NotFormer

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Posts by NotFormer

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  83

  Lines you would never hear from a Jehovah's Witness

  by Ron.W. in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a slightly tongue in cheek, but also serious roundup of jw speak and why trying to reason with them is like trying to chip through concrete with a plastic spoon.. how many can you think of??.

  elder: 'yes.

  i read through the material you asked me to at your judicial meeting - you're right we're both in a cult!

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  NotFormer

  After the August Watchtower:

  "And now for the marking talk".

  "Oh, he was disfellowshipped!"

  "No, we can't talk about unspiritual matter X, you're disfellowshipped!"
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  46

  August WT: DF'ing renamed "Removed." AKA: GB re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic

  by WingCommander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so: the mystery has been clarified as to more "new light" / clarifications of decades old doctrine and procedure.

  august watchtower has finally been leaked.

  disfellowshipping?

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  NotFormer

  "Why all the cunning and lying about changes that are not real and thinking they're going to trick the Secular Authorities? JUST MAKE IT AN INDIVIDUAL CONSCIENCE MATTER. Most diehard JWs will follow tradition and shun dissenters and WT won't have to LIE about it all."

  This is my question too. Genuinely loosening the reins wouldn't cost them too much.

  At its core and at the top, the WT seems to be about how hardline they are. The rules seem over the top from the beginning. As in, not as harsh as is necessary to maintain order, but as harsh as they can get away with.

  And this is the case now. Instead of a genuine backing away from harsh and unkind rules, they are only lessening them in the minimum sense that they think can persuade governments that they have changed.

  As an outsider, I can see that the change is cosmetic. Governments are likely to see it that way too.

  Ironically, if the WT was consulting with the exes, they might get some good clues as to what genuine changes need to be made. After all, these are the people with whom the various governments are consulting. The governments will simply ask the exes whose testimonies they have on their books if this is a substantial change, and the exes will simply answer "No".
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  46

  August WT: DF'ing renamed "Removed." AKA: GB re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic

  by WingCommander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so: the mystery has been clarified as to more "new light" / clarifications of decades old doctrine and procedure.

  august watchtower has finally been leaked.

  disfellowshipping?

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  NotFormer

  "I was really hoping for the lifting of the ban on oral sex. I really was."

  The two witnesses rule is your friend.
• 
  9

  Paul Gillies and JW Spellcasting July 2024

  by FragrantAddendum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  gillies is moving up quick.

  wonder what kind of devilish acts he's done to get that job so fast.

  hey, look!

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  NotFormer

  The upside down JW reflection reminds me of the Loch Ness Monster: long neck and two humps.
• 
  13

  JW Ranking System

  by NotFormer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it's fairly evident to little old outsider me that the organisation has a class system, perhaps even a caste system.. from what i've read, there seems to not only be an official ranking system (m.s., elder, c.o.

  ) but an unofficial one.

  has anyone ever sat down to figure out what the unofficial ranks are and how they affect the pecking order?

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  NotFormer

  That's pretty well what I am fishing for, Blondie. I would imagine something like that has been listed on here, probably decades ago, and probably more than once, but like you, I'm not sure how to search for it.
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  7

  Have Witnesses made more false prophecies then any other religion??

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  armagedon in 1914 rutherford 1925 1940's the fascist catholic take over franz 1975 and 2000 the 1914 generation will not die.

  now the generation that new the generation....this must break a world record of false prophecies in any religion..

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  NotFormer

  Jeffro, Seriously?? They went there?? The effrontery is palpable!

  The irony of that article being 100 years after 1914 should not be lost on us, either.
• 
  7

  Have Witnesses made more false prophecies then any other religion??

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  armagedon in 1914 rutherford 1925 1940's the fascist catholic take over franz 1975 and 2000 the 1914 generation will not die.

  now the generation that new the generation....this must break a world record of false prophecies in any religion..

