Posts by Roddy

20

The Termination of the WTS

by richard in

jw
friends

just suppose ... the wts will cease to exist.

then this forum has lost its right to exist.

how would you deal with this void in your life?

Roddy

A couple of days ago I was reading, and I can't remember where it was, but it was saying tht the fastest growing religion right now is the Jehovah's Witnesses.

I think the only people who make this claim are the writers at the WTS. They love to play with numbers. What they don't say is probably what's interesting.

Like the number of:

Unwed sisters getting pregnant, having their babies, and raising them up in the kingdom hall.
Growth in the congregation due to childbirth - big payoffs from a gradual hushing of the no-marriage and no-children-in-marriage policy of many years ago. Finally one long term reversal of WTS policy that is paying dividends
Broken and disfunctional families who, in their dispair, recieve a couple of nice smiling JW ladies who knock on your door who want to be your friend. So you let them be your friend, go to their meetings, tow all your kids with you, and they get counted in the meeting attendence figures.

12

Beautiful Artwork to Look at!

by Dolllie in

we were discussing this on a previous post!

i just had a chance to look at the "april 8, 2004" awake, with several articles on moses>.

again, i must say, speaking as an artist & an art teacher at the college level, "this pictures/drawings are of excellent quality".

Roddy

That's unfortunate for you. Witnesses have to "sell" pretty pictures because the articles lack any depth. Same principle as Playboy if you think about it.

I remember when the cover of the Watcthower never changed. Just the grand two color picture of the Watchtower and then a frame in the center of it with a partial list of articles. The Awake was just a cover with a partial list of articles. Only VERY special articles had full artwork on the cover.

Then someone in the WTS who probably graduated from high school came up with the idea of having nicer looking covers for the magazines. Even (gasp!) using more than two colors and employing graphics. You can see how the covers of the magazines, and in the inside, got more attractive and stylish. After all, now that the magazines are offered with the donation arrangement, you have to guilt-trip people to giving something because of the high quality artwork.

All I have to say to that is this:

(NWT) Psalm 127:1 Unless Jehovah himself builds the house,
It is to no avail that its builders have worked hard on it.
Unless Jehovah himself guards the city,
It is to no avail that the guard has kept awake.

26

JW Baby Given Blood

by Kenneson in

despite the parents objections, a duval county, florida (jacksonville area) judge ordered blood transfusions for a baby born prematurely.

interestingly, even the aclu did not side with the parents.

see "judge overrides parents on giving blood to baby.

Roddy

The little know fact that JWs loose these cases all the time and their children get blood all the time. Some states has speacial expediated medical hearings and rubber stamp these orders insanely fast. Before you can contest the kids is a ward of the state. It is a mind game for dumb JWs to believe JW children don't get blood.

Perhaps secretly the parents know this but go through the motions anyway knowing that the state will rescue the child. At least they can say to their murderous elders, "well, we did what was asked but the state took over and forced the blood". With that they don't have to fear disfellowshipping as it was out of their control.

78

Faced with loss of tax breaks, Danish WTS drops "Bible-Based" stance

by Nathan Natas in

from an awake!

correspondent in cyber-space:

with the threat of removal of tax breaks hanging over their heads, watchtower has changed from ther bible-based position.

Roddy

Well I'll be dammed, that is great. I can only hope that the same set of rules will be adopted everywhere.

Won't happen. Letters to Bodies of Elders are unpublished and therefore are case by case. But thanks to those who takes these secret letters and publish them for the world to see, maybe the WTS can be shamed (or sued) to make this a single organizational policy.

35

What Watchtower Belief Is The Silliest To You???

by minimus in

2 for me---the doctrine of the "faithful and discreet slave" and the whole "blood thing"......and you?????

?

Roddy

2 for me---the doctrine of the "faithful and discreet slave" and the whole "blood thing"......And you??????

There are so many!

Monthly field service reports
The whole Field Service thing
Brothers not wearing a beard - even though Jesus has one
Sisters not wearing slacks - even in freezing weather
The WTS' unsolicited opinions and rulings on medial issues - including the issue of blood
Traveling overseers
Traveling overseer's reports on the congregation
Secretly held judicial meetings, no recording devices, no transcripts, no witnesses, records are made afterwards about you without your knowledge and examination, always two or more elders against one of you, you are guilty and you had to prove yourself innocent, and they had two or more weeks to prepare for the encounter while they spring-up the need for a meeting with you, at their right time, immediately after a meeting and attack you with the charges.
Gotta wear a suit to every meeting - even if it is a congregation book study in your own home
Questions and Answers - They read the question and you read the answer from the publication. Heaven forbid that there is actually any discussion!!! And what was the use of "studying and preparing" for the Watchtower
A brother sleeping overnight at a sister or women's house alone is grounds for scriptural divorce
A brother can't enter the home of a sister alone - but it is ok for the refrigerator repairman to enter the sister's home unchaperoned
Having an unkept lawn or car is a bad reflection on Jehovah
The need of a "witness" to prove child abuse
If a sister didn't scream during terrifying rape or molestation then she must have enjoyed it and is guilty of fornication
The need of a judical committee for matters where the police and the legal system is better at handling and which is the law of the land anyway
Collections for the circuit overseer
Meetings even on a friday night - I actually moved congregations when my assigned congregation scheduled one of the meetings on a friday. Apparently this was to give the friends, including young people, a spiritual place to go on a friday night. Heaven forbid they have such a good time friday night that they couldn't get up for saturday morning field service!
The "Donation arrangement" on literature
Calling the "selling" of literature "placements"
Using literature placements as a calling card to make return visits
The lastest Watchtower superceeds any and all previous Watchtowers and publications
Can't vote but ok to make letter writing campaigns to officals
Partial and incomplete quotations and references in publications
The stupid formatted Watchower LISTED branch mailing addresses of:

