Posts by Phizzy

23

Observations/Questions from forum newbie

by Obrien in

i joined about 5 days ago and have some observations/questions.. does anyone notice the profile update doesn't seem to work?

i like reading some of the profiles, most accounts don't have them and maybe that's because the tool doesn't function anymore?.

also i've been noticing a diverse number of subjects which made me think of the categories of people on here.

Phizzy

" I don’t think anyone could prove to me that God doesn’t exist.. "

Nobody who is not a Theist has an obligation to do this, it is Theists who make a claim, the Burden of Proof is entirely upon them.

But with a Massive claim such as a god or gods exist, we rightly expect there to be Massive, irrefutable Evidence to back such a claim. There is Nada, Zilch, absolutely Zero evidence of any quality. Hence we can rightly say in this case, Absence of Evidence is Evidence of Absence.

So every realist who can think, should be a non-theist of some stripe.

78

How can Babylon the Great be the WORLD of false religion?

by BoogerMan in

(revelation 17:5) “babylon the great, the mother of the prostitutes (plural!

) and of the disgusting things of the earth.”.

btg is spotlighted as being the principal "disgusting thing" which affects christians & christianity, with other lesser "prostitutes" in the background... (revelation 18:4) “get out of her, my people, (christians) if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.".

Phizzy

I think PioneerSchmioneer makes a good point or two that we Armchair Scholars should take note of, that a true open minded view of what is being studied has to be based upon our own properly done Critical Analysis, i.e we really read the material, use our own Critical Thinking skills, and then our doubts or previous bias are either confirmed or we change our view.

Just back to the Thread Title , without going in to my opinion on the 1st Century identity of B the G in the mind of John of Patmos, J.W's and other people misinterpreting Scripture, miss the point that every Bible Writer insists his predictions will be fulfilled shortly after the time in which he wrote, "John" in The Revelation makes this plain, to look for a later fulfillment than that "short time" is plain silly, IMHO.

12

Update on Russian ban

by raymond frantz in

https://www.jwupdates.com/post/four-jehovah-s-witnesses-sentenced-to-seven-years-each-in-russia.

the following is an update in relation to the russian ban on jehovah's witnesses as it appeared on reuters on the 30th january .

jan 30 (reuters) - a russian court has sentenced four jehovah's witnesses to seven years each in prison after finding them guilty of coordinating extremist activities, according to a spokesman for the religious group.. .

Phizzy

It is an interesting situation though, because under the Russian Law proscribing Extremist Groups, the J.W. Org. ticks all the boxes !

So no appeal will work, and the Org. will not take it to a Court like the E.C.H.R, because they would lose, mind you, they have been silly enough to do that sort of thing before.

Crying "Religious Persecution" and "Human Rights" will not wash, no Group has the Right to ignore other Human Rights, such as Freedom of Conscience, and Freedom of Religion, the Right to Family Life etc. Human Rights always come way above Religious Belief and Practice in Law.

Claiming it is their Religious Right to Shun because it is "based on their view of the Bible" has no more strength in Law than something based upon the Quran.

16

2024 Addendum to Shepherd The Flock Book-and February S-147-Announcements And Reminders!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

2024-01 addendum to shepherd book.. 2024-02-s-147-february announcements and reminders.. .

zipped folder.. .

https://www.filemail.com/d/mcrweztlglnoheb .

Phizzy

As I said in my Post above, the Org. may also be concerned that if they encourage the Dubs to be Official Collectors, those Dubs will be easily proved to be Legal Agents of the Org, which leaves the Org. open to being sued if donations went missing ! or if one of those Dubs committed some other Crime while wearing official I.D.

It is always about the Org. avoiding all responsibility for what Dubs do, and hence, as usual, it is all about the $$$.

101

The Next Big Thing In WT World

by NotFormer in

things got a bit lively after the agm leaks in october.

there was a lot of discussion going on on this board for a few months.

now that all the leaks have been more or less confirmed as policy, and we've had lively discussions at length concerning the changes, things seem to have slowed down here.. a few suggestions have been raised as to what might be the next changes, such as women being allowed to wear slacks (in the usa, anyway), decoupling from 1914 as an anchoring date and others.. so, what changes do you think will be announced this year?.

Phizzy

" the elders don’t want to do much either, they would rather delegate to others" It was ever thus, but who do they delegate to now ?

16

2024 Addendum to Shepherd The Flock Book-and February S-147-Announcements And Reminders!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

2024-01 addendum to shepherd book.. 2024-02-s-147-february announcements and reminders.. .

zipped folder.. .

https://www.filemail.com/d/mcrweztlglnoheb .

Phizzy

Many thanks Gramps !

An interesting read these, I was struck by a couple of things, one was Donations should not be accepted at the Homeowners door, I guess this is because in many Countries Collectors for Charities are regulated by Law, I notice here in the U.K they all wear a Lanyard with their Pic, and details on, I'm not sure if that is a Legal requirement, but the Org. doesn't want to be accused that their Rep. took money and then trousered it !

