" and another dumb skit about how immigrant workers need to go back to their home countries or not go at all."
What? can yoou explain a little bit? why not?
so, unexpectedly, the final talk was announced today and to my surprise and evil glee, they announced gerrit loesch as the speaker!
first off, at the beginning of his talk, he interrupted himself in the middle of his sentence to scold the microphone brother to lower my mike it's right in my face.. anyway, it was the talk on inspired truth, vs. inspired falsehoods.
he went through 6 expressions inspired by the demons.
" and another dumb skit about how immigrant workers need to go back to their home countries or not go at all."
What? can yoou explain a little bit? why not?
one of the most persistent myths on this website is that jws are already in decline, the rot has set in, and the descent of the watchtower is inevitable from here on in.
unfortunately the facts do not bear this out.
jws are still increasing even in most developing countries, and they are still growing worldwide at a faster rate than the general population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church#Funding
Westboro isn't going to dissapear (it seems).
Who will leave a non tax company crahs? It may be not growing as in the past, but it's not crashing too... Even if I loved to see that happens!
"it is interesting to contrast the deliberate elimination of prayers andsongs at witness meetings in mexico with the action of the watchtower society in the united states, where they were willing to fightcase after case all the way up to the supreme court of the countryrather than give up certain practices, such as offering literature fromdoor to door without a license and without having to register withthe police, the right to use sound cars, distribute literature on streetcorners, and many other such practices which are covered byconstitutional rights.
the organization did not want to relinquish anyof these things.
it fought to hold on to them, even though theseparticular practices are certainly not things that were done by earlychristians in the first century and hence cannot be counted as amongprimary christian practices.".
"it is interesting to contrast the deliberate elimination of prayers andsongs at witness meetings in mexico with the action of the watchtower society in the united states, where they were willing to fightcase after case all the way up to the supreme court of the countryrather than give up certain practices, such as offering literature fromdoor to door without a license and without having to register withthe police, the right to use sound cars, distribute literature on streetcorners, and many other such practices which are covered byconstitutional rights.
the organization did not want to relinquish anyof these things.
it fought to hold on to them, even though theseparticular practices are certainly not things that were done by earlychristians in the first century and hence cannot be counted as amongprimary christian practices.".
given that i know how corrupt, dishonest and evil the watchtower is, i have wondered how to understand a personal experience i had many years ago - long before walking out mid-2009.. after an unusual series of many "co-incidences" on a particular sunday, my friend and i ended up at the door of someone who had been praying to god for someone to be sent to him, and who was expecting us.. i am still convinced it was by divine intervention, but cannot understand why a prayer is answered by sending representatives of an apostate organisation.. also when taking up residence in a foreign country, under very difficult circumstances, i twice ended up "inadvertently" moving in to homes just around the corner from the kh.
on one occasion it was about a 15 metre walk from my front door right into my seat in the kh!.
have you had similar experiences?.
You are conting ONLY what you want to count..
If you move 100 times AND all times you front door is in exactly 15 metters to your seat in a kigndom hall, then it should mean something.
If not.. you are just looking at what you want to look.
Confirmation Bias.
good morning all,.
i have had the opportunity over the last couple of years to speak with a couple of jw's who had either attended the same congregation i did or were married to someone who to the same one.
for the record, i disassociated myself in 1992 due to being followed around by an elder or two who had heard that i had ray franz's "crisis of conscience" in my possession.
materialism... and pride because I am not yet an elder...
Funny thing: I'm still in, and the elders doesn't just gossip, they told me that at my face!
I'm just running!
a self indulgent post - just need to vent.
i've had a year... spent two years dating my ex jw bf and spending way too much time trying to get him out.
read way too many books, i.e crisis of conscience, freedom of mind, i'm perfect you're not, and even the damn bible, blah blah blah.
sometimes we see our problems like they will never go away... but they will...
and, 10 years from now, you will hardly remember your actual problems.
So, take a deep breath and remember that this is just a low, it will go away in no time.
I will drink this one for you!
cheers!
following a comment by sapphy on another thread on cultural jws, it got me thinking about my circle of 30 something jw friends.. they fall into roughly two groups.
couples without kids, couples with kids.. the couples without kids are the most interesting.
they're mainly career types, but with one foot firmly in jw land.
50% of them are like this
45% are very old people
5% are still-in-apostates
that's why the JW still exists.
the following story is heart-breaking to me, i was in los angeles in a cancer hospital to see a friend who was partially in the organization i would say.
he had found jesus christ and his thoughts had changed where he really thought he was going to heaven.
i hope he is right, i am not a god or judge and i hope he is looking down on me from above laughing after the graceful way he endured his agonizing death.. .
They teach almost the same, in this case.
"you will wake up in paradise... it's just close and open your eyes, just like falling asleep"
I fell a little bit afraid of death. I don't have that desire to "live forever", but also I believe that an earlier death is unfear. I want to see my kids as adults. I want to have grandchildren.
What if I die tomorrow?
What if I die before waking up my family to TTATT?
I'm some sort of agnostic, so I don't think that I'm going anywere. And that is a little more scary. In the end it will be "game over, man... game over!", no hopes, nothing. Just the blue screen of death.
Going back to the issue: No, I believe that WT gives their followers an empty hope as empty as the other faiths. Is not better, is not worst.
Nobody from Woking... or near?