Posts by 88JM

34

Interview with an Apostate: Simon

by Simon in

i had an idea for coming up with a standard(ish) set of interview questions which members of the ex-jw community could use to provide insights into their lives as a kind of series (yeah, i was thinking of "interview with a vampire", lol).. anyway, this is the result to show the sort of thing i'm thinking of (applied to myself) and i'd like feedback on the format and the questions as well as who you'd also like to see "interviewed".. feel free to provide your own life story as a separate topic or ask any additional questions that i've missed.

it's not meant to be rigid so questions / themes can be adapted as needed and split / joined as appropriate.

the common questions will hopefully apply to everyone for some consistency and to guide the writing process with additional questions asked that make sense to each subject.. well, here goes .... tell us a little about yourself and your family.. im an independent software developer who grew up in manchester (uk) but now lives in calgary (canada) with my wife angharad and two boys, liam and dylan.

88JM

My favourite type of question has always been “is there anything that would ever convince you that the WTS wasn’t the truth?”

Really loved this point. I was with a pompous pioneer sister in field service not long ago, when I was starting to wake up to TTATT. It was her turn at the door and this householder really knew his stuff on evolution - he was shooting down the sister's classicly flawed arguments so easily - I didn't attempt to help her! It came down to the question you mentioned, but he turned it back on her. I was actually quite shocked when she said she "knew" she had "the truth" and nothing could convince her otherwise. He then called the sister on her hypocrisy: "how can you knock on my door asking me to have an open mind when you don't have one yourself?" The sister was very sheepish and the conversation then ended pretty quickly.

It was quite a shame actually as I would love to have asked him a bit more about his thoughts on evolution as he was a really interesting guy to speak to.

6

Were you a meeter and greeter or a background observer?

by likeabird in

jw
friends

i've noticed how on newbie threads everyone jumps in to say hello, even other newbies.. it got me wondering.. when you were in, were you the type to greet all the newcomers and visiting bros and siss, or would you stay in the background and wait a few meetings to manage to go over to say hello?.

i'm not particularly anti-social, but as a foreigner, meeting new people meant they felt they had the right to interrogate me on my life story in the first five minutes of the acquaintance just because they could see i wasn't one of them.

being assigned to preach with a newcomer was torturous and i would shut my eyes waiting for the interrogation to start.. so anyway, that's what made me fall into the latter group.

88JM

I would also class myself as an introvert. I find a lot of the "meeting and greeting" quite contrived and uncomfortable when you realise you have very little in common once you run out of small talk.

5

What are they calling the new territory now?

by JWOP in

there is field service territory, letter writing territory, and telephone territory.

but what do they title it when they are setting up their kiosks and tables in the public squares?.

.

88JM

Initially I saw it informally called "The Manhattan Project" by some JWs, due to the pilot projects for it starting there. Nowadays it's usually referred to as "metropolitan witnessing", though sometimes is informally called "cart/trolley-cart witnessing".

7

"a multitude of instruments to delight the soul" - Da Vinci's idea built at last.

by fulltimestudent in

in leonardo da vinci's a codex atlanticus, a 12-volume collection of his manuscripts and designs for everything from weaponry to flight, there is a design for a musical instrument, that is a sort of musical instrument that a modern interpreter suggests has the characteristics of a harpsichord, organ and the viola da gamba.. no versions were ever built (tha twe know of)... until now.

a polish musician and instrument maker recently played a version of da vinci's invention at the academy of music in the southern polish city of krakow.. .

whether you like the music or not, slawomir zubrzyckis creation is a musical and mechanical work of art.. source: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/leonardo-da-vincis-wacky-piano-is-heard-for-the-first-time-after-500-years-20131118-2xpqs.html#ixzz2l1mmxc8k.

88JM

I was thrilled to be able to see portions of the Codex Atlanticus in Milan at the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie last year. Some may appear like crude drawings, but some are amazing "blueprints" almost. I would have loved to have seen "The Last Supper" which is in the refectory next door to the church (once used as a stable for the horses of Napoleons army apparently) unfortunately I went on the day of the week it was closed!

58

Home schooled witness kids

by stillin in

sorry if i'm stepping on any toes here, but i haven't seen anything positive about home-schooling...at all.

the notion is that parents are taking advantage of the formative years to inculcate more worthwhile values while protecting their kids from worldly influences.

they end up with lazy, socially inept, illiterate duds who haven't a clue.

88JM

I have to agree with the views expressed here that it generally doesn't work out well for homeschooled JW kids. For a small congregation here with few young ones, there was/is quite a high proportion of home schoolers even for JWs - maybe because of it being a rural area? For those that have grown up, most went into the family business. The thing that annoys me is that the parents think the "benefits of shielding them from the world" outweigh any harm or shortcomings in their child's education - they think it's fine that their children can't spell correctly, but "at least they didn't have to go out into the world". Granted, some "worldly" parents also choose to home-school their kids, but usually only because they genuinely believe they can give them a better education and the individual attention that public schools cannot, and I think that is probably the only legitimate reason to do so, in my opinion.

69

How men become homosexuals...

by Calebs Airplane in

finally, i've found the reason why some men become homosexuals.. the 1976 book "your youth: getting the best of it" explains it here in great detail.... .

88JM

Agreed - well worth watching on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?annotation_id=annotation_3877140075&feature=iv&list=PLqJa0gUZrDbtYHAg_-6b6YPHUXBpXuP5m&src_vid=1LXPxkWLDHg

I'm not sure I could stay quite as composed as he does when facing the people he does.

Coincidentally, a comment was made by someone at the Watchtower study yesterday (the article being on the subject of "Transformation") and the comment wasn't just critical of homosexuals, but actually the witness was criticising teachers in schools who say that "there's nothing wrong with it". If only these JW's knew how much in common they have with the Russian government....

25

When was the significance of the year 1919 first stated?

by jwfacts in

.

when was it first introduced that the watchtower organisation was chosen in 1919?

i expect this was something first published under rutherford, as a way of making his leadership more important than that of russell, but would like some evidence to back that claim up.. .

88JM

Normally I would say to check jwfacts.com but...

25

What have Jehovah's Witnesses copied from the Mormons

by konceptual99 in

have jws pinched anything other than family worship from the mormons?.

could we see jws implement a type of meeting structure similar to the mormons to try and engage different ages in different ways?.

could we ever see a jw feel free to do anything like...?.

88JM

I think there were some similarities drawn between the Mormon's website and the new JW.org

69

How men become homosexuals...

by Calebs Airplane in

finally, i've found the reason why some men become homosexuals.. the 1976 book "your youth: getting the best of it" explains it here in great detail.... .

88JM

Oh and they say masturbation leads to homosexuality as well - more gold on page 39 of the same book:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/246345/1/The-Bible-and-Masturbation-4000-years-of-inspired-input-and-no-scriptures-about-it#4659487

I must cleanse my mind of these throughts. Now let me go read wholesome bible passages about David and Jonathan and their "totally platonic relationship"...

13

Luke's Account Of The Roman Census And Jesus Birthday Conflict

by frankiespeakin in

i think this website on the subject helps one see the tweaking nature of stories passed on about gods and men.. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2001/what-did-the-census-at-the-time-of-the-birth-of-christ-accomplish.

luke 2:1-6. in those days a decree went out from caesar augustus that all the world should be enrolled.

this was the first enrollment, when quirinius was governor of syria.

88JM

For someone who supposedly "traced all things with accuracy" (as they like to parrot) he sure starts off his gospel early with one hell of a whopper. It seems quite strange really why he would make up such a huge lie about something that could so easily be disproved? Did he think no one would bother to check?