Ignoranceisbliss, I agree with everything you said. It is going to be interesting to watch the org in the next five years; heck, even this year is interesting. I, too, believe the GB members have tasted stardom and love it, and they have become power hungry.
Posts by Magnum
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57It's Foolish to Believe the Watchtower Will Always Be Around.
by kneehighmiah inseptember 11, 2001. riding the bus to school that tuesday morning we discussed the implications of the monday night football game between the broncos and the dolphins.
by lunchtime our entire world have changed dramatically.
america had passed into a new era that would lead to major changes.
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57
It's Foolish to Believe the Watchtower Will Always Be Around.
by kneehighmiah inseptember 11, 2001. riding the bus to school that tuesday morning we discussed the implications of the monday night football game between the broncos and the dolphins.
by lunchtime our entire world have changed dramatically.
america had passed into a new era that would lead to major changes.
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Magnum
kneehighmiah: already the organization cannot recruit new member effectively in developed countries
I agree; it just ain't happenin' anymore. They can only recruit losers, misfits, those lacking in intelligence, those who aren't well-read, those who are a few fries short of a Happy Meal, etc.
kneehighmiah: Being a catholic requires minimal sacrifice. being a jw requires enormous sacrifice. Eventually people will realize it's not worth the sacrifice.
I agree with that, too. I know some who are Catholics; being such is not even a minor inconvenience to them. Being a JW goes far beyond being an inconvenience. It requires, as kneehighmiah said, enormous sacrifice. It requires major changes in lifestyle. I had zero weekend for thirty years. How many well-read, intelligent, normal people are going to make that sacrifice for the JW religion of today? I had no afternoons or evenings. My life was consumed by JWdom and I was still always behind; never could get it all done. The only thing that enabled me to keep going was the belief that I had the truth and the hope that the end could come at any time. It ain't easy to convince people of that anymore.
The JW religion that I knew, the one that seemed more scholarly and noble, is already gone. The real excitement is gone. They have to keep coming up with gimmicks to try to keep some excitement up and the apathy down. I think it can only be downhill. If JWs really had the truth, they should be progressively more attractive to the world - like a beacon, but the opposite is taking place; they become progressively more unattractive. It's going to be interesting to observe and see what happens.
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47
JWs in a frenzy!
by leaving_quietly inanyone else get the distinct impression that jws are being worked up into a frenzy with all the changes and activity nowadays?
by the end of august, there will have been four campaigns inside of a year.
one last november, a memorial campaign, a convention campaign and an advertise jw.org campaign.. then there's the conventions with all the hooplah around that with all the video, and the aggrandizement of synchronized gb talks.
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Magnum
I was a little tyke in the 1975 era, so I don't know what it was like then, but I suspect it was pretty similar to what it is now.
I was in my early teens. My non-JW dad was told emphatically and without doubt by prominent elders that I would never drive (reach age 16) or graduate high school (reach age 18) in this system. There were some JWs who would find the earliest district conventions and go to them even if they were very distant because they wanted to get the latest info first. They thought they would hear something exciting. Many JWs were on the edges of their seats. There was much chatter about prophecy - the King of the North, etc.
I've been driving in this system for forty years, and the main elder who told my dad I'd never drive in this system was a fairly well-off businessman who died penniless and senile in a nursing home. I just told my wife recently that I wish he were alive so I could get his thoughts on the fact that it's been almost forty years since 1975.
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13
Governing Body Karma?
by Batman89 intelling innocent people they can live forever when armegeddons never coming.
telling people they can see their loved ones again.
telling people to sacrafice their goals and dreams in life.
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Magnum
How can someone even possibly know their "annointed" anyways???
I've always wondered that. What indciates to Mark Sanderson that he's annointed? I want to know exaclty what. I don't want some fuzzy, gray answer. How does he know? Does he just have very strong feelings? Well, a lot of people have very strong feelings about things - but sometimes those feelings change. Humans can't always trust very strong feelings.
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60
Midweek Meetings no longer Necessary
by Tech49 ini am sure we have all seen the recent letter to the boe concerning the change that will take place to the meeting arrangement during the week of the co visit.
to recap the basics: the meeting that usually contains the cong bible study (book study) and a co talk will be discontinued, publishers are encouraged to use their family worship night that week to cover book study material.. so here is a point that i think has been missed, or not even considered:.
if that particular meeting is hereby deleted from the schedule, the co and his wife will never ever have to participate in or go to another "book study", or "bible study" night again.
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Magnum
AndDontCallMeShirley: Damn, I never even thought about that.
It's amazing how they can just purely make up some meeting - specifying the exact time it's supposed to last (and you'd better finish right on time), the exact format, the exact schedule, etc. and call it essential. Just some arbitrary meeting somebody made up, yet it's essential - until they cancel it.
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47
C.T. Russel IS burried UNDER the pyramid
by FFtruther144 inrussel is burried under the pyramid.
according to none other than frederick franz himself, in his own words!.
i read some wt trolls on here trying to say that he is under the marker a few feet away.. that is not true.
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Magnum
LoisLane -
I am calling out Fred Franz, as a lunatic, soul destroying, egotistical, self important, truly only cared for himself... A$$h@$E. He had the life he wanted. I didn't. I hate you little Caesar, little
dictator Hitler and I hate you Nathan Knorr!!! To have the life you two wanted you stole the lives of MILLIONS, NOW LIVING and MILLIONS MORE NOW DEAD!!!
