Posts by Listener

just a couple of articles back the organization was explaining how jws need to be encouraging and even when admonishing congregations jesus would start out with encouraging words.

we see none of this in the qfr, rather, it is heavy handed and legally incorrect.. why is it not permissible to post publications of jehovah’s witnesses on a personal website or on social media?.

Listener

Youtuber King of Faders put up a video about this QFR and pointed out the following

Furthermore, posting our publications on websites that allow comments provides a place for apostates and other critics to sow distrust of Jehovah’s organization

It's not apostate information but the Watchtowers own publications than can sow doubt about the Watchtower organization. It's the secret books like Shepherding the Flock that show such things as a Clergy/Laity distinction, contradicting their own teachings.

28

QFR - Posting JW publications on a personal website/social media

by Listener in

the following is a qfr from the april, 2018 watchtower.

just a couple of articles back the organization was explaining how jws need to be encouraging and even when admonishing congregations jesus would start out with encouraging words.

we see none of this in the qfr, rather, it is heavy handed and legally incorrect.. why is it not permissible to post publications of jehovah’s witnesses on a personal website or on social media?.

Listener

The following is a QFR from the April, 2018 Watchtower. Just a couple of articles back the organization was explaining how JWs need to be encouraging and even when admonishing congregations Jesus would start out with encouraging words. We see none of this in the QFR, rather, it is heavy handed and legally incorrect.

Why is it not permissible to post publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses on a personal website or on social media?

Because we offer our Bible-based material without charge, some feel that copying and posting it on other websites or on social media is acceptable. However, doing so violates the Terms of Use* for our websites and has caused serious problems. As is clearly stated in those Terms, no one is permitted to “post artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from this website on the Internet (any website, file-sharing site, video-sharing site, or social network).” Why is such a restriction needed?
All the material on our websites is copyrighted. Apostates and other opposers try to use our publications on their websites to lure in Jehovah’s Witnesses and others. Planted in those sites is material designed to sow doubts in readers’ minds. (Ps. 26:4; Prov. 22:5) Others have used material from our publications or our jw.org logo in advertisements, on products offered for sale, and in mobile device apps. By securing copyright and trademark protection, we have a legal basis to prevent such misuse. (Prov. 27:12) But if we knowingly allow people, even our brothers, to post our digital content on other sites or to use the jw.org trademark to sell merchandise, the courts may not support our efforts to deter opposers and commercial enterprises.
Downloading our publications from anywhere but jw.org is potentially dangerous. Jehovah has entrusted the responsibility of providing spiritual food to “the faithful and discreet slave” alone. (Matt. 24:45) That “slave” uses only its official websites to publish spiritual food—www.jw.org, tv.jw.org, and wol.jw.org. And we have only three official apps for mobile devices—JW Language®, JW Library®, and JW Library Sign Language®. We can trust these products to be free of advertisements or contamination by Satan’s world. If the spiritual food passes through other channels, there is no guarantee that it has not been altered or contaminated.—Ps. 18:26; 19:8.

Furthermore, posting our publications on websites that allow comments provides a place for apostates and other critics to sow distrust of Jehovah’s organization. Some brothers have been drawn into online debates and thus have brought added reproach on Jehovah’s name. An online forum is not an appropriate setting for “instructing with mildness those not favorably disposed.” (2 Tim. 2:23-25; 1 Tim. 6:3-5) It has also been observed that fraudulent social media accounts and websites have been created in the name of the organization, the Governing Body, and its individual members. However, no member of the Governing Body maintains a personal Web page or a presence on any social media site.

Directing people to jw.org helps to spread the “good news.” (Matt. 24:14) The digital tools we receive for use in our personal ministry are continually being improved. We would like everyone to benefit from them. Therefore, as the Terms of Use indicates, you may e-mail someone an electronic copy of a publication or share a link to material found on jw.org. By directing interested people to our official websites, we are connecting them with the one true source of spiritual food, “the faithful and discreet slave.”

This is from the earlier article which explains how they should be following Jesus example in giving counsel. The above is a direct order to the r & f, I hope they keep up this type of behaviour and it's likely in response to more JWs becoming aware of TTATT. They're absolutely right when they say it's causing serious problems, we are all having a positive affect. Well done.

