https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/7tjds1/in_print_jehovahs_in_bid_to_block_irish_blog/
This may explain it. The AvoidJW.org website is under enemy fire.
MrMonroe
JoinedPosts by MrMonroe
-
8
Avoidjw.org
by Freedom rocks inhi does anyone know why i can't download any pdf's off avoidjw.org?
i've tried lots of them and it keeps saying download unsuccessful.
-
-
-
48
Are baptized Witnesses that are no longer in the "truth", but were NEVER DF'D, now to be shunned and treated like disfellowshipped ones?
by Dunedain ina relative of mine was telling me, that in his, and a few neighboring congregations, there is a little confusion amongst some of the jw's about this "issue".
some families are having a hard time about whether certain relatives will be attending certain family functions, because some family members that are no longer in the "truth", might be invited to these functions.
mind you, these persons were never disfellowshipped.
-
-
MrMonroe
Blondie's comment re the non-availability of the elders' handbook is spot-on. I have often thought about how this adds to the unfairness of the judicial committee process: rank and file JWs are judged in accordance with a set of rules to which they have no access. What word would you use to describe a national or state judicial system that could summon defendants into court without advising them first of the charge they face and the wording of the actual statutes so they could prepare a proper defence; without allowing them access to a list of evidence and witness statements; without allowing them legal representation; without the right to record proceedings or later obtain a transcript; and without the right to challenge conflicts of interest of members of the JC?
-
41
How many JWs actually died in Nazi camps
by dogon inthe jws have tried to pad the number of jws in camps.
how many actually went and how many died?
can you site the source also?
-
-
MrMonroe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_in_Nazi_Germany
Wikipedia article is a fair and balanced account of how it all happened, including how many died, how many were arrested, and how many signed the document renouncing their faith. In large part Rutherford's provocation of the Nazis clearly fuelled the persecution. More moderate forces on the ground in Germany who thought it best to keep a low profile were over-ruled. Terrible that all those German Witnesses suffered unnecessarily because of Rutherford's megalomania.
There's a powerful statement too that: "The extraordinary animosity between National Socialism and Bible Student teachings was rooted in the similarity in structure of both ideologies, which were based on authoritarianism and totalitarianism and which each believed had a monopoly on the "truth".
-
14
Recording of doorstop meeting with JWs
by MrMonroe ini was alerted to the presence of jws in my street, so i grabbed my voice recorder and placed it by the front door.
several minutes later there was a knock, i pressed "record" and opened the door to two jw women.
the recording below runs for 25 minutes.
-
-
MrMonroe
It was a pretty good opportunity to ask them questions they would never answer to an "apostate". I don't think they actually picked me as an XJW, they just knew I was an argumentative bastard who didn't like them, though I did try to be respectful to keep the conversation going. There are many other questions I'd have liked to ask them, but as we know JWs just hate engaging in normal discussions about their beliefs.
A couple of years after leaving the JWs I wrote a long, and very carefully considered letter to the guy who "studied" with me way back in the 1980s when I joined. I explained why I joined, and then ultimately why I left. I told him I would love to have a long chat with him about it -- and I would. I would really love to discuss this stuff and help him to understand why I feel this way, and the basis of my beliefs. But of course he wouldn't. Why are they so afraid?
You are so true about their aim of tearing down the faith of others. And of course that irony, often pointed out, that they set out to turn believers of other religions into apostates.
-
14
Recording of doorstop meeting with JWs
by MrMonroe ini was alerted to the presence of jws in my street, so i grabbed my voice recorder and placed it by the front door.
several minutes later there was a knock, i pressed "record" and opened the door to two jw women.
the recording below runs for 25 minutes.
-
-
MrMonroe
I was alerted to the presence of JWs in my street, so I grabbed my voice recorder and placed it by the front door. Several minutes later there was a knock, I pressed "record" and opened the door to two JW women. The recording below runs for 25 minutes. If I'd had more time I'd have probably steered the conversation a different way, but it was interesting anyway to draw them out. They turned out to be evasive and quite untruthful on a couple of things. Why?
We got on to blood transfusions, which was a bit unfortunate really because although the subject is "controversial" it doesn't in fact touch the lives of many JWs. But since my conversation with them yesterday (which they terminated, deciding I was being "argumentative"), a couple of thoughts have occurred to me:
* One of the JWs mentioned the Trinity, which we agreed isn't in the Bible. They insist, however, that the Bible does prohibit blood transfusions. I reckon if you gave the BIble to 100 people with no previous knowledge of religion and got them to read it, NONE would think God was a trinity, but also NONE would think the three scriptural mentions of blood that JWs lean on relate to anything other than diet. Both doctrines were decided on by religious leaders despite the lack of logic and only because they had a preexisting dogma. Scriptures are simply twisted and interpreted to support those preconceptions. I read a couple of biblical commentaries today on Acts 15 and both make it clear that Paul's injunction to "abstain from blood" was about diet, and a temporary injunction in order to avoid offending Christians of a Jewish background. The JW line that God meant all Christians in perpetuity should never use blood for any purpose, including lifesaving medicine, is just baseless and grasping at straws.*The two JWs admitted some past doctrines had changed because the leaders had realised they were in error. That being the case, today's ban on blood transfusions could tomorrow also be adjudged to be an error, and revoked. The problem is that JWs are denied the opportunity to exercise their conscience and are compelled to obey the Governing Body. The penalty for disobedience is expulsion and shunning. How Christian is that? And are they really willing to hand over decisions on life and death medical procedures to men who might just change their mind based on "new light"?
