Posts by leaving

12

Crazy Comments

by humblepotato in

jw
friends

i love the people who go to my congregation.

they are sweet, friendly, and lovable.

(which is one of the things that makes being awake so much easier.

Said by an elder in a comment on a WT study about elders as shepherds: "Jehovah is the first shepherd. Jesus is the second shepherd. But they can't do anything without the other shepherds." Oh, really?

Another elder: "Jesus commanded us to not forsake the gathering of ourselves together." Jesus said that???

By a brother: "We get to Jehovah through the elders." Hmm. No, we get to God through Christ.

By a visiting speaker during his public talk: "Demons are homosexual." Picked jaw up from floor on that one.

By an elder: "Christendom doesn't teach the ransom, or teaches the ransom is paid to Satan." Well, which is it? Do they teach it or not? Incidentally, I did research this. The ransom is a primary teaching of Christianity, known as the Ransom Theory of Atonement. One major view (but not the only one) is that the ransom is paid to Satan. Crazy comment, nonetheless.

By a brother in a talk: "Abiathar was high priest, kind of like the governing body today." Oh? I thought Christ was the high priest. Who knew?

12

Ever been on a "snipe hunt"?

by kairos in

jw
friends

if you are a jw, that is.. "there's the kingdom over there!!

""armageddon is near""we're in the last of the last days""we will have three day conventions next year... jehovah willing""the work is speeding up""it's an invisible presence".

snipe hunt.

leaving_quietly

Like telling high school freshmen, "The pool's on the third floor" when there is no pool and no third floor. That one never gets old!

32

WHY DO ONLY A FEW START TO QUESTION DOCTRINE CHANGES AND NOT EVERYONE?

by disillusioned 2 in

there are many on here who state specific changes in wt publications have caused them to start questioning (understandably you would think), and yet the majority don't.

why is it only a few individuals that do this?

curious as to what others think about this.

leaving_quietly

I think more question doctrine than we might imagine. As stated in comments above, many question, yet suppress their feelings. Some have expressed their personal beliefs that not everything is true, but then fall back into the mantra: "Who else does the preaching as Jesus commands? Who else holds out a hope of everlasting life on a paradise earth? Who else at least TRIES to teach the Bible to other people?" Many simply can't see past all of this, which, to be honest, are very, very large incentives to staying in.

I believe JWs by and large DO think, but I believe they are too tired to address any questions they might have. They're kept too busy with various activities (meetings, family worship night, field service, preparing for each meeting (even at a cursory level), videos on the new broadcasting site on an almost daily basis, daily bible reading, daily text, two new WT and one Awake magazine every month, talks, assemblies, CO visits, and so on.) Who has time to do real research? With just living life, it's hard to find the time or energy to do so, so most, like I did for years, suppress any and all questions. Or, they may think the GB is smarter than they are, so must know better. As my wife keeps asking me: "You don't think you're smarter than the Governing Body, do you?"

33

Govening Body and JWN

by John Aquila in

do you think any members of the governing body visit this site-jwn regularly?.

how about the heavies in the organization, like the writers, lawyers, and other who work at headquarters?.

for all we know john aquila could be a member of the gb..

leaving_quietly

I think DOC is right. The recent "new light" about Satan not being Gog of Magog may have been a result of this thread I started two years prior with some of the same reasoning. That's just one example. There's many more.

14

WT started using the internet in 1997, brother said

by StarTrekAngel in

so brohter (not elder or anything but many years active) had to give talk this week.

talk related to how jehovah gives abilities to people thru the spirit.

started off with the mention of how god told moises to build the tent and gave people the abilities to work wood, stone, etc.

leaving_quietly

Perhaps early 1997 contained it as a placeholder. The domain was registered in 1996. But by November, this article appeared in the KM. By then, it was no longer a placeholder.

Good News on the Internet
In our technological age, some people obtain information from electronic sources, including the Internet. So the Society has put on the Internet some accurate information about the beliefs and activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Our Internet Web site has the address http://www.watchtower.org and contains a selection of tracts, brochures, and Watchtower and Awake! articles in English, Chinese (Simplified), German, Russian, and Spanish, as well as in other languages. The publications on this Web site are already available through the congregations and are in use in the ministry. The purpose of our Web site is, not to release new publications, but to make information available to the public in electronic format. There is no need for any individual to prepare Internet pages about Jehovah’s Witnesses, our activities, or our beliefs. Our official site presents accurate information for any who want it.
Although our site has no provision for electronic messages (E-mail), it lists postal addresses of branches around the globe. Thus people can write to obtain more information or to receive personal assistance from Witnesses locally. Feel free to share the above Internet address with any who might be inclined to begin learning Bible truth from this format.

13

587 vs 607: JW sources only

by wifibandit in

the latest jw podcast has inspired me to update the copypasta comment that i post anytime this topic comes up.. i have formatted it to more closely follow the wonderful www.jwfacts.com table.

i have also added a few more links directly to the jw online library.

