Drearyweather

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Posts by Drearyweather

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  114

  the watchtower is starting to crumble

  by pepperheart in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for the december monthly broadcast instead of jws from around the world waving to you and items of how to shun people we will have to make do with repeats of of old gilead videos that have been on the jw website for a good while.

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  Drearyweather

  An EX-JW predicting the end of Watchtower Corp is like a JW predicting the end of the world. Both's not going to happen..
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  18

  The '' other and remaining '' Faithful and Discreet Slaves are '' useless ''

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  faithful and discreet slave parable.

  matthew 24:45-47 "who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time?

  happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so.

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  Drearyweather

  eyeuse2badub

  Most of what you have written is theory, but on ground level, nothing has changed pretty much for the partakers.

  My comments:

  After all, for nearly 100 years, all jw’s were taught and we believed that all the ‘anointed’ on earth at any particular time is what constituted the “faithful slave”.

  Yes, all anointed were the members of the faithful slave, but we were also thought that only a group of anointed was involved in the “spiritual food dispensation” department. Never in the history of the JW’s or the Bible Students have individual partakers apart from the President/BOD/GB were involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food.

  Then suddenly and without warning, much of what we had been taught to believe and what was an integral part of our core beliefs for many, many decades all changed in just ONE Watchtower magazine.

  Most of what JW’s believe has been changed this way, through one Watchtower magazine and without warning. This is the only way any JW doctrine changes.

  Individual governing body members, theoretically, had no more authority than the other members of the “faithful slave” class.

  Individual GB members/President’s had more authority than the other members of the faithful slave. At least in preparing and dispensing spiritual food. Right from Russell’s time.

  Then came the stunning change. The governing body decided, independently from all the other members of the “faithful slave” class, that they, the governing body, they alone were the “faithful slave”.

  This change was not stunning, because, historically, all decisions were made independently of the other anointed ones. In fact, if you go behind in history, only one person, namely the president (Russell, Rutherford) made most of the decisions.

  That, IMHO, was exactly like a governmental coup.

  I think, a coup is when one group seizes power and authority from other group. In 2013, there was a titular change for all anointed individuals. No anointed person, even an individual GB member would tell that they are a faithful slave. Individually, all were now classified as domestics. Regarding power and authority – individual anointed ones never had any power or authority since 1879 and hence there was no question of seizure or overthrow, hence I don’t consider this as a coup.

  It was a seizing of power and authority in a most visible way.

  I am not sure how this was visible, rather than being printed in the Watchtower. What visibly changed for an anointed member in a local congregation?

  I really wonder how the rest of the ‘anointed’ truly feel about their being stripped of their “faithful slave” class designation without their consent or input?

  There are hundreds of protest letters written to the WT. Some of these can be found on the internet and this forum. But its almost rare to find any such protest letter from a disgruntled anointed one who left the JW’s because of the change in 2013. In fact, in 2012, there were 12,000 partakers, while in 2017 there are 18,000 partakers. Such a drastic coup should have decreased the numbers, but it’s become the opposite. More and more are joining the ranks even after the GB feels that some of them are mentally unstable.
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  18

  The '' other and remaining '' Faithful and Discreet Slaves are '' useless ''

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  faithful and discreet slave parable.

  matthew 24:45-47 "who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time?

  happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so.

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  Drearyweather

  The so-called ''Faithful and Discreet Slaves'' who numbered over 15,000 in 2015 are of no use. They are just a distraction. They never dispense any food. They are of no use in the congregations.

  Still, more and more people every year want to be a part of this group. Even after the adjustment in 2013. No wonder the WT calls them as mentally unstable.
  
  
• 
  114

  the watchtower is starting to crumble

  by pepperheart in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for the december monthly broadcast instead of jws from around the world waving to you and items of how to shun people we will have to make do with repeats of of old gilead videos that have been on the jw website for a good while.

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  Drearyweather

  we will have to make do with repeats of of old gilead videos that have been on the jw website for a good while

  Nope. The December broadcast is not a repeat of any old gilead video. It is about the recent 143rd class of Gilead, which is not available anywhere on the website and it would be the first time when it would be translated in numerous languages.
  
  
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  4

  The Phonograph and the Cart

  by days of future passed in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  these special pioneers took the lead in the phonograph work when the society voluntarily withdrew from commercial use of the radio.. to learn of the effectiveness of this new program let's read from the 1940 yearbook, which presents the report for the 1939 service year:.

  the special pioneer work was announced at the columbus convention in september, 1937, and that work has continued now for two years with good results.

  when the special pioneer work began the company publishers were not convinced of the value of making back-calls and the regular daily use of the phonograph.. about 200 specially chosen pioneers throughout the country took upon themselves the responsibility of really putting to use the phonograph.

