from my experience within the jw organization, i understood that salvation meant a person accepted the teachings of the wbts without question as the "faithful and discrete slave," thereby placing their trust in them, not jesus christ.
salvation consisted of being found "righteous" by jehovah and resurrected to everlasting life in an earthly paradise.
to obtain this salvation, one needed to obey the organization's teachings, remain a faithful jw, and lead a moral life.
WT "Salvation" = Jehovah deeming you worthy of a resurrection (or surviving Armageddon)
How obtained = "exercising faith" in Jehovah's name and in Jesus' ransom sacrifice = serving Jehovah as part of his earthly organization (the Watchtower Society) by obeying "the faithful and discreet slave" (the GB) sufficiently well and remaining faithful to the end of your life.
"Sufficiently well" = only Jehovah knows (most likely more than what you have been doing)
i left the organization in 2017.. was in several congregations in the north west of england.
i just wanted to say thank you to all of you that have posted on here over the years, it really helped me to see the truth about the organization.
i lurked here for many years under an anonymous login and then finally plucked up the courage to write my disassociation letter.. adam.
Welcome!
What was it that convinced you the Watchtower religion isn't the truth as it claims to be?
brethern, and cistern, today's lesson from the golden calf is one of profound importance - never to be forgotten!.
w56 6/15 p. 360 - "we usually believe what we want to believe, and one thing we like to believe is that we do our own thinking.
they plant the thought and nourish it, but do it so subtly that we think it is our own.
The GB are very skilled at denouncing nameless people for the very thing they are doing.
i couldn't get back to sleep last night, something my father said a few weeks ago popped into my head.. we were talking about obtaining citizenship, he doesn't need it, but was contemplating what benefits it could get him now he's a pensioner.. background : i've been disfellowhipped for 15 years, i was born in, he is an elder, very much pimi, he was also born in.. i said to him how citizenship would be difficult for him as it would require him to swear allegiance to the state?.
oh he said, thats just a crowd of people together in a big room for the swearing in event, it would be easy to just mumble or say nothing, nobody would know.. this has quietly been eating away in my mind, why did it bother me?.
last night it hit me, when i was in my first year of school, age 5, i came out of school one day with a balloon with two little pencils attached, a gift from a classmate who's birthday it was, every child got one.
I knew two brothers who each served 5 years in prison because they weren't allowed to tell the judge they would accept alternative service.
Oh, never mind... new light... nothing to see here.
an old elder friend from out of town stopped to see my ailing wife.
more than the locals do.
he said elder school emphasized 2 years and the existing body will be the leaders through persecution and tribulation.
i have known a jehovah’s witness for approximately 15 years and i have considered her a friend although i know that jehovah’s witnesses cannot have friends who are not jehovah’s witnesses.
approximately two years ago, i was going through a very difficult time and i asked my friend if we could have bible study.
she said yes and we have been studying the bible since.
Ironically, the 1970s directive to discontinue a study after 6 months if the person wasn't ready to be baptized was based on the WT's teaching that 1975 would bring Armageddon.
It's been nearly 50 years since then.
"misinformation, disinformation, science, this antiscience, uh conspiracy theory, these are propaganda terms.".
'don't use them' he says.
@ 19:33. https://youtu.be/miauulndllq?t=1173.
This from a GB who indoctrinate JWs to call it persecution whenever someone at the door openly disagrees with them on anything and doesn't immediately come around...
some sources cite that the word or concept of hell appears 167 times in the old and new testament.
jesus spoke about hell more than anyone else.
how can such consistent warnings by many different writers over 1600 years all be parables?
The WT teaching about our deaths paying for our sins applies to everyone whether JW or not, doesn't it?
for jws who believe that jehovah had a hand in reviving the truth in the nineteenth century this is enough explanation for how jws managed to achieve a closer approximation to early christian beliefs and practices than other groups.
but is there an explanation for this phenomenon that doesn’t rely on supernatural intervention?
new testament scholar james dunn explains the difficulty of interpreting the biblical texts in this way:.
Pastor Russell figured it all out by measuring the Great Pyramid.
That worked until Rutherford decided the pyramid was satanic.
After that, it's been new light continuously being revealed to the members of the GB who are neither infallible nor inspired.
But if you don't believe everything they say, you will be annihilated at Armageddon.
