Posts by RR

18

Governing Body Exit Doors

by Skimmer in

jw
friends

consider the exit doors for the governing body.. we know that there was no authoritative governing body before 1976, so i will limit the scope of this thought to the time since then.

how do members leave the governing body?.

exit door number one: death; taken by most.. exit door number two: disgrace; taken by a couple.. exit door number three: triumph; taken by raymond franz.. has it ever been the case where a governing body member has left because of senility?

RR

I remember towards the end of his life, at the disreict conventions at Yankee Stadium, they would bring old Freddie up on stage to conclude the convention in prayer, the guy was so senile, he dribbled on and on in his prayer, repeating the same phrase over and over again, for half hour. When he finished everyone clapped. I thought how pitiful, bringing this man on stage like some relic for all to see and hear. By then he was blind and needed a guide to lead him.

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Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!

2

Does anyone know?

by claudia in

hi does anyone know who the jws claim were gods people before them?

RR

They really don't claim any one particular group as having been God's people, other than the natrion of Israel, whom they claim were rejected when they crucified Jesus.

Their premise is that God has had faithful witnesses these past six thousand years, Abel being the first Witness of Jehovah, then through the ages, to the patriachs, Israel, the apostles and early disciples, then the geat apostasy of the Romans Church, then the Watchtower was formed for gathering His people. Interestingly, as much as they claim Bro. Russell as just one of many faithful witnesses, they reject most of his theology, so despite the Society being God's channel, for the first forty years or so, the Society thought apostasy. Since it wasn't until 1918/19 that he appointed them over his domestics, although I believe even that has changed.

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Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!

13

Never throw away Kult Kollectibles

by Tallyman in

jw
friends

no, this ain't no advertisement, since the auction is long over.... * http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/ebayisapi.dll?viewitem&item=1129186088.

just wanted to illustrate the value some collectors put on the old watchtower stuff, and that it is wise to hang onto it and if someone wants to 'pay through the teeth' to acquire it, well and good, because that way it is preserved, and not gone and forgotten, but rather the watchtower's rich heritage lives on and the litter-chewer & sundry memorabilia is on someone's shelf or in their display cabinet for anyone to see in case there's a future challenge that such never existed.. who in their right mind would pay over $13 bucks for a little worm-eaten tea bag??

a krazy kult kollector, that's who!.

RR

LOLOLOLOL ... teabags, what next ... toilet paper????

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Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!

28

Amateur Counselors & Nice "Wicked&quot...

by patio34 in

two observations since leaving the jws:.

1. are the elders really 'teachers'?

in the public talk they have to follow the outline provided by the wt.

RR

The sad part is that even the data they get their sources from [the Watchtower Society] are written by people who are so out of touch with the world, bethelites who live in a commune, who are either not married, or are too old to remember. Teaching us how to raise our children, people who don't even have kids. Telling us how to cope in the world, a people who isolate themselves from the world living and working at Bethel.

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Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!

23

Things to do when they come knocking

by Skimmer in

jw
friends

i encourage people not to either verbally or physically harass jws when they come knocking on the door.. saying this, i recognize that it is ever so tempting to try the following:.

1) answering the door wearing a t-shirt with a logo such as "satan rules", "member of the evil slave class", and "1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, what's next?".

2) answering the door wearing only underwear (or less).. 3) dropping a name of some governing body member and suggesting that you got to know him when he and you were in jail together, and then ask if they know if he's stopped some particular filthy habit.. 4) answering the door while brandishing a pitchfork.. 5) say that you're so glad they came and that it's good for people to have an open mind about their religion and to be willing to change; once you get them excited with this, show them a copy of the wtbts failed prophecy list (backed by quotes from their own literature) and ask if they are open minded as well.. 6) as most jws have never looked at a copy of _studies in the scriptures_, tell them that you've gotten many of your religious beliefs by pyramidology; then show them a copy of _sits_ and point to the wtbts copyright notice.. i have #5 and #6 ready for the next visit.

RR

Actually, just before I left, the Society introduced a new rule, that elders can visit DF'd ones.

I've moved around so much, no one knows me in the territory I live in. I use a P.O. Box for any communicatons, I get contacted by mail everytime my subscriptions expire, and I always renew on my own, directly with the Society.

A few years ago, one of the elders visited me, had been a JW most of his life, I brought up some issues I didn't accept, as we were talking about specfics I didn't agree with, and he told me that I was misinformed, that I must have gotten my data from false sources. I told him, that unless I read it wrong, the only sources I use are Watchtower publications, well, we debate back and forth and he would actually sit there and deny that they ever, either taught something or did such and such a thing.

So, I kindly invited them [he and his wife] to my study, it is a large room that has wall to wall books, about 6,000 in all, mostly Watchtower and Watchtower related from the 1800s to the present], their eyes just bugged out and their jaws dropped, and I began to pull out a few books, showed them one and pointed to a page, "so you never taught this, eh?"

Well, they had to all of a sudden leave, they had another contact to visit, I had to smile, since they left my house after 9 pm, what people do JW's contact AFTER 9 pm? lol

__________________________________________________________________
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!

