XBEHERE

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Posts by XBEHERE

posted

53
Half hearted JWs compared to past generations
by JohnR1975 in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
is it just me or has there been a massive change in jws of late?.

when i grew up in the cult they had a real sense of urgency and would do an hour minimum, these days it’s not even ten mins before coffee break.. same goes for everything else, it’s half hearted .
XBEHERE

I think it depends on the area of the US/World but generally speaking I'd agree. It seems to me that ever since the pandemic sort of ended and JWs were told to go back in person its been slow going.
I'd say most Congs at least 25-40 percent still go on zoom mostly and the ones that do go in person use flimsy excuses to stay home occasionally on zoom, camera's off.
As for the ministry yeah I see the same, nobody cares to go out. When they do for appearances they get coffee, pastries, and go home as quick as they can.
23
How they could change blood doctrine
by Person in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
many people say gb will soon dump blood doctrine to appear less fanatical.

others saying it is impossible for them to do that because of legal ramifications.

i think there is a way that could potentially be solution to those problems.
XBEHERE
Their current blood doctrine is wrong by their own rendering of
Acts 15:20-but to write them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.
ab·stain
/əbˈstān/
verb
1.
restrain oneself from doing or enjoying something.
"the terms stipulate that he must abstain from consumption of alcohol and controlled substances"

Does not abstain mean every part of something? Can you abastain from cheating on your spouse by defining sex as PIV sex but giving or receiving oral is fine?

Makes no sense
64
I am not redsetter, here is his message for you
by redsetter2 in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
you read this correctly.

as i explained in an earlier post, i am a "ghostwriter" for the original resetter.

i'm a woman, a pimo regular pioneer working for my friend who was redsetter1 on reddit.
XBEHERE

No disrespect to all the varieties of "Redsetters" but some of the details in that 10 year plan are very unbelievable, fantasaical really. Some I believe but in particular the items regarding for example some of the sexual things kind of casts a shadow on the whole thing sorry.
67
Thoughts on annual meeting “new light”
by FFGhost in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
so, i finally saw the annual meeting video part 2.. this is the one with the “new light” on who might survive armageddon, vs. those who do not.. in summary, for those of you fortunate enough not to have to sit through it, it’s something like this:.

old light: once the “great tribulation” starts, that’s it for non-jws.

the “door of the ark” is closed.
XBEHERE
Good summarization of the points from the AM 2023. Sadly, most hard core JWs will not see it this way. In my congregation absolutely nobody is talking about this. The reason is they threw out 2 "Red Herring's" for the R&F to gnaw away at:
1. No more counting hours in the ministry
2. Grow a beard now, why the F*ck not.
FYI: red her·ring
/ˌred ˈheriNG/
noun
1.
a dried smoked herring, which is turned red by the smoke.
2.
a clue or piece of information that is, or is intended to be, misleading or distracting.
"the book is fast-paced, exciting, and full of red herrings"

Nepotism and Simony

by NotFormer in

i've read on here about connected families within congregations who seem to get all the "privileges".

how likely is an elder's son, or other relative, to rise within the ranks?.

i imagine it's harder to do it that way once you start to ascend the ranks.

XBEHERE

A free Lunch and a round of golf goes a long way.

I have seen this in my former congregation so much. If the CO is a golfer and you are an elder and are too you are in during his tenure in the circuit. Parts, mentions to the branch office, your voice and opinion gets heard above non-golfing elders, etc. etc. Holy Spirit?!?! LOL Yeah right!

The "Problem" With Zoom

by XBEHERE in

jw
friends

here is the org's problem with zoom, attending this way does not fit with their "scriptural definition" of a christian gathering.

at least not anymore, one thing my pimi wife is fine with is attending on zoom occasionally, even 2-3 times a month or so.. if some of you recall, during covid there were break out rooms setup for people to stay on and associate.

many would also stay in the main meeting and talk over each other trying to say hello, etc.

XBEHERE

Here is the ORG's problem with zoom, attending this way does not fit with their "scriptural definition" of a christian gathering. At least not anymore, One thing my PIMI wife is fine with is attending on Zoom occasionally, even 2-3 times a month or so.

If some of you recall, during COVID there were break out rooms setup for people to stay on and associate. Many would also stay in the main meeting and talk over each other trying to say hello, etc. People had their video on during the meetings and many, many people commented.