I trust that answers your question...
https://youtu.be/uxqqyrrffow?si=wo0jotyvjg76oljk.
well that's sort of related to the next talk on our program brother jeffrey jackson will discuss the theme don't be surprised by sudden changes, brother jeff you have our.
attention well i'm sure we all agree with this fact in recent years there have been a lot of changes even since the last annual meeting there have been many changes some of them perhaps are a little surprising or may seem to be sudden but you know brothers and sisters when we look back on how these changes have come we can see that jehovah has gradually prepared us for each of these adjustments and changes let's review some of the recent changes we've had what changes have we seen with regard to our understand understanding of bible teachings at the 2021 annual meeting we received an adjusted understanding of john 529 it was explained that the resurrection of judgment will not be a judgment of condemnation rather it will be more like a period of probation the unrighteous mentioned at acts 24:15 will have an opportunity to gain everlasting life but their names will not be written wr in the book of life at the time of their resurrection to have their names eventually written in that book these ones will need to respond positively to the great educational work that will take place during the thousand-year reign then at the annual meeting in 2023 we gained enhanced insight into what we do know and what we don't know concerning jehovah's judgments we learned that the door of opportunity for people to take a stand for the kingdom does not shut when the great tribulation starts with the destruction of false religion at that time perhaps some will be like the egyptians in moses day who took a last minute stand and joined the exodus of god's people at the same annual meeting we adjusted our views with regard to jehovah's judgments of those who died in the flood and those who were destroyed in sodom and gomorrah also at that annual meeting an adjustment was made regarding the reporting of our time and activity in our preaching work instead of focusing on reports we try to make good use of every opportunity to witness then we receive the 2024 governing body update number two in that update we saw the need to adjust how we interact with those who have committed serious sins and have been removed from the congregation what other major adjustments have we recently seen in our preaching work the emphasis now is on studing bible studies and making disciples not on distributing literature to that end the focus is on studying meaningful conversations not just on using memorized presentations were you surprised by these adjustments perhaps so but as we look back we see how one adjustment in understanding gradually helped us with the next adjustment isn't it true that gradually jehovah has prepared us and when we look back on it we see how logical this training has been to refine our understanding but events in the world likewise have changed it's true sometimes in the world you have sudden changes for example the pandemic but often times change in the world is gradual isn't it true with regard to the view of morality homosexuality abortion even what's acceptable and not acceptable with regard to conduct all of that has happened gradually in the world and it's not until you look back and see how different the world is today with regard to those matters that we see that there have been a lot of changes but this can be dangerous because as things gradually change we may get used to gradual change and forget that there are some sudden changes about to occur uh let's take our bibles please and if you turn with me to the book of luke chap 21 now this is an example of sudden change in luke chap 21 uh notice there in verse 34 the words of our lord jesus are recorded and he said in verse 34 but pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with oving and heavy drinking and anxieties of life and suddenly suddenly that they be instantly instantly upon you it's interesting to note that jesus had already said that this day he was referring to would occur at a time that we don't think is likely so what lesson do we learn from what jesus said it's a warning isn't it that we can't just sit back and think well things are gradually going to develop we know which way it's going and maybe it's not going to happen yet you know got a little bit more wiggle room there with regard to the schedule but you see that's dangerous thinking now what we're going to do is consider two examples of areas where perhaps we could be a little guilty with regard to that for example our view as with regard to the number of anointed ones remaining on the earth now for many years what did we think we thought well that number would go down and down and down and down now i don't know about you but me i you when that report came out just how many how many partakers and and what were we thinking we probably you maybe we didn't say it but we were thinking you know the number will go down down down down and there'll be just a couple of old guys in a wheelchair who will get their reward well i'm exaggerating but that was sort of the feeling wasn't it but now what have we seen in recent years those numbers have gone up and up and not only that younger brothers have been appointed on the governing body now i know what you're all thinking two new ones how old are they we know you're not googling now but you will be but you see we need to be careful about what we're thinking with regard to the number of anointed ones left on earth you see 19 years ago i was appointed on the governing body even i thought i was too young now they tell me i'm not so young anymore but do we see the point what does the bible actually tell us with regard to this well it doesn't say the number would just dwindle down to just having a few uh older ones left no the great crowd of other sheep will be judged on the basis of how they deal with
Don't tell me.
Armageddon is closer now than ever before!
