Posts by shepherd

126

Bethel have just DENIED Jehovah's Witnesses shun ex members!!!

by Amelia Ashton in

jw
friends

i can't believe it.

probably haven't been out long enough to know they lie like this.

now i just heard it with my own ears.

shepherd

I sent this email:

Hi

Thank you for highlighting the plight of anyone unlucky enough to be disfellowshipped or considered to have disassociated themselves by their actions (which has the exact same consequences) by the Jehovah's Witnesses religion. With reference to the official statement from the JW legal department: "Witnesses do not shun family members because of differences in religious beliefs. Many Witnesses have religiously mixed families and enjoy normal loving relationships together. If a family member who is a baptized Witness is disfellowshipped the spiritual ties he had with his family change, but blood ties remain. Accordingly, the marriage relationship and normal family affections and dealings can continue. As for disfellowshipped relatives not living in the same household we apply the counsel from the Bible at 1 Corinthians: "quit mixing with them." The scriptures are sacred to us and we therefore take this counsel seriously. The degree of family contact is a personal decision based on one's Bible trained conscience. If there are consequences, these relate primarily to one's relationship with God." The first part refers exclusively to 'family members' living in the same household, such as between a parent and minor child or a husband and wife. The JW's refer to these are 'family members' but consider those not living at home to be 'relatives'. Therefore, a disfellowshipped son not living at home is not considered a family member. The second part refers to those 'relatives' not living at home, but who may be as closely related as between mother and son. To these, the requirement is that family members must "quit mixing with them." Therefore, since the JW's have a special definition of what constitutes a 'family member', the first sentence is deliberately misleading to those not familiar with their particular narrow definitions. Equally misleading is the statement that "the degree of family contact is a personal decision" because although it is true an individual can decide for themselves, if they continue to associate they too may be disfellowshipped and shunned. This is alluded to in the following and final sentence warning of "consequences" to do with "one's relationship with God", which, as any JW knows, actually means they too risk being disfellowshipped. I wil not comment on the odd JW interpretation of 1 Corinthians since that is subjective.

14

IF J.W. are genuine christians

by bobld in

jw
friends

why do they need to wear a badge to a d.c.?.

should not their love be so noticeable that an observer would know that they are true followers of christ.or is their love lacking that they need a badge to identify who they are.. b.

shepherd

It's not unusual to wear a badge at a convention in the US, whatever that convention may be for. To say there should be no need for a badge to recognise a Christian is silly. I would take off my badge as I was leaving the convention site and so did just about everyone I knew, despite being 'encouraged' not too. One person too afraid to disobey by removing his badge, I remember, would put his coat on over the jacket with the badge, so he was still wearing it but it could not be seen....haha.

If anyone thinks the badge was part of some sinister control plot they need to see a shrink...:)

67

What "scripture is inspired of God?"

by Mad Sweeney in

this has been discussed before in other threads and probably in threads of its own, but it is probably time to re-hash the topic.. when paul told timothy that "all scripture is inspired of god..." what "scripture" was he talking about?

did he have the ego to include his own personal letters to the congregations?

did he also mean to include the books and letters not written at the time that the catholic church would choose for its canon a couple hundred years later?

shepherd

"Noontime arrived and passed that Elijah began to mock:

“Call at the top of YOUR voice, for he is a god; maybe he needs to pee, or he has excrement and has to go to the privy. He could be sleeping his afternoon nap, but it’s time to awaken.”

Moved with remorse, and guilt, the prophets called louder, calling at the top of their voice while cutting themselves according to their custom with daggers and lances until there was blood all over. It took most of the day, evening time is approaching while they continued behaving as prophets until the going up of the grain offering, but there was no voice, and no one answering." - 1 Kings 18

The Bible does have some inspirational passages. Like this one. Everytime someone says or writes that Jesus is alive and well in heaven I remember it. Because if he is, I guess he has had the worst case of diarrhea in history, 2 thousand years on some celestial toilet throne.

Inspired of God as in written by God? Best to flush that idea...

67

What "scripture is inspired of God?"

by Mad Sweeney in

this has been discussed before in other threads and probably in threads of its own, but it is probably time to re-hash the topic.. when paul told timothy that "all scripture is inspired of god..." what "scripture" was he talking about?

did he have the ego to include his own personal letters to the congregations?

did he also mean to include the books and letters not written at the time that the catholic church would choose for its canon a couple hundred years later?

shepherd

Since there is no God, inspired obviously canot mean it is his exact word. However, it is inspired of God in that the theofantasy is its main theme.

There are many bands that say they were inspired by the Beatles, but that did not mean Lennon and McCartney wrote all subsequent material themselves.....

