Posts by Apognophos

50

Governing Body at Bethel and their daily routine

by Tenacious in

i never had the privilege to serve at bethel .. therefore, community help is greatly appreciated friends.. do the gb members have their own living quarters separate from the average jw?.

does their "busy" schedule permit field service, if yes, how many hours a month?.

how long are their weekly wednesday meetings?.

Apognophos

It's not a cheap shot, DATA-DOG, a nice suit costs more than $300... http://www.menswearhouse.com/mens-suits

24

Emblem Takers Mentally Unstable?

by Cold Steel in

onthewayout wrote: of course, for quite awhile (and probably still), congregations have been viewing any relatively young (maybe under 50 or even 60) partakers as mentally unstable and watchtower ignores such people anyway and says they must listen to the elders.

is this correct?

ever since the emblem-takers were given emeritus status as members of the faithful and discreet slave, have they been relegated to standard membership?

Apognophos

This isn't necessarily answering Cold Steel's questions, but I think he's gotten some good answers to those already and I want to make a suggestion about something.

Personally I think that one of the main causes of someone deciding they are anointed is not mental instability, but rather a rationalization stemming from the fact that they feel that they are closer to Bible truths than the average person. Perhaps, in reading the Bible closely, they have realized that some Watchtower teachings do not hold up, and rather than let themselves be troubled by this, they decide that they are simply glimpsing new light ahead of the org. Perhaps a teaching actually changes in the direction they anticipated. So they conclude that they must have extra holy spirit and that they are one of the anointed. In following this thought process, it's very much an intellectual thought process rather than an emotional one.

In other cases, like TTSSUF's story of the old woman who was a former evangelical, they are Witnesses who are more emotionally tied to the concept of Jesus than the average Witness, and this causes them to feel that they must be chosen to rule with him in heaven. So the thought is actually a response to finding themselves being more properly "Christian" than the average Jehovah-centric, Jesus-ignoring Witness. Which is an emotional thought process, but not an unstable one, any more than the average Christian is "unstable".

That being said, I'm sure there are others who simply had a hallucination or a strange dream and concluded that they were anointed.

16

crazy analogy question regarding Jesus' divinity [or lack of]

by TTWSYF in

i heard a preist pose this question and i'll admit, it made me think.. if your neighbor had a dog and a monkey and his dog bite you.

would you accept an apology from the neighbors monkey?.

just asking.

Apognophos

I'm literally LOL at that

17

2nd and 3rd Genners -- Did the passing of the 1st/2nd Gen. cause doubts for you?

by Apognophos in

i can't discuss my family history here in detail while i'm still fading, but suffice to say that i'm a third-generation witness.

my grandparents' generation of witnesses expected the end to come in the middle of the 20th century.

they led spartan lives and largely went without having kids, as they awaited the imminent new system.

Apognophos

Interesting, wildwildlife, thanks for the reply (and welcome!). It's interesting to note that the first Witnesses in your family weren't even called "Witnesses", and believed things that would get them DFed today.

Edit: And a poignant story there, NVR2L8, thanks for sharing it. Yes, it's amazing how all the old JWs we knew as kids have died and been replaced by another generation of white-haired people sitting in the infirm section, waiting to see the end come. What a human tragedy this religion is.

29

Could the allowance of blood fractions be curtailing the growth of the religion?

by Apognophos in

so, imagine that you're just a regular joe who's not familiar with the witnesses and is looking for the answers to life, the universe, and everything.

you hear a knock at your door.

before long, you are studying with a jehovah's witness.

Apognophos

Haha, amazing, Marvin Shilmer. I congratulate you on asking such a logical question, though you were bound to only get nonsense as a response.

54

How do you overcome this JW excuse?

by EdenOne in

during one of those meetings that took place before my jc, one of the elders, who was a good friend of mine back then and used to come up with a few outlandish personal views about some teachings, attempted to counter one of my arguments like this:.

eden - "well, if the truth doesn't change, why is it that what we teach as 'truth' has changed over the years (several examples given)?

how can we dogmatically claim at any given moment that we have 'the truth' if our teachings keep changing?".