"evil-merodach reigned two years" w65 1/1 p. 29.

leaving_quietly

@johnamos:

[Jeremiah 25:11 And all this land must become a devastated place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”’ 12 “‘And it must occur that when seventy years have been fulfilled I shall call to account against the king of Babylon and against that nation,’ is the utterance of Jehovah,]

Let's look at a different portion of the same verses:
[Jeremiah 25:11 And all this land must become a devastated place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”’ 12 “‘And it must occur that when seventy years have been fulfilled I shall call to account against the king of Babylon and against that nation,’ is the utterance of Jehovah,]

And, how Daniel interpreted it:

[Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, discerned by the books the number of years mentioned in the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet to fulfill the desolation of Jerusalem, namely, 70 years.]

Daniel viewed the 70 years as being "the desolation of Jerusalem." It wasn't servitude alone.

25

Would you like to live for ever on earth?

by fulano in

i was discussing this topic with two friends of mine, ex jws, a few nights ago.

i think it would be boring after a while.

you can't smoke, have to drink with moderation (difficult in europe with all the wines).

leaving_quietly

I absolutely would. But I'm okay knowing I probably won't.

33

A Whole New Watchtower Society (Governing Body 3.0 / Simplified Society)

by FusionTheism in

a whole new watchtower society (governing body 3.0 / simplified society).

i'm not here to attack the governing body, watchtower society, or the jehovah's witnesses (jw) organization.

the bible says there is just "one hope" for christians (ephesians 4:4).

leaving_quietly

Marked for later reading.

Part of the problem, though, is this:

"Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees." and "A little leaven ferments the whole lump."

Any organization, not just WTBTS, ANY organization that claims to be God's channel, God's mouthpiece, spirit-directed, God's CHOSEN people, must, by definition, be 100% truthful in its doctrines. Why? Very simple: "God...cannot lie." (Titus 1:2)

So, these two possibilities exist:

1. Men were NOT listening to God

2. God lied

If #1 is accurate, then the entire organization cannot be doing God's will because anyone worshipping God "must worship him in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)

If #2, then we're all doomed.

Ok, there's a third possibility:

3. God did NOT choose the WT organization, and is NOT leading / directing them.

I tend to believe #3.

So, it doesn't matter if they START getting things right. The fact that they HAVEN'T up to this point, but insist they have, only proves the untruthfulness of this organization. This equally applies to ANY religion claiming to be the true religion.

Does this mean we who are believers should dismiss out of hand the entire religion? Christ didn't say to do that with the Pharisees. He only said to watch out for their leaven. Each person has the responsibility and obligation to see if what is being taught is truth or not. And that is something Christ commends. To the congregation in Ephesus, he said this: "‘I know your deeds, and your labor and endurance, and that you cannot tolerate bad men, and that you put to the test those who say they are apostles, but they are not, and you found them to be liars." (Rev 2:2) The word "apostle" means "sent forth one". Any who claim to be sent forth from God or Christ to proclaim whatever they proclaim MUST be tested.

If one finds that a religion teaches SOME truth, should we stay with it? I don't think I can answer that question. I can only echo Christ's words: "But whoever stumbles one of these little ones who have faith in me, it would be better for him to have hung around his neck a millstone that is turned by a donkey and to be sunk in the open sea."

EDIT: Let me add that if a religion is teaching that the end is near, Christ was pretty clear on that point: “Look out that you are not misled, for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time is near.’ Do not go after them."

15

Any good answers at this Sunday's WT?

by Lemonp in

obviously this weeks' wt has been part 3 of big changes in the doctrine.

at the end i answered up saying along the lines of: "as we can see from the illustration box, when it comes to the reward being given to the slaves, divine appointment was not given in 1919. this will happen in future when the anointed get taken before armageddon".

i couldn't bring myself to say "raptured at armageddon" as i think people might have taken a closer look at me...but it felt good to call out publicly the bull sh#t date of 1919 .

leaving_quietly

Haven't been yet. Later today. But, reading over the article, I couldn't help but wonder: In what universe do slaves force their friends / acquaintances to do their work for them? If the "slaves" represent "anointed followers", then how is it that those NOT commissioned have to do THEIR work?

22

Everything seems to be changing... why not birthdays?

by StarTrekAngel in

if we look at all doctrines, we see an overall effort to conserve unity and control.

- assuming most birthdays, if allowed, would probably be oriented to children, then that means 40 celebrations per year.

so all in all, this give a total potential attendance to a birthday of 30 families (120 attendance / 4 family members).

leaving_quietly

Funny thing about birthdays that the normal R&F don't know: you can't be DF'd for celebrating. That was mentioned at the week-long elder school a couple of years back. Why can't you be? Birthdays are neither pagan, nor political. The only holidays you can be DF'd for are those that are pagan in nature or political in nature. It's in the elders' secret book.

The two b'days in the bible that ended in deaths? One was someone in prison who was getting executed for whatever crime he committed. The other was "a convenient day" for Herodias' wife. (Mark 6:21) Neither should be construed to say b'days are bad. So silly.

leaving_quietly

Posts by leaving_quietly