w59 8/1 p. 458 par.
17-18 par.
w08 4/15 p. 6 par.
The approach of the WTS was always that you should put the claims of other religions to the test, but when it comes to their teachings, you are expected to verify that they are true.
For other religions: test the claims and see if they are true.
For the JW teachings: read the claims and you will see that they are true.
The GB considers itself to be the voice of God, essentially. To test/question their claims is to doubt God Himself, as far as they are concerned.
anybody else notice this?
the have a syndicate (governing body) regional bosses (district overseers), captians (circuit overseers), and elders are their "made men" that enforce policy at street level.
if you run your mouth too much, they wipe out your whole family (disfellowshipping).
Now I'm thinking about Godfather quotes...
Tessio : Barzini's people chisel my territory and we do nothing about it. Pretty soon there won't be anyplace in Brooklyn that I can hang my hat.
Tony Morris: Brooklyn's done. Buy some land in Ramapo. You'll thank me later.
original reddit post (removed).
He lacks confidence. It might be the most glaring of his issues. This isn't all that uncommon; we all have varying amounts of self-confidence, and there is a threshold where we won't react very well. We either give in, or we lose control. For most people, this happens on a relatively small stage, since we do not seek out such broad attention.
If you're trying to be a public figure, the lack of self-confidence is a time bomb. Evans has dealt with issues by bullying people and trying to force them to back down. This is not the approach of a confident person. And when it doesn't work, he lacks the confidence to recover. Hence the continued attempts to either bully people or elicit sympathy from his dwindling support network.
And it will continue to dwindle. Once your lack of self-confidence is on display, it's very difficult to recover. No one wants to follow a person who doesn't believe in himself.
i'm sure this has been discussed, but 1914 has to go away.
instead of, the overlapping generation teaching, they should have just ditched 1914. .
they should have done that a long time ago with 1975. it's the last of the teachings in the charles taze russell era.. i'm thinking they just will stop talking about it, and it will be out of the mind of the rank and file loyal witnesses .
scholar: Not really but just the plain reading of the text.
Isn't this the same as the grammatical approach that you rejected earlier? Do you switch between exegesis and 'plain reading' as it suits you?
the theme of the in person convention this year is "exercise patience".
looking at the convention map, they are really using their assembly halls and they are using smaller civic centers or city arena.
no more huge stadiums.. are they not expecting a great crowd?
Anyone who sat through a JW convention has exercised enough patience already.
original reddit post (removed).
I didn't have much hope for his career in standup. It isn't about whether he is funny or not, it's just that I cannot imagine him calmly or cleverly dealing with hecklers. And if you get into standup, one of the first things you will learn is that there is almost always someone in the audience who is eager to make your life miserable. Especially in smaller venues, where there is little risk to them and very little sympathy for the aspiring comic.
It's a weeding-out process. Can you keep a level head while someone is actively trying to ruin your performance? Can you deal with them in a way that gets the audience on your side? Lloyd is used to dealing with critics in a direct, over-the-top passive-aggressive manner. A heckler couldn't ask for a better target. And since he is convinced that he is the smartest and sharpest person in the room, he'll jump into the pool without checking for water.
Now I feel like we missed an opportunity. Imagine if someone were to ever post a video of him bombing on stage, or melting down when a heckler needled him a few times. It would've been glorious.
https://www.fox43.com/article/news/crime/sexual-abuse-of-children-jehovahs-witness-pennsylvania/521-1d54cc2e-3ec6-4d20-b67a-fc3c5e8f2580.
https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-02-07-presentment-2_7_23.pdf.
Elders are not trained in any field by the WTS, they are trained to follow the organization's views and teachings. They may be completely unprepared to deal with an issue that comes before them, because they frequently have no grounding in the ethical and practical considerations involved in these cases. Thus, they may take actions and make decisions that would shock anyone in a relevant field.
The WTS puts the lives and safety of people in the hands of men who are not prepared to deal with some of the issues they face, but are expected to do so while rejecting any outside help. And they are not obligated to recuse themselves, thus leading to decisions where a man is allowed to maintain a relationship with a teenager as long as he promises to marry her when she comes of age. Because I can't think of any other explanation for such a deranged decision.
a friend of mine was compelled to reach out to as many members as possible in her congregation, by sending them the following letter that i would like to share.. to my brothers and sisters,.
i’m sure you’ve realised by now that something isn’t quite right with me as i haven’t been around in months.
the truth is i have been going through a crisis and the last few months have been the hardest time of my life.
Like Ding, I think most JWs will not read past the introduction. Certainly, many of them will stop when they get to this part: "For the first time in my life, I started reading the Bible on its own."
And that is terribly sad. The WTS teaches its membership to fear the Bible.
i'm sure this has been discussed, but 1914 has to go away.
instead of, the overlapping generation teaching, they should have just ditched 1914. .
they should have done that a long time ago with 1975. it's the last of the teachings in the charles taze russell era.. i'm thinking they just will stop talking about it, and it will be out of the mind of the rank and file loyal witnesses .
waton: the Opening Post was about how how wt will wriggle out of the now expired 1914 end times trap.
Based on the discussion here, it seems they will hold on to the date and insist it is supported Biblically. I still think the organization will try to minimize it and hope the rank and file forget about it. Then, when they think the time is right, they'll revise it and express their joy at the new understanding that God has graced them with.
But we are talking decades into the future before they can consider revising it. If the 1914 date and events don't fade away from JW memory, it is a tough road ahead. They hang their authority and legitimacy on that date; if people doubt it, they will seek guidance elsewhere.
......well it was 50 years ago!!
meanwhile, millions of jw's sing diana ross' song, "i'm still waiting.".
w70 12/15 p. 758 par.
"One thousand years is just like a day, in Jehovah's eyes. So, when we say that the end will come any day now, we really mean in the next two-to-three-thousand years."