Apognophos

This is not cognitive dissonance. It's not even an illogical argument. It's simply a statement that the present beliefs are always the "truth" in the sense that God wants JWs to have those beliefs at that point in time.

The counter-argument is flip-flops. Why would Jehovah direct, or allow the Society to direct, Witnesses to believe A, then change it to B, then back to A? Especially if the flip-flop led to lives being lost. This is true of the organ transplant flip-flop.

The counter-counter-argument to this is probably to say that Jehovah knew something that we didn't know, and people had to be steered away from organ transplants during those years. But it places the JW on shaky ground because they won't be able to point to anything we know now about transplants that made them dangerous from 1967 to 1980.

Another counter-argument is to ask where in the Bible God allowed his servants to have wrong beliefs for a period of time until he corrected them.

25

Stupid comment Witness made about the Exodus film.

by Trapped in JW land in

i was talking with two brothers at the kingdom hall the other day.

one of them suggested seeing the new exodus movie.

the other brother says, "i heard it's really violent"!

Apognophos

stuckinarut2, you are really asking for trouble Are you trying to see how much you can get away with before people start noticing what you're saying?

25

Re Hostage victims killed in Sydney: "dont worry, at least they will NOW get a ressurection"

by stuckinarut2 in

so most would now know of the vile act in sydney last week where a man held hostage over 17 people in the lindt cafe in the middle of sydney.. two people were murdered...a beautiful, educated lawyer,loving mother of three, and a brave, loving young man working as the cafe manager.. this senseless and cruel act has touched everyone deeply, especially in the communities of sydney.

the outpouring of grief and support for the victims and their families has been immense.. i was therefore outraged to have the following comment made by a witness in conversation at the kingdom hall:.

"well, we dont need to be sad, because at least now they (the two victims) will get a ressurection.

Apognophos

It's a torpedo through the whole belief system - whether someoneis 'saved' or not depends on circumstances and events many of which are outside of their control. Their boss gives them extra work ... bzzzz - now too busy to be saved.

Ha, nice point. I guess with this kind of brain-addled way of looking at things, the worldly boss giving out work is the villain of the story, and if a workplace shooter comes running through the office spraying people with an AK-47, he's the hero of the story. "Guaranteed resurrections for everybody!" *ratatatatat*

13

JW are naive

by bobld in

jw
friends

one dictionary defines naive as;generally speaking,to be naive means you do not think enough.people who are "naive" tend to beleive in whatever they are told,without questioning whether it is right or wrong.i think this defines jw because they accept whatever the group of 7 tells them.ex.the several definations of a generation.or the end is near see wt 2000 etc.. these people are naive,because they believe that people like himmler regret sending all jews to the gas chamber( quote from internet).

.

Apognophos

How do you bring out the critical thinking when it has been conditioned to the back of your brain?

I think the main thing keeping the critical thinking in the back of their brain is that they stand to lose too much if they question the teachings. If the religion announced today that the new understanding was that non-Witnesses could survive Armageddon, and there was be no more shunning of those who leave, people would start thinking critically about the religion tomorrow!

Now, some would stay in because they would be afraid of others' disapproval, or of losing the paradise hope, or of losing a belief in God, but many JWs who didn't seem capable of thinking would suddenly seem to get a lot smarter overnight. That's my prediction, anyway.

16

crazy analogy question regarding Jesus' divinity [or lack of]

by TTWSYF in

i heard a preist pose this question and i'll admit, it made me think.. if your neighbor had a dog and a monkey and his dog bite you.

would you accept an apology from the neighbors monkey?.

just asking.

Apognophos

That seems like a flawed analogy. If "you" in this analogy is God, then the neighbor is... who? Who owns the dog and monkey and is therefore responsible for them if one of them bites someone?