Posts by wisdomfrombelow

74

GB Doesnt Believe in 1914 Anymore My reasoning

by thedepressedsoul in

i have heard a lot of talk over the last year or so if the gb will eventually ditch 1914 and some have even made the claim that most, if not all of the gb do not believe in 1914. ive given this some thought and in the past i wasnt sure.

this annual meeting puts 100%, without a doubt in my mind that the gb do not believe in 1914. id even go as far to say that they talked about that date and have a game plan in mind.. here is why i feel this way:.

there were a lot of changes with the parables at this annual meeting.

wisdomfrombelow

I see no reason to get rid of 1914 as they can just put a spin on it. I am sure the Gentile times calculation has been scrapped but they will just say Satan was cast out of heaven in 1914 and we predicted that for 40 years prior to it happening. Dates based on some interpretation of prophecy have probably seen their day and won't come back again. But they still have 1914 as evidence that they were waiting for something big and knew about it in advance. Any other year such as 1934 has two problems--they weren't preaching about it in advance and nothing monumental happened. 1914 is their ace-in-the-hole especially when they whitewash their true history

66

Reinstatement via Old Cong.

by startingover13 in

jw
friends

i've applied to be reinstatement in a new city after attending meetings for a bit.

i wrote my letter and they heard my case.

they were very helpful.

wisdomfrombelow

Simply put, the congregation that disfellowshipped you has to be the one to reinstate you. They will forward their decision to your old congregation and if they decide to reinstate you then they will let you know. If they don't decide then you will have to try again later.

22

Help me help my DF'd friend

by OneEyedJoe in

jw
friends

so i got a text from a friend of mine today telling me that he'd been df'd.

since i'm still nominally a witness, this puts me in a tricky spot.

i intend to tell him in no uncertain terms that i will not shun him, but i'm not sure where to go beyond that.

wisdomfrombelow

If it wasn't announced from the platform yet then he is not disfellowshipped yet and you and therefore violated no rules. Since people are given up to 1 week to write an appeal letter you can still talk to him and associate with him under JW terms until it is announced from the platform.

22

Help me help my DF'd friend

by OneEyedJoe in

jw
friends

so i got a text from a friend of mine today telling me that he'd been df'd.

since i'm still nominally a witness, this puts me in a tricky spot.

i intend to tell him in no uncertain terms that i will not shun him, but i'm not sure where to go beyond that.

wisdomfrombelow

As ABibleStudent says, go see him face-to-face. Don't acknowledge the text any other way except a personal visit. How does he know you even received the text otherwise. I assume he doesn't go to your hall so you wouldn't have heard any announcement about it. Just go over and see him and maybe bring something for his little baby and set aside some time to spend with him. If he wants to talk to you about his situation you could say "i thought it was a spam text" or just say it must not have gotten delivered (that happens sometime) and just listen to what he has to say. That way you can gauge how he feels and since you are already there to see him and bring something for the baby you can continue asking about how he and his family is. As others have said, don't text him and calling is really not enough to get proper feedback or give proper comfort to someone in his situation. At least that is what I would do...and then see how things go after that.

12

Does the President of the WT have any power?

by BU2B in

i thought about this after reading incognito's thread.

i was wondering if anyone here has any idea what the president of the wt actually does or if he truly has any real power, or if he is merely the gb puppet..

wisdomfrombelow

I would say "follow the money" to see who has the real power. I've heard that the GB are required to travel in suits. That sounds like a corp decision. I don't have any knowledge of the by-laws but the officers and voting members of the Society have the control of the funds. If the corp decided to rebel against the governing body or print somethng totally different i guess it could. Rutherford staged a coup and ousted the then "governing body" and installed his own men as officers. I reckon if a majority of the Society and the officers decided to do the same the "governing body" would be without any real influence because of their isolation. I've often wondered about Kingdom Halls and their usage. What if a plurality of the publishers wanted to approve something without the elder body consent or blessing? Are there some states where because of how the congregation is set up that they could do so?

