WinstonSmith

Joined

• started 17 topics
• posted 480 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by WinstonSmith

• 
  336

  The New Diary of Winston Smith

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.

  fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.

  i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  So I'm reading In Search of Christian Freedom at the moment. It's quite different to Crisis of Conscience, and I'm really getting into it. Over the last couple of days I've been reading in it about how the Christian congregation slowly changed from being a collection of like minded people to being an authoritarian structure. Now we see power in the hands of a chosen few, and it is these ones that dictate what others are to believe.

  Coincidentally, tonight I read Ephesians 5. After giving advice to the individuals in the congregation to be mindful about walking wisely (vs 15), Paul goes on to say in vs 17 that people should "go on perceiving what the will of Jehovah is." I note here that it was up to the individual to do the perceiving, not someone up the hierachical foodchain.

  Jehovah's Witnesses pride themselves on being set up in a similar way to the Christian congregation in the first century. A review of history and scriptures however shows that they are in fact far from it.
• 
  30

  Some observations on Animal Farm by George Orwell

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i recently finished reading animal farm, written by george orwell.

  as someone who has recently awoken to the truth about the truth, this book blew my mind.

  the parallels with the watchtower society are quite astounding.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  Anyone else read this book lately? Re-reading the list of comparisons is chilling, especially when you think this was written with Communist Russia in mind!
• 
  336

  The New Diary of Winston Smith

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.

  fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.

  i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  Here are some points to keep in mind as you consider the Watchtower study article for this week:

  Cultivate the Spirit of a Lesser One

  - Paragraph 5: After relating the example of Leo who trained as an astrophysicist and lawyer, the paragraph asks "Despite his background, what has helped Leo to conduct himself as a lesser one?" Note how the WTS subtly implies that those who are well educated are haughty? Despite his background he was still able to be humble. What's implied is that people who are well educated have difficulty being humble.

  - Paragraph 7: Do you think that David was hoping Jehovah's shield would protect him while he was shagging Bathsheba and arranging the death of her husband?

  - Paragraph 7: Do you think the GB were conducting themselves as lesser ones when they signed bibles for public officials in Cuba? WT 99 5/15 page 8. - Paragraph 8: So in other words unhappiness or discomfort at organisational policies is a sign of a lack of humility. Interestingly there are no scriptures in this paragraph. Might it be because there isn't one that backs up this thought? - Paragraph 9: Surely as Christians and lovers of God the bible should be our main source of spiritual food. Note how in this paragraph the bible is mentioned ever so briefly, then the rest of the paragraph discusses how beneficial the WT, AW and other publications are. Its obvious where the priorities are. Reminds me of Russell's comments about reading the Studies in the Scriptures. - Paragraph 17: Starts off with "to apologize is difficult for most people" the GB are certainly qualified to make this statement. Time and again they have refused to apologise for their mistakes. On the few occasions when they do attempt this, they make it seem like the publishers fault and that there is no error on their part.
• 
  336

  The New Diary of Winston Smith

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.

  fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.

  i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  So here are some things I picked up from the meeting this week....

  Congregation Bible Study:

  • Let our Yes mean Yes? What about Franz during the Walsh trial? (See my post above).
  • Experience from Chile: Do you think Jehovah answered the sister's prayer, or that it was just coincidence the same lady was at the same train station at the same hour as the previous day? As a brother said in our congregation "her prayer was heard by God." When I ride the train to work, I'm almost always at the same train station at the same hour as previous days, and there is no divine providence in that. I often chat with a guy from the Salvation Army. Maybe I'm the answer to his prayer since I'm the same guy at the same station at the usual time...?
  • Paragraph 18 finishes with "Our efforts at giving a witness should prove how much we love our wonderful God as well as people, who are created in his image." Funny how there is no scripture placed at the end of this sentence to support this thought scripturally. Maybe its because there is no scripture that says that our efforts in a ministry show much we love God. In the WT world greater effort is indicative of greater spirituality.

  Ministry School

  • In talk 3, the sister said "Jehovah blessed their efforts to clean the ethnic groups from the land of Canaan." Sounds like a hairs breadth away from Jehovah approving ethnic cleansing. Oh wait, he did!

  Service Meeting Magazine talk: The brother giving the talk said "the thing that struck me about the January 1st WT was the realistic cover." This is the one with the fireball coming down from the sky. He went on to say that there was a lot of empty talk last year fixated on dates of the end of the world. Every audience comment on this magazine mocked those that had set dates. Oh the short memory of Jehovah's Witnesses....the irony hurts.
• 
  47

  CO disfellowshipped, Central Coast, Australia

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  hi guys,.

  i was just looking through www.reddit.com/r/exjw and there is a thread that was posted about four hours ago with the title "so our circuit overseer just got disfellowshipped" and there some basic details in their op.

  the location is given as central coast, australia, which is north of sydney.. there aren't many more details other than "it has sent shockwaves throguh the congregations" and a query on the protocol in situations like this.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  LP: Thanks for reporting back on what your local mates said. I can't help but wonder, when a CO gets DF'd, what do they do? Do they have a house? Would they have money for a rental bond? A car? Money for living? Its bad enough getting DF'd as an average Joe publisher, but as a CO where most things are provided for you, it is a long way down here to reality. If he was DA'd, maybe he at least had some external network built up.

