NotFormer

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Posts by NotFormer

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  19

  Super Duper Awkward

  by Slidin Fast in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did anyone else find the teen section on the meeting tonight massively cringeworthy?

  i saw two kids who will be laughing stocks for life after their world wide exposure.

  complete exploitation in my opinion, unforgivable..

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  NotFormer

  "...I have to run out of the classroom, just like Joseph did because of Potipha's wife ...".

  What the heck was going on in those classrooms?? And what sexually repressed teenaged kid wouldn't be trying to find out how to transfer to that school??
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  27

  Quality of jw.org translation?

  by Wonderment in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  someone asked the following question to an artificial intelligence (ai) website:.

  how does the most translated website ensure accuracy of translations?.

  answer: .

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  NotFormer

  Franz's translations always struck me as the kind that would come from someone who was old-school trained in Classical Greek. His rigid adherence to translating Greek constructions into English being my main example.

  The NWT* loved the continuous tenses and rendered them slavishly in English. For example, where most modern translations would say "Seek the Kingdom of God", the NWT** would have "Keep seeking the Kingdom of God".

  Quite often a translator of a contemporary translation might translate the imperfect tense into a simple past tense rendering. The NWT would try to keep the tenses the same (and try to reflect the Greek "aspect"). So where a modern translation might simply say "went", the NWT would say "was going".

  So I have no doubt that Fred had some formal training in Classical Greek. But his translation is way more rigid than it needed to be, especially considering that Koine Greek is somewhat less formal in form.

  *I'm remembering things about the NWT that existed twenty or so years ago, not the current revision. I haven't had a good look at it.

  ** Doing this from memory. Judge the spirit not the letter, please! 😉
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  25

  Things you can not say in "field service" anymore.

  by greenhornet in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many years ago we would be on someone's doorstep, when waiting for the house holder to come to the door we say something like ... yea after the big a this is going to be my house.

  imagine saying that today with the common use of doorbell cameras and the squatting problem .

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  NotFormer

  "I wondered if they were having their ‘reward in full’ looking down on others with their shunning and secret gatherings!"

  I had a mate I flatted with from the same church. Whenever someone suggested delayed gratification is more biblical, he'd say "I want my reward now!" and he'd grab the last cake or whatever.

  As for pioneers being publicly rewarded by God for what they did in secret: Puh-lease! 🙄 Their hours are recorded and published. Everyone knows what they've done and acknowledges how "spiritual" they are . You're totally right, LongHairGal, their reward is in the "here and now", not in the "hereafter".
• 
  6

  'Socky' - April 2024 broadcast

  by joey jojo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  watched a revision of this broadcast on youtube.

  im not sure ive ever seen a more cringe-worthy exchange than between david splane and his good buddy 'socky'.. socky told us the story that he read the book 'what has religion done for mankind?

  ' (1951) when he was 10 and he 'knew' it was the truth.

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  NotFormer

  "Oh, the irony!

  "I remember my parents didn't consider JWs a "religion" because Rutherfraud had made it a bad word. (Snare and Racket) That attitude was prevalent throughout the Borg until the 1960s if I recall".

  It must have been embarrassing to have to walk it back, probably part of the damage control in the wake of da Judge's demise. In their pursuit of the almighty dollar, the WT probably found itself needing to refer to itself as a religion to get all those juicy taxpayer dollars and tax exemptions.
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  19

  Super Duper Awkward

  by Slidin Fast in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did anyone else find the teen section on the meeting tonight massively cringeworthy?

  i saw two kids who will be laughing stocks for life after their world wide exposure.

  complete exploitation in my opinion, unforgivable..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  NotFormer

  Whatever they said, I'd probably not laugh at them. They're only regurgitating stuff they've been fed all their lives by those who claim to know better.

  But Carla's right, a link or summary might be useful.
• 
  30

  How many different "rules" do Jehovah's Witnesses have to obey? Can you count them?

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  all the big changes for jws since this last fall brought me back to this site, and got me and the wife talking.

  just how many things were we not allowed to do growing up as jehovah's witnesses?

  we were so used to all the rules, customs, and traditions, that we became used to them.. one site i found claims there are 141 unique rules!!

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  NotFormer

  In our modern society, there are a lot of people who take various medications and then they take more medications to counter the side effects of the first lot.

  How many JW rules were introduced to adjust for the effects of the first set of rules?
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  24

  Murderous Jehovah's Witness bludgeoned female customer before leading meeting. Spiritual paradise?

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  1/31/2024 in the strange but true category.

  confused holy spirit appoints killer servant.

  "" a twisted jehovah's witness bludgeoned a woman he rowed with over incomplete building works to death with a hammer, then merrily whistled as he packed up his tools and went to lead a service at the church where they met.

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  NotFormer

  "I am aware of HMP Winson Green--which isnt far from Dudley. I knew a JW who was a prison screw at Winson Green in the 60's."

  There's an elephant in the room, both here and concerning the defendant in the above case, at least according to my general understanding of the JW religion.
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  11

  If you don't GERRIT you remain in the LOSCH of Watchtower

  by Longlivetherenegades in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if you don't gerrit you remain in the losch of lies and manipulations of the new world society of jehovah’s witnesses .

  today only one organization is exclaiming about this real peril.

  this is the new world society of jehovah’s witnesses.

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  NotFormer

  Dagney, the WT was showing its youthful vigour as a new religious movement when it was still making statements like the above. Its parent religions and movements had the wisdom of age and didn't do that sort of thing any more. The WT was a brash, fresh-faced youth, feeling his oats and out to prove that he was smarter than his parents' generation.

  Fast forward to now, and the WT is looking a lot more like the groups it previously condemned.
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  20

  Spiritual Paradise? Jehovah's Witness cons JW seniors out of life savings.

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  3/28/2024 central california coast.

  found guilty of $1.2 million scam targeting seniors.

  ex-insurance agent brett e. lovett convicted of fraud, elder abuse, grand theft, and money laundering".

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  NotFormer

  I'd never lend money to a large organisation in my own name*, anyway. "You're trying to disfellowship me for taking a brother to court, Elder Smith? I'm not suing anyone. The plaintiff is NotFormer* LLC/LTD/PTY. LTD." (Whatever applies in which country)

  The same would apply to financial deals and contracts within a congregation. Those would be between companies, not individuals.

  *Apart from my personal bank accounts; I'm kind of stuck with that. 🙄

  **Just my usual disclaimer: I never was a JW. I'm just using my screen name for the example.
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  11

  If you don't GERRIT you remain in the LOSCH of Watchtower

  by Longlivetherenegades in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if you don't gerrit you remain in the losch of lies and manipulations of the new world society of jehovah’s witnesses .

  today only one organization is exclaiming about this real peril.

  this is the new world society of jehovah’s witnesses.

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  NotFormer

  The mainstream denominations had long given up making predictions by the time of this article. Even the popes hadn't made any for over 700 years. And "a Lutheran clergyman" in 1836 doesn't equate to the Lutheran church.

  The trouble with nailing your colours to the mast is that they're up there for all to see. Every breathlessly uttered date of the WT has proven to be false. 1914, 110 years later, is such a joke that many sober thinkers strongly opine that the WT will eventually drop it. The 1955 article is ten years after a second world war since 1914, yet the WT lionizes itself as the sole predicter of the end.

  "We're still predicting firm dates while nobody else is" soon becomes a liability.