16

BOE * 2014-07-15 Witnessing in public places REVISION

by WatchTower87 in

boe * 2014-07-15 witnessing in public places revision.

old version: 2014-05-01 witnessing in public places pdf: http://adf.ly/qagwu.

new version: 2014-07-15 witnessing in public places pdf: http://adf.ly/r6tsl.

wisdomfrombelow

How many different versions of this letter are they? The May one replaces one from November 2012...

15

Achan teaches us stealing is wrong, but wanton genocide A-ok?

by BU2B in

this week on the tms, there was a talk about achan.

how i didnt see how out of wack the jws moral compass is earlier i do not know.

achan stole some valuables from jericho and for this him and his whole family was murdered in a brutal fashon and burned up by fire.

wisdomfrombelow

I thought the same thing when I saw the video clip of Achan at the convention. They didn't mention how he was killed for that action even after he confessed. For those unfamiliar with the Bible story they would have thought he learned his lesson and everything was ok. Nope.

24

Bethel experiences sound like a prison sentence.Why even go?

by goingthruthemotions in

when i read about bethel experiences my mind go to the show locked up raw!.

why would someone subject themselves to this without commeting a crime.. the wife and i went to see bethel in broklyn a few years ago and it was unlike anything i expected.

very cold.. went the bosert hotel and was talking to a brother there and asked how long he had been there, he said 25 years...i asked how old he was.

wisdomfrombelow

When I thought of this topic it made me think of why some people want to go to boot camp -- it is not fun and prison might be easier for the short term. People do things because sometimes the perceived benefit outweighs the stress. I would never want to climb Mount Everest bit some people yearn for it. Some people like the structure and the fact that someone makes all their meals for them. I wanted to try it when I was younger but realized that I am too much of an individual to enjoy and conform to institutional life.

20

A thought about the convention: Anticipate Future Blessings...

by wisdomfrombelow in

one of the parts had a skit with 3 or 4 young brothers playing a game of "what i will look forward to in the new system".

one wanted a house by the beach.

one wanted a house in the forest.

wisdomfrombelow

One of the parts had a skit with 3 or 4 young brothers playing a game of "what I will look forward to in the new system". One wanted a house by the beach. One wanted a house in the forest. One wanted to travel the backpack across country for 25 years. They also used the scripture where God is "opening his hand and satisfying the desire of every living thing" as justifcation that what they want is ok...because they desire it so God could give it. (I'm quite sure teenage boys might desire something different than a house.)

I sat there and thought "Why does everything they want seem materialistic?" I also thought, if it was not bad to have these things why should they have to wait until the "new system" to get them? Is getting them NOW a sin and somehow LATER no longer a sin. (Like sex before and after marriage?) I can see people putting off their desires for some future time just to impress people who make arbitrary non-biblical rules as such a waste of time and effort. Everyone is encouraged to pioneer but there is no bibical command to pioneer. In fact the definition and requirements of pioneering changed so many times. Why not live life now and pioneer in good and perfect health in the new system...for an eternity...that seems like a better deal than putting all personal desires off now and growing old and regretful.

64

Speculation: Female Ministerial Servants coming soon

by Londo111 in

ive no source for this, just personal speculation.. * there is a good case to be made that there were female deacons (ministerial servants) in the bible.. * there is a lack of qualified brothers for basic assignments such as microphones, accounts, literature.

in some cases, elders have had to do double duty because of a lack of ministerial servants or qualified brothers.. * women outnumber men in the organization.. * there is supposedly a surprising change coming "down the pipe".. perhaps the only difference between male and female ministerial servants is that women will still not be allowed to teach..

wisdomfrombelow

The Governing Body can do whatever they like and spin it however they wish and everyone will just accept it. There was a time when women weren't allowed on the Theocratice Ministry School but who can imagine a time like that now? Why not have women handle the microphones and do accounts and other things which are really just busy work? They can even make a a new role/title for it being different than Ministerial Servant title/role. It would show that JWs are more "progressive" to the younger generation when, in reality, it is nothing.