Posts by TerryWalstrom

18

Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY

by TerryWalstrom in

_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.

the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.

jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.

TerryWalstrom

I was in a bind not being given a congregationally approved chance to accept "Alternate Service" which was the normal provision of Federal law for Conscientious Objectors!
The U.S. law does not require people with religious OR conscientious problems with serving in the military. Did you know that?
Watchtower policy went beyond any neutral position in regard to NON-military participation in civilian hospital duty.
ILLOGICALLY civilian community service was deliberately set up as a NO NO so that the brother JW would be forced to make a public stand.
The crazy logic behind the Society's own "exemption" is mind-boggling.
If the judge SENTENCED a JW to community service they COULD accept!
But, if the Selective Service made the legal provision of directing you to the hospital work YOU REFUSED!
Do you see any difference?
Clearly, "Caesar's things to Caesar" exemplifies the fact the Superior Authorities have the God-granted right to exercise control over Christians up to a point. JW's were denied the possibility of rendering community service to Caesar at all!
My copy of Make Sure of All Things at the time still had the WRONG view previously held by the Society, by the way: Jehovah and Jesus as the Superior Authorities instead of what all of Christendom had said all along: Governments, Kings, Secular rulers.
MAKING A PUBLIC SPECTACLE of the "righteous" religious views of the JW was good propaganda or "window-dressing".
The brothers in Mexico, the brothers in the U.S. and the brothers in Malawi were all Jehovah's Witnesses, but, under different regimes, customs and laws.
NEUTRALITY had nothing whatever to do with their problems versus the local government service. It was OBSTINANCE directed from Watchtower headquarters.
Jesus demonstrated the correct principle to observe when there is a conflict between strict observance of religious code and the practical consideration for life.
Matthew 12:11-21
New International Version (NIV)
11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
DOING GOOD was more important than a strict observance of the Law of Moses on the Sabbath!!
A Pharisee would likely want to stone such a man to death for the infraction with no exceptions or exemptions being considered!
So too, the Watchtower leaders clearly were NOT of the same mind as Jesus.
Jesus never counseled NEUTRALITY. Morality is making definite choices. Choices that involve DOING GOOD are principled choices.
Had I accepted the Selective Service requirement of community service and worked in Terrell state hospital instead of idling away my time in Prison I'd have been DOING GOOD.
Neutrality is no excuse for a failure to DO GOOD.
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18

Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY

by TerryWalstrom in

_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.

the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.

jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.

TerryWalstrom

As shameless self-promotion, here is the book I wrote on the details of my experience with the Draft Board, the F.B.I., in District Court with my attorney, and in prison as well as the aftermath.

https://www.amazon.com/Wept-Rivers-Babylon-Prisoner-Conscience/dp/1492902063/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502725405&sr=8-1&keywords=i+wept+by+the+rivers+of+babylon+paperback

18

Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY

by TerryWalstrom in

_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.

the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.

jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.

TerryWalstrom

_______________
By the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the Kingdom Hall had taken me aside and given me the Straight Dope.
The Vietnam War and the Draft created existential problems for young Jehovah's Witness males. The Governing Body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms. JW's didn't fight in wars because we were Neutral. As in, "We don't take sides." As if that was possible.
Privately, however, it was a different story.
I was 20-years-old. I had received my letter from the Selective Service.
I was nervous, as they say in the South, as a long-tailed-cat in a room full of rocking chairs!
The Congregation Overseer (these days called a Presiding Elder) pulled me into the Kingdom Hall library along with his assistant.
They spoke and I listened and nodded.
"What we need to tell you is confidential. Whenever you are asked by some Official, you must always answer by saying this is YOUR decision alone--nobody has coached you or told you what to say."
What struck me as odd was the starkness of the duplicity implied by these words!
In effect:
"We're going to tell you what to say and what to do. Deny we told you."
__________
The counsel and admonition I was given in that library on that afternoon at age 20 have forever changed my life dramatically. I listened and I obeyed.
Why?
Let me simplify the steps.
1. I was a baptized minister of Jehovah's Witnesses since 1963.
2. I fully accepted and believed it was the only true religion being guided by Almighty God, Jehovah.
3. The top leaders who gave spiritual direction were so-called "anointed" men to whom Jehovah gave explicit and definitive comprehension of the meaning of Bible prophecy.
4. By following the directions of these leaders and those whom they appointed in local congregations, I was being obedient to God.
5. When outside Authority (National or local) of a secular, Federal, or Judicial nature ordered me to perform actions CONTRARY to my spiritual leaders' direction---I must obey God rather than those men of authority.
Are you with me so far?
___________
The man, Charles T. Russell, who established the WatchTower Corporation back in 1879, founded a religious movement of Bible Students who were convinced Russell had "inside" information about the imminent END of human history and a prophetic battle between God and human government to bring about a new Kingdom on Earth under Jesus Christ.
Russell did not dissuade young males from entering the Armed Forces, but did advise them to fire over the heads of charging enemy soldiers on the battlefield! (How insane this is on the face of it I need not discuss. It is obvious.)
When Russell died, most of his prophetic pronouncements consisting of "firm" dates, had been falsified by non-performance.
Undeterred, his replacement in the Presidency of the WatchTower Corporation, J.F. Rutherford, was a bit more intransigent than his predecessor.
President Rutherford had a way of grappling with opposing ideas, authorities, and situations by the head-on aggressive bombast of a polemical nature.
_____

