Posts by David

68

What was it like being a JW in the 1960's and 1970's

by UnshackleTheChains in

this is obviously a question for the older generation.

i'm really curious what it was like to be a witness in the 60's and 70's?.

was the society as strict as it is today?.

David_Jay

I remember having friends in school who were JWs during the 1970s. They couldn't do so many things the rest of us kids could. They dressed like they were always at Sunday School instead of like other kids in jeans and tennis shoes. No faithful JW kid in elementary/primary school expected to go to high school as the end of the world was truly upon us.

The books studied were thick and focused mainly on how the experience of the anointed remnant was typified by the accounts in the Old Testament. "Proof" that it was the end was the fact that the anointed remnant was undergoing an antitype experience that was hidden in the Hebrew Scriptures and being unlocked now to be understood. Those with the earthly hope were happy bystanders to this, but they were the "faithful an discreet slave CLASS" among us. So all the studies generally focused in-depth on this type/antitype paradigm of the remnant that was the cornerstone of how "late" and "deep" we were in the end.

The magazines constantly published blurbs on how the world had to end in the mid-1970s. If God didn't bring Armageddon soon, the world would eat itself up before 1980. Destroying the world and slaughtering all the non-Witnesses was actually a loving and merciful act on God's part otherwise humanity wasn't going to survive.

Publications had illustrations that reminded me of Welch's Grape Jelly drinking glasses: line drawings with single-color splashes added here and there. We sold our books and magazines "at cost."

Someone in my area had black on white stickers and bumper stickers printed up and pasted them everywhere around town during 1974 and 1975 that read: "JEHOVAH is coming!"

27

"jesus never said the spiritual food would be perfect"

by nowwhat? in

oh so it's jesus fault the spiritual food hasn't been perfect!

we your governing body are just responsible for serving it!

think about this people, they are saying it was jesus who told us the end was going to come in 1975. then before the 1914 generation passed away no later than the 1990's.

David_Jay

It's funny (or not funny), because that Watchtower study basically read like an "apostate" wrote it: "The teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses are neither correct nor from God."

Now what's the difference between me or you having said that since we left and over the years and what the Watchtower just taught? "The teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses are not inspired nor to be considered perfect."

Since "inspired" means "God breathed" or spirit-directed from God, and saying that a teaching isn't "perfect" is another way of saying it isn't accurate or true, doesn't this just mean the Governing Body has admitted that they aren't directed by God and haven't been teaching "the Truth"?

It's not even a good enough cult to claim it's brain washing is the best anymore.

49

Do religious people fear that their religion may be wrong???

by James Mixon in

because there are so many religions in the world and it is obvious that no matter what the truth is, a large population of people will be wrong about it.

we at one time believe we had the truth and 99% of the world population were in darkness, but i wonder about folks in other religions today.

speaking with a christian friend about this and he told me," that's for god to decide, i hope i'am serving god"...the sad thing about all of this if one die and still believe in his religion, he will never know he was in the wrong religion.

David_Jay

I could go on, but Cold Steel is not my target, nor is Mormonism. It is to demonstrate that religions like the LDS are just like the JWs In claiming to know the accurate truth about things but actually proving to be unfamiliar with much of what they claim to understand.

In fact, one might also add to the OP that the real problem is that many religious people do NOT fear that they CAN be mistaken. Because of this they don't listen to evidence, prefer to engage in confirmation bias instead of listening to and learning from a direct source. They claim to know more about things than they really do, such as the various points Cold Steel claimed Mormons know about Judaism and Jews. Instead of having the courage to say they are wrong, they make excuses or just go silent and ignore the fact that their religion leaves them quite unprepared and uniformed.

Maybe some religious people need more fear to keep them humble and modest enough to keep themselves from claiming to know things they have never really studied directly from the source (or only read a few blurbs). Perhaps some are not afraid that they can become taken over and blinded by pride.

49

Do religious people fear that their religion may be wrong???

by James Mixon in

because there are so many religions in the world and it is obvious that no matter what the truth is, a large population of people will be wrong about it.

we at one time believe we had the truth and 99% of the world population were in darkness, but i wonder about folks in other religions today.

speaking with a christian friend about this and he told me," that's for god to decide, i hope i'am serving god"...the sad thing about all of this if one die and still believe in his religion, he will never know he was in the wrong religion.

