Posts by MrMonroe

22

TRY AGAIN - QUESTION: HOW HAVE FRANZ'S BOOKS HELPED YOU?

by binadub in

jw
friends

apologies all.

my questions did not appear in the body of the first post and i didn't know the reason.

thanks leavingwt for informing me that another drawback of the new internet explorer is that it is not compatible with jwd.

MrMonroe

1) How have Franz's books influenced (or not) you? Also Carl Olof Jonsson's and Jim Penton's?

Franz's books influenced me greatly. My wife and I stopped going to meetings after reading COC. Franz's second book, as well as Penton's and others, confirmed that my decision was the right one.

2) Do you understand Jonsson's chronology arguments and their effect on the parousia doctrine?

Vaguely, but I'm not interested in exploring the subject deeply. I know enough of the WTS lies to know that proving them wrong on 607 is immaterial.

3) Would you like an alternative religion to the Watchtower organization? If so, what do you think it should offer?

No. I still believe in God but want no religion. That one was more than enough.

4) Are you familiar with Channel C.

Never heard of it.

5) What do you think is the most influencial medium for JWs leaving the religion? Forums like this? Books? Other exJWs?

Probably the internet.

6) Do you know who the current WT leaders are?

I read their names occasionally on JWN, but I don't care enough to memorise them.

8

Not just elders in Victoria who need wwc

by Mattieu in

in reference to the comments that it should not just be the elders getting the working with children check in victoria, i just caught up with my mate who is still an elder and his 2 buddies (who were also elders), one who turned out to be the p/o (sorry, still stuck with the old lingo).

3 elders and a so called apostate, and yes we were all drinking beers, ok, i wasnt, that nz sav blnc was too good to pass up.... the direction from bethel is that all elders/ m/s's and pioneers in victoria have to get the wwc, so its not just for elders.. the deadline for all elders, ms's and pioneers to get this check passed a few weeks ago.

in my mates congo, there was still a few m/'s and pioneers who had not yet submitted their application yet as well as 1 elder.

MrMonroe

In the interests of transparency, it's time the WTS put all this correspondence on their website. Unless they have secrets, that is. Honest to God, they are fixated with the idea that they have enemies out to get them and need to tell lies and hide stuff even from their "brothers". If God is on their side, surely they can rise above that?

8

Not just elders in Victoria who need wwc

by Mattieu in

in reference to the comments that it should not just be the elders getting the working with children check in victoria, i just caught up with my mate who is still an elder and his 2 buddies (who were also elders), one who turned out to be the p/o (sorry, still stuck with the old lingo).

3 elders and a so called apostate, and yes we were all drinking beers, ok, i wasnt, that nz sav blnc was too good to pass up.... the direction from bethel is that all elders/ m/s's and pioneers in victoria have to get the wwc, so its not just for elders.. the deadline for all elders, ms's and pioneers to get this check passed a few weeks ago.

in my mates congo, there was still a few m/'s and pioneers who had not yet submitted their application yet as well as 1 elder.

MrMonroe

Oh, and Mattieu, you have a PM.

8

Not just elders in Victoria who need wwc

by Mattieu in

in reference to the comments that it should not just be the elders getting the working with children check in victoria, i just caught up with my mate who is still an elder and his 2 buddies (who were also elders), one who turned out to be the p/o (sorry, still stuck with the old lingo).

3 elders and a so called apostate, and yes we were all drinking beers, ok, i wasnt, that nz sav blnc was too good to pass up.... the direction from bethel is that all elders/ m/s's and pioneers in victoria have to get the wwc, so its not just for elders.. the deadline for all elders, ms's and pioneers to get this check passed a few weeks ago.

in my mates congo, there was still a few m/'s and pioneers who had not yet submitted their application yet as well as 1 elder.

MrMonroe

What we are all hanging out for is a copy of that directive!

or is it one of these word of mouth by the CO things?

We've been told several times it was a letter read out at the meetings. As usual, very cloak-and-dagger, with the knowledge of the rationale restricted to tiny bunch of Bethel eite who may at some stage hint that they know but just can't talk about it. Which is fairly odd for a religion that has no clergy and in which all are equal ...

44

It is SO depressing when you just can't get through to someone

by ilikecheese in

jw
friends

i have been hitting a brick wall trying to pry my boyfriend away from this stuff.

it just makes me cry that it's so obvious to me how wrong it is, and he's not even batting an eyelash.

he knows about all of the scandals, all of the false prophecies, the coverup of sexual predators, that elders tell abuse victims to stay with their spouses, that they dishonestly use sources, and he just doesn't care.

MrMonroe

Books?