1. Rutherford published THE FINISHED MYSTERY book which advocated for the overthrow of established authority of governments and urged non-compliance for young men (and women) in accepting the patriotic duty of servitude.
2. Rutherford and 7 Directors of the WatchTower were prosecuted for Treason and imprisoned in Atlanta penitentiary. (Note: Rutherford had vainly tried to avoid prison by censoring all copies of THE FINISHED MYSTERY and using the WatchTower magazine to shill for War Bonds but without success in mitigating his prosecution.)
3. Rutherford REINTERPRETED in his official capacity as a dogmatic pronouncement, the actual meaning of Romans 13: 1,2. Weirdly taking the plain text and turning it upside down and inside out. (Secular authority became the heavenly authority.)
4. Released from prison on procedural Writ of Error (not acquittal or retrial) President Rutheford began an interruptive insurgent battle against government authority through a series of Supreme Court litigations by cherry-picking instances of Federal overreach in prosecuting Jehovah's Witnesses for unpatriotic acts and refusals (ordered by Rutherford).
5. Males inside JW congregations were caught in the middle of these battles between President Rutherford and the Federal Authority (whose 'authority' had been nullified by Rutherford.)
6. All members of the WatchTower family of believers became frontline lab rats in testing whose pronouncements carried the most weight: Rutherford or Governmental.
School children were placed in treacherous waters being advised to NOT salute the flag or recite the Pledge of Allegiance, nor to stand and place their hand over their heart when the National Anthem was played. (Note: at the outbreak of WWII, this became extremely controversial).
7. Jehovah's Witnesses all over the world became the focus of persecution NOT BECAUSE they were "true Christians" but because President Rutherford was using them to fight a proxy war against HIS PERSONAL ego enemies: Government Authority. (Note: We have only to look at the true story of 7th Day Adventist, Desmond Doss, who fought to serve in the Armed Forces as Medical Personnel on the battlefield while refusing to take up arms, to see how it was possible for a genuinely devout Christian Conscientious Objector to comply with the authority of Romans 13: 1,2 and serve God and Man at the same time.)
8. In the U.S. and Germany, needless imprisonments and violent persecutions were wrought against JW's who were trapped in the middle of an unnecessary showdown with Authority, having been indoctrinated by false interpretations of both Law and Scripture.
________

After the death of J.F.Rutherford, his replacement, Nathan H. Knorr (and V.P. Fred Franz) continued the hardline direction of using Brothers and Sisters as test cases for Puritanical one-ups-manship versus all secular authorities (Federal, educational, medical, etc.)

In the early 1950's, doctrinal changes were wrought from the top of the Organization.
The worship of Jesus Christ was ended and the dogma of Romans 13: 1,2 was quietly reversed (back to the original and obvious secular meaning.)
WWII ended in 1945 and within a few years, the Korean Conflict (undeclared "War") begun.

