Posts by pale.emperor

17

Elders Correspondence Guidelines PDF

by pale.emperor in

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0b0d-uj0uvjrasknuagrmd0vixza/view.

interesting reading.

a few things i learned from reading this that i wasn't aware of when i was a jw:.

pale.emperor

Page 97, you can get disfellowshipped for Boxing but if you do Karate or Judo you just wont qualify as a pioneer or MS/Elder.

Who makes this up? How have they come to this conclusion from the bible?

Matthew 15:3-9

3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.

Great similarity to Pharisee's here: https://bible.org/illustration/pharisaic-laws

Pharisaic Laws

In contrast to the two commands of Christ, the Pharisees had developed a system of 613 laws, 365 negative commands and 248 positive laws... By the time Christ came it had produced a heartless, cold, and arrogant brand of righteousness. As such, it contained at least ten tragic flaws.
(1) New laws continually need to be invented for new situations.
(2) Accountability to God is replaced by accountability to men.
(3) It reduces a person’s ability to personally discern.
(4) It creates a judgmental spirit.
(5) The Pharisees confused personal preferences with divine law.
(6) It produces inconsistencies.
(7) It created a false standard of righteousness.
(8) It became a burden to the Jews.
(9) It was strictly external.
(10) It was rejected by Christ.
Outlined from Fan the Flame, J. Stowell, Moody, 1986, p. 52.

32

What is having the biggest impact on the watchtower Bible and tract society?

by UnshackleTheChains in

hi all.. this is a reasonable question and would love to know what you think is having the biggest impact on watchtower.

there is a plethora of websites talking negatively of watchtower.

there are the never ending court cases regarding child abuse allegations.

pale.emperor

I know for me, and it may have been the same for you, being a witness was such a chore. I mean, i used to genuinely believe it but i hated the door to door ministry and i could tell people just pretended they had joy in it. One on one many would confess to disliking it. There was always one elder in every hall that was very pushy with the ministry and on a Sunday after the meeting would ask if you're going out. So you would just because you didn't want to say no.

Lifesaving work? Na, it didnt feel like it. I felt like i was annoying people and i felt i looked like an idiot talking about the end of the world.

Then there was the meetings. The obligation to attend all of them. Any hobby you had or anything cool going on always happened to be on meeting day. Thursday and Sundays (and before the changes came in Tuesdays too) had a grey cloud over them because you knew your morning or everning will be wasted on a meeting you're not even interested in. I envied other religions that allowed you to worship in your own home, in your own time and in your own way. Meetings and ministry sucked the joy out of being a JW.

And dont even get me started on the changes in doctrine. I was very studious. But was always discouraged from researching outside the Watchtower. Also discouraged from reading anything by Rutherford or Russell. I went through a time of reading Rutherfords books from the congregation library and was approached by two elders asking why i wanted to read them... very strange.

So in a nutshell, apathy, boredom, frustration, and the internet are bleeding the Watchtower of members and long may it continue.

13

What's up with the numbering of the songs and reading them off the screen?

by Spiral in

i don't have to go very often, but last time i took my mother they were singing songs off a screen.

the numbers weren't the same as the songs with the same number on my tablet.

seemed like a lot of people were confused, but a couple of more gregarious attendees were singing (and swaying a bit) "church-style".

pale.emperor

It's slowly spawning into a new beast. My grandad and my dad would turn in their graves to see what it's become now if they were suddenly presented with it.

In fact, there's no way my parents would have joined it in the 1970s if they were presented with this.

17

Elders Correspondence Guidelines PDF

by pale.emperor in

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0b0d-uj0uvjrasknuagrmd0vixza/view.

interesting reading.

a few things i learned from reading this that i wasn't aware of when i was a jw:.

pale.emperor

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0D-Uj0UVJRASkNUaGRMd0VIXzA/view

Interesting reading. A few things i learned from reading this that i wasn't aware of when i was a JW:

You can be disfellowshipped for being smelly.

You can get out of being disfellowshipped if you claim to have been doing serious sin prior to and leading up to your baptism which would therefore make your baptism invalid.

In cases of adultery, if the guilty party files for divorce it doesn't necessarily free the innocent mate to remarry scripturally.

They use the word "retarded" quite a bit.

Another one to print off and keep by my front door for any JWs that knock.

