i am looking for some sort of quote to show the kids that its ok to investigate their own religion.
something from a recent book or watchtower would be great!.
like... nothing to fear, we have nothing to hide, truth can stand investigation, make sure of it foryourself sort of thing i guess!.
The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life (1981):
| “ | We need to examine, not only what we personally believe, but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. Are its teachings in full harmony with God’s Word, or are they based on the traditions of men? If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination. |
okay, i wanted to know more about the jws, so i went to the website and filled in my name and other info.
i was finally contacted, set up an appointment and visited.
the first two people came and they were nice, but one of the fellows looked uptight and avoided eye contact.
My guess is that they went and sat in their car for an hour or so with furrowed brows and eventually decided that you weren't really searching and weren't really deserving. They probably guessed you wouldn't be convinced easily and figured they'd just end up becoming frustrated by not winning you over. If you're raising questions they've never considered before, the problem for them is they have only one "research" source they're allowed to turn to. If the Watchtower has never addressed your points, it all becomes just too hard.
this is from the november 2010 kingdom ministry pages 5 and 6;.
it is a 20 minute item on how members of the congregation should assist unbelieving mates!.
http://www.box.net/shared/mzjkpiijgj.
Does anyone know whether the article in a UK OKM will be appearing simultaneously in other "lands"? I have a friend in New Zealand who is an "Unbelieving Mate" (or, strictly speaking, Formerly Believing Mate). She has warned her husband that if she ever hears he has appeared on stage at an assembly giving an experience about living with a UBM (and the usual "encouraging" comments about his struggle for the truth despite her opposition) she'll leave.
So I'm curious about whether the same article will also appear in Australia and NZ. For her, forewarned is forearmed.
another wonderful part this week at the meeting.
and this is what the brother said.. he related examples, based on the om book, as to how jehovah kept records.
funny part is, they all applied to population, the amount of people.. is there any part of the bible that talks about how jehovah kept a log of hours on some occasion?
Anyone seen the range of iPhone apps for counting time witnessing? Some lame-arse JWs have been putting rave reviews on them about how it is helped them simply their life by ... wait for it ... noting down their hours and placements instead of that much more time-consuming process of writing it down on a piece of paper. Some other moron expressed his concern about whether "the brothers" approved of such thing and suggested others "research" the matter or ask their elders!
It is just such an offensive concept. Could they imagine Jesus keeping a tally of the number of people who listened to him and writing down the number of hours and minutes he spent "in the work"? If the Governing Body decided it was no longer obligatory to turn in reports, I'll bet JWs' devotion to witnessing would evaporate pretty quickly.
does anyone see this happening: the jw's breaking off from the wtbts, when they realize that a lot of the teachings arent true?.
The chances of another schism are approximately zero. The power structure is so entrenched from top to bottom, with careful scrutiny from circuit overseers and local elders, that rank and file Witnesses have no way of creating power blocs that could possibly challenge the existing authority structure.
thus proclaims the quietly un-annointed governing class of the watchtower and bible tract society, passing as truth.
(watchtower july 15, 2010, page 23, paragraph 10).
this paragraph about the governing body follows a description of the annointed class, a classic bait-and-switch.
I think it's fascinating that God beams his new light only to the "representatives" of the slave class who live in Brooklyn. Wouldn't that make the other 10,000-odd anointed feel kind of ... left out?
i was looking at brotherdan's thread about the two articles that really point out in the wtbs's own words that we must follow this organization, blah blah, and they are indeed a cult from reading those articles.
it made me think that i would love to show my mom and sister that, but i know the response would be "so what, that is a 40 year old magazine," it was dated 1969, and 1983 was the other article i believe.. are the jw's i know the only ones who poo poo older articles and say that thinking isn't up to date anymore, that new thinking has superceded those new articles?
even though we know that the overall thinking is the same.
The same discussion has taken place recently on the talk pges of the JW articles at Wikipedia. One dub keeps saying articles from 1950 and 1974 that refer to the WTS as a "prophet organization", chosen by God to warn the world, are "outdated". But if articles are outdated, why has the GB not updated them or repudiated them? Why have they not removed them from WT CD-roms in the same way that Russell's and Rutherford's books have been allowed to go out of print? It's just as Neverendingjourney explains: cognitive dissonance. They'll take any route to avoid facing hard facts.
watchtower 1981. .
9/45 if a relative is disfellowshipped.
28 naturally, if a close relative is disfellowshiped, human emotions can pose a major test for us.
Here's the problem: 2 John 9,10 warns against welcoming or allowing into one's home a person who "does not remain in the teaching of the Christ". If a person (a) leaves one Christian denomination (Jehovah's Witnesses) to join another, or (b) leaves Jehovah's Witnesses, chooses not to join another denomination, but still believes in Christ and God, do those words apply? No. They remain in the teaching of the Christ. Yet JW doctrine is to declare a person an apostate for the simple reason that they quit association with a denomination.
The WT article above cunningly links that statement with 1 John 2:19, ("they went out from us, but they were not of our sort"), which applies only to antichrists -- in other words, those who have rejected Christ. Has a person rejected Christ, and therefore warranted shunning, just because they left one denomination? No. Yet the WT article deviously links those two scriptures to declare that a person who "was not of our sort" is an apostate and therefore should be shunned. It's a terrible distortion of scripture.
Any Witness who claims there is a biblical basis for expelling and shunning a Christian who formally renounces their membership of Jehovah's Witnesses is a liar. There is none.
had never heard of this site before, but the administrator is redirecting his page to the official wts site, a condolences page has been left open and i left a cheeky comment , probably will be zapped as i type!.
When they write ...
Because we know the scene of this world is changing rapidly
... what on earth do they mean? How is the world any worse now than it was in the 1980s when I got sucked in? Those suck-hole comments from braindead supporters make you want to puke.
this would be both the intial investgatory meeting and judicial committee.
honest and straightforward, my own faults and errors included.
if so, i will take the time to write it up.
It's always instructive hearing about the process in which a religion makes a decision to expel and shun for life someone who has gone to the trouble to join. I'd be very interested in the details of the judicial process.
