Phizzy

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Posts by Phizzy

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  72

  How many TRUE BELIEVERS do you think are left in the Organization?

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have a few jw relatives who are true believers.

  by this i mean, they believe with all their heart that 1914 was the beginning of the last days, that this is the last generation, that we are in the very last of the last hour of this system of things, and that you should obey the governing body even if it does not make sense.

  all of them are in their 60s and up into their 90s there is nothing you can say or show them to convince them or even cause a small doubt that the wt is not god organization.

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  Phizzy

  I have a job to put a figure on this, as some have said, exactly what we all feel is a " true believer" is also problematical, it is so difficult to determine what "doubts" an individual has, and how deep they go.

  In my case I was 2nd generation, baptised at 12, served as a regular pioneer for a while, a MS etc in my nearly 60 years in. And yet I never believed ALL of it, I particularly never bought in to the Armageddon ideas they had, or in to, more importantly, the Cult of the Governing Body.

  From the outside you would say I was a " true believer", but I was not, not in the way the Governing body would want me to be. I guess what we are trying to measure is " Depth of Delusion".

  Those that are sufficiently deluded will follow straight away without question whatever the G.B says and whatever direction they go in. I would take a stab and say that is in fact only about 2 million of them or even fewer than that. The next level kind of tries to believe it all, but doesn't fully, then you have the half awake, then PIMO's, but stuck in , and then those that are really fully awake too, but are not stuck in, just in by choice.

  Before long the lower 6 million will start to drift away. 2 million will remain, in a mainly on-line religion. My estimate.
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  7

  Well done, Boris, for getting us a Brexit deal!

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. current

  boris johnson is often mocked, but he has recently achieved what former pms thought highly unlikely - boris has gotten the uk a brexit deal, and has got brexit done, keeping his manifesto promise.. well done, boris!

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  Phizzy

  Nothing in this bill shows that the Westminster parliament has ‘taken back control’ from Brussels.

  This draft bill instead shows that Whitehall – that is, ministers and their departments – has taken control of imposing on the United Kingdom what it agrees with Brussels.

  And presumably that was not what Brexit was supposed to be about.
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  7

  Well done, Boris, for getting us a Brexit deal!

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. current

  boris johnson is often mocked, but he has recently achieved what former pms thought highly unlikely - boris has gotten the uk a brexit deal, and has got brexit done, keeping his manifesto promise.. well done, boris!

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  Phizzy

  I hope that is all sarcasm ? I don't want to get in to it here, it is boring for people to hear of our Political problems, but I am confident you see the faults in what you said ? and therefore you are joking ?
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  9

  Smokin' Phizzy !

  by Phizzy in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  as a jw teenager in the 60's i took up smoking.

  i gave up in my early 20's when my new wife and i decided , mistakenly, that it was a good idea to " make a proper go of da troof".

  in all the intervening decades i still enjoyed the smell of a fine cigar.. when i left and became free, i took up smoking again, always fine cigars, and ended up hooked, and smoking ten or more a day.

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  Phizzy

  As a JW teenager in the 60's I took up smoking. I gave up in my early 20's when my new wife and I decided , mistakenly, that it was a good idea to " make a proper go of Da Troof". In all the intervening decades I still enjoyed the smell of a fine Cigar.

  When I left and became free, I took up smoking again, always fine Cigars, and ended up hooked, and smoking ten or more a day. I gave up, officially, in August of this year, but still allow myself a celebratory Cigar on special occasions. I have just enjoyed my Christmas Cigar, the next will probably be on my Birthday in a few months time.

  The last occasion was just as I was waiting to go in to the Chapel for the funeral of a good friend of mine, he was like the brother I never had, and he and I had spent a lot of time together, often smoking, enjoying a drink, and chatting and laughing together. He was a lovely man, loved by hundreds, who would have been at his funeral as well as me, but for Covid, and my Cigar was to commune with his memory.

  I feel a great peace, and enjoyment of my true freedom, when I smoke, and feel in tune with so many great souls when I do so.

  I do not wish to encourage any to smoke, but, do any of you enjoy things forbidden by JW's, and even some other things condemned by non JW killjoys ?
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  10

  JW's and deciding which PAGAN traditions to follow or not to follow. Merry Christmas all!!

  by goingthruthemotions in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  * first i would like to say.....i apologize to my son's everyday for getting them involved in this cult because i took so much from them as far as celebrating holidays go.

  they are now 22 and 17 great kids.

  they want nothing to do with the cult.

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  Phizzy

  All Bible believers, Christian or not, operate a Pick and Mix approach to how they practice their religion. So, it is a case of you " Pays your money and takes your Choice" for them.

