Posts by AndDontCallMeShirley

28

Governing Body courageously 'Admit their mistakes'

by LogCon in

march 2015 study article learn from the illustration of the talents.

brothers and sisters worldwide will be overjoyed to know that the governing body finally has the.

courage to admit their mistakes .

AndDontCallMeShirley

Here's a real apology. Compare this to WT's version of apologizing and admitting mistakes:

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The successor to Herbert Armstrong (The Worldwide Church of God), Joseph Tkach, Jr., made sweeping changes, perhaps more so than any other leader of a large-scale church movement in history. In part he said:

"Our flawed doctrinal understanding clouded the plain gospel of Jesus Christ and led to a variety of wrong conclusions and unscriptural practices. We have much to repent of and apologize for. We were judgmental and self-righteous—condemning other Christians, calling them "so-called Christians" and labeling them "deceived" and "instruments of Satan."

We imposed on our members a works-oriented approach to Christian living. We required adherence to burdensome regulations of the Old Testament code. We exercised a strongly legalistic approach to church government. Our former old covenant approach fostered attitudes of exclusivism and superiority rather than the new covenant teaching of brotherhood and unity. We overemphasized predictive prophecy and prophetic speculation, minimizing the true gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. We’ve been wrong."

30

The Watchtower Writers Blame the Rank-and-File For Failed Prophecy, Why so Evil the Writers/

by SanLuisObispoTruthSeeker in

who is to blame jehovahs witnesses and the bible students believing the end was coming in 1914?

ive been reading lots of older magazines and they are so different from todays watchtower!

the current writers from the organization blame everyone except themselves for failed expectations, failed prophecy, "financial ruin and dependance on the goverment "old age social security and medicaid" on their rank-and-file members.

AndDontCallMeShirley

DD: Didn't the WWCG leader write a massive and heartfelt apology?

Here you go:

The successor to Herbert Armstrong (The Worldwide Church of God) Joseph Tkach, Jr., made sweeping changes, perhaps more so than any other leader of a large-scale church movement in history. In part he said [6]:

"Our flawed doctrinal understanding clouded the plain gospel of Jesus Christ and led to a variety of wrong conclusions and unscriptural practices. We have much to repent of and apologize for. We were judgmental and self-righteous—condemning other Christians, calling them "so-called Christians" and labeling them "deceived" and "instruments of Satan."

We imposed on our members a works-oriented approach to Christian living. We required adherence to burdensome regulations of the Old Testament code. We exercised a strongly legalistic approach to church government. Our former old covenant approach fostered attitudes of exclusivism and superiority rather than the new covenant teaching of brotherhood and unity. We overemphasized predictive prophecy and prophetic speculation, minimizing the true gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. We’ve been wrong."

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"!

AndDontCallMeShirley

JW: Atilla The Hun decimating an entire city or region, killing children and old people, enslaving the survivors, all to expand his territory: evil, wicked, Satanic.

JW: The Israelites decimating an entire city or region, killing children and old people, enslaving the survivors, all to expand their territory : 'it is righteous warfare... Jehovah™ approved. I am okay with it'.

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.

AndDontCallMeShirley

"If this hadn't happened, they probably wouldnt have accepted the truth because of their busy lives or lifestyle"

.

This statement is very revealing:

1. Underlying message: If you are not lucky enough to be murdered (or at least die in some other way) in this 'old system', you are SOL.

2. The JW god is so limited, despite their mantra proclaiming his almightiness.

3. God cannot save "busy" people. Apparently Jehovah™ can only influence people with lots of free time on their hands.

4. Notice the pre-judgmental JW attitude: "probably wouldn't have accepted the truth". Doesn't this explain better than anything why the WT/JW preaching has gotten so lazy, so superficial? They are no longer doing a life-saving work...they are doing their JW duty and counting time- that's it.

5. "If this hadn't happened": in other words, it's a good thing when people are murdered.

6. I wonder how (I know how) JWs would react if these two people who were murdered were JWs and not just worthless "worldly" people, and "worldly" people made the same statement this JW made? Can you imagine the outrage that would come from the JW community???

