Posts by jp1692

54

What Views or Beliefs Do Jehovah’s Witnesses No Longer Teach?

by minimus in

jw
friends

evidently they have changed their creative day from being 7000 years per day.

all blood transfusions were taboo but now blood fractions might be allowed to be taken into the body.

vaccinations were sinful at one time but not now.. can you name other views or beliefs that have changed from being considered “truth” to no longer “the truth “?.

jp1692

SBF, the implication was concerning beliefs which were unique to Russell's theology/religion, or at least which are commonly perceived to be unique. Perhaps I should have made that explicit.

jp

60

Fifty years ago today: One quote to demolish the Watchtower

by JeffT in

jw
friends

i did not have any connection to jw's when they published this, about two weeks before i graduated from high school.

i'm now on medicare and collecting social security.

so much for their ability to see into the future.

In 2002 or early 2003, my ex-wife told me about that article. At first I didn't believe her. I thought she must be mistaken. (I should add that I was a congregation elder and had been for about a dozen years.)

But I looked into it and found that she was right of course. That was the beginning of the end for me, the first domino to fall in what would eventually become the total loss of my faith in the religion of JWs.

It also led to the break-up of our marriage as I investigated more about the history of our religion and learned the truth about "The Truth."

My ex, who was raised as a JW, read this article when she was 10 years old. She just turned 60.

Let's review: It's a cult!

54

What Views or Beliefs Do Jehovah’s Witnesses No Longer Teach?

by minimus in

jw
friends

evidently they have changed their creative day from being 7000 years per day.

all blood transfusions were taboo but now blood fractions might be allowed to be taken into the body.

vaccinations were sinful at one time but not now.. can you name other views or beliefs that have changed from being considered “truth” to no longer “the truth “?.

jp1692

Here, (from an old post by 00DAD), is a more detailed look at what I summarized in my previous post:

It is informative to consider that current JW beliefs are essentially COMPLETELY different than what they were when [they were] supposedly "chosen" in 1918/1919.

This brings up a logical dilemma:

If Current Beliefs are correct, then what JWs believed in 1918/1919 was wrong. If what they believed then was wrong, then Jesus would have categorically rejected them as representing either him or True Worship; or,
If JW beliefs in 1918/1919 were correct, then JW beliefs now are incorrect and should be rejected as apostate, false teachings.

You don't even have to examine any specific doctrinal points to see the power of this line of reasoning: either way JWs are NOT the true religion, not then, not now, not ever.

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For clarification, there are essentially only two beliefs that have remained from Russell's time until now:

1. Soul Sleep, taken from the Second Adventists, which has two sub-beliefs:

No Hell
No Immortality of the Soul

2. Gentile Times ended in 1914 which came from:

an idea advanced by John Aquila Brown in 1823
expanded upon in the 1830's by a farmer named William Miller
later tweaked by Apollos Hale and Sylvester Bliss, whoever they were
exposed as false in 1840 by John Dowling, whoever he was
reworked by Second Adventists, such as Barbour after 1844
then finally take over by Charles Taze Russell as an end time prophecy, with the Gentile times expected to herald the conclusion of Armageddon, not the beginning of the Last Days.

So practically EVERYTHING taught in Russell's time has been since discarded except two basic beliefs, one of which he got from another religion and the other conceived of and then twisted and mangled by a bunch of crackpots all vying for one-upsmanship to prove their personal understanding of the incontrovertible Word of God!

Also, some would argue that 1914 shouldn't really be included on this list. What Russell and the early Bible Students believed about 1914 is completely different from what Witnesses believe today. They clearly and unequivocally taught that 1914 was when Armageddon was coming and that it would be THE END of things, not the "Beginning of the End." In fact, the only thing about 1914 that stayed the same was calling it "The End of the Gentile Times," but what that meant to Russell wouldn't even be recognized [today] by a modern JW.

Of the two beliefs, the evidence is clear that the second is false and the first is—from our perspective as living human beings—completely unverifiable either way. Also the idea of soul sleep is not unique to JWs, so it alone would not have gotten them "chosen" in 1918/1919. The closer you look the uglier it gets.

Nice.

Let's review: It's a cult!

54

What Views or Beliefs Do Jehovah’s Witnesses No Longer Teach?

by minimus in

jw
friends

evidently they have changed their creative day from being 7000 years per day.

all blood transfusions were taboo but now blood fractions might be allowed to be taken into the body.

vaccinations were sinful at one time but not now.. can you name other views or beliefs that have changed from being considered “truth” to no longer “the truth “?.

jp1692

For all intents and purposes, there are no current teachings/beliefs of JWs that are the same as in Russell's day except:

Soul sleep
1914 is the End of the Gentile Times

But Russell had a completely different idea of what 1914 meant than what JWs currently believe. He believed it would be The End culminating in Armageddon, not The Beginning of the End—the meaning of which would be revised at least six times between then and now culminating in the current "Overlapping Generation" nonsense.

So essentially there is only one doctrine which Russell taught that is still currently believed by JWs and it isn't even an belief exclusive to them.

56

Should Hand Held Cellphones Be Banned While Driving?

by minimus in

jw
friends

many states do not even allow you to hold your phone if you are driving.

do you think you should be fined hundreds of dollars for touching your phone while driving?

?.

jp1692

Distracted Driving: "Each day in the United States, approximately 9 people are killed and more than 1,000 injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver."

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Traffic Safety Facts Research Notes 2016: Distracted Driving.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2015. Available at https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812517Externa as reported by the Center for Disease Control

19

May 2019 Broadcast

by BourneIdentity in

i know i already created a post about this a week or so ago, but i have a little more to add to it.

i was watching it again and taking some notes this time.

the speaker lists these reasons for people having anxieties:.

jp1692

Anxiety disorders and depression are NOT the same thing and should not be confused with each other.

Also, it's inaccurate to say that either are caused by a chemical imbalance. As reported by Harvard Medical School: "Research suggests that depression doesn't spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals." It's much more complicated than that.

There are several things that are completely wrong with the WTBTS's approach to serious mental health issues. First, they should be directing people that suffer from depression, anxiety or other such mental health concerns to seek help from qualified medical professionals, not window-washers or janitors that went to a two-day seminar put on by the WT.

Secondly, many of the emotional and mental health issues that JWs suffer from are a direct result of the beliefs and practices of the religion. As many have posted, and has oft been observed previously, leaving this religion frequently leads to an immediate reduction in anxiety and depression. However, that is not always the case because there can also be other underlying causes which again should be addressed by trained and qualified mental health professionals.

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