jw's around the globe have been encouraged to write letters to putin and the russian government.
they are expected to give their personal details on the envelope.
i appreciate that this might be normal when writing to your own government if they are tolerant, but is this not a bit strange that the gb want to give putin the address of every jw in the world?
I would NOT put my own address on a letter written to a dictator.
Instead, I would put the official address of the WTBTS serving the country the letter originated from.
Let's watch what happens when Putin paints bull's-eyes on all of the WT branches in the world.
hello folks.
as some of you might know my dad couldnt keep quiet about my view of the world, so i have been "forced" to study with an elder.
otherwise i would be dragged to questioning, which is to much pressure for a young inexperienced person like me.
Don't start with that one, please! You'll be Marked™ or worse faster than you can possibly imagine.
Try something that the Elder™ isn't prepared for, and won't be able to answer.
Like this:
C: "I'm having a hard time understanding why everyone hates Judas so much."
E: "Well, he betrayed Jesus, duh!"
C: "Yes, I get *that*, but nobody seems to get that the betrayal was essential in order for prophecies to be fulfilled about Jesus. If *nobody* had betrayed Jesus, he would never have been able to fulfill the prophecy, become The Lamb of God, and a sacrifice to atone for our sins."
E: "Well he was just a bad guy."
C: "Was he *really* though?? Or is he just a scapegoat for people to hate? Aren't prophecies like puzzles? All the pieces are necessary in order to complete the picture. Without Judas, Jesus would have just been some smart Jewish guy who was really popular with the people. Those people were willing to hide Jesus and help him escape from the soldiers who were searching for him, who knows if he ever would have been found another way other than by being betrayed?"
E: "Well, this has been a great chat. I have to run, my wife wants me to pick up milk on the way home."
C: (to himself) BOOOOM! (mic drop)
by now it seems obvious that the gb and other leaders of the wtbs are corrupt.
the pedo scandal and various financial schemes are sustained by either lack of concern or greed at the top.
my question is how far down the food chain does this go?
Alarm bells went off for me when I was reading under the heading LIE in the Insight volumes. In there it says "true Christians are under no obligation to divulge truthful information to someone who is not entitled to it."
Let that sink in: True Christians are under no obligation to divulge truthful information to someone who is not entitled to it.
They preface that statement by saying malicious lying is unacceptable, but then continue with the thought that it's quite all right to massage the facts in order to keep the WTS out of trouble with Worldly Authorities™. We saw a fair bit of that happening when Geoffrey Jackson was being questioned by the ARC, under oath.
How far does it go? I've seen JWs blow off hard questions from Householders™ in the Door-To-Door™ Ministry™. I've seen people keeping secrets on the basis that the other person "is not entitled" to the truth of a matter (not involving confidential legal or medical stuff, just lying about mundane stuff to someone else so there would be no awkwardness for them for not including the other person in a social activity).
Finally, it occurred to me: This very line in the Publications™ (its predecessor, Aid to Bible Understanding contained the exact same words) gave the GB a lot of leeway in 'not divulging truthful information' to the Rank and File JWs™ in the Publications™, in Talks™ from the Platform™, and in their interpretation of Scripture™. That would account for all the academic dishonesty in the Creation book and other Publications™. JWs would point at the bibliography and automatically think "Wow, look at all the Worldly™ research that backs up our beliefs!" and yet, when someone (Alan Feuerbacher, aka alanf) decided to do their due diligence and look up the quotes, almost without exception the quotes were misquoted, taken out of context, or completely bastardized to support WT doctrine when the original quote did nothing of the sort. It proves, without a shred of doubt, that the GB doesn't consider its own die-hard followers to be "entitled to" the truth.
When that thought crystallized in my mind, the whole house of cards fell apart and I was no longer under their spell. When I've discussed this with on-the-fence JWs, it did the same thing to them.
yesterday i read jeremiah 8-11 because that's what was studied in the clam.
i am in a different city and decided to go to the meeting to check it out and possibly ask the witnesses some questions and see how they treat a "newcomer".anyways...nwt, 1984 version:.
(jeremiah 10:13) 13 at [his] voice there is a giving by him of a turmoil of waters in the heavens, and he causes vapors to ascend from the extremity of the earth.
What significance does that particular interpretation have for any JW or any other person of another denomination?
I can't think of any, but maybe you can.
Pointing out a detail like this to an Active™ JW will likely get you branded as a nit-picker, and someone who just wants to be negative for the sake of being negative.