The powerhouse legal counsel of the WatchTower's Supreme Court battles, Hayden C. Covington, authored a detailed legal pamphlet published by the WatchTower in 1950.
Legally Establishing And Defending The Good News.
______
In a review of this pamphlet, the following observation is made byPHILIP PERLMUTTER, of the American Jewish Congress:

"Indeed, few religious groups have battled the devil as hard as the Jehovah's Witnesses and certainly none, because of it, have so furthered the cause of religious liberty. They have done it. with militant religiosity and martyr-like indifference to riots, scorn, abuse and statutory regulation. To make matters even worse, police, pedestrians, and residents have greeted them with everything from indifference to violence. The latter occurs not so much because of their missionizing techniques, but rather because of what their beliefs necessitate in the way of societal behavior and responsibility. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses will not vote or hold public office, serve in the armed forces in peace or wartime, join interfaith movements, salute the flag, allow a blood transfusion, and as a rule, will not obey any man-made law which they consider a violation of God's law. Ironically enough, although they repudiate earthly governments, they readily utilize its courts to further their theology..."
_____________
Which brings us back to the Kingdom Hall library where I stood at age 20, listening to Gene Beard and Wally Coulter, representatives of the WatchTower religion, Jehovah's Witnesses. All those previous Brothers who stood as I stood and received the instructions they received, did so with an innocent stupidity as "useful idiots." (Note:A useful idiot is someone who supports one side of an ideological debate, but who is manipulated and held in contempt by the leaders of their faction or is unaware of the ultimate agenda driving the ideology to which they subscribe. )
__________
What was I told? Why am I writing this today?
First of all, I'm am 70-years-old. My life is pretty much behind me. My successes and failures are a done deal. But when I was 20, my whole life was AHEAD of me. Big difference!

Because advice was given by my religious overseers, I followed it.
To Wit: Do NOT accept ALTERNATE civilian service in a hospital!
It is viewed by Jehovah as the EQUIVALENT of military service.

I was prosecuted in Federal Court and sentenced to six years under the Youth Corrections Act and sent to prison.
I entered prison in 1967 and was paroled for good behavior in 1969.
I began my life as an EX-CONVICT without a college education, no skills (other than artistic) and was immediately impressed into full-time ministerial work (Pioneer) performing 100 hours of door-to-door evangelism.

I began my life more or less as DAMAGED GOODS with little prospect other than minimum wage poverty and religious servitude.

I'm writing this to tell you the above article (see top) is 100% CONTRARY to the "true counsel" given to me back in 1967.
Has JEHOVAH CHANGED HIS MIND?
Or is this religion and its leaders changed the way it appears to government authority in an era in which they are suffering lawsuits for pedophile members? Is this religion changing the way it appears to government authority since they are kicked out of countries such as Russia as a destructive religious cult guilty of splitting up families and allowing innocent children to die because of medical prohibitions?

THE INTEGRITY of this religion is counterfeit and the history of its doctrinal absolutism is false.
What is WRONG one era is proclaimed RIGHT in the next.
Who says so? They do (or they pretend Jehovah does.)

I wrote this to call BULLSHIT on the "anointed" conduit of Truth.
It isn't True at all.
Don't believe anything these leaders tell you is absolute unchanging "truth" because my own personal experience has clearly debunked that idea.
Their Truth is up for grabs.

If you are a JW, your whole life is up for grabs, too.

These leaders are but the latest incarnation of a series of liars from 1879 to 1917. Don't trust a word they print or preach. Get out while you still have a life ahead of you.

I left Jehovah's Witnesses in mind and body a long, long time ago. My recovery was long and arduous. The damage done at age 20 affected me financially, educationally, and emotionally until I began taking charge of my own repair.
I strongly urge you to do the same. Get out. Get out now while you have time to build a beautiful future in the real world with real friend who won't judge you as a "mentally diseased apostate" simply because you wake up and discover you are in bondage to a cult

21

Jehovah's Witnesses and the Picnic Extinction

by TerryWalstrom in

jehovah’s witnesses and the picnic extinction.

(“those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end…”).

it was another world back then; another time and another place.. you had to have been there to have any sense of it--as a young, impressionable jehovah’s witness under the watchtower presidency of nathan h. knorr--social gatherings (backyard bbq’s, swimming parties) among the ‘friends’ consisted of having a great time at a get together or a picnic.

TerryWalstrom

For me, the 70's and early 80's were halcyon days of yore. The best times of my life.
I loved the Comedy and Magic Club (in Hermosa Beach, I seem to recall) where I saw an upcoming comedian named Jerry Seinfeld. Then, the Lighthouse Jazz Cafe' (recently seen in LaLa Land.)
Dinner at Pancho and Wong's or Orville and Wilbur's restaurant was heavenly.
I've regretted every minute away since 1983.
From about 1974 till 1978 my family attended the Kingdom Hall 2102 Aviation Way, Redondo Beach, CA 90278. Only the first year and a half did I sporadically attend.
I was busy pursuing my life's dream of being an artist.
It was from that congregation I was DF'D. Ah, nostalgia.