They truly did steal the lives of millions. Franz holed himself up in a comfortable office doing what he wanted - reading and studying while many gave their lives suffering out in the ministry and paying his room and board. What he did was no sacrifice; I'd love to be able to read and study all day while somebody else paid my room and board. I never heard anything about him being zealous in the ministry.
JWs idolized him. A few years ago, and older elder in my cong said in a meeting comment that Franz learned a new language on an airplane trip to another country so he could give a talk in the language of that country when he arrived. Pure bull$#%t.
He was the JW oracle, the guru, but in actuality, he was a nutter - a social misfit. I bet he would have been terrible in the door-to-door work (if he'd ever done it). His teachings were wrong and are now an embarassment. He was no smarter than a lot of us (and probably not as smart). If I had been his peer and had studied Biblical languages 1/4 as much as he did, he wouldn't have stood a chance against me.
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60
Midweek Meetings no longer Necessary
by Tech49 ini am sure we have all seen the recent letter to the boe concerning the change that will take place to the meeting arrangement during the week of the co visit.
to recap the basics: the meeting that usually contains the cong bible study (book study) and a co talk will be discontinued, publishers are encouraged to use their family worship night that week to cover book study material.. so here is a point that i think has been missed, or not even considered:.
if that particular meeting is hereby deleted from the schedule, the co and his wife will never ever have to participate in or go to another "book study", or "bible study" night again.
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Magnum
There is an inconsistency and illogicalness to their reasoning. We used to hear that the Congregation Book Study (meeting in small groups) was essential to our spiritual well-being and were given reasons why. That didn't even make sense at the time. What about JWs in prison? They were weak because they couldn't go the Book Study? What about people in parts of the world that didn't even have Book Studies? They were weak, too? But then the org goes and cancels the whole arrangement! But wait, I thought it was essential?
As Tech49 mentioned in the OP, now the COs and wives will never go to Congregation Bible Studies. So are they somehow inherently stronger than the rest? Their wives, too? If not, then why is it they can survive spiritually without the Congregation Bible Study, but the rank and file can't? Doesn't make sense.
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Unlimited Money
by pontoon inwe know the place on the lake was not their first choice.
another property in tuxedo park was but they were not able to get permits, lawsuits followed with the former owner, don't know how it turned out but it was a mess.
wat kept the property in tuxedo to use as a staging zone for the big construction at sterling forest lake.
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Magnum
Thanks - didn't know all that. They'll never get another cent from me. I feel that they owe it to JWs to be transparent and inform them of these purchases and the reasons for them. I busted my ass and suffered for thirty years. I feel that I earned the right to be in the know. They take from orpans and widows. How will any out in the field benefit from those purchases? Why do they even need Warwick? I thought Patterson was to be the educational center. What's the purpose of Warwick? Is it supposed to be the new world headquarters? Why couldn't that be at Patterson? Why can't they just work out of FEMA trailers if the end is so near? No, the bigshots have to have luxury.
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171
New to The Jehovahs Witness Faith and need some help
by jnjburkett inhello there i am new to the faith and have been studying for about a month.
i am very excited and hungry for the truth and have not missed a meeting or study since the memorial.
we do about 2 bible studies a week.
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Magnum
I just read the whole thread and was feeling bad about the way it went... until I read AndDontCallMeShirley's post on pg7. Then I didn't feel so bad.
Apparently JNJ's miniscule "knowledge" and experience gained studying with JWs for a few weeks outweighs the firsthand knowledge and advice offered by those that were JWs for decades.
Doesn't that attitude really characterize all JWs including us when we were in? JWs are clueless, yet they think they know it all and have all the answers and everybody else is clueless. I thought I knew it all, but I now know I was clueless. I had never really read the Bible in context. I didn't question where we got the accepted canon. I didn't really know JW history. Etc.
I was thinking it was a tragedy that JNJ left the discussion, but now I don't think so. Let her learn the hard way like most of us did. Of course, it's easier now than it was when some of us came in (only one midweek meeting, not as much material to read, using video presentations in service, etc.), but still, she'll find out. Let her find out that weekends won't be hers anymore - no Saturday morns, no Sundays. Let her start questioning once she's taken the plunge; let her find out how loving they'll be then. She'll probably eventually find out and she'll remember this site and what she was told. But if she doesn't find out and figure it out, then she deserves to be a JW.
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52
It is so obviously a lie......now
by snare&racket inonce the spell is broken, one you take a deep fresh breath outisde of the watchtower camp, the amazingly obvious realisation becomes clear.... of course this is a lie, of course this is ridiculous!
you find you have memories of really believing the claims and promises, but it seems like another life, another experience.
it seems so incredibly false once you leave and it is very difficult to belive you even once accepted it!
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Magnum
Recognising this peculiar spell that was put over us is important. When I see current JW's they are clearly wrapped up in layers of indoctrination, breathing on WATCHTOWER air, their minds have never yet enjoyed unadultarated fresh air, otherwise known as reality. The life they see is observed through a lens, with several filters. They know the filters and lens are there, they know it isn't wise....but it feels safe. We all did it. My friends wife told me recently she did not want to hear/learn/see anything that would question her faith. This is a bizarre concept to me now, but I remember feeling exactly the same.
But what were we protecting? What were we so scared of? What exactly was the reward for being a JW, that was so amazing, we had to protect it at all logical and reasonable costs?
I feel the same way when I see current JWs
My friends wife told me recently she did not want to hear/learn/see anything that would question her faith.
A very close relative told me recently that she didn't want to hear anything like that, either. Yet she goes out in the ministry and tries to get others to question their faiths.