Posts by Drearyweather

21

Will paradise be like a 24/7 Disneyland vacation package?

by Sour Grapes in

i was thinking about the jdub paradise this morning and all of the pictures in the watchtower company's literature illustrating the new system of things.. here is a partial list of what you see in the pictures:.

pet pandas, lions, elephants.

people always on a picnic with lots of beautiful fruits and vegetables.

Drearyweather

Sour Grapes: I can't imagine......window washer elders running Paradise.

Here we go again. Why do people have a problem with window washers?

20

Don't Try to Choose Your Beliefs

by cofty in

beliefs are not things to be chosen like new clothes; authentic beliefs happen to us without our conscious attention.. i have often seen comments from ex-jws to the effect that they are now unsure about what they 'ought' to believe.

others express offense when their chosen beliefs are challenged and well-meaning bystanders protest that everybody is entitled to believe whatever they wish.

this misunderstanding of what it means to believe something is unhelpful.. it's natural to want to quickly replace our old beliefs when our worldview has collapsed around us.

Drearyweather

The Cambridge Dictionary defines belief as the feeling of being certain that something exists or is true.

If one can question the existence of God, then each and every religion, sect and cult and religious belief out there can be debated or debunked.

Can all beliefs be classified as right or wrong? or does it depend upon perspective?

For e.g. Are the following random statements actually beliefs or perspectives?

I believe in God

I believe that God does not exist.

I no longer believe in the truthfulness of politics because of the high rate of corruption in my country

I don't believe in the arrangement of marriage.

14

It saddens me to know that marriages break up because of religion and the blame, whose fault it is ?

by smiddy3 in

a jehovah`s witness couple who have been married for many years and some with children of various ages and have been serving in their congregation meeting attendance, fs and bible studies with their children for many years .. and then one of them begins to have doubts about what they are being taught and what they actually are supposed to believe now that some changes have been made with nu-lite.. the doubts grow and then the the use of the internet to investigate further some of the claims of the gb/wt religion .. with the wealth of information available on the www it now becomes impossible to continue to be an active member of the jehovah`s witness religion without being an utter hypocrite .

you no longer believe them anymore that they alone are gods chosen people in this day.. however your spouse does not see things the way you do not at all and after many months of arguments bickering threats the ultimatum is something like if you don`t believe what i believe that you have left jehovah we can`t live together anymore ,i want a divorce unless you come to your senses.. who is the one here breaking up the marriage ?.

isn`t it in the majority of cases the jw who ends the marriage ?

Drearyweather

Who is the one here breaking up the marriage ?

In your example, it is the JW mate who is initiating the divorce. But only in the example that you have given. I would not be generalizing that it is always the JW who initiates the divorce.

Isn`t it in the majority of cases the JW who ends the marriage ? because of religious differences ?

Can't say conclusively unless we have studies that establish this; which we don't have. We can say only from the experiences that we have personally seen. But the cases may wary and there may be many other underlying problems in the marriage other than religious differences.

I have personally seen many couples who have kept their marriage intact even though one of them have left JW's. There are many on this board too.

Is it even a scriptural reason for divorce differences of a religion.?

No

The Jehovah`s Witnesses blame the one who rejects the WT beliefs as the one who has split up the marriage

I would say that whenever any marriage breaks for whatever reason, both the parties blame each other.

Do Jehovah`s Witnesses break up marriages or do those non believing spouses break up marriages of Jehovah`s Witnesses.?

Each marriage is unique and hence this differs case to case. It is next to impossible to generalize because in a broken marriage, both will blame each other for their troubles.

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Drearyweather

Thanks Doug, Thats really good research. I am not that much into this stuff, however had a few questions:

1. Is it true that the tetragrammaton in multiple forms of hebrew does appear in the early manuscripts more than 6000 times?

2. Isn't Yahweh a generally accepted vocal pronunciation of YHWH and Jehovah is an anglicized pronunciation? If Jehovah shouldn't be used, then what is the justification of using Jeremiah, Jesus, Joshua, etc, which are also not the actual pronunciations?

28

Why did the Governing Body come behind the curtain?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

in the movie the wizard of oz, while the whole yellow brick road gang was being addressed by the great and powerful wizard of oz, the dog toto ran off to the side, pulled back on a curtain, and showed that a normal-looking humbug of a person was operating cranks and levers.

for a short while, the normal-looking man kept yanking levers and cranking cranks, and said into the microphone (which made the great and powerful wizard speak the same words) "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

i am the great and powerful wiz .

Drearyweather

This goes booth ways.

If they were still hidden, you would have accused them of being arrogant and pompous.

33

Watchtower and Awake in the cafeteria of my work place

by StephaneLaliberte in

someone at my workplace, i don't know who, is a jw and has been leaving magazines in the cafeteria.

any suggestion as to what i could do?

i thought of writing up a note stating: "to whoever is bringing these magazine: jw have broken up my family, please don't bring religion to work.

Drearyweather

I'm a fadder, so I can't exactly reveal my identity either.

You can tear them and throw them away. The JW will put new magazines again. You can throw them away again. However, with this cycle your identity won't remain secret for long.

Just to know: What would you do if you find a koran or a muslim literature there instead of the JW mags?

