Holy Shit! it's happening! and it's here in Brazil!! Totally sharing this video with my brothers and sisters and asking their opinion.
Ray Frankz
JoinedPosts by Ray Frankz
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45
Clapping and singing in Conventions... like the evangelicals??
by ILoveTTATT2 inhttps://www.facebook.com/traslapados/videos/1470101566382318/?hc_ref=otherwhat do you think of this video?.
do you think they're imitating evangelicals?is this happening in other places?
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The beard issue
by Ray Frankz inthis is my second topic here.
sorry for this biiig post.
i would like to tell you guys about one of the things that bothered me most, despite of being something quite simple, but since it affected me directly, so.... well, being a ministerial servant, i knew the bad view the jw in general have towards beards.
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Ray Frankz
Hello again everyone. This is my second topic here. Sorry for this biiig post.
I would like to tell you guys about one of the things that bothered me most, despite of being something quite simple, but since it affected me directly, so...
Well, being a ministerial servant, I knew the bad view the JW in general have towards beards. However, convinced that it isn't unscriptural and neither bad in anyway, I started to wear a beard at the meetings.
Of course I didn't left the "grooming" behind, so I used to keep my beard short and well cut. Since I didn't want to call too much attention to myself I decided that whenever I had a part to talk from the stage I would shave. Well, it happened for one and a half month when I got to know at the meeting that I was assigned to the final prayer. I was wearing my beard, but since during the prayer everybody is suposedly with the eyes closed there wouldn't be any problem. I did it. Next month I didn't get any part instead another prayer. Following the same logic I did it with my beard. Two weeks later, two elders called me to 'talk'. One elder, the elder's coordinator, is a recent one, not even 10 years of eldership, he has a nice relationship with me and wears a thick moustache. The other is one that hasn't too much teaching skills but spend some years supporting a small congregation alone, so he came back to mine with a strong air of authority and a noticeable thirst or more power in the body of elders. Well, the conversation:
The one who is more close to me talked alone while the other only watched. He asked "what was happening?" since I was wearing a beard. I argued that isn't any wrongdoing but he told me to read an article about grooming. It's funny because I had read this article before deciding wearing a beard and didn't see anything condemning.
After that, I sat down and wrote an article about how the beard ban isn't biblical and isn't a big deal after all. I printed and sent one copy to each elder in my congregation.
One day they called me to talk about it. 5 elders were there, just not one who is my uncle (is married to my aunt actually). They made questions about what I had written, aparently to try to get me in my words since they didn't point anything clearly wrong in my article. During the talk (questioning), they changed their argument to say that the reunion was because I had made this a big deal when I sent the article to all the elders. (detail: I had shaved to this meeting) They even told me they decided to hold me from talks on the stage but as our conversation went well (and I agreed to shave, the reasons I will explain) they decided not to do that. Then this elder asked everyone else the opinion if they agreed to give me back my part on the stage. 4 said yes with no problem. The last one, the one who went to talk to me with the elder's coordinator at first, made a huge speech about how I should me more "humble" and highlighted that 'I was imperfect, so I would fail sometimes, and they (I think he meant himself) would be there to point it."
Well the main reason I shaved was that I saw they would probably take my privilege of service and everybody would think I had fornicated or at least did something sexually immoral. (because 90% of the sins among JW has to do with sex). I think if I get out someday I want to do it for my own will and I want the people to know exactly why. So I thought that suffer this shame on me and my family wouldn't worth it, and following my owm argument to them I wanted to show them that it isn't a big deal. Different from them I showed that I could wear it or not and it wouldn't bother my relationship with God.
Interestingly, after that I found a post on a ex JW website who had plenty of the arguments I wrote in my article.
One of them we both pointed was the clear boycott that the WT itself do to beards. This movie of the 2017 convention put this very clear. On one scene the man wears a beard and is impolite and agressive. Next scene he start studying JW literature and shows up shaved, polite and mild tempered. His son has a facial hairstyle too. He mocks of his parents who are starting to like the JWs and don't want anything to it. some scenes after, he accepts to study and appears on the meaning smiley and shaved.
