Sometimes are see witnesses depicted praying with hands clasped, in the literature. But I've never seen it in real life. In real life, JWs typically just close their eyes and bow their heads slightly while praying. I've never seen one go down on their knees or clasp their hands in real life.
Island Man
JoinedPosts by Island Man
-
18
Something odd about how Watchtower portrays prayer versus how JWs actually pray.
by Island Man inwatchtower literature often depicts individuals praying with their hands clasped together or kneeling on the ground in their bedroom.. but i don't recall ever seeing a jw praying like that.
i have never seen a jw praying in a kneeling position or with hands clasped together.
have you?.
-
-
-
18
Something odd about how Watchtower portrays prayer versus how JWs actually pray.
by Island Man inwatchtower literature often depicts individuals praying with their hands clasped together or kneeling on the ground in their bedroom.. but i don't recall ever seeing a jw praying like that.
i have never seen a jw praying in a kneeling position or with hands clasped together.
have you?.
-
-
Island Man
Watchtower literature often depicts individuals praying with their hands clasped together or kneeling on the ground in their bedroom.
But I don't recall ever seeing a JW praying like that. I have never seen a JW praying in a kneeling position or with hands clasped together. Have you?
What's up with that?
-
39
Let’s Speculate!!!
by John Aquila inyou know the organization is slowly going down.
not as fast as we would wish, but nevertheless it is crumbling.
five (5) year old child baptisms, smaller magazines, child sexual abuse exposed, smaller annual growth, no one wants to reach out, young ones leaving.
-
-
Island Man
Will there still be a Governing Body?
The Governing Body will still exist in practice, but they will call it something else. They will drop the name Governing Body and call it some other, more modest-sounding name similar to how they dropped the term Presiding Overseer for the more modest sounding Coordinator of the Body of elders. Maybe they'll call the Governing Body the Coordinating Body or Coordinating Committee or something like that.
Will they finally drop 1914?
Yes they will. They will drop 1914 altogether by accepting the correct date of 587 BCE for Jerusalem's destruction and discarding the teaching of an invisible presence. They will be forced to accept that christ's presence is the same as his coming and that it starts in the future - the "very near future, any day now", of course. lol. But they will do all of this only after they have come up with an alternative method of elevating themselves as the faithful and discreet slave, and which does not involve being indirectly tied to a definitive date like 1914.
Will the blood doctrine finally be dropped?
Yes. It will become a conscience issue the same as organ transplants.
Will disfellowshipping be dropped?
No. But its possible that there might be some easing up on the shunning of disassociated ones if they meet certain criteria. Anyone citing false teachings, false prophecies, hypocrisy or any other kind of maleficence on the part of Watchtower, as their reason for disassociating, will be branded as apostate and shunned upon disassociation. But anyone who simply says they no longer wish to be a JW without saying anything negative about the organization to the elders or other JWs will be allowed leave and be treated as an inactive person. Family will be permitted to have the same limited or guarded social contact with them that they would have with any other non-JW relative with the added restriction of not having spiritual association with them - they can't pray with them of have spiritual conversations with them. But Watchtower will teach JWs to shun any disassociated one who starts to talk negatively about the organization. So they will make shunning of disassociated ones conditional on whether or not they express negative or critical views of the organization. That way Watchtower gets to improve its image as allowing people the option to formally leave the religion without shunning them; while at the same time also protecting the flock against "apostate" views by alerting JWs to shun any who leave and start expressing such views. Those who disassociate from the organization on "good" terms will be announced differently to those who are disfellowshipped or disassociate as an overt "apostate".
Will there still be Circuit Overseers, Elders, Pioneers?
Pioneers will still exist but they will be called something else. They will drop the term pioneer as they come to see it as a misnomer. Pioneer hours will drop to something like 50 hours a month and auxiliary pioneer hours to 30. Pioneers may be required to meet an additional requirement in addition to the monthly hours quota. They may be required to also have a minimum number of return visits per month and conduct a minimum number of bible studies per year. These rules will be enacted in a bid to motivate pioneers to do more to get people studying and baptized - to grow the membership numbers. Circuit Overseers and Elders will continue but perhaps they will be given more power.
