Magnum

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Posts by Magnum

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  11

  2020 Meeting Content/Schedule - Anyone know what is coming?

  by JWTom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello all - no 2020 midweek meeting content has been published yet.

  anyone know or hear of what will be changed for 2020 due to the pandemic?

  even my pimi family (i am pimo) is scratching their heads wondering why we are still reviewing content from 2017-2019 that talk about all the future plans, field service, etc etc etc....that have all been derailed due to covid-19.

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  Magnum

  Interesting.
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  70

  A Growing Problem for Materialists

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. social
  2. current

  the famous double-slit experiment proves that light travels both in individual particles called photons and also as a mathematical probability wave.

  matter itself exhibits this particle-wave duality which allows objects to exist in two different places at the same time, depending on whether of not you are looking (testing) at it.

  scientists have recently been able to get molecules as large as 2000 atoms to exhibit this duality!.

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  Magnum

  It is fascinating and intriguing. As for the implications, I don't know, but I'm keeping an open mind.
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  27

  You Know You're A Jehovah's Witness When...

  by pale.emperor in

  1. social
  2. humour

  you know you're a jehovah's witness when.... being offered a scholarship to a good university is considered a bad thing.. when you see a house you like you claim it for after your god kills the owner.. you recieve spiritual guidence from a bus driver and a window washer.. you're engaged to a person you only met 3 months ago.. your widowed mother is marrying a man she met at the convention who she's known for 2 weeks.. there's jehovah's witnesses meeting in your house on a saturday morning to talk about going out knocking on doors on a saturday morning.. a lie in on a weekend happens about twice a year.. you dont talk to your own parents/children because they have a different opinion about a magazine.. you're not quite sure what you're supposed to believe anymore.. when someone criticizes your a magazine you feel like you're being attacked.. your 3yo son owns a suit.. if you're not married by the age of 30 you're considered to be gay or something wrong with you.. (for girls) if you havent married the first or second person you've dated you're considered promiscuous or something wrong with you.. you get your scientific knowledge from a magazine written by people who've never been to college and have never actually read the source they claim to be citing.. you get excited if there's a storm or natural disaster.. you get excited when there's a terrorist attack.. you get excited when there's a pandemic.. your version of tinder is the lunch break at a convention.. your girlfriend dresses like her grandmother.. your grandparents, despite being in the same religion as you, died believing totally a different belief system..

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  Magnum

  Dang, that was good (and true)!

  You get excited if there's a storm or natural disaster.

  OMG, I actually did as a JW. I watched world events for signs that the end might be near (because I was miserable in the JW routine and wanted relief).
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  16

  Privileges

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for me, outside the jw context, that word seems to relate to something like a prison setting, where you're allowed to do certain things based on good behavior.

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  Magnum

  I hated the use of the term in that context, and when I was an elder, I refused to use it that way. All the other appointed men would announce, for example, "Book Study #2 has the privilege of cleaning the Kingdom Hall tonight after the meeting". I would announce "Book Study #2 is assigned to clean the Kingdom Hall tonight after the meeting".
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  12

  UC Berkeley Study on Disaffiliation from JW

  by emmayataco in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm a uc berkeley student researching the effects of disaffiliation from the jehovah's witnesses.

  i'm not ex-jw but i am ex-mormon and as your cousin i can sympathize with the struggles we face when we question/leave the religion.. i currently have a survey open which closes on sunday the 20th at 11pm.. if you meet the criteria i encourage you to take the 20-30 minute survey.

  -be at least 18 years old-born/raised jw (born in or family converted when you were minor)-"left" at least 6 months ago (left=inactive and questioning/non-believing).

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  Magnum

  Just completed. I think it's legit.
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  6

  If you enjoy a challenge, then read this book

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if you enjoy a challenge, i recommend this book: mind the gap: how the jewish writings between the old and new testament help us understand jesus, by matthias henze.

  fortress press.. one example from the book:.

  while there are several individuals in the bible who are said to be anointed, the word “messiah” or “anointed one” is never used in the old testament to designate a future anointed redeemer figure.

