Posts by Island Man

29

Watchtower Annulled My Baptism

by RICHT in

contrary to popular belief you can have your baptism annulled as i did by my local elders after my judicial hearing.. the watchtower of 1964 page 126 first paragraph clearly states that anyone that was committing a gross sin before, during and after their baptism is void.

in order to get right with the lord you would need to be re-baptised.

err no thanks, i'm not a believer!!!!.

Island Man

What if you never made a prayer of dedication to Jehovah? I bet they would have to annul your baptism for that. Here's what might work:

Go to the elders in tears saying you believe you've made a grave mistake. Tell them you fear you did not make a scriptural dedication in prayer to God. You were doing some personal study recently and came across some information in Watchtower literature about the steps involved in becoming a Christian and you read a description of what dedication means and it suddenly hit that that is not what you did. You thought you were dedicated because you didn't fully understand what it meant to be dedicated and so you thought you were dedicated based on your prayer relationship with Jehovah - you didn't realize that one had to make a special specific prayer promising to serve God unreservedly.

Act like you're devastated by the fact that all this time you weren't really fully right with Jehovah and ask the brothers to allow you the opportunity to be truly baptized the proper way after you make an actual dedication like you were supposed to.

Then you let others in the congregation know of your mistake. You start the rumor that all this time you were never really a dedicated JW like you thought you were and you'll be correcting that at the next assembly/convention. Get everyone accustomed to viewing you as a non-JW. Then when the day for your real baptism comes along, get cold feet. Have second thoughts about getting baptized and chicken out.

29

What would happen to a JW who respectfully refused to fill out a no blood DPA?

by Island Man in

i know you'll be involuntarily disassociated if you unrepentantly accepted a blood transfusion; and i know you'll be disfellowshipped for apostasy if you openly disagreed with watchtower teaching.

what if you have done none of the above but simply respectfully refused to fill out the dpa without giving any reason for your refusal - so they can't accuse you of openly disagreeing with the no-blood doctrine and df you for apostasy.

they don't know why you're refusing and you're not giving them the reason - and you're being very respectful.. what can they do?.

Island Man

As a secondary issue, I'm wondering about the legality of the document being emblazoned with a No Blood graphic on the front while providing a check box on the inside to accept all blood fractions. Doesn't the No Blood graphic on the front of the document indicate that the publisher of it - Watchtower - is somewhat influencing the signee to choose a particular option?

More importantly, doesn't the fact that the publisher of the document is a religious authority that threatens shunning to any member that accepts blood, not also indicate that the signees are faced with a form of duress and are not really making the indicated choices completely free of duress?

What would happen if an awake JW were to be secretly recording a signing session where the box that says: "I accept all is ticked" and the witness to his signing is an elder and he notices it and starts trying to tell the JW to change it and starts threatening judicial action if he doesn't? What if it goes to a judicial committee and all of this is recorded and shared with the justice or legal system? What impact would that have on the way the legal system views the validity of the JW DPA card as being a document that is truly signed without any form of duress?

29

What would happen to a JW who respectfully refused to fill out a no blood DPA?

by Island Man in

i know you'll be involuntarily disassociated if you unrepentantly accepted a blood transfusion; and i know you'll be disfellowshipped for apostasy if you openly disagreed with watchtower teaching.

what if you have done none of the above but simply respectfully refused to fill out the dpa without giving any reason for your refusal - so they can't accuse you of openly disagreeing with the no-blood doctrine and df you for apostasy.

they don't know why you're refusing and you're not giving them the reason - and you're being very respectful.. what can they do?.

Island Man

Thanks for all the responses so far. It seems from the majority, that there's not much the elders can do beyond just harassing you to fill it out.

29

What would happen to a JW who respectfully refused to fill out a no blood DPA?

by Island Man in

i know you'll be involuntarily disassociated if you unrepentantly accepted a blood transfusion; and i know you'll be disfellowshipped for apostasy if you openly disagreed with watchtower teaching.

what if you have done none of the above but simply respectfully refused to fill out the dpa without giving any reason for your refusal - so they can't accuse you of openly disagreeing with the no-blood doctrine and df you for apostasy.

they don't know why you're refusing and you're not giving them the reason - and you're being very respectful.. what can they do?.

Island Man

I know you'll be involuntarily disassociated if you unrepentantly accepted a blood transfusion; and I know you'll be disfellowshipped for apostasy if you openly disagreed with Watchtower teaching.

