Posts by Jofi

25

Can You Name ANYTHING That Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Been Right About?

by minimus in

jw
friends

regarding prophecies, i can’t name one thing jws have been correct about.

as a matter of fact nothing stands out to me that shows the witnesses have the truth..

Jofi_Wofo

@BluesBrother

Stole my comment just as I was about to type it up!

Several years ago, Tony Morris gave a talk at a convention I was attending and he gloated from the platform that JWs are the only organization on Earth who have two dates to their credit- 1914 and 1945.

Even then, well before I was ready to leave, I couldn't help but roll my eyes and groan on the inside. It was pretty silly, but it was also a pivotal moment for me- it was the first time I had ever seen a GB member and the first time I came to know one by name. He spoke with an incredible amount of confidence and authority, nothing like I'd ever seen from any other JW. Probably from years of never being questioned and failing to apply the counsel every other speaker gets about being humble and not talking down to an audience.

Now for a bit of a sidetrack- I usually don't remember jack squat from any assembly or convention, but that one was notable for one other reason. A different speaker claimed that evolution was irrational because "we've never seen a horse give birth to an elephant!" During almost my whole time as a JW, I secretly believed in theistic evolution, so that sort of misrepresentation of the question of evolution didn't sit well with me. However, during the lunch break, a sister sitting nearby me exclaimed that she really appreciated what a great point it was!

23

My kids are watching Atheist Content on Youtube!

by Miriam in

i was looking at my children's watch history on youtube when i saw that they were watching atheist content!!!

what should i do?

.

Jofi_Wofo

38

Dumb things JWs believed

by JimmyYoung in

i am not talking about the usual crap from the cult writings, but rather things idiots believed on their own.

maybe even helped on by the cult but not directly taught.

i knew an old man now long gone kunde in michigan.

Jofi_Wofo

If I opened up the waters of my entire memory banks, I could turn the flood myth into a reality

Chiropractic, acupuncture and homeopathy were very common amongst my JW friends. Questioning those practices often led to similar emotional responses as if I had questioned the authority of the GB themselves. "It's from Jehovah!" They say. One particular alternative medicine "doctor" was very popular because he was, himself, a JW. I don't know what the actual connection was, but I was told that "Bethel sent" brothers and sisters to him. The friends would tell me about how he miraculously cured absolutely everything, by using all sorts of thoroughly debunked pseudoscience. It was embarrassing and depressing.

Several friends tried to get into multi-level marketing schemes, expecting that Jehovah would bless them with success and they could set their own part time hours and pioneer. Sometimes, they'd try to push the product on other JWs despite clear direction not to do so. It seems they were desperate to have success despite having no verifiable skills.

In similar vain, there is a huge racket for need-greaters to use phony academic credentials, including diploma mill degrees, in order to secure jobs and maintain visas. Thing is, many of them actually believe that their degrees are legit. Often, people who get these phony degrees know they're being dishonest, but these JWs, somehow, are completely clueless.

Lastly, for now, allow me to recount something a seemingly intelligent sister once told me. She told me that she had heard a talk where the speaker made a linguistics argument against evolution. The speaker explained that older languages used to be "richer" and more "complex" than current languages, demonstrating that human beings are actually devolving instead of evolving.

I kept quiet, knowing how well any objection would have been taken. I wanted to scream "THAT'S NOT HOW LINGUISTICS WORKS, THAT'S NOT HOW EVOLUTION WORKS AND THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS DEVOLVING!!!!!"

*sigh* Why was it not obvious? I guess I'm not one to talk. Despite knowing that things were not as they seemed, it wasn't always obvious to me that this religion can't be the truth. Also, when I was a teenager, I believed in the moon landing hoax conspiracy and was a devoted student of herbal remedies.

At least I can say I grew out of it all, and learned tremendously from my mistakes.

45

The end is so close now....

by punkofnice in

aren't they tiring out from saying this now?.

a jobo pimi-lite i know has a terminal illness (no names, no pack drill), was told, 'hold on, the end is so close.

the pimi-lite said they will need to hold on to their 'go bags(tm), then!.

Jofi_Wofo

@diogenisister

I remember 10 or so years ago a sister telling me "the Governing Body have been telling people at Bethel that we're not just in the last days, but we're now in the last stretch of the final part of the days".

Of course, I can't verify that anyone actually said that, but that's how she related it to me, and for some reason it didn't sound silly to her at all.

33

Special meeting next month (February 2020)

by Jofi_Wofo in

jw
friends

it was announced today that we will have a special weekend meeting next month.

it will be 3 hours long and will include some streamed content.. no explanation was given as to what the meeting will be about, only that it will be exciting and we will not want to miss it..

