Posts by no-zombie

109

Why disfellowship must be eliminated for the survival of the WT itself

by TheScientist in

this topic i digress about why the watchtower relaxing the rules of disfellowship is essential for its survival.

many things i'm going to say are not my ideas, some are, the point is, i'm condensing everything in a logical and concise way.. the first thing we have to keep in mind is that the wt's main objective in instituting disfellowship has always been not to lose members because of the damage that a dissident could do, or to avoid gaining new members because of the bad reputation of a confessed sinner in the his/her region.

in the end, the more active members, the more money to the coffers.. in this case of disfellowship due to apostasy, to avoid any spark, texts were sought out of context that even prohibited saying "hi".

no-zombie

Once again I'm amazed at the denial of the death dive the Organization is in. While I tend to use the publisher numbers as my indicator (which I know is quite rubbery), the global baptismal figures work just as well to prove that the Jehovah's Witnesses faith is dying, and may actually be irrecoverable no matter what the Governing Body does. Thus I have to say it again, the age demographic pattern of the Society is the only proof that anyone needs, to see how critical their situation is. And quite frankly ... any organization (or country) that does not have a growth rate of over 2.5% it is not even keeping its population stable. I mean come on guys, this is basic high school geography stuff.

To recover from this death dive, the Governing Body will have to do something as crazy as paying people to come to the meetings or offering free meals after the Watchtower study. That's how bad it is. But saying guys can wear beards or latter allowing you to come the Kingdom Hall in t-shirts and jeans, is almost a laughably weak response.

109

Why disfellowship must be eliminated for the survival of the WT itself

by TheScientist in

this topic i digress about why the watchtower relaxing the rules of disfellowship is essential for its survival.

many things i'm going to say are not my ideas, some are, the point is, i'm condensing everything in a logical and concise way.. the first thing we have to keep in mind is that the wt's main objective in instituting disfellowship has always been not to lose members because of the damage that a dissident could do, or to avoid gaining new members because of the bad reputation of a confessed sinner in the his/her region.

in the end, the more active members, the more money to the coffers.. in this case of disfellowship due to apostasy, to avoid any spark, texts were sought out of context that even prohibited saying "hi".

no-zombie

People here have to understand that the Governing Body does not care about stumbling the Brotherhood. The rank-and-file are already their captives. No ... all they care about is recruiting new members and the operating capital they bring. As a result they will ultimately do anything, overturn any long held belief or tradition, just to grow numerically. It is true that they might not like doing it (in fact it may even cause divisions within the Governing Body itself), but as things become more desperate, you can be sure that extraordinary things will happen.

Thus the disfellowshiping regulations, the higher education ban, political neutrality, birthday celebrations, and core time-based doctrines, will all be seen as negotiable items at some point ... as survival is the strongest motivator of change.

We have to remember that ... even an animal will chew off one of its own legs, to get out of a trap. Will the Governing Body be any different? I think not.

5

In the spirit of Christmas

by no-zombie in

on this auspicious day, i'd like to propose a question (half in fun and the other half not) to ask, ... if the governing body reviewed the origins of christmas and now proclaimed that it was now a matter of conscience, how many of the brotherhood would pick it up and start practicing it?.

for me, i think that very, very few would take issue of the change and disassociate themselves.

yes, many would question it in their minds for a while but since it would be a governing body sanctioned holiday, i think a very surprising large number would do so with zeal ... particularly in europe, were it still has wholesome family traditions.

no-zombie

On this auspicious day, I'd like to propose a question (half in fun and the other half not) to ask, ... If the Governing Body reviewed the origins of Christmas and now proclaimed that it was now a matter of conscience, how many of the Brotherhood would pick it up and start practicing it?

For me, I think that very, very few would take issue of the change and disassociate themselves. Yes, many would question it in their minds for a while but since it would be a Governing Body sanctioned holiday, I think a very surprising large number would do so with zeal ... particularly in Europe, were it still has wholesome family traditions.

Think of it though ... no more embarrassing moments at work, when the office secretary is putting up Christmas decorations over your desk. No more thinking what to say, when you boss kindly give you a box chocolates, for you efforts over the year. And no more mumbling something at the end of the supermarket line, when the 15 year old checkout girl genuinely wishes you a happy holiday.

I think it would accepted just like our glorious joy of beards ... but what's your thoughts?

34

Next change?

by JW_Rogue in

so, first the turning in time got axed, now beards are okay, what is up next?

women wearing dress slacks to the meeting?

birthdays becoming acceptable?

no-zombie

The problem is for the Governing Body, is that everything is a red line. And as such, each issue has received so much negative talk and the consequences of people going over these line so well know, that there isn't any slack in the believe system to ease up on. Thus to me, unbanning 'higher education' looks just as bad for the Governing Body, as allowing people joining the police.

This is problem that you get, when you are a very public all-knowing oracle but your prophecies are just not turning out. They should have kept their collective mouths shut a bit more, but these kind of people just go to make a comment on everything.

Thus, if the goal is to bring new blood into the Brotherhood, then tinkering around the edges (like clothing types or hair styles) is not going to do much, seriously. How about allowing Christmas celebrations. As shocking as that might seem, it would put Jehovah's Witnesses back on the global attention map, and for bang-for-buck, its good value ... and I think that you'd be surprised how quickly it would be accepted by the rank-and-file.

22

What is worse: 1914 or Beard change

by Gorb in

jw
friends

what is worse for jw's: changing the 1914 doctrine or allowing beards without the right to say what their opinion is?.

g..

no-zombie

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."

70

Beards are now allowed - New Light

by Listener in

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..

no-zombie

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.

46

Nobody else understands

by ElderBerry in

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..

no-zombie

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.

46

What do you think?

by Tahoe in

.

no-zombie

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.

29

The FDS Photoshop

by Vanderhoven7 in

for those interested in the latest version of the faithful slave.

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from the february 2024 watchtower .

no-zombie

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.

4

Have Kingdom Halls ever been used as evacuation centres?

by no-zombie in

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?.

no-zombie

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?