33

Celebrate with me today

by Esmeralda in

jw
friends

today, april 20th, is the fourth anniversary of a very special day in my life.. the anniversary of my rebirth.. this rebirth was not a religious experience, but it was something totally pure, amazing and healing.. it had nothing at all to do with the society, or rather, of freeing myself from it.

it was however, a giant first step in that direction.. today is the fourth anniversary of the day i got letter that changed everything.

the words on the pages were alive, and magical: they released me from my old life and for the first time.

RR

Here's to freedom, here's to new love, here's to starting over!

_______________
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!

18

What are they preaching?

by neyank in

jw
friends

hi all,.

i was wondering what the newest thing being preached by the wts is.. since they changed the 1914 generation teaching, what has replaced it?.

neyank

RR

Actually, they haven't changed much, although the Society still uses their old tricks.

This is what they do, they introduce a subtle change, it can be a word, a phrase or a sentence, however the question to the paragraph NEVER discusses the 'change.' They sit back and wait to see what happens, if it is positive then they go ahead with the change, if it's negative, then they move on and forget it.

Too often what they do is they make the changes gradually, and then the Society says "it's nothing new, this was discussed in teh April 1st Watchtower of 1999, yadda, yadda, yadda," and everyone looks and sure enough, there it is, "I don't remember that" they say!

As to the gospel? They still go around reminding everyone that the end of the world is near, only no date!

_______________
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!

23

Things to do when they come knocking

by Skimmer in

jw
friends

i encourage people not to either verbally or physically harass jws when they come knocking on the door.. saying this, i recognize that it is ever so tempting to try the following:.

1) answering the door wearing a t-shirt with a logo such as "satan rules", "member of the evil slave class", and "1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, what's next?".

2) answering the door wearing only underwear (or less).. 3) dropping a name of some governing body member and suggesting that you got to know him when he and you were in jail together, and then ask if they know if he's stopped some particular filthy habit.. 4) answering the door while brandishing a pitchfork.. 5) say that you're so glad they came and that it's good for people to have an open mind about their religion and to be willing to change; once you get them excited with this, show them a copy of the wtbts failed prophecy list (backed by quotes from their own literature) and ask if they are open minded as well.. 6) as most jws have never looked at a copy of _studies in the scriptures_, tell them that you've gotten many of your religious beliefs by pyramidology; then show them a copy of _sits_ and point to the wtbts copyright notice.. i have #5 and #6 ready for the next visit.

RR

Well, I have never been visited in the ten years I have been out, although I have met them on the street, struck up a conversation and then they invite themselves over.

They get frustrated when I agree with all their basic teachings, and they can't figure it out. Even when I tell them I'm a Bible Student, most don't know what I'm talking about! So I get the "Proclaimers" book, turn to page 151 and show them the paragraph which mentions us, then they say "ohhhhh!" and Run like hell!

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Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!

40

Have I changed?

by mommy in

jw
friends

as most of you know i am new to the world of the internet.

therefore i am new to the discussion board forum.

when i first entered simon's place, i did not fear to speak my mind.

RR

It gets a little difficult Wendy, because we're just names on a screen, and we tend to read into things that aren't there, and we tend to read HOW we think the person is posting.

Personally I still love God and Christ and haven't blamed them for anything in my life. so I steer away from certain postings that I feel are not spiritually uplifting, and others the the occassion ragging on certain ones like Fred, if I really can't say anything nice about a certain person, I rather not say anything at all. Unless of course it's warranted! :)

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Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!

8

what where you looking for from the JWS

by stephenw20 in

i cant say i sought the jws out.

i had little choice , as my parents did the seeking, i hold them harmless, they did not investigate it beyond the wtbts pubs.. i did however at a point go it on my own, did the water dipping ore 1985 , so i feel, no allegiance to a group i vowed nothing to.. there was a point maybe 2 or 3 months when i felt i had a realtionship with god during my stint with the jws.

unfortuanately for me i lumped , god and them together and dismissed both together for a long time.. my question though to all here is this.

RR

Well, it's no secret on this board as to my beliefs. I was a JW for some ten years, almost immediately [few years] after I joined I knew that things weren't perfect, so I didn't expect much from them. As far as I was concerned. they had a lot of truths, and those "truths" which I did not believe to be scriptural, I rejected, those I didn't understand, I put on the shelf.

Eventually, in doing my homework, I came upon the old literature, read it, and came to belief that what the early Bible Students believed made a lot more sense, they were closer to Christ, and worked hard, NOT at placing magazines and books, but becoming more Christlike, and so I sought them out, made a comparison of the two, it took some years, over five, I steered away from so called apostate literature, but when I had determined that theologically the Society was not teaching the Gospel of Christ, I then started to read the apostate writings, Crisis of Conscious, etc. these books only revealed to me what I had already suspected, by then it was easy for me to walk away.

Ten years later, I serve with a small group of Bible Students in New Jersey, where we study the scriptures and admonish one another, nice and simple, call me a "Russellite" if you will, I did not jump right in, I compared, I studied, i investigated.

I have found peace and believe I have found Truth, not all Truth, just Truth, enough Truth to help me along my way in serving the God I love so much.

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Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's not God's fault!