Posts by Max Divergent

72

Does anyone remember a district overseer Joe Slaiman?

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

joe slaiman and his wife jean were in the travelling work in australia throughout the 90's... ( i may have spelt the name incorrectly).

anyone remember them?

they were very well liked by many of the brothers and sisters.. i wonder what happened to him?

Max Divergent

Joe, thank you so much for responding here. You were so well liked and well regarded, and your gracious post here shows in small part why. I am glad you were able to separate from the organisation in such a dignified way. While I'm sure it was a very difficult time for everyone involved, the respect you showed by explaining your position showed more courage than most of us here have been able to. And it seems to reflects well on the brothers that they did not call for a committee given your altered view. I stopped attending and offered no explanation as to why to protect myself from being accused of apostasy (I no longer believed in God, thus could not continue as a Witness either). I've sometimes reflected since on what impact my way of leaving might have had on those who had been my friends for years before.

While I prefer anonymity on the internet, please in any case accept our very best wishes and know that you're remembered warmly and that we're thrilled to learn you and Jean are happy and well.

12

would jehovah find himself disfellowshipped?

by sowhatnow in

so lets assume that the current jw use of disfellowshipping was used back in jesus day, .

who of the bible characters would find themselves disfellowshipped?

jehovah?

Max Divergent

I'd only suggest that since the GB is the faithful and discreet slave and fulfils the effective role of Jehovah too (since no one else does), then 'Jehovah' could only be DF'd if He publicly disagreed with the GB.

The practical nonsensical reality seems to be that the JW all-in-one-God is:

GB the Father;
GB the Son;
GB the Holy Spirit; and
GB the Faithful and Discreet Slave (which doesn't conventionally have God status, being a slave. But at a practical level if the GB is the FDS, then the FDS must be God too).

Thus, Jehovah is on thin ice. He's already been removed and has no privileges. He can't even answer at meetings. The GB is steadily replacing Him or any need for Him to be around.

21

Man is designed to be God-oriented, shows new scientific study!

by abiather in

meditation slows age-related loss of grey matter in the brain, finds a new study.

(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150205142951.htm) (see also http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/10/health/can-meditation-really-slow-aging/index.html).

when we eat certain type of food, it shows how it affects our body.

Max Divergent

Almost everyone who meditates are agnostic at least.

True, but you could say "Almost everyone who farts is agnostic at least" since atheists are a small minority of the world's population. Meditation of one kind or another is found in most cultures and religions; therefore most mediators and [human] farters are agnostic or believers.

But meditation has observed mental and physical benefits and belief in deities is not needed to practice it.

73

Will my inactive JW bring our children up as a witness?

by stevepill in

i have been with an in active jw for 6 years, she now wants to marry and have a child, will she want to bring a child up as a witness, she says not but any experiences?

will she start go back once we are married?

(i'm a non jw)

Max Divergent

A believing Witness won't date a non-JW, certainly not for six years, she won't marry him either. She might be effectively a former Witness if she's wanting to make her life with you. You're obviously not with a regular, hard-core, believing JW.

Therefore our experiences may be of only partial help to understand her evidently idiosyncratic relationship with the religion.

Whatever's been going on for the last six years might be a fair guide to what the future might hold?

21

Man is designed to be God-oriented, shows new scientific study!

by abiather in

meditation slows age-related loss of grey matter in the brain, finds a new study.

(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150205142951.htm) (see also http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/10/health/can-meditation-really-slow-aging/index.html).

when we eat certain type of food, it shows how it affects our body.

Max Divergent

We create experiments that can test and verify these laws [of physics]. If we follow the same scientific practice, then we will have to say God initiated the universe, He created it.

No. If we conduct experiments they we should say what the results of those experiments are and what the results mean. We can't ascribe experimental results to God, even if we don't fully understand the topic being studied and the results seem mysterious.

As you correctly say:

Just because we don't know, it means we don't know—that’s all!

50

How do Americans feel about Canadians and Britons interjecting their opinions onto hot localized political topics: gun laws, abortion, ect?

by adjusted knowledge in

jw
friends

in addition to the above question, why do citizens of the two above mentioned countries, or other countries, feel the necessity to tell americans how they should interpret the american constitution for localized issues?.

i fairly much have an idea what the general population in the usa feels in regards to the first question.

this could be one of the possible reasons cnn piers morgan poor ratings and eventual firing.

Max Divergent

There are so many other rich cultures to pay attention to besides ours. I fear those cultures are being outshouted by Katy Perry, octomom, Kardashians, the red carpet, etc. Am I right to be concerned?

Not sure if concern is necessary. Nor am I sure if US 'culture' (with inverted commas given the examples cited) outshouts many local cultures to a significant degree. What appeals to Americans about those things probably appeals to (or sparks morbid fascination for) foreigners too. Thus they are interested on much the same basis as Americans, and they probably have their interests in their local culture, community etc too.

What an American might be concerned about is that, it seems, only a relativity small proportion of Americans seem to have much insight into what happens out of the US. That is concerning. More concerning is that many might not think it matters what's happening out of the US, or deem it uninteresting, or even inappropriate to take an interest.

Note the minimal participation here in non-US centric current affairs threads. If nothing else, that almost forces discussion of social / political / etc issues into the US context, which attract the US posters and ensure a well patronised discussion.

I might as well throw in another Chaser clip (which is obviously set up for comic effect, not to represent anything like a fair cross section of Americans....).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opI9ICGU4Mk

48

Who Is Engineering the Re-branding of Jehovahs Witnesses

by millie210 in

is it an outside source?.

an inside job?

maybe the younger gb "helpers"?.

Max Divergent

It's Don Draper's friends from Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, aka Mad Men.

Misogyny and bastardy and deception live on, even if there is some nice gloss on show.

16

Could a religion caught up in abuse and fraud possibly be "true"?

by Jonathan Drake in

i recently had a discussion with a witness in which we were talking about the catholic church.

i led them out with talk about the fraud and child abuse scandals and everyone was agreeing and making comments about how terrible it is and how obviously wrong they are.

after about 30 minutes of solid rapport building in this manner, even incorporating scriptures regarding some doctrinal errors in their doctrine (catholic), i said this:.

Max Divergent

Could a religion ... possibly be "true"?

That's all the question needs to be.

65

The Fear mongering of this weeks WT study!

by stuckinarut2 in

have you all read this weeks study article?.

oh my word it is full of fear inducing tactics....doom and gloom outlooks.... anxiety inducing methods to develop absolute control over witnesses and cripple them in any attempt to think for themselves!.

(notice i am saying "themselves" rather than "ourselves"?!

Max Divergent

Now, now... he's spiritually qualified. You can tell, he's the only one wearing a tie.

65

The Fear mongering of this weeks WT study!

by stuckinarut2 in

have you all read this weeks study article?.

oh my word it is full of fear inducing tactics....doom and gloom outlooks.... anxiety inducing methods to develop absolute control over witnesses and cripple them in any attempt to think for themselves!.

(notice i am saying "themselves" rather than "ourselves"?!

Max Divergent

From that picture of them hunkered down in a basement being read to, it looks like Jehovah's saving words might come in the form of a letter rather than from The Watchtower.

Presumably a BOE letter from the GB, rather than Jesus appearing in the sky or whatever.

I wonder if it'll be mailed or if it'll be a download?

What's in the white liquid (?) containers in the upper left of the image?