leaving_quietly

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Posts by leaving_quietly

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  29

  STOP MAKING CRAP UP!

  by Sheep2slaughter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had to start this thread in light of today's watchtower study.

  in paragraph 14,15 they mention the grounds for separation.

  no scriptures are sighted but i am well aware of the support they usually use.. i am so sick of the watchtower making crap up!

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  leaving_quietly

  This is the exact thing that got me researching elsewhere. No scriptural backing = dogma. Dogma is not truth.
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  19

  WT Q&A Study Method

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for years, i've never understood why we read a paragraph, ask a question, and then recite what we just read in the paragraph, and at the wt study, it's an hour long period of severe boredom because, well, how many times can we recite the same stuff over and over?

  even new ones who come in have been baffled at this method of teaching.

  i have a theory, though.. however, i just read the "what is sacred service?

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  leaving_quietly

  @Joe Grundy: " This was not a 'bible study' in any accepted sense"

  Notice, it's not called a bible study. It's The Watchtower Study. That's the official title of this meeting. JWs have a Congregation Bible Study, but it's far from that. We study a book that happens to quote some Bible verses. It used to be more aptly named the Book Study, but apparently they felt that name gave the impression we weren't studying the Bible, so they renamed it. The original name is still what it is, in reality. JWs DO NOT HAVE A BIBLE STUDY IN ANY SENSE OF THE PHRASE.
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  30

  What brought you here?

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  folks here all have one thing in common: they are somehow associated with jws, either were one, are married to one, have a relative who is one, has a romantic interest in one, are are currently one.

  perhaps you are not one, but something about jws bugs you enough to have found this forum, and read it and contribute to it.

  what brought you here?

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  leaving_quietly

  Folks here all have one thing in common: they are somehow associated with JWs, either were one, are married to one, have a relative who is one, has a romantic interest in one, are are currently one. Perhaps you are not one, but something about JWs bugs you enough to have found this forum, and read it and contribute to it. What brought you here? I'm very curious.

  For me, I can't get too detailed since I need to maintain some semblance of anonymity. However, what brought me here is the fact that I exist in a completely incompatible marriage where my wife and I don't see eye to eye on anything at all. Haven't for years. A miserable existence. Both of us want a divorce, but because of the religion, we can't / won't. I have researched the topic of divorce to the extreme and have been disgusted with the phrase "unscriptural divorce" and the three supposed things that you can get separated for, willful non-support, extreme physical abuse and absolute spiritual endangerment, none of which are support by any scripture. To me, the height of going beyond what is written. I have shared this with my wife, but she still won't budge. The reality is that the scriptures do indeed allow for divorce for any reason at all, as long as one remains unmarried (unless the divorce is on the ground of fornication). It is true that Jehovah hates a divorcing, but divorce is not listed among the things that one would prevent one from inheriting the Kingdom.

  It is on this topic that I set out to find out what other scholars said about the topic and the particular scriptural passages (Matt 19 and 1 Cor 7). I found this site during that period of research. Wow, was I surprised by what I read! Of course, the "apostate" flag was raised immediately, but I decided to start verifying things myself, something I have never done because I was raised to believe this way, and never did question it (after all, why would my seemingly intelligent parents believe this way if it wasn't the truth?)

  I'm curious: What brought you here? How did you find this site? Was there something in particular that made you start looking outside the WTS publications? Something must have started it for you. What was it?
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  19

  WT Q&A Study Method

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for years, i've never understood why we read a paragraph, ask a question, and then recite what we just read in the paragraph, and at the wt study, it's an hour long period of severe boredom because, well, how many times can we recite the same stuff over and over?

  even new ones who come in have been baffled at this method of teaching.

  i have a theory, though.. however, i just read the "what is sacred service?

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  leaving_quietly

  @blondie: "3) People who research beyond the paragraph (now they are sanctioned from doing so)"

  So very true. At the week-long school for Cong. Elders, they said: "We have a part for that. It's called the Bible Highlights." No going "beyond what [the GB] has written", but feel free to put whatever spin you'd like on the Bible for, say, 30 seconds (the encouraged max length of a Bible Highlights comment.)
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  19

  WT Q&A Study Method

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for years, i've never understood why we read a paragraph, ask a question, and then recite what we just read in the paragraph, and at the wt study, it's an hour long period of severe boredom because, well, how many times can we recite the same stuff over and over?

  even new ones who come in have been baffled at this method of teaching.

  i have a theory, though.. however, i just read the "what is sacred service?

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  leaving_quietly

  For years, I've never understood why we read a paragraph, ask a question, and then recite what we just read in the paragraph, and at the WT Study, it's an hour long period of severe boredom because, well, how many times can we recite the same stuff over and over? Even new ones who come in have been baffled at this method of teaching. I have a theory, though.

