i made a post a few days ago about stagnant jw growth at international conventions.
i also enjoyed reading analysis of the statistics from jwfacts.
what the watchtower claims and what the reality is, are two different things.
So very true....
I use to watch the 'dwindling' figures of "how many annointed are partaking at the memorial this past year" and think, as a little girl... "Only 6,00 left to die, and we are close to Armageddon".... then the numbers went up...
First clue.... ignored.
recently a jw friend that my wife & i knew 3 years ago added me on facebook, after i accepted the request she invited me to a dinner that her and her husband are holding next month.. i imagined that she was unaware of our apostasy, so i declined the invitation on the basis of not wanting to ruin her dinner after the rest of her guests fled at our presence.. i'm never sure how old friends will react when i tell them that i'm no longer a jw.. usually their response is "..... permanent-silence......".
her response went something like this, " we are all out!
everyone that is coming is out we all look forward to seeing you guys so much" it turns out that there will be 6 people at the dinner all friends of ours from a congregation that we attended a few years back.. they have all left the organization recently.. pretty crazy experience..
We ALSO have had the same kind of experiences!! It is so great! People we really were close to, really, really nice people that had left before us, are all calling us, saying "Hey!" and we go see them, talk to them, hug, laugh, talk and it's just like we have never stopped being friends!
It's like getting resurrected! Welcoming people back from the dead! YYYAAAAAAAAAYYY!
here's a thought: we're told over and over how employers sing the praises of their jw employees, sometimes with a vague quote about how 'if we could only hire jws, we would as they are so honest'.
however, while some jw employers themselves may hire jw employees (usually cheap entry level positions), most don't.
in fact, many jw's in general who have businesses have a rule not to do work with jws, even those in their congregation.
Mary is a hypothetical person facing a situation that some Christians have faced. The way she handles the situation represents how some have applied Bible principles in similar circumstances.
In their Commentary on the Old Testament, Keil and Delitzsch state that a person would be guilty of error or sin if he “knew of another’s crime, whether he had seen it, or had come to the certain knowledge of it in any other way, and was therefore qualified to appear in court as a witness for the conviction of the criminal, neglected to do so, and did not state what he had seen or learned, when he heard the solemn adjuration of the judge at the public investigation of the crime, by which all persons present, who knew anything of the matter, were urged to come forward as witnesses.”
So, if you know of a pedophile, and "knew of their crime", "could appear in court as a witness," "neglected to do so" What would happen to you?
Would you be DF'd? Lose your life at Armageddon? In many of the pedophile cases among JW's that I have read, it's the people who "stand up for what is right," who "go before the judge to testify" that get DF'd. The honest ones get punished, & get called apostates...
Why? for "speaking against the glorious ones,' for testifying in court "in opposition to the WT."
well, now that we had an outstanding august, an extention to aux pioneer in september is being offered.
you can offer the jw.org tract again, and again, and again.
offer it at the dr's office, the gym, the laundromat, the theatre, the bus stops, etc.
http://www.afropunk.com/video/the-what-s-underneath-project-kelsey-lu-mcjunkins.
.
Interesting, I can relate to how this girl felt... I loved to dance, to participate in gymnastics, and had to hide behind excuses, hoping not to be discovered, if "mom didn't realize my deep desire" if "I just acted like it didn't mean so much" then maybe I could do it...
I understand her fear, love that she had so much strength to leave, and then, survive on her own!
the watchtower says:.
9 while most major books of religion say very little, if anything, about god, the bible acquaints us with jehovah god and his activities.
it helps us to see the many facets of his personality.
Hmmm.... good questions
it was entitled earth's new ruler - who really qualifies?
given by brother mark neumeyer*, "who has been a full-time servant for nearly 35 years, and is a helper of the governing body of jehovah's witnesses.
" it was his second talk of the convention.
"For a fact!"...... How many times have I heard that one?
after almost 40 years of being shunned by close family members, it never gets easier.
my own mother is under the spell of the "organization" and won't even write to me.
for a long time i sent her things - cards, news articles of interest, jokes, etc - i finally gave up.
I feel so bad for all that are shunned.
The WT is a cruel, cold hearted, calculating organization... period.
When people are DF'd, shunned, wait a year, are welcomed back with "love", you are "paying" people to "come back to Jehovah", it is a payoff. When you are shunned, does that make you love Jehovah? No.
"Shun them so that they will come back to Jehovah" = Blackmail. It is not love, it does not make people love, it only makes hate.
i had a recent conversation with an elder from my mother's congregation.
he with another elder was at my mom's house.
my mother has all the bound volumes for both the awake and watchtower plus most of the older books.
Thx Adjusted Knowledge!
i had a recent conversation with an elder from my mother's congregation.
he with another elder was at my mom's house.
my mother has all the bound volumes for both the awake and watchtower plus most of the older books.
Wait a minute.... WHAT??????
Don't tell me they have gone back to "Sodom & Gomorrah might be resurrected"?
NO WAY!!!??!!!
If so, please give me the link, book, etc this info is from... I have to read it myself.
Thx! cha ching