Jofi_Wofo

I don't feel comfortable being too specific about my location. I'm in a non-English congregation in a small country south of the U.S. (where the "need is great"). We were told that our meeting would be later than that of the English meetings due to the need for the streamed content to be translated into our language.

I have absolutely no details as to what the meeting will be about. I was hoping we could piece together whatever information comes in as it comes in. In any case, I can share my experience after the meeting occurs.

I can't remember this ever happening before. Closest would be that special talks in recent years have been streamed.

33

Special meeting next month (February 2020)

by Jofi_Wofo in

jw
friends

it was announced today that we will have a special weekend meeting next month.

it will be 3 hours long and will include some streamed content.. no explanation was given as to what the meeting will be about, only that it will be exciting and we will not want to miss it..

Jofi_Wofo

It was announced today that we will have a special weekend meeting next month. It will be 3 hours long and will include some streamed content.

No explanation was given as to what the meeting will be about, only that it will be exciting and we will not want to miss it.

8

A new evolutionary link

by Half banana in

that heroic labeller of living things, the 18th century swede carl linnaeus, painstakingly grouped into discrete categories everything which grew breathed or moved.

his meticulous ranking of “kinds” made the scientific examination of the living world a whole lot easier.

his legacy is greatly valued and his system is still universally used today.. however as time has unfurled, a problem arose in the observation that nature does not always agree with the human desire for rigid boundaries -- of what makes a family, genus or species.

Jofi_Wofo

Life... uhh.... finds a way!

45

The end is so close now....

by punkofnice in

aren't they tiring out from saying this now?.

a jobo pimi-lite i know has a terminal illness (no names, no pack drill), was told, 'hold on, the end is so close.

the pimi-lite said they will need to hold on to their 'go bags(tm), then!.

Jofi_Wofo

So, the end is coming any day now, we just don't know when. Like a pregnant woman experiencing contractions who knows the baby is coming out at any moment. Even if the contractions last 45 years after the last due date, which was 50 years past the previous due date, which was 11 years past the previous due date, with a few close calls in between and probably a few more due dates before any of this, but let's not concern ourselves with old, outdated medical records!!!

Ok then, allow me to assume that it is true that the end can come at any moment. You know what else can come at any moment?

Anything.

Any moment of any day, we can suffer a heart attack, stroke, a sink hole, a tsunami, a brain amoeba, an airplane crashing into our building, an earthquake, a meteor shower, an alergic reaction, an animal attack, a staph infection... Everyime we drive, we can get hit by a drunk driver. Everytime we fly, the engines can fail. Everytime we step outside, we can get hit by a stray bullet.

We all know that every day of living presents it's risks of dying. And yet, NONE of those reasons are ever offered for why we shouldn't go to college, have children, build up a retirement account, buy property, or work overtime to get a promotion.

Whether by death or Armageddon, all things we do in this world will be made moot. That doesn't mean we should refrain from at least TRYING to get what we want out of our lives.

15

2019 Annual Meeting: more F.O.G.

by neat blue dog in

after the new construction project is announced, anthony morris the turd gives a talk where he arrogantly tells the audience to 'get over it' and get to work.

he says relaxing is fine and 'im not trying to put a guilt trip on you' but you all need to get busy.

no graciousness at all for the endless volunteer labor they demand for whatever new projects they dream up.

Jofi_Wofo

Oh, and by the way- a quote from over 40 years ago is supposedly an exceptionally relevant take on how close we are to the end?

Ummm....

WTF???????

15

2019 Annual Meeting: more F.O.G.

by neat blue dog in

after the new construction project is announced, anthony morris the turd gives a talk where he arrogantly tells the audience to 'get over it' and get to work.

he says relaxing is fine and 'im not trying to put a guilt trip on you' but you all need to get busy.

no graciousness at all for the endless volunteer labor they demand for whatever new projects they dream up.

Jofi_Wofo

I'm watching Morris' talk.

Maybe I shouldn't, but I feel bad for him. Drunk? Sick? Succumbing to the frailty of old age?

I tend to find him entertaining to watch. His timing is usually better and his tone more forceful. He seems completely listless and completely lost.

EDIT: Check out the 11:25 mark how much his hand shakes when he picks up the piece of paper.

EDIT: Wow, here's a doozy. At the 12:14 mark - "Jehovah's spirit was on him- not inspired!" WTF is the difference? From the Insight book, the definition of Inspiration, "The quality or state of being moved by or produced under the direction of a spirit from a superhuman source."

Jofi_Wofo

Posts by Jofi_Wofo