Nothing new from the GB.
The 'new light' I had this time, and I intend to put it in a next version of my article is that it isn't the beard that WT boycotts. I realized that the Tower also never shows in a good view the alchoolic drinks. Yes, they know it isn't forbidden by the Bible and put it clear, but they never show a witness drinking alchool and surely it speaks more bad than good about this act.
My question is: Why, so, the witness througout my country make use (sometimes abuse) of alchool and doesn't bother with what is the WT, GB, and the people in general opinion (here in brazil most of the protestant churchs forbids the alchool, it even cause plenty of shock for people when they know we are allowed to drink) , since it is a conscience case while put the WT, GB and the totally unbased "popular opinion" ahead to force the men to shave?
My answer: Because what counts in the WT isn't the Bible and even less the logic. It's the will of the authority. I truly believe that in 20 years beards will be allowed simply because this generation will be in the eldership.
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We are like pet dogs that run off with wild dogs...
by dubstepped in...and need a bullet to the head.
my wife found a post on instagram where some jw nutter claims that either lett or morris said this in a talk.
any confirmation or video of such?
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Ray Frankz
This isn't certainly the most nonsense thing that Lett would have said.
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July 7, 2017 Re: Needs in the Field—Training Others
by wifibandit injuly 7, 2017 to all field missionaries, special pioneers, temporary special pioneers and regular pioneers re: needs in the field—training others.
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Ray Frankz
the PAO program was discontinued when I was a regular Pioneer. We all thought it stopped because there were actually no improvement.
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Thought Bubbles Then & Now
by steve2 inmy thought bubble in the 1980s:.
"how can i engage with worldly people when they are just not interested in discussing these important topics as featured in the watchtower and awake?.
my thought bubble in the 2010s:.
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Ray Frankz
thought bubble in 2010:
These apostates are so arrogants and hate the JW for no reason.
thought bubble in 2017:
I'm afraid the JW find me here and hate me for no reason.
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Ray Frankz
9751? no, David Splane came close to predicting indirectly 2075, by suggesting 2 older then F. Franz overlappers. Now, that is what I call soon. For 1975 wt gave us 6 years notice, With the overlapping groups 40 years? wt is playing it safe
Actually I think they could naturally have faced another big exit from the org. Because what they did was exactly what R Franz said they would do in In search of Christian Freedom. I bet they wanted to do it before but waited till brother Franz to die just to avoid admiting he was right to him. But what I understood of that bs explanation was they were giving around 30 years, what would mean about 2045, when most of the generation who waited for 2014 will be dead or old and the new one will easily swallow the "new explanation that according to crazy researchers, a generation takes 3 genrations because of reasons"
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Loyalty - Part of the New Personality (S-341a-18-E 5/17)
by wifibandit inloyalty—part of the new personality (s-341a-18-e 5/17).
note to the circuit overseer:.
use this outline for the tuesday service talk from september 2017 through february 2018. you will need to prepare your own 30-minute service talk for use after the watchtower study.
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Ray Frankz
"Loyalty to Jehovah can be tested when a friend gets involved in wrongdoing that needs to be
brought to the attention of the elders
Never allow misguided loyalty to a friend to overshadow your loyalty to Jehovah
Approach that friend, and urge him to report the matter to his parents or to the elders; tell him
that if he does not do so within a reasonable period of time, you will (Pr 27:5; w91 6/15 21)"Interestingly, they stopped using the scripture they used to show to justify the "rat principle" Lev 5:1. In the 84' NT said
‘Now in case a soul+ sins in that he has heard public cursing*+ and he is a witness or he has seen it or has come to know of it, if he does not report+ it, then he must answer for his error.
By this they said that it means if whenever we get to know about a sin (heard public cursing) we should report.