Building one another up may involve giving counsel, but here again, elders should follow the example given in the Bible about how to give counsel in an encouraging way. An outstanding example in this respect was given by Jesus himself after his death and resurrection. He had some firm counsel to give to certain congregations in Asia Minor, but notice how he went about it. Before giving them counsel, he gave warm commendation to the congregations in Ephesus, Pergamum, and Thyatira. (Rev. 2:1-5, 12, 13, 18, 19)

30

Annoying jws

by Jrjw in

jw
friends

a 'concerned' jw in my congregation rang me earlier and said she's noticed my daughter sits miserable at the meetings and said she's a right miserable girl in general.

i said she's happy and hyper when she's not at the meetings they're just really boring and she doesn't want to be there.

apparently i'm a bad parent coz she feels that way.

Listener

and said she's a right miserable girl In general.

This is very rude and offensive. How would you feel if your daughter heard this? She's a bully and although you know that don't let her think that she has any right to say things like that. Next time it could be in front of your daughter. It would probably do more damage to amend than taking the steps to stop that sort of talk now.

Approach her and tell her you will not allow her to talk about your daughter like that no matter how well meaning she thinks she is being. Don't focus on anything else other than that one comment she made, otherwise she will either twist the meaning of what she said or put the focus back on you and accuse you of being the problem.

13

April 2018 Watchtower

by Listener in

here's a few little gems from the latest watchtower.. 5 many today think that to be truly free, they must be able to do anything and everything they want to do, regardless of the consequences.. this statement is just ridiculous, any normal functioning individual understands the necessity for restrictions, for their own protection and justice as well as for others.

it's a very childish statement with no substantiation and written only to create a perception in jw minds of how worldly people are selfish to the point of being reckless and unrestrained.

they liken adam and eve's sinning which resulted in disaster as being like a pilot not following their designated flight path and make this commenthowever, if the pilot chose to disregard that guidance and fly any route he desired, the result could be disastrous.. this is a very bad analogy because when adam and eve sinned, they had already been forewarned of their disaster to follow.

Listener

Here's a few little gems from the latest Watchtower.

5 Many today think that to be truly free, they must be able to do anything and everything they want to do, regardless of the consequences.

This statement is just ridiculous, any normal functioning individual understands the necessity for restrictions, for their own protection and justice as well as for others. It's a very childish statement with no substantiation and written only to create a perception in JW minds of how worldly people are selfish to the point of being reckless and unrestrained.

They liken Adam and Eve's sinning which resulted in disaster as being like a pilot not following their designated flight path and make this comment

However, if the pilot chose to disregard that guidance and fly any route he desired, the result could be disastrous.

This is a very bad analogy because when Adam and Eve sinned, they had already been forewarned of their disaster to follow. This is unlike the pilot who's outcome is unknown, it could be perfectly safe or very dangerous. There are also times when he must make his own decisions for the safety of him and the passengers and has been trained for such instances.

Their simpler writing is proving to show their ineptitude in making logical remarks as shown in the following

Not only can sin lead us to doing what is bad but it can also prevent us from doing what we know is right or from living up to what we know we are capable of.

What they are saying is that sin leads to sin. Sin cannot lead us into doing what is bad because by sinning we are already doing what is bad.

When we realize the true value of a costly gift, we are moved to show our gratitude to the giver.

I guess the comment like the one above demonstrates the outlook that Bethelites, including the Governing Body, cultivate when living under a vow of poverty. This sounds materialistic but isn't always true, even a inexpensive gift can bring a lot of joy.

Some of my most treasured gifts are inexpensive things that my children have given to us. One of them is a painting that our son brought home from school one day with a look of disappointment as he gave it to us. He has some wonderful talents but creativity is not one of them and we thought his effort was exceptional under these circumstances and we still proudly display his work, 13 years later.

A number of years ago, after the financial collapse, the Australian Government gave all families a once off lump sum payment of $1,000 per child, to spend any way they liked. Many of us were not grateful for this gift but annoyed at the irresponsibility of the Government. Expensive gifts are not always wanted or cherished.

Clever advertisers often feature attractive people deceptively promoting as must-haves many things we really do not need. How easy it is to fall prey to these ploys and to misuse our freedom!