21

Jehovah's Witnesses and the Picnic Extinction

by TerryWalstrom in

jehovah’s witnesses and the picnic extinction.

(“those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end…”).

it was another world back then; another time and another place.. you had to have been there to have any sense of it--as a young, impressionable jehovah’s witness under the watchtower presidency of nathan h. knorr--social gatherings (backyard bbq’s, swimming parties) among the ‘friends’ consisted of having a great time at a get together or a picnic.

TerryWalstrom

What dates are you using to bracket "30" years?
The change came inside of one decade

13

Exposing the Core Premise of JW False Teaching

by TerryWalstrom in

poison is at work in any argument with jehovah's witnesses.

this poison has little to do with the beauty of watchtower logic or the tasty morsels of jw reasoning.. the poison is odorless and tasteless and it has absorbed into their core premise: scripture interpretation directed by jehovah.. if you buy into the core premise (somebody possesses a divinely granted access to an infallible source of truth) you are already dead in the water.. that is the deal breaker.

false premises lead always to false conclusions.. stop right here.. the core misrepresentation of christianity solely rests in accepting the bible as the inerrant word of almighty god.

TerryWalstrom

Dreary weather
The Jews were called THE PEOPLE of the BOOK.
The LAW was written by the "finger of God." Immediately afterward, Moses destroyed the very tablets containing the Law of God. Nobody examined the original tablets.
The Ark of the Covenant supposedly contained those tablets--but those were NOT the originals.
The (Christian Greek) Scriptures were not the New Testament we have today. No, it was the Septuagint, which legend has it, was translated by 70 Elders separated from each other and ALL their copies matched exactly! Clearly a myth.
Christianity was first Jewish Messianic word-of-mouth preaching to Jews. "Faith follows the thing heard."
But, the New Testament is comprised of very strange things.
At first, the "Bible" consisted of the letters of Paul collated by Marcion, a Christianized tycoon who contributed lots of money to the Church.
Marcion darned near created a completely different version of Christianity because his GNOSTIC teachings denied that Jehovah was the true God. Instead, the God of the Old Testament was an evil god. According to Marcion, Jesus was the true God.
The Church (i.e. universal or Catholic) gave Marcion his donations back and disfellowshipped him.
To compete with Marcion's collated writings, a separate canon was introduced approved by Church itself.
This is the first logical disproof of their authority because they approved as true and legitimate MORE books than the Protestants accepted and approved.

Somebody is lying or both or Both are wrong or one is right and the other is wrong.
In other words--it is all up for grabs, for dispute and unprovable.

Assertions are made, certainly, but in any Court of Law of the land, if you claim to be the heir to a fortune and produce a photocopy of a will--it isn't going to fly.
BEST EVIDENCE is the autograph will, written in the hand of the deceased, witnessed and notarized.
The Jews AND the 1st century Christians and the later Protestants are all claiming to be heirs of the kingdom and they can't produce the autograph documents!!

If the Catholic Church did NOT preserve the actual Bible containing proper Christian teaching--they are undoubtedly wrong about most everything else.
This canon of scripture--IF it were wrong--was allowed to go unchallenged for over one thousand years.
Martin Luther was either right or wrong to remove the "extra" books.
Protestant Reformation either wrecked the TRUE church or exposed the counterfeit teachings of the false one.

It isn't a simple matter, is it?
Without a true, verifiable document, we are betting our lives, fortunes and sacred honor ON THE ASSURANCES of mere mortals with quirky ideas.

That's my point.

,

13

Exposing the Core Premise of JW False Teaching

by TerryWalstrom in

poison is at work in any argument with jehovah's witnesses.

this poison has little to do with the beauty of watchtower logic or the tasty morsels of jw reasoning.. the poison is odorless and tasteless and it has absorbed into their core premise: scripture interpretation directed by jehovah.. if you buy into the core premise (somebody possesses a divinely granted access to an infallible source of truth) you are already dead in the water.. that is the deal breaker.

false premises lead always to false conclusions.. stop right here.. the core misrepresentation of christianity solely rests in accepting the bible as the inerrant word of almighty god.