19

Millions Now Living Will Never Die----Where Does That Come From?

by cameo-d in

isn't that wt's calling card?

isn't that how it all started?

where does this phrase "millions now living will never die" come from?

shepherd

It started out as a talk called "Millions now living may never die". After a few weeks the title was changed to "...WILL never die" and this was printed as a booklet, a small book, added on to the end of the 'Harp of God' book and basically distributed all over the world with that title. It was as described earlier in this thresd, pointing to the return of the Patriarchs. Of course it never happened.

A few months ago the WT made reference to it, but in their usual deceptive way, chose to call it by its original short-lived name.' ....may never die', rather than by the famous name it became known as, being printed in the millions of copies as '....will never die'.

Not exactly a lie, but deception? Of course! But it is a little less embarrassing for the JW's and sounds a little less like a false prophesy, which is actually what it was. The GB does like to rewrite its own history.....

21

Awake magazine 1973 The Dangers of playing Chess!! Why it's Evil.

by Witness 007 in

awake 1973 3/22 p.12 "...the spirit of competion between players can lead to unplesant circumstances...most families manage to keep the conflicts that arise in games to the chess board.

but in some homes tensions linger long after checkmate.

chess has been a game of war since it originated...a play substitute for the art of war....a danger of stirring up competition with one another even developing hostility towards another, something the bible warns christians to avoid doing...what effect does chess have upon one?

shepherd

It was frowned upon, and later they decided it was a conscience matter...but even after that I remember a would-be ministerial servant being advised that he should not have his set in public view in his house because it may stumble some.....

So pathetic.

17

Does Jehovah Answer Prayers?

by Spade in

people here have a fundamentally different opinion of what identifies a religion as true or false.

most people leave christendom's churches because their prayers go unanswered and there's no evidence that god intervenes in their personal lives.

something that's never discussed here.

shepherd

Since he does not exist I think it might be hard for him to answer.....

40

Watchtower = Elders can disfellowship people for being too FAT!!! Has this happened?

by Witness 007 in

watch 1974 p.167 "by disobediently overindulging in food and making a glutton of himself, he fails to show love for jehovah...if in the presence of others does he selfishly ignore there needs and take more than his share?

is he grossly overwieght but shows no restraint at all as to food, habitually gorging himself?

does he feel un-comfortable, perhaps even sick because of eating too much ...glutton has no place in god's congregation...they will not inherit god's kingdom...".

shepherd

Elders can disfellowship you for any reason they like.....not all reasons are objective, like if someone smokes or not...some are subjective, like if the elders don't like your attitude.

I personally know of one case where one man was given a letter of dissociation, already typed out, and with a stamped addressed envelope, to sign and return when he left his wife, a daughter of an elder who had admitted adultery.

Since she had been given a private reproof for it they felt his leaving her would bring too much attention to something they thought best kept private. If he had signed it would have then looked to all the congregation as if he was the wrongdoer.....and I am sure a little bit of well placed gossip would have sealed it. He did not sign....but faced similar pressure for years afterwards.

This guy had not done anything at all wrong...so it just shows how easily all this power is abused.

45

New resolution passed at last service meeting? crazy!!

by finallyfree! in

so my ex who has gone back to the wts and is being given the tough love and is questioning whether shes makin the right move.

she told me at the last service meeting that there was a resolution passed that stated that all leftover balances in the congregations accounts would be sent to the society to be used where the need is great, to help out with natural disasters etc and that the funds would be sent back to the congregation if they needed it.. has anyone else who is still in or knows active witnesses heard of this new resolution?

apparently its everywhere in canada as far as i was told .. .

shepherd

Yes, they lend money with interest owing, but no cash will ever be returned...it's gone forever.

Same with Greece...everyone chipped in (with hardship) and built the branch office. People even died while making it. After a year or 2 the WTBTS sold it....the money they got was not even kept to be used only in Greece. Meantime congregations could borrow to build, with interest.

It's a scam.

28

911 AND MY BROTHER AT BETHEL RINGS ME TO SAY TAKE COVER

by Hairyhegoat in

my younger brother was at bethel in london when the 911 took place in america.

he said this is it and the great tribulation had started!!

i was at work in liverpool in the uk on that day and i was shitin it when he rang my mobile.. i then had a call from other my brother who was df 3 years before but some how he was shitin his pants also.

shepherd

As terrible as that was,t he destruction of a few tower buildings by terrorists hardly constitutes the end of the world. But churches filled up - not just Kingdom Halls.

To put things in perspective, every day, almost 16000 children die from hunger-related causes. That's one child every five seconds. ...

Jehovah's Witnesses are scare mongers and as such will grasp at anything...the deaths on that day were not the issue for them, they hoped, yes, hoped, this was the beginning of the end for 6 Billion on Earth so that they could start their new life in a wonderful home with no worries, eating from large bowls of fresh fruit and playing with the tigers and pandas. It's sick!