More and more, it's obvious that the organization is using the same ploy by selecting attractive people to put in their publications and on their video's.

According to them, we are misusing our freedom by buying things we don't need because we have been sucked in by attractive people advertising goods. We are all just terrible people, I feel so guilty that I'm thinking I should return my electric kettle and start using our log fire to heat our water. It may take longer but I'll be putting my freedom to good use.

They've managed to manipulate the whole discussion about the Biblical idea of freedom (being freedom from sin) into some sort of idea about personal behavior.

Higher education is again brought up in a negative light and is compared against just basic education. They quote 1 Cor 10:23 which says

All things are lawful [or, “permissible,” ftn.], but not all things are advantageous. All things are lawful, but not all things build up.”

Their conclusion is that even though one's conscience may permit higher education, it is not always advantages or up-building. It is extra ordinary to see a group of people being told that having anything above a basic knowledge should be viewed negatively. Why even draw a line between basic education and higher education? The same reasoning that they use could be applied for learning anything beyond a Year 9 level, or less.

Since the main topic of the articles is freedom it is of no surprise to see it being twisted by examining the following question

‘Can I use my freedom to give greater support to the Kingdom work?’

The moral of their story is that you have freedom from Jehovah for your sins but we want to take your other freedoms away by having you work for us.

The next article is about newly appointed men and the problem they may face with feeling inadequate. They use the Timothy, a companion of the Apostle Paul as encouragement but rather than basing their example on facts they make a number of assumptions -

Timothy was probably in his late teens or early 20’s when the apostle Paul invited him to become his traveling companion. At first, being young, Timothy may have lacked self-confidence and may have hesitated to act in his newly assigned role.

They use an example to tell the appointed Brother that he should be more concerned about the needs of the Bro's and Sis's rather than administrative things.

Avoid being like the proverbial bus driver who is more concerned with arriving on time at every bus stop than with picking up passengers

Who comes up with these ideas? It's of the utmost importance that the bus driver sticks to his designated time tables, both for the expectations of those waiting and for the smooth operation of the bus drivers working to their time tables. It would cause chaos to put individual passengers ahead of a well planned schedule. Naturally, a little flexibility is sometimes called for.

Here's another example of their simplified writing. I'm not a good writer myself but I'm not writing articles for over 8 million people to read or having my work proof read by dozens of people.

Will you keep making spiritual progress? Make it your aim to learn from Timothy. Then you too will be a blessing to God’s people.

Shouldn't it read "Then you too will CONTINUE to be a blessing to God's people. The article is being addressed to newly appointed men, it suggests that they have received their appointment but are not yet a blessing to God. It's easy to think it's on purpose because no JW, regardless of their position can ever do enough to gain approval.

The next article is about encouragement and mentions the governing body of the first century by making this claim

When Philip the evangelizer preached about Christ to the Samaritans, he received the full backing of those on the governing body. They sent two of their number, Peter and John, to pray for the new believers to receive holy spirit. (Acts 8:5, 14-17

From the above, we are not told who makes up this governing body but by their wording we can deduce that Philip is not but Peter and John are. Acts 8:14 states "When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Sa·marʹi·a had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them;" This is not consistent with their previous claims that the governing body consisted of the apostles and elder men as this scripture says it was the apostles who were in Jerusalem that sent them.

One method of encouragement is mentioned and that is to write a short note of appreciation and gratitude to CO's, Bethelites, elders, missionaries and pioneers. It may be that there is a big problem with showing appreciation as they advise that even a 'warm smile when greeting someone' would be an easy way to show encouragement. Surely these things come from the heart, rather than micromanaging ways in which this should be done, but no mention is made about this. Rather a fake, physical display is all that is required.

Other suggestions for encouragement include words of comfort, reading from the Watchtower or JW org and singing a song together. I must have missed it but I saw no suggestion about reading from the Bible.

Another article focuses on children setting goals, to pioneer or work at Bethel. It mentions a few examples and includes children as young as 10. They make this lie

But youths who today keep focused on theocratic goals will well into adulthood be deeply satisfied with the choices they made.

This may be the case for some but making a blanket claim like this is dishonest.

The QFR is interesting and should be in a thread of its own.