  Very hypocritical, and VERY annoying when they try to impose some of the things they have decided to pick , upon others of us ! All the while they are ignoring the rest of what is commanded in their Holy books.

  A good book on this is by a Jewish guy who tried to do what was in the Title , i. e. " A Year of Living Biblically", he really couldn't do it, but he consulted many religions on this, including JW's, and concluded NOBODY could live in the modern world and live Biblically !
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  43

  As a JW Were You or Someone you Knew Falsely Accused by Elders ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thought i'd put this out there to see if you knew of people in the jehovah's witnesses who were falsely accused or mistreated by the " police " or elders in the congregation.

  many times it's been by experiencing injustices that get us to get shaken out of our cult thinking mode and reality kicks in and the scales fall from our eyes that the wt society is just a man made organization whose leaders are no better than us - actually in many cases more unscrupulous and conniving than any of us would have ever been to each other !

  i was falsely accused 2 times .

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  Phizzy

  Funny, I remember this Thread ! I have not read all of it again, but I wanted to tell a quick story that I don't think I have told before ?? Not a false accusation though, a real one !

  I was at an XJW Meetup and a young kid i knew told me that when he was still in he was hauled up in front of the Elders because of a huge boozy Party of young JW's he had attended, and a number stayed the night up on the floor of the House where he had bagged a bedroom. The Elders had established the couples who went up there, all unmarried, and asked him to tell them who had slept together.

  He swore blind that the girls and boys had taken separate bedrooms. He said to me, " They didn't, they were at it all night". The elders accepted what he had said, and the kids got away with a night of passion. As he said to me " Where was the Holy Spirit to direct those Elders I fooled ?". Good point.
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  5

  Gma exvited

  by Gma-return in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  gma is excited.

  i found out for christmas i'm going to be a great grandmother twice over.

  granddaughters (sisters) are both expecting.

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  Phizzy

  " there are some great guys and gals here " ........ there is the odd old crusty curmudgeon like me too !

  Welcome ! grand children, and great grand children are SUCH utter joy ! and you feel a love for them like no other love, so very strong !

  Enjoy them, love them, make sure they never join a Cult !
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  34

  Was Jesus Born on December 25th?

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we were told by watchtower that no way jesus was born on dec. 25th.

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  what do you think now?.

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  Phizzy

  Jeffro has provided the definitive answers for this Thread, the Jesus Myth is exactly that, we have no facts to go on, the Gospels etc are all Fiction.

  It may be fun to debate things about the Stories, as it is about Tolkien stories or whatever, but if you want Facts and Truth about the Historical Jesus, there are none, and I doubt there ever will be.
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  31

  Who was it who ''rescued'', or ''saved'' you?

  by Beth Sarim in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  from the borg?.

  i point to none other than cal lehman and the towerwatch ministries.

  towewatch.com.. the years following the collapse of the ussr and the 1995 generation left a bad taste in my mouth for a long time.

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  Phizzy

  An Elder kind of provided the Straw that... you know, he promised to come back for a second "Shepherding" visit to prove to me that the 1914 Doctrine was in the Bible. He never returned.

  I then went on to Greg Stafford's Site and found , FANTASTIC ! another JW, as he was at the time, who does not believe the 1914 rubbish ! I then researched some more, found MANY who had sussed LONG before me that 1914 was crap, and therefore the G.B were Charlatans, and one of them directed me to this Site !

  I must say that members of this Site, REALLY saved me. I was contemplating suicide, would have done it too, had it all worked out, and a good number on here BEGGED me to seek Therapy. I did, and my Depression was put under control. Thank you ! from the very depths of my soul to those Posters, most of whom have moved on now. I would never have known my beautiful grand children, and never once in my life have experienced REAL happiness, if I had topped myself. Thank you Thank you !
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  62

  -0:6 negative growth 2020 service year

  by Fadeaway1962 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  phttps://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=e&pub=syr20&srcid=share .

  plus another increase in memorial partakes number etc .

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  Phizzy

  I agree with the analysis of these figures on here, nothing to get overly excited about, and good reasons for poor figures, poor from the Org's perspective , not ours !

  They will improve a bit on these figures, as Covid is beaten, and will no doubt put forward as a triumph the more dramatic of seeming improvements.

  The fact is that the Org is moribund, it will shrink in size because of a number of factors, but I firmly believe it will be around for many decades yet. Its Business Model is a good one still, if less profitable than in the past.

  It will be interesting to see the figures that come out in 2023 to get a better picture of what is really happening.