ALASKA 99507
PUERTO RICO 00970
HAWAII 96819
GUAM 96913
CANADA L7G 4Y4
ENGLAND NW7 1RN
TAIWAN 327
But the USA mailing address is correctly formatted, however

Ok that's all the time I have. Believe me I had more.

15

Tubal pregnancy.....here's a mind-boggler......

by goddess_baal in

.

i always wondered (even when i was still in the organization), but never had the guts to ask.. if a woman becomes pregnant, but the egg has implanted in the falopian tube....will the jw's condone an abortion to save the life of the mother?

or does it boil down to their usual pansy-ass, "matter of conscience" excuse.

Roddy

A Christian woman with a tubal pregnancy can decide whether to accept this operation. Normally she undoubtedly would be willing to face any risks of pregnancy so that her child could live. But with a tubal pregnancy she faces a grave risk while there is no possibility that the embryo can continue to live and a child be born.

I'm sorry but even this would have to be a no-brainer. Yet I wonder how many women, from years of WTS conditioning, had to ask their elders for the ok for this operation? I suppose that even if they asked their own husbands, it's what the elders decides is what counts. After all, the elders are just a few steps down the command chain from Jehovah!

10

That damnable New York Post

by onacruse in

newspapers, by their representatives, seek interviews to get matter for a ?story,?

and out of the facts contained in the information furnished a ?story?

is made up.

Roddy

Gee, When the WTS uses un-named quotes in their WT's its OK, why is it a problem now??

Excellent point!

774

Freedom to Choose God

by UnDisfellowshipped in

come to the wedding.

' for i say to you that god is able to raise up children to abraham from these stones.

Roddy

God desires ALL HUMANS to be saved -- Jesus died for ALL HUMANS:

But according to the WTS, Jesus is mediator for ONLY the 144,000.

102

New BLOOD Watchtower - June 15, 2004 Issue!

by UnDisfellowshipped in

the watchtower, june 15, 2004 issue, pages 14-24:.

" for the benefit of current readers, the answer is reprinted on pages 29-31 of this magazine.

19 near its conclusion, the reprinted answer on pages 29-31 says: "does the fact that opinions and conscientious decisions may differ mean that the issue is inconsequential?

Roddy

Thanks Undisfellowshiped. I like your highlights of what the Legal Dept would have prefered to have seen printed in ultra fine print.

Interesting to see that they still resort to holy intimidation and re-interpreting Scriptures.

11 Decades ago Jehovah's Witnesses made their stand clear. For example, they supplied an article to The Journal of the American Medical Association (November 27, 1981; reprinted in How Can Blood Save Your Life? pages 27-9).* [Footnote: Published by Jehovah's Witnesses.] That article quoted from Genesis, Leviticus, and Acts. It said: "While these verses are not stated in medical terms, Witnesses view them as ruling out transfusion of whole blood, packed RBCs [red blood cells], and plasma as well as WBC [white blood cell] and platelet administration." The 2001 textbook Emergency Care, under "Composition of the Blood," stated: "The blood is made up of several components: plasma, red and white blood cells, and platelets." Thus, in line with medical facts, Witnesses refuse transfusions of whole blood or of any of its four primary components.

It cracks me up to see they claim "Jehovah's Witnesses made the stand clear" when it has ALWAYS been the WTS ramming this stuff up the asses of faithful JWs. Funny, even when I was a faithful JW I wondered why they would talk about JWs in the third person as if they made the decisions when EVERYBODY knew that the rank and file were simply herd animals that followed behind everything the WTS says. Especially so at the district conventions and those stupid self-righteous "resolutions".

23

Joel Osteen, Pastor

by new light in

has anyone else ever watched televangelist joel osteen, pastor of the lakewood church in houston, tx?

i believe he is aired pretty much throughout the u.s. even being the faithless slug that i am, his sermons never, ever fail to move me.

he is so inspiring, so positive.

Roddy

I agree. I like him. He is really upbeat. I find him refreshing from the constant recycled egg-sucking themes in the public talk schedule in kingdom halls. One time I could swear that I heard the same talk subject about 10 times in the same year. And each time it was still boring.

I never figured out why elders couldn't make their own talks. I'm sure if one was allowed to give a talk that one can really specialize in or that comes from the heart, that can really benefit the listeners. I guess it's another one of those WTS control things.

Coming to New York City? I'll see if he has a website and if he is touring around to other places.