I first heard 1975 during a lecture that Freddie Franz gave at Yankee Stadium. He made the point that the world was not ready for this information. It was only for JWs. We were never to tell outsiders about the 1975 prediction.
If the way you remember this is true, that is such a contradiction to the idea that we are responsible for the salvation of others through preaching. So which is it: a BIG secret only for JWs, or a life saving message that we are responsible to share?? So confusing!
~bafh
Posts by bafh
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8Is it true that only the awake will be to the public
by Dudu inand the watchtower magazine will be only the one for study?.
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bafh
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98
JW Women Self-0Loathing - Get a Back Bone
by Band on the Run inan earlier thread about pants suits for women led me on this tangent.
women make up the majorty of witnesses.
they cannot be suppressed without their acquiescene.
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bafh
In reading through the thread, I think part of the issue with how women are treated and what's expected of men is because we are looking at the social structure presented in the Bible without considering the social context at the time, and through our own social structure now.
One of the hallmarks of Jesus ministry was his kind,loving and considerate treatment of women as equals. That was in fact a break from the social habits and tradition of the time. In fact, it was quite a big deal that Jesus' resurrection was revealed to women first, and not to men ~ and it may have been one of the reasons that the report was not believed at first.
Carefull examination of the early congregation shows that as congregations were formed, women played an important part there too. They took part in ministry, teaching and even hosting congregations in their homes. Of course, at that time, each congregation had more autonomy as well.
There are layers of issues with interpreting the Bible. Questions we might need to ask are:
1) "What did these events mean to the people who experienced them? What was happening to them socially, politically, economically, at the time?"
2) "What did these event mean to the people who wrote down or documented the experience?What was happening to them socially, politically, economically, at the time?"
3) "What do these events mean to the people who are reading about them?What was happening to them socially, politically, economically, at the time?"
Answering these questions leads us to look at language (both the original languages and the one we are using now) to see where meanings of words and understanding them in mondern language line up or need to be adjusted, and to consider what these events, words, stories meant to the people in the document, not using what it would mean to us if it happened to us now, but what it meant in context for them at the time.
One piece of information that really changed the way I read the Bible is that Jews during the time of Christ were under Roman law, and viewed as slaves. Next time you read the NT, notice how much slave language there is ~ it's not an accident.
As far as our social structure now, White Straight Men without any perceived disability or weakness, are at the top followed by white women, black men, [I could have this off in the order] but there is a social order that is followed in the world in general, and when you shrink that down to the microcosm of a congregation it gets worse. Add on top of that lack of education and any social awareness, and it becomes what we experience as a JW today.
They give lip service to being socially aware, but the truth is that they are not and they do nothing to encourage the congregants to become so since everything "out there" is dangerous.
my .02 cents
~ bafh
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Does anyone have a scan of the October 2011 KM?
by VM44 indoes anyone have a scan of the october 2011 km?.
i understand there are statements made by the watchtower about "higher education" in it..
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bafh
How were you able to download it from the site? I tried but couldn't locate it. Do you have congregation access?
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31
My encounter today.....
by Free!! inlet me start with: i havent been to a meeting in almost 2 years, i am "inactive" and the only contact i have w the jw is the an open minded jw friend who i talk to....since i left, i have done what i want, travel, get my nose pierced again (had it pierced before i baptized but they gave me hell for it, even thought the bible doesnt say anything bad about nose piercings) and hang out w "wordly" friends who smoke, drink and swear.... i don't smoke but lately i have been giving this friend a ride and he is a-pack a day type of guy... he left his pack in my car yesterday..... so, i am working evenings this week on a special project, and this morning i decided to run some errands.
i was hungry so i stopped at macdonalds to grab some coffee... i placed my order thru the drive thru and pull over to the pay window, as i look for the money the drive-thru attendant says "wow, hello free!
", i look up and omfg one of the brothers from my congo... i acted like normal (sorry but i dont get nervous of agitated when i see a jw, i just dont give a dang) and smiled and made short conversation, while he is tellng me how much he misses seeing me at the hall, i see his eyes going between my piercing, my jet black goth hair and the pack of cigarettes on my passenger seat.... .
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bafh
wait a day or two and text them back. Be short and sweet. "Sorry it took so long to reply. things are great. Been super busy. Thanks for thinking of me!"
Nothing for them to glob on to there. You were upbeat, nice, pleasant and not avoiding them. If asked at some point, just say those cigs weren't mine. End of story. The more you play games with them, I think the more you are on the radar which in my opinion is the worst place to be.
Keep us posted.
Bafh
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81
Why I didnt left JW an dont plan to do so
by Lazarus in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:trackmoves /> <w:trackformatting /> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:hyphenationzone> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:donotpromoteqf /> <w:lidthemeother>de</w:lidthemeother> <w:lidthemeasian>x-none</w:lidthemeasian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>x-none</w:lidthemecomplexscript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark /> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp /> <w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables /> <w:dontvertalignintxbx /> <w:word11kerningpairs /> <w:cachedcolbalance /> </w:compatibility> <w:browserlevel>microsoftinternetexplorer4</w:browserlevel> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont m:val="cambria math" /> <m:brkbin m:val="before" /> <m:brkbinsub m:val="--" /> <m:smallfrac m:val="off" /> <m:dispdef /> <m:lmargin m:val="0" /> <m:rmargin m:val="0" /> <m:defjc m:val="centergroup" /> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440" /> <m:intlim m:val="subsup" /> <m:narylim m:val="undovr" /> </m:mathpr></w:worddocument> </xml><!
