@ minimus...
You realize you're ranting about the exact same thing virtually every single parent from each previous generation has ranted about, probably going back as far as recorded history, right?
i see a lot of kids that rarely get discipline.
they are allowed to do whatever they want and if someone says something to them they don’t want to hear, they blow them off, ignore them or engage in disrespectful talk.. what’s wrong with today’s parents??
they are producing a generation of entitled brats!.
@ minimus...
You realize you're ranting about the exact same thing virtually every single parent from each previous generation has ranted about, probably going back as far as recorded history, right?
quite the contravening question to contemplate for any self avowed devoted jws, which no doubt takes some uncomfortable thinking to consider.. yes back in 1919 the then president of the jws j. rutherford proclaimed that the organization (ibsa, jws) had been selectively chosen by jesus for their unique preaching and evangelical work.. there had already been a proclamation by the past leader of the (wts) ibsa c. russell that he was the faithful slave doing the lords work, will and purpose, but his professing doctrines were also false bible interpretations based upon the theology of pyramidology.. might it be that these men made these proclamations out of the intent of self validating themselves and the literature that they had published and were trying to proliferate ?
making these kind of claims was easy since there was no higher governing body to evaluate these men's endeavors from a theological standing, the american government had opened the door for any individual's self expression of a religious nature.
so anyone in that country could build up their own religoius following unimpeded, even more so if that religion was christian based.. so the real critical question remains how or why would jesus pick these men when their doctrines were so obviously false and probably devised more so from a commercialization agenda ?.
Ditto, pick your fights, folks.
EDIT: and when it comes to said fights, I find it's always best to phrase my salvo as an "unanswerable" question.
do you have any evidence that the gb had bad intent?
as opposed to blind faith/cognitive dissonance and honest mistakes.. i'm inclined to think they have the best of intentions and are just wrong (primarily because the bible is wrong), but i'm willing to consider the evidence otherwise..
Before I'd started my fade, I'd realized that...
a) ...one of the first major blunders the old WT theologians (and I use that term very loosely) made was making assumptions based on previously held bias, whilst expecting forthcoming evidence to corroborate said assumptions, and...
b) ...ignoring or dismissing any subsequent conflicting evidence because they'd already allowed their theological narrative structure to become too dependent on said assumptions.
This phenomenon held true with everything from historical chronology, to predictions of current events, to evolutionary science.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/us/politics/coronavirus-jehovahs-witnesses.html.
the pandemic has put a stop to the activities of one of the nation’s most visible religious groups, jehovah’s witnesses.. read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/us/politics/coronavirus-jehovahs-witnesses.html.
RubaDub - "...I just commented that before the GT starts, the UN has to take worldwide power, all false religion will be destroyed, the nations will see that only JWs are left, then Gog (the Magog guy) will focus their attack on JWs. Then at that point, the GT will start..."
Yup, this.
According to ol' Freddy Franz's End-Times script, there's a whole ton of mundane, "real-world" ducks that have to row up first before the real shit happens.
And since the WT Oracle kicked the bucket without leaving any kind of protege, and Jaracz used 9-11 to purge out almost all the moderates and liberals, there's no one with enough creativity or narrative skill to give the Org's eschatology the page-one rewrite it so sorely needs...
...so they're stuck with the Old Cold War-influenced timeline in the Revelation Climax book, no matter how dated it gets with each year we move past the turn of the century (which is probably why it's not actually a Book Study thing anymore).
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/us/politics/coronavirus-jehovahs-witnesses.html.
the pandemic has put a stop to the activities of one of the nation’s most visible religious groups, jehovah’s witnesses.. read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/us/politics/coronavirus-jehovahs-witnesses.html.
My Dad knew WT theology cold, and he did tell me once that the Org had indicated that the "preaching work" would end prior to - or as a result of - the start of the "Great Tribulation", so the contingency was always kinda there.
Whether they actually try and spin it that way now remains to be seen.
i had a patient admitted from a skilled nursing facility/rehab that is an active jw.
the patient had covid-19 as did most of the patients at that facility.
typically the local elders are all involved in these admissions but there is a strict no visitor policy which includes clergy.
"Don't ask, don't tell"... doesn't actually surprise me all that much.
According to anecdotal evidence, quite a few of Herb Armstrong's followers did the same thing with general medical care.
jws or mormons.
from a public point of view not from people within the religion as that would be obvious.. examples of extreme beliefs or behaviour would be useful..
I've said this before, but I've long viewed the LDS as the WTS's nicer but weirder older cousin.
...
BTW... Protestantism is the WTS's slightly out-of-touch but generally well-meaning mom...
...Catholicism is the WTS's old alcoholic uncle who's finally working his way through his 12 steps...
...
...and Scientology is the WTS's crazy-ass, mean-as-fuck neighbor from down the street.
the bible says this - acts 17:11 “...for they [the beroeans] accepted the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”.
km 9/07 p. 3 question box - does “the faithful and discreet slave” endorse independent groups of witnesses who meet together to engage in scriptural research...?.
and yet, in various parts of the world, a few associates of our organization have formed groups to do independent research on bible-related subjects... some have pursued an independent group study...so as to analyze the accuracy* of the new world translation... for those who wish to do extra bible study and research, we recommend that they explore insight on the scriptures, “all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial,” and our other publications...” .
Phizzy - "Just using the Bible, reading it without WT Org specs on, anyone can easily see that the JW interpretation is wrong."
Yup.
I remember the first time I realized that reading the Bible without WT-colored glasses actually gave the impression that quite a few of "Christendom"'s ideas were - gasp - more Biblically sound then the WT led its members to believe.
Ray Franz essentially came to a similar conclusion.
hi all.. just spotted this news item in melbourne:.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-19/vic-govt-threatens-cut-off-orgs-dont-sign-up-to-redress-scheme/12161886.
victoria to blacklist institutions that fail to sign up to national redress scheme for sexual abuseposted about 7 hours ago a black and white photo of girls in a boarding home.photo: the national redress scheme was a key recommendation of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
So, the what would be the (eventual) penalty for refusing join the redress thing? Loss of tax-exemption?
(I skimmed)
If so, good luck spinning that as "persecution".