Posts by Half banana

28

Should I stay or should I go?

by BlackWolf in

jw
friends

hello everyone, i haven't posted anything on here for a while and today i just really felt like i needed to get my thoughts together.

(if you don't know me please read some of my previous posts).

so pretty much not much has changed in my life, i'm still living with my parents and going to all the meetings and service.

It’s tough being the offspring of JW parents. The religion demands conformity, it cannot demand that everyone believes what it teaches. You have had the great sense to see the errors of JW beliefs but your parents are encouraging you to conform to the Org by being normal parents i.e. helpful.

You however feel trapped in doing things you do not believe like publicly teaching Armageddon. On the one hand you don’t want to upset your family but on the other they are forcing you to go against your conscience.

Could you talk to your parents and explain that it is a "matter of conscience" that you can no longer do things which you do not believe in? You might preface the discussion by asking them, how would you feel if you were asked to do something contrary to your beliefs, would you do it for the sake of appearances?

8

Jehovah`s Witnesses / Governing Body Claim To Abhor Child Sexual Abuse Within Their Congregations /Members who are victims.?

by smiddy3 in

so my question to them is why have they continually failed to report incidents of child sexual abuse of child members in their congregations to the appropriate authorities ,either police or child protection agency`s, when they are holding judicial committees into these allegations in their congregations when they occur or even some time after ?.

they have consistently failed to do so.. and this failure to do so is not confined to one country ,it is a pattern that is repeated worldwide ,in one country after another country .

(worldwide where they operate in ).

Half banana

why have they continually failed to report incidents of child sexual abuse of child members in their congregations to the appropriate authorities?

In essence I would suggest that they must have something to hide.

At the second level I would say that to compensate for the fact that they are selling something dishonourable, namely a false promise of everlasting life, they want to project an image of a divinely blessed church.

Underneath this public facade there is the reality that JWs are just like the rest of the population and subject to crime greed and lust although usually they are kept under control by strict congregational monitoring. However as the ARC found the JW system is an ideal place for paedophiles to operate and the reason is because they operate under the radar in a culture which is infinitely more concerned for public image than helping those who are abused. "Two witnesses" is a heartless excuse to justify their stance-- but knowingly it speaks to the faithful.

I would go deeper and say that JW culture is predicated on two psychologically fixed ideas both of which are devoid of factual evidence. The first is, with only tradition to support it, that the Bible is the inerrant word of God and secondly that from the Bible it is possible to support an idea of paradise and a time when world destruction will come to make way for it.

JWs are constitutionally bound to these flimsy propositions and require constant propaganda to maintain them, the only evidence the JW org have for being right is the smiling faces of a community enjoying a "spiritual paradise".

If JW Org had admitted there was paedophilia in their ranks their public image would be sullied and the evidence for their dream would evaporate. Perhaps this is happening now?

78

Work Christmas functions: Being a Bible Student (unbaptized)

by rulehayl in

jw
friends

hi all,i have been studying with the witnesses for more than 6 months and regularly attend both midweek & weekend meetings, and i am nearly at the end of the "bible teach" book.

my boss is adamant i attend team christmas functions.

she knows about my studying and potential baptism next year, and has suggested that i attend and just not participate in activities like kris kringle.

Half banana

Rulehayl, I'm very sorry that you have decided to ditch reason in favour of descending into the grip of a religious cult.

A couple of years down the line you will realize that you were actually warned off JWs and you will remember that you ignored the warnings.

You cannot leave the JW org without punishment!

Nevertheless I hope you find a happy life.

34

Bringing reproach on Jehovah's name.

by ScottyRex in

jw
friends

i have thought long and hard about this, you know in those midnight hours.. you will probably string me alive in what i say, but here you go-.

i feel that the jw's do have the truth.

i do agree with the doctrines and biblical exgenesis they propound.i do feel that they have the 'truth' i do understand they are imperfect, and i think they have had to 'refine' their teachings as time has gone on-and change accordingly- i see nothing wrong with this.

Half banana

Scotty, I think you have fallen into a trap, JWs are normally decent people but their religion is not truthful at all, it is a dire cult. To “get it” you must make this distinction.

Take note that nothing the JW Org says is evidence based. Because of this they never get anything right.

Their “new light” doctrines have to change because they cannot remain viable over time, for example “the generation of 1914” which was to see the end of the system of things -- it fell flat on its face like all the rest of their predictions.

Ok if you were the creator of life would you design it so that the food your creatures were to eat was to eat each other?

If you are sentimental about David Attenborough’s awesome portrayals of life, (previous post) consider the female Sand tiger shark. Her dozen or so offspring, whilst still in the womb, devour each other until only one is left; the victorious cannibal to be born and swim out into a godless ocean.

Now if you had the power to create the universe and Sand tiger sharks, would you be the slightest bit worried about being reproached by insignificant ant-like earthlings? (It is so obvious that the Bible is written from a distinctly human perspective!) No of course you wouldn’t so why not start thinking clearly and only believe things which have evidence for them?

Allow me please to start you off; the JW org never uses sceptical argument which is a necessary ingredient to determine fact from fiction.

13

Anybody know about this one?

by careful in

a new book has just been published called the oxford handbook of the bible in america.

in it is an article by michael gilmour, professor of new testament at (the evangelical) providence university college in manitoba, canada, on jws and the nwt.

that's chapter 41. but that is not the only time jws are brought up.

