@punkofnice Wow, you give WT propaganda way too much credit if you're still using the word "reasoning" there...
"Ignorance from the Scriptures" book. Fixed it ;).
reasoning book pg.234 onwards ( from the jw org website):.
last days.
definition: the bible uses the expression “last days” to refer to the concluding time period leading up to a divinely appointed execution that marks the end of a system of things.
@punkofnice Wow, you give WT propaganda way too much credit if you're still using the word "reasoning" there...
"Ignorance from the Scriptures" book. Fixed it ;).
page 16, par.
18 carefully follow the latest directions.. do we faithfully follow the latest directions that jehovah has given us?
if so, we will not rely on always doing things the way we have done them in the past.
I'm sick of the inspiration claims the GB keep on making, all the while not using those words.
"Do we faithfully follow the latest directions that Jehovah has given us?"
Really... did they hear a voice from heaven? What's that - they didn't? Well, then, where the F*CK do these nut jobs get off claiming DIRECT REVELATION?! Either Jehovah has been giving them faulty directions all along (hence, the need for constant updates and doctrinal tweaks and discarded "light"), or these self-appointed narcissists are lying through their teeth.
And there's no way you could fall back on this "gradual light" explanation, given the fact that new light often contradicts old light. If anything, Witnesses have been dazed by the erratic, flickering rhythm of blinding strobe lights; laser beams that could shoot them down if they happen to be on the wrong side of a life-threatening doctrinal decision.
It kills me that the rank and file cannot even see that the only two possible scenarios are a) God has a track record of lies and utter disorder, or b) the lunatics leading them are charlatans, masquerading in full PayPal Papal servitude. The fact that this kind of issue is not even up for pondering or questioning speaks volumes of how lulled into a hypnotic stupor they are by the mind-numbing repetition of the Faithful and Discreet Slave's divine authority.
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.
today the pope said in an interview that hell does not exist.. (we allready knew...).
g..
Evidently, Jehovah is backing the Catholic church since the light keeps getting brighter and brighter. #newlight #notjustforjws #besthellever
i ask because i'm working in a 28 day residential addiction treatment center and one of my co-workers is studying with the jw's.
he does not know i'm an xjw.
i suspect that at some point they're going to tell him he can't go to aa meetings anymore.
Actually, @stillin, the "secret" has been out for a while now:
'Osbourne recalled seeing Bowie at AA meetings and at random locations. "I briefly met him once when I was going to Hugo's [in Los Angeles] with my wife for breakfast. I'd just been to Barney's Beanery," he says. "I heard someone say, 'Hello, Ozzy.' And it's bloody Bowie shouting across the road to me." He laughs.'
-Rolling Stone interview, January 2016 issue.
i have been clear now for 22 years but i am still obsessed.
after going on and on about my experiences to friends and family i have finally realised that no one is interested.. they have won.
no one cares about my ptsd or my suicide attempts or my alcohosm.. i have no one to talk to about this but i really need to get the infection out of my system because it is killing me..
@kramer Thanks for sharing. Four years sober this August for myself :).
@Warren Wilson Trust me, if I wasn't clear from substance/alcohol abuse when I woke up, it might have been a very different story. Clarity will give you the first tool you need to address your PTSD.
Best wishes.
i was musing over this scripture at proverbs 3:27.
"do not hold back good from those to whom it is due , if it is in the power of your hand to do so".
this passage has often been used to show that if we have the means, or opportunity to do good, or to assist others in need, we should act.
Posts like this are what make this forum an absolute gold mine (for me, anyway). There is nothing more thought-provoking than humanizing divine behavior and really asking, "is this genuinely acceptable, even in relatable terms on a human scale?" Too often do we have atrocious doctrine chalked up to "righteous indignation". You've revealed yet another facet of modern man's reasoning, rationale and morality being of far greater sophistication than the deity worshipped by the masses, @stuckinarut2.
It pains me to see millions upon millions of capable human beings resorting to these thought-terminating cliches of "well, no one understand's God's thinking. It's higher than man's." It's the same encumbered pattern of thinking that finds more awe in a burning bush than the elegance of Einstein, Sagan, Darwin or Krauss. These people have forsaken their incredibly complex minds to hide behind human dogma, masquerading as divine. It's tragic.
watchtower article often introduce a point that has no merit with words such a "undeniably.".
for instance the watchtower 2014 august 15 page 10 says:.
"jehovah undeniably blesses the preaching work of christian women and supports them in times of trial.
@punkofnice and @Fred Franzstone
EXHIBIT A:
Pot, meet kettle. Sourced from the March 8, 1974 Awake! magazine, page 10.
Weasel words can include "clearly", "obviously", "apparently" and "evidently". So @punkofnice, you're definitely onto something. You obviously paid attention in the Theocratic Ministry School.
i have been clear now for 22 years but i am still obsessed.
after going on and on about my experiences to friends and family i have finally realised that no one is interested.. they have won.
no one cares about my ptsd or my suicide attempts or my alcohosm.. i have no one to talk to about this but i really need to get the infection out of my system because it is killing me..
Step one: get your addiction to alcohol treated, @Warren Wilson. There is no way you could even attempt to address the negative thinking patterns and PTSD while your brain is in an altered state. And I know what you're thinking: "there were times when I did sober up, and even then, I still couldn't cope with the depression and bitterness I feel toward what Watchtower did to me." Please bear in mind that alcoholism truly does change your brain. If you've done brief stints of detox and been able to blow clean on a breathalyzer, your brain wouldn't have actually been clear. That takes months, even a year, before at a cellular level you're completely clear brain-wise. There are neurological changes at different levels - particularly the amygdala - which really need to be retrained and reprogrammed (hope that doesn't sound like cult speak for "brainwashing"!).
There's so much that goes into this, and white knuckling it for 28 days is far from clean and sober. You need to commit to this and get some local support. AA might be the best place to start. Look up local meeting places and times and rock up. It doesn't even matter if you're drunk upon arrival. The folks there GET it, and they're not there to judge. If you can muster up the courage, you can even take the podium and speak your mind of why you're in this state. It can be emotional, but simultaneously liberating to bear your broken soul and know you're being heard.
Get yourself a sponsor while you're there - it's all free. You need all the understanding and care that you can get when embarking on this path, @Warren Wilson. Deep down, I believe you're still salvageable and can turn this thing around. But it has to start with a physically healthy mind. Only then will the emotional resolutions follow.
watchtower article often introduce a point that has no merit with words such a "undeniably.".
for instance the watchtower 2014 august 15 page 10 says:.
"jehovah undeniably blesses the preaching work of christian women and supports them in times of trial.
Words like "clearly", "evidently" and phrases like "without a doubt" would be intercepted and branded as LEADING in a court of law. In print, I'd refer to these terms as propagandistic words.
how in the hell would it ever work?
everyone is youthful, everyone is perfect, everyone's personality is loving and kind.
how would you choose somebody?
I find flaws attractive. Perfection gets dull fast. The paradisaical populous in the New World will feel like a sea of boring. Show me scars. Show me greys. Show me your soul. I want something that's going to take a lifetime to ponder over and figure out - not a cookie-cutter Truman-esque personality which I can find in everybody else.