Posts by TonusOH

128

Why Do JW's Believe that Hell is Symbolic When the Disciples of the Apostles believed it Was Literal ?

by Sea Breeze in

looks like the early christians believed jesus when he warned about hell over 40 times.

why don't the jw's do the same?.

from “the epistle of barnabas” (70-130ad).

TonusOH

If you believe in alternate planes of existence, then heaven or hell could be literal and yet not physical. A 'ghost plane' of sorts. It would require that beings have a way of feeling joy or terror in this plane, and possibly comfort and pain. It's all possible when you are using your imagination.

This does force us to consider a being who would design such a universe, where eternal pain and suffering are possible in multiple planes of existence, for no other reason than whether or not he felt offended by the equivalent of a small hair on the back of a dust mite. The level of insanity, cruelty and plain old sadism required should make us thankful that it doesn't exist.

38

the toll of being PIMO

by enoughisenough in

for those of you who are pimo, how do you feel it may be effecting your mental and physical health?

is it easy to pretend to be what you are not?

how do you feel about falsely supporting the pimi which builds them up and therefore an org you don't believe in?

TonusOH

Sea Breeze: But I've come to realize that the reasons people leave are quite different from person to person.

I think it's because there are so many ways in which the WTS separates itself from other denominations of Christianity. Rutherford seemed to have been a contrarian, but also a man of supreme ego. Having his own brand of Christianty must have appealed to him, so he went about making changes that would differentiate it from others.

At first, that sense of separation can make someone feel unique and special. Some begin to feel differently when they have to deal with the effects of shunning, or the blood policy. Many know well the ostracism of deliberately refusing to take part in holiday or birthday celebrations. And we all know that challenging these policies risks being disfellowshipped and shunned. At some point, you will feel like something is very wrong.

A 'good' JW will suppress those feelings. Anyone else will pull back the curtain.

24

JWlite like being a Trekkie. You know it’s fictional

by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

jw
friends

i now view jwlite like the trekkie conventions.

star trek is fiction and all the fans know this full well.

but they find it beneficial.

TonusOH

It's kind of the reverse. I would wager that most Star Trek fans shun the ultra-hard-core gatekeeper types who insist on sucking all of the fun out of the fandom. They have no real power or influence, just some scar tissue from all the wedgies they experienced in high school.*

*Hmmm, maybe they do have something in common with the GB...

3065

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

by Simon in

jw
friends

uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

TonusOH

The way YouTube manages the display of subscriber numbers makes them seem almost as lazy as Evans.

86

New light on shunning?

by Mikejw in

one theory why tony was booted out was because he was a stickler for not changing the shunning doctrine.

he actually said the words we will never ever change it.. they are slowly deleting all of tony’s videos and now losing court cases and losing government hand outs in places like norway.. it’s looking very likely they will release new light on shunning policy after losing this latest one in norway.. .

what are the odds they coincidentally get new light from jehovah and lighten up their shunning policy ?.

TonusOH

jehovaxx: Wasn’t there a change in the past about 50 years ago or something like that where they relaxed the rules on shunning?

In Crisis of Conscience, Ray Franz described how the rules regarding shunning were changed to deal with him. The changes were towards people who had voluntarily disassociated themselves, which included Franz's employer (after he had left the GB and moved to Georgia). Franz was seen having lunch with the brother in question, and this formed the basis of the JCs that eventually DFed him.

271

VAT4956 - 530 BC destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar

by jwposter in

in my studies, i have concluded that year 530 bc was when the destruction of jerusalem occurred and the temple destroyed.

i had determined this prior to investigation of vat4956.

i had already found that the jubilees, sabbaticals, courses of the priests, and chronology attested to this.

TonusOH

The approach of just dumping "information" and hoping that volume will overwhelm any opposition is perhaps best exemplified in this topic.

3065

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

by Simon in

jw
friends

uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

TonusOH

DerekMoors: A pathetic 9K views in 21 hours.

Don't worry, it's probably nighttime for the other 101,000 subscribers. Those numbers should rocket upwards any minute now!

3065

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

by Simon in

jw
friends

uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

TonusOH

The only time a video from Evans doesn't make me laugh, is when it's his comedy routine! *rimshot*

20

NORWAY Verdict : The Aftermath

by raymond frantz in

https://www.jwupdates.com/post/watchtower-will-take-norwegian-defeat-to-echr.

few norwegian religious communities need to worry after the jehovah's witnesses verdict, according to legal expert vibeke blaker strand.

he has pointed out that it is particularly serious to deprive a religious community of its registration.

TonusOH

Maybe Stephen Lett can do a video chastising the rank and file for being so stingy that the WTS is dependent on government subsidies.

"We'd been forced to accept donations from non-JWs in Norway to keep the lights on! We, uh... we told them that we could not keep accepting these donations! Yeah, that's the ticket! We... we told them that our loyal members would take care of things with Jehovah's blessing. That's what happened! It's a blessing from god!"

19

Does The WT Keep Files On ExJW Activists?

by NotFormer in

it occurred to me that the wt, if they can identify the activists that are currently campaigning against them, would have a lot of ability to compile detailed dossiers on them.

once identified, the elders of the appropriate congregation could be asked to forward copies of all their membership details held locally.. would they do that, and do such dossiers exist?.

(there are probably data collection rules governing such things in a lot of countries, but by no stretch of the imagination could the wt be considered a good corporate citizen).

TonusOH

To me, that's just begging for trouble. The one apostate that JWs know about is Ray Franz, who spent decades preaching in foreign lands and spent almost a decade as a member of the governing body. He was assigned to help write the Aid to Bible Understanding book, as well as the occasional article elsewhere. And he couldn't resist the lure of that sweet, sweet apostasy!

If they have people monitoring these sites, I wonder if they sit down to review what they have learned. How long before those meetings degenerate into "I gotta say, this exJW made some pretty good points..."