I agree with you, in principle, that the translation of the NWT is highly questionable and completely unreliable, but given that it's on something that is of such negligible importance, I sincerely hope that you find bigger fish to fry than this.
i'm a new member so wanted to say 'hi'.
i live in the u.k, was born in, fell away as an unbaptised publisher, got baptised in my 30s for reasons i'm retrospectively unsure of, and lost my faith about five years ago around the time of the original a.r.c.
now, being unable to leave is making me physically, emotionally and mentally ill.. i'm not strong enough to da and live with the family consequences, and despite having several good friends outside the faith, none of them could support me in an active way as such.
Do you have a job or a work related project that could possibly require you to work on a Meeting™ night?
Do you have an interest that could temporarily occupy a Meeting™ night? Something like a cooking class or Zumba class once a month, then twice a month? Or a course that you'd like to take, like belly-button contemplation and meditation?
It sounds like it's taking an emotional toll - have you been to a doctor? Maybe you would benefit from some medication to stabilize your mood or dampen the anxiety you have. Toward the end of my tenure with the JWs, I was on antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication, just to get through Meetings™.
Headaches, tinnitus and increasing sensitivity to florescent lighting are also good Get Out Of Jail Free cards to play occasionally. Also contagious illnesses are a good excuse too. You don't want to expose the elderly or children or pregnant Sisters™ to something contagious, right?
does the rank and file or the elders view us as disassociated or disfellowshipped or simply "weak" or possibly a "prodigal son" type?.
It depends honestly.
I can see why some have said jealousy. My cong tends to love bomb the struggling inactives, but spew vitriol at the ones who have improved their quality of life without Jehovah. They even say things like: "Money can't buy happiness." Or "Rich people tend to be the unhappiest." Even "It won't last long, they'll come running back to Jehovah." If you're truly happy, you'd be glad other people are experiencing your same joy instead of waiting for their downfall.
Some time ago, we met with a JW (now Elder™) in a book store. When Mr Scully told him we weren't Active™ anymore, he said something to the effect of "Enjoy yourself following Satan™. Someday you'll see how wrong you are."
Someone apparently missed the chapter on Tact in the Ministry School Book.
does the rank and file or the elders view us as disassociated or disfellowshipped or simply "weak" or possibly a "prodigal son" type?.
IMO, the ones who display hostility towards inactives feel threatened.
Or maybe incredibly jealous (though they'd never admit to it). They're stuck in the same rut that they were stuck in decades ago when you left, and you've moved on. You have real friends who are trustworthy and they have Loyal™ Friends™ who would rat them out to Elders™ in a heartbeat if they had the chance. You have things that they don't have because of the choices they made to Trust In Jehovah™, while you've improved your lot in life without Jehovah's help at all. They're still slogging away, going to Meetings™ and going Door-to-Door™, and you get to sleep in on weekends and go out for breakfast. They still have to sing those *dreadful* Kingdom Melodies™, while you can listen to whatever music you like. They get off on minding other peoples' business so they can trade information about you and curry favor with Elders™ and Elderettes™, while you enjoy the sweetness of privacy and not giving a flying you-know-what about what they think of you.
Of course, they're jealous!
has anyone else heard of these situations with congregations and halls in your area?
i thought the ground breaking mandatory pledge a little while ago was to keep up with "immense" growth?
how soon they forget... looks really bleak for the future of the wbats, the jw gravy train seems to be coming to a slow and agonizing yet inevitable stop.
sparrowdown:
And ought, then, to be taxed as a business would.
has anyone else heard of these situations with congregations and halls in your area?
i thought the ground breaking mandatory pledge a little while ago was to keep up with "immense" growth?
how soon they forget... looks really bleak for the future of the wbats, the jw gravy train seems to be coming to a slow and agonizing yet inevitable stop.
It's part of their long-game of financially raping people.
1) Get people to invest their own money in property that is then donated to WTS.
2) Get people to pay "rent" on a property that they have already paid for, but stupidly donated to WTS.
3) Cram in lots of Congregations™ to the one property, to maximize the rent collected by WTS.
4) Get the people to make Contributions™ on top of the rent.
5) Decide, at a point of their own conjuring, to sell the property and disperse Congregations™ and Congregants™ to different locations, whether or not they like it.
i doubt people consider me an apostate but you never know.🤓.
I'm in the who-cares-what-they-think? camp.
That said, I have been interviewed by the local newspaper, and my name has been published, in relation to the sexual abuse issue within the Organization™. It wouldn't surprise me if they thought of me as an Apostate™. I've also made it clear that my inactivity from the JWs was not over this matter [though it was the absolute deal breaker in our decision to NEVER go back], but over the abominable way the local JWs treated me when I was coping with mental illness (postpartum depression), which was a definite Stumbling Block™ for me and Mr Scully.