TerryWalstrom

I'm guessing you take exception to "inerrant". The major evangelical churches fudge by adding the words "in the originals"--as though there ARE any originals :)

I think a good analogy is in our currency. A legally tendered note of any denomination is "backed up" by the Federal Reserve. At one time the U.S. had a Gold standard which made good on the paper currency. Richard Nixon's inability to finance the Vietnam War (ran out of money) forced going off the gold standard. From that point forward, the Fed could issue I.O.U.'s linked to Oil Reserves (Petro dollar).
Christianity under Catholicism was backed up by the Pope's infallible pronouncements on faith and morals. The Pope was in effect THE FEDERAL RESERVE :)
WatchTower leaders try to have it both ways, interpreting Scripture AND making up their own ideas as equivalent to Jehovah's whispers in their ears.
Their "Truth" is inflationary. They must constantly print (New Light) like new currency to replace the old disproved nonsense.

13

Exposing the Core Premise of JW False Teaching

by TerryWalstrom in

poison is at work in any argument with jehovah's witnesses.

this poison has little to do with the beauty of watchtower logic or the tasty morsels of jw reasoning.. the poison is odorless and tasteless and it has absorbed into their core premise: scripture interpretation directed by jehovah.. if you buy into the core premise (somebody possesses a divinely granted access to an infallible source of truth) you are already dead in the water.. that is the deal breaker.

false premises lead always to false conclusions.. stop right here.. the core misrepresentation of christianity solely rests in accepting the bible as the inerrant word of almighty god.

TerryWalstrom

EXPOSING the CORE PREMISE of JW FALSE TEACHINGS

Poison is at work in any argument with Jehovah's Witnesses. This poison has little to do with the beauty of WatchTower logic or the tasty morsels of JW reasoning.

The poison is odorless and tasteless and it has absorbed into their core premise: Scripture Interpretation directed by Jehovah.

If you BUY into the core premise (somebody possesses a divinely granted access to an infallible source of truth) you are already dead in the water.

That is THE deal breaker. False premises lead always to false conclusions.

Stop right here.

The core misrepresentation of Christianity solely rests in accepting the Bible as the inerrant Word of Almighty God.
What logically follows from swallowing that poison is what leads to cults and denominations’ next step: offering personal interpretation as the only true interpretation.
A leads to B. Buy one and get one free!

This false premise is planted in your head practically from birth. It is inescapable. You find it everywhere like Santa Claus at Christmas.

THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD and INERRANT?

Is it worth asking the right question about this????

What is the right question?

WHY DIDN'T GOD PRESERVE the original documents?

Original?

(i.e.Moses,David,Paul, etc-sat-down-and-wrote-these-words-on-this-animal skin or papyrus.)

IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY ORIGINALS AT ALL, what DO you have? Obviously, all you have is somebody's assurance 1. There was an original 2. It was copied accurately. (Without number 1. All you’re left with is an I.O.U. for 2.)

Sleight-of-hand! Your having to trust the assurance rather than the word of God itself. One is cold cash while the other is a promise of cash.

Neat trick, eh?

If GOD did not see fit to preserve the ORIGINAL (Spoiler Alert!) and He didn't…
Why trust the assurances of those who stand to gain by interpreting it for us?

You cannot get past this PREMISE, this fatal flaw, the foundation of Christianity and of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There is no original manuscript preserved to be used to prove anything at all.

The original Bible "books" do not exist anywhere on Earth. We are forced to accept neither the apostles nor the church 1. Thought enough of them to preserve them 2. Had any in the first place.

Jesus never wrote a word of scripture. His teaching was oral.

We are told (by others) those who heard his teachings wrote down what they knew.

Well---DID THEY REALLY?

How do you KNOW?

IF THIS PREMISE IS FALSE......then what??

1.The Catholic Church would have had to develop its religious doctrines based on the authority of men.

2.The authority of church officials would be considered equal to that of God.

3.The activities of the church would indicate how "divine" they were.

4.All the early Christian believers would simply be groups of OPINION MAKERS who interpreted opinions of leaders they found worth listening to.

5.Nobody could prove the superiority of one opinion over and above another's without source authority to point to for refutation.

6.The Church would have to try and settle all the fights, arguments, disagreements and clashing orthodoxies with an OFFICIAL canon and pronouncement of right belief. (All because there was no original manuscript to settle those matters.)

7.The Church would have to use its self-created official status to destroy all opposition by declaring heresy punishable by death. Counter opinion would have to be eliminated by burning documents and destroying naysayers in the harshest possible manner.

Well--isn't this EXACTLY what history shows happened?

The 73 books approved and canonized by the official Christian Church did not prevent that same organization from committing foul deeds throughout the millennia. The fruits of their core premise were dastardly.

When Martin Luther challenged Church authority and inadvertently split Christianity yet again---the Bible was the first thing to be challenged as to authenticity!!

