"the sole purpose of our existence as a society is to announce the kingdom established in 1914 and to sound the warning of the fall of babylon the great [in 1918].
we have a special message to deliver.
"--- fred franz's words to bethel family, november 17, 1979..
"The sole purpose of our existence as a Society is to announce the Kingdom established in 1914 and to sound the warning of the fall of Babylon the Great [in 1918]. We have a SPECIAL message to deliver."
That about sums it up. What makes them unique has always been contrived doctrines taken from vague bible prophecies.
it might just be me imagining things.. i hear things from my jw spies.. from all that's being said, it seems to me that the rank and file(tm), are either waking up to the scam and fading/leaving.
they are going full on 'cult mode' and acting like 'spiritual police'.. is it just me and my imagination?
have others noticed this?.
Yes, they are getting more persistent in the calls for loyalty and making the org your one and only priority in life. You just have to look at some of the videos lately to see that they want everyone thinking about how they could pioneer or do more in some other way. They are especially going after young people to try to discourage them from getting a well paying career. There are still people "in the middle ground" but more and more they are looked down upon by those with titles or in the popular groups.
the watchtower 1970 4/1 emphasis the principle that singing at the kingdom hall is part of worship to god and is one of the most beautiful ways they can show this worship to him.. of all the ways in which we can worship and praise jehovah god—by prayer, by public talks, by our field ministry and by our exemplary conduct—one of the most beautiful of them is this literal singing of songs to jehovah’s praise....and, above all, let us pay more than usual attention to the words.
it is by the words that we worship jehovah god, bringing praise to him.
as an introduction to song 146, jw org states -jesus considers any act of love and support for his anointed brothers as though it were done for him.
LOL These guys in heaven with Jesus? Face it, JWs never cared much about Jesus, they prefer the old testament Jehovah. Now the GB wants to insidiously replace Jesus with themselves, the only problem is they have nothing in common with Jesus at all.
our 'beloved' old faith tried to teach us to hate other religions and all things that smacked of anything that was worldly.
they demonized all things outside of their religion.. are some of us in danger of carrying that same thinking over to our new lives as former jws?
could some here at first start out as an anti-cultist but in time allow this to become a 'religion' in itself?.
Yes, some were DF, some have lost children to the blood issue, some are shunned by family and friends and they are also unable to see their grandchildren and have been prevented from attending the wedding of their own son or daughter. Yet, they move on. The Watchtower is no longer a god but neither is it a satan. For them, it is simply nothing.
If something has affected your life that greatly then it will be very difficult to move on, especially when you know it is still affecting other people in the same ways. Would it be right to "move on" when you know others will be hurt as well? Whether or not the organization has bad intentions isn't really important. They are damaging people's well being, some have been damaged more than others.
It is also true that many of the things JWs are criticized for are being done by other religions. The difference is that JWs set themselves up as the one "true" religion. They put down other religions but do the exact same things in a secretive way. So I see nothing wrong with them being called out even over seemingly small matters.
having watched many jc youtube videos one question that gets asked is "where else would you go?".
in other words if not jehovah's witnesses then what other religion or organisation would you go to?.
it's one that i have trouble answering, what would you say?.
In other words if not Jehovah's witnesses then what other religion or organisation would you go to?
I would say that I have a personal relationship with God and so it wouldn't matter where I go (even though I don't really believe that anymore). I would quote the scripture where Jesus said that we are to worship in spirit and truth and it didn't matter what physical place we were at. You could also quote the scripture where it says that whenever two or more are gathered in Jesus name then the spirit would be there also. Jesus never said anything about an organized religion at all.
my heart goes out for all people stuck in all high control groups, either with insight into the falsehood of their beliefs or none.. to remain a member whilst knowing it false however, must be soul destroying.. my question is, would you carry on living the lie if you discovered that we get one life, one go at existing.
it's short, it's fragile and nobody in 100 years will care we even existed..... .......if you came to that realisation would you quit?.
.......if you had children, would you leave in order to set them an example in strength and appreciation of the short time we enjoy?.
It is tough to bite your tongue with some of the ridiculous comments made by believing JWs. Even in casual conversations JWs will relate almost anything back to JW doctrines. It is tiresome but they are my family and friends. I realize that for them it will appear like I changed suddenly if start disagreeing with everything JW related. So sometimes I just try to give a slightly different viewpoint or point out something humorous. Over time I will reveal more but without dropping the apostate bomb on them. Soon they will get used to this as the new normal, hopefully. LOL
top ten reasons.
(why) jehovah's witnesses can't cope with the real world____________________.
the watchtower organization denies access to reality, substituting its own version instead.
Great post, this goes along with the BITE model analysis really well.
blondie’s highlights from the july 17, 2016 wt study (2016) (how do you make personal decisions?.
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/.
excellent general website: www.jwfacts.com .
I read the article, it gives lip service to reading the bible and prayer. In the end though, they want you to research WT publications and do as they say. The bible may just have principles but WT is very happy to clearly define how to apply them to almost any situation. The article wants you to feel like you're making your own decisions when in reality you are following the WT.
if you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing about jws would you do it?
and what would you choose to say to yourself?
do you think you could have convinced yourself not to get baptised if you chose the right thing to say?
I think I knew everything that I could know, the problem was I was seeing the world through the eyes of a twelve year old boy. No matter how much knowledge you have at that age you are just not emotionally mature enough to make a life long commitment to anything. I always imagined that even if it wasn't 100% the truth that it would be "the best life ever," as the kids are saying now. Never did I imagine that my outlook about what is important in life would change or that the message of the organization would begin to feel like a heavy weight around my neck. That just reading WT articles would make feel like I was being manipulated and controlled for someone else's benefit. I guess sometimes you have to live it before you really understand what it's all about but by that point it's too late.
since i'm only an "inactive", i still have plenty of jw friends on facebook and instagram.
here's a few samples of what they are posting regarding the remain loyal to jehovah conventions (note some of my friends are spanish speakers):.
what an amazing fulfilling day with these people .
I've been to a lot of conventions and by far this one was the most negative. Everything was about what we should and shouldn't be doing, lots of fear and manipulation. Only Sunday afternoon did they even try to bring out any hope for the future. Really toxic stuff this year.