7. Finally, the entire self-aggrandizing WT claim of being "the most loving organization on earth" can be obliterated and categorically discredited with this one comment. This is how JWs really feel about their fellow human beings, which exposes their sham preaching activity and religious claims for the ruse that it is.

21

Did you know about the organ transplant ban when you were a believer?

by Apognophos in

back when i was learning ttatt, i was shocked to read on jwfacts about the organ transplant ban from 1967 to 1980. this was a large piece of evidence for me that the society could not be god's organization.

growing up as an earnest witness, and living near the headquarters, i knew a lot of the organization's embarrassing history, and it didn't faze me, but i'd never heard of this ban before, and it shocked me.

it's gotten me wondering why no one i know ever talks about it, when it must have affected many witnesses during that time (or were they getting transplants on the sly?

AndDontCallMeShirley

My feelings are very much like yours, Apog. I had heard some comments growing up that the WT used to view organ transplants as cannibalism, but that was about all I knew. No need to look into it further, the current view was no longer the old view (amazing how skillfully WT has indoctrinated JWs with that mindset, isn't it?).

I was a damn good JW, too. I studied; I kept up with Organizational changes and could explain the reasons for them; I could explain any WT eschatology and prophecies in detail, etc, etc.

When I started waking up, my biggest shock was in one fact: I knew virtually NOTHING of my religion's past !!! I was dumbfounded ! How could I be a fourth generation JW, very active, and yet for my entire life I never heard of most of what I was now learning? It revealed not only WT's dark past which had been masterfully obscured by WT, but it helped me to realize this Org. was not, and never has been, "God's Organization".

It also led to one vital question: If WT was wrong on the organ transplant issue, what else are they wrong about? Enter the Pandora's Box of WT's history. Game over for WT !

74

Why Do Atheists Struggle So Much Against God Who Supposedly Doesn't Exist?

by Perry in

an athist made this casual statememt on another thread:.

this would suggest to me that there are at least some atheists that do have consistant beliefs.. .

as an atheist, how could he possibly trust the reason that suggests this to himself?

AndDontCallMeShirley

I agree with your sentiments, Steve, and Terry's observations.

I think the real reason theists get the response they do here (at least from my personal perspective), is that:

1) they tell atheists what they think, feel and believe (like Perry did on this thread) which immediately says they've made assumptions, and most likely conclusions, about other people before the discussion even begins,

2) they judge atheists as being unintelligent, angry, immoral, having no sense of spirituality, basically, atheists are worthless human debris,

3) they then quite often say or imply that we will be/already are condmned by god for using our brain and following our conscience because we honestly arrived at a different conclusion than the theist did,

4) no matter how much information we give a theist explaining our position, or worse, completely debunking their claims, they act as if they never heard it and then continue on with their 'you must believe in god becaue I do' mantra. It really betrays a complete lack of interest in having an open, learning discussion where a sharing of views is acceptable without having to settle on a 'one side is right/the other is wrong' mentality.

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The worst part is when a theist initiates the discussion, then either exits the topic altogether or actually gets angry when he/she is met with anything but 100% agreement on whatever topic they are addressing, showing complete lack of interest in hearing any opinion that disagrees with their own.

Finally, I have a very low patience threshold when it comes to the Perry-types, simply bacause they do a lot of wolfing about being morally superior to everyone else (especially atheists) because they believe in god, and are equally as critical of their fellow Christians who also believe in god but see things differently (if only by minor deghrees), while they simultaneously endorse the most despicable actions performed by that same god as described in the Bible (killing of infants/children, genocide, blatant injustice, pettiness, cruelty, etc). And, the theist can come up with the most convoluted, illogical, nauseatingly repugnant explanations to justify those actions, actions which anyone with even miniscule amounts of humanity in them find offensive at best.

47

What is the point of the picture in this weeks study article ?

by stuckinarut2 in

i don't understand the relevance of the first picture in this weeks study article?!?!.

wt week of december 15-21 "cherish your privilege of working with jehovah".

can someone post the pic?.

AndDontCallMeShirley

Obviously they believe that God will protect them from being wiped out by a direct attack

The GB should put their faith with their mouth is and stay in the city; what better way for A-Day J to demonstrate his saving power by shielding the GB while the rest of the city goes down in flames?

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