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  NotFormer

  That's a hard one to gauge. People and churches who set dates are usually self-correcting. They usually have a second swing at bat when the first date fails, generally the following year. Usually* because they didn't take into account the difference between the solar and lunar calendars or some such nonsense. William Miller did this with 1843/44, Russell with 1873/74 and Ed Wisenant with 1988/89**. Miller gave up but his successors, the SDAs, were wise enough to stick with the one date and stop setting them. Russell tried again with 1914. Ed faded into oblivion.

  You're pretty well right. For a religion that has set quite a few dates, the JWs have been surprisingly successful. They may have learned their lesson about setting specific dates, but they're still trying to whip up the urgency thing.

  Interestingly, a couple of decades ago, WT were sniffing around the idea of adding the 120 years that Noah took to build the ark to 1914, presumably to give them a new final date of 2034. If they had decided to run with that one, we might have been seeing a new frenzy beginning to develop, as started in the late 60s with the lead up to 1975. However, the recent WT seems to negate that altogether. They've stopped using Noah and the closing of the ark door as a type.

  Will they never set another date? The trend seems to suggest "No". Let's hope they keep following the trend.

  * Usually I don't say "usually" this much. 🙄

  ** I imagine any JWs who called upon any readers of Ed's book, 88 Reasons why Jesus will Return in 1988, would have had some great animated discussions about the clashing prophetic interpretations which both turned out to be wrong (1988 versus the end of our twentieth century). JWs weren't afraid of a discussion back then.
• 
  13

  JW Ranking System

  by NotFormer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it's fairly evident to little old outsider me that the organisation has a class system, perhaps even a caste system.. from what i've read, there seems to not only be an official ranking system (m.s., elder, c.o.

  ) but an unofficial one.

  has anyone ever sat down to figure out what the unofficial ranks are and how they affect the pecking order?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  NotFormer

  It's fairly evident to little old outsider me that the organisation has a class system, perhaps even a caste system.

  From what I've read, there seems to not only be an official ranking system (M.S., elder, C.O. etc.) but an unofficial one. Has anyone ever sat down to figure out what the unofficial ranks are and how they affect the pecking order? For example, does a Bethel toilet cleaner visiting his home congregation outrank a M.S.? Is "elder's wife" an unofficial rank? What rank is a pioneer?

  What outranks what, officially and unofficially, all the way up the chain?
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  25

  JW s were here today with convention invite

  by enoughisenough in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i thought i would tell this story: 2 gals and a guy came by with invitation to convention.

  i am in the yard.

  the gals get out and are wearing pants.

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  NotFormer

  "Here is a picture found on Facebook of one JW convention. Looks a bit sparse for the “fastest growing religion”.

  Vanderhoven7, most boring game I've ever seen!

  What are all those seats in the middle for? Speakers? Support staff?

  If this was a Benny Hinn meeting, that middle area would be for the people on crutches and in wheelchairs. 🙄
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  51

  2024-08-August-Edition-of-Watchtower!

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it was translated so make sure everything looks ok.. 2024-08-august-edition of watchtower magazine.. .

  https://smallpdf.com/result#r=c90d948913ed99d72872c0a1c609f388&t=share-document .

  leopold.

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  NotFormer

  "Wt has released article 9 languages but not in english?"

  "They didn't release them officially... After most of the languages are posted, then will they release the magazine by creating its entry on the main jw.org web site."

  So, no theory that the changes are only affecting certain markets but not most countries? A pity for the conspiracy theorists among us. Such a situation would undoubtedly see the above release being distributed in Norwegian and possibly Japanese.

  As it is, it's obvious that the WT is under pressure over disfellowshipping rules. But when you read between the lines and see what they are still doing and leaving unaddressed, they haven't changed a thing, in any practical sense.

  These changes were already pretty well known months ago. Now that they are being officially announced in the WT, does that mean that the secret elders ' manual will now be amended to reflect the changes? When we were having this discussion months ago, an amended version of the manual came out, but it did not echo these changes.