David_Jay

Cold Steel also contradicted himself here:

The Jewish culture must not be lost under any circumstances, and what we deem as the old testament scriptures backs that up...
...shall suffer the judgments of Yahweh.

To utter and use the Name of God or use substitutes created by Gentiles (such as Jehovah and Yahweh) is one of the greatest means to attack and destroy the culture of Jews.

In Jewish culture, the holier something is, the less that thing gets used. Mundane names, like mine, may be used for humans and even other things. But the Name of God (YHVH) is a Self-Designation of the Divine. As such, Jewish culture and Law dictates that it must be handled the opposite way mundane names are used. Thus it is not uttered or written out, nor are Gentile substitutes like Yahweh used for it.

The use of the Name in this manner profanes it and goes against Jewish cultural and religious practice. So special the Name of God that some Jews even write G-d instead of "God" so as not to subject any name of God to possible misuse.

If Mormons really believed in preserving Jewish culture, they would not profane the Name of God in this manner.

Also the fact that Mormons "believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly" is also an attack on Jewish culture.

Jews generally don't require the use of a translation of Scripture. While many Jews may not actually speak Hebrew, all of them know enough to read from it liturgically in its original Hebrew. Some know at least enough to pray and sing in Hebrew, and the majority don't have to rely on translations of any type at all.

That the Bible would have to be "translated" at all for it to be accepted as God's Word is anti-Jewish. To preserve a culture means preserving its language. Translations do not do this.

While I know that Mormons are not forbidden to study Hebrew, it is the statement that belief in the Bible as the Word of God is with the stipulation that it be "translated correctly."

25

Do you feel that you are really YOU?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i am interested in finding out how you view yourself.

are really you when it comes to every day interactions....ie when at work, with family or friends, or if attending meetings?.

if still attending, do you feel you are not the real you at meetings?

David_Jay

UnshackleTheChains,

I am grateful you realized I was not reducing your situation to something it is not. Family is worthy of the sacrifices you make, and I am sure yours definitely is.

But also remember that familial love works both ways. You have a right to have your family love you for your personal choices. You can make them realize how much they are hurting you and not being truly loving by not supporting you. It works both ways. Tread carefully, yes--and you are to be commended for this because it shows real love and courage on your part--but also remember that its a family. They owe you their familial love just as much.

Let's say if, like me, you learned you were actually Jewish. Since 2001, the governments of Portugal and Spain have begun to offer people citizenship for those whose ancestors were expelled during the Spanish Inquisition. Now millions of folks who thought they were Latino have discovered they are actually Semitic, and many have discovered they have been practicing Jewish customs unknowingly for generations. The nation of Israel estimates there are some 10,000,000 of these Jews out in the world who are just learning of their Jewish ancestry, and that government has begun a process to offer citizenship to all these too.

What if tomorrow you learned this was true of you? What if you wanted to not only learn more about your ancestors but accept citizenship in one of these countries (along with your current one)? What if you wanted to do more and make a formal return to Judaism? Would your family support you? Would you not tell them how much their love and support was necessary for you at this junction in your life and how disappointed you would be if they shunned you? As you learned of family you lost to the Inquisition and read names of relatives you lost in the Holocaust to them, perhaps even have pictures of some as I do, and you showed these to your family, wouldn't you deserve their full support regardless of their current beliefs? Wouldn't you give it you someone in your family who is a JW who suddenly learned this?

Well, you don't have to be a Jew to deserve such support. You can simply choose another religion. Maybe you want to be agnostic. Perhaps you feel more comfortable as an atheist. Is suddenly realizing you are a Jew somehow more important that realizing that you truly don't believe in God anymore and want to be atheist? Of course not! Whatever you are now deserves, no, demands as much love and support from family and friends.

However you do it, again you are brave for going through this for your family. You are the judge of how long you do it or if you decide to do it forever till something gives. But you also have to be true and honest for yourself too. Sometimes you have to point a mirror at someone when they frown at you because they don't realize how ugly a face they are showing you. Sometimes you can turn the tables around and show them what they are offering you to eat, that it is not good. If they can force you to go through the motions at a Kingdom Hall you can demand they go through the motions just as much when you light a menorah at Chanukah or raise a banner in the name of atheism or whatever it is you want to do.

