So much for we being told in the UK that unlike the Catholic church/Orthodox/protestants we JWs had no schism and were united!đ
Joe 134cdYes I've been following Eric and James' interviews - fascinating - and look forward to the next one!
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.
So much for we being told in the UK that unlike the Catholic church/Orthodox/protestants we JWs had no schism and were united!đ
Joe 134cdYes I've been following Eric and James' interviews - fascinating - and look forward to the next one!
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?".
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)
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?".
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 didnât 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 âworksâ and the pressure to do more and more for religions (surprised he didnât twig then, but he didnât)
4 they are not pressured to give more and more money, often surreptitiously ie not tithing but donations they canât 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.
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?".
Ding Itâs a box ticking exercise , as Lloyd Evans says, rather than what it should be...that in 1919 Jesus inspected all religions and chose âJudgeâ Rutherford and his yes-men to Run his âearthy organizationâ....because god is a god of organization, instead of chaos. Even though chaos is how he runs thing in the rest of the universe.đ¤¨
and i thouroughly enjoyed it ,i almost got to the stage of wanting to become a catholic.
it was a joy to watch the two main actors in dialogue and banter with each other..... and i`m an atheist ?.
pope benedict & pope francis.
Thanks for the tip!! Love me some saint Antony Hopkins!!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-50916544.
kent refugee action network's bridget chapman, (idiot!
) who works directly with asylum seekers arriving by boat, said the home office's response was "disgraceful".
They talk about how few immigrants we now have. And itâs true, we donât have many. Sadly!! Because....
Instead of having hard working legal immigrants from the West Indies, Australia, Philippines or (Hindu) India who are happy to assimilate and donât threaten our way of life, we have droves of illegal ârefugeesâ. Oftentimes they are not from the country they claim to be from. All Muslim. Every one. All they have to do is loose their passports and they canât be deported.
Meanwhile....genuine folks from the Commonwealth who want to emigrate cannot because our services are all bogged down by âasylum seekersâ.
the latest watchtowel (march 2020) study edition has a question from readers âwhat evidence exists outside the bible that the israelites were slaves in egypt?â from what i read in the bible unearthed there being nothing to base any claims on.
the article gives a quote by âdr.
bimson : âthe biblical traditions of the bondage in egypt and of the exodus have a firm historical basis.â no links or sources given.
Dr.John Bimson is a self confessed Christian, so his work is highly unlikely to be unbiased.
I havenât read his book, but having read the Bible unearthed (and watched the documentary} I fail to see from where he got the evidence to make such an assertion. He is not an archeologist and his book is old and out dated, as many watchtower so-called sources are. He probably based his ideas on the works of the likes of Isreali archaeologists Yigael Yadin, (the dude that excavated Masada) Chief of isreali defence forces and someone who used archeology to legitimise Israelâs rights to the land. In other words these guys had an agenda.
Isreal Finklesteins work is far more recent and backs up Anony mous (above)Many departments of Biblical studies are funded and staffed by religious groups, so their work naturally has a bias toward historicity,
last week i posted a thread asking about who knew any "real anointed" and got some cracking replies.. that got me to thinking, as someone brought up in the 70's and 80's in the watchtower religion, my experience of bible studeis in their homes and those who made it to the hall were mostly batshit crazy or at least people with some serious quirks.. i'll relate a few, none of whose names i remember with any clarity.. in our cong we had an older couple who were from london, but who had been in the 1950's in the circuit work in the mid west usa.
they brought along some woman one night they had started a study with who told everyone cheerfully she was a recovering alcoholic and this was her cure (coming to the meetings).
this went on for a few weeks until one night they brought her to the memorial and she was royally pissed, and i mean barely able to stand; and went up to the platform table and necked some wine.
Number 9My take on it is also that going door to door, the JW's only seriously seem to engage in people with personality disorders or very needy people just looking for company but who by the nature of their personality defects, never would be ideal witness candidtates.Absolutely agree. The sad thing is, many of these folks hold on to aspects of this belief system for many years, which only damages them further and lowers their already destroyed self-worth.
Keeping the lonely company is the one small good some witnesses do, like Anna Marina did. Youâre a good soul Anna,Wish there were more like YOU in life.
last week's study (october wt, page 23), par 10:.
abigail and david.
david and his fellow outlaws protected the nabal family's flocks no doubt with daily support (how else would these fugitives make a living?
W=Priests write the tithing
That part where they demanded all the silver from the people.
"Oh that...yeah...um.....God said you have to give us all your silver Shekels. He did."
Pity they didn't have polygraph tests back then.
Bunch of crooks!!!
kevin macfree has outdone himself with this one!
i think it's as good as his yellow brick road one.. i absolutely love the ghost with the blue skin!!
(won't spoil it for you make sure you give him a like!.
Kevin MacFree has outdone himself with this one! I think it's as good as his yellow brick Road one.
I absolutely love the ghost with the blue skin!! (Won't spoil it for you make sure you give him a like!