came across this little gem while my wife was "digging for bible gems" in her weekly meeting preparation.
nothing new but i gently pointed it out to her as a reminder that bible reading can be hazardous to your mental health!.
do 2 (or 3, or 4) wrongs, make a right?
I told my pimi wife that I don't believe that God ever allowed things like polygamy or slavery. I told her I think self serving arab men wrote that he did so they could do it. She said she could see what I was saying. I'll take that as a small victory.
I would add this David story to the list. So much bs in the bible. Humans are way too desperate for answers. They choose implausible abusive answers to avoid having their questions go unanswered.
i have not seen jehovah’s witnesses in my neighborhood for several years now.
it appears that the cart witnessing has taken over.
congregations are being consolidated and witnesses are being forced to travel a greater distance than before.the burdens/privileges of elders seem to be ever increasing!.
Where I am it's a tourist destination and the "friends" are just in a social club to participate in recreation together. I mean you have a few self righteous types and a few throw-aways, but mainly it's social. The meetings and service are done at an absolute bare minimum just to stay in the club.
The org is selling the story that they are building hundreds of kingdom halls in Africa (just heard it from an LDC rep 2 days ago) where there is supposedly a 5% growth rate per year. That is why they are selling halls and consolidating congregations in the United States.
I honestly don't even pick up a shred of doubt from the dubs here. They buy the story 100%.
jw's will never knock on your door and say, "hi, we are here to convert you".
speaking to a reporter recently a jw media rep at hq said " our main purpose going door to door is not to convert but to share bible truths with people".
does anyone know the sales techniques involved here?
It's like a car salesman saying:
"I'm not selling cars, I'm just sharing test drives today"
i purchase all my lawn and snow equipment from the same hardware store near my house.
thirty- five years ago, they employed only four people...a father and his three sons.
today, this same family owned company employs over 100 workers and operates five warehouses near a 50 mile radius full of lawn and snow equipment.
In business it is commonly thought that if you aren't expanding than you are receding. You are growing or you are dying.
Bottom line is the borg doesn't want to go out of business (lose their positions) so they will try to hang on to what they have and try to grow it if at all possible.
we know from casual observation that if anybody does respond to their preaching/recruiting work it is usually someone that is a social misfit in some way or a person that was indoctrinated early in life.. think about all the nicer neighborhoods witnesses preach in.
if a family of four with a father that is an engineer and a mother who is a medical professional ever walked into a kingdom hall for the first time and said they were studying, people would faint.
lol.... this of course isn't what you would expect from a religion backed by the ultimate intelligent creator.
We know from casual observation that if anybody does respond to their preaching/recruiting work it is usually someone that is a social misfit in some way or a person that was indoctrinated early in life.
Think about all the nicer neighborhoods witnesses preach in. If a family of four with a father that is an engineer and a mother who is a medical professional ever walked into a kingdom hall for the first time and said they were studying, people would faint. Lol...
This of course isn't what you would expect from a religion backed by the ultimate intelligent creator. If they actually had the truth, the smartest people in the world would flock to them.
In all seriousness, though, have you ever seen an educated middle or upper middle class person or family join this religion? If so, how long ago was that?
it struck me just how odd and weird it is that jws are told that if they do not preach, they are "bloodguilty" for failing to warn people of the upcoming destruction at armageddon.. hang on a minute now, hang on!.
why should a mere human be made to feel "bloodguilty" and "responsible" for "failing to warn someone" of gods wrath??.
these average people are not the ones who are about to unleash a genocidal massacre on 99% of humanity (including babies born to non-witnesses).
This blaming the blood-guilty messenger thing, reminds me of when a gunman is holding hostages and gives law enforcement a deadline. If the police negotiator doesn't give in to demands, the gunman will shoot a hostage.
Well if the police refuse to give in, and a hostage gets shot, it's not the fault of the police. It's the fault of the psychopath that pulled the trigger.
What's disturbing is that in this illustration, it's God who is the gunman/psychopath.
Consolidation of power, control, and money. Easier to keep secrets.
New plan has everyone essentially sending in lease payments on their property. Ray Kroc / McDonalds business model.
Funny that Jehovah and Jesus needed business consultants. Lol.
are they pretty much left alone?
are they respected for their having been elders at one time?
are they treated like crap?.
An argument could be made that there are 2 groups in the organization. The abusers and the abused. When an elder steps down he is essentially changing groups. He is switching from the abuser to the abused. That explains the treatment he receives.
The only caveat to that is like punk of nice said, if the former elder is well connected especially in a ruling family or social circle, then he can still be treated ok. This could be explained by the fact that he remains well connected to the abuser class and thus remains feared.
are they pretty much left alone?
are they respected for their having been elders at one time?
are they treated like crap?.
I'm a Pimo elder counting the days. I have set a date less than a year away that I refuse to serve past. I have communicated this to the wife (very in). Interestingly she commented that maybe I should keep the position just to have control. Well, firstly, I couldn't believe she said that, and secondly, I wanted to tell her that's the only reason I served the last 3 years.
hi guys.
sooner or later we're going to get a jw knocking on our door.
just like when we were jw's doing the knocking, it's good to have a question prepared to get them thinking about their own beliefs.
Do you use the phrase "Apostate Christendom"?
(errrrr .... yeah)
Does Jehovah use Apostates to accomplish his will?
(oh no .... of course not)
Who did Jehovah use to put the Bible together?
(Oh ... uhhhh ... well )
Would you say the Bible is spiritual food?
(oh of course)
So would you say then that Apostates can provide "Food at the Proper Time"?
(oh .... uhhhh ... no no ... that's completely different you see)
Could you lead us in a prayer thanking Jehovah for the Apostates that brought us so much spiritual truth?
........................
[Witness briskly turns and walks away trying not to have a panic attack lol]
