Posts by Trevor Scott

143

Does anyone think that maybe we're just wrong?

by paul from cleveland in

jw
friends

i was disfellowshipped in 1995. even though i lost my friends and family, i felt like i had been finally set free and was happy for many years.

while i was a jehovah's witness, i always felt so miserable.

i never felt like i was doing enough to please jehovah.

Why Apostate?

by wantstoleave in

this may have been discussed elsewhere on this board but is something i've become increasingly aware of, and that's the apostasy issue.

growing up, i don't think anyone ever explained what it meant, nor did i ask - i just knew it was 'bad' and punishable by disfellowshipping.

therefore it is fairly embarrassing to say that until a few minutes ago and looking it up in a dictionary, i did not know what the meaning was.

Trevor Scott

: do you mean that by the witnesses calling ones Apostate, they're name calling and labelling?

Yes. "Name-calling" is number one on the list of the "seven common propaganda devices" as defined by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis. It's a time-tested propaganda tactic whereby the arguments or ideas of a group of people may be completely ignored, because they're just "commies" or "queers" or "apostates"....

"Name calling is both a logical fallacy and cognitive bias, and a technique to promote propaganda. Propagandists use the name-calling technique to incite fears and arouse prejudices with the intent that invoked fear based on fearmongering tactics will encourage those that read, see or hear propaganda to construct a negative opinion about a person, group, or set of beliefs or ideas that the propagandist would wish the recipients to denounce. The method is intended to provoke conclusions and actions about a matter apart from an impartial examinations of the facts of the matter. When employed, name-calling is thus a substitute for rational, fact-based arguments against an idea or belief, based upon its own merits." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name-calling)

14

Why Apostate?

by wantstoleave in

this may have been discussed elsewhere on this board but is something i've become increasingly aware of, and that's the apostasy issue.

growing up, i don't think anyone ever explained what it meant, nor did i ask - i just knew it was 'bad' and punishable by disfellowshipping.

therefore it is fairly embarrassing to say that until a few minutes ago and looking it up in a dictionary, i did not know what the meaning was.

Trevor Scott

"Some people insult those who disagree with them by questioning character or motives instead of focusing on the facts. Name-calling slaps a negative, easy-to-remember label onto a person, a group, or an idea. The name-caller hopes that the label will stick. If people reject the person or the idea on the basis of the negative label instead of weighing the evidence for themselves, the name-caller's strategy has worked."

–Awake!, June 22, 2000 page 6.

61

If you pray, do you say 'Jehovah'...?

by wantstoleave in

just wondering of those that pray and who have left the organisation, do you still address god as jehovah?.

i think i'm currently in that awkward stage where i'm neither in or out, yet don't feel i should even address, or have the right, to talk to god (jehovah) until i decide where i sit.

so i'm wondering if it's hypocritical to pray and use his name.

Trevor Scott

I'm with PSacramento on this one. "Jehovah" is just a made up word. It is not and never was God's name.

Jesus was asked specifically by his disciples to teach them how to pray, and he instructed them to address God as "Father"....

31

November 15 2009 Watchtower (Study Edition) - Treasure Your Place in the Congregation...

by CrazyBlonde in

jw
friends

thought this one was quite creepy - the article to be studied january 11-17 "treasure your place in the congregation", page 13 para 5 reads (italics mine):.

"the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience" is so widespread that it is like the air we breathe.

(eph.

Trevor Scott

Is this the part where we pretend it's acceptable for a jw to socialize with ex-jws and apostates?

Don't get me wrong... I'm happy you're here. I just have issues with hypocrisy...

31

November 15 2009 Watchtower (Study Edition) - Treasure Your Place in the Congregation...

by CrazyBlonde in

jw
friends

thought this one was quite creepy - the article to be studied january 11-17 "treasure your place in the congregation", page 13 para 5 reads (italics mine):.

"the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience" is so widespread that it is like the air we breathe.

(eph.

Trevor Scott

: I treasure my place

If that were true you wouldn't be here.