Wives have to love their husbands if they suddenly become Jewish or atheist or whatever, and vice versa. And children can be punished for disrespecting the personal convictions and customs of their parents. It's not your job to only love them. It's their job to love you back too. They have to. If they are going to be in your family, they have no choice.

49

Do religious people fear that their religion may be wrong???

by James Mixon in

because there are so many religions in the world and it is obvious that no matter what the truth is, a large population of people will be wrong about it.

we at one time believe we had the truth and 99% of the world population were in darkness, but i wonder about folks in other religions today.

speaking with a christian friend about this and he told me," that's for god to decide, i hope i'am serving god"...the sad thing about all of this if one die and still believe in his religion, he will never know he was in the wrong religion.

David_Jay

Cold Steel,

There is a reason I mentioned "The Annotated Jewish New Testament" and those two documents from the Vatican. These are good starting points to answer all your questions.

I made links on these materials because I expect you to see the evidence for yourself. I knew you wouldn't believe me, so I wanted to make data that verifies my claims accessible.

Don't people avoid learning about Mormonism directly out of fear sometimes? It is easier to do this for some because people fear to be proven wrong. This is what is happening here.

1 Corinthians 15:29 is not foreign to Judaism. Baptism is based on the Jewish practice of "tevilah." Converts to Judaism would engage in tevilah by immersion ( the Greek word from which "baptism" comes from) in an immersion pool or tub called a "mikveh." The experience symbolized rising from death to a new life in Judaism.

But tevilah in a mikveh is also required by Torah if one comes into contact with a dead body. One "washes away death," so to speak, by means of this.

As "The Annotated Jewish New Testament" will tell you (if you would just read it), the Greek of 1 Corinthians 15:29 can actually be rendered "washing the dead" since "baptism" literally refers to this ritual wash. While likely a play off the words and practice of Jewish ritual washing, it is not phraseology unheard of to Jews.

Mikveh is actually performed before all Jewish burials. The dead body is washed or "baptized" via tevilah. This is a proxy tevilah as the ritual must be engaged in voluntarily when alive. Therefore when a dead body undergoes tevilah via mikveh it is done by proxy, by another who "washes the dead," or baptizes you in a mikveh since you cannot. So the Mormon belief is not "new" or foreign to Jews as you claim, just given a different meaning and practiced differently by LDS.

As for what Jews expect about the Messiah, why not hear from other Jews as well. Visit JewsforJudaism.org or Aish.org for starters. You may also want to visit your local synagogue and ask those in religious education there.

Anyone following this discussion between you and I can see you have great misconceptions about Judaism and have built upon these misconceptions to build your arguments.

I go back to the OP here because the only reason you wouldn't know precisely what Judaism teaches on these subjects is that your religion doesn't allow you to be exposed to information that isn't filtered. You don't check up on these things for youself. Why not? This is out of fear. For if you just learned for yourself or read up on these things you will see that you have no sturdy foundation to stand on for your arguments. So you just keep arguing back to me here instead of looking up these things for yourself or visiting your local synagogue. Use the links and web sites I have given you. Learn from the source. Why not? Are you afraid to be proven wrong? Would you be brave enough to accept that you are?

A lot of religious people hold on to their misinformation about the Jews out of fear. You would rather argue to support your misinformed views of Judaism than stop and learn for yourself. The OP is right. It's all fear.

49

Do religious people fear that their religion may be wrong???

by James Mixon in

because there are so many religions in the world and it is obvious that no matter what the truth is, a large population of people will be wrong about it.

we at one time believe we had the truth and 99% of the world population were in darkness, but i wonder about folks in other religions today.

speaking with a christian friend about this and he told me," that's for god to decide, i hope i'am serving god"...the sad thing about all of this if one die and still believe in his religion, he will never know he was in the wrong religion.

David_Jay

Cold Steel wrote:

As Moses led his people and taught them, Jesus taught new doctrines that were strange to the base religion of Judaism. The Jews heard those doctrines and said, "this is not the messianic concept we were expecting. Blasphemy!"

Actually this is not true.

