leaving_quietly

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Posts by leaving_quietly

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  84

  The Kingdom Halls are empty

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my jw spies tell me that the kingdom halls are empty compared to how they used to be, since i left 5 years ago.

  not saying they're empty because of me though.. is that what you are hearing?.

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  leaving_quietly

  The hall I attend (less frequently now) isn't empty. Fuller than ever. Of course, the congregation that shares the KH with our congregation is emptying. Something big happened over there and a bunch of people just left and started going to other halls. Our got an influx of wounded, pissed off people. Great. Just great.
  
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  49

  GEOFFREY JACKSON THE PERSONABLE FACE OF JW.ORG...BUT IT AIN'T OVER YET BUDDY

  by steve2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  since geoffrey jackson's appearance before the australian royal commission on friday there has for some been an expressed feeling of anticlimax.

  it is as though he was given too much latitude to preach, to claim ignorance and to skirt questions.

  more to the point, as much as i myself thought i would never have expected to say this, gj actually came across as likeable and - don't throttle me please!

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  leaving_quietly

  There's some very intelligent and respectful posts in this thread, so thanks all, for that.

  I have only watched a portion of Mr. Jackson's testimony. Time is not on my side at the moment. What I've been able to glean is more of an inside look into the functioning of the governing body and it's role in relation to the rest of the organization. This, to me, is very key from a doctrinal perspective. The portion where I stopped watching is where they were just starting to get into the real issue at hand, but the first 40 minutes or so of the testimony is, in my opinion, quite damaging to the claim of being the "faithful and discreet slave". And it's out of the horse's mouth, so to speak.

  Two phrases that jumped out were "Guardians of Doctrine" and calling the Bible our "constitution. "Guardians of Doctrine" never appears in any literature, so that's a new one. However, calling the Bible our "constitution" seemed to be somewhat popular in the 1970s and 1980s, the last reference to it that way in the March 15, 1984 Watchtower (p. 19 par. 18).

  
  As for the phrase, "Guardians of Doctrine", that too is telling. They truly have placed themselves in a position, a self-appointed position, that even the Bible says is not necessary or required. Note Galatians 3:23-25: "However, before the faith arrived, we were being guarded under law, being handed over into custody, looking to the faith that was about to be revealed. So the Law became our guardian leading to Christ, so that we might be declared righteous through faith. But now that the faith has arrived, we are no longer under a guardian."
  
  

  I do hope some good comes of all of this. At the very least, the light is shining into this critical area. It's on the world stage for all to see. It's on the internet, and it won't be going away any time soon.
  
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  5

  Finally got a copy of the silver NWT

  by wozza in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after not having a nwt translation for a few years i scored the latest edition still wrapped in plastic !

  but guess where ?

  at the local salvation army shop ...for free!.

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  leaving_quietly

  Still wrapped in plastic? That's amazing to me. Probably a JW gave it to a non-JW relative who didn't want it to begin with and they donated it to a worldly religion. LOL! (Yes, Salvation Army is a religion. I've seen one of their churches.)
  
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  22

  Advice on Waiting for Jehovah

  by Anon_SA1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi guys, .

  in discussions with a current jw, they told me that have big concerns with regards to the 607 bce date, but they are waiting on jehovah for refining.

  any suggestions on questions to pose to them based on their feedback?.

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  leaving_quietly

  My retort to the "waiting on Jehovah reply" is usually, "Maybe Jehovah is waiting on us."
  
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  232

  Geoffrey Jackson Royal Commission update

  by umbertoecho in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  hello people.

  the rc will still go ahead with it's live stream on friday 14th august.

  however, it seem that it will be a video link.

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  leaving_quietly

  It's easier to pull the plug if a question gets uncomfortable. "Oops! Video link went down. Technical difficulties!"
  
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  53

  What is their official explanation for not allowing beards?

  by keyser soze in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i ask because my gf, who knows all about my jw upbringing, convinced me to grow a goatee, just to see how it looks.

  we both decided it looked good so i decided to keep it.

  i tried to explain to her that as a jw, i wasn't allowed to grow one, but then drew a blank when she asked me why.