55

Looking forward to going to Memorial this year!

by kpop in

jw
friends

i have some tricks to play.

i know it may sound childish but i feel that creating havoc and forcing the memorial to be postponed will be the highlight of the night!

wish me luck!.

pale.emperor

Farm Girl

As long as you're not planning to do something that could physically harm someone, then GO FOR IT!
Sorry posters, taking a public stand against a CULT that destroys families and literally kills people with its no-blood policy is not even remotely similar to interrupting an Easter service at a mainstream church because you don't believe in the trinity.
And please don't fall for the old "aggressive activism will just drive them further into the cult" - that's exactly what the Watchtower wants you to think.
How can JWs possibly be pushed further into their cult when they are already willing to sacrifice their education, their job, their very lives, and even the lives of their children?!
As fellow humans, as victims of corporate exploitation, Jehovah's Witnesses deserve our respect. As for the cult that bears their name and its annual 'special day'- they deserve NONE.
Resistance to entrenched injustice is never polite. If you're not pushing people's buttons, if you're not making someone uncomfortable, then you're not doing it right.
If you believe in your heart that what you are doing is the right thing to do then do it and don't let ANYONE try to convince you otherwise.
Please keep us posted if you go through with your plans (I hope to God you do). I promise to have your back if they try to pile up on you again.

I couldn't disagree more. This isn't taking a stand.

Point 1: The members of the congregation wont have any idea about the ARC for one thing because they're not allowed to look at it. And for damn sure no elder is going to tell them about it, that's even if the elders know.

Point 2: What the members of the congregation will see is an exJW getting up and disrupting their most holy of evenings. Which is exactly how the org paint exJWs.

Point 3: They dont know they're in a cult.

Point 4: This will be remembered for years to come as "how close we must be to the end because we're being persecuted by Satans world".

If you wish to make a point then take a sip of the wine and a piece of the bread. Many fundamental Christians do when they attend because they genuinely believe they have a heavenly reward.

55

Looking forward to going to Memorial this year!

by kpop in

jw
friends

i have some tricks to play.

i know it may sound childish but i feel that creating havoc and forcing the memorial to be postponed will be the highlight of the night!

wish me luck!.

pale.emperor

I will also ask you not to. Simply because there will be children present and they might get a little freaked out. Let the witnesses have their memorial. They dont know any better. It's the org that we disagree with remember, not the individual members.

16

I've been awake 1 year today!

by pale.emperor in

it was a year ago today that my life changed completely.

i'll never forget it.

i had zero friends in the kh and was never included in the "guys" drinks, football games, parties etc.

pale.emperor

I think what i've learned the most is that although JW's DO have a sort of unity around the world, it's based on fear and it's conditional. I used to visit KH's in other countries and speak to cart witnesses in other countries and it genuinely was nice to meet them. But thats only because JW's are really a minority and it was nice to meet someone who is in the same boat as us. The unity isnt anything special, the Mormons have the same thing. Probably better than the JW's in fact.

Also i learned how unloving JW's can be when you decide to leave. Accusations, gossip, lies, not forgetting the shunning, the Facebook stalking by friends of friends, the random text messages from unknown numbers telling me to RETURN TO JEHOVAH, TIME IS RUNNING OUT! - from people who love me?

It's made me a more honest person. And more compassionate and nonjudgmental. I apologized to a few people after of left, one of whom is a very good friend of mine who is gay. I apologized for bible-bashing him about Sodom and Gomorrah (im so ashamed i did that on a regular basis), about armageddon, about homosexuality being learned rather than a natural occurrence. I asked him why was he still friends with me despite all of this? He answer was "i just thought you were a bit mad, but you're a good person and sincere". That's from a "worldly" person.

It's not easy, but im now out to live "The Best Life Ever".

36

What is the basis for advising “Don’t pursue higher studies”?

by venus in

two elders who visited my friend last week encouraged her not to pursue higher studies.

it seems they are dishing out the same old stuff: “the end is imminent, and this is the time to do more in the service; hence don’t waste your resources on higher studies.”.

i wonder whether there was some official communiqué (something that is sent out recently like letter to the elders, or kingdom ministry article …).

pale.emperor

Reasons that were drummed into me growing up:

The end is just around the corner, silly! (This was 2001).

You'll be surrounded by worldly people that Satan will use to entice you

There's nothing out there

You'll be in debt for years afterwards

You'll be missing out on association with JW's your age, the best way of life!

Why not use your skills in the truth?

You can be a <insert interest here> in the new system

Be like Timothy (the bible character, not some boy called Timothy)

14

My story

by victory in

my name is collins.

i am from nigeria.

i was born in the year 1997. i was raised by witness parents.

pale.emperor

Hello Collins and welcome. I'm sorry to hear about your situation.

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

pale.emperor

I remember as i was trying to fade i said to an awake JW who cant leave:

"If i were God I'd make it very simple for my little creations to know if i existed and that i was the one true God. For one thing i would speak to them. Secondly I'd say "if you let me look after you, you will never grow old and die. (Notice that I didn't say worship, I'm not an egomaniac, i said "if you let me look after you""). Those who didn't want to let me look after them, well they'd see the results of that. You'd have my people in health, happiness and prosperity. And those who reject me living dull lives. But anyone could approach me and let me care for them."

Im no genius, but to me that just made more sense. And Jehovah never thought of it.