Posts by ThomasMore

70

Beards are now allowed - New Light

by Listener in

lett has announced in the latest video update that jehovah has dignified the brothers by now letting them to choose for themselves whether they want to have a beard or not -.

https://www.jw.org/en/news/region/global/2023-governing-body-update-8/.

this applies worldwide and to all brothers in any position..

ThomasMore

Rattigan - you should write them a letter!

The change is clearly a softening due to so many Brothers leaving, but let me offer this view:

1. Brothers do not fade because they want to grow a beard. They fade because they don’t like being managed by a high control group that over reacts in trivial matters

2. Like the field service reporting change, this is driven by the need to stop removing privileges when a man grows a beard. Many men did this so that privileges would be removed - plain and simple

3. More softening is likely. Hyper zealots use of judicial committees as a tool to inflict pain. I suspect that new guidelines are in the making to reduce judicial triggers and the harsh penalties for every infraction imaginable.

4. Probably no softening for sisters at this time. They don’t need to as sisters seem to be more agreeable to their control than brothers.

5. Redaction of all their unpopular restrictions that were scribed in the publications is now underway.

30

FDS 1919 Declaration Date

by NotFormer in

did rutherford have any "prophetic" justification for 1919 as the date that jesus declared him (ahem, the wt organisation) the fds?

such as some calculation attached to 1914?

that in 1919, jesus would come looking for his true organisation?.

ThomasMore

Duran - well that's good enough for me! I am going back to WTC! They clearly have the truth...

16

Predictions for the next decade?

by jehovaxx in

as it’s nearly the new year my prediction over the next decade or so will see the sense of urgency dwindle.

then some huge huge changes.

for example by 2034 in a decades time, they will have address the 1914 issue and will come out and say we can’t be dogmatic.

ThomasMore

WTC is disentegrating before my eyes, but in slow motion like a train that derails, folding up into itself and crushing everything in its way as body parts fly through the air onto the sides of the track.

Some telltale events could signal it's trajectory into the abyss, like:

More and more use of ChatGPT as they reduce the writing staff. Yes - I think most of their articles are strung together by AI generated content. Do a side by side comparison for yourself and I think you will see the similarities
Reduce the hierarchy (few or no CO's, fewer elders, fewer elders wives :-)
Allow beards on men AND women (my old JW girlfriend had a fuller beard than I could after a 2 week vacation)
Elimination of all words that require a dictrionary to understand
Discontinuation of all maintenance in the Kingdom Halls that cost more than $1.25 (Dollar store max price)
Telling the truth about something - if they ever do, then the END IS HERE!
~~No longer requiring the reporting of time .~~ Already done

Seriously, the recent defeats in court have shaken them up. The floodgates for massive losses are now open wide and plaintiffs are lining up to take their share, even if it's only a lazyboy chair from Mark Sanders room at Warwick. I even heard Donald Trump say that the only one getting charged more than him is WTC!!

I promise to come back and voice my astonishment if WTC makes it 5 more years without filing Chap 11.

8

Unacceptable type/antitype for JW'S.....

by BoogerMan in

.........because it would cancel out their "upper & lower class christians" fairy story - aka the anointed & non-anointed.. antitype: the fleshly nation of israel and exodus foreigner converts were participants of the mosaic covenant.. type: christianity - the israel of god ("spiritual israel") and gentile converts became participants in the new covenant..

ThomasMore

NotFormer - WTC knows what a rotten Rutherford was, yet they hang on to some of his unique teachings. Did he conjure that one up while in bed with one of his paramours? I wonder.

11

Were we really meant to live forever?

by Leathercrop in

our capacity for adaptation (there's an official term somewhere) is apparently very vast.

meaning that whatever is a novelty always becomes old news and apparently it happens very quickly.

human beings in fact have to put a lot of effort into not discarding valuable things and relationships because of our overwhelming tendency to become incredibly used to it and just plain bored with them.

ThomasMore

I always marveled that anyone thought that man was made to live forever. Nothing else in the material world lives forever. The angels only live as long as they are faithful (according to JWs). So what is their lifespan without being "charged up" while continuing to be faithful? JW's teach that only God, Jesus and the 144K have immortality. They rest can only hope to have everlasting life. For a lot of people, that seems to be enough, but there is a lot to say about getting everlasting life.

I am not in the camp that says life would be boring. There seems to be an unlimited number of endeavors that one could explore. But I will need a good car - let me just add that.

