Posts by Fencing

37

How the Internet is Destroying Mormonism

by slimboyfat in

interesting video, shame it wasn't about jws.

http://youtu.be/-1bdbkjbzzy.

what a would be your top 5 shocking things you found out about jws on the internet?.

Fencing

What a would be your top 5 shocking things you found out about JWs on the Internet?

1. That nothing of what the Russell-era Bible Students believed about 1914 is still taught today - and the revisionist history the Society teaches in regards to that, to pretend they've always been right

2. That Jerusalem wasn't destroyed in 607

3. That they sought and attained a UN membership while accusing other religions of cavorting with the Wild Beast

4. Russell's obsession with pyramids

5. All the child abuse lawsuits and coverups

55

Quality of newer membership

by Lostandfound in

on a previous post mamacita29 pointed up the low quality of new jw converts.. is the quality falling even more as the society use lower than low meeting, talks, broadcasts etc.. when i was active initially the organisation and standards seemed totally different today.

i have seen hard working intelligent elders fall by death or exhaustion.

the younger generation that came along never really grasped responsibility hence shortage of good elders, never mind the watered down to almost nothing quality of meetings.

Fencing

I agree with Freddo. The 1995 change was really the moment that the Society transformed away from what Rutherford and Knorr setup, into what it is now. Prior to that, there was always a sense of purpose and direction. That everyone was charging ahead with a feeling of urgency and there was still some sense of excitement, because The End was coming Real Soon Now.

After the death of Franz, and the subsequent re-imagining of the "generation", everything just stalled. It was obvious they had no idea what to do next. The only "ideas man" who could come up with wacky interpretations of prophecies to keep people excited was dead and no one was stepping up to replace him. None of the predictions or expectations that they had been talking up for so long had come true. Even after the 1975 fiasco, they still always had the "generation" to fall back onto to keep some kind of deadline that kept everyone motivated. But now that was gone, and none of the litany of things that had to happen prior to the big A had even come close to happening. There wasn't even a King of the North anymore.

It was at that point that you started seeing less and less "deep" study articles on prophecy. The last big one that I remember studying was right around 94-95. The articles instead got fluffier and fluffier. Same handful of topics over and over. Obey the elders. Love your family. Stay away from porn.

The more recent "adjustment" of the generation teaching was an attempt to try and rekindle that feeling of urgency, but it's completely fallen flat. Mostly because the majority of Witnesses can't even explain what the teaching actually is, since it defies all logic and reason.

1995 was the end of an era, and Society has basically been treading water in the 20 years since. How long can they keep it up? Who knows.

24

Types attracted to the sect known as jehovahs witnesses.

by atomant in

l have observed the types of people attracted to the sect are many times unbalanced,unstable,emotionally insecure types.the jdubs seem to home in like vulchers circling the prey ,preying on the vulnerables.they tried it on me when my father who was an elder died.promising that if you become a dub you will one day see him again.l said how can you promise that when you keep making false misleading predictions.l was wondering if others have observed this phenomenon.

Fencing

The converts I knew almost always had extended JW family (aunts, uncles, cousins, inlaws, etc.) who had been hounding them for years. And within that group, they generally only gave in after some difficult time in their life - death of a close relative or child, major financial problems, etc. Always at some kind of low point in their life.

The ones who converted and didn't have family in already - the straight cold-called converts - were very far and few between, and were typically REALLY odd. Something was always off with them, mentally.

57

Elder Mentioning an "Apostate Problem"

by Simon Templar in

i bumped into a sister that i have known for at least 40 years or so.

we were catching up.

she and her husband have been in the truth for decades.

Fencing

It would be perilous for JW organization to advance a figurative view of the 144,000. What happens to their view of two classes and the enormous focus on paradise earth? What about the mountainous criticism of the churches of Christendom heralding heaven as the hope? JW's exclusive and literal take on the faithful and discreet slave is based on the view that the heavenly class is different from the great crowd.

Making the 144k figurative doesn't mean they'd suddenly have to believe everyone is going to heaven. They would keep their two-class system, and just put heavy emphasis on the 144,000 evidently meaning the number of Christians with a heavenly hope would be a very small subset in contrast with the "great crowd".

The concept of paradise earth is one of the most appealing aspects of the Witnesses to the majority of those who sign up. Thus, you'd still have the vast majority holding to that hope. The percentage of partakers would definitely spike, no question. But I think it would stabilize rather quickly. Probably no more than 5%, quite likely less than that.

57

Elder Mentioning an "Apostate Problem"

by Simon Templar in

i bumped into a sister that i have known for at least 40 years or so.

we were catching up.

she and her husband have been in the truth for decades.

