i never believed that in 1975 or by the end of the 20th century, we would see the great tribulation occur.
some witnesses would listen to fred franz' talks where he clearly told his audience that 1975 was the end of 6000 years and the beginning of the jubilee....or something like that.. was there something that you never truly accepted that you were supposed to believe as a jehovah's witness?.
Romans 8:1- Therefore those in union with Christ Jesus have no condemnation
So only 144,000 humans out of thousands of years of history are not condemed. Really?
Also
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelizers, some as shepherds and teachers,
So why do we all need to go out in the ministry. The word some means something else to the governing body I guess.
Those are my main "pet peeves"
this was a question that sprang to my mind as i watched raypub's (eric's) j.c video.
can't wait for the rest of it by the way !.
it was so obvious that all those on that j.c, like i would think 99.9% of elders , put loyalty to the gb/wt before jehovah, jesus the bible or truth.. they are simply company men through and through.. the average r&f jw seems to me to believe they are serving god, and that comes higher on their list than the wt, you can see this by the way they pick and choose which of the myriad rules they obey.
I find that it depends on the elder. Back in my kiss ass heyday as an elder I was a total WT/FD&S goon and if you as a R&F member didnt measure up you were beneathe me.
Later as I became more moderate and started to realize that being an elder is a political office only I eased up tremendously. Now I truly consider myself trapped as an elder due to pressure from wife and other family members. I hate it and I decline "privileges" as much as I can, I try to treat all with respect, and the other elders are slowly getting tired of me. lol.. I can only hope that soon stab me in the back and I can sit back and do jack squat.
my 97 year old grandmother died last week.
she was actually born and raised a jw.
her mother (my great grandmother) was a russelite.
Sorry for your loss. I do agree, for some its a good ride. My grandmother also was in it for over 60 years and pioneered for over 20 of them. She was happy. Ignorance is bliss as the saying goes.
not that big of a deal, but it is kind of humorous.... my wife and i went to a local mcdonald's for lunch.
yes, i know all the bad things that are in their foods... but it's difficult to find lunch places that are 'healthy' and low-cost.. anyway, she went and sat down, and i ordered the food.
as i came round the corner with the tray filled with burger, fries and the cups for our sodas, i spotted a group of four women sitting at one of the tables.. folks... i just want to make one thing very clear.
lol. That's all JWs do is take breaks, at least in my area. I swear half or more of them dont give a shit about reaching people. Its really sad, such a waste of time seriously!
i posted on another thread about a couple of my experiences of meeting the governing body while i was in brooklyn.
i wanted to see if anyone else had any experiences along these same lines.
i met most of the ones that were current during the 2001-2003 years.
I have met:
Carey Barber- Friendly
Dan Sydlik- Ok
Milton Henschel- Quiet, but told me a joke
Ted Jarascz- never smiled, nodded hello instead of saying it
John Barr- Friendly
Lloyd Barry- Aloof but smiled often
John Booth- friendly
Gerrit Losch- pragmatic, quasi friendly
Lyman Swyngle- Perpetual scowl on his face
David Splane- Friendly, his wife Linda was(is) extremely friendly
Thats it, never met any of the noobies
i have pioneered every time i possibly could, gave talks... i was a good jw!
but for over 40 years, i had nagging doubts about the character of god.
to make a long story short, i'm now a happy atheist!
I am open to expanding my understanding of things, but yes the brainwashed mind takes time to clear out. I am also afraid of accepting evolution as it will mean that probably there is no god... not quite ready to say that yet.
i have pioneered every time i possibly could, gave talks... i was a good jw!
but for over 40 years, i had nagging doubts about the character of god.
to make a long story short, i'm now a happy atheist!
While I do not agree anymore with the god the watchtower promotes, I have yet to disavow belief in a creator. I do not think evolution is logical, I mean how can we be the best that evolution has to offer (survival of the fittest) when we are destroying our own environment and killing off other species left and right.
Its almost as if we as a species do not fit in to the rest of the animal kingdom. What purpose do we serve? If we all vanished every single species on earth would continue and prosper. As an example we are destroying rain forrests, which in turn threatens other animal species. If we were gone, no problem. Why would evolution allow such a destructive and unnecessary species to survive and thrive? Why?
Anyway I am going off subject. Jesus is at best a good historical figure, god almighty, perhaps but I need to be convinced.
for me, i think it's that the witnesses teach they are god's spokesman.
they represent his "faithful & discreet slave"....and that they alone are expounders of the only truth and that if you disagree with anything they teach, you are considered worse than vomit.. it's unbelievable because these people are wrong so many times, it cannot be excused!.
as a witness, you must accept every viewpoint and if you (and your family) do not accept it all, hook, line and sinker, you are "apostates"!!!.
The guilt if you aren't doing "what you are supposed to be doing" i.e. if you miss a meeting you get the "how are you feeling?" at the next meeting. Its a religion that forces people to do what they want them to do by using guilt.
Now, since I don't feel guilty, I do things to keep the other elders off my back. That too is stressful and no way reflecting what Jesus said "...load is kind and light.." They are the opposite of that. F'kin waste of time "religion"
well.....i am now officially on the precipice of divorce.
it started last tuesday night.
my wife brings the kids home at 10:00 pm after the meeting....then dinner....then ice cream.
Good for you. If only I had the guts to stand up for what I believe in and leave this chicken shit religion. You are a stronger man than I am because I fear "officially" leaving the WT because I think I would get a similar response from my wife. I wish you the best with this.
anyone else notice how the org is starting to equate family worship evening with an actual meeting.
i do realize that was probably always their intention but lately i have noticed them grouping it with "...ministry, attendance at meetings...family worship..".
they have the nerve to do that when one of the clearly stated reasons that they gave for disbanding the bookstudy was "increasing fuel costs" also spending an hour or more in some areas to travel to that hour long meeting essentially wasting time.
Anyone else notice how the org is starting to equate Family Worship Evening with an actual meeting. I do realize that was probably always their intention but lately I have noticed them grouping it with "...ministry, attendance at meetings...family worship.."
Are they f'king serious?? They have the nerve to do that when one of the clearly stated reasons that they gave for disbanding the Bookstudy was "increasing fuel costs" also spending an hour or more in some areas to travel to that hour long meeting essentially wasting time. Their solution was to combine that meeting with the TMS and Service meeting. So we are not missing any meetings. So WTF all of a sudden guilting you to use your additional free evening for Family Worship. What's next taking attendance from each household to make sure you attend?
Such bullshit in this "religion"