Eve told the serpent that she and Adam could eat from "all" the trees except from one, the tree of knowledge. When they were expelled from the garden, the cherubs blocked entrance to prevent them from eating from the tree of life. I don't believe the tree had any special powers, but as long as they ate from it (which must have been whenever they wanted), they got "recharged" and continued to live. It was only an assurance that God would give them continued vitality. Letting them resume eating from that tree would have signaled that God had forgiven them - something that he did not seem inclined to do.

My conclusion is that man can only live when being "recharged", or revitalized. Otherwise, our telemeres get shorter with each cell replication and we age, then eventually die. Humans were DESIGNED to age and die, just like all other creations.

Is God prepared to do this forever on our behalf? That is the the real question for me. If you have the answer - let's hear it.

8

JW lose case against victims

by enoughisenough in

caught this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud7uob6zck4.

ThomasMore

Eric, your explanation was excellent! Well done!!!

54

What If The Tower Fell?

by Big Dog in

what if the truly unthinkable happened and the tower went down?

perhaps the irs swooped in and claimed fraud and padlocked the headquarters and kingdom hall doors?

or the gb took the money and ran to a nice non-extradition country to live out their years?

ThomasMore

One problem with resurrecting it from the ashes after a dramatic shutdown is the disposition of the KHs. WTC owns them. They probably have most leveraged to the hilt now to have enough cash for CSA settlements, but for the cash left in them, they won’t completely walk away. It would soon become known who was pulling the strings to extract the remaining value.

The Argentina facility exists for a reason. I suspect that it will eventually serve its purpose.

29

No Reporting of Time, Tithing is OK, Now WT Teaches a "Rapture" - What's Next?

by Sea Breeze in

those who will be taken to heaven will first need to be “changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, during the last trumpet.” therefore, while we do not use the term “rapture” here because of its wrong connotation, the remaining faithful anointed will be gathered together in an instant of time.

- the watchtower—study edition | july 2015. ok so they refuse to use the word "rapture".

kinda like they refuse to use the word church and clergy (except when it suits their purposes in court cases).

ThomasMore

The GB just adds some grease to the steering wheel of the organization whenever they are ready to make a hairpin turn. However, these turns do not represent any significant deviation from their large body of false teachings. AND - they can add new wacky restrictions to compensate for newly granted freedoms.

Ex. At assemblies, monitors were in the restrooms purportedly to identify empty stalls, and to control the misuse of paper towels. In reality, they were concerned about illicit activity that might be occurring in the stalls. I used to wonder if they were going to start weighing the publishers before and after they used the restrooms…

WTC cannot help but stumble across its own ridiculous rules. They insisted on measuring field service activity as if God himself were waiting in the monthly report. When the numbers be ame too discouraging to publish, POOF!! They ended it overnight. I guess that God didn’t care so much after all about the monthly report.

31

If 1914 gets tossed

by Leathercrop in

it feels like the change in reporting of hours becomes a fundamentally bigger deal every day.

the weight and importance placed on quantity was enormous, and now it's just gone.

even tho most witnesses really didn't keep "accurate" records so to speak hehehe.... this could very well be a precursor to even bigger doctrinal changes, like 1914. damn, would would happen then?.

ThomasMore

They started using the word “about” because for many years, they said Jesus established the Kingdom in heaven, THEN war broke out and Satan and his supporters were kicked out, down to the earth where they caused international divisions which lead to WW1.

But some in recent years questioned the timing since WW1 started in July, but the Kingdom was not established until October (according to their timeline. So they inserted “about” so thet they could say that war broke out in heaven “about” 1914 and could have even been before the Kingdom was established. This allowed for the change without addressing the dogmatic statements made about the Kingsom coming before the ousting. Problem solved!!

Words matter with Watchtower and they like to redact dogmatic statements with words that allow them to be right whether they are or are not.

65

Just had a thought…

by Vidiot in

i been reading quite a few experiences on reddit lately, and their seems to be a common theme coming up….

…dialed-up-to-eleven shunning of xjws by their witness relatives.. it reminds me of back in the day, listening to some of the over-the-top vitriol displayed by hard-core loyalists when the topic of evolution or apostates came up….

…i was gobsmacked when i finally realized these guys weren’t offended and indignant because they thought it was lies….

ThomasMore

A CO complained to me once about some sleeping in the audience during his talk. I remarked that I saw none asleep when conducting the Tower. Probably not the right thing to say but it was true.

The problems in the org now are the result of Russell, Rutherford, Knorr and the GB. They hate what is happening but they caused it.