Posts by Anders Andersen

29

Funeral Fashion

by ThinkerBelle in

i have a funeral to attend for a non jw family member and the jdub family member reminded me that i should not wear black.

for the life of me, i can't recall where this belief came from in jw teachings and i'm born in.

is there something in print or is that just a personal opinion belief?

Anders Andersen

Could just be that the deceased wanted everyone to show up in something colorful?

Or did you know that wearing black at funerals was originally a ruse to escape the attention of evil spirits said to be lurking on such occasions?

Watchtower: don't buy into the ridiculous idea that the color of your clothing may attract evil spirits. Haha what silly stuff people believe! Rofl

Also Watchower: caution! The home you live in, the gifts you received, the second hand stuff you bought, the music you listen to and the movies you watch may attract evil spirits that are lurking for such an occasion!

They are just so silly and they contradict themselves so often it's hard to keep track of.

24

The Incredible Shrinking Watchtower -- What's Up?

by Room 215 in

what's up with this?

it seems that with the january study magazine it's been trimmed by by four pages.

have any of you commented on this?.

Anders Andersen

Currently, there is one Asleep! rag per month, and it is only 16 pages. The washtowel has been split up into Showcase edition (which is placed in public, and has 16 pages) and a Kool-Aid edition (which is studied at the boasting session, contains the hard core doctrines, and still has 32 pages). The Showcase edition is monthly, and the Kool-Aid edition is also monthly.

Nope, that was until some years ago. Then Asleep! and the public edition Watchtower were rescued to just 6 issues a year.

Since 2018, both are down to just 3 issues a year!

35

This Forum. Has it changed? For the better or for the worse? Or not a at all?

by ThomasCovenant in

jw
friends

when i post i try to imagine that i am at a social gathering or sometimes in someone's house as a dinner guest.

that way it is easier to follow the community guidelines and posting rules set out on the site at the bottom of the page.

i wouldn't want to make a fool of myself in public.

Anders Andersen

I wish I could set a filter here that would hide all the polarized left-right political ehm...conversations.

That's not what I'm here for. I'd go to a political forum if I wanted to read that.

For me all that is not related to JWism and recovery of that.

35

Do You Think The Bible Teaches A Trinity As Religions Teach?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i’m not asking whether you believe in the bible.

i just want your opinion as to whether you think the bible teaches it.

i don’t, for what it’s worth..

Anders Andersen

Consider this: originally the Bible is the product of religious beliefs and culture, not the other way around.

It's rather silly to try and (re)create a religion based on a book that (incompletely) captures the religous thoughts and practices that 'inspired' it.

Of course the book is also he capture of a moment in time. The religious beliefs that are written down at one time continue to develop and evolve. An example of this is the evolution of God and morality from the OT to the NT.

So does it make sense that the religious community continued to develop their beliefs? Sure. So they added the trinity, an idea not yet captured in the Bible.

Then again, what exactly is the difference between the letters attributed to Paul, John, etc, and the letters and edicts somewhat later? They all simply reflect the religious thoughts of the day...

12

HELP! - Asking for Baptism photos for university art/personal documentation project (they will not be published or made public)

by AGoodPigeon in

i'm new here, but i've been an ex-witness since 2015 (not disfellowshipped, faded and inactive but no longer believing) and i'm working on an art/personal project gathering the bapstism photos of many different ex-witnesses.

i am asking that anyone who feels comfortable with it send me (private message me) their photos that they or others took on the day of their baptism (before, after, or during).

i will not post these online anywhere or publish them.

Anders Andersen

Are you involved in any other exjw community?

You can imagine that an unknown person asking for photos on their first post here may feel a bit odd.

Otherwise, interesting project!

21

Web sites that Jehovah's Witnesses can go to

by new boy in

jw
friends

what exjw sites could i refer a seeker of true to look at besides this one?.

since this is the only exjw web site that i'm a member of, i would like to make mention of other web sites for people to look at in my book.

i only know of two others.. jw facts and jw survey.

Anders Andersen

I'm pretty sure I already posted this before: reddit.com/r/exjw is a huuuge exjw community, and has links to similar communities in different languages.

27

OK, I know this forum isn't exactly friends with JWSurvey, BUT...

by Vidiot in

...this, imo, is just too good to pass up:.

https://jwsurvey.org/news/watch-tower-sues-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-for-contempt-of-court-demands-daily-fine.

this bit especially made me laugh:.

Anders Andersen

Yes, it's true. Jehovah will undo all the suffering and misery in Paradise, but not even He can't repair this damage by Kevin McFree

29

2018 BRANCH ORGANIZATION Manuel Says The members of the Governing Body do not regard themselves as the leaders of Jehovah's people.

by Fabian in

thanks to atlantis, this statement is mentioned on chapter 1 paragraph 1 in the middle.

but i like how the statement says members but the sentence right before has the governing body dudes in a collective whole like voltron here is the paragraph in whole.

1. governing body: the governing body of jehovah's witnesses is made up of brothers who are anointed servants of jehovah god.

Anders Andersen

@stuckinarut

That part clearly shows the GB are dictators.

Rank and file JW have to obey and follow direction
Appointed elders must humbly accepts guidance and direction, and accept each others counsel. Direction coming from above is mandatory to obey.
Same for CO, branch committee members and every other appointed bro.

The only ones who don't have to listen to anyone, and don't have to explain themselves to anyone?

Right, the GB

64

What Do You Think of Socialism?

by minimus in

jw
friends

do you support socialism?

is it something that you would want in your country?.

Anders Andersen

Neither Canada nor the Netherlands are socialist. They are capitalist societies that use all their tax money they would have had to spend on national defense on health care because the U.S. mostly funds NATO

That sounds logical right until you check the numbers and see that USA actually spends a lot more (per capita) on healthcare, and gets much less in return.

Health care in Canada and NL (and many other countries) doesn't just work because they throw more money at it than USA; quite the opposite. The USA healthcare system fails because it's built on the principles of greed and selfishness. Even if they throw more money at it, the system will stay broken and ineffective.

15

When The Truth - is Not -The Truth

by Esau in

is 607bc being a made up, “plug in” date the only thing that invalidates 1914 from being christ’s time of kingly rein?.

i mean, screw the math & bs formulas.

can 1914 simply work as a starting date for “the last days” simply by the events that occurred??

Anders Andersen

No. Life and world conditions have improved a lot in the past 200 years, including since 1914.

These are not the worst time ever as the Bible claims the 'last days' would be.

https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts