so these last few wts have definitely eroded my wife's faith in the org.
she is definitely seeing the bs, and i even overheard her talking openly about it to a family member.
good for her!.
Ask her whether she thinks JWs' preaching efforts would be more fruitful if they stole a page from other religions' playbooks, such as:
If she thinks those things are helpful, ask her why the WTS doesn't do any of those things?
i stopped attending all meetings this summer.
i prefer not to be dfed or to da myself.
i just want to be inactive.
Change your phone number.
Move.
Filter their email to your junk mail folder.
Show up to a Meeting™, but without having showered or combing your hair for a couple of days, wearing some ugly, ill-fitting clothing from the second hand store. Have a wide eyed stare, drool a little, and twitch occasionally. Take a small Tupperware container of water and make sure the seat is wet when you leave half way through the Public Talk™.
That should fix it.
i had an interesting discussion with a jw family member recently and he brought up his plans for retirement.
according to his age bracket, this will not be for another 20 years or so.
he plans to buy land, build a house, move the parents nearby.
From the age of 6, I kept hearing how Armageddon™ was Coming Soon™. In the interim, I was manipulated into giving up a post secondary education. When I turned 30, it started to sink in how I would be financially screwed if I didn't have a career and all of a sudden I had to support my family. I went back to school, amidst protests from JWs who kept telling me how Armageddon™ was Right Around The Corner™.
It dawned on me that while the WTS was telling people to put off important things like planning for retirement, getting an education, and becoming financially secure, they were hounding JWs for cash, making investments, building new headquarters, and buying, improving and selling property for a very healthy profit. It occurred to me that these were a bunch of cynical b@st@rds who didn't even believe their own rhetoric. They just wanted a gullible audience to put them on a pedestal, put their own lives on hold, maintain a level of ignorance and suspension of disbelief, and fork over their hard earned money, while they lapped it all up and lived high on the hog with funds that were meant for the purpose of Bible education, but were diverted to tax sheltered holdings instead.
In the almost 2 decades since I quit the JWs, I've done a lot of catching up intellectually and financially. There's no going back. I'm watching elderly JWs having to continue working until the age of 80 because they have no retirement savings. I know some who have had to move in to the homes of their children - who incidentally got an education, and started saving for the future after watching the financial trainwreck of their parents' lives.
If any group of JWs have a case to launch a class action or mass action lawsuit against the WTS for its fraudulent rhetoric, it's the ones who forsook taking care of their own retirement. But then again, can you really sue someone else for your own stupidity?
so these last few wts have definitely eroded my wife's faith in the org.
she is definitely seeing the bs, and i even overheard her talking openly about it to a family member.
good for her!.
Why do Jehovah's Witnesses actually go out in the Door-to-Door Ministry™?
Would they do this if they were not directed to do so by the Watchtower Society? or would they come to the conclusion to do so from reading the Bible independently?
Basically, the only reason JWs participate in the Preaching Work™ is because they are mandated to do so by the Watchtower Society, and they are ostracised if they fail to participate in the Preaching Work™. That is a form of coercion, and in such case, it isn't really something one does of their own volition, from their own understanding of the scriptures. It's something they are told to do, or else.
what is the origin of "theocratic warfare" and jehovah's witnesses being able to freely life if they feel it's for the "greater good" of the watchtower?
i asked the elder if jesus christ ever lied, he said "yes, jesus refused to answer questions from people!
" can you show me where this is in the bible?
Wasn't there a heavenly pow-wow, where Jehovah wanted to thwart some evil bastard and one angel volunteered to serve as a "deceptive spirit" within the prophets, to mislead the army?
It was Ahab. 1 Kings 22:20-23
20 And Jehovah proceeded to say, ‘Who will fool A´hab, that he may go up and fall at Ra´moth-gil´e·ad?’ And this one began to say something like this, while that one was saying something like that. 21 Finally a spirit came out and stood before Jehovah and said, ‘I myself shall fool him.’ At that Jehovah said to him, ‘By what means?’ 22 To this he said, ‘I shall go forth, and I shall certainly become a deceptive spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ So he said, ‘You will fool him, and, what is more, you will come off the winner. Go out and do that way.’ 23 And now here Jehovah has put a deceptive spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours; but Jehovah himself has spoken calamity concerning you.”
greetings, soup lovers:.
i have a huge kitchen at my disposal (not my own); vegetables, cans of this and that and spices are scattered about, prepared to go into a cauldron of minestrone i started a few days ago.
i'm preparing ahead so as to freeze the leftovers to heat up later at home over my hotplate.. nothing like a 6-burner gas range to simmer over!.
I try to make soup at least once a week. Last week it was Scotch Broth (no scotch involved in case you're wondering) with homemade lamb stock, carrots, onions, celery, barley and potatoes. The week before I made Beef and Barley soup with some oxtails that were an unexpected delivery at the supermarket.
This week I'm making a starch free version of leek and potato soup, substituting cauliflower for the potatoes. I've done this before and nobody can tell the difference.
My favorite one was a curried butternut squash soup, and I'm due to make that again soon. Although mushrooms are on sale at the supermarket this week, so I may make a cream of mushroom soup first.
this thread was inspired because of 3rdgn, and her asking, on behalf of her destitute elderly widowed mom,.
for the return of her mother's "conditional loan" to the society of $20,000.00.. (this was stated today, under my thread of, "what was the effect on you of knowing hypocritical jw's?").
the society more or less yes, no, it is now our money, and you can't have it back.
Yes.
In my view, any money anyone gives to the WTS is money they're being screwed out of. It's being donated for one purpose "Bible education work" but then is diverted to other purposes, such as building fancy-schmancy headquarters, paying out settlements on pedophile defence funds, etc. Which amounts to fraud.
an example on how the wt gets things out of proportion.
this is all we know about dinah's "friends" from the bible: .
"and dinah the daughter of leah, which she bare unto jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land" (ge 34:1).. wt conclusion: .
rmt1:
Is there a free web version of My Book of Bible Stories?
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101978051
unfortunately, it lacks the pictures.
and then there's this one, which has audio capability:
http://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/bible-stories/my-book-of-bible-stories/
jws are in need of more kingdom halls in many major u.s. cities.
at this years agm where it is expected that most of the faithful will be able to listen to the meeting (being tied in by video), dont be surprised if the wts 8 gb members take part in a symposium delivering some long winded appeal, petition, plea, proposal, proposition, solicitation or otherwise hit-on the masses for $$$ in order to lighten the burden and overuse that many kingdom halls are experiencing.
an acquaintance from the west coast mentioned to me that in late august thru early september of this year that a number of pow-wows involving close to 5,000 elders from numerous areas (riverside, los angeles, ventura and orange counties) took place to drum up financial support from the 800+ (not sure) congregations in those areas.
Consolidating smaller congregations and selling off the KHs is clear profit for the WTS. They send an "invoice" to each congregation each month and expect remittance of a per publisher Contribution™ each month. The KHs built under the KH Building Fund arrangement belong to the WTS, not the congregations, IIRC.
Consolidating and selling off property accomplishes two things: decreased maintenance expenditures and increased/maximized net revenue. Both in the WTS's favour.
easing nature is it for christians?
easing nature the very phrase itself brings to mind the odious product of this activity.
yet, many people have the understanding that this natural bodily function is a practice in which true christians may engage.
LOL @ SteveC
