Posts by Magnum

5

Edgerton Gospel

by peacefulpete in

regarded as likely the oldest (or tied with oldest) gospel fragment we have is that named the unknown gospel or the edgerton gospel.

sadly it is very fragmentary.

debates regarding it's relationship with the 4 canonical gospels have continued since it was found.

Looks interesting and would love to discuss, but I'm too ignorant of the topic right now. I had never heard of the fragment. Thanks for mentioning it. I want to research it. By the way, I did a google search and found it to be spelled "Egerton."

67

Real reasons behind this change?

by Gorb in

jw
friends

just a good conversation at home about the hour report change.. we think the change was not impmemented because the gb are such a lovely bunch of old grandpa's having the best in mind for us individuals.. there will be only, and we say only, an organizational reason for it.

a legal reason, to protect jw.org and it's officials and wealth.. next step?

maybe selling more kh and when jw hollywood studio's in rampoo are ready a change to tv subscription.. what do you think?

Magnum

Fisherman: "All of a sudden this realization and change after a century or so or reporting time?"

Excellent, thought-provoking question!

*********

I agree with Biahi and Blondie. This will give them an easy way to hide decline in the ministry.

18

Has The WT Allowed Outsiders to be Saved?

by NotFormer in

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1734baj/they_just_had_a_huge_meeting/.

this reddit post suggests that the cessation of reporting hours isn't the only thing announced at the recent meeting.

can anyone in, or sufficiently well versed in jwdom confirm that the op's understanding of this announcement correct?.

Magnum

WingCommander: "This is NOT the religion I was raised in. This is so far removed from the 1980's that is basically become an Apostate parody of itself. If you could hop in Doc Brown's time-machine DeLorean with an iPad filled with this current GB's nonsense (Splane's Generation chart, anyone?) and go back to the year 1984 and show a Congregation of JW's what 2024 is like, they'd run your ass right out of the KH, probably throwing old green bibles at your head."

I 110% agree. In addition, in the 1980's, a JW would have been disfellowshipped if he simply persisted in saying that "this system" would still be here in the 2020's.

176

No more REPORTING field service!!!!!!!!!

by BoogerMan in

this is going to break the hearts of a lot of uber-jw's!

reddit has now removed the video link of samuel herd telling jw's they will no longer have to report time or placements - just tick a box which says "active.".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akdshyx79rm&t=13s.

Magnum

Mark Sanderson: "We've deepened our understanding of Jehovah's mercy, his compassion and his patience... and what about that announcement about our field service reporting? Jehovah is dignifying us, he has confidence in us."

Like... how many decades does it take them to get the memo from their God? Why does it seem that their God is so lousily slow in communicating such major issues to them? Obviously, if this is the better way, their God knew about it decades ago, but, it took him that long to get the message to his channel on earth?

"Jehovah is dignifying us, he has confidence in us."

Shit, that pisses me off. So, he didn't have confidence in me all those decades I slaved and labored in misery? He didn't dignify me?

This issue, to me, virtually proves the JW leaders are liars. I'd bet my life the reason behind this change is not as implied above. The reason is legal and/or financial. Same with the changes concerning the Congregation Book Study and The Theocratic Ministry School and the arrangement to simply ask for donations for literature.

The JW organization is dying. The Glory days are over. The Great Leaders know it and they are simply in survival mode now. They are now only reactive, not proactive. They used to seem to genuinely care about such things as the field ministry; they would look ahead and try to figure out how they could better it. Now, they're just flapping at the water trying to keep from drowning, so their minds can't focus on such things. They can only react to current situations and put out current fires to keep the whole thing from going up in smoke.

55

If JW is not the truth, then what is the true religion?

by TxNVSue2023 in

even though i'm disfellowshiped ( & i belive wrongfully so).

i still belive this is the truth.

i have been d'f for about 8 months now and working on reinstatement.