Fencing

The Borg is really going to have to do something here the way the number of partakers keeps ever increasing.

They've been doing something for the past several years. First step was back in 2007 when they made the "sealing" open-ended, to try and explain away why the numbers weren't dropping. Next step was openly calling into question the mental state of new partakers - which they continue to do. Third step was detaching the "Faithful & Discreet Slave" from the Anointed Remnant, so that the rising number of partakers wouldn't be able to make any claims of authority in competition with the GB.

The next step will be to officially say that the 144,000 is a symbolic number. When that happens, all the problems with the rising partaker numbers go away.

Everything points to that happening relatively soon. Especially with the more recent statements that they're backing away from all the types and anti-types nonsense, showing a willingness to admit that just maybe not every scripture in the bible has some secret symbolic hidden meaning that only they understand. They just had to spend years setting everything up ahead of time, because it would be a major doctrinal change - quite possibly the biggest they've had in 80 years. If they just did it all at once, there'd be huge problems, especially with the older ones.

62

Brooklyn news on sending the elderly packing

by I am a Bible Student in

johnny the bethelite on this program talks about the older bethelites being targeted by watchtower.they are getting rid of those at bethel who are 65-87 years old, some being anointed even the widows of former governing body members who gave decades of loyal service time to the watchtower organization.. the reasons the very elderly are being expelled are money in that for their age range they cost so much to cloth, fed, and medicate, having problems from high blood pressure to dementia.

they include persons such as sister henschel whose husband had been a watchtower president and marian sydlik whose parents are long dead.. https://soundcloud.com/rick-fearon/jan-16-2016-johnny-the-bethelite-watchtower-insider-host-his-radio-program-from-brooklyn-ny .

Fencing

Fearon is STILL pushing the "Johnny the Bethelite" fraud?

39

No Sports Cars Please!

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

i read on a jw forum that jw's came in for disapproval if they drove either sports cars or 2-door cars.

the reasoning was that a driver couldn't easily take fellow dubbies out preaching in such a vehicle.

was that ever official policy or just local nonsense from a grumpy po?.

Fencing

I definitely remember that people who bought 2-door cars were looked on suspiciously. I know of at least one case where a young man buying a 2-door car actually held him back from being appointed an MS, because the elders took it as proof that he wasn't "spiritually-minded" enough.

But I can't recall anything from a CO or district convention saying anything so specific. I would assume it was just one of those "things" that's neither official or unofficial, yet somehow becomes law on its own.

To this day I'm hesitant to buy a 2-door car, that's how much the unofficial policy affected me. Even though I haven't had anyone in the back seat in several years.

133

The new service meeting

by John Aquila in

i wanted to relate an experience that happened this morning.

it is regarding the new format for the meeting on thursdays in my area.

its not word for word but im summarizing what i heard, the best i can remember.

Fencing

And to think some other posters criticise me for my grip on reality. I've got a long memory. Some of the same posters bought into Johnny the bethelite I seem to recall...

Johnny the Bethelite was REAL! The Society's black helicopters took him away in the middle of the night.

37

Did I imagine a brief thaw in the Watchtower injunction against going to university?

by slimboyfat in

okay i was talking to an elder and he said me going to university was a bad idea and i should have listened to the society and not gone.

but i said that when i went to university the watchtower was saying it might not be a bad idea to go to, as long as you do it for the "right reasons", don't associate with worldly people, and keep clear of "damaging ideas".

but basically they said it was okay, in this "changing world" and job market to go to university.

Fencing

There was definitely a brief "thaw" in the anti-college stance. I, unfortunately, was right on the cusp of the generation that grew up with all the demonizing of college and the softening didn't start until I was already exiting high school. So even though it was suddenly "allowed", I had no money for it, no college prep work behind me, and didn't have the right mindset to go to college since it had always been out of the question for most of my life.

The generation after me, who graduated in the late 90s/early 00s, had more time to prepare and I know of quite a few who went to college, including the kids of elders, and it wasn't even questioned. Of course, that all changed again several years ago.

14

BOE 2015-10-24 TO PUBLISHERS LEARNING ANOTHER LANGUAGE TO ADVANCE THE GOOD NEWS

by wifibandit in

pdf.

.

Fencing

I would estimate that 90% of dubs who learn another language, end up burning out within three years. This is based on the stories of friends who have learned another language.

That's been my experience as well. I know people who have learned French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic, all to "assist" in foreign language groups. The vast majority quit within a couple years and come back to their original hall.