Posts by Drearyweather

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

Drearyweather

Hi EdenOne, Some questions came to my mind after reading your conversation with Simon:

I can count myself lucky - the family on my side hasn't cut me off.So no, it's not about ME

In an earlier post you mentioned that it is easy to prove that shunning policy of JW's are violating human rights because you have testimonials of you and your family as proof of it. But now you say that your family doesn't shun you and hence the petition is not about you?

Try explaining that to this teenage girl of 16 years old whose parents threw her out of the house because she committed "fornication" with a "worldly" boyfriend.

The problem with this example is there are many non-JW's would react the same and there are many cases where people throw their children out and cut-off contact with them. JW's are a minority group, hence the cases of JW's shunning their family members are way much much lesser than other religions or non-religious people who shun and even harm and torture their family members for wrongdoing.

In India, there are some states where people still believe in honor killing, where parents will even kill their adult children if they marry outside their caste. A 16 year old, fornicating? The entire family will be cast out and will be hounded for the rest of their lives.

It's about many thousands of people who have been screwed up by shunning and everything that it entails.

Thousands of lives screwed. But not one court case to back up the petition? Or Am I wrong?

So, I decided to do SOMETHING.

I don't want to question your intentions. Let's assume that the WT in Portugal gets de-registered as a legal entity. But, history has shown that GB has never changed any core policies like shunning when any country has banned them. There are countries where JW's are under ban, but policies are the same.

You said that you want the WT to be legally de-registered but individuals should have the right to continue as JW's. So, what if individual JW's continue to shun their family members even if their entity is deregistered? So would you have the law punish them? JW's would stop shunning only if their GB tells them to do so, not if any any country or any law tells them.

17

Does praying really matter? Where is the evidence?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

matthew 7:7 jesus says: ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

for every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

Drearyweather

Does Praying Really Matter?

Yes. It makes a person feel better, and that's what is important. A believer praying to God is like an ex-JW yelling or shouting at a JW Witnessing Cart. No Impact whatsoever in both, but it makes you feel better.

Where is the evidence?

It really depends on what you want to see as an evidence. A divorcee/single mom with two kids does two jobs a day to support herself and to keep her kids in school. She prays to God to give her strength to face the problems of her life. What evidence do you want to see if her prayers are being answered?

10

JW Funeral Talk Outline

by Phizzy in

hi all,.

a friend has a jw funeral coming up and wants some input if possible, so a copy of the latest outline would be invaluable to him when he talks to the elders, another question he and his brother, neither now jw's, wish to give a eulogy, is this allowed ?.

any advice will be greatly appreciated..

Drearyweather

so a copy of the latest Outline would be invaluable to him when he talks to the Elders

Can't post the latest Outline (12/16), but following are four main headings:

REMARKS REGARDING THE DECEASED

WE NEED COMFORT AT TIMES OF LOSS

THE BIBLE GIVES A HOPE FOR THE DEAD

HOW WE CAN BENEFIT FROM BEING HERE

he and his brother, neither now JW's, wish to give a eulogy, is this allowed ?

Following are the instructions from the latest outline:

. Adapt the material to match the circumstances of the deceased and the needs of grieving ones. While not overpraising the deceased, you may use events from his life throughout the talk to show how those in attendance can benefit from his example. Use good balance in this regard. You may choose to arrange a well-rehearsed interview with a brother in good standing who knew the deceased well. Any use of humor should be moderate. The dignity of the occasion should be preserved. The talk need not exceed 30 minutes. Do not invite the audience to make expressions about the deceased, as this could introduce inappropriate or unscriptural elements into the program.

20

When did Watchtower writings start becoming anonymous?

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

i think most people know that authorship was credited in the old watchtower literature, but at some point everything became anonymous.

i still do not know exactly when this started, but i found this in charles taze russell's last will and testament.

his will was not honored in other respects, so i doubt they would have honored this request.

Drearyweather

Children (published in 1941) was the last book which credited the writer as JF Rutherford.

After Rutherford's death and starting with the book- The New World (published in 1942) writings became anonymous.

48

2018 Convention videos leaked by brave insiders

by Room 215 in

jw
friends

anopther coup for cedars: http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/leaked-2018-convention-videos-celebrate-anti-lgbtq-bigotry-unquestioning-obedience-doomsday-fear-mongering

Drearyweather

I won't say that a insider from Warwick has leaked the videos. All the video files (unfinished) have also been sent to all the RTO and Remote translators (some as early in November 2017) and video teams across the globe for translation and audio recordings. At this time thousands of JW's across the globe already have these videos and it is pretty much easy for Cedars to get a copy.

3

Photo Drama of Creation

by jaydee in

g-day all,.... i've watched on youtube, 'warwick: a journey to my former faith'.

and at 25.33 re the photo drama...it is mentioned that,.

it was the first major screen play to incorporate film.....blah blah blah.... back in 1914, this effort must have been a great piece of propaganda ,.