Magnum

Samcats: You're not going to get any balanced responses here. Only negative ones.

People on this site have probably tired of my mention of what I'm about to bring up, but, the situation calls for it, so I am impelled to mention it.

Your words are an example of argumentum ad hominem, a fallacy in informal logic. You merely addressed negatively the other party in the argument and provided no argument yourself. People who have no argument and/or who lack the intellect to formulate an argument use such tactics.

Where is your argument? What is the substance of it? Your only point is your statement that people here are not balanced and they are negative. You just simply attacked the other party with no argument to back up that attack. You didn't provide one single tiny piece of evidence.

I provided much evidence and reason in my previous post. You didn't address or try to counter any of that; you merely stated that people here are not balanced and are negative. That is really weak.

28

Do we blame the Governing Body too much?

by no-zombie in

i'd like to start this post with a part from the movie 'v for vendetta'.

here in a dystopian state, the main character named v, explains why things have gone so bad ....

those who do not want us to speak.

Magnum

I don't think we blame the governing body too much; I think they deserve all the blame we give them. However, I do agree with your point in that I think we should blame the rank and file more. I actually do place a lot of blame on them.

JWdom has changed drastically as most of us know. There are growing mountains of evidence against it now. Its history of failed major predictions (over 100 years long) looks more and more wrong with every passing day. Hell, it's almost 20-damned-24. The religion is no longer scholarly and analytical as it at least once seemed to be. The org and individual JWs are now cowards; they fear and run from challenges and deeper questions. The religion has become shallow and corny and televangelist-like. Their writings are now few and those few are dumbed down. JWs claim to be lovers of light, yet, in reality they run from it. The great light the internet brought to the world exposed JWdom for what it really is. JWs are, in reality, lovers of darkness. They don't want analysis; they don't want a light to be shown on them. The religion is weakening; the preaching work seems almost dead.

I just don't see how a level-headed person who loves truth and has decent intelligence and powers of reason and comprehension and discernment could remain a JW today. In the old days, yes, but not now. I cannot comprehend how my family members could still be in. I blame them. I blame all JWs who still support the org. Even though I don't think we blame the GB too much, I think the rank and file should be blamed. If they'd all leave, the GB would be powerless, whining little nobodies.

And I not only talk the talk, I walk the walk. I was a reg pio & prominent elder with major dist conv parts every year. I was the real deal. I lived the religion and loved it and would have died for it. However, I was also honest and loved truth and I had good discernment. I was constantly questioning and analyzing. I finally determined that JWdom wasn't what I thought it was for decades and I left our Kingdom Hall after a Sunday meeting and never set foot in one again.

I now blame those who remain and support the GB. They are lacking something... Honesty? Discernment? Common sense? Well-rounded intelligence*? A combnation of such things? I don't know, but, something's wrong. They won't reason. They want to point out the wrongs of the beliefs of others, but they won't let anybody show them the wrongs of their beliefs. How could they be so confident that they're right, yet, so fearful of challenge? Yeah, I blame them.

* I say well-rounded intelligence because I agree that some have intelligence in some ways, but I just don't see how one with well-rounded intelligence could remain a JW unless he's just dishonest and does so for selfish reasons. I have a JW relative who has a degree from a major science/engineering university. He is the only person I know inside and outside of JW land with whom I can talk about deeper, more technical things like math, physics, chemistry, and advanced grammar and know that he will understand. However, he can be a real dumbass in some ways. He has good intelligence in some ways, but is lacking in others. I don't consider him to have well-rounded intelligence.

37

Tony Morris replaced - by ANOTHER teleprompter reader!

by BoogerMan in

the whitewashing of tm111 from jw history continues - tending to confirm that he was booted.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ghbhv6961a.

i'm pretty sure the cult got him to sign a nice nda - in exchange for a lifetime residency in the house bought by wt..

