Posts by Magnum

38

What Do Today’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Really Think?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when i was a witness i knew what my beliefs were and could defend my views, even if it really was wrong.

i understood jw doctrines .

i could define what the faithful and discreet slave was.

Magnum

Good question and good posts!

JWdom for the most part stopped producing really strong, studious, analytical types sometime in the 90's or maybe early 2000s. The doctrine began to fail, and the higher-ups knew it. They lost their boldness and got scared. They began to dumb things down. They began to almost discourage analysis, questioning, deeper study, etc. No more of the days that I remember as a child - hearing well-studied and well-read adult JWs sitting around the pool at night after the district convention discussing the king of the north, deeper prophecy, etc.

It seems to me that JWs are sort of in a hazy limbo - a state of dazed confusion. Think of some land that was supposed to win a war, but didn't. It has been bombed and conquered. Buildings are destroyed. Rural areas are in smoke. Its citizens are wandering around in dazed confusion thinking something like "It might not look like it now, but we're still gonna win this." They just can't allow themselves to accept reality. They won't give in. They rationalize. They can no longer strongly defend the motherland because they are torn inside and confused and don't really know what to believe. They know something is wrong, but can't/won't admit it.

10

We used to say if they dumb it down any more they will have to draw pictures.....

by nowwhat? in

well guess what!

they are using whiteboard animations!😳.

Magnum

Overrated, I would absolutely love to see how the diehard old-timers who were largely responsible for my coming in would react to what the religion is now. First, they would be shocked that "this system" is still here in the 2020's. Then, if they didn't have a heart attack from that, they would have extreme vasovagal syncope from seeing what the religion is now.

11

Going back to KHs

by asp59 in

do you believe org gonna go back to regular meetings in khs?

i highly doubt that.

reason is, pedophile situation.

Magnum

I think they are having high level strategy meetings trying to figure out what to do to keep the ~~organization~~ business alive. Perhaps, some of the higher-ups are so deluded or are so deceiving themselves as to believe that they are being guided by Jehovah, when they are just reacting to current events and situations and trying to survive or at least slow the demise.

They are not proactive; they are always reactive. Just like with the internet. They didn't proactively get ahead and use it; they had to finally react when it was evident that their butts were getting kicked by it.

I kind of doubt things will go back to the way they were... with KH meetings, etc.

24

How long did it take before you realized that you missed the obvious?

by pistolpete in

remember when the public speaker in the kingdom hall or convention related the ten plagues and the parting of the red sea?.

the finale when jehovah closes the red sea and swallows pharaoh's entire army of egyptian men.. when i was a little kid about 5 years old and listened to this story, i would think---wow jehovah is strong.

when i started school and started learning compassion as early as the first grade i started wondering?????.

Magnum

Concerning the question about why Genesis refers to Jehovah's providing a sword when humans had not yet invented such, the following Watchtower quote was provided as if it answers the question:

******Watchtower quote*******************************************************

Consider another example from the early chapters of Genesis. After Adam and Eve sinned and were expelled from the garden, Jehovah prevented them from returning. How? Genesis 3:24 says: “He drove the man out and posted at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubs and the flaming blade of a sword that was turning itself continually to guard the way to the tree of life.” Notice, “the flaming blade of a sword.” Did God invent swords?

We need not conclude that our loving Creator was the first one to make what we know as swords. Adam and Eve saw turning in front of the angels something that was blazing. What exactly was it? By the time Moses wrote the book of Genesis, swords were well-known and used in warfare. (Genesis 31:26; 34:26; 48:22; Exodus 5:21; 17:13) So Moses’ words “the flaming blade of a sword” enabled his readers to visualize to a degree what existed at the entrance of Eden. The information known in Moses’ day contributed to the understanding of such matters. And the language Moses employed must have been accurate, for Jehovah had it included in the Bible.—2 Timothy 3:16.

******end of quote*******************************************************

I had that same question a long time ago, and I remember the Watchtower article which DID NOT answer the question.

The Watchtower answer is illogical. The wording in the Bible does not allow for the answer the Watchtower gives. If the Watchtower's reasoning is correct, then Moses should have written to his audience (which was familiar with swords) something like "he posted something that looked like a sword", not "he posted a sword." He couldn't have posted a sword; swords didn't exist.