Jim Penton's Apocalypse Delayed

Heather & Gary Botting's The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses

Tony Wills' A People For His Name

or, if he's really interested in looking at where all the dates are numbers in the complex JW set of beliefs come from, Robert Crompton's Counting the Days to Armageddon.

But the fact is, no book is going to change his mind if he want to stay. He'll ignore the bad, because he's convinced it's God's organisation and he'll die without it.

13

What's your view on who REALLY are the "mentally diseased" apostates?

by Fernando in

religion allows us to know the "god of religion".. .

the unabridged gospel/bissar/injeel allows us to know the "god of abraham".. .

know = be intimate with (spiritual union or intercourse).

MrMonroe

The term comes from what is evidently a sloppy translation. No other Bible version has such a wording. When it has suited them, they have trotted the phrase out in the Watchtower, supposedly as a quote from the BIble but clearly meant as a term of denigration for anyone who dares to disagree with them.

The context of the scripture is a condemnation of Christians who just want to argue doctrinal issues to the point of absurdity, missing the rel message. The WT applies it to anyone who just disputes their often tortured view of scripture. Often it's they who wear people out examining, and distorting words to suit their own ends: what is a generation? what does it mean to abstain from blood? Does "porneia" include oral contact? what does it mean to stand before the throne?

19

The Magazine "The Plain Truth." Remember It?

by AvocadoJake in

do you remember the magazine and the author of this magazine, any old timers know who the backers were?

i was five years old, when the old man was the editor or author of this religious magazine.

did you ever talk to any of the followers of this movement?

MrMonroe

Growing up in New Zealand, my brother and I used to listen to "The World Tomorrow", broadcast as 30-minute shows on one of the Auckland radio stations at night in the mid to late 1970s. It was either Herbert W. Armstrong or his son Garner Ted Armstrong, who did the talks, pointing to the fulfilment of Bible prophecy. They offered copies of The Plain Truth to anyone who wrote and asked for it, so we did, and we used to then send away for glossy books that dealt with subjects such as famine and pollution, showing how these things were a sign that the end was nigh.

They then set off for a series of tours of New Zealand, hiring halls to give talks. We were very convinced, though we didn't take it any further .... it's quite likely it laid the groundwork for my acceptance of the JW's message when they turned up on my door some years later. I remember being told years ago that Herbert had left the JWs decades earlier and formed his own religion with variants of the JW message, and it's true there were similarities, though it seems the WCG seemed to have its own leadership dramas at some point.

19

Last weekends assembly low-lights in Newburgh, ny

by Silent_Scream in

1) on saturday's last talk by the do, he made a cool illustration.

he said "imagine my wife found a picture of another woman in my wallet.

and when she approaches my about it, i say 'oh, thats only because she reminds me of you.

MrMonroe

Then the good brother cuts him off and exclaims "Are you saying the faithful slave is delaying Armageddon?"

It's actually a straw man argument, in which someone raises a superficially similar proposition and then argues against that, without actually addressing the initial argument.

The bad brother who complained, "When are these last days going to end? I mean, its been over a hundred years and our understanding keeps on changing, and changing, and changing..." is asking a valid question, and a demonstration in which a good brother accuses him of disloyalty is yet another demonstration of crude mind control techniques. In short, it is wrong to ask questions that contain implied criticism of the organisation. Any JW who asks a question that questions the beliefs or practises as laid down by the Governing Body is accused of disloyalty, thus intimidating them into silent, unquestioning submission.

I just wonder how many in the audience heard the bad brother's question and thought to themselves, "Fair point!" and were, like Silent Scream, dismayed to hear the response, which doesn't address the quite sincere question at all.

85

What is the stupidest comment you ever heard at a meeting?

by 3rdgen in

a very reliable friend told me this: the bro was commenting on what was "unacceptable" conduct in the bedroom between married persons.

needless to say, he had everyone's attention.

he went on to say "we must avoid perversions such as oral and annual sex.

MrMonroe

"Just don't think about it." Priceless.

"The kingdom smile." Yeesh. I saw a few of them on the Stepford Wives when I visited Bethel. They walked, talked and smiled like robots.

One of my favorites:

One sister in a book study, commenting on 1 John 2:2 ("...sacrifice for our sins, not for ours only but also for the whole world's") pointed out, "See, it says 'worlds', so there are more worlds out there and Jehovah is forgiving sins for the people on them as well."

41

Weezer's new album cover - a WT picture?!?

by weezer1 in

jw
friends

i'm a long-time lurker (and hopefully successful fader) who finally took the jump and registered on jwd.

thank you all for the great information over the years!.

as you can tell by my username, i'm a big weezer fan.

MrMonroe

Definitely! There was a Brisbane (Queensland) indie rock band in the '80s who stole a WTS illustration for a single cover and I wish I'd bought it at the time. It was a clear steal.