the purpose of this thread is to share some history with the community.
i am an active jw.
the reason i picked this forum is due to the openness and ease with which information can be accessed.
Good attempt Healthy Skeptic, glad you recognize the need for scepticism.
To be sceptical is the first step in interpreting information in scholarly circles but it's a pity you haven't applied it. But take heart, as La Rochefoucauld said, "One of the tragedies of life is the murder of a beautiful theory by a brutal gang of facts".
"because the preaching work must be winding down with another cut back of magazines!
" ok then why are they ramping up production of music videos, cartoons and movies?
deer in headlights look.facepalm-me.
Well it was very close at the end of the first century, does that mean it must be even closer now? or.......................is the whole thing a load of old codswallop?
he seems like he'd be very stern and a drag to have to be around.
obsessed with tight pants and homosexuals and all.
so what's he really like?.
No, I haven't had the privilege of meeting TM3 but a few minutes watching him in action on JWTV is enough. He is vain, he is conservative and he sneers.
Ok, no one gets everything right but there has got to be something seriously wrong with a man in authority who mocks critical thinking and discourages education.
TM3's approach is the model position he wants for all of Jehovah's Witnesses. It has to do with the cultic demand to harmonise one's life with an untenable but comforting belief system. Primarily this involves the denial of that reality which would demonstrate that their religion is a fraud and based on fabricated, unprovable and downright wrong beliefs.
TM3 seems to represent the archetypal true believer, one who puts the cart before the horse and for whom nothing is ever going to change his fixed viewpoint. Logic and reason for him do not register, instead his pattern of life is that of enjoying the psychological benefits which come from being a committed patriot soldier in unquestioning obedience to commands whether the cause is right or wrong.
It is the pattern of his own life of black and white thinking and abject obedience which he wants to instill in his dumb followers.
He has no patience with those of another cast of mind and therefore TM3, to the detriment of millions, makes an ideal cult leader.
i wouldn't dare bore you with the whole 3.5 hours of their dogma.
but i have about a half hour of some of the main points.
of course, i made sure tight pants tony was the main part of it, since he's the one that announced the reductions of the wt & awake and no more year book.. also, i have lett saying that jehovah gave jesus immorality instead of immortality.
Quibbling about definitions regarding what they are fundamentally doing--none of which has any bearing on real life............... overworking of the word "beautiful" just like Trump does......... AM: "God is driving his chariot!" (the GB think they are the chariot) and that is why God has ordained less; "Behold" God said to us and declared, "Cut back on Watchtowers and yearbooks" and so we did...... The audience were puzzled and did NOT clap this! But AM, knowing he had them like putty in his hands, gave a nervous laugh (or was it closer to a snigger?) and went on to paint the new penny-pinching reality as if it were a divine blessing.
Six hundred thousand plus in 'attendance'. The JW zombies ritually listening, clapping and obeying the one sided propaganda just as they do in North Korean political AGMs.
the latest round of changes to the magazines are yet further confirmation that the wts has lost it's way with the preaching work.
imho this is driven by the incessant prioritisation of fiscal goals but also by the fact the gb don't have a clue what is happening in the world and how it really relates to their traditional eschatology.. what they have turned to is child baptism.
i know the wts says it does not baptise infants but the drive to encourage children to get baptised at earlier and earlier ages knows no bounds.
Steve, you are right,the Biblical ideal of responding to the Kingdom message was to accept it intellectually and get baptized.
However the JW org as it fails to make headway it is heartened by any apparent success it has and the one area which gives them some comfort is the unbiblical practice of infant baptism or at least baptism of those too young to realize the full consequences of what they are doing.
To paraphrase JW spin I read here very recently were the words spoken by a Circuit overseer, "You want to know something wonderful? Our youths are getting baptised". (Big applause)
Scraping the barrel and trying to see the bright side is what is really going on. The fact is one of membership stagnation which will lead to irreversible decline.
the cover page shows a photo jws loading a small plane with watchtower literature to take to a remote area in bolivia.the first study article introduces the 2018 year text isa.
40:31 "those hoping in jehovah will regain power".
according to them, you may leave home to do field service or attend a meeting feeling exhausted but you return home refreshed and 'jesus' yoke is kindly indeed!
Next years chosen year text "Those hoping in Jehovah will regain power" (Isa 40;31) could be read in the sense of wishful thinking by the organisation which has already lost power and hope to regain it . . . they won't.
.....the truth was not the truth... ?
.
Not one but at least four main things Ponyo:
The improbable and mythical nature of the Bible content and the absence of concrete evidence for it.
The repressive nature of the organisation and the stifling of personal growth in myself and other members.
The sudden realisation that the GB are planning on governing my life forever!
The theatricality of the role of the devil which I then extended to the case for God and realized that he too was a human fabrication as well.
What a beautiful relief it was to wake up to reality and shake off the JW shackles!
i think the watchtower is the only organization that can promise a product (everlasting life) and never deliver it.. what fools we've been to believe this nonsense..
A man or woman comes to your door offering you to join the religion and avoid death.
Could there ever be a more blatant piece of snake oil salesmanship?
How stupid for anyone not to see the trap..................
when discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.
i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.
this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.
Gorby I think you have well illustrated the situation with the end of the USSR. It would be great to think that there is someone on the GB of the calibre and courage of Gorbatchov to recognize the reality of the situation and plan for the termination of the party.
I feel the present crew are hamstrung, no individual being able to come forward to be the first to admit the total failure of the organisation to fulfil their self mandated purpose of announcing the arrival of the Kingdom based on 1914.
Yet surely some or most of the GB are fully awake but each is fearful to be the first to admit it?
Perhaps though, at their lakeside retreat with the encrimsoned sun setting over the calm water they have already discussed the futility of continuing to run the org.....................
when discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.
i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.
this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.
Yes Jeff, I think that the heart of the JW religion is undergoing necrosis (word of the day!)
It is absolutely true that the propaganda is on sausage machine mode, same old drivel, all rehashed and the reason is that there is nothing new to say! What further can you add when you have been crying wolf for 138 years? What drives any new material now is rear guard action to keep the faithful from backsliding or daring to look outside of the org.
Nowadays the JW social club activities are far more important than doctrines and you can actually speak with your friends and go out on the town with them. Dogma is for dogs.
In all seriousness, I feel they have reached an impasse, possibly the end of the line. The death of the 1914 generation has left the GB with egg on their collective face with no credible alternative vision and even if the faithful sheep don't understand the enormity of the "generation" teaching failure; the GB most certainly do. Compounding this with adverse publicity, the financial burden of potential mass litigation and membership stagnation; it is not surprising that the heart of the organisation is dying.