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in another thread i wrote: i didn't left the jw's and don't plan to do so.
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bafh
I'm a fader, and I have to say that it's working out so far...I haven't been to meeting for more than 2 years (with the exception of the Memorial). I'm flying under the radar, not doing anything that would draw attention or suspicion that I'm anything other than weak and tired. Which I am.
It's funny to me because now that I'm faded, the people who talk to me now are the same people who talked to me when I attended meetings. So what's the diff? I'm just tired of trying to fit in to a social structure that does not have a space for a person like me (a single successful,independent businesswoman who travels one to two weeks every month and who is not pining for a man or "making room" to pioneer.)
At any rate, it might get trickier as it becomes more clear that I don't have any intention of going back, but I'll take it as it comes. LilyPadz's comment " This position is only viable if you don't have a clear-cut position for or against the WTS teachings" might be true. I don't have a clear-cut position and maybe that's why it works for me. I do still believe some of what the JWs teach and who knows, they might be right about things in the end. I'd classify myself as an Apathetic Agnostic JW - I don't know, and I don't care.
Personally, I'm burned out and I am not going to struggle to fit into their pidgen holes and listen to how JWs are SO wonderful, and everyone else is SO awful and going to die. I just don't buy it. And, if because of THAT, God wants to kill me ~ please do. I don't believe I'm going to heaven or hell anyway.
~bafh
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53
Terrible Analogy at a Convention
by ApostateDance ini'd love to know what you guys think of this.
brother jackson (from the governing body) had this "neat" analogy at the very end of the convention.
he said; "what if you were watching a football game on tv, and it was the trojans against the fighting irish, and it's been a good game.
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bafh
@AllTimeJeff: can you explain how that's an "eff you" to Loesch?
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Terrible Analogy at a Convention
by ApostateDance ini'd love to know what you guys think of this.
brother jackson (from the governing body) had this "neat" analogy at the very end of the convention.
he said; "what if you were watching a football game on tv, and it was the trojans against the fighting irish, and it's been a good game.
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bafh
uh, thought Dubs weren't supposed to play football...
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Kinesiology
by breakfast of champions inoh gosh, i could be opening up a can of worms with this one, but.. what the hell!.
it seems to me that there is a disproportionate amount of jws who are involved in kinesiology or hk (health kinesiology).
i mean, if i asked the average guy or gal where i worked if putting a crystal on your bellybutton, moving your arm up and down and charging $100 to cure your ills made any sense they would say, hell no!.
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bafh
I've had kinesiology, it worked for me. In my research, it is very similar to acupuncture, acupressure and other types of eastern medicine. All of those methods work with a body's energy in a way that Western medicine doesn't address. I actually had the opposite thought, most of the JWs I know would think it is demonic, so I never mentioned it unless someone else did first. And even then, depending on the crowd I was in, rarely admitted having it done.
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Recent Letter to Witness Friends and Family
by sabastious inhaven't sent this yet: might not, but i think it would help people here:.
to all my family members and friends of the jehovahs witnesses.
for the past year and a half i have been deeply immersing myself in the community which you refer to as the apostates: the ex jehovahs witness community.
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bafh
depends on your intention - if you want people to get your message, you'll have to write it in a way they can receive it. As it stands I would tell you not to waste the energy sending it since most of the people you send it to will not read it past the first paragraph.
~ bafh
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35
Ive come so far but I cant move on - WHY NOT??
by GoingGoingGone inhi everyone, i havent been here for a while but i do pop in and read whenever i can.
the economic downturn has left my jw husband with much less work which means hes home a lot, which means little jwn-time for me :( so many new ones here!
yay!
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bafh
GGG....
I'm going through the same process in some ways. I'm not married, and own my own business [work from home] - I need to be with more people. It is funny to me though, because the JWs who talk to me now are the same ones who talked to me when I attended the meetings. No love lost there. Meetings for me were not a social support in very many ways because I didn't fit the mould of what a single woman should look like. I didn't pioneer, I wasn't struggling financially, I was ambitious with my own business, I wasn't pining for a man, and I was smarter than almost everyone I met. I'm not bragging in any way - but those were and are the facts of my life.
I went through a time where I tried to just stay to myself. It didn't work out too well. So now, like you I go to Meetup.com events which I'm enjoying a lot. If it causes you too much grief to join those events without your husband, can you do things while he is at work?? You can start your own meetup group, or suggest meetups during the day while he is at work. Doing some volunteering during the day would A) get you out of the house and around people and B) Get him used to the idea that you do things without him while he is at work. It could be something simple like volunteering to help kids learn to read at a school or volunteer with an organization that supports people with cancer.
I've been going to some meetups, and it is sort of awkward or uncomfortable at first. But, the whole purpose of the meetup is to meet new people based on common interests. People are generally friendly, nice, and introduce themselves easily. So far, I've two super nice people who have initiated being friends with me. Feels good.
You've got lots of options. Take it step by step. Oh, and keep up the therapy. I'm doing it now, and it's a bugger, but I believe that people heal through listening. Your therapist should be there to listen to you. And, if something itsn't working, let them know. It's their job to help you figure out how to make it work.
We're all rooting for you!!