NotFormer

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Posts by NotFormer

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  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.
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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

  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.
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  19

  BBC poor grammar - but FUNNY!

  by BoogerMan in

  1. social
  2. current

  "hamburg police shoot man with axe ahead of euros match.

  " https://www.bbc.co.uk/news.

  why don't german police just use guns?.

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  NotFormer

  Vidiot, I looked that one up, it was so badly phrased. The embassy didn't do Jack, it was Serbian police that shot the guy. Can journalists even journal any more?

  And the poor crossbow! 😭😞
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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

  "Judicial" catches them red-handed, taking the law into their own hands. Especially when they make in-house decisions on criminal matters, namely CSA cases.

  But the other aspect is that it describes a parallel legal system that punishes people for "crimes" that are often seen as innocuous by governments.

  Committee of Elders doesn't sound any kinder to my ear, but if they tried something different like "Committee of Investigation" or something similar, it would still have that fake legal ring to it.

  Of course, they could drop the pretense of being God's police and simply have a chat with someone who stumbles and ask them to try not to do it again.

  But the ones at the top love having a say in the minutiae of the day to day lives of the congregants. This is the system created by Rutherford, Knorr and weaponised by Jaracz. It's a bed that the current GB have to lie in.

  You'll note that their instinct is not to wind back the harsh system, it is to disguise it and try to hide it from the eyes of prying governments.
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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

  So this is the big August reveal. Try to pretend that marking happens spontaneously at the congregation level and has nothing to do with the GB, or their servants, the elders. 🙄😑
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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

  So it's more decoding of the secret code. Elders don't mark people any more (probably because doing that leaves a trail leading to Bethel, is against various privacy laws and could lead to lawsuits).

  WT is at its heart a lover of control and is not going to relax that control in any meaningful manner. So the new "arrangement" is to have the R&F do the marking. How exactly do they decide to do that? Is there a congregational meeting where the congregation meets to discuss the matter as set out in Matthew 18?

  I'm hazarding a guess that the answer is no. That the elders still decide on marking and somehow communicate their will in a way that doesn't leave a paper trail that is usable in court.

  PIMOs, how is this sleight of hand performed in this day and age?