Posts by Nickolas

56

Is the Governing Body Guilty or not guilty of 1975 speculations going too far?

by Terry in

the most disengenuous aspect of "official" pronouncements from the society can be identified.. it is in the positioning of the speaker/writer as a passive onlooker commenting on exterior happenings.. this bystander mode is clever by half.. why?

it spoon feeds information without taking any active personal responsibility.. sort of an "oh gee, wow--look at all this going on" stance, while taking a stand-offish tone, is printed in the official magazines and books approved for publication by the governing body as mouthpiece of jehovah.. think about that.

it is insidious incitement without responsibility.. the person (likely fred franz) who crafted these bulletins had gone through several previous incidents of failure and disappointment and was well aware of the effect of any speculations upon jehovah's witnesses in the past.. this makes what was printed all the more calculated and irresponsible in the extreme.. let us parse the language printed by the watchtower society with careful attention to what is said and left unsaid.. w68 8/15 p. 494 why are you looking forward to 1975?.

Nickolas

Remember, the big apostate scare in the early '80's? I wonder if it had something to do with hushing these "talkers" that were verbalizing their doubts

Yes, there were many verbalizing their doubts, including Raymond Franz. By the 80's I was in full blown anti-Watchtower mode after studying with the Witnesses from late '74 to mid '76. 1975 is what attracted me to look into the Watchtower and 1975 was what took me out of it. Funny how it's all been so effectively swept under the carpet and ignored. It goes directly to Witnesses being captive to the concept of the Watchtower being God's spirit-annointed organisation (exactly the point of Cameron's book) and therefore can't possibly do anything wrong.

56

Is the Governing Body Guilty or not guilty of 1975 speculations going too far?

by Terry in

the most disengenuous aspect of "official" pronouncements from the society can be identified.. it is in the positioning of the speaker/writer as a passive onlooker commenting on exterior happenings.. this bystander mode is clever by half.. why?

it spoon feeds information without taking any active personal responsibility.. sort of an "oh gee, wow--look at all this going on" stance, while taking a stand-offish tone, is printed in the official magazines and books approved for publication by the governing body as mouthpiece of jehovah.. think about that.

it is insidious incitement without responsibility.. the person (likely fred franz) who crafted these bulletins had gone through several previous incidents of failure and disappointment and was well aware of the effect of any speculations upon jehovah's witnesses in the past.. this makes what was printed all the more calculated and irresponsible in the extreme.. let us parse the language printed by the watchtower society with careful attention to what is said and left unsaid.. w68 8/15 p. 494 why are you looking forward to 1975?.

Nickolas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KmuU1AFMTg&feature=related

184

most depressing song ever

by will_the_apostate in

jw
friends

whats the most depressing song you have ever heard?

i would go with either johnny cash - hurt or gary jules-mad world.

Nickolas

Gloomy Sunday as performed by several artists but most notably by Billie Holiday in 1941. Also called "The Hungarian Suicide Song" because, as legend has it, it has inspired scores of people to kill themselves including the man who wrote it, Hungarian Rezso Seress.

Dust in the Wind by Kansas would get my second vote.

23

For those without Mothers

by Lady Lee in

jw
friends

mothers day can bring up many issues for some of us.

for some their mothers have passed away and the opportunity to say i love you in person is forever lost.

for others our mothers are lost to the borg.

Nickolas

Mine's gone now five years. And since my wife won't accept a card from me tomorrow I'll be giving out only one, and that is to my M-I-L. The old girl is 91 and won't be getting Mother's Day greetings from two (who are Jehovah's Witnesses) of her four surviving children so she has come to expect a substitute card and flowers from me, which I am delighted to oblige. Isn't it a wonderful thing this Watchtower does?

45

Is God Responsible For Bad Things that Happen?

by What Now? in

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this is a question that i have struggled with, not just as a jehovahs witness but as a believer in god.

Nickolas

Peace back. Stay happy.

45

Is God Responsible For Bad Things that Happen?

by What Now? in

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this is a question that i have struggled with, not just as a jehovahs witness but as a believer in god.

Nickolas

This is just where I am, Tammy. If what you believe brings you peace and happiness then all you need to do is ignore what I have to say and I will not take offense. I will be the first to admit that my ignorance is as profound as anyone elses.

45

Is God Responsible For Bad Things that Happen?

by What Now? in

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this is a question that i have struggled with, not just as a jehovahs witness but as a believer in god.

Nickolas

My perspective is different from yours, WN (and Paul's). I see your question as not excluding the greater question of the existence of God but begging it. Had you asked if Jupiter (or Thor or Vishnu or Baal) is responsible for bad things happening you might expect all of the people on this board to tell you that the question is irrelevant because Jupiter doesn't exist. When I lie under the stars and realise that I can see billions of fragments of the tiniest, almost infinitessimal fraction of what is out there, even with the help of the Hubble telescope, I also realise how puny and irrelevant the petulant god of the Bible is. If the evidence is examined with an open mind it would prosit that if there is a god it is not Yahweh, and if there is a god he has better things to do than to meddle in the affairs of a tiny blue speck of a planet whose total mass and importance relative to the rest of "Creation" is so small it approaches zero. We are so very full of ourselves when we think otherwise.

31

Bible joke in the 7/15/11 WT (for nonChristians)

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

the watchtower ?

july 15, 2011 (p17).

10 pauls warning about false stories is part of his first letter to timothy, a christian overseer who was charged with preserving the purity of the congregation and helping fellow believers to remain faithful.

Nickolas

Great post, SBC. The purely fantastical aspect of the stuff Witnesses are told they must believe without even a hint of doubt is part of the magic formula that holds them captive. It is magic, indeed, and the magicians are the Watchtower hierarchy.

4

Narratives of LeavingTheDream

by John Locke in

dear all,.

hope you remember a former member of this forum under the name leavingthedream.

his short stories about his experiences in bethel fascinated many of us.. i copied almost all of them but i'm missing the last one, i believe, 22-d. now i cannot find any traces of leavingthedream on this forum anymore.. could anybody, please, help me to find the last story which i haven't read yet?.

Nickolas

Marking, thanks.

93

Undercover apostates...

by Maze in

i've observed some forum users here that claim to be active witnesses (even claims to be ministerial servants or elders) while duplicitously supporting apostates online.

my contention is this; why attend meetings and/or participate in the preaching activity when the second you divulge your apostate thinking into the congregation, you'll be disfellowshipped?

while this action taken may seem to be harsh, the outworking of events wouldn't be much different in one of christendom's churches.

Nickolas

One more for your list, Glander

- non-JWs who are seeking ways to help extricate those they love from the whitewashed grave of the Watchtower.