Where are those 73 canonized books purported to be the true word of God?

7 of those books were simply tossed out because they did not match Luther's ideas! So much for the inerrant message from the True God passed on by the authority of The Catholic Church.

For a millennia the church would kill anybody who asserted against their magisterium or anyone who tried to place Scripture ahead of official pronouncement.

Martin Luther, in effect, put his thumb in the eye of Mother Church by asserting a NEW PREMISE.

What was his PREMISE?

NEW PREMISE

1. God doesn't rule men through an Organization.

2.Each Christian is authorized by God to his own bible to discover God’s message of salvation, hope, and truth. In Luther’s words: Sola Scriptura (the Bible alone).

Since the 16th Century, the BIBLE alone was the new PREMISE replacing (go ahead, say it) Organized religion.

You and I--if we grew up in a non-Catholic household of Christian faith--were served this PREMISE on our plate. We grew up with it.
Here’s a scary question.

WHAT IF THIS PREMISE IS AN ERROR as well??

1.Does there exist a True God who communicates with humanity through a book without any original manuscript to back up such claim?

2.If not--how does Christianity get away with opinions pretending to be Divinely authorized?

3.Why should any of us be bound by opinions, claims, counterfeits?

4. Why waste time arguing scriptural interpretation when no scripture of any kind is demonstrably DIVINE?

Clearly, such “religion” is only a man-made tool for controlling the behavior and loyalty of people gullible enough to swallow the poison.

The Watchtower Society embraces BOTH false premises:

1.WatchTower is a provably ever-changing organization of men pretending to authority to interpret Truth and enforcement of orthodoxy

2. WatchTower’s divine communication between God and man with them as the channel of interpretation is a lie.

The WORST of both lies is embodied in one false premise.
WatchTower's organization is what the Catholic Church was no matter how you slice it. Men pretending to be able to tell you how to live while saying it isn't really them saying it. At the same time, they point to the Bible as a source authority redundantly. The Bible they've gone out of their way to rejigger over and over again (proving how malleable a non-sourced prop it really is.)

Food for thought.
We live in a real world and our life is finite in length. Do we need to waste our time arguing scripture, interpretations of scripture, when the only strategy worth asserting is aimed at Jehovah’s Witnesses Achilles heel; their false premise?
How can you believe you have The Truth based on interpretation of the Bible when the Bible itself has no valid foundational documents preserved?
Stick with that and you’ll expose the house of cards on which WatchTower teaching rests.

21

Jehovah's Witnesses and the Picnic Extinction

by TerryWalstrom in

jehovah’s witnesses and the picnic extinction.

(“those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end…”).

it was another world back then; another time and another place.. you had to have been there to have any sense of it--as a young, impressionable jehovah’s witness under the watchtower presidency of nathan h. knorr--social gatherings (backyard bbq’s, swimming parties) among the ‘friends’ consisted of having a great time at a get together or a picnic.

TerryWalstrom

I was a Fort Worth Texas boy who later (1974) moved to Redondo Beach for 10 years. I'm back in Fort Worth.

21

Jehovah's Witnesses and the Picnic Extinction

by TerryWalstrom in

jehovah’s witnesses and the picnic extinction.

(“those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end…”).

it was another world back then; another time and another place.. you had to have been there to have any sense of it--as a young, impressionable jehovah’s witness under the watchtower presidency of nathan h. knorr--social gatherings (backyard bbq’s, swimming parties) among the ‘friends’ consisted of having a great time at a get together or a picnic.

TerryWalstrom

The "push back" came in the form of an avalanche of phone calls and letters to Watch Tower headquarters with every manner of counter-argument, rebuttal, and alternate lines of query.
A couple of examples are in order. Brothers who could not perform sexually because of injury were anguished at having their only means of satisfying an otherwise deprived wife denied to them. It was not a matter of "cheap thrills" for them.
Another example. JW wives with unbelieving mates were placed in a double blind which threatened to destroy their marriage. Who were they more obliged to listen to, the head of the house, the husband--or the opinions of old men in Brooklyn twisting scriptures with dirty minds?
(Presented more elegantly, of course :)

Tens of thousands of letters signaled a BIG problem at a time in which the Watch Tower was on thin ice having gone too far in predicting the End of 6,000 years of human history in 1975. They were overreaching in broad daylight and they suddenly knew it.
Fighting a battle on two fronts is suicide. So, they back peddled.

TerryWalstrom

Posts by TerryWalstrom

Matthew 12:11-21