Magnum

TxNVSue2023, you ask "What difference does it make?" You say to just get over it? And you refer to the situation as "gossip"? You must be one of those half-hearted JWs who hasn't suffered much and invested much.

It's a huge issue. This guy claimed to be one of only a dozen or so of the most important men on earth - one of the small group of men who are God's channel - his only channel to mankind. He claimed to be one of the small group of men to whom the whole rest of mankind should listen and upon whose words they should make major life-altering decisions - sometimes life or death decisions. He claimed to be one of only about a dozen men whom the masses of mankind have to obey or else they get eternal destruction.

I listened to and obeyed this group of men for decades and doing so ruined my life and caused me vast misery. I will never get over it. I'd love to have a few minutes with that smug, smirking, arrogant bastard. He is self-righteous and condescending. He talked down to others. I want to know why the hell he's being erased. Being a JW cost me millions of dollars and a normal life. I have a right to know to know. This is not just trivial gossip. These men steal and ruin lives. This ain't some fictional TV show; this is real.

55

If JW is not the truth, then what is the true religion?

by TxNVSue2023 in

even though i'm disfellowshiped ( & i belive wrongfully so).

i still belive this is the truth.

i have been d'f for about 8 months now and working on reinstatement.

Magnum

You assume there is a true religion. In order for your question to be valid, you must first prove there is a true religion.

You state that one of the reasons you believe JWs have the truth is that "the world is getting more and more wicked." How do you know that? Please prove it. What are your reasons/statistics/etc.? Yeah, for example, crime is getting worse in California and retailers are closing stores because of rampant theft, but it's not because the people are becoming more wicked; it's because the law isn't being enforced. Human nature has been the same for millenia.

You state that no other religion that you've seen has the fruits of truth. So, you're saying you see the fruits of truth in JWdom? I see that most JWs cheat on their field service reports. I see a religion that claims that the whole world is about to be violently destroyed, yet does almost nothing to give fair warning. Do you really think that the almost non-existent, faint, unclear, puny, cowardly, inefficient preaching work of JWs provides a sufficient warning to an entire world about to be destroyed? I see a religion based on deception... one that runs from fact and truth... one that claims to love light but that wants to operate in the dark so it won't be exposed. I see a religion that has a history over 100 years long of major failed predictions, deception, corruption, looney teachings and writings, etc.

45

Anthony Morris III demoted to Great Crowd!

by Vanderhoven7 in

well, that is my prediction for 2024 anyway!

hey, if watchtower can speculate..... https://youtu.be/dn8askhhwkw.

Magnum

I agree with FFGhost, Blondie, Fisherman, & ThomasMore. Once anointed, always anointed. One cannot be demoted to great crowd. If one loses anointing, it's the lake of fire, Gehenna, eternal death. Even one's being disfellowshipped does not necessarily mean he has lost anointed status. Org has referred to passage that says something like 'you judge those on the inside, whereas God judges those on the outside.' So, elders make judgements about those in the congregation (on the inside), whereas God judges those outside the congregation (disfellowhipped, etc.) (whether worthy of life or death and whether anointed or not). Congregation elders cannot make determinations as to who is anointed, but they can disfellowship. So, even if Tony was disfellowshipped, he would not necessarily lose his supposed anointing.

But, as Fisherman wrote, even though Tony would not lose his anointing due to being removed from the GB (or even being disfellowshipped), he would lose his status as being part of the F&DS. It used to be that all anointed made up the F&DS, but the GB implemented a coup a few years ago and took the F&DS status all for themselves - casting away the rest of the anointed without even consulting them even though they should have been consulted because they had just as much say-so as the GB did according to JW theology of the time.

18

How did you pass the time when the Kingdom Hall meetings became boring and repetitive/

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

another boring and repetitive ''watchtower study.

'' all the articles are about the ''faithful and discreet slave.''.

for whatever reason, you tolerate this for years.

Magnum

Fisherman: If you were an elder, you know that seeming sincerity may disguise investigation

