for the last few months, i feel like i've been going through the 5 stages of grief.
lately, it's been happening simultaneously.
in my other posts, i've expressed anger at my family and congregation for their thoughtless ways.
Read a good quote today,
If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are the living in the present.
This probably doesn't help at all but its something to think about :p.
in the congregation bible study, the book addressed how "truth" is progressive.... 18 just as jehovah progressively revealed truths about the kingdom in the period leading up to 1914, he continues to do so during the time of the end.
as chapters 4 and 5 of this book will show, over the past 100 years, god’s people have had to adjust their understanding on a number of occasions.
does that fact mean that they do not have jehovah’s backing?
This "study"commences with a fallacy/lie: " Just as Jehovah progressively revealed truths about the Kingdom in the period leading up to 1914,"
How much of what the WT taught leading up to 1914 is accepted today ? and how much was truth ?
Once the Audience swallows that first bit of mind control, never having thought about the two questions above, they are ripe for being led by the nose straight to the Contribution box.
Poor, unthinking/ non-thinking saps.
Nailed it :)
that admission in the feb.17 ,study edition of the watchtower , " who is leading gods people today ?
" "the governing body is neither inspired, nor infallible, therefore it (they/we) can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction .".
have the many jehovahs witnesses past and present who have lost their lives by refusing blood transfusions due to the prohibition on blood tranfusions by jehovahs witnesses really got the sense of this statement ?.
If I was a gambler, my money would be on this article pertaining to child abuse or further tweaking of the generation nonsense.
Is it a coincidence that this article will be studied at the same time the Australian Royal Commission into child abuse hands down its findings?
The article certainly reads like its preparing us to overlook the GB's behaviour for something.
the last talk at the assembly made an interesting statement, "we can show faith by following direction if we're asked to move to another kingdom hall for better use of dedicated christian funds".
this statement has everyone talking.
i spoke to multiple individuals and they heard the same thing at different assembly's.. i know they have been "evaluating" all kingdom halls the last year or two.
Darkspilver,
I think you nailed the psychological aspect of local contributions.
I have posted the story on here before about my grandmother who donated a very large chunk of her retirement funds to help with renovations on the local congregation. In her mind she was helping the local brothers and by extension, the local community would benefit.
The hall was sold only a few years later and the congregation dissolved.
When she raised the issue with the c.o., he became irritated with her and told her not to worry because her contribution was going to help ' the worldwide brotherhood'.
I wish I could go back in time and rescue some of my inheritance :).
this video portrayed an elderly widowed sister who was a former pioneer and now reduced to submitting field service reports of 15 minute increments.
she was also portrayed as quite frail in that she ambulates with the use of a quad rollator frame.
she was very neatly attired and groomed and what the video showed of her apartment conveyed everything perfectly tidy to a level which would have relaxed an ocd sufferer.
Nice observations.
In a similar vein, elders that became financially secure because of education they had prior to joining the organisation giving public talks about the dangers of education for young jw's. These elders, while happy to preach a life of poverty and struggle for impressionable kids have no intention of quitting their own lifestyle and becoming window cleaners.
a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
a quote that could be applied closely to the style of the wts 'change management'.. put another way.... "we make stuff up and expect people to accept it as truth.
when we change things we still expect people to accept it as truth.
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
A quote that could be applied closely to the style of the wts 'change management'.
Put another way...
"We make stuff up and expect people to accept it as truth. When we change things we still expect people to accept it as truth.
Those that can't accept it will die eventually and their children will not have known any other truth'.
as i am watching this video about changes at bethel, the speaker said, "aren't we glad the faithful and discrete slave continues to make adjustments when necessary.
what about this change?
"finally, we examined why jesus’ arrival to appoint the faithful slave over all his belongings did not occur in 1919 but will take place during the great tribulation" that is from this online watchtower article last paragraph: https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20130715/jesus-prophecy-last-days/ .
After reading the link I read the subsequent watchtower study articles in that series.
My take (and I am happy to be corrected) is that they are still the faithful and discreet slave however they won't be appointed over ALL their masters belongings until after Armageddon.
I would really appreciate it if someone could be bothered reading paragraph 10 of the July 2013 study article and please explain the following paraphrase: the parable describes the slave as 'singular', which means it is a 'composite'.
What in the hell??!!?!!!?
Sorry if I am doubling up on the thoughts of others, I only had time to quickly skim through the posts.
It has always bothered me how witness parents take the high road in the cases of their disfellowshipped children.
They are YOUR children, maybe something YOU did as parents contributed to their struggles and consequent disfellowshipping. They have YOUR DNA, your strengths and weaknesses. As a parent you have no right to simply wash your hands of your children's behaviour and walk away unless you have absolutely done everything in your power to help your children. They did not ask to be witnesses, that was YOUR choice.
On the other hand, you have 'worldly' parents whose children are dealing with addictions, mental illnesses etc etc, yet these parents never walk away from their children. Even when it takes years, in some cases, for their children to recover.
there are many new posters here, and i'm very interested to learn why you chose your screen names.. .
one book i read, the mists of avalon, was very important to me.
among the main characters was merlin, who in the book, was called "taliesen".
Hi Talesin,
A book I read about the Arthurian legend cast Talesin as a bard of extraordinary prowess, so I always assumed your name had something to do with that.
Mine is a bit more low-brow, just an obscure reference to a character from the Simpsons.
...is an epic triumph is emotional manipulation.
bringing together all of the stories they told thus far and placing them int he "new world" complete with the little boy who was killed in a car accident coming back from the dead.. i have a good friend who is stuck in with family and plays the role.
he said everyone was crying, and the people next to him rated the videos by how many tissues they needed to dry their eyes.
The whole thing reminded me of the Simpsons episode about the 'Movementarian' cult.
Even the outfits are the same.
