Paul said to pray for the King.
I think if you heard a bro pray for Joe Hoover to bless The Donald you'd see the shit hit the fan.
how do you think the congregation would react?
Paul said to pray for the King.
I think if you heard a bro pray for Joe Hoover to bless The Donald you'd see the shit hit the fan.
i’m relatively new to this forum but am far from new when it comes to living life as a jw.
i wanted to throw out there my own personal experience and feelings and welcome any conversations (i’m mighty chatty and don’t have much for friends when it comes to jw’s) .
i hit the turning of an era nearly a month ago of legally becoming an adult, raised as a j dub my whole life.
A couple real examples:
If a brother who is an MS/Elder is found out to be an adulterer, molester, embezzler, etc you this strategy. We had an elder who had been carrying on an affair for EIGHT years before his wife discovered it. In that time period he was promoted from MS to Elder and received many important assembly/convention parts. HOW DID THE HOLY SPIRIT NOT KNOW THIS WAS GOING ON? One can see how he can deceive his wife, fellow elders, even the CO (who makes these appointments), BUT CAN YOU DECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT? Or, is this evidence that the Holy Spirit is NOT really behind these decisions?
If someone is shunning their inactive family members (as this is happening a lot lately): Where do they get authority to take this position? The Cong/Borg (as guided by Holy Spirit) has not seen to DF this person. DF is what requires shunning. Under the Law in Israel, if a person went beyond the Spirit Directed punishment, that person was condemned. For example, if a man was a thief and stole the bull of a fellow Israelite and the owner of the animal KILLED the thief, what would happen? The owner would be put to death because he went beyond the words of the Law (which was given by God's Holy Spirit). So who gives any JW authority to exercise a punishment against a fellow JW that HAS NOT been deemed appropriate by Jehovah's Organization?
Blood fractions is an easily argued subject. Tell your doctor you will now accept transfusions of "blood fractions". The medical community does not have a concept of "fractions" beyond plasma, red cells, white cells, platelets (the separate components you get when blood is centrifuged). Where in the Bible does it say it is OK to accept ANY part of human blood? Are these Pharisaic man-made rules (such as those condemned by Jesus)? What about all the JW's that died the year before the GB determined they could have accepted "fractions of blood" and been saved? Is this really how the Holy Spirit works?
Once you are at school or on a secular job, you can say a fellow worker or student asked you questions that you need to know how to defend. Always pass the doubt off to someone else when you can.
Good luck
i’m relatively new to this forum but am far from new when it comes to living life as a jw.
i wanted to throw out there my own personal experience and feelings and welcome any conversations (i’m mighty chatty and don’t have much for friends when it comes to jw’s) .
i hit the turning of an era nearly a month ago of legally becoming an adult, raised as a j dub my whole life.
Welcome to our group of misfits! (just being snarky) It's the greatest group of people you may ever meet.
Your posts sound a bit negative which is not surprising due to the situation with which you are dealing. However, let me give you a couple "positive" points about it.
1) You are YOUNG. Real young. (You probably don't like that since you even comment you are now an "adult".) But what I mean is that most of us here were not fortunate enough to awaken to TTATT until we were 40 or 50 or 60 and the best years or even the most years of our lives were behind us and had been wasted chasing a false promise. You, on the other hand, have decades ahead of you so there is less urgency for you to make any quick impulsive changes that you may later regret.
2) It's obvious your parents love you. Some moms would have already "ratted out" their child for those horrible "apostate leaning" comments. Of course, they would have thought they were trying to "snatch them out of the fire" and save them from destruction. Instead, your mother seems to be very tolerant. Most likely she is hoping and praying you will "grow out of" this phase. But, it seems obvious that your mom is very much on your side.
3) Living at home is cheap. You cannot begin to understand the expense there is of setting up your own housekeeping. I can't hardly fathom how young persons do that today. Living at home is a great advantage! This is especially true if your parents will support you in going to college or trade school (vs demanding you full time pioneer). You need to prepare yourself for the future. You will need a good career or trade that will care for your needs once you move out on your own. In the meantime, you may just have to "fake" the good JW thing. Even if that takes a couple years (trade school or community college) or even 4 years (a BA or BS), you will only be in your early 20's but in a significantly better position to move ahead in your life.
In the meantime, don't make the JW things you know are bullshit an "issue" in your household. Avoid arguments and "blowouts" over JW doctrine and policy. It's much more strategic to simply "question" the crazy ass shit. IF YOU MUST, just ask "sincere" questions about [the issue at hand]. Also, don't ever make or espouse a huge list of JW issues all at one time. If you question something, stick to the subject. Ask "sincere" questions and STFU and force them to research for a legitimate answer. (Wait on Jehovah, is NOT a legitimate answer.)
Good luck! Check in here often. We really admire what you have accomplished so far just by awakening at your time of life. We are willing to offer suggestions and support. AND, we are truly interested in how things work out for you!
Doc
Thanks Simon!
I really believe the internet is the reason so many are able to become awakened and move on so much earlier. When many of us who did not awaken until 40 or 50 or 60 years of age, it was because finding information about TTATT was very very difficult. It meant finding books in a brick and mortar library. It meant meeting face to face with "apostates" (known away back as the "evil slave class"). We were AFRAID of those dissenters. They were demonized by the WTS (just as apostates still are today).
And if you left, you were really alone. No just how someone is alone today -- losing (conditional) friends and likely even some family, but also being able to "connect" with anyone else. No JWN. No Reddit. No Facebook groups. No Tahoe Apostafest. (Thanks! Flipper)
some towns require everyone going outside to wear one.
one massachusetts city requires anyone from 5 up to wear a mask.
some cities require masks and have shut down parks and sports playing while others in a nearby town have no such restrictions.
mcl responded in part, in an earlier post about the hypocrisy in religion even the true religion.
making dumb guesses about god's cryptic prophecies makes them foolish and indiscreet- not false prophets who claim god gave them the message.. two questions—.
1) what is the “true religion‘s” definition of a prophet?.
Deut 18:20-22
hi everyone , how are ya'll ?
l have a question particularly for any americans on here .
l have an american friend from la who has recently been trying very hard to investigate bill gates and his foundation , she has shared quotes from a lot people making very serious accusations against bill .
Some of her "reaonings" sound just like JW defenses. IE, Satan controls everything in the press (unless it happends to be positive about JW's).
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.
The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to get them back to pounding the pavement.
Most JW's no longer do that. They stand idle at "literature carts" or drive around endlessly from NH to NH, just as they did last week or the day before and spend 50% of their "Field Circus" hours at Starbucks or McDonald's.
just read article today blood plasma from recovered corona patients to be transfused into the seriously ill to see if antibodies in the blood can help.. i guess if your a witness you can just pray and write your will..
Judging by many of the other things JW's have "pulled outta their ass", they can rationalize anything.