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  leaving_quietly

  Years ago, when I was a lowly MS, an elder showed me a letter a brother in the congregation wrote to the branch asking for an explanation about why brothers could not wear beards. The branch responded. It basically said that a brother could wear a beard if he so desired, but could not have any privilege in the congregation, nor give public prayers. The only exception was if a beard was covering an embarrassing facial blemish (e.g. deformity, rash, etc.)

  I knew one elder who had a beard because of a facial blemish.
  

  I knew another elder who got removed because he grew the tiniest bit of hair below his bottom lip and refused to shave it off. He was deemed "proud" and "haughty" because he wouldn't accept counsel based on man-made rules. He was a real nice guy. I think he faded soon thereafter due to the way he was treated.

  Oh, and if you want to see how much beards are frowned upon, take a look at the illustration on page 13 of the Good News From God brochure to see the progression of a resurrected man. Better yet, here it is. Of course, the relevant question to ask is: If God resurrected him WITH a beard, why does he have to shave it later???
  

  
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  33

  Regional Convention in Scotland

  by The Searcher in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  walking towards my seat after lunch, i made eye-contact with a j.w.

  male walking towards me.

  as we were passing, he smiled and said 'hello', so i replied with, 'hello'.. well, if a member of the g.b.

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  leaving_quietly

  @Prefect, exactly my thought when I saw each video. I didn't applause at all when I attended.
  
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  8

  Royal Commission Prophecy...

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  at the beeting now having my mental faculties raped.

  in the song before the watchtower it says "...royal commision..." in one verse lmao.

  i had to contain my jerk ing my head up and looking around.

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  leaving_quietly

  I had the exact same reaction. LOL!
  
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  15

  Scottish Convention Revelation!

  by The Searcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some circuit overseer gave a talk and made this statement - "jehovah will very soon resurrect millions of people.....".

  "soon" is so old hat now - "very soon" will become the new buzz words in j.w.-land..

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  leaving_quietly

  "Jehovah will very soon resurrect millions of people....."

  Let's pick that statement apart, shall we?

  First, "Jehovah"

  "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who recognizes the Son and exercises faith in him should have everlasting life, and I will resurrect him on the last day" - John 6:40

  "No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him, and I will resurrect him on the last day" - John 6:44

  "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I will resurrect him on the last day" - John 6:54

  "Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and the life" - John 11:25

  "because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first" - 1 Thess 4:16

  ---

  Next, "will very soon resurrect millions of people"

  "And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for 1,000 years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were ended.) This is the first resurrection." - Rev 20:4,5

  
  

  According to JW doctrine, the 144,000 are resurrected first. That's not millions. Those may be the only ones that qualify for the "will very soon" portion of that statement. Paul refers to this as "the earlier resurrection"

  "to see if at all possible I may attain to the earlier resurrection from the dead." - Phil 3:11
  
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  21

  where there was a conflict between the Bible and science, the Bible would prevail, because all scripture is "inspired by God"

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  thought i would put this in its own thread.

  it another embarrassing statement from the rc (royal commission not regional convention lol).

  it's not even one about abuse, its about the jw's stance on science and the bible.

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  leaving_quietly

  There's a huge gap between women "speaking in the congregation" and women being used to help develop policies that might actually HELP victims of child abuse. The latter is NOT a speaking position, NOR a teaching position. My goodness, even letting them assist when elders are meeting with them to get the facts so they don't have to do it alone in front of men whom they might not be comfortable with... where's the scripture that says they can't do that?

  Ok, JWs... YOU stated the scriptures preclude women from these roles. PROVE it. The burden of proof is on the one who makes a statement like this. Prove it to the RC, to us, to the world. Prove it unequivocally. Show us the scripture(s) that state these things such that cannot be interpreted any other way. PROVE IT!!!!!