Posts by xjwsrock

32

Are Witnesses really "Bible Students"?

by stuckinarut2 in

we were always told that as witnesses we were "sincere bible students".... carefully examining the scriptures.. yes, we were indeed taught much about the content of the bible, it's history, prophecies etc..... but it was always from one perspective....that of the society.

when the society changed its interpretations, we had to do the same..... so were we really "bible students", or "society students"?.

just a thought.....

xjwsrock

In line with BluesBrother, I remember a time when "extra research" was a prized bragging point of the ultra righteous during a watchtower study. Of course, 99% of that research was to be done in the aid book or similiar, but still it was a trump card.

Now the witnesses are scared to even do research in their own literature, for fear they will stumble on old light. Lol... funny when you think about it. The paranoia of getting out of line is at an all time high.Sad on the other hand though.

The equivalent of the "extra research" comment today is a comment on the illustration in the lesson before the conductor gets to it.

In answer to the OP - The witnesses are not allowed to be bible students. Hell they can't even study 90% of their own literature since it's considered old light.

10

Three reasons why I may have to back.

by Crazyguy in

jw
friends

i look back over the last two years of my life with all the experiences i have read about here and other places and these are three experiences that stand out to me.

recently in another post a girl relates her experience of being in the borg and her mom literally threw her away by giving her over to the state after she accused an elder of groping her.

two; i met the man that wrote the insight books for the borg and even though he was at the time the brians of the borgs doctines when he faded his family , brother and his kids are shunning him.

xjwsrock

Do what you got to do man. I'm still stuck in. Still serving. It's been a long road so far and will be still ahead for many of us.

I've been thinking more and more about their child abuse policies. Since people are more motivated to take action by emotion, I think a well-thought out discussion about this subject may be the best way to open people's eyes.

Why doesnt the org alert the authorities about the child molesters in the congregation? If the priority was to do what is right in the eyes of God, what would be the right thing to do here? Isn't it obvious to anyone with a soul that the right thing to do would be to love your neighbor and protect the children. Shouldn't they care about all the potential victims of this perpetrator? Shouldn't that man be on a sex offender list so the community is protected?

It's for some business reason that they keep it hush hush. Business is thus put above the welfare of children - both inside and outside the congregation. Business is put above doing what is right. Would God ever direct an organization to to value business over babies? Hell no.

I wish that you could show your wife that the org values their religion business over her children.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. Hang in there. You can pm me anytime.

23

Generation Nonsense in today's WT

by Slidin Fast in

abraham was part of the 9th generation as a descendent of shem.

yet, their lives overlapped by 150 years.

yep, they were of the same generation!

xjwsrock

Yeah, go back to the Old Testament to scriptures written in another language and another time to see what Jesus meant by the common everyday word 'generation'.

Makes perfect sense.

4

Touching scene from angel-A

by sillygirlforgotpassword in

i was going through a pretty rough patch the last couple of weeks after a breakup, a "vacation" spent at my parents, some health scares and other random thoughts the realization i'm not 25 and as toned and consistently fresh faced anymore (feel free to call me shallow because that i am ;).

i fully agree that we aren't to worry about aging, but aging gracefully!

2 weeks at home spent being harassed by my parents for not being up to the spiritual mark didn't help either.

xjwsrock

That's powerful

14

Zone visit Australia?

by stuckinarut2 in

anyone else at this zone visit?.

more higher education bashing, with an embellished "experience"...... more quoting prov 4:18 out of context.. faithful and discreet slave definitions etc..... all the new "understandings" since 2012...... .

we are already in the great tribulation...?.

xjwsrock

Are you serious?

Did they say that we are in the great trib?

We all knew the day was coming.......but I figured they would keep that one in their pocket for awhile longer.

234

Suicide - How many do you know within the JWs

by Lady Lee in

thw wts likes to play games with their statistics.

one interesting but truly tragic is the number of jwhovah's witnesses who commit suicie.. now i suspect that if a person commits suicide shortly before or after they are disfellowshipped then the elders would say that person wasn't a witness or that they had done something so terrible that they were too guilty to admit it and by their action of committing suicide they pretty much declared they were no longer a jw.. yup fancy talk to make sure any crap didn't fall on them.. so my question.. do you know of cases like this?

if so then can you answer a few more questions.. had this person been dfed or in real danger of being dfed or whatever the equivalent is if they were never baptized?.

xjwsrock

I know 6 or 7. Loner type people usually but one that I was close to had some mental issues that surfaced occasionally. He went through a crazy manic phase barely sleeping. He came back to the organization and was doing family worship twice a week. The insomnia was what pushed him over the edge I think. I miss him. I don't know if he knew ttatt. I didn't know ttatt myself at the time. I can't help but wonder.

19

JW to be banned in Russia soon?

by I am a Bible Student in

i saw this on jw.org today:.

xjwsrock

Russia must be anti-cult. :)

I still haven't seen a post on JW dot org about the "persecution" of the Australian Royal Commission.

Wonder why?

23

Wt "study" Participation, is it a "True Believer" Indication?-- or not?

by prologos in

in our congregation, the elders rarely comment.

the majority rarely comment, 2 sisters, vehemently, and often comment.

since in their case, it can not possibly be" teaching in the congregation", is participation in the wt "study"in general an affirmation of faith?

xjwsrock

If you read books like Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, you learn that people are influenced by having to say something out loud. Commenting in the congregation forces people to publicly commit to their faith. This reinforces the indoctrination in a big way. It's one thing for someone else to tell you from a stage, it's something altogether different to hear it coming out of your own mouth.

Field service has a strong reinforcing effect as well. I believe this is the main reason for field service. The recruiting aspect is secondary.

23

Wt "study" Participation, is it a "True Believer" Indication?-- or not?

by prologos in

in our congregation, the elders rarely comment.

the majority rarely comment, 2 sisters, vehemently, and often comment.

since in their case, it can not possibly be" teaching in the congregation", is participation in the wt "study"in general an affirmation of faith?

xjwsrock

Island Man - I agree.

The dose-of-sanity comment is all I can muster anymore. If the paragraph happens to be encouraging normal ethical behavior or discouraging unethical behavior then i can comment.

If it's another we are right, the whole world is wrong, God is going to kill you if you are unfaithful, aren't the Governing Body amazing type paragraphs, then I can't do it. I have a visceral reaction to that BS propaganda now.

I have gone many watchtower studies without finding one comment I could stomach making. I am an elder btw.

To answer the OP - Is WT Commenting a True Believer Indicator? - Yes for those that are sincere. It is also a way to appear that you are a believer for those of us that are faking it for now.

20

"Special" has lost its' special meaning

by stillin in

today is the day of the annual "special talk.

" it took me all of two years to realize not to get my hopes up for anything special.. then came the special assembly day.

sad.

xjwsrock

Thanks Stuckinarut.

I keep looking around the hall lately, thinking "Surely someone else is outraged at this!" I look and I don't see anybody markedly disturbed, but I'm starting to wonder about all those "crazies". You know the ones. Maybe they all know what's up and that's why they're "crazy".

I can't take it much longer. The wife may have to be one of those with an "unbelieving mate" soon.

--Sorry to get off topic. The Special Talk was awful. It's like they aren't even trying. "Do the Cult stuff again...." is overheard in the writing dept. often these days.