Posts by 88JM

32

Blondie"s comments you will not hear at the )(_!%_@)!# WT Study (WITH YOU)

by blondie in

jw
friends

the conclusion of the system of things.. matt.

17 the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun ***.

that jesus inspection took place in 1918.. paragraph 7: [4] from 1910 to 1914, the.

88JM

Thanks Blondie for the quotes there. But surely that confirms what I was saying that in the past they have always consistently put the "marriage of the lamb" before Armageddon? It does come "soon after" the destruction of "Babylon the Great" which marks the start of the "Great Tribulation" but as far as I had read, Armageddon being the culmination/conclusion/climax of the "Great Tribulation", the "marriage of the lamb" happens somewhere in the middle there, but "soon after" Babylon the Great is destroyed, at least.

Contrary to what the 1998 Watchtower (and 1990 Watchtower it references) where they could "not say exactly" when the marriage would happen, with the new light in the Watchtower this week they are now nailing it down to be after Armageddon. So with Armageddon being the culmination/climax of the Great Tribulation, the "marriage of the lamb" coming even after the Great Tribulation in a way? Is it "new light" or are they just trying to see what they can slip past people?

32

Blondie"s comments you will not hear at the )(_!%_@)!# WT Study (WITH YOU)

by blondie in

jw
friends

the conclusion of the system of things.. matt.

17 the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun ***.

that jesus inspection took place in 1918.. paragraph 7: [4] from 1910 to 1914, the.

88JM

Just another observation (not that I really care much) - did anyone catch at the end of paragraph 17 that they put the "marriage of the lamb" to be "shortly after the battle of Armageddon".

As far as I know, the "marriage of the lamb" has always been before Armageddon (see the Revelation book?), and this wasn't highlighted as being "new light". Would there not need to be some scriptural gymnastics to put the marriage after Armageddon? Has this been explained before? Surely not a mistake... haha!

13

GTA 5...worth dying at Armageddon for.....

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

hell yeah !!!!!.

.

88JM

Really hope that we get a PC version - I'm guessing they're delaying it to boost PS3 and XBOX 360 version sales.

11

DVD at elders meeting during circuit visit

by Saltheart Foamfollower in

has anyone had a circuit visit this week and seen the dvd for elders/mss?

i'm guessing it's got an introduction from one of the gb and then demonstrations of how to behave in different situations.

i'd like to be prepared before seeing it to ask suitable questions.. the (not so) pure one.

88JM

The C.O. visit here is in 2 weeks time. Will keep my ears open...

20

Feedback from study of JUL 15 WT - Tell Us WHEN Will These Things Be

by konceptual99 in

just got back from meeting.

the study today was as expected.

a combination of simple acceptance, formulaic research and mistakes.. there are clearly many who cannot read a reference (to the wt 95) regarding the sheep and the goats and consider the repetition of the the understanding of the timing of the judging as new light.

88JM

Just back from the meeting here too. It didn't help that the WT conductor is a complete moron. Forget about trying to nail down what the Watchtower is saying - he could barely pronounce the word "clarifications" - I was having a good chuckle to myself.

Much the same as has already been said - total acceptance and answered with enthusiasm. Surprisingly the older ones were probably the most enthusiastic, as if what they had really believed all along has finally been vindicated. I can only hope it was ringing alarm bells for younger ones.

As far as comments not being forthcoming, it's was a bit difficult to tell as the congregation here is very bad normally anyway!

Some of the most "cult-ish" bits for me were paragraphs where the questions were basically: "what did you believe when you got up this morning?" and "what do you believe now?" - it was basically saying: "let us do all the thinking for you".

The conductors final comments just topped it off for me, where he said: "...it's quite encouraging to see these clarifications - they're very simple and very straightforward, so please read up on them again if we're not sure what some of the points are. But we're very grateful to the faithful slave for providing us food at the proper time."

92

Young man walks out of Glasgow convention and commits suicide

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

last weekend.

so unbelievably sad.

rip.

88JM

The convention itself was by far the most boring ever. Very sad if someone was affected by it to that extent - quite shocking to think that the person probably walked right past me as I was on the concourse around that time.

65

Gay MS??

by andysmiles in

about me, i am being raised in a jw family.

all of my family expect for one aunt, who had left but not disfellowedshiped thankly, are in jw.

my father is an elder and so is my grandfather.

88JM

Welcome andysmiles - it sounds like you're in a similar position to me. I'm finding it very hard doing a fade as I'm also an MS and in a small congregation. I haven't told my parents though, but I found moving to my own place has been a great help as I can be myself at home now.

I was baptised in 2003 and made an MS in 2007. I knew I was only interested in guys even before baptism and like you, I thought it was just a phase and would pass after I got baptised - I never told anyone how I really felt.

The advice that others have given here so far is sound - make friends with people outside the JWs so that you have support if it all turns sour. I've made some great friends in some of the gay exJW groups on Facebook - we meet here twice a year in the UK.

With my fade at the moment I'm missing meetings more and more frequently, and only drag myself out in field service for an hour or two every month. It's really difficult mentally having to do all that knowing I don't believe it any more, but knowing I can go back home and forget about it all really helps. I'm really amazed I haven't been asked to step down as an MS already, but perhaps as it's a small congregation they are desperate for guys. Hopefully my fade should become much easier if I can move further away at some point and move congregations, but it's mostly financial constraints that are stopping me doing that yet.

Let us know how you get on - we're here for you.

92

Young man walks out of Glasgow convention and commits suicide

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

last weekend.

so unbelievably sad.

rip.

88JM

Wow - I was at the Glasgow convention (still fading) - very sad to hear this.

Does anybody know who it was? PM me if so.

31

What Is The "Typical" Elder In The Organization Like Now?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when i was an elder, most of the elders were pretty independent 40 to 80 year olds.

they had no issue speaking up to the circuit overseer.

i wonder what the average elder is like now.

88JM

In the congregation here, they are all now older guys 50-65, mostly just drones, with very little effort to show any initiative and very little enthusuiasm for what they are doing, almost to the point of complaining about all the work they have to do, but at the same time saying what a "wonderful organization" it is. They really aren't a good advertisment for anyone thinking of "reaching out" to be an elder. Everyone just looks so "tired" and the conversations are all very very shallow - it seems they don't have much of a life or time for anything other than window cleaning or ministry.

9

Members in Scotland?

by franticfran in

are there any female members in scotland out there?

i have had messages from a couple of scottish members,and they were lovley and kind too, but would realy like to meet a lady member.

i have a lovely girl from america who facebooks me daily and she has become a great friend and a source of much comfort for me and she tells me she meets up with a female forum member who lives near to her home and has coffee with her and i would love to be able to do that.

88JM

Hi Franticfran - I've not seen any other female members myself from Scotland - as you say, there are few guys around from here.