Now what happens? As an example, yesterday we attended via zoom. There were probably about 40ish people attending with only about a handful with their video showing. Of these I'd say 3 or 4 of them actually commented. As soon as amen was said.... 95% of the people logged off leaving, you guessed it these maybe 6 connections, mostly elderly ones still logged in and talking to each other. Then I logged off.

There was no association, no participation for probably 35-40 of the zoom attenders and they immediately logged off as soon as it was over leaving virtual tire marks as it were because it so abrupt and quick after the meeting ended. So did these people attend a meeting? Sure. But again there was no participation or "interchange" of encouragement at all. Not a "real" meeting according to the JW standards. This is the problem that they do not how to fix.

However you can't "put the genie back in the bottle" They have a real problem here I think.

Who will be killed at Armageddon?

by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

if the current doctrine is that only baptised witnesses are going to survive and everyone else burns them what about this new update new light that some from before the flood and sodomites will be resurrected?.

but didn’t he mention at the agm something about there is no point jehovah killing them and then resurrecting them again?

it seems they are confused about what they teach and that’s why brother jackson joked about “is this what we used to believe or what we believe now?”.

XBEHERE

All excellent points and these points reveal how confusing the whole thing is. They kept highligting "we don't know...we can't be dogmatic!" etc. So what are we to conclude now? I see OP's point as well as Vanderhoven's: Do we need to be baptized to survive? WE DON'T KNOW.. Do we NEED to be a JW to survive? "We trust that the alimighty will always do what's right" WTH????

The more I try to wrap my head around this the more confused I get.

Thought on “0 hours” reporting

by FFGhost in

so everyone knows the “big news” of this past weekend, no more reporting of hours, placements, return visits, etc.

beginning november 1, jws just tick a box indicating whether they “shared in any form of the ministry during the month”.. so there was a brief comment by a redditor that seems like a brief joke “throwaway comment” but after thinking about it….why not?.

the idea is, what is “any form of the ministry”?

XBEHERE

If I remember correctly, if there is a 2/3 majority on the elder body vote, the minority elders must support the majority decision, thus it becomes unanimous. Probably same with GB

Yes. Depending on the CO often they "prefer" certain things to be unanimous such as appointmernts. Otherwise we've been told in the past to submit a letter explaining why. Honestly though this was all B/S since the CO made the final call regardless. I felt like he was trying to root out disenters by exposing their viewpoints. My opinion anyway

My conclusion on the matter

by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

after being brought up a jw, going to mts, bethel, pioneer school multiple times, serving in foreign assignments and having been an elder for decades my conclusion is that i am now pima, physically in mentally agnostic.. agnostic means you think it can’t be proven either way creation or evolution.

i do tend to lean towards evolution but creation at the very start because you can’t get life from dead matter.

but i’m open to the possibility of chance theory at the origin of it all.

XBEHERE

this could really apply to absolutely anything the JWs say from now on, and going back the things they have said

This is true, I have not really thought about it in the terms you are putting it here. I also was raised a JW, pioneered, went to Bethel, and served as an elder for decades so we have a similiar experience, at least in these ways.

Since I am also PIMO, I am just waiting to see how this new lite sinks in to the R&F. I am very curious to see the results of this major change not just the no time reporting but also the things you mentioned. The "Jehovah will do what is right" in regards to resurrections and last minute repentance is even more major in my opinion. Going to be fascinating going forward.

Jehovah's Witnesses no longer count time. How is this news affecting moral and meeting attendance at local congregations?

by Balaamsass2 in

no more watchtower and awake mags every 2 weeks to place.

no private home book studies.

no more "essential" spiritual food meals 5x a week.

XBEHERE

In my area of the Mid Atlantic east coast of the US, attendance is down noticeably but not too drastically. This is how its been sincce resumption of in person meetings so not a direct result of the AM new light.

My friend who is near "Jerusalem" said that meeting attendance is rather inconsistent. Some meetings its decent then some, usually the mid-week meeting, attendance is maybe 60-70% of what it should be. Whats interesting about this is he said he has several bethelites in his congregation and even their attendance in person is spotty. he says they claim they have duties and can't leave the site but my buddy is skeptical and he feels like many times he thinks they just don't feel like making the drive to the KH. Even the chosen ones are geting tired of the routine.