The other thing is the retention of Records, some good news here for the "Faded", any records on us are soon deleted, not so good for Reproved, Disassociated or Disfellowshipped ones, Records are still held for a while, some permanently.

Another Arse covering thing they are doing is Shredding Records of Elders Meetings etc. quickly, and also, any Letter sent to another Congregation regarding a J.W who has moved.

Thoughts ?

16

Murder JW Style (True Crime)

by Tahoe in

a home remodeling job in england that went wildly wrong:.

a builder who bludgeoned his client to death with a hammer in a row over her new extension has been jailed for at least 15 years for murder.. peter norgrove killed sharon gordon at her home on 20 july last year.. her daughter rhian brown said norgrove acted like a "wolf in sheep's clothing" after earning her trust at the church they attended in dudley.. wolverhampton crown court heard he led the jehovah's witness service the same night he killed mrs gordon.. he repeatedly lied to her about the work he was doing, which took 15 months instead of six weeks.. .

"he didn't have the experience to be doing the work he was doing," miss brown said.. "he took full payment for the extension in advance, which we believe to be more than £30,000.".

Phizzy

What a terrible and unforgiveable Crime, by a prominent J.W ! The tendency to "trust our brothers", as we were told to do, has caused a huge number of problems, and exacerbated the CSA problem of course.

I was speaking with an Elder the other day, about one of his fellow Elders, a lovely guy, who always tried to employ J.W's in his business, he was ripped off by a few of these, others gave poor service to the Company, how many times have we seen this ?

The first Elder advised the guy who ran the Company in question " Do not employ a J.W, unless they really are the best applicant for the job". Wise words.

46

What you think consequences gonna be for watchtower if they lose the court appeal in Norway?

by Hellothere in

personally i think they gonna realise god's not backing org.

that idea gonna get even more established in their minds.

i think the real selling of kingdom hall gonna start then.

Phizzy

This Case is not about "Charity Status" though is similar, read the Article in the link below. It is about being de-registered as an approved Body, nearly always religious, to receive direct Funding from the Government, i.e the Tax payers of Norway. A system they have there, rather anachronistic in my view.

The interesting things about this case are two-fold, firstly though not about Charity Status as in other Countries, the issues raised by the Government's Decision may well prompt other Governments to have a long hard look at the Org.

And secondly ,as this is a Sovereign Decision by Norway's Government, the Org. if it loses, may not be able to take the Case to the European Courts, at least, I hope so !

https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/world/jehovahs-witnesses-sue-norway-after-registration-revoked/

34

The everlasting saga of The faithful and discreet slave class.

by MacHislopp in

at the 128th annual meeting of the watch tower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, on october 6 th 2012 .

during this meeting “food at the proper time” was given and the most important, was given during a symposium of six talks by members of the governing body—brothers jackson, lösch, pierce, herd, lett, and splane— which analyzed and discussed the meaning of jesus’ words recorded at.

" (matthew 24: 45, 46) it must be conceded, then, that at the end ot the world, at the "time of the end", during the presence of the lord, during the harvest, he would have in the earth a servant who would be faithful and wise.

Phizzy

" Seems to me they have built their house on shifting sand." As always !

The utterly stupid thing about the whole nonsense is that it is another bit of twaddle they inherited from C.T.Russell. They have distanced themselves from a good bit of the "Greater Fulfillment" of Scripture nonsense, that not only Russell but Rutherford pursued even more, Rachel's Camels being significant FFS ! but they have to stick in some measure to 1914, though they will let that actual date fade, as they did 1925, and they have to stick to the idea that they are "The Faithful and Discreet Slave", which is the most blatant case of misinterpretation of Scripture that really stands out to anyone reading the Bible with an honest eye and heart.

The Story Jesus told is a PARABLE ! I can remember when they had a W.T Mag. or two showing that all the other Parables had a "greater fulfillment", they haven't done that again as far as I know ! But why not ? how come this ONE Parable has a greater fulfillment ?

The combination of 1914 being wrong, and hence 1919, and the fact that the idea of an FDS is based on what is purely a Parable, means one thing, well two actually, 1) They are making it up as they go along, 2) They are Self Appointed Charlatans !

40

The Reasoning Book

by Magnum in

the book reasoning from the scriptures was released in the 1980's, and it was used at virtually every meeting for service, every service meeting, and every theocratic ministry school meeting thereafter.

many jws had copies bound together with their bibles.

it was huge in jw land back then.. at that time, with the reasoning book, jws were trained to keep conversations going in spite of objections, to almost stick their feet in people's doors to keep conversations going, to defend "the truth," to argue doctrine, etc.. compare the situation today with that of the 80's.

Phizzy

P.P. "W.T scholars" is an Oxymoron surely ?