview is worth listening too.

  https://youtu.be/laZw7nvU9AU
  
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  14

  meeting attendance

  by asp59 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how much has meeting attendance gone down say the last 10-15 years at khs do you think?

  in percentage.

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  Diogenesister

  Smiddy3 not only the JW`s that speak out of both sides of its mouth ,the Bible is just as guilty.

  Exactly Smiddy that's why there is such a controversy around the Trinity. For every scripture that backs a Trinity there is one that refutes it!!

  Asp59 ExJW Analyzer produced a video where a recording of an elder reading a Branch letter to his US congregation was played. It claimed in the letter that KH's in the USA were less than half full .

  That would make the figures for the number of baptised publishers in the USA way off.

  So it would be fairly straight forward to estimate the (rough) correct numbers. Provided,that is, we knew the number of Kingdom Hall's in the US and could agree on a figure for what a "full" congregation attendance would look like.
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  23

  Russell's followers in British Columbia?

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i was interviewing a guy for a podcast episode today and he went and saw his grandmother over christmas to gather some history.

  he wasn't raised a jw but it turns out his family was actually opposed to the jws because they went all the way back to russell.

  according to him (from her stories), they refused to follow rutherford and that's where the split took place.

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  Diogenesister

  So much for we being told in the UK that unlike the Catholic church/Orthodox/protestants we JWs had no schism and were united!😒

  Joe 134cdYes I've been following Eric and James' interviews - fascinating - and look forward to the next one!
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  22

  The Faithful and Discreet Slave Just "have" The Truth

  by Number 6 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in the late 80's when i was in my late teens i used to with my then wife to be attend a monday night pre-watchtower study at a local elders house.. this guy was revered as very knowledgable and he was scholarly and interesting to listen to; so at the time it was a genuinely enjoyable monday evening spent with oftentimes discussion would veer far of the subject at hand and lasting to well after 11pm some evenings.. this particular night, the subject up for discussion was "the faithful and discreet slave" and how we should be obeying them without question.

  right in the middle of the study this elder said as a question not in the wt article; "how do we really know the current fds as lead by the governing body are the real deal.

  i mean what actual proof do we have?".

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  Diogenesister

  Tiki It is sad when older people sense the sham but are frozen, unable to extricate themselves from the religion....the thought of having invested a lifetime in it, then walking away is simply too devastating to the psyche

  I think it's also built-in fear of the "outside world'.

  Loyalty - that they would rather be wrong with loved ones and old friends, as well as respected elders (in the true sense of the word) who have passed away, than right with the 'scary world', too.

  And as mentioned before, they are sure that hellfire and the Trinity is wrong.

  As the Aspinall's have said, all the good stuff JWs have, Watchtower inteherited from earlier groups(hell, , preaching,tendency to pacifism) and all the bad stuff they invented themselves (shunning, pharasaic rules, bad medical/blood doctrine etc)
  
  
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  22

  The Faithful and Discreet Slave Just "have" The Truth

  by Number 6 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in the late 80's when i was in my late teens i used to with my then wife to be attend a monday night pre-watchtower study at a local elders house.. this guy was revered as very knowledgable and he was scholarly and interesting to listen to; so at the time it was a genuinely enjoyable monday evening spent with oftentimes discussion would veer far of the subject at hand and lasting to well after 11pm some evenings.. this particular night, the subject up for discussion was "the faithful and discreet slave" and how we should be obeying them without question.

  right in the middle of the study this elder said as a question not in the wt article; "how do we really know the current fds as lead by the governing body are the real deal.

  i mean what actual proof do we have?".

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  Diogenesister

  Number 6 I had an experience on Christmas Day.

  An elderly disabled JW man called Christmas morning, about 10 o clock. He was a very pleasant, kindly old gentleman and even though I told him about the issues I had with the Old Testament Bible, I really didn’t have the heart to give him both barrels on the Watchtower. Yet I hate the thought of Watchtower taking advantage of him.

  I told him I had no issue with organized religion as long as:

  1 members were able to use their own conscience and think for themselves without consequences if they do!!!

  2 they were not given interminable rules to obey, most of which were NOT in the Bible (my word I say a look of dismay on his face when I said that!!!)

  3 I talked about “works” and the pressure to do more and more for religions (surprised he didn’t twig then, but he didn’t)

  4 they are not pressured to give more and more money, often surreptitiously ie not tithing but donations they can’t afford. I said a good thing to look at is what beautiful places a religions leaders live in, versus their poor members in Africa etc and how many charitable works they do. I mentioned Jesus providing food for the hungry etc)

  He really listened respectfully to me and acknowledged I knew a lot about the Bible etc. I at no time intimated I was once a JW or even that I knew HE was (although he gave me a tract). The only time he looked uncomfortable is when I mentioned RULES!!

  My aim was to try and help him enjoy the fellowship of other JWs without giving of his money or too much time, although he seems the type that loves to preach.

  My kids said he came back early Boxing Day with another tract and a woman (I was asleep lol) If she is young I am going to plant some seeds.