What if I were teaching history to a 7th grade class, and I were describing a warship from the 1700s which lobbed a burning ball onto the deck of another ship. Suppose that ball was about the size of a basketball, and I told the class "The ship lobbed a burning basketball onto the deck of the other ship." That would be black and white wrong. Any students with decent sense would be asking, or at least thinking, "but, there were no such things as basketballs back then. "I could have rightly said "The ship lobbed a burning ball that looked about like a basketball onto to the deck of the other ship," but I could not have rightly said "It lobbed a basketball." Basketballs didn't exist then.

Words matter. The Watchtower is wrong - 100% wrong. No shades of gray.

70

Report Card : How’s President Biden Doing?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i give him an f for falling down on the job..

Magnum

Yeah, DOC, I gotta admit, I was stumped by the reference to Harris as being "brilliant".

28

The Wwatchtower turning into a real laughing Stock

by Overrated in

jw
friends

over the years watchtower has turned into a real joke in the world scene.

with the lawsuits, downsizing and decreasing numbers.

what they use to be is gone and they will never recover the numbers they once had.

Magnum

Overrated, same with me. I had many questions and was told to put them on the back burner. Well, I did... and all the water boiled out, the food burned, no JW could answer my questions, the internet came along, and scales eventually fell off my eyes.

70

Report Card : How’s President Biden Doing?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i give him an f for falling down on the job..

Magnum

Disillusioned JW, I appreciate your answer which gives reasons and does not consist of derogatory remarks. I agree with you some and disagree some. First, though I consider myself a right-wing conservative, I am an avid conservationist and am, like you, greatly concerned about the environment.

As far as people go, I don't like Trump or Biden, but I like Trump far more than Biden. I know that Trump is flawed, but I just detest Biden. He is so phony and incapable. He is the typical politician - doing and saying what he thinks he needs to in order to win votes. I honestly believe he couldn't care less about the environment, people wanting to immigrate to the U.S., etc. I believe that he and his son care only about themselves and that they are a danger to this country because they have to answer to China.

Biden has done great damage by being soft on illegal immigration. I believe that even though Trump couldn't care less about the environment, his policies would have overall been better for the environment. I say that because I think Trump's policies would have been better overall for the country - making it stronger. A strong U.S. would be in a better position to contribute toward the correcting of environmental issues. With people flooding into the country, the middle class disappearing, etc., the U.S. is weakening (at least in my opinion). I believe that only strong countries with controlled populations can take care of the environment. To me Biden is weakening the country and losing control of the population.

Also, Biden is weak and incapable and not in control.

33

UPDATE: Wife Pretty Much Knows That I Don't Believe

by JW_Rogue in

we had a nice long talk and i brought up some things that make me think that this isn't the "truth" and she somewhat agreed with me.

i stuck with things i personally experienced or had knowledge of plus all the changes in recent years.

she agreed on a lot of the points but still believes in god and the bible.

Magnum

YES!!! The org loses another one! I love to see its grip weakening.

28

The Wwatchtower turning into a real laughing Stock

by Overrated in

jw
friends

over the years watchtower has turned into a real joke in the world scene.

with the lawsuits, downsizing and decreasing numbers.

what they use to be is gone and they will never recover the numbers they once had.

Magnum

I lost a lot, too, and am glad I got out; I just wish I had awakened earlier so I could have salvaged some life.

What they use to be is gone and they will never recover the numbers they once had.

I think about that a lot. I just don't see how they could ever be again what they once were. Even if some big world catastrophe scared a lot of people, I don't think any (or many) would flock to JWdom because it is a joke now. There's too much widely available info against it. It's too weak. It's scared of arguments and debates. It's been woefully wrong too many times.

How could an organization backed by the supposed creator of the universe get weaker and weaker and become more of a joke with every passing day? If it's what it claims to be, it should be getting stronger and stronger as "the end" approaches.

28

The Wwatchtower turning into a real laughing Stock

by Overrated in

jw
friends

over the years watchtower has turned into a real joke in the world scene.

with the lawsuits, downsizing and decreasing numbers.

what they use to be is gone and they will never recover the numbers they once had.

Magnum

It really is nothing close to what it used to be. It would be a joke to me had it not ruined my life. Now, I am furious at it.

The information age has really damaged JWdom. It should be the other way around. An organization that loves truth and has it should love the interconnectedness and widespread availability of info, but JWdom hates it. The internet has exposed it and shown how weak and puny it is. It's playing the website game now only because it realized it had to. At first, it didn't want anything to do with the internet.

I agree with you about those drinking the Kool-Aid. I have three close family members who are JWs and who I always thought were smart, knowledgeable, and mostly level-headed, but they're gulping it down. I just told my wife that I can't conceive of how they can't see what we do. I have some other JW family members who are clueless; I can see why they're still in.