Posts by john.prestor

5

Another hypocritical meme

by neat blue dog in

some jws reposting this recently on instagram:.

.

i wonder if they'll have some cognitive dissonance next time this happens on jw broadcasting..

john.prestor

It's a dig at those who actually do help the poor, that's how it comes across to me.

The meme: "When helping the poor, leave the camera at home."

Translation: "You only help the poor to take PR shots and look good in the eyes of others."

The meme doesn't rest on a firm foundation for two reasons.

First, as other posters pointed out Jehovah's Witnesses do very little formally, collectively, officially, for the poor, yeah, sometimes they help rebuild somebody's house after a hurricane or tsunami, but to my knowledge that's Brothers (and Sisters?) volunteering their labor and materials, I don't remember from my reading of Branch Organization (2015 edition) the Governing Body letting Branches put their funds towards that sort of thing, they just arrange volunteers to go help people displaced by the disaster. Other than that, I don't know of any "humanitarian" efforts on the part of Jehovah's Witnesses. Sure, they teach a few people English or help them learn to read or write but they don't do that as a stand alone service the same way a Unitarian church offers a free breakfast once a week with no strings attached, they offer those "services" to convert the people they help (and yes, they do help those people in small ways). The point being, it takes a lot of nerve to criticize other religions for helping poor people when the faith you belong to barely, rarely, lifts a finger to help them.

Second, we all know the Governing Body loves photo ops, I bet you good money www.jw.org right now in the Newsroom section shows one or more of them standing and smiling next to some person or persons displaced by a natural disaster. Yep, just checked: here's Geoffrey Jackson hanging out with a "sister in Okayama who was affected by the flooding that devastated western Japan in July 2018." (https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/japan/witness-bring-relief-flood-victims/).

Just another person who wants to feel special even if they're dead wrong.

11

Jesus confuses his apostles about baptism

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

jesus's apostles were confused by some of his sayings.

they didn't understand the true sense of what jesus was trying to tell them about baptism.

"no one'', he said, ''would get the true meaning of this scripture until a modern day "organization" in the 21st century rises up and reveals the truth.".

john.prestor

TTWSYF, Clement didn't follow Peter, and Ignatius didn't follow John. I've read 'their' writings (the letters of Ignatius, 1 Clement and 2 Clement) and neither one of them claimed to follow those men. That's late legend. Check your facts before you make claims like that.

27

Do You Think Jehovah’s Witnesses Really Believe They Are Living In The Time Of The End?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i think they talk a good game and that’s about it..

john.prestor

A few years ago an older Sister and I talked candidly about this in her apartment, just us, away from the congregation, away from the Elders. I asked her if she felt the end was imminent and she responded in pretty much these words, I don't think it's as close as I used to because they've been saying it for so long. But then she said that with all the school shootings and some horrible incident that was all over the press about some junkie cannibalizing someone it must be close, and she left it at that, she believed and she didn't believe. I didn't criticize her, just listened. She also let me look up how many earthquakes occur annually, she told me there were more and that showed the imminence of the end too, I looked it up online through some international body and brought her the results and she took me seriously and asked me to look up how many tsunamis hit worldwide annually, too.

Do Jehovah's Witnesses in general believe the end is close? I think they must, some of them do at least, that CO I posted about a week or two ago, an Elder I chatted with over dinner after a Memorial, told me they felt, emotionally felt, the end was imminent because of some study article they read or because they followed the Governing Body's decisions, you know, the chariot is on the move, the work is expanding. I don't know, what do other posters think? When you were in the faith, did you think, feel, "know," the end was close?

5

Nigeria: JWs boost pidgin language

by betterdaze in

jehovah’s witnesses boost pidgin language devt.

ota—the advancement of pidgin english received a boost recently at ota, ogun state at the nigerian pigdin convention series of jehovah’s witnesses which held from december 20 to 23, 2018.. this was the seventeenth in the series of the 2018 “be courageous!” regional convention of jehovah’s witnesses .

recently there are clear indications that jehovah’s witnesses are seriously using pidgin as tool to reach the heart and they have risen beyond the general stereotypical description of it as ‘pidgin english’ or ‘broken english.

john.prestor

"The purpose of the Christian Congregation is not to learn English nor is one elevated if he speaks English."

That's just not true, if I remember correctly, and correct me if I'm wrong guys, you need to speak and write English fluently to attend the Gilead school, and you practically need to attend Gilead if you want to become a CO, Branch Committee member, those kind of high-ranking, highly-sought after positions..A lot of Governing Body members went to Gilead too if I recall, and Governing Body members speak English, and so do Governing Body helpers. Sure looks like English gets you places. I mean credit where credit's due, Jehovah's Witnesses do translate their teachings into a lot of really obscure languages, they want to get their message out. But then somebody wants to make a blatantly false statement like this trying to show off. Also, "the most organized organization on earth"? I mean really, come on.

10

Assistance to Assist Board Member!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

if we could locate the items listed below it would be a great help to one of our members.

i don't seem to have it in my files.

if you can help send me a pm or just post download links below.

john.prestor

Thanks man, can do. Please keep us posted. We will make these people protect children, and if we can't, we'll bankrupt them into oblivion, and raise so much awareness that we'll even shame the Governing Body.

