Posts by Phizzy

18

Were JW Celebrities Ever An Asset To The Organisation?

by NotFormer in

jw
friends

just wondering if the rich celebrities that occasionally were aligned with the wt gave enough to the 'tower to be a worthwhile presence within the organisation?.

my gut instinct is: "no".

i imagine that the jackson family gave a fair bit, but it was obviously never enough to buy michael the right to be held as being in good standing.

Phizzy

I have never joined in with the idea that Celebs, are something special, but even the Org. as has been pointed out in this thread I guess, thought they were, special enough to mention them, as some kind of validation at least.

My old man set me on that road to reasoning they were not special,or superhuman or something, when I was very young.

He spoke out against the practice of when a G.B member took to the Platform at a big Convention, the audience would clap them vigorously , before they had spoken a word, dad said that was idolizing them.

Later in life I saw first hand how J.W's sucked up to, and fawned over, prominent Bethel guys, and how those guys, and the G.B are the same, absolutely LOVED the adoration !

10

"Beast" Memories

by NotFormer in

i've been crapping on the wt a lot lately, which sometimes seems a bit unfair to me, especially since i was never in, therefore i don't really have a dog in the fight.

to provide a bit of balance, i'll reminisce about the rampant prophecy speculation going on in mainstream christianity (i refuse to use the wt's pejorative term: "christendom", especially since by definition, they're part of that classification 🙄) in the 70s and 80s.

to be fair, the churches themselves had been around long enough to realise that end times interpretations are like arseholes, everybody has one.

Phizzy

Is " hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia " ( an irrational fear of the number 666) the longest word in the English language ? It is certainly the longest word to ever grace the pages on here !

That fear runs deep in Society, they had to change the number on a local 'bus from 666, people complained, thought it would bring evil down on the 'bus, but it ran for many months, until some wag at the 'bus company added an emoji to the sign displaying the number, the emoji was a Devil face, complete with horns ! LOL.

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

" you have pity for people still there " I have pity, and empathy for those still there, to a degree, as it took me until I was virtually an old man to wake up, due to having been born in.

But really, anyone still in must be experiencing Cognitive Dissonance at a much higher level than I was all those years ago, and yet that level I had back then moved me to use the Internet to research , and wake up properly,

It is the usual thing that Cult member do, with those still in, you make a feeble excuse, and put those nasty thoughts way to the back of your mind, and say you will "wait on Jehovah" or some such, a crying shame, because Freedom of Mind awaits, and is just a few clicks away on your computer or phone.

I still have hopes for some of those I love, family and old friends, that they WILL wake up soon !

Maybe we will have some more newbies like O'brien soon ?

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.