What if you have done none of the above but simply respectfully refused to fill out the DPA without giving any reason for your refusal - so they can't accuse you of openly disagreeing with the no-blood doctrine and DF you for apostasy. They don't know why you're refusing and you're not giving them the reason - and you're being very respectful.

What can they do?

13

DNA analysis establishes modern-day Lebanese to be ancient Canaanites

by jwleaks in

wcontinuity and admixture in the last five millennia of levantine history from ancient canaanite and present-day lebanese genome sequences.

the american journal of human genetics .

july 27, 2017. summary.

Island Man

I knew it! I knew it! I knew it when I saw the way those hips moved! Hips don't lie - Shakira is part Canaanite!

33

Beautiful new kingdom song

by slimboyfat in

has anyone noticed this new song?

i think it's absolutely beautiful.

it's got a film score quality about it, with depth and feeling.

Island Man

Island Man. Just to be clear I am saying I think the music and the voice are pish. My dislike of that sort of sentimental, sacrine-sweet, "music" is not a sign of immaturity as you suggested but of good taste.
The fact that it is a propaganda tool of an evil cult is a separate issue.

Thanks for the clarification, cofty.

23

The average Witness will continue to follow Watchtower leadership whether right or wrong.

by UnshackleTheChains in

i hate to say this, but given my own experience as a jw for almost 3 decades, i am beginning to believe the average jw will continue to look to and be guided by the gb regardless of whether they are right or wrong.. despite all the scandals and negative media attention the watchtower organisation is receiving, life seems to go on as normal in jw land.

it's truly bizarre!!.

clearly, the gbs tactic of mostly hiding away from the media is clearly working for them.

Island Man

The psychology of JWs is not unlike the psychology of a crazed fan of a soccer team (or other competitive sport). The fan supports his team no matter what. If a member of the team is penalized by the umpire for an infringement of the rules, then the fan gets upset with the umpire. His team can do no wrong. It's the umpire's fault. He's either incompetent or he's supporting the other team.

It's also the same psychology of supporters of political parties. Trump is the best president the US has ever seen and no amount of hard, disconfirming facts or scandals will change their mind about that.

What the JWs are exhibiting is not zeal for God, but a prideful, worshipful, patriotic allegiance to the organization and its Governing Body. It's quite ironic that JWs condemn blind political patriotism while they themselves are clearly victims of blind patriotism to an organization.

14

Watchtower's unscriptual boasting about works

by Diogenesister in

nothing big here, just a little musing on this scripture at ephesians 2.8-9 that definately states that only faith saves, not works, in case men start to boast about their amazing works.

"8for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of god, 9not of works, that no one would boast.

well my word, i would definately say witnesses *do nothing but boast*, especially now on jw broadcast.

Island Man

Another text to add to the list is Luke 18:9-14. Watchtower and JWs often behave exactly like the pharisee in that parable.

25

The "Jesus is Michael" teaching soon to go?

by Island Man in

could the teaching that jesus is michael the archangel, be soon to be discarded?

first of all, watchtower is big on image and this is one of those teachings that paint the jw religion as being rather kooky and heretical.

secondly, this teaching is not an original watchtower teaching but one they inherited from their second adventist ancestry.

Island Man

"Does a single JW still care about this doctrine?"

Umm.. that's kinda my point. JWs don't care much about this teaching - and yet it's harming the image of the organization - not in the eyes of JWs but in the eyes of potential recruits outside the org. That makes it a "costly" teaching which is earning them very little or no returns.

25

The "Jesus is Michael" teaching soon to go?

by Island Man in

could the teaching that jesus is michael the archangel, be soon to be discarded?

first of all, watchtower is big on image and this is one of those teachings that paint the jw religion as being rather kooky and heretical.

secondly, this teaching is not an original watchtower teaching but one they inherited from their second adventist ancestry.

Island Man

"What brought that question to your mind all of a sudden?"

I've noticed that many never-JW critics of Watchtower bring up this teaching to highlight just how crazy and heretical JW doctrine is. There is even a relatively famous youtube cartoon clip on JWs that feature that teaching to point out the craziness of JW teachings.

So it's a teaching that brings the organization a fair amount of ridicule and negative publicity among other christians. Balance that against the fact that it's not a very core teaching, and it's easy to conclude that it's a teaching that they can do better without, and is therefore likely to be discarded.