Satanus,
The accuracy of the Botchtower and Afake magazines reflects every one of those 70-odd steps, too!
Bill.
my dad heard from the co who heard from a do that heard from his brother-in-law that heard from the friend of a governing body's wife, that the gb is getting very concerned that "the friends" are losing sight of the nearness of the panda-petting paradise.
many of these friends are also looking too critically at the "spiritual food" provided by the "faithful slave class.".
don't tell anyone else, but i hear that the gb has begun testing something new on some of the sheeple.
Satanus,
The accuracy of the Botchtower and Afake magazines reflects every one of those 70-odd steps, too!
Bill.
my dad heard from the co who heard from a do that heard from his brother-in-law that heard from the friend of a governing body's wife, that the gb is getting very concerned that "the friends" are losing sight of the nearness of the panda-petting paradise.
many of these friends are also looking too critically at the "spiritual food" provided by the "faithful slave class.".
don't tell anyone else, but i hear that the gb has begun testing something new on some of the sheeple.
Let's see:
- You heard it from your father,
- he heard it from the CO,
- the CO heard it from the DO,
- the DO heard it from his brother in law,
- the brother in law heard it from a friend of the wife of a member of the Governing Body.
Phew!!!!!!
No wonder rumours get started!
Bill.
maybe these occupations are quoted to make a point, but it loses meaning when maybe 1% of brothers i know actually has these as jobs..
snare&racket,
I know that this isn't directly related to the topic, but warrants a comment anyway.
In our part of the world (The South Pacific) and during the years leading up to 1975, we were even warned against learning a trade:
i.e. "Tying up five years of your life, when the system is almost finished."
That only left "career" options like commercial cleaning.
Following that debacle, I consider myself lucky to eventually qualify in one of the mal-aligned trades, namely, electrician:
- after having 40 years ago been ordered to abandon the Telecommunications Technician apprenticeship that I started out in.
Over the years, one of the tests I have had to carry out on Primary High Voltage Plant is the "Hot Collar" test - and I do continue to get rather hot under the collar when I hear them trying to dictate their career choices on their young people!
Bill.
maybe these occupations are quoted to make a point, but it loses meaning when maybe 1% of brothers i know actually has these as jobs..
Even if the term "window washers and cleaners" isn't always to be taken literally, there is more than a grain of truth in that expression (as there is with all other cliches).
The fact of the matter is that JWs are over-represented in the lower socio-economic strata;an inevitable result of theWTS's downer on education.
The Judicial Committee that handled my daughter's attempted suicide were certainly well qualified to handle such a sensitive matter (not!), consisting as it did of:
- one boilermaker.
- one laborer.
- and (almost inevitably) one office cleaner.
Bill
this is another fine spiritual gem from the january 2013 study edition.. .
as the great tribulation nears, we do not want to be plagued with such anxious thoughts as these:'could i have done more in god's service?
didn't i pioneer when i had the opportunity?
A rather common perception of religion is that it uses fear to manipulate its people (e.g. by threats of hellfire & damnation).
This lot, though, is more devious than that, and primarily uses guilt to get its way. I can only speak for myself, but guilt seems to be a much more effective means of manipulation than threats of physical harm.
Yeah ......... #%^& the lot of them!
Bill.
PS: How many generations of mugs have they spun this line to now - still insisting that The End is "just around the corner."
the new world translation is not a translation, is mere adaptation, to avoid paying royalties to biblical issues as, king james and other.
beware the glare of lights.
the translation they call "new world translation ... blah blah blah" is not a translation is an adaptation that have been made, it is not a translation, so we say it is anonymous, you can not know their authors and a thousand stories more, would not pay royalties for use other translations like the kjv, and other.
With reference to the Walsh trial of 1954, F.W. Franz actually said that he wouldn't translate into Hebrew the first verse of the Bible - he did NOT say that he couldn't.
Under the circumstances, I would have probably done the same:
- what was on issue during this trial was not Franz's abilities as a bible translator, but whether the Jehovahs Witnesses should be registered as an officially recognised religion (and by extension, its members thus recognised "ministers", who could then be exempted compulsory military service. It was the matter of compulsory military service that brought about this trial).
Some smart *$s of a lawyer, acting for the crown, (and with little or no knowledge himself of the Hebrew language) was trying to put Frederick Franz on the spot. However, as the question was irrelevant to the case, Franz to not have to answer it - and in effect handed back the good old two-fingered salute to the crown solicitor by not doing so!
Whoever this Dr. Martin is, he has not reported this incident accurately when he substitutes the word "wouldn't" with "couldn't."
Bill.
i did.. most of the elders were decent men but i'd say a third weren't the brightest bulbs in the sky..
In all honesty, I cannot recall even one elder who would have fitted in the the "Thick as two Short Planks" category. Most I knew were either of average intelligence, or slightly above. One elder I knew had an IQ level shared by less than 5% of the population (at the high end, too - not the low!)
Rather, what all suffered from, to varying degrees, was a lack of formal education. Given the WTS's downer on education, that was almost inevitable.
Bill.
some have figured out, but i am a poster that previously used another name.
but even then i did not give many details about myself.
i barely cracked 100 posts.. but i have never done a thread to explain why i am here.
MCRubberMallet,
I have never seen an actual recruitment poster for the JWs - but your story would have to come the closest to it!
Like many others here, I am very interested in hearing more.
The closest that I ever came to what you are describing was when I was "New in the Truth", and everybody had been constantly telling me what happy people Jehovahs Witnesses were. I figured that there must be a point that I was missing somewhere, so I just went along with the flow and made out that I, too, was just as happy as they said that they were. This charade continued until the novelty wore off - which didn't take too long!
Bill.
it's funny, how the bible describes it is far different from those i had spoken with or heard about.
let's all start listing the many different stories.
i'll start.
I can only ever knew of JW who believed that they had "become annointed".
However, in reality this person had developed a severe case of schizophrenia.
After being placed under psychiatric care and given a course of medication, all these "signs" (voices, visions and other supernatural phenomena) disappeared.
Much to everyones' relief, I might add!
Bill.
as i look at the members in my area, i see alot of fustration and disapointment.
those who still beleive 100%, are sending there kids off to college( to live on campus),there is no rush to send there kids off to bethel and others are just going through the motions just so they wont be questioned.
in the last 7 years i've been in 2 congregations, in 2 different states, and the level of tension and in fighting in both, has made the isreali/ palistani conflict look mild.
Is there perhaps a parallel developing here between the R & F Catholics' attitude to contraception and the R & F JWs' attitude to education?
Generations ago, the typical Catholic family discovered that it could (after all) quietly flout the church's prohibition of contraception, without anything unpleasant happening to them. Is the typical JW family starting to wake up to the same thing about education?
Certainly, the ones that seem to remain long-term "In the Truth" appear to quietly ignore the more extreme requirements of their religion - without suffering any dire consequences. (I could name at least on every prominent elder who sent his son to university, without anybody even considering the removal of his privileges. The fact that this same elder would still have to publicly parrot the party line about "Higher Education" is another matter entirely!)
Bill.