what is worse for jw's: changing the 1914 doctrine or allowing beards without the right to say what their opinion is?.
g..
In my congregation everyone thinks that the beard thing is a big laugh, with people editing photos of each other and posting it around. Of course no one has said that "if it's ok now, why was it wrong before"?. No it's all robotic obedience.
Thus in my mind, the Brotherhood now can't see the difference between a 'doctrine' and a 'procedural adjustment'. No, its just ... 'so this is what we now believe, cool."
lett has announced in the latest video update that jehovah has dignified the brothers by now letting them to choose for themselves whether they want to have a beard or not -.
https://www.jw.org/en/news/region/global/2023-governing-body-update-8/.
this applies worldwide and to all brothers in any position..
I have a list of the top 10 things I hate about the Governing Body, and the 'beard issue' was one of them. Not that I ever wanted to grow one, but because of the fact the Governing Body has (now had) the audacity to ban, a man's natural choice. Quite frankly, its just another example showing that the Governing Body are no different than the rule making Pharisees of Jesus's day.
On a side note ... now I'm going to have to see a whole bunch of pimply youths, trying to grow one.
if you once were fully pimi and truly believed jw doctrine to the core like i once did, when you come to the reality that it is not the truth at all it can be extremely devastating.. i think only other ex jws could ever understand.
i wasted my entire life i thought the real life was yet to come to wasted the best years knocking on doors.
now i’m so angry.. i can understand why so many top themselves when they realise it was all lies..
While I've given 50 years unconditionally the the Organization, what are the things I've really missed out on ... promiscuous sex, drug use, alcohol abuse and maybe a few nights in a police lockup? Yeh ... no thanks, as I prefer remembering my good weekends out, without remorse.
However what I am upset about, is being needlessly lied to by the Governing Body. There was never any need to treat people like morons, and try to pass of opinions as certainties.
I think that it must have crossed the minds of the Governing Body, to closed down the use of Zoom for congregational meetings, now that Covid is basically over. However I think that they are scared of actually doing it, because I really doubt few would return to the midweek meeting anyway ... and it would be to relieving to have meeting attendance officially much lower.
for those interested in the latest version of the faithful slave.
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from the february 2024 watchtower .
The GB just can not accept seeing their own mistakes in judgements, so they re-writes history, waters-down inconvenient truths or gaslights the Brotherhood, to encourage the concept that everything is perfect in the earthly spiritual paradise. But to people who know better, it truly shows how shallow they really are. As a result, its another example of the Governing Body's intellectual dishonesty.
while our attentions has been drawn many times to kingdom halls being used as distribution centres (often distributing government supplied relief goods), during a local disaster.
i can't remember reading or hearing of, kingdom halls being opened to house displaced witnesses during these times.. can any one else?.
While our attentions has been drawn many times to Kingdom Halls being used as distribution centres (often distributing government supplied relief goods), during a local disaster. I can't remember reading or hearing of, Kingdom Halls being opened to house displaced Witnesses during these times.
Can any one else?
if the current doctrine is that only baptised witnesses are going to survive and everyone else burns them what about this new update new light that some from before the flood and sodomites will be resurrected?.
but didn’t he mention at the agm something about there is no point jehovah killing them and then resurrecting them again?
it seems they are confused about what they teach and that’s why brother jackson joked about “is this what we used to believe or what we believe now?”.
The problem that Witnesses have, is that 90% of the teachings from the Governing Body are just interpretations that can change at their whim ... but are believed as Bible doctrine by the Brotherhood.
This being said, who are 'the sheep' and who are 'the goats', as well as trying to work out who has committed the unforgivable sin (that would prevent their resurrection), are best guesses ... at best.
So for a man to stand up in front of 8 million people and say they know 'the truth' about these issues, is beyond all reasonableness and humility, as his stands in God's place by deciding who lives or who dies.
found this on fb from the recent losch talk.
time for a new business model?.
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As the world become more technical, the Brotherhood will effectively become poorer and poorer, due to low skilled jobs being automated or the minimum education standard for jobs being raised. Thus the whole issue of generating operating capital, will get harder and harder as time goes on. Young people in particular (the next generation of Witnesses) are just not as financial today as in past generations, with more and more being forced to live with their parents longer because they are unable to care for their own expenses.
So what are the options?
As we have discussed many times here, moving into the digital publishing fully, is a given. The Governing Body could also decide to cut back (or quietly cancel) its mega movie projects and any more new building projects. But I'm sure will not be enough.
They could introduce a two tier JW. site. One with a very basic level of free content (like perhaps the daily text, the month's CLAM workbook and WT study articles) ... and a premium account, like any other worldly streaming service. And when you think about it, who would not pay to see "A day behind the scenes with Geoffrey Jackson" or "Cooking with Kenneth Cook". Really, the potential is endless.
Of course, the Governing Body will never use the word tithe, but I'm sure that in the end, there are more emotional ways to get a similar result.
so everyone knows the “big news” of this past weekend, no more reporting of hours, placements, return visits, etc.
beginning november 1, jws just tick a box indicating whether they “shared in any form of the ministry during the month”.. so there was a brief comment by a redditor that seems like a brief joke “throwaway comment” but after thinking about it….why not?.
the idea is, what is “any form of the ministry”?
While I'm not a believer the 'fat gene' theory, after having someone I know literally eating themselves to death, I'm more inclined to view people who are super-super obese (yes that is a medical term) as people who have a mental disorder, and as such should outside of the judicial process.
However, if the Governing Body produced articles will a little more research and depth, they could correctly explain the sin of gluttony through the roman practice of purging while feasting. As the wealthy would vomit a full stomach (sometimes not even privately) to continue eating. From this, it is easy to understand that a Christian practicing shear wantonness, would affront 'the God who gives all things' and those in the congregation who had too little.
https://www.ibtimes.com/india-bomb-blast-suspects-claims-are-false-misleading-say-jehovahs-witnesses-3717518 .
key points.
three separate blasts ripped through a gathering of jehovah's witnesses last sunday.
One of the problems not discussed, is the fact that India is a highly religious society with centuries long history of intolerance towards non-Hindu faiths. And while Indian Hindus would like to promote a more stoic or spiritual view of themselves, we only have to remember that over a million people died due to religious violence during the Indian/Pakistan partition of 1947, that Mahatma Gandhi was killed by a nationalist Hindu group (directly because of his tolerant philosophies towards Muslims) and that violence against Christians (and Christian missionaries) still continue.
This being that case, it should be hardly surprising when violence against Jehovah's Witnesses occurs, as it sadly seems to be a more justifiable response to religious conflict, in the minds of some Indians.
Religious violence in itself however is an interesting topic, and while most people would put it down to ignorance and poverty (which would seem to fit in problems of the Indian subcontinent), it more exactly the product of a perceived imbalance of power and a lost of authority. Thus when a person or a group feel like they have been marginalized by another group, then animosity grows ... which sometimes results in violence.