However, in the 13' version this verse says:
If someone* sins because he has heard a public call to testify*+ and he is a witness or has seen or learned about it and he does not report it, then he will answer for his error.
They actually made an improvement in this translation. It's clear now that the responsability to report the sin falls only on the person requested to do it by the authority about a specific sin he/she may know.
When I saw that I said, wow, if they changed that it's signal they are willing to change the "rat policy".
As this speech shows, I was wrong. This time they just ignore the scripture they used so much just because now this scripture doesn't fit with the "truth".
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Sir Anthony Buzzard clears up something that always baffled me about Jesus and the Spirit
by UnshackleTheChains inif you have ever wondered why jesus is always kept at the sidelines by the governing body, then watch this video.. sir anthony buzzard clarify's my own personal doubts and has helped me see exactly what jesus role is alongside the holy spirit.
for all christians searching for truth, this video is a must!.
just a side note.
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Ray Frankz
Despite not watching the whole video ( but the part I saw I agree totally with you) I'd like to comment a great cultural/religious difference betwenn the christianity/protestantism in the USA and here in Brazil.
Based on what I see on internet, there's plenty of high educated theologians around the USA, who spend time actually researching the bible and trying to bring something to light. So, I imagine that the JWs surely don't have a "monopoly" on Bible research among popular protestant religions there.
Here in Brazil the protestant religions are so unscrupulous: they spend most of the time playing songs made from 'wordly' songs (some ones even with dirty lyrics), their shepperds speak agressively, and focus their speeches on "hallelujah Christ" and "Out Satan", they practicly extort the faithful ones, and don't take any action regarding big sins among their leadership. Interestingly, here the Catholic church is much more superior than them in a logistic way. So, comparing to them, the JW are kind of superior, and most of the "protestants" here (believe me) actually can be beaten easily in a biblical debate with a JW (I mean the ones from 2000' and back, this new generation is so poor of content as the people in general here).
So, I think it's easier to see the JWs out of their santity halo there in the US than it is here in BR.
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My Introduction
by Ray Frankz inthis is my first post and i'm feeling like i'm doing something bad big time!
i know on my mind it isn't, but the feelings are less manageable.. well, since i'm still a jw it's better not to give too much info, but i'm from brazil.. i've grown-up in the religion and practicly all my family, my closest friends and my girlfriend are loyal jws.
i used to be a regular pioneer but i still have a service privilege on my congregation.. i've had questions about the teachings of the wt since i was 10, but naturally i always pushed it away as it were "questioning the holy organization".. i started a friendship with some people in a course i took and we talked about a lot of subjects.
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Ray Frankz
#1. get rid of the No Blood card it is comparable to carrying around a suicide note.
Yes, that's already on my plans. I certainly don't want to die because of such a stupid Crazy-Rutherford rule.
I, however, have to fears.
1) Relatives and elders being able to get to me while I'm awake to start discuss bloody (no pun intended) subject while I'm riding to death.
2) They sueing the doctors for doing their job.
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Who are the trolly dolly jobos?
by punkofnice inso, i've been away from any meetings of the jobos for around 5 years.
i'm glad i'm out but the fallout and loss damn near destroyed me.
but, being a stiff upper lip brit, i 'kbo.
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Ray Frankz
I've said this to plenty of people here in the congregation and circuit.
The JWs were first """motivated""" to preach just to stand in front of people and play the Rutherford over agressive speeches. Then during Knorr's and Franz's rules, they invested in actual instruction to preach and then, only then, the JW became people who could moderately talk about the Bible with any average person without problems. That was a change I liked. Then, time went by and we are being told to reverse back all the progress we made and instead of actually teaching, we stand in front of people again and play the videos from JW.ORG. I think WTH. Why,? Why would they want to decrease the level of skills of their own "advertising agents".
Then I figure out the reason. Because if they don't know the bible, they can't challenge the GB power over them. Creepy.