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  Drearyweather

  Isn't it the same with the carts? All the poor people shelling out money for something that was made with volunteer labor and cheap parts

  Is it? Can you elaborate?
  
  
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  41

  Why dont practicing JWS cant accept the fact that the Watchtower Corporation is a commercialized false prophet ?

  by Finkelstein in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  to the majority of people who investigate the activities of the wts from its beginning history there were obvious false proclamations and doctrines propagated by the wts.. a matter of fact the wts produced a long list of literature that posted proclamations on the front cover and went into detail of things that were suppose to happen, from jesus returning changing the world in which we live and so on.. wonderful things one might say but not factual or either theologically correct .

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  Drearyweather

  I think most JW's didn't become JW's because of the prophecy factor. And most JW's don't care now about the 1975 fiasco. If you see, all the members of the GB and majority members of all the Branch committee members across the world are those who were very well alive and may be pioneering or CO's during the 1975 period. If the ones who lived through 1975 continue to be JW's, then no matter the later generations have no problem accepting it.

  For many JW's, they are convinced about their religion more than gravity. A JW may get up from his bed in the morning and ask, "What if gravity is wrong?" but will never ask, "What if the GB is wrong?"
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  69

  284000 baptized in 2017

  by jw-verite in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  seen in the 03/2018 watchtower study :.

  "during the 2017 service year, more than 284,000 “rightly disposed” individuals symbolized their dedication to jehovah by water baptism.".

  https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-march-2018/baptism-requirement-for-christians/.

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  Drearyweather

  To lie about the stats for specific countries would involve the cooperation of numerous high-ranking JWs

  True. Each country compiles its numbers on Sep 28th and sends it to the HQ by Sep end for the entire service year. Locally, Three service desk secretaries compile the number which then gets reviewed by the the Desk overseer and the subsequent branch committee member who is responsible for the Service Department.

  So if the number is fudged by half a million, it would take a dozen or so branches to fudge these and many individuals from one branch will know of it when the fudged numbers get published in the yearbook. This is true for the partakers too- if they are increasing, they have to report it truthfully.
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  69

  284000 baptized in 2017

  by jw-verite in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  seen in the 03/2018 watchtower study :.

  "during the 2017 service year, more than 284,000 “rightly disposed” individuals symbolized their dedication to jehovah by water baptism.".

  https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-march-2018/baptism-requirement-for-christians/.

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  Drearyweather

  How many are leaving every year these days?

  Very difficult to know. Those calculated as leaving the JW's are not purely those who are voluntarily leaving, but also includes those who are hounded and kicked out (disfellowshipped and shunned) by JW's themselves.

  Are total numbers still growing?

  Total Peak numbers and Total Average numbers are increasing year on year. To show a decline, however, you need to do quite a few calculations and may be separate the african countries from the western/european countries.
  
  
  
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  40

  Difficulty fading out

  by Emily1987 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is my first post on here so i apologize that it is like an essay!.

  my husband and i are currently 'fading out' of the truth.

  we stopped preaching in may 2016 and limited meeting attendance in january 2017 and stopped completely in june 2017. my main reason for this was my whole life i have been doing things to please others, even getting baptized to please my mum.

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  Drearyweather

  I feel like I am still controlled by the religion even though I no longer practice it!

  Technically speaking, for your local congregation, your are still a JW since you have not DA'ed or Disfellowshipped. All Jw's are aware of the fact the as soon as someone starts fading, elders will call on them. The elders will keep calling on you till the time you are there on their cards. I can feel your frustration, however, the sad part of all of this is - all of their control on us was voluntarily agreed by us during our baptism (no matter how young we were at that time)

  Celebrating Christmas- we agreed not to do it while answering our baptism questions.

  Authority of elders- we agreed that elders would be our overseers and that the we would walk as per the spirit directed organization of Jehovah.

  A resounding YES before thousands that we are submitting ourselves to WT's control.

  Its like this - If a person joins the ISIS or enters North Korea and decides to defy their rules and leave the country, there are bound to be some kind of repercussions.
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  46

  What Makes Someone Become a JW?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my excuse is that i was born in the religion.

  but if someone wasn’t, why would they become one?.

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  Drearyweather

  I’m really curious about this too. Especially since when I express any doubt PIMIs tell me that educated people (scientists, doctors, lawyers, professors) are coming into the Truth, so therefore it must be true.

  Any thoughts on this?

  Yes, there are educated people in the JW world and educated people are getting baptized.

  You need educated people to run a cult, religion, country, drug cartel and even a terrorist network. How in the world can you run any kind of an empire without any knowledge and education?

  You need a perfect mix of educated, uneducated, smart, street-smart, rich and poor people to run a religion/cult.