I believe Watchtower will be forced to give more power to elders or, more accurately, give elders the appearance of having a more prominent and important role in the organization. By some means - perhaps by periodic confidential letters to bodies of elders worldwide - elders will be made to feel like they have a say in the formulation of policies and doctrines. Of course, Watchtower will just pick the suggestions from the elders that closest match what Watchtower wants to do, and maybe tweak it a bit further to match exactly what Watchtower has in mind. But the elders who appear to come up with good suggestions would feel like they've made a major contribution to the organization and will well up with pride. Elders will thus be made to feel like they have a stake in the organization's operations and be motivated to act more loyally toward the organization. More brothers will then be motivated to reach out.
This process will give JWs the appearance that power in the organization is less concentrated at the top and trickled down more to the middle, and that therefore the organization is less authoritarian. This will serve as a rationalization or refutation against the accusation that the organization is an authoritarian cult with all the power concentrated at the top in the hands of the leadership in New York.
Will there still be Judicial Committees?
Yes. But the manner in which they are carried out will likely be adjusted, especially in the wake of investigations like the Australian Royal commission and other future investigations and legal suits.
Will they still have conventions 3 times a year?
Yes but the three-day convention will be reduced to two days with the Friday being eliminated to eliminate the work-related stress that JWs have to undergo to get time off. Also, due to fewer being in attendance on that day. To make up for this there will be other special meetings during the year, which will be held in kingdom halls and will likely involve content being video streamed into kingdom halls from headquarters.
How many meetings will they have a week?
They same number of meeting days but they will have additional special meetings, held less frequently, on the same meeting days, to break up the monotony and give the appearance of exciting developments. See above.
Will they still go door to door preaching?
Yes, but they will start focusing on other methods like online witnessing. It's possible that JW.org might start a strictly moderated live chat or video web app to allow people around the world to come online at any hour of the day and have a bible e-study with a JW volunteer or e-publisher. These e-publishers will be pioneers around the world who are all scheduled to be available online for specific hours on specific days.
Will they drop the name; “Watchtower Bible and Tract Society?”
It is very likely that they will rename the Watchtower magazine and drop the name Watchtower Bible and Tract Society as way to distance themselves from all their crazy, damning literature that is online and quoted by "apostates" and attributed to Watchtower.
How many members will they have worldwide?
If a split occurs - and I believe it will - the numbers will suddenly drop by at least a third to about 5 million or less. If not, the growth rate will continue to decelerate until it finally stops and starts to decline gradually.
Can you imagine in the year 2050 going door to door and preaching;
“Hello, we here this morning announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom that started ruling in the year 1914”Absolutely not!
-
8
Oh the humanity, oh the irony!
by oppostate inthis showed up on my fb feed today.
.
posted by an active very loyal jw..
-
-
Island Man
Maybe he's an awake JW. Maybe he means for that meme to be understood as:
"... knowing the Truth (TM) [has taught falsehoods in the past], seeing the Truth (TM) [changing its falsehoods in your own lifetime], but still believing the lies [taught by Watchtower]."
You never know . . .
-
23
Baby steps taken with a grain of salt
by Israel Ricky Gonzales inseeing how my jw wife nearly lost it when i woke up to ttatt and was df'd just over a year ago, she has been showing cracks in her armor.. 1. she has stopped pioneering to resume her good-paying career, working full-time.. 2. she suggested marriage counseling.. 3. she suggested going to a latin rap concert at a casino for our anniversary.. 4. when we reconciled recently and began living together as a family again, she agreed to alternate weeks of jw activity with the kids, one week doing the jw thing with her and the next week not doing the jw thing with me .
5. she hasn't had perfect attendance at meetings or for field service since she started working full-time.
just last night, she skipped meeting to help co-workers prepare food for an employee appreciation luncheon held today.
-
-
Island Man
Keep doing what you're doing. Don't fall into the temptation of sharing TTATT with her as that might scare her right back into uber-zealous cult mode. Keep doing what you're doing and win her without a word. -
39
Let’s Speculate!!!
by John Aquila inyou know the organization is slowly going down.
not as fast as we would wish, but nevertheless it is crumbling.
five (5) year old child baptisms, smaller magazines, child sexual abuse exposed, smaller annual growth, no one wants to reach out, young ones leaving.
