based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.
the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.
the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.
Any spotlight ion the Organization is a good thing regardless of the outcome. However, it does seem that some old fashioned campaigning is needed here to get those required numbers. Unfortunately I don't live the EU to provide real help, but it looks like a good chance for a few enthusiastic heretics too have their own carts ... to give those in Warwick another thing to worry about.
no-zombie
kingdom ministry school.
2018 service year.
programme for congregation elders: file:///c:/users/michael/downloads/kms-tk18-e_no8.pdf.
As a postscript, I just wanted to add that these school outlines are NOT handed out to the Elders who attend. This means that the person who leaked this document is either a CO or upper Bethelite. Which I find quite encouraging.
no-zombie
kingdom ministry school.
2018 service year.
programme for congregation elders: file:///c:/users/michael/downloads/kms-tk18-e_no8.pdf.
I was able to get the whole 'official' outline for talk no.8 just by typing into google ... kms-tk18-E_no8.pdf.
no-zombie
does anyone who has access to the collection of public talk outlines,and remember the quote "half the world's scientist work on weapons of war" (or words to that effect)?
i used to have them myself, but sadly they are gone.
i'd like to follow that quote back to its original source if i can.
Does anyone who has access to the collection of public talk outlines,and remember the quote "half the world's scientist work on weapons of war" (or words to that effect)? I used to have them myself, but sadly they are gone. I'd like to follow that quote back to its original source if I can. Thanks
think this night about former and current leadership of jw.org, and the use of multimedia and broadcasting, imaging a theodore jaracks kind of gb member would be chosen again.. is there a way back possibility for jw.org to end all the multimedia circus and a go of the radar for the gb again?.
a one way street?.
g..
I've been with the Organization for a long time, all my life actually and I can not remember it ever returning to a arrangement that's been scraped. And while in the past I've personally hoped that the Society would return to the less judgmental and more family like congregations of the pre80s, I now have come to understand that this will never occur.
The Organization has only gotten worse, with it being only more draconian as its power has being taken by the Governing Body completely. And because the Brotherhood now believes the subliminal story that the Governing Body is as good as the 12 apostles, any coup, any move to push a Governing Body member out, any major change doctrinal change would only just expose the lie that it is.
Russell started this train on it's a one way track ... and there is no turning around ... regardless of what lies ahead.
no-zombie
as descibed by the title here is a link to reddit of a what i believe is a powerful post with heaps of information.
.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/7ovq5o/watchtowers_decline_what_will_the_future_hold_for/?utm_source=reddit-android.
Thanks John Redwood for this information. For me and others I'm guessing, the global data base is the most interesting comment you made. The question I was thinking about when I first read of it was ... Why? Why would the Organization go to the extra expense of creating and maintain a record of every witness, when all the functions that require a current record of a person's status is already being done at a congregational level ... and particularly more so, now that the CO's have the full authority to appoint Elder and Servants without Branch involvement.
For me ... and perhaps I'm going a bit nutty here ... but assigning each witness a number really seems more like an accounting tool. Could we be seeing the moves to introduce personal tithing? I always though it could be on the cards, as a way to solve their financial woes.
each individual may have their own views as to why they feel the meetings are boring and uninspiring.
in my case i find the midweek meeting so, because of the constant emphasis on pitching watchtower literature.
its just monotonous and one big yawn.. i watch other christian faiths where they open up a chapter of the bible and discuss it's contents.
In the past you could blame the body of Elders for a boring meeting. But now that nearly all of the parts are either a Q&A from the workbook, scripted or a video ... the blame now lies with the Governing Body. Their drive to either make a more unified message or to compensate for the lack of Elders and Servants, has actuality made things worse.
this is my first post, i will introduce myself later.
first of all, i must say that english is not my mother tongue (i'm spanish), so excuse me if i make any mistake.. do you think that some people simply can't cope with being outside the jws?
some of them are too worldlyphobic to be around non-jws, too dependent on a fixed set of rules in order to carry on with their lives, too dependent on the hope of paradise and resurrection, too unable to leave their personal comfort zone within the organization.
But OnTheWayOut, I reckon that people return to the Organization (or never leave mentally) do so for the good that they feel. If we are all honest, through out all the years we were menially in, was not there many times we actually enjoyed being a Witness? I enjoyed being an Ministerial Servant and Elder ... well I got the satisfaction of helping others, my friends in the congregation despite being very busy. I felt the satisfaction of a person knowing that had the 'truth' and was a little special. I felt safe amongst people who were my brothers. And I was happy that I had a good future to look forward to. We all had those feelings at some time.
Of course, those feelings were based on a lie and all most none of it was real but we still felt it.
And I guessing that many people would stay with the Society even if they knew it was fake, because they would consider it still better than being outside. Anyway thats what I though.
In any case I wish everyone a good new year ... and I'm sure the Governing Body will provide for us many interesting topics for us to discuss in the weeks and months to come.
no zombie
this is my first post, i will introduce myself later.
first of all, i must say that english is not my mother tongue (i'm spanish), so excuse me if i make any mistake.. do you think that some people simply can't cope with being outside the jws?
some of them are too worldlyphobic to be around non-jws, too dependent on a fixed set of rules in order to carry on with their lives, too dependent on the hope of paradise and resurrection, too unable to leave their personal comfort zone within the organization.
OnTheWayOut ... you are right in saying that everyone has the right to know the TATT but I was just trying to say from my (and many of us here) experience, that most witnesses will not accept what we've got to say, nor appreciate our good intents. And as a consequence, they have committed themselves to a particular path, on which they will travel until their death or that of the Society.
But don't you guys get blown away by the story behind the Matrix and the position we find our selves in ... and I'm sure there must have been a time or two when we've all wished for a second to be re-plugged in become blissfully ignorant once more.
However we are not ignorant and we cant unlearn what we know. And as a result we have become more like the Greek princess Cassandra, who was given the power to truthfully prophecy the future ... but cursed by the fact no-one would listen. As a result, she was seen as a liar, a madwoman and ultimately imprisoned by her family and countrymen. Tragically she went insane because despite her best efforts to warn of an approaching disaster, people never paid heed and sadly suffered as a result of doing so.
And perhaps the lesson here is that we should be a little pragmatic and realize the risks in trying to save people who by and large, do not want to be. All the while, taking care of our own mental heath so that we can fight (or rather help) another day.
no zombie
according to the 11/2017 study watchtower.......apparently not.
is it really true that one can be happy without religion?
certainly an individual can be happy without false religion, but a person cannot be truly happy unless he has a relationship with jehovah, who is described as “the happy god.” (1 tim.
Of course people can be happy without religion. This is because, as one psychologist said, happiness is “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.”
This being the case, any person who works to help others in some meaningful way, regardless of that person's religious views (or lack there of) has the opportunity to be genuinely happy. Conversely, self-centered and selfish people are almost always unhappy regardless of that person's religious devotions, because its all about themselves.
Sadly in our Organization, the Governing Body has long focused on people performing visible religious acts for salvation that often becomes as dry and meaningless as those who use rosary beads to say their many prayers to God. Whereas the path to happiness can often be found when a person starts to cultivate, what we would call the fruits of the spirit. Qualities such as love, joy, peace and long-suffering; qualities that can be grown independent of the Kingdom Hall ... as shown the the thousands of police, firemen, doctors and nurses who dedicate their lives to help strangers in trouble and who receive the reward of contentment when they have the opportunity to do some good.
no zombie
