Posts by joey jojo

36

The sky is falling- maybe

by joey jojo in

i am actually not a 'sky is falling' guy, but i wanted to comment on the australian bushfires.. you may or may not believe the science behind global warming, however i personally put more faith in verified, scientific data than the words of fat cat, self-serving politicians.

climate science has predicted, based on data, that we will see more prolonged, extreme weather events, higher average temperatures, rising sea levels due to ocean expansion and glacial melting.

and this is exactly whats happening.

joey jojo

Jimmy, come to Australia for your next holiday.

60

Rec'd a letter from my Dad - need some advice...

by Fadeaway3pointer in

fader here - last meeting was in autumn 2005. lurker on this site and others.

not one to get all controversial.. typical situation, pretty much a born in and left the church at age 38 and never looked back.. i'm 53 now, parents getting older - late 70s but very active, dad is still an elder.. parents, in laws, brother and brother-in-law still uber active jws.. my family (wife and 2 adult children) out since 2005.. we have stayed close to our parents - we have treaded religion lightly and have had a pretty good relationship and have kept our personal lives and beliefs/opinions separated from them.

this was intentional - as we love them and do not want anything to cause shunning since they are getting older and want to be there for them and we respect their beliefs.. got this letter today.

joey jojo

Yep, its all about them, as Toesup said.

To be honest, we all know brothers like your Dad and reasoning with them is tough.

Maybe you could remind your Dad that he raised you in a religion that was his choice, not yours.

'Dangerous sentimentality' sounds like a new buzz-term.

36

The sky is falling- maybe

by joey jojo in

i am actually not a 'sky is falling' guy, but i wanted to comment on the australian bushfires.. you may or may not believe the science behind global warming, however i personally put more faith in verified, scientific data than the words of fat cat, self-serving politicians.

climate science has predicted, based on data, that we will see more prolonged, extreme weather events, higher average temperatures, rising sea levels due to ocean expansion and glacial melting.

and this is exactly whats happening.

joey jojo

I am actually not a 'sky is falling' guy, but I wanted to comment on the Australian bushfires.

You may or may not believe the science behind global warming, however I personally put more faith in verified, scientific data than the words of fat cat, self-serving politicians.

Climate science has predicted, based on data, that we will see more prolonged, extreme weather events, higher average temperatures, rising sea levels due to ocean expansion and glacial melting. And this is exactly whats happening. Every year in Australia, the record high temperatures beat the record set the year before.

We haven't reached halfway through summer yet and the fires have been burning for weeks. I read an article that suggested that the fire is possibly the biggest forest fire to occur anywhere on earth- ever.

As of now, an estimated half a billion (yes , billion with a B) animals have died. There is a possibly that the Koala population may not recover. Forests that may have never burned before, due to high moisture, like rainforests have burned. Forests that experts say are living links to Gondwanaland, the landmass that split to become nth and sth America and Antarctica have burned.

So far, about 5 million hectares have been lost, around 1000 homes. The only reason more lives haven't been lost is because of early warning text messages, so, incredibly the death toll is low.

As of today, the fires are still going and are expected to worsen again this weekend, when we once again, are expecting, what experts call ,'catastrophic fire conditions'.

I didn't post this to start yet another debate about global warming, but just wanted to describe whats happening, and point out that it is unprecedented, and has occurred because of years of below average rainfall and ever rising average temperatures, not in isolated parts of the country, but over the entire country.

If Australia is an example of what is to happen globally, then I can see that one of the biggest threats may be social breakdown. How many catastrophic years can the earth and human population handle? How many bad years can farmers handle before they go broke? We already have an epidemic of farmers committing suicide due to stress in Australia. There are towns that have run out of water. No amount of high-tech fertiliser will make your crop grow if it is being scorched day after day of temperatures exceeding 45C.

If this starts happening in more places, there will be pressure on food and water supplies that could lead to social unrest. Everything is fine until you cant buy food, or it is rationed, or water becomes limited. If this can happen in a first world country, it can happen anywhere. Once the smoke clears, what will everyone think when they see that their house insurance premium has risen, due to all the payouts made to fire victims? A lot of cars have been burned too. How many businesses have been lost ?

Then there are other health issues. Sydney and a lot of other towns and cities have been bathed in smoke pollution for weeks, the air quality is so bad it, it is off the charts.

I guess my point is, the earth is getting warmer. Whether you believe in global warming, or more particularly, the causes of global warming doesn't make any difference once you personally start getting affected. I hope this is a rare event that never happens again but if it isn't, and this continues, then all of our lives will change.

40

Has Anything Really Changed For JWs In The Last 10 Years?

by minimus in

jw
friends

2020 is days away.

has anything really changed for the witnesses or the religion?

?.

joey jojo

After the generation change, a few of my hardcore dub friends were a little confused, even to the point of admitting their confusion to me. One elder friend said that 'he didn't like' the abandonment of the 1914 generation.

The Splane video is what changed it for them. What they craved was direction from mother - any direction, and they were ready to gulp it down.

Since then, my old friends have become more cult like and have buried their heads even deeper into the sand of denial. They will not even discuss the subject.

The org is based on feel good emotion now. It is all about #bestlifeever #jwgirls #jwboys #pioneer instagram hashtags.

The past decade has solidified the gb as rock stars and while a lot have seen through the smoke, there are still a lot that cannot let go, and are just not quite ready to think for themselves.

2

Ignorance is bliss.

by joey jojo in

jw
friends

everyone's heard this statement before but i only just read the full quote, or proverb, which is taken from a 1742 poem.

it seems fitting to share it.

