Posts by NotFormer

33

They are running out of people to do their stuff.

by liam in

this is the watchtower study article being studied today.

so it’s the current new light!.

what are the new qualifications to be an “elder-aka older man...and circuit overseer?.

Wythenshawe Kingdom Hall - Sold

by AdamCzarnobay in

jw
friends

i was slightly surprised to see that wythenshawe hall has been sold.

it's now a mosque.

this one had an attached flat where the co and his wife lived, i wonder what accommodation they put them in these days..

dropoffyourkeylee, you're absolutely right. The problem is that the JW contractor is between a rock and a hard place. If he fulfills his legal duty and doesn't discriminate against another church who has hired him, he'll be disciplined in some form, perhaps even disfellowshipped, if someone in the WT hierarchy told him not to. He can't sue the Borg because basic religious freedom principles allow a religion to pick and choose who it's members are.

If he chooses to follow the Borg's instructions, he'll be sued by the contracting organisation for illegally discriminating against them. He can't further sue the Borg because, after all, he willingly followed their recommendations.

It's a lose/lose situation for the poor JW contractor. Of course, he could always hide behind the corporate veil

Brother Smith: It's not me contracting with that church, Elder Jones, but Brother Smith LLC. (Brother Smith smiles an innocent smile)

(Stoopid autocorrect turned "Borg" into "Body" 🙄)

24

HOW TO BE LOYAL TO JEHOVAH

by liam in

a post from another exjw site, shows how throughout the years, in a regular, systematic fashion, the watchtower has influence thoroughly; an ideological point of view, in the minds of it’s members by using bible scriptures and examples, to get the members to do the unthinkable, even if it clashes with modern ethics.

february 2016 watchtower, paragraph 3 of the article titled .

"learn from jehovah’s loyal servants".

NotFormer

Just when I thought that they could go no lower in my esteem, they write this justification* for murder (presumably wrongful death, unfortunate [fatal] consequences of their various policies, etc.) at their behest! No, I won't have it ! They had no esteem in my eyes in the first place! Let me rephrase:

Just when I thought they could rise no higher in my contempt, they write this justification for murder (and so on and so forth)!

* Okay, written in 2016, but I only just read it.

31

Wythenshawe Kingdom Hall - Sold

by AdamCzarnobay in

jw
friends

i was slightly surprised to see that wythenshawe hall has been sold.

it's now a mosque.

this one had an attached flat where the co and his wife lived, i wonder what accommodation they put them in these days..

NotFormer

"Perception, perception, perception, the trick the WTS uses often to guilt jws into not doing something that has no real scriptural basis. So it is not a blanket belief officially but it can up being that way unofficially."

1 Thessalonians 5:22 King James Version

"Abstain from all appearance of evil."

Because of its wording, the KJV version of the above verse was used as a blanket prohibition against pretty much anything in a former church of mine. The mere "appearance", whether ACTUALLY evil or not was enough to condemn a lot of actions by youth in our church. It was usually couched in references to how people outside the church (in the world) might wrongly perceive said actions. That's the "appearance" part. Most modern translations render it as every kind or all forms of evil, not the mere appearance of such.

31

Wythenshawe Kingdom Hall - Sold

by AdamCzarnobay in

jw
friends

i was slightly surprised to see that wythenshawe hall has been sold.

it's now a mosque.

this one had an attached flat where the co and his wife lived, i wonder what accommodation they put them in these days..

NotFormer

"What would you prefer? Adolf?"

Harpo Marx's first name: why not? 👍👌🖖 (Leg pulling in return!)

(Yes, I know, he changed his name to Arthur long before the moustache man became a thing)

8

Angelic Singing

by peacefulpete in

jo 38:7. when the morning stars sang togetherand all the sons of god shouted for joy?.

this passage and others apparently reveal a belief among some jewish communities that angels sang.

the natural corollary is that angels had a language, and that language would naturally be supposed to be a superior one.

NotFormer

It was all some time ago. I seem to remember asking if THE Holy Spirit was giving you utterance in a heavenly language, why wasn't it in THE heavenly language? It was obvious that everyone had a "tongue" of his or her own. Apparently everyone was given their own heavenly tongue with which to commune with God. You didn't know what you were praying with your intellect, but your spirit did and was communicating 🙏your needs to God. Because you didn't know what you were praying, neither did Satan 👿, and he therefore couldn't interfere.

I think that's pretty well how it was all explained to me.

There was a lot of urban mythology on both sides. The deniers'* urban myth would have an expert in languages go into the church and overhear someone ordering fish and chips in old Latvian. The pro side would have a pastor praying in tongues over someone; they'd say "Do you know what you just said?" "No". "You just said 'Such and such' in Language X!"

* Mainstreamers who didn't believe in the Pentecostal version of tongues.

5

In the last week of Christmas . . . JW News releases a special video with an AI ‘guest appearance’ by M. Stephen Lett

by jwleaks in

jw
friends

merry xmas everyone.. https://youtu.be/39lpikmd-is.

NotFormer

"That’s great NF, you get right into the Christian Cult!"

Not getting into anything. I was born and bred in this briar patch. 🐰🎄

You do you, Bribie! 👌👍🙏🖖

42

Why do most Ex jW W‘s seem to be liberal?

by JaredScott-1977 in

i’m just curious about this dynamic i don’t care personally one way or the other but i do have friends who have chosen to be conservatives and they get totally destroyed on social media pages for their choice.

it’s almost like a lot of ex jw w become as toxic and his judgmental as jehovah’s witnesses themselves what’s up with that?

i also know conservative ex jw’s that can do the same so again i’m not leaning one way or the other i’m just noticing factual observations.

NotFormer

Carla: "Yeah, I know I am a bit of a witch to use their own doctrines against them..."

Doesn't "Rules for Radicals" say to hold the other side to their own standards?

7

The Internet continues to expose the Watchtower

by liam in

another exposure!

it's not a destructive cult.........it's a destructive organization!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bilfhs6-pgw.

NotFormer

Interesting. They've metamorphosed from a personality cult to a "destructive authoritarian organisation*". Does the latter qualify to be categorised as a cult? I'm interested because there's another thread about that going on ATM 🏧.

* Is this too hyperbolic a definition?

8

Angelic Singing

by peacefulpete in

jo 38:7. when the morning stars sang togetherand all the sons of god shouted for joy?.

this passage and others apparently reveal a belief among some jewish communities that angels sang.

the natural corollary is that angels had a language, and that language would naturally be supposed to be a superior one.

NotFormer

"Many commentators have discussed this passage with a general denial that Paul was to be taken literally."

Many Pentecostals would disagree with those many commentators. I have had that verse quoted at me many times as justification for the Pentecostal belief that babbling in tongues is the Holy Spirit speaking through you in a heavenly language.

The above is a total non sequitur, but you reminded me of my own dark past. Interestingly, you use the term "ecstatic glossolalia". I, for my troubles, have seen plenty of that in my travels.