12

Curiosity

by Jrjw in

i was just sitting daydreaming about answering up during a watchtower and exposing one of the lies the wts has stated in the study material and wondering what the reaction would be 😊 has anyone ever done this on their way out?

?

Listener

ElderEtta - Sorry about the spelling of your handle but my Android tablet insists he wants to correct it its own way

What makes you think it's a he, sounds more like a she to me ;)

64

Wave your phone lights and dance at the Assemblies!

by days of future passed in

my sister sent me this youtube.

in it are witnesses waving their phone lights and dancing in the aisles.

sorry if this vid has been posted before.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k7iw-zisgw.

Listener

DrearyWeather - The music is their own Kingdom Song No 76: "How does it make you feel?"

Great to see it's all about them and not pure worship.

25

St Petersburg Assembly Hall to be given to Russian scientists

by OrphanCrow in

jw
friends

https://realty.newsru.com/article/26dec2017/iegov_med.

(the following article is translated using google translate).

the building selected in "jehovah's witnesses" in st. petersburg will be given to scientistsdecember 26, 2017 publication time: 09:42. in a building selected from a banned organization in russia, "jehovah's witnesses", will soon be able to read scientific lectures.

Listener

From JW org posted Dec 25, 2017

https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/russia/authorities-seize-assembly-hall-of-jehovahs-witnesses/

On December 14, 2017, Russian authorities broke into the Kolomyazhskiy Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in St. Petersburg, cordoned off the building, and took control of the property. None of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the hall were injured during the raid, and the building appears to be undamaged.
The Assembly Hall is the largest property that Russian authorities have seized from the Witnesses since the July 17, 2017, ruling of the Appellate Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The Supreme Court ruling ordered the liquidation of all the Witnesses’ legal entities throughout Russia, the banning of their activity, and the seizure of their properties.

The Assembly Hall seats 1,500 and was used for large religious meetings and by local congregations after it was renovated in 2002. Attorneys for the Witnesses learned that the authorities had reregistered the Assembly Hall under the ownership of the Russian Federation. The property has since been transferred to a new owner, a neighboring health center, which has already posted a new sign on the gate.
The seizure follows on the heels of a court ruling just one week earlier that threatens to take possession of the property used by the Witnesses as their national headquarters, located near St. Petersburg. The ruling annulled a 17-year-old contract between the Witnesses’ national headquarters in Russia and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. If upheld on appeal, the ruling opens the way for Russian authorities to seize the property and other Witness properties under foreign ownership in Russia.
Jehovah’s Witnesses consider the actions of the Russian government as gross religious intolerance, which has deprived them of not only religious freedom but also their property—much of which was purchased and renovated by Russian citizens of little means. The Witnesses are pursuing every available appeal against the government’s actions, including applications to the European Court of Human Rights and complaints to the UN Human Rights Committee.

21

Christmas as a JW child

by Phoebe in

jw
friends

i am sitting here, so utterly bored and waiting for this day to be over.

so i'm starting a new topic that probably has been done a thousand times but hey, i'm fairly new here.

humor me :).

Listener

When I was 8 and on Grade 3, I as lucky enough to be the teachers pet, I thought she was a lovely teacher and we just bonded.

She knew about my religion and not once as I ever made to feel uncomfortable, either by her or the other kids, she seemed to have a knack at making everything seem normal even when festive activities were a focus.

At the end of the year, the last day of her class, she gave each of us children in her class a passing gift. As I saw the gifts being handed out, I cringed. Each kid unwrapped their present and all the girls were being given a Santa hanky and a Santa broach. But when I opened mine, there was a beautiful butterfly broach and a Santa hanky. I was overwhelmed with her thoughtfulness.

I brought it home and knew I had to show it to my father and I thought he would take it away from me, because it was still a xmas gift. I told him how she had given all the other girls a Santa broach and just how thoughtful she was in respecting our beliefs but obviously still wanted to give me a present. Surprisingly, my father agreed, I think he saw my delight and I couldn't believe it when he said nothing about the hanky, but I was never stupid enough to let that hanky see the day of light again, it as my little treasure and I wore the butterfly broach with my deepest appreciation for this lady.

She also gave me some of her class teaching materials (reading cards/maths aids), I'll never forget her.