For instance, the Jewish Annotated New Testament shows through its various footnotes and study articles throughout that practically none of the doctrines Jesus or the Christians taught were particular new or strange. The Jewish Annotated New Testament uses the NRSV text and is available through your favorite bookseller. It disproves this very mistaken view of Mormons that Cold Steel is presenting.

Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah not due to his teachings, but due to the fact that he didn't become the Messiah, period. The concept of "mashiach" or "Messiah" is simple. It refers to the "anointing" or crowning of a person who gets accepted as king and rules as such. This means that the Jews as a whole have to recognize the person as "mashiach." It is a public act, and there is some democracy involved in it (regardless of what groups like the JWs or the LDS suggest). God doesn't merely "anoint" someone as Messiah. The people, the Jews, anoint their king.

This event didn't happen. Jesus was killed by the Romans. If the Messiah dies before getting anointed and fulfilling all he is supposed to, he is not the Messiah.

But Jesus is considered a sage of Judaism. This means his central teachings follow the core of Jewish belief. For instance, Jesus taught that the Mosaic Law was to be observed. (Matthew 5:17-19) The early Jewish Christians did this. (Acts 21:17-26) Technically speaking, as long as a Jew remains Torah observant, they can "believe" whatever they want. A Jew can believe that Jesus of Nazareth or anyone else is the Messiah as long as they don't stop practicing Judaism. Remember Judaism is not like Christianity. It's not a religion of faith or belief. Judaism is a religion you practice.

The division came when Christianity started to claim that Jesus was God Incarnate and that Christianity superseded the nation of Israel (and subsequently that the Jews were damned for rejecting Jesus as Messiah). This occurred only after the Bar Kokhba revolt ended in all Jews being removed from their land by the Romans in 135 C.E. Up till that time the Hebrew Christians lived peaceably among the other denominations of Judaism. Hebrew Christianity disappeared in 135 C.E.

After this all Christians were forbidden from keeping Jewish cultural practices, and this caused the division. Jesus never taught this. The era of proselytism began, and all forms of Jewish culture (all of it is based on Judaism and observance of the Mosaic Law) were outlawed. Jews didn't reject Christ. Christians rejected the Jews.

All of this can be found not only by reading from the Jewish Annotated New Testament but from several documents from the Roman Catholic Church, two in particular entitled "The Jewish People and their Scriptures in the Christian Bible" and "The Gifts and Calling of God are Irrevocable." In these the Church admits that the division was not all the Jews fault, but one they and all Christianity played a part in. These documents, especially the latter, explain that the Church now rejects all forms of proselytizing of the Jews and teachings of supersessionism. Most mainstream Christian groups have come to accept the second document as representing their own view as well, in particular that the Jews have never been rejected by God and are still very much in an active covenant with the God of Abraham.

Cold Steel's comments are nothing more than very false information designed to create a "straw man" argument.

25

Do you feel that you are really YOU?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i am interested in finding out how you view yourself.

are really you when it comes to every day interactions....ie when at work, with family or friends, or if attending meetings?.

if still attending, do you feel you are not the real you at meetings?

David_Jay

I feel like me 100% of the time, and I try to make sure I act like me too.

When I was a JW (many years ago), I remember having to hide some of who and what I was. That was why I left. I am not happy or healthy or honest when I do that. It's wrong.

However I always felt like me, just someone who had to keep some things more private than others. Not feeling like yourself is something different. It can actually be the sign of a medical condition, known as Depersonalization Disorder or DPD. It's a dissociative disorder that can actually be caused by great stress, such as the kind regarding having to fit in when in a cult.

While people sometimes have to detach and just "go through the motions" for different situations at times (such as times of disaster or emergency), doing this for long stretches of time can lead to this mental disorder. There is only so much of "going through the motions" a person can take. Eventually a person will feel detached from the what they do to such an extent that they begin to question reality itself.

This doesn't sound like you from your post, but it can be a warning sign. No one should put themselves through this. Eventually you have to be you. Otherwise "you" will shut down. Make sure you have more than ways to merely "vent."

While I understand enduring things due to a family situation, remember that forcing yourself for family reasons is very different. One doesn't "force" a family experience. If you have to, then it means you are not really part of that family anymore or that the family may not really be there. There is a big elephant in the room. Elephants don't stay still. They will eventually stomp things and all will end up destroyed.