Half banana

Gutjahr ought to get his facts right, Jehovah's Witnesses did not exist in the 1920s and therefore could not have "invented" Bible paper at that time. There is a faint possibility that it was a Bible Student who was also a paper technician who developed Bible paper according to the demands of Bible publishers. Did the Watchtower Society even print Bibles back in that decade? I didn't think they did but am happy to be corrected.

10

Baby parts story from 1989 Awake magazine

by OrphanCrow in

jw
friends

*this post was prompted by a reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/7eqno4/jehovahs_witnesses_promote_truth_by_verifying/.

so.. the org makes the claim that.

"anyone who reads our publications or views our videos can be confident that the facts were thoroughly researched and are accurate.".

Half banana

Thanks for your research Birdie, the Watchtower mentality is so limited it imagines that by quoting something accurately, then that is all that is required of them. Clearly they have been charged and found guilty of inaccurate quoting but "accuracy" is not the only requirement in publishing.

Among the failings and blind spots of the writers of JW org are :

No consideration for the authority of source material

No consideration for the evidence or truthfulness of source material

No consideration for the effects of cherry picking parts of a document which would otherwise have led the reader to an opposite conclusion.

No respect for the hard won scholarly research and evidence of modern textual critics, achaeological findings and scientific discoveries which contradict JW Org.

Not only is the JW org irresponsible and reckless with information but throughout its whole history, it has produced absolutely no information whatsoever which is advantageous to anybody. . . except for those hooked on their brand of delusional relief from reality.

If you value your sanity; NEVER LISTEN TO THE JW ORG!

78

Work Christmas functions: Being a Bible Student (unbaptized)

by rulehayl in

jw
friends

hi all,i have been studying with the witnesses for more than 6 months and regularly attend both midweek & weekend meetings, and i am nearly at the end of the "bible teach" book.

my boss is adamant i attend team christmas functions.

she knows about my studying and potential baptism next year, and has suggested that i attend and just not participate in activities like kris kringle.

Half banana

Hi Rulehayl, glad you found this site and thank you for posting. You sound like a decent person and want to do the right thing. When thinking of "what is right" you must not forget you have your own rights, you are not obliged to do anyone else's bidding or let others think for you. Please think about this.

Every coin has two sides, when you study with JWs you are only ever given one perspective; the one which supports their own doctrines. Always check for evidence on the internet about any information you are told, preferably from an academic source or a recognised authority on the subject. (not another preacher) For example: could a global flood really have existed? Was Adam really the first man?

There is another aspect to celebrating a person's birthday, it is the opportunity to say to them that you are pleased they share their community with you. It is an opportunity to validate a friend or family member, it says; I'm glad you exist!

19

2018 Memorial and Special Talk Speculation

by SplaneThisToMe in

so we all know that the special talk titled "who really is jesus christ?

" will be given before the memorial next year which is very new.

also new this year is that the special talk will be prerecorded and given by a branch committee member rather than a brother from the local congregation.

Half banana

Personally I have run out of patience with the fairyland politics of the JW org whether they redefine 144,000 or not. May I please remind you lot that Rutherford stole the idea of a heavenly and an earthly division from an 'apostate' who had vied with him for presidency of the org after Russell's death. He was FL Alexander Freytag who began his splinter group The Church of the Kingdom of God in 1921, which I believe was still running at the end of the 20th century in Switzerland.

That aside, I wonder whether it occurs to any JW to ask why Jesus is called Jesus Christ ?

For people in the Roman world there had to be something to distinguish between the christ called Jesus and other saviour christs who shared the same credentials and biographical outline such as Dionysus, Attis. Mithra, Orpheus, Horus etc.

The Jewish christ simply got better publicity through Imperial Roman patronage which in later centuries, as Rome's power declined, "Jesus" Christianity became the exclusive and compulsory form of worship. Worship of any other christs were forbidden and written out of existence.

I think the congregations would be better served by explaining these facts instead of the usual hackneyed drivel which will be found at the pre- memorial talk.

15

Where to go for the 'Deep Things'?

by cobweb in

as someone who has been out a while, i wondered what publications a jw would turn to now if they want to do serious bible research.

are there any meaty jw publications left?

i haven't heard of the insight books being revised.

Half banana

So simple minded is the JW org that it imagines that by reading their propaganda this amounts to "research". There is no research possible within the JW org just "beliefs" and obedience.

If you want some honest research, try Professor Thomas L Thompson's books. He mainly considers the OT not from wrangling a meaning from the Bible but by looking at the sociological context in which the Bible writers lived using archaeology, and contemporary text and stone inscriptions to identify the prevailing ideas at the historical time of writing.

Professor Thompson is uncompromising when it comes to evidence however painful the consequences. His PhD dissertation was refused by his adjudicator, later to become Pope Ratzinger, because his research denied the authenticity of Catholic doctrine.

5

Youtube video

by Phoebe in

jw
friends

not sure if this has been mentioned before so admin feel free to take this down, but i just watched this interview.

i always love exjwfith's interviews but this one particularly grabbed me.

pedro (broken kite) not sure if you are on here but wow, what a story you had to tell.

Half banana

Thanks for posting this Phoebe, an excellent story Pedro has to tell.