13

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 09-27-09 WT (BOLDNESS)

by blondie in

jw
friends

http://exjehovahswitnessforum.yuku.com.

http://www.jwsupportforum.com/index.php.

http://www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com/.

Trevor Scott

How much sense does this make:

"People hated Enoch and evidently would have murdered him had Jehovah not cut his life short." (par 5)

Couldn't it be reworded as:

People hated Enoch and evidently would have cut his life short had Jehovah not murdered him.

Or:

People hated Enoch and evidently would have murdered him had Jehovah not murdered him.

According to Watchtower doctrine, only the "anointed" 144,000 go to heaven and the WTS says this group does not include Enoch or any of the Old Testament saints. This situation forces the WTS to come up with an alternative explanation for Gen 1:24 which says "God took [Enoch] away" (NIV).

Also note the WTS' use of the word "evidently". "Evidently" people hated Enoch and would have murdered him if "Jehovah" hadn't beaten them to it. Any time you see the word "evidently" in Watchtower material it means the complete OPPOSITE of what you'd think. It means there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE for this assertion; it is pure conjecture....

Hebrews 11:5 says that God took Enoch away and "he did not experience death". The Watchtower Society did their best to obfuscate Hebrews 11:5 in the NWT, but the fact is that even in the NWT it is clear that Enoch DID NOT SEE DEATH:

By faith Enoch was transferred so as not to see death, and he was nowhere to be found because God had transferred him; for before his transference he had the witness that he had pleased God well. (NWT)

Just another bible verse that Jehovah's Witnesses DO NOT BELIEVE.

9

Generation Change

by greenie in

hi all,.

i've heard several reference to the "generation change.

" some of you have said they've revised this several times, including in 1995. onthewayout, i've heard you mention it a couple of times.. can anyone explain to me what this is, or where to find more information on it?.

Trevor Scott

The short version is that in 1995 they disconnected "this generation" (Matt 24:34) from being associated with people who were alive in 1914.

124

The most inappropriate remarks from Jehovahs Witnesses

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

i have a few which still either anger me, make me sad or just make me grateful that i am no longer one of them.

1 - "well, everyone is going to die anyway, so if it at armageddon then ce la vie" 2 - "the disater today at the world trade centre is sad, but exciting" 3 - (an elder) "when armageddon happens, i want to be at a window, watching it all".

sick, sick, sick!

Trevor Scott

When I was in the process of leaving, I had a long talk with a friend who after being unable to answer some of my questions made this statement:

"You know Trevor, the Bible is a deep book, and they [the Watchtower Society] do my thinking for me."

No joke.

55

What do you think about this quote from the 2003 District Convention talk "Beware of the Voice of Strangers"?

by LUKEWARM in

jw
friends

[23:23] so friends, hypothetically, and i repeat, hypothetically, even if an angel were to come down here and land on this platform, today, at this moment, and to present something to us that didn't fit into the pattern of truth, what should we be ready to do?

we should be ready to say, " hold on there, that doesn't fit into the pattern, and i am not going to listen to it!

" yes, even if it were one of jehovah's angels.. .

Trevor Scott

BTT for AE. Couple questions that she must have missed:

: well they didnt recommend they sell their homes either....they said its a fine way...not recommending is it

Actually AE, yes indeed they did recommend it. Do you understand what recommend means? No disrespect, but do you understand precisely what the word means?

Dictionary definition:

verb (used with object)

1. to present as worthy of confidence, acceptance, use, etc.; commend; mention favorably: to recommend an applicant for a job; to recommend a book.

This is exactly what they did. They presented as worthy of confidence, acceptance; they commended; they mentioned favorably.

So don't say they didn't recommend people sell their homes. K? Cuz that would be lying and I know you wouldn't want to do that.

So.... was it loving to RECOMMEND brothers sell their homes and then 2 years later embarrass and criticise them for doing it? Yes or No?

Secondly, if this was "not the kind of thinking that Jesus advised", then why was his FAITHFUL AND DISCREET SLAVE recommending it?

Peace.