The two JWs did abruptly end our conversation, but their unwillingness to face challenges to their beliefs indicates a very fragile and shallow faith. Listen to the interview if you get time. Hopefully the link works!
-
50
Australia Branch to end magazine printing
by no-zombie injust one week from the zone overseer's visit is the announcement that the magazine production by the australia branch will end in a few months.
the task being transferred to the japan branch.
while i'm not 100% certain, i understand that this effectively ends all major printing bar perhaps tracts, handbills and other loose items.
-
-
MrMonroe
On my one visit to the Australian Bethel my wife's cousin, who was then living there, proudly told us about the range of occupations there. The cooks, the cleaners, the mechanics, the gardeners, the housekeepers, the laundry workers, the maintenance people. Why were they there? Because Bethel was where they did the printing. The printers needed accommodation, and they needed feeding and housekeeping, and the housekeepers needed feeding and their clothes needed laundering .. it went on and on. Without the printers there'd be no need for anyone. So if the Australian printing is transferred to Japan ... no need for 99% of the Bethelites and no need for the whole complex. -
2
New book by George Chryssides
by MrMonroe inenglish religious academic george chryssides, who has previously written books and academic papers on the jws and other new religious movements, has a new 300-page book out, jehovah's witnesses: continuity and change.
.
some of his earlier writings have been a bit too sympathetic towards the jws, so i'm wondering if anyone has seen this book .
-
-
MrMonroe
English religious academic George Chryssides, who has previously written books and academic papers on the JWs and other New Religious Movements, has a new 300-page book out, Jehovah's Witnesses: Continuity and Change.
Some of his earlier writings have been a bit too sympathetic towards the JWs, so I'm wondering if anyone has seen this book
-
42
No more pain sorrow or crying in new system!!!!!!!
by atomant in"and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.
for the old world and its evils are gone forever.
" rev.
-
-
MrMonroe
If the WTS were given control of a small country tomorrow ...
Science would have to conform to the Bible, death sentence would return, women would be removed from leadership positions, press freedom would disappear, political freedom would disappear, the judicial system would operate behind closed doors, one's status in society would depend on the extent of one's free labour for the leaders, clothing would need approval, entertainment would need official approval ...
-
27
You Are Unsuitable!
by Divergent intoday's text -.
sunday, january 24. they collected the fine ones into containers, but the unsuitable they threw away.—matt.
13:48.. understanding the lesson of this illustration helps us to avoid being overly distraught or disappointed if a bible student or one of our children does not make the truth his own.
-
-
MrMonroe
They can't make up their minds: either we are the "lost sheep" worthy of a loving plea to "Return to Jehovah" or we are unsuitable fish who were never any good to begin with. -
26
whats your take? When someone asks my wife what religion she is, she seems embarrassed to say she is a JW.
by goingthruthemotions inso thinking back about the times when someone has asked my wife what religion she is.
she sheepishly and seems almost embarrassed to say she is a jehovah witness.
when someone asks me, i just say i am a christian.
-
-
MrMonroe
When I joined (as an adult) I was very happy to tell people I was a JW. A few years later I moved cities and this time made sure no one knew. I stressed about finding out where my workmates lived because I dreaded the thought of calling on their homes. I spent five years in that city and finally in the last year told the others in my office that I was a JW. They were curious, but wary.
I moved again for work, and this time told no one: my wife and I would try our best to avoid telling neighbours or (after we had kids) other parents; I certainly kept it a secret at work -- and again obsessed over inadvertently calling at the home of my workmates. I would try to worm out of them (or look up in office diaries) their addresses to make sure I'd never bump into them while I was out witnessing.
I was always embarrassed about being a JW and dreaded being spotted out witnessing or on my way to or from district conventions. I knew people would regard me as a fruitloop and I desperately wanted to be regarded as normal. It was always my guilty secret and added to the mental turmoil and stress of everyday life. In a way having "the truth" was a burden I felt I was unable to relieve: I "knew the truth" about God, and Armageddon, and the paradise, but it left me with an obligation I didn't really want. I was so relieved when I quit.