Fencing

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Posts by Fencing

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  44

  Why Do People Become Jehovah's Witnesses?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  besides being raised in the religion , why do people become jws?

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  Fencing

  Thinking back, every found-at-the-door convert (of which there were very few, could probably count on my fingers how many of them I saw) was either mentally unhinged or had just faced some life-altering event that put them at a low point. Death of a loved one, loss of a job and facing destitution, recent divorcee escaping an abusive relationship, drug addict wanting to recover, etc.

  Other than that, the converts that weren't born-in were usually relatives that had been hounded by their JW family for years, sometimes decades. And more often than not, they were also at low point in their lives.
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  18

  Undeserved kindness

  by life is to short in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just a side note that i found interesting and sort of upsetting, the wt that the jw's will study on sunday the 18th of september has the words undeserved kindness mentioned 50 in just 19 paragraphs.

  really they need to beat it into their people that they are very worthless and do no deserve anything from god?

  so much so that they use the words over and over, don't they.. lits .

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  Fencing

  The word "grace" tends to emphasize God's mercy, whereas the term "underserved kindness" emphasises that humans are not worthy.
  When you gain broader perspective it becomes apparent that JWs are not a very God oriented religion.

  Yes, this exactly. "Grace" has a more positive connotation, more uplifting in tone. "Undeserved kindness" has a far more negative connotation to it, reinforcing a feeling of worthlessness. It's understandable why the WT has stuck with it for so long. It's really a microcosm of the entire tone of the religion: You can never do enough, you can never be good enough, and you maybe (probably) won't survive the big A anyway.

  It's a good example of the weird, schizophrenic take JWs have on salvation, simultaneously rejecting "once saved, always saved" and the notion of simple faith leading to salvation (as in most mainstream evangelical groups), and rejecting the notion that works can lead to salvation. When everything in the religion is setup to make you work for your "salvation".
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  23

  Any word on the annual meeting?

  by careful in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have all the leaks at ny bethel been discovered, or are there still some who are revealing the inner secrets beforehand?

  i haven't seen anything here about the annual meeting just a month away now.

  anyone have any real info on it?.

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  Fencing

  In case anyone is researching, I think the word is Nethinim not Nephinim. Hardly mentioned since it first appeared as a doctrine. The WTS tends to let some die by not mentioning them again.

  I remember that. Mid 90's. It was not too long after the "generation" change that made it completely open-ended and squashed any hope of the end coming before the end of the century. The Nethinim being "other sheep" helpers who would start taking over for the F&DS was mentioned in like one WT study article. Got a lot of tongues wagging about what it could mean. And then no one heard about it again.
  
  
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  58

  Download Raymond Franz PDF Books Crisis of Conscience and In Search of Christian Freedom

  by Tenacious in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for those who've never read these incredible books by our friend ray franz.. here are links for both.

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  happy reading!.

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  Fencing

  Cynthia Franz did not sell the rights to the current legal copyright holder....she was left them in Cynthia's will. Checkwww.commentarypress.com to contact her. It is not a matter of making money but making sure things are uptodate, translated other languages, etc. It took some time to transfer the rights and now to make sure that everything is ready to be printed and in the format needed in current printing styles and technology.

  And when we're still hearing the same excuse again next year?
  
  
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  20

  In memory of a lost doctrine - the vindication of Jehovah's name

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i start this thread in response to a comment by a jw apologist called simonsays on another thread.

  he claimed to have read all three volumes of vindication by rutherford (my sympathy if true).

  he further implied that it didn't matter that old jw literature said wrong and stupid things, saying:.

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  Fencing

  I remember this change. I also remember it was really difficult for the older ones to stop saying "vindicate Jehovah's name" all the time.
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  77

  Rumor: Discouraging news from GB at upcoming CA?

  by bohm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is on the reddit frontpage and sounds super weird.

  can it be confirmed in any way by anyone here?.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/4u72dk/what_kind_of_announcement_could_cause_jws_to/.

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  Fencing

  A comment was made that 'The Message' would soon be changing. I asked 'like that the ark door will soon be closing?'. Answer, 'Yes'

  That was the whole point of that little phrase they slipped into the infamous bunker video: "when our message changed from one of good news to one of judgement." Perfectly designed to get all the good dubs scared and chattering among themselves, trying to figure out if the message has changed yet. So they'll hang on every word coming out of the GB in those stupid broadcasting videos, and over-analyze every Watchtower article to see if it could be considered "judgement".

  So completely transparent what they were trying to accomplish with that video. Not surprised to see it having an effect already.
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  114

  Evidence for a Young Earth

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for additional information:.

  for additional information:.

  for additional information:.

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  Fencing

  I don't know that I've ever come across anyone as intellectually vacant and intentionally ignorant as Perry. It's astonishing to behold.
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  8

  Any news about changes in the Elder’s arrangement?

  by Hecce in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  not based on any major reliable information, just spiritual gossip among some very weak spiritually friends.. since the wt has made monumental changes in personnel, including bethel and cos; some are speculating that eventually there will be a cutback in the number of elders in a congregation and a return to the 1930-1970 servant’s model.. i can see some good reasons for this:.

  poor quality among the elders, maybe one or two are really carrying the entire load.

  the merging of the congregations will create a glut of elders strange to each other, the more that they have the more conflicts in the making.. the duties of the elders have been decreasing and most of the decisions are made upstairs.. the pre 1970 arrangement worked really well and it will take the wt less than 1-3 to find a biblical basis to bring it back.. friends, just some saturday morning thoughts.. thanks for reading..

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  Fencing

  I don't see how they could do this these days. Average sized congregations with 7+ elders tend to be overworked as it is, with all the moral policing the Society requires them to do, combined with being forced to pretend to be therapists and psychologists for everyones problems. And then all the busywork of running meetings, talks, day-to-day congregation responsibilities... they're much, much busier than they were in the 60s.
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  63

  New Spiritually Weak Label: Not Using Tablet/iPhone

  by Doubtfully Yours in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  with last night's meeting it became official: here in the states is a must to keep up with 'jehovah's org' that one fully jumps on board with this tablet/iphone crap.. so, now, all of us that up to this point have refused to follow the wtbts in their electronic/wireless revolution will deal with the browbeating from the 'spiritual' ones.. already receiving lots of grief from hubby and rest of the family/close friends when seen at the meetings with paper publications.

  damn it!!!

  am i alone in this resistance???!!!.

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  Fencing

  Pretty amazing how quickly it went from assembly demonstrations going on about how much of a "distraction" and "waste of time" gadgets like smartphones and tablets are, telling people to not spend money or time on them because that could be time and money spent for the preaching work... to suddenly now if you don't have a tablet you're looked at as "spiritually weak".
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  76

  Socialism

  by Perry in

  1. social
  2. current

  socialists think that money will solve all man's problems.

  everything is obsessively related to money in the socialist ideology.. they have an almost supernatural ability to blame others with more money.

  god calls this greed and envy.

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  Fencing

  A nutty, hardcore evangelical type quoting Ayn Rand bolster their argument is amazing to watch.