  Lozza Aussie: Welcome to the forum! Great to have you here, so many newbies turning up lately. Thanks for confirming. We had a young popular CO get DF'd in NZ, Doug Black, so I know what an affect it can have on the congregations. Thanks again for posting. Hey why don't you start a thread and introduce yourself? We'd love to get to know you. You'll find us to be a friendly bunch!
• 
  16

  NOT on " JW.org" :NBC NEWS: Jehovah's Witness Servants who molested children and the cover-ups. A re-share for new members.

  by Balaamsass in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  advertise | adchoicesnew evidence in jehovah's witness allegationsthe jehovah's witnesses have settled nine lawsuits alleging church policies protected men who sexually abused children for many years.

  below:next story in nightly newsrelated 31frederick mcleanby lisa myers and richard greenbergnbc news investigative unit updated 11/21/2007 5:43:14 pm et2007-11-21t22:43:14 <a href="#" onclick="fdcpurl(window.location.href, true); void(0);">print</a> printfont: +-frederick mclean is one of the most-wanted fugitives in the united states, charged with 17 counts of child sexual abuse in california.

  law enforcement sources say that when a victims family confronted mclean in 2004, he allegedly confessed.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  Just noticed the dateline is 2007. Just goes to show that the things raised in the Conti case have been going on unaddressed in God's organisation for a loooong time.

  So "Jehovah's hand" was seen in helping that family not get killed when the plane crashed into their building (2013 yearbook), but not available to protect these little kids?
• 
  13

  Attention Melbourne: Sister Williams is in town!

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. social
  2. physical

  attention jws of melbourne, australia!.

  i see from the news tonight that sister williams has arrived in your beautiful city to compete in the australian open.

  no doubt she will follow the wts advice and keep up with her spiritual routine while away from home for work and pleasure.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  Oops, double post! LINE FAULT, BREAK POINT.
• 
  13

  Attention Melbourne: Sister Williams is in town!

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. social
  2. physical

  attention jws of melbourne, australia!.

  i see from the news tonight that sister williams has arrived in your beautiful city to compete in the australian open.

  no doubt she will follow the wts advice and keep up with her spiritual routine while away from home for work and pleasure.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  Report for the month: Game, Set, Match, 4 magazines, 2 return visits.
• 
  16

  NOT on " JW.org" :NBC NEWS: Jehovah's Witness Servants who molested children and the cover-ups. A re-share for new members.

  by Balaamsass in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  advertise | adchoicesnew evidence in jehovah's witness allegationsthe jehovah's witnesses have settled nine lawsuits alleging church policies protected men who sexually abused children for many years.

  below:next story in nightly newsrelated 31frederick mcleanby lisa myers and richard greenbergnbc news investigative unit updated 11/21/2007 5:43:14 pm et2007-11-21t22:43:14 <a href="#" onclick="fdcpurl(window.location.href, true); void(0);">print</a> printfont: +-frederick mclean is one of the most-wanted fugitives in the united states, charged with 17 counts of child sexual abuse in california.

  law enforcement sources say that when a victims family confronted mclean in 2004, he allegedly confessed.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  Got it! The link was hiding behind McLean's picture....

  Thanks for sharing, I'm going make good use of this!
• 
  16

  NOT on " JW.org" :NBC NEWS: Jehovah's Witness Servants who molested children and the cover-ups. A re-share for new members.

  by Balaamsass in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  advertise | adchoicesnew evidence in jehovah's witness allegationsthe jehovah's witnesses have settled nine lawsuits alleging church policies protected men who sexually abused children for many years.

  below:next story in nightly newsrelated 31frederick mcleanby lisa myers and richard greenbergnbc news investigative unit updated 11/21/2007 5:43:14 pm et2007-11-21t22:43:14 <a href="#" onclick="fdcpurl(window.location.href, true); void(0);">print</a> printfont: +-frederick mclean is one of the most-wanted fugitives in the united states, charged with 17 counts of child sexual abuse in california.

  law enforcement sources say that when a victims family confronted mclean in 2004, he allegedly confessed.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  WinstonSmith

  Hmmm, can't see any link. The only active ones are the Advertise / Ad Choice links!

  It might be because I'm on my Tablet as it sometimes mangles up formatting. I check later on our laptop.

  Cheers mate!