13

Old Light - New Light

by Vanderhoven7 in

terry walstrom posted this exceptional link on another thread.

i think it so amazing that it should have a thread of its own so everyone can have clear and easy access to the document.

terry wrote:.

Drearyweather

I am still not sure, if all the points in the document are accurate and shows old light - new light.

For e.g. the following about Saunas:

ARE SAUNAS SHOWN IN A GOOD OR BAD LIGHT??
GOOD, BETHEL HAS ONE - yb 93 p. 29 Jehovah's Witnesses—1993 Yearbook Report
The new five-story wing of 77,000 square feet [7,200 sq m] consists of 39 Bethel rooms, also health-care facilities, saunas, and storage areas.
BAD - w02 10/15 p. 11 par. 10 "Oppose the Devil"
In some countries, mixed bathing in saunas and hot springs is popular, not to mention nude bathing on some beaches. Just as in the early centuries of Christianity, Satan tries to entice God's servants by means of worldly leisure activities.
BE CAREFUL! - g03 7/22 p. 22 The Sweat Bath—Then and Now
Saunas are becoming ever more popular throughout the world, especially in hotels and sports facilities. A word of caution: Unfortunately, in some countries the term "sauna" is used to designate certain places of prostitution. Hence, make sure that the sauna you visit is a real one, used for decent purposes.
GOOD - g06 4/06 p. 22 I Learned to Trust in God
Meeta immediately heated the sauna for me so that I could warm up. The next day she went to Tartu and contacted Linda Mettig. Linda urged me, "Let's start preaching now and cover all of Estonia with the good news."
BAD, CHURCHES HAVE THEM - g07 2/07 p. 6 What Is Happening to the Churches?
Church complexes may include restaurants, cafés, beauty salons, saunas, and sports facilities.
GOOD - g08 3/08 p. 25 In the Land of Thermal Baths
In the 19th century, spa culture was enriched when the Finnish steam bath, or sauna, became better known. In time, saunas, steam rooms, and cold-water pools were added to Budapest's baths.

For e.g. in w02 10/15 referenced above, the wt is not teaching that saunas are bad in itself, but that mixed bathing in some saunas are not acceptable. I don't think this an as example of old light-new light.

For e.g. a person may say the beaches are good, however he may feel that nude beaches are not appropriate for him and his family. This doesn't mean that he is contradicting himself.

23

Why the meetings are boring and uninspiring

by UnshackleTheChains in

each individual may have their own views as to why they feel the meetings are boring and uninspiring.

in my case i find the midweek meeting so, because of the constant emphasis on pitching watchtower literature.

its just monotonous and one big yawn.. i watch other christian faiths where they open up a chapter of the bible and discuss it's contents.

Drearyweather

because of the constant emphasis on pitching Watchtower literature.

That's what the mid-week meeting is made for!!

It is like saying that you find Chemistry class boring because of the constant emphasis on chemicals and compounds.

19

They have nowhere else to go!

by Crazyguy in

i think the overwhelming problem with trying to wake up friends and family is they have nowhere else to go.

i mean these people all their friends are jws a lot of them their family is jws.

if they wake up or agree with you in anyway they know instantly that they loose all this, many will even loose jobs.

Drearyweather

Among the fence sitters, there are many Jw's who have doubts, however, they are sincere believers who love their God and want to continue as JW's. These are the ones who happily wait on Jehovah to correct matters.

Leaving JW's is not an option for them. It is like you may hate Donald Trump and his policies, but that does not mean you have to leave America and settle in another country.

21

Wait one minute here!!! Did the GB PURPOSEFULLY launch a D.O.S. attack on Russia? (aka the letter writting campaign)

by GTSfromSY in

i know this sounds very outlandish by the title but hear this one out:.

a few months back i spoke to an old friend of mine raised "around the truth", but never baptized and wanting nothing to do with the wt.

he is very hip to what is going on in the wt however.

Drearyweather

Not exactly what I would imagine Jesus doing or encouraging others to do!

With regards to the motivation to protest is concerned, WT does not consider it to be different from their Biblical counterparts. There are many stories in the Bible where believers have gone against their ruling governments. In fact, when asked by high officials to stop preaching, the disciples of Jesus blatantly disregarded it and answered in a way that JWs use to their benefit: "We shall obey God as ruler rather than men."

Regarding political neutrality, even though JW as an organization claims to be politically neutral; as individuals, there many many other non-JW's who are neutral in politics as well and don't vote in elections. But neutral or not, each individual who pays his taxes is eligible to exercise his civil rights. Individual JW's pay their taxes and as citizens have their civil rights to practice their religion and thus as citizens have the right to voice his opinion and legally fight for his cause.

Regarding the disruption to the government is concerned, each and every protest of any kind causes disruptions not only to the government but to the general public too. Look at the BLM protests and the Sec 377 protests in India.

When the government of India decided to uphold the Sec 377 which criminalized gay sex, there were large scale protests throughout the country. Many people were concerned about the problems that these protests were causing. However, the disruptions caused to the government and public was pale in comparison to the impact that unjust decision of the government would have on LGBT people.

Similarly, the letter writing campaign of JW's did disrupt the workings of the government. However, the decision of the Russian government of criminalizing JW's would have a far long and a more disastrous impact on the lives of individual JWs in Russia.