Magnum

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Posts by Magnum

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  34

  Here's a question that I guarantee no one has ever thought of!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  unlike men who took no note, surely the fallen angels knew of gods plan to flood the earth, so why didn't they build an ark(s) for their nephilum sons?

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  Magnum

  Fisherman, the org has said in the past that illustrations should fit in every detail.

  See this point from the Theocratic Ministry School Guidebook:

  
  
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  10

  The story of a renegade anointed

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  remarkable sister pettifog.

  this morning i arrived on my bicycle at the local starbucks early and took up a seat at the outdoor table in the fresh air.. that’s when it happened--a group of 3 older ladies at one of the other tables outside rose to leave and one of them walked over to my table and spoke directly to me.

  i was wearing earbuds at that moment and didn’t hear.

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  Magnum

  truth_b_known: It is obvious to me that at a certain point the Watchtower turned on those who claimed to be of the anointed. I huge blow was the change in the doctrine that only the Governing Body are the Faithful and Discreet Slave. All other anointed still on Earth are just rank and file.

  That change in doctrine was, to me, far bigger than most realize. To me, it was an illegal (according to JW theology) take-over, a coup d'état. Prior to the change, all of the anointed on earth made up the FDS; therefore, they should have had a say in the decision (especially since it was such a big one and involved them directly), but, they were not consulted. They were just stripped of power by a handful of men who now have all power. The organization never felt the same to me after that.
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  48

  What is the harm or downside of being PIMO?

  by PimoElder in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what is the harm or downside of being pimo?.

  i get all the good things about being in the cong, good social life lots of invites to bbqs and meals out.

  lots of interesting gossip 🤣🤣🤣🤣.

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  Magnum

  I would like to add that if you ever were a real, believing JW, you would have instructed individuals in other religions to leave their religions when they found out they were wrong no matter how much pain and suffering it would have caused them or what they would have sacrificed. JWs will, for example, tell a 90-year-old Catholic woman who's been a Catholic her entire life to leave her religion if she finds out it's wrong - even if that means leaving all her family, all her friends, her entire social life, all her support mechanisms, etc. I actually agree with the reasoning in that - that one should leave or quit something if he finds out it's wrong; that's why I left JWdom.

  The problem is that a lot of those in JWdom who wake up mentally show that they are weak; they don't practice what they preached. You believed in telling others to leave their religions when they woke up, but you won't leave yours now that you are awake. I see arrogance in that.
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  48

  What is the harm or downside of being PIMO?

  by PimoElder in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what is the harm or downside of being pimo?.

  i get all the good things about being in the cong, good social life lots of invites to bbqs and meals out.

  lots of interesting gossip 🤣🤣🤣🤣.

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  Magnum

  The harm is that you are supporting a deceptive, harmful, condescending cult... one that took my life... one that promised me from the time I was a small child that if I suffered and slaved and sacrificed for it, I would be rewarded greatly. I'm now 62 and was rewarded only with misery. I lived a life of misery doing what the cult instructed me to do. It ruined my life. All my family members except my wife are still in. They all think I'm evil or weak or a combination of the two because that's what the cult brainwashes them to think. That is extremely unjust to me. I'm not evil. I'm an honest, reasonable truth-seeker. I have great concern for the suffering in the world among sentient creatures - more so than JWs themselves. I'm also not weak. It took strength for me to walk away from something that had been my life for decades.

  The JW organization is lying and deceptive. It is selfish. It is concerned only with itself. The org does not love truth. It does not love light. It has a history of failed predictions, looney teachings, etc. Even if you don't mentally support it, you are implying that you do to others. Your very presence adds to the JW numbers ands gives a false impression. You and others like you are helping the org to survive. I take great offense at that and consider you to be a weak person. I could never support that organization in any way. You and I are as different as night and day.

  addendum: Your faking it is contributing to the captivity of thousands like my family members. I hold you accountable for that.
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  122

  1995 generation change

  by Gorb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  now, many years later, i remember the 1995 generation change, very well.. since early youth, hearing my father explaining in field service the 2520 years.

  it was his main theme in the field.. with the change my doubts started.

  with some jw friends we did not trust the organization anymore.

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  Magnum

  I remember a Watchtower Questions from Readers (1985?) that indicated that one could die during the last days and before the Great Tribulation and still be considered to be one of the great crowd. It might have been the Oct 15th issue. I'm at work now and can't look it up.

  I think the point was made that the great crowd is basically those of the other sheep that live during the last days even if they die during the last days and before the end. I can't remember the word they used, but they said something like it seems that it would be too "strict" (or something like that) to limit the term "great crowd" only to those who actually survive the great tribulation - that it applies to those who have the prospect of surviving, that it's the group as a whole that survives.
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  15

  Current Elder and Sub CO Arrested

  by James Jack in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/stlb8r/valley_head_elder_charged_trigger_warning_cp_link/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf.

  known his wife her whole life.

  they have served both in mississippi and minnesota..

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  Magnum

  How could he be an elder and sub CO... or even a publisher? Blows my mind. He must not have believed any of it. How could he give talks encouraging others not to do what he was doing all along? When I was a JW, I was not perfect, but, I was real. I couldn't have given talks unless I was living up to the material.
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  73

  Ukraine - Nato - US crisis

  by mikeflood in

  1. social
  2. current

  don't understand....but this crisis in ukraine seems to be getting out of control....i mean, everybody knows how to start a war..... by the way, as always, people at the borg are having a field day.....

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  Magnum

  Former big time gangsta US has been sent to the retirement home and doesn’t even realise.

  Slimboyfat, while, for years I have enjoyed your posts, and admired your insight, intellect, etc., I disagree with your tone about the U.S.

