Posts by schnell

37

Has the rebranding worked?

by MrTheocratic in

it's been several years since the start of the rebranding of jehovahs witnesses.

i believe it started with the website change.

ever since then the religion has moved in a more modern direction.

schnell

No.

I do think more people than ever before are aware of Jehovah's witnesses. Prince helped.
I do think more people than ever are aware of their BS doctrine, practices and policies. (BS = "Bible Student" of course)
The only reason more attention isn't paid to them is that there are bigger problems in the world, like ISIS.
More personally, it feels more like a genuine cult in recent years. It would not surprise me AT ALL to see a GB member admit on JWB that it is a cult, nor would it surprise me to see the rank and file eat that up too.

15

So I Guess Talking about the Bible is Prohibited

by Lone_Wolf1294 in

.

When 2 JWs have the same call...

by schnell in

jw
friends

as i was driving past a certain gas station today, i recalled that the family who own it are called on by a friend of mine, and in a territory where it's hard to find interest.

it reminded me of an incident months back when this friend, brother d, discovered that another friend, brother b, was calling on that family too.

hey, gotta make your time.. those two went at it.

schnell

I remember suspecting that my Mom's recovery had to do with them giving her an "out"....blame it on the demons rather than your own weakness or immaturity. As kids, we didn't care so long as she back on her feet again.

To be fair, that is one psychological benefit to the belief in exorcisable demons, it has been so observed.

If you can think of a psychological hangup in this primal, mythical way and see it as an imp or a thing that can be removed from yourself, you might well feel better once it's gone. That's partly why Mandaeans love baptisms so much.

48

Jehovah's Limp Witnesses Pointed Me to JW.org When I Was Willing to Talk

by steve2 in

several months ago i approached a nice young couple who were standing by a jw literature stand in my local community.

they were pleasant and polite but incredibly stilted when it came to answering my "innocent" questions about their beliefs.

this was the occasion of jws featuring the article headlined "is religion dying?".

schnell

the whole "confront the elders with the inconsistencies" step.

I still get told to talk to the (high school education level) elders. The fact is that I did have a memorable talk with one of them about evolution and belief in God. Unfortunately, he undermined his understanding of evolution by talking about aliens and saying we can't conduct the experiments ourselves. And then he undermined his understanding of basic theology when he agreed that Pascal's Wager is not a good reason to serve God and that it falls right into what Satan said in Job, but then at the end he concluded against all the evidence I brought up that "At some point you have to decide that there is a God."

Baseless. This faith is completely baseless. They talk so much about building on a rock foundation, but the cracks in their understanding run too deep. I give this elder credit for debating the topic with me for over an hour, but he shot his own case.

138

Jehovah God is Real

by TakeOffTheCrown in

there are many on this site that do not believe that jehovah truly exists; that he is not a real being.

but, he is as real as next breath you draw into your nostrils.. some of you say that there is no evidence that he exists.

yet, none of you can prove that he does not exits.. cofty, (you come to mind), i appreciate that you have stated, without reservation, that you do not believe that god exists.. yet, you cannot prove it.. hope in jehovah..

schnell

The very fact that theological evolution over thousands of years has been documented shows that it is purely man-made. Like biology, theology is not irreducibly complex.

You don't need God. You're good without it, I promise you. It's okay.

30

Were you aware of the shunning policy when becoming a JW

by UnshackleTheChains in

for those who became jws, were you fully aware of the societys cruel shunning policy whilst studying?

i absolutely had no idea such a policy existed until years later.

it really only hit home when reading the horrendous stories on the internet around 2002. .

schnell

It wasn't always so harsh. Late 50's and 60's, as I recall, we could speak to a disfellowshipped person, just couldn't discuss anything spiritual...that wasn't hard. Also, they could fellowship with their relatives.

I am curious. My grandfather was disfellowshipped in the 60s and the story goes that my grandmother had to walk to the meetings despite a handicap. Nobody would give her a ride, because "it was worse in those days" and the rest of the family was considered disfellowshipped too.

I could have easily been fed lies or inaccuracies, I'm sure.

33

"It is the victims right to approach authorities" The weak excuse used by the society

by stuckinarut2 in

we have seen that the society falls back on the line "it is the victims right to approach the authorities" during all the abuse claims.. they use this excuse to try and defend the passive lack of action in failing to report suspected cases of abuse.. a comparison came to mind:.

if we came across a person lying in the street who says they were hit by a car, would we say "it is your absolute right to call the paramedics and police"?.

or would we take the initiative and call those authorities ourselves to help the person?.

schnell

All they have to do is excuse themselves from all criminal accusations direct them to the police. That's it. No ecclesiastical privilege, nothing. Just show them to the police.

And they don't want to do it.

19

When 2 JWs have the same call...

by schnell in

jw
friends

as i was driving past a certain gas station today, i recalled that the family who own it are called on by a friend of mine, and in a territory where it's hard to find interest.

it reminded me of an incident months back when this friend, brother d, discovered that another friend, brother b, was calling on that family too.

hey, gotta make your time.. those two went at it.

schnell

I'd like to think that if they took the time factor out, people would be more sincere about the work. It would be much more about the people and less about how much time they can waste at a door or how quickly they can start their time.

I agree. Requiring dubs to report time and splitting up territories in populated areas creates resources and competition. They go beyond the things written by mandating monthly reports like this, and William J. Schnell was not too pleased about it as he wrote in 30 Years a Watchtower Slave.

19

When 2 JWs have the same call...

by schnell in

jw
friends

as i was driving past a certain gas station today, i recalled that the family who own it are called on by a friend of mine, and in a territory where it's hard to find interest.

it reminded me of an incident months back when this friend, brother d, discovered that another friend, brother b, was calling on that family too.

hey, gotta make your time.. those two went at it.

schnell

"Well you can stop because that's my call."

Damn. Does she have her coveted dream house picked out for the new system too, or is she heaven bound?

No, seriously, I've had dubs point at a nice big house and say out loud that it'll be theirs in the new system. By default, I don't think they have a clue.

19

When 2 JWs have the same call...

by schnell in

jw
friends

as i was driving past a certain gas station today, i recalled that the family who own it are called on by a friend of mine, and in a territory where it's hard to find interest.

it reminded me of an incident months back when this friend, brother d, discovered that another friend, brother b, was calling on that family too.

hey, gotta make your time.. those two went at it.

schnell

As I was driving past a certain gas station today, I recalled that the family who own it are called on by a friend of mine, and in a territory where it's hard to find interest. It reminded me of an incident months back when this friend, Brother D, discovered that another friend, Brother B, was calling on that family too. Hey, gotta make your time.

Those two went at it. It blew up in that little minivan out in service. It is not the first time I've seen a conflict over a call, but I'd never seen tempers flare over it. The fact of the matter is, these were two creatures fighting over a precious resource, brotherly love or not.

Any other experiences like this?