Posts by jhine

22

What is the current Watchtower "rent charge per publisher" for Kingdom Halls in the USA???

by Balaamsass2 in

i was following a few threads in reddit from current pimo jws complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments".

third gen and i have been out pomo for a while...so how much is this charge now?

could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month?

jhine

What are the favours that you mention?

Jan from Tam

16

JWs in the news: "‘I Slay and Pray’- Jehovah’s Witness Serena Williams Reflects on Her Faith With Daughter Olympia in a Candid Confession"

by Balaamsass2 in

"i slay and pray" :).

serena williams knows how to own a red carpet.

the 23-time grand slam champion turned heads at the vanity fair oscars afterparty, dazzling in a midnight-black, off-shoulder gown.

jhine

Interesting that she didn't get baptised until after she had retired from playing.

Jan from Tam

27

What are some of the more exceptional self-authenticating claims made by Jehovah’s Witnesses?

by Vanderhoven7 in

let's start the ball rolling with two connected claims.. the religion of jehovah’s witnesses is the one true religion.

all other religions are satanic, including all the churches of christendom..

jhine

Magnum we have girl guides in the UK , which l guess 🤔 is the equivalent. I knew what you meant anyway.

I am still getting a picture of an average? JW not really being familiar with the Bible.

You said that someone should have a good grasp of the Bible and their own theology. Which , if l understand you , you don't feel that many do. Correct me if l am mistaken.

TonusOH indicates that members are more familiar with JW literature explaining Scripture rather than Scripture itself.

As l said l wonder if this is why members are encouraged to hand over " fluff " rather than engage people about the Bible .

Another deliberate ploy appears to be discouraging JWs from getting a good education. Another reason for sending folk out with approved literature to just dole out .

I mentioned on another thread that l had recently read ' Mere Apolgetics ' by Alister McGrath. As l said it's not a page turner, l am reasonably well educated but l struggled with his pondering about how the change from modernist to postmodernist thinking had impacted on the approach to apologetics??? 🤷‍♀️.

What is interesting is that he makes the same point as you about knowing your audience. How Paul when talking to Jews referred to the Hebrew Scriptures and when talking to Greeks and Romans took a very different approach.

Christians can always simply just gossip the Gospel. I am not sure who coined that phrase but l like it , and anyone can do it .

Jan from Tam

27

What are some of the more exceptional self-authenticating claims made by Jehovah’s Witnesses?

by Vanderhoven7 in

let's start the ball rolling with two connected claims.. the religion of jehovah’s witnesses is the one true religion.

all other religions are satanic, including all the churches of christendom..

jhine

Thank you for that clarification TonusOH . I am correct then in thinking that JWs are discouraged from looking at any Bible Study material other than their own ?

Jan from Tam

24

The Bible or God? - A Message to Formerbrother

by David_Jay in

“i still can not find any other option that comes as close to all the bible as jws do.”-- from the profile of formerbrother.. this is lengthy, but it should help you, formerbrother.

the problem is not in your search for this "option" but that you are searching according the criteria set out by the jehovah’s witnesses (and likely following the reasoning set out by their claims).. before proceeding, understand clearly (as there will always be someone reading this that will skip this point that i make) that i am not writing to advance any particular religious view.

though raised and baptized as a jehovah’s witness in my late teen years, i am jewish.

jhine

I believe that the early Christians started to put Jesus' teaching in writing because people had started to pervert that teaching ( such as Gnostics ) .

To counter that they probably felt it important to get the core teaching and beliefs of the church down on paper. Then when all those who had actually been with Jesus had died their testimonies couldn't be subverted.

Jan from Tam

27

What are some of the more exceptional self-authenticating claims made by Jehovah’s Witnesses?

by Vanderhoven7 in

let's start the ball rolling with two connected claims.. the religion of jehovah’s witnesses is the one true religion.

all other religions are satanic, including all the churches of christendom..

jhine

Magnum, how do you feel people can be qualified to preach ?