'thought would destroy their paradise;.

joey jojo

Everyone's heard this statement before but I only just read the full quote, or proverb, which is taken from a 1742 poem. It seems fitting to share it.

'Thought would destroy their paradise;

Where ignorance is bliss - it is folly to be wise.'

43

Did You Know Any "Genuine"" Old School Anointed?

by Number 6 in

growing up in scotland in the 1970s in scotland the anointed were few and far between, but we had one old dude in our cong who claimed to be one of the anointed.

in the days when it was taken seriously.. i'd be curious how you viewed them.

thing is, he wasn't an elder, or even a ministerial servant, just a plain old publisher.. but he was revered like he had a hotline to jesus.. the other week i was talking to a friend of similar age to me but who hung around the wt a lot longer than i did, and he just commented "oh him... he was a doddery old fool who used to just sit and piss himself.

joey jojo

Last one I personally knew passed away in the 90's.

39

Email from JW relative/elder

by Lynnie in

as much as i enjoy you and pete's company, you also know our understanding of how much we want you to be reunited with jehovah and his people.. .

we did not set the standards for what jehovah says about our associations with those who choose to not serve him.

so we will always be there for you and pete, but it is in your hands as to how we can enjoy your friendship.. .

joey jojo

JW's ability to reason and think critically has never been great.

It has gotten worse because of the jw org website.

Years ago, I used to be impressed by older brothers that could pull their bible out at the door of a householder and recall, look up and explain how the gentile times are calculated. Obviously, now I realise it is BS, but it was impressive at the time.

Now, they hide behind jworg. If you have a question, they send a link to an article on jworg that may or may not answer your questions. As far as they are concerned, they have done their job.

If you don't agree, then they are not expected to spend any more time helping you, which means, they don't think about it anymore themselves.

Their deeply held, personal convictions are whatever jworg says this week.

Friendship with them is based on you having the same beliefs. This is such an arrogant basis for a friendship.

They are essentially saying, we (i) are always right about everything, therefore if you don't agree, we can't be friends and I can't talk to you. Also, it's all your fault.

28

What Are Your Predictions for 2020 and Beyond?

by The Bethelite in

jw
friends

2020 the society will continue to have financial problems with massive pay outs because of their lack of protecting their young people from a religion that harbors thousands of pedophiles.

thus this and other religions that has an 1800's mentality will continue to lose their young people.

with the religion's lies easily found on the internet the smart ones will continue to leave in droves.

joey jojo

Speaking to several dubs recently and they could not even bring themselves to admit there has been a change in doctrine.

These are people in their late 40's early 50 's, that know exactly what happened but are whitewashing their own memories.

It's absolutely astounding to hear old friends lie to your face and pretend old information just doesn't matter.

So my prediction is that the gb will continue winding up the screws of control over the flock, causing them to be totally dependant and less capable of rational thought than now, if that's possible.

It won't matter what the gb says or does, the dubs will be trained to gulp it down and smile afterwards.

24

Are Jehovah’s Witnesses competent to resolve the issue of blood transfusion?

by 30LPP in

hello everyone.. first of all, i would like to say hello to all of you.i am not a jehovah's witness but i have been a child with "truth" because of my family.

i am interested in the subject of this sect in the hope that i will be able to wake up the rest of my family.i would also like to share with you another interesting book of polish author włodzimierz bednarski, which was released in 2019, quite recently, and which is a small guidebook for the medical community and criticism of the watchtower society’s teachings.the book in pdf format is available for download at: .

are jehovah’s witnesses competent to resolve the issue of blood transfusion?known books of this author are also:armageddon in 1975 'probability' or 'possibility'?year 1925 and millions now living will never die!ever-changing teachings of jehovah's witnessesthis book will probably be released later at:https://wtsarchive.com/pubs/3rd-party-publicationsi encourage you to read the above materials, because they are really worth it.. i wish everyone perseverance and health..

joey jojo

Fink,

The shepherd book says that if the person shows repentance then they will receive what amounts to public reproof.

They will lose privileges and presumably position but they aren't automatically cast out of the org.

24

Are Jehovah’s Witnesses competent to resolve the issue of blood transfusion?

by 30LPP in

hello everyone.. first of all, i would like to say hello to all of you.i am not a jehovah's witness but i have been a child with "truth" because of my family.

i am interested in the subject of this sect in the hope that i will be able to wake up the rest of my family.i would also like to share with you another interesting book of polish author włodzimierz bednarski, which was released in 2019, quite recently, and which is a small guidebook for the medical community and criticism of the watchtower society’s teachings.the book in pdf format is available for download at: .

are jehovah’s witnesses competent to resolve the issue of blood transfusion?known books of this author are also:armageddon in 1975 'probability' or 'possibility'?year 1925 and millions now living will never die!ever-changing teachings of jehovah's witnessesthis book will probably be released later at:https://wtsarchive.com/pubs/3rd-party-publicationsi encourage you to read the above materials, because they are really worth it.. i wish everyone perseverance and health..

joey jojo

I agree with the principle of life being sacred and therefore the use of blood, donated from a still living person, used to save someone's life is surely a conscience issue.

Watching John Cedars on YouTube the other night dissecting the shepherd book was also interesting concerning blood transfusions.

If you receive a transfusion and are repentant, then it seems you are 'all good', you will probably just be reproved.

This raises another question; in WT land, why is accepting a blood transfusion treated differently compared to the other sins listed in the OT? If you are unrepentant, you are disassociated instead of being disfellowshipped.