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  Magnum

  Thanks. I really like and appreciate the book recommendations I get on this site.
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  17

  "I still miss it Dad" My 41 Year Son Admitted

  by 1234 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on the 18th of september i turned in my disassociation letter in to the tigard congregation, 19 years ago.. my son turned in his letter in november 2001, 19 years ago shortly after me.

  he was 21 years old.. two days ago we were working together on a wrap for his a/c unit on his bus.. out of blue, he says "i still miss it dad.

  not the religion.

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  Magnum

  I miss it, too, but for a different reason. I miss what I thought it was before I found out what it really is. I miss the exciting, seemingly wholesome, district conventions in the 70's & 80's. I thought I was part of something good and special. I so wanted the "new world" wherein justice and goodness and happiness would prevail. I miss that feeling of security I had back then... the looking forward to the future.

  My wife and I don't miss individual JWs. We actually don't want to ever see them again and do our best to avoid them. They just weren't our type.
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  10

  another reason pandemic benefits org

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i've already posted in an earlier thread how the pandemic benefits the org in that it presents it an excuse to go completely electronic and sell all buildings (if that's what it wants).

  however, there is another way the pandemic benefits the org; it presents it an excuse for declining numbers.. many of us have wondered just how much of a downturn there's been in jw land in recent years.

  we've wondered whether the org was playing with the numbers to make the situation appear better than it was.

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  Magnum

  I've already posted in an earlier thread how the pandemic benefits the org in that it presents it an excuse to go completely electronic and sell all buildings (if that's what it wants). However, there is another way the pandemic benefits the org; it presents it an excuse for declining numbers.

  Many of us have wondered just how much of a downturn there's been in JW land in recent years. We've wondered whether the org was playing with the numbers to make the situation appear better than it was. I've also wondered what was going to happen when the real situation just couldn't be hidden anymore - sort of like when a Ponzi scheme starts to collapse.

  Now, though, the org can sort of "hide" the real situation behind the pandemic. It now has an excuse for low preaching hours, low Bible studies, poor meeting attendance, etc. It can probably even find a way to blame declining publisher numbers on the pandemic. It can now present the real numbers and stop sweating.
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  28

  1919 2013 2020 and the Slave

  by Jerryh in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was never a jw but i lurk in this forum occasionally, trying to rescue some family.

  i will spare you those details.. jw.org and jwfacts are there with youtubes out the wazoo but i would appreciate your thought on this.. i know there are contradictions plenty but this is foundational, blatant and current.

  i know they typically just blow off.

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  Magnum

  It seems as though you're thinking that the 2013 Watchtower indicates that the faithful and discreet slave won't be appointed until the future great tribulation, yet the 2020 Watchtower indicates that it is already in existence. If so, I think I can clear the issue up

  JWs teach that the faithful and discreet slave has already been appointed and is operating today; they claim it is the governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses. However, they teach that the faithful and discreet slave won't be appointed over all the master's belongings until the great tribulation starts. In other words, according to them, the slave is already appointed, yet it will be given bigger responsibility in the future (It is currently only over some, not all, of the master's belongings.).
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  14

  Needing to Questions Elders to Help Husband Understand

  by Unlikely-pack-6349 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my husband insist that i talk to the elders.

  it is something i 100% plan on doing for the simple fact of my relationship with him.

  i know some of you may disagree but it seems like the best option for us.. problem/question: .

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  Magnum

  I agree with pistolpete. I wouldn't have anything to do with them. If anything, I would meet with only one. If you meet with more than one at a time, even if one of them understands a point you make and even agrees with you and is having doubts himself, he won't be able to even remotely admit it because of the other(s) present; he will have to play his role.

  If you do meet with one or more, you can play weak and troubled by what some non-JW (relative, workmate, friend from the past, etc.) told you, and you act like you want a way to respond to this person. Bring up something like failed predictions, the "generation" teaching not making sense, profiting off disaster relief, etc.

  This was posted on this forum fairly recently (1967 mag):