  I, for one, being a citizen of the U.S., realize the U.S. doesn't have the power it once did relative to the rest of the world, and I lament that; it scares me. I cannot imagine the world without a strong U.S. I cannot imagine a world in which Russia and China have the upper hand. Do you resent the U.S.? We share a huge border with Canada, but Canada doesn't fear us. Do you think Canada had rather be bordered by China... or Russia?
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  44

  The Poor the Wealthy and the Middle Class

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  the poor spendthe middle-class savethe wealthy invest.

  the unique circumstances of the lockdown and stimulus checks has highlighted these differences in stark ways.. on one hand, you have jumps in sales and valuation of companies like foot locker and nike, as people spend their "free" government money on sneakers.

  they blow it on useless tat.

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  Magnum

  Been really busy and haven't had time to post here, but saw this thread and wanted to mention the following.

  About thirty years ago, I was at a house where a death had occurred. A well-known non-JW attorney who lived in the neighborhood had stopped by to offer his condolences. The attorney was offered a meal. I could tell he didn't want to eat there, but was virtually forced to. There was an older JW female there who was trying to impress the attorney with her goody-goodieness. He had his head over his plate taking a bite, and at that point she said in kind of a sarcastic way "and people think that money brings happiness."

  The attorney tilted his head to the right (while still leaned over the plate), and immediately replied "but, it sure does make life easier." The JW was speechless; she thought he was going to agree with her.

  I have never forgotten that. I can see the details vividly in mind right now. I have found his words to be some of the most accurate I've ever heard. I think back over all my years of struggling financially because of being a zealous JW. We always had to make major decisions and about how and when to spend the little money we had. Could we get our shoes fixed? Could we get tires for the car? How much longer could we go without getting dental or medical treatment? Everything was so hard.

  Even now it's hard... all because of not having money. Having money would make our lives vastly easier. Just in the past few months, we had to buy a used vehicle because I work out of town, and my wife was stranded at home with no vehicle (she works from home). We ended up buying a small pickup - a work model, so it has no cruise control. I now drive it to work, and I hate driving the 4hrs each way to work out of town each week because it's a chore without cruise control. I bought an aftermarket one, but so far, have been unsuccessful installing it. Just a little while ago, I called around and couldn't find anybody that will mess with it.

  So, if we had had enough money, we could have bought a truck with cruise control, and just that little thing would make my life a lot easier. I would have the cruise control, and I wouldn't have the frustration of trying to install it.

  P.S. If anybody has had experience installing a Rostra after-market cruise control, please PM me. The instructions are horrendous.
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  29

  If you think Watchtower is disappearing any time soon…

  by Reservations in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you are sadly mistaken.. i hear people say it on here all the time, and dare i say his name *cough* lloyd evans *cough* has said it a number of times, that watchtower is running scared and watchtower is in decline….. we need to put in perspective the decrease from the 2020 report.

  if we calculate a yearly -0.6 decrease over a 10 year period from 2020 figures it leaves us the grand total number of witnesses of:.

  by 2030: - 7,933,479. by 2040: - 7,471,357. by 2050: - 7,036,154. i agree that this is a significant decrease, but let’s not kid ourselves, the wt organisation will still be alive and well even with an annual 0.6% loss.

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  Magnum

  I think it is flawed reasoning to assume a constant (or linear) rate of decrease. I believe the decrease will become greater (exponential) over the next few years.

  I think it's going to reach a point that a snowball or cascade effect will occur. I think the org fears going back to meeting in person because it's not going to be the same... the halls will be emptier and the preaching work will be weak. That can only have a negative effect on JWs. That effect could be contagious. As more and more wake up and leave or just become inactive, the effect can spread rapidly (exponentially).

  I've been monitoring exjw reddit and have found the number of JWs, especially young ones, leaving to be amazing. There are a lot of really insightful posts showing that these people have sized up the org, the religion, and the GB. They have seen through the deception. Young ones are not zealous and they are not deep-rooted in the org as the old-timers are, and the old-timers (those late 50's and above who can remember the glory days of JWdom) are dying off rapidly (and some are waking up, too). Barely any new ones will come in from the field, and those who do will not be the kind that can support and sustain the org. They won't be like the intelligent ones who became JWs in, for example, the 70's & 80's.

  It seems to me that the wind is not filling the sails of JWs anymore. JWism is a religion that is based on growth and a bold, strong preaching work. The growth is over and the preaching work is a faint, weak whisper. That will have to get a lot of JWs to start thinking. Also, the internet continues to destroy the org and the religion. And... as somebody already mentioned in this thread, the lawsuits are stacked up against the org.

  That "something massive" you mentioned could just be a tipping point at which a cascade effect occurs. There must be frustration now among the rank and file. There must be lack of zeal and lack of excitement. If they go back to meeting in person, the decreasing numbers will become more obvious. If they don't go back to meeting in person, the effect of meeting online could continue to weaken zeal (lots of anecdotal evidence on exjw reddit that it's doing that). The tipping could be reached and there could be a mass exodus. To me, the future looks really bad for JWdom.
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  58

  No more Questions from MINIMUS

  by was a new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  minimus former jw, prolific poster on jwn died.. minimus.

  joined 19 years ago.

  started 4,139 topics.

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  Magnum

  Oh, I hope not! I've been extremely busy lately working morn til late at night and haven't been checking here. I just checked for the first time in a while and this is what I see. Somebody asked how old he was. I'm pretty sure he was 60ish... I'm thinking early 60's. I was not aware of his having any health issues. I think he played tennis a lot. My insides literally did something (moved or something) - I don't know how to describe it - when I read that he had died. I so hope it's not true.