It's to your credit that you wanted to use the Bible in your preaching , however during my door step conversations with JW l found that they only knew the parts of the Bible that they had been directed to by the GB .

I understand that JWs are discouraged from reading and studying the Bible by themselves. Maybe to stop them from realising that many of the verses used to back up the teaching had been cherry picked and taken out of context.

I wonder if you had gone rogue and started using Scripture when talking to people you may have been surprised by the conversation.

Saying that , most people are pretty ignorant of Scripture but maybe there is always the danger ( in the GB's minds ) of a brother or sister talking to someone who actually does know Scripture.

Jan from Tam

4

JWs and the Lord's Prayer

by punkofnice in

how often do you hear the lord's prayer at the meetings or in jw homes?.

i don't know if they revised their stance with the new leaders in america, but i don't recall it having much weight when i were a wee'un.. i think the nwt said, 'pray then, this way....'.

so, jesus gave instructions on how to pray, as in actual words to say.......so the jws don't?

jhine

Hi Punky , nice to have you back .

Also we are taught to pray

" give us this day our daily bread "

Obviously not the Lord's job anymore , the GB have taken over that role because they do it much better.

Jan from Tam

4

A stupid, pointless story of "humility" on JWTalk

by ukpimo in

https://jwtalk.net/topic/60143-sighjust-another-lesson-in-humility-for-tim.

if you can stomach reading this brother's experience via this link, please let me know your views.

for one thing, i'm absolutely dumbfounded that this website jwtalk even exists considering all the warnings the governing body have given the org on not creating their own websites.

jhine

Well to play devil's advocate here it is unwise to get into the middle of a marital dispute without knowing all the facts . These things can end up coming back and biting you . The point about ultimately being responsible for the outcome is valid .

However l am really not sure about automatically sending someone off to talk to Elders . How qualified are they in giving marital advice, especially knowing how they misinterpret Scripture.

I would have thought that if the situation between husband and wife was that bad then marriage counselling was appropriate. That's never going to happen though because a Witness would never talk to a " worldly " person about marriage, or anything else.

Jan from Tam

44

New GB member Judy Jedele critizing Job's "humility" while wearing $20,000 Rolex, gold cuff links, coloured suit. Incredible!

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

i swear, you can't make this shit up!

for years and years growing up in this cult, i had to constantly hear from my parents, from the stage, in the literature, about "keeping your eye simple", not being "materialistic", not "having a showy display of one's wealth.

" of course, this never seemed to apply to the wealthy business owning elduhzzzz who ran and lorded it out over the congregations, but i digress.

jhine

They have a woman on the GB ?

Jan from Tam

21

Is Jesus a Created Being? Debate with a Pastor

by raymond frantz in

https://youtu.be/ro6q_osgkns?si=hyxualluhruwvjnb.

—colossians 1:15 from the nwt says it plain as day: “he is the image of the invisible god, the firstborn of all creation.” that’s not vague; it’s got a punch.

“firstborn” and “creation” sit side by side, and in greek, that second word is “ktisis,” which means the physical stuff—trees, stars, you name it.

jhine

Journeyman you make some good points . Yes many Christians do try to score points and win arguments. I probably did when l was younger, especially when talking to JWs . Usually if they came to my door to convert me , so to some extent they did invite debate. However just trading points is unproductive.

I have often wondered if it's fair to try and talk JWs out of the Truth as it often means losing family and friends and if they are older having their whole life's foundation shattered .

Then you read on here if how unhappy many are , how alcohol and antidepressants are common props and suicide is not uncommon .

To be honest I came on here to learn more about WT teaching and how to engage with Witnesses. However what l have learnt about people in general is that they have to want to listen and be receptive to new ways of thinking .

So Raymond Franz is not a Trinitarian? For some reason l just assumed that he is 🤷‍♀️.

I am reading a book about Christian Apologetics by Alister McGrath ( not a page turner l must admit ) . In it he states that the art of Apologetics is NOT about winning arguments.

Jan from Tam