  However, I just read the "What Is Sacred Service?" post over on jwstruggle.com (http://www.jwstruggle.com/2012/03/what-is-sacred-service/), and I think I finally have a theory about the Q&A study method employed by the WT. If one were to read the WT article straight through without interruption, they might see the contraditions within articles, just as this posting mentioned (para 5 compared to para 2). It's the same as reading the Bible straight through instead of cherry-picking scriptures. Everything would be in context. However, by stopping at the end of a paragraph or two to ask a question, even when preparing for the study ahead of time, the average JW would not see the contradictions because the thought process is interrupted by those questions and the instilled need to highlight the answer.

  There have been interesting studies about interruptions with relation to various types of work (e.g. writing, software development, etc.) It takes the brain quite some time to get back into "the groove", so to speak, when interrupted. The questions at the end of the paragraphs are just that: interruptions. The flow of an article is interrupted enough so that the mind has a difficult time connecting the dots between paragraphs, and thus, it's easy to overlook the many contradictions and odd statements that are made. My awareness has been heightened in recent months, but I find that I still miss a lot of the contradictions that so many of you easily pick up on.
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  8

  Statement "from heaven"

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there was a post on here about a month ago about the dc speaker saying the statement was made that 'we are in the last day of the last days' and how we could count on it because it was in the outline and how the gb feels strongly about it.

  well, apparently this is confirmed, because our speaker today was samuel herd, one of the gb members, and he prefaced it with: 'we got this statement from heaven'.

  then he said something about not imagining coming up with the statement himeself.

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  leaving_quietly

  LOL, Heaven!
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  8

  Statement "from heaven"

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there was a post on here about a month ago about the dc speaker saying the statement was made that 'we are in the last day of the last days' and how we could count on it because it was in the outline and how the gb feels strongly about it.

  well, apparently this is confirmed, because our speaker today was samuel herd, one of the gb members, and he prefaced it with: 'we got this statement from heaven'.

  then he said something about not imagining coming up with the statement himeself.

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  leaving_quietly

  There was a post on here about a month ago about the DC speaker saying the statement was made that 'we are in the last day of the last days' and how we could count on it because it was in the outline and how the GB feels strongly about it. Well, apparently this is confirmed, because our speaker today was Samuel Herd, one of the GB members, and he prefaced it with: 'We got this statement from heaven'. Then he said something about not imagining coming up with the statement himeself. hen he said was was said elsewhere: 'We are in the last day of the last days.'

  I'm sorry, I don't have a recording. I wish I did. I mean, WOW! 'bout fell out of my seat.

  Noticeably, no mention of plans for a DC next summer.
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  12

  WT Study for 6-17-12

  by Bobcat in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i did not see a thread on the 6-17-12 wt study article, so i thought i'd put this here.. .

  this is just a thought on unquoted references that sheds a little "light" on why they are not sourced.. in paragraph 4 of the lesson it says: 'as one reference work states, it is "the sum total of the interior man.

  "' it is referring to what the bible means when it speaks of the figurative heart.

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  leaving_quietly

  Hate to rain on the parade, but this isn't new. It appears in the Insight book under Heart. The source is even cited there.
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  2

  More news reporting abuse case

  by snare&racket in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20867873/jehovahs-witnesses-must-pay-20-million-fremont-sex?refresh=no.

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  leaving_quietly

  1 Tim 3:7 Moreover, he should also have a fine testimony from people on the outside, in order that he might not fall into reproach and a snare of the Devil.
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  29

  Planning an Escape: Truth Triumphs Over Lies!

  by 00DAD in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  often during wt/book studies and/or public talks i would be following along and note little discrepancies and inconsistencies.

  perhaps it was a scripture that didn't really support the point being asserted in the paragraph or maybe it was an illustration that sounded good but wasn't completely parallel or maybe it was a line of reasoning that wasn't as conclusive or solid as the speaker/elder/co/wt publication made it out to be.

  or maybe it was the excessive use of weasel words like, "evidently," "perhaps," "must have" and so on.

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  leaving_quietly

  Sounds like me right now, OODAD. Still in. Know the shunning will essentially destroy my life as I know it.

  I found out about the UN thing years ago. It was immediately debunked, probably by the very same link turtleturtle references. However, I can't help but think how we are constantly admonished not to take employment that would have anything to do with false religion. One recent picture showed a brother, a painter, who was reconsidering painting the outside of a church. Now, if we can't even do that, what gives the Society the right to have anything at all to do with the UN? Does this mean then that I can go into the library of the Vatican now? Or how about taking a tour of a military base? Or how about painting the walls of a church? It's all the same thing. In addition, it has stumbled others, right to the point of leaving the religion, and we all know what the Jesus said about one who stumbles another:

  Matt 18:6: "But whoever stumbles one of these little ones who put faith in me, it is more beneficial for him to have hung around his neck a millstone such as is turned by an ass and to be sunk in the wide, open sea."