Posts by ElderBerry

40

The Reasoning Book

by Magnum in

the book reasoning from the scriptures was released in the 1980's, and it was used at virtually every meeting for service, every service meeting, and every theocratic ministry school meeting thereafter.

many jws had copies bound together with their bibles.

it was huge in jw land back then.. at that time, with the reasoning book, jws were trained to keep conversations going in spite of objections, to almost stick their feet in people's doors to keep conversations going, to defend "the truth," to argue doctrine, etc.. compare the situation today with that of the 80's.

ElderBerry

Yes I had one bound in my Bible

a sister in Bethel did for £16

yes this just shows the drastic difference today. Most JWs don’t actually talk about Bible interpretation or anything like that. Not told to reason on the scriptures anymore these days.

it’s all about look at the website

But the even larger change is that not much door to door work is done anymore. Sat morning is just a social get together with informal witnessing an excuse for a walk around shops or park, the directions are these days just try to chat to people not even trying to talk about the Bible or anything.

then the coffee break at someone’s home and we all take it in turns, everyone brings something often homemade.

it really is just an excuse for a social club and the doing away with the reasoning book is just more proof.

I honestly dont mind I prefer the org these days compared to what it used to be. These days many are choosing JWlite and ignoring all the calls asking “can you do even more” the answer is yes we probably all could but we don’t believe anymore

30

Depression & Isolation

by TxNVSue2023 in

i've been recently reinstated & am very happy about it.

i do love righteous (love & justice) and i do hate wickedness ( selfishness & sin).

i do love jehovah and the bible truths & wisdom.

ElderBerry

Yes lots of people say join a gym or something like that. There are sometimes groups online where people meet up for walks or excursions.

There is a need today for finding a social club of some kind, it’s essential for happiness.

Your congregation could fulfill this need if you don’t have something better. On the one hand I am pretending I believe what the GB say when in my heart I know for certain they are wrong about 1914 and the very foundations of their doctrines.

But in the other hand I have hope in the Bibles promises so I love the social club of going along with JW lite. For the great social club aspect

42

The Jehovah's Witness religion has ''Jumped the Shark''

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

what does jump the shark mean?.

the phrase “jump the shark” is a term in pop culture that originated from the tv show “happy days” and is used to describe a decline in quality.

it refers to the moment when a tv show or other product has reached its peak and starts to decline in quality.

ElderBerry

A watcher here is a question for you- what if the flood never comes in your lifetime like so many who have have died after sitting on the ark for decades? Or what if the flood never comes at all and you were deceived?

In Noah’s day what if he got people to come and sit inside the ark waiting but years went by and no flood came. Some got off the ark and enjoyed their lives. Some carried on sitting in the dark inside the ark while they heard people outside enjoying themselves. Of course it’s just an imaginative literary tale not true at all, the flood story never happened.

This is exactly the situation with the org today.

42

The Jehovah's Witness religion has ''Jumped the Shark''

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

what does jump the shark mean?.

the phrase “jump the shark” is a term in pop culture that originated from the tv show “happy days” and is used to describe a decline in quality.

it refers to the moment when a tv show or other product has reached its peak and starts to decline in quality.

ElderBerry

I think the beard thing is the physical easy to see jump the shark moment that goes along with no more reports and the door of opportunity remaining open.

This time that will be marked by beards being visible on many brothers is the most obvious jump the shark moment.

But it’s the door of opportunity being open that is more desperate and more meaningful than anything else.

why waste time sitting on the ark when you can wait till last moment to get on. This is why young ones won’t get baptised anymore. They don’t believe the flood is coming anyway so why get on the ark, but even for those that did believe the flood may be coming they can wait to actually see it start before wasting time on the ark.

Even those who really do believe they still don’t know when, it could be soon or it could be a little way away, you don’t want to waste time sitting on the ark for too long.

40

Glaring contradiction between 1995 new light and Society's authority as FDS

by yaddayadda in

in the 15 october 1995 watchtower the society brought out 'new light' that although christ sat down as king in 1914, but he did not sit down on his 'glorious throne' mentioned at matt 25: 31 in that year.

i cant understand why the society bothered to make this change in 1995?

this change was in some ways more damaging to them than the generation change, because the society essentially sawed off the branch they were sitting on by announcing this 1995 new light.