Drearyweather

But now, I am not so sure it was quite as unique as first thought..Have you heard of the film made by the Salvation Army Called Soldiers of the Cross....?

To my knowledge, rather than being a feature film, Soldiers of the Cross was a multi media media presentation with slides, short vignettes and a spoken lecture.

However, Photo Drama was a major screenplay which synchronized sound with motion picture (moving film) and color slides. In this, Photo Drama was unique in its time.

18

Is it ethical to have children?

by joey jojo in

this was a news article recently in an australian newspaper that caught my eye.. the premise was that to have a child is to inflict an extra human being onto the world and also, to inflict the world (with all its problems) onto the child.. there is a lot to say about this but from jw point of view, i have always believed it to be incredibly hypocritical that jw's have children in 'this system'.

all my life at the meeting i heard how little time we have left, how sick the world is, how i was probably going to be persecuted and end up in a jail cell for being a jw.

why would anyone want to become parents in this situation, particularly if they are confident there is only 'a short time left'?.

Drearyweather

The premise was that to have a child is to inflict an extra human being onto the world and also, to inflict the world (with all its problems) onto the child.

Strange. People on this board have been telling that the world is getting better. So I say that this is the right time in history to have kids.

Why would anyone want to become parents in this situation, particularly if they are confident there is only 'a short time left'?

Because, JW's believe that "a short time is left" for Satan and his wicked world, not JW's. Hence, if they have kids, they would go in the new world with them.

Surely bringing children into a world like this is being completely and utterly irresponsible if you are a JW

Telling someone that they should stop having kids because they believe that the world is bad is like telling me to stop eating food because I believe that obesity in the world is increasing. Or telling people to stop going out of their homes altogether because road accident deaths are increasing.

30

Praying in the name of Michael the archangel instead of Jesus

by krismalone in

just wondering what would happen if a brother saying a prayer in a meeting did it in the name of michael the archangel instead of closing the prayer with "jesus christ".

since jw's believe michael is jesus would he be counseled?

what if a brother used the name michael the archangel in their public talks instead of jesus?

Drearyweather

Nobody wants to comment on Jesus name being Immanuel ? In the christian greek Scriptures ?

The Messiah is identified in the NT by the name Jesus. Even the gospel writers and other disciples in their letters used the name Jesus. This implies that all other names given or ascribed to Jesus were prophetic-title names, mostly used in prophecies to denote the type of work that Messiah would do or his qualities, but not to be used in personal, day-to-day dealings.

30

Praying in the name of Michael the archangel instead of Jesus

by krismalone in

just wondering what would happen if a brother saying a prayer in a meeting did it in the name of michael the archangel instead of closing the prayer with "jesus christ".

since jw's believe michael is jesus would he be counseled?

what if a brother used the name michael the archangel in their public talks instead of jesus?

Drearyweather

Then why do Watchtower and JW believers often (or even mostly?) use the name Jesus when discussing his enthronement, or who supposedly kicked out Satan from the heavens, or who is gonna whoop the infidels' asses in Armageddon?

Because Michael as the heavenly name of Jesus was never meant to be used in worship, prayer, preaching or teaching. In 2 Thess. 1:7,8 Paul himself uses the name Jesus while telling about the time when he comes for destroying the wicked. For believers, the role of Michael as a heavenly warrior who brings destruction is still to be seen in the future, whereas his role as Jesus the Christ and the redeemer has already been displayed during his time on earth. So Jesus is the more preferred name for believers as Jesus as the Christ has impacted them the most than his role as Michael the Archangel.

30

Praying in the name of Michael the archangel instead of Jesus

by krismalone in

just wondering what would happen if a brother saying a prayer in a meeting did it in the name of michael the archangel instead of closing the prayer with "jesus christ".

since jw's believe michael is jesus would he be counseled?

what if a brother used the name michael the archangel in their public talks instead of jesus?

Drearyweather

No doubt he would be talked to but by teaching that Jesus is Michael the archangel, the JW's really cannot technically do anything about it.

Krismalone,

Going by your logic, why don't we call a mango as Mangifera indica? Or why don’t we use Solanum lycopersicum instead of a tomato? Both are scientific names and are used in botanical science.

Imagine if Masterchef or any other show starts using these scientific names instead of common names, would they make any sense for us even if they are technically correct? Your science teacher may use the scientific name during lab practical; but in your kitchen you use the name tomato. Each name has its own usage and purpose and is used where it is appropriate and fit.

Similarly, the name Jesus Christ is used in prayer to address his role as a redeemer and saviour, whereas the name Michael the archangel has a different purpose as his role as a prince and a warrior and is not used by believers while praying.