It sounds horrible, but cults are burning buildings. All of them are. You can try to save who you can from them, but eventually time will run out and you will have to choose whether you are going to survive or burn with those who won't leave. There's no easy out in a cult.

51

Today's W.T on GB not being inspired is having ZERO impact on most J.W's

by Isambard Crater in

jw
friends

the congregation i attend had it's watchtower study on thursday night because of l.d.c work this week-end, and another congregation i have some not very spiritual friends in had their watchtower study on wednesday.

from what i have delicately prised out of people, the congregations loved the watchtower study this week, saying it was so encouraging and all the usual stuff, with no-one seeming to realise the g.b.

said they're not inspired, so the spirit int he past has moved them to teach wrong things, and all the other ideas excellently summed up on reddit.. today's watchtower will wash over the heads of most j.w's like it never even happened, the all remaining as loyal as ever, and it makes me so, so sad..

David_Jay

I think the opposite, that it has tremendous impact. Just not the kind you think.

You see, this is a relief to hear that the GB is "not inspired." So much time has passed without anything happening the way the leaders of this religion have promised for over 100 years that there is actually tremendous stress placed upon the average JW believer. How do they make it all work out?

Simple: The Governing Body tells everyone they are not inspired.

Ah. What a relief! It's like having to pee for a very long time, not having anywhere you can go, and then suddenly you can--and now you have relief. "Nothing has happened as promised because we don't have inspired leaders. That makes perfect sense!"

These people don't want to run away. They just want someone to keep patting them on the back, making them feel special and unique and smart for "making the choice" to join the "one true religion." (They are so enlightened for doing that, right?)

But the one true religion doesn't deliver! That's okay. It's because the leadership is not inspired. Oh, okay. There's some bias confirmation I can use. I feel relief.

That's the big impact this has. It will keep people who are on the brink of letting their doubts wake them up from waking up. It's another nail to keep the coffin shut, keeping the living person on the inside from busting out. It's noise so you can't hear them shout: "It's all a lie! I'm alive! I'm not dead!"

It won't last forever. Eventually they will run out of nails and noise. But for now it's a strong new Band-Aid brand adhesive strip. Keep the festering sore covered so they don't have to look it...until it starts smelling and causing an infection. Then it will be time for some new "here's-just-any-answer-so-you-can-shut-your-inner-voice-up" again.

What's my guess the next one will be? "The increase in the memorial partakers is because the 144,000 is the number of anointed since 1914 because Revelation is a prophecy about 1914 onwards. The number can only apply to people anointed since then, not before."

49

Do religious people fear that their religion may be wrong???

by James Mixon in

because there are so many religions in the world and it is obvious that no matter what the truth is, a large population of people will be wrong about it.

we at one time believe we had the truth and 99% of the world population were in darkness, but i wonder about folks in other religions today.

speaking with a christian friend about this and he told me," that's for god to decide, i hope i'am serving god"...the sad thing about all of this if one die and still believe in his religion, he will never know he was in the wrong religion.

David_Jay

unsure,

That's more or less how Jews view it. That's why things like "evidence of a Creator" and similar threads can be as frustrating as they are. God cannot be transcendent and then "proved" with empirical data at the same time. If you want a transcendent almighty deity you can't gather evidence from something that is by definition "beyond measure." If you have proof of a god, you don't have much of a god if you could sample something from it (which is what empirical evidence is, some sort of sample from a subject).

As for the World to Come, Jews do acknowledge such a thing. But there is a difference between "belief" or "faith" in a theological concept and acknowledging what is part of our Jewish revelation. Jews don't "believe in" anything, technically speaking (at least not in Christian terms). "Faith" is merely an exercise of mental assent and therefore valueless for us. It is what you do that proves what you are, not what creed you make claim to.

Therefore while the World to Come or Olam Ha-ba is a real promise, we will know it when we get there. Jews acknowledge this as a promise of the prophets. But we live as if there is no such thing. We don't "hope" to live forever. We are grateful that we have life now. You prove to be untrustworthy with life if you don't live it to the full. All the hope and faith in the World to Come won't land you a place in it if you do everything to get there but nothing to be grateful about right now. If you serve God to get a reward, you are likely not to get that reward.

David_Jay

Posts by David_Jay