13

Family reunion

by smiddy3 in

jw
friends

my wife and i just enjoyed a family reunion with both my sons ,one wife and one grandchild 10 years old ,where they stayed at our house for a week .. the best week we have had for many a year .

the couple live only 2 hours away by car and the other son and his child live 2 states away 2 hours by plane.. and thankfully they are no longer associated with the borg that i now regretfully brought them up in , so the borg will never get their children.. it was a happyfying time .

john.prestor

Sounds happifying indeed. I'm happified on my end too.

But seriously, I'm happy for you man. Glad you got to see them, glad they're living their own life for them, glad you guys get to be part of it.

10

Assistance to Assist Board Member!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

if we could locate the items listed below it would be a great help to one of our members.

i don't seem to have it in my files.

if you can help send me a pm or just post download links below.

john.prestor

Atlantis, your perseverance is inspiring. Never stop fighting, ever. I know you won't, but I know on my end it's good to hear that from time to time anyway.

16

Reinstatement

by Pinky in

what questions do the elders ask you when you are in your meeting requesting to get reinstated ?.

john.prestor

What floridaborn is getting at Pinky is this: to get reinstated you need the Elders who disfellowshipped you to reinstate you, you can't go to another Body of Elders at another congregation or even different Elders at your same congregation, it's gotta be the committee that threw you out to begin with. So if the Elders who disfellowshipped you don't serve as Elders anymore because the organization dissolved their congregation or sold their hall, what do you do?

6

Another day, another run-in

by john.prestor in

so a couple days ago i ran into a colleague of mine coming back from the mall, let's call her lianne for the story.

we started talking about our research and when lianne asked about what i'm working on these days i told her about a paper i'm drafting where i argue the culture of jehovah's witnesses is collectively narcissistic, which just means they (typically, most often) think they're special and that their faith is better than others, and i cite a lot of evidence to that effect, things witnesses said to me in conversation, videos i watched on youtube of antiwitnessing, study articles and book chapters, things i heard cos say ("this is the greatest organization in the universe") so a lot of data from a lot of different places that really drives the point home and shows i didn't just invent this after some cranky old man went on a rant one day in when they commented in the watchtower study or something.

lianne seemed interested, i kept it brief, but i noticed this older woman across the aisle staring at me, not glaring, just sorta staring at me blankly or almost in surprise, and lianne and i moved on to another topic for a couple more minutes and then went back to reading our books, we each had one on us and put it down to chitchat for a few minutes, it was nice running into someone i knew, i got the same vibe from her.. after i read a few pages the older woman got my attention politely and said something like, i wanted to tell you that i'm one of jehovah's witnesses (i wondered that when she started staring at me) and i don't agree with what you said, and i'm wondering where you got your information.

john.prestor

Oh Jesus, I just looked back and yep, I didn't say I was on a bus until the end. Thanks for the heads up.

6

Another day, another run-in

by john.prestor in

so a couple days ago i ran into a colleague of mine coming back from the mall, let's call her lianne for the story.

we started talking about our research and when lianne asked about what i'm working on these days i told her about a paper i'm drafting where i argue the culture of jehovah's witnesses is collectively narcissistic, which just means they (typically, most often) think they're special and that their faith is better than others, and i cite a lot of evidence to that effect, things witnesses said to me in conversation, videos i watched on youtube of antiwitnessing, study articles and book chapters, things i heard cos say ("this is the greatest organization in the universe") so a lot of data from a lot of different places that really drives the point home and shows i didn't just invent this after some cranky old man went on a rant one day in when they commented in the watchtower study or something.

lianne seemed interested, i kept it brief, but i noticed this older woman across the aisle staring at me, not glaring, just sorta staring at me blankly or almost in surprise, and lianne and i moved on to another topic for a couple more minutes and then went back to reading our books, we each had one on us and put it down to chitchat for a few minutes, it was nice running into someone i knew, i got the same vibe from her.. after i read a few pages the older woman got my attention politely and said something like, i wanted to tell you that i'm one of jehovah's witnesses (i wondered that when she started staring at me) and i don't agree with what you said, and i'm wondering where you got your information.

john.prestor

Hey steve2, thanks for the compliment man. To be fair the bus is pretty small, I mean I just turned around in my seat to talk to Lianne who sat just behind me (I didn't know that when I got on, worked out nicely) and the woman sat just across the aisle so she might have overheard without trying to, although we tune people out on a daily basis, particularly on the bus. But you're right, it wasn't her conversation and she didn't have any reason to get involved, I didn't think of it like that. They don't really see boundaries, do they? Some of them approach mourners in graveyards, I met Witnesses at one congregation who intentionally approached people pumping gas at a gas station (so they couldn't get away...), or write letters to family members listed in an obituary, that kind of thing happens often enough that it shows a pattern of thought, a pattern of disregard.

Giordano, that quote is relevant. That's Jehovah's Witnesses, that's how they see themselves, that's how they see their doctrine, that's why they call it 'the truth,' and we all know what happens in most circumstances when you question that doctrine.