Posts by NotFormer

49

The ''dreaded'' birthday cake

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

the watchtower—study edition | september 2023. study article 39. let mildness be your strength.

11 if a workmate asks, for example, why we do not celebrate birthdays, consider: could he be wondering whether we are allowed to have a good time?

or might he feel that our position will dampen the company’s team spirit?

DisgruntledFool, that article is written by Martin G Collins, who seems to be a pastor/minister/whatever* at Church of the Great God. They are a remnant of Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God. A bunch of curmudgeons and killjoys, by the the look of things. Some of those breakaways and holdovers despise the same holidays and celebrations that the JWs do, while believing that the old testament festivals should be observed.

Interestingly, that church website doesn't have a problem with mother's Day or father's Day; apparently it's only kids that aren't allowed an annual appreciation day. 🙄

*"elder", apparently.

20

I hate the way they talk.

by Riley in

what is with the jw cadence when they speak.

do they think they are teaching people ?

they sound like pro wrestlers doing promos or shakespearean actors.

NotFormer

To the tune of "If I Could Talk To The Animals" from Dr Doolittle:

If we could talk like the Witnesses, just imagine it

Chatting to a Circuit Overseer

Imagine talking like an elder, chasing up a cheater,

What a neat achievement that would be.

If we could talk like the Witnesses, learn their languages

Maybe take a TMS degree.

We'd study theocratic jargon, how to doorstep bargain,

Bethelite, and MS, and GB.

7

Some Seasonal Nostalgia

by NotFormer in

jw
friends

can't find any references, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

i remember, probably at least two decades ago, a small news snippet about someone was going around brooklyn heights and setting fire to christmas wreaths on people's doors.

i've always personally suspected* that it was a bored/semi-insane bethelite.

NotFormer

Can't find any references, so you'll just have to trust me on this one. I remember, probably at least two decades ago, a small news snippet about someone was going around Brooklyn Heights and setting fire to Christmas wreaths on people's doors. I've always personally suspected* that it was a bored/semi-insane Bethelite. 😁

While searching to see if it had ever been mentioned here before, I found a thread started by Lady Liberty about how her JW neighbours attacked and destroyed her Frosty the Snowman decoration.

Do Christmas decorations trigger anything in the average JW?

*Only semi-seriously

15

What's the org like now?

by Leathercrop in

even tho i've been expelled about 4 years now, i truly checked out around 2015. changes in the org i think we're just starting to get going.

i remember the kingdom songs suddenly getting the taylor swift treatment aka pop music treatment.

meetings were getting axed or meshed together or something.

NotFormer

Changed a lot in just those 4 years. An organisation that flaunted its history of defying governments, folded like a seven high poker hand in the face of government mandates on vaccination, meetings and the door to door work. As an outsider, I was shocked that they stopped field service; it was their main distinction, their "proof" that they were God's earthly organisation. And then it wasn't.

Recent changes include not having to record hours in field service anymore, and even the possibility of salvation at the last minute.

These guys change their doctrine more often than they change their underwear.

5

A New Name for an Old Orgy - Awake 95 2/8 pp. 26-27

by Sea Breeze in

yep, that is the title of an article in the 1995 awake magazine alerting people to the horrors of valentine's cards & candy.

the message is simple, if you eat valentine's candy at school while no one is looking, it's nearly the same as being in an orgy.

i just can't believe some of the garbage i used to read and regard as acceptable literature.

NotFormer

IWant2Know, it's an interesting thought. An orgy has multiple participants, but the elders couldn't get a conviction, because of the two witnesses rule; nobody would confess, therefore it never happened! 😱🙀 Ratting out the other parties would amount to being a confession. "Keep Mum, she's not so dumb"*...

*Quote from a WW2 propaganda poster.

30

FDS 1919 Declaration Date

by NotFormer in

did rutherford have any "prophetic" justification for 1919 as the date that jesus declared him (ahem, the wt organisation) the fds?

such as some calculation attached to 1914?

that in 1919, jesus would come looking for his true organisation?.

NotFormer

The way they always spun momentous prophesies and symbols of arguably global import into ridiculously mundane events in their own little circle never ceased to amaze me. For example, isn't there one where the prophecy is supposed to be fulfilled by the holding of a convention one year?? I wouldn't be surprised to see the sun and the moon being struck as having its fulfilment on that momentous day when da Judge had lemon meringue pie instead of apple pie for dessert. 🙄 It makes about the same amount of sense.

49

The ''dreaded'' birthday cake

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

the watchtower—study edition | september 2023. study article 39. let mildness be your strength.

11 if a workmate asks, for example, why we do not celebrate birthdays, consider: could he be wondering whether we are allowed to have a good time?

or might he feel that our position will dampen the company’s team spirit?

NotFormer

No bible verse says that God is displeased with us if we celebrate the day of our birth.

20

I hate the way they talk.

by Riley in

what is with the jw cadence when they speak.

do they think they are teaching people ?

they sound like pro wrestlers doing promos or shakespearean actors.

NotFormer

jhine: "I get annoyed at statements like " one church said " . Which church.? Always this very vague quality about the " information " that they are giving"

They give out very little real information on what outside denominations believe deliberately, by design. They are "the Truth" and everyone else is "not the truth". Babylon the Great. Keeping the illusion that all denominations have an amorphous sameness to them helps them condemn all outsiders equally. "One church said" is probably WT code for "All churches believe this".

30

FDS 1919 Declaration Date

by NotFormer in

did rutherford have any "prophetic" justification for 1919 as the date that jesus declared him (ahem, the wt organisation) the fds?

such as some calculation attached to 1914?

that in 1919, jesus would come looking for his true organisation?.

NotFormer

Thanks everyone for filling me in on this. The 1919 date always seemed a bit odd to me, if it was connected to 1914. A difference of five years isn't a very biblical number; it's always 7 or 3.5, in those prophetic passages that the WT loves. That they stretched out the 3.5 makes sense, in a warped sort of way (to me, it smacks of desperation). It's nice to know that they at least tried to create a (albeit tenuous) connection with something biblical. 🙄

28

The Saddest Thing About Tony Morris's Removal

by NotFormer in

i've mentioned before how i've wondered how tony morris must have felt when he was sacked.

yes, i know he's a rehensible human being who got served a healthy dose of karma, or, if you like, divine judgement.

to go from having all there is to have within the world he lived in, to where he is now; that's a long fall.

NotFormer

Beth Sarim, I've been thinking lately about Rutherford's era, and how he was setting up a government that would outlast the world's governments. He died early in 1942, so he didn't even live to see the end of Hitler's government.

The 'Tower has survived in one form or another for over a century. But will it see the next century?