-
-
Island Man
I think we will see a rupture in the organization sometime in the future. A split similar to what happened during the bible students era after the death of C.T. Russel.
I believe that all the negative information coming to light will undoubtedly have an effect on some JWs in very high positions within the organization, motivating them to seize the opportunity to bravely push for changes within the organization which the uptight, unreasonable ones like AM III would stubbornly refuse, and this will result in a major scandal that would see a faction of Watchtower higher-ups breaking away to form a new group. If lawyers are involved in the faction, they could really make things messy and complicated for the "original" Watchtower leadership, tying them up in court proceedings and injunctions and what have you.
-
5
Light speed isn't as fast as Hollywood portrays it.
by Island Man inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aau_btbn7s
-
-
Island Man
So the sun is 8 minutes and 20 seconds away. So the sun actually sets 8:20 minutes before you see it set; and it rises 8:20 minutes before you see it rise. We can't ever see the present state of the cosmos. We're always looking back in time. -
5
Light speed isn't as fast as Hollywood portrays it.
by Island Man inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aau_btbn7s
-
-
-
28
help me understand: My wife seems to be utterly detested by skelletons and skulls. Why?
by goingthruthemotions inso, here i am again....asking more questions to help me understand my wife.
she was brought up in the cult in the 70's and 80's.
so i can only imagine what kind of indoctrination she deals with.
-
-
Island Man
I agree with SecretSlaveClass. Skulls and skeletons are often associated with occultism so JWs quickly associate them with demonism. Some JWs associate anything grotesque or scary-looking with demonism, regardless of whether or not the portrayal professes to be occult in nature. A sci-fi portrayal of a grotesque-looking creature would very easily be labelled as "demonic" by a brainwashed JW.
Aside from it's occult connotations, the skull is often used simply as an iconic symbol of death. Thus the skull and bones symbol of the pirates is meant to strike fear in the heart of their victims that they (the pirates) are fearsome, murderous thugs who are not to be trifled with as they will not think twice of killing you if you fail to comply with their wishes or if you dared to defy them.
The skull is also used as part of universal signs used to label products as being toxic or poisonous.
It's possible that humans evolved a deep-seated aversion to the sight of skulls as this afforded a survival advantage. Early pre-humans who avoided being around skulls also avoided the local environmental hazards that killed the persons who became the skulls.
-
18
"The governing body has asked me to..."
by OverlappingGeneralizations ini have heard that phrase several times on the jw broadcast, uttered by gb members!
"the governing body has asked me to bring to your attention (whatever)".
aren't you the governing body?
-
-
Island Man
I think I know the reason for that statement.
It is usually given when the GB member is going to talk about something that is potentially controversial or new to JWs. On such potentially controversial issues, there is the risk that the GB member would either be hated or loved for presenting it.
When it is a new or somewhat unconventional issue, there is also the potential for JWs to be wondering if the GB member is giving his own views or that of the organization.
The statement: "the Governing Body has asked me to..." serves to separate the potentially controversial or unconventional message from the lone GB presenter, putting it squarely unto the Governing Body/Faithful and Discreet Slave collective. That way, JWs are being asked to accept the bitter pill as coming from the God appointed Faithful and Disreet Slave who must be obeyed, rather than merely being the view coming from rubber-faced Lett, or Uptight Tony.
Any praise that a new, innovative or unconventional message brings must also go to the collective and not the lone GB presenter - so that the other GB members don't get jealous or suspicious about a lone GB member gaining more praise and prominence in the eyes of all JWs because of a message he happened to have presented.
It might also be a way of suggesting to JWs that what is about to be said is a very important message coming from the faithful and discreet slave and may thus indicate to us awake ones that this is the real "meat" of the program - the key bit of indoctrination that Watchtower wants to feed the JWs with for the month.
You see, the JW broadcast program is very similar to a study edition of the Watchtower. There are the experiences of JWs and other fluff pieces about the work of the organization. These mirror the supplementary articles for personal reading, found in the study edition. There there is the "the Governing Body has asked me to..." segment of the program which mirrors the congregation Watchtower study articles in the study edition.