ElderBerry

What I think is most incredible is that one one hand, they're still teaching that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 and that the Last Days started in 1914. In Luke, Jesus said "When you see these things START to occur.....your deliverance is getting near."

Common sense dictates that if it was the generation of 1914 that saw the beginning of these things, then it MUST be that generation who would see The End. The way they teach it now is an impossibility when you stop and think about it: We're still holding on to 1914 but we want to to ignore the scripture in Luke.

43

Fading is better then completely leaving...comments?

by Witness 007 in

i got the internet in my house and realised it's all lies....but as a pioneer/ministerial servant i chose to fade.

see i had family and friends who were fully strict witnesses.

so i played the poor lost soul brother who is not sure what's happening.

ElderBerry

.

The Borg finagled its way around it in the 1995 November Awake magazines.

From saying those who witnessed the events in 1914 in the Nov8 Awake to ""about to take place" in the November 22nd edition of the Awake.

Seemingly underhandedly attempting to do so without anyone noticing.

Well,,, you know what? Most of us caught that

Could someone explain what happened in 1995? I don’t think I’ve heard about this but I was in the truth at this time.

43

Fading is better then completely leaving...comments?

by Witness 007 in

i got the internet in my house and realised it's all lies....but as a pioneer/ministerial servant i chose to fade.

see i had family and friends who were fully strict witnesses.

so i played the poor lost soul brother who is not sure what's happening.

ElderBerry

Stan I understand some who have left the hard way want to justify it. But the truth is it’s far better to stay physically able to talk to witnesses so leave the soft way.

all through history there have been great religious communities of good people and they don’t always have to agree on the religious beliefs and such.

7

Will unrighteous survive Armageddon new light?

by ElderBerry in

the bible says there will be a resurrection of the unrighteous, and now they say it’s wrong to hope unrighteous loved ones die before the end because that would be stupid.

yes it is stupid.. if identical twins both left the truth and one died just before armageddon and the other stayed alive then would he be killed only to be resurrected?.

this new light doesn’t make any sense i know they say we just don’t know.

ElderBerry

Tonus and notsure, very good points.

This watering down is indeed a slippery slope. It’s like when you tell one lie then you have to tell more lies. They want to get out of it by saying we just don’t know. But if they say that too much then publishers will doubt they are who they claim to be.

Worse than that if they keep crapping on old light they are either saying Jehovah gave bad new light in the past or the alternative is the old members of the governing body were evil slave?

43

Fading is better then completely leaving...comments?

by Witness 007 in

i got the internet in my house and realised it's all lies....but as a pioneer/ministerial servant i chose to fade.

see i had family and friends who were fully strict witnesses.

so i played the poor lost soul brother who is not sure what's happening.

ElderBerry

“thats ridiculous--just using people for what you can get out of them“

If you don’t offer help back yes, but with JW lite you have the option of going along to help next time someone moves and you can invite those who have been kind to you round for a meal.

it’s called being part of a community or social club even if you don’t believe the doctrine you can still be JW light

43

Fading is better then completely leaving...comments?

by Witness 007 in

i got the internet in my house and realised it's all lies....but as a pioneer/ministerial servant i chose to fade.

see i had family and friends who were fully strict witnesses.

so i played the poor lost soul brother who is not sure what's happening.

ElderBerry

“ I sort of get why people choose to fade but are you ever free ? You can't celebrate birthdays or Christmas if you want to . Can you have worldly friends? It seems like the Watchtower still kinda runs your life

I may be wrong about what you can actually get away with, but l am curious as to how much of a hold the Org does still have on you .

Do people who have made a clean break feel a sense of relief that they are free to live their lives as they wish ?

Does that outweigh the fact that some family and friends no longer talk to them ?”

Jan from Tam you don’t understand the fading or JWlite option. Yes you can openly celebrate birthdays and other things once you are known as an inactive JW with no shunning needed.

You have the best of both worlds without any disadvantages. You have more advantages than a pimi because you will be so love bombed and given all the food at gatherings

you will be offered lifts and even accommodation and things like that.

i maintain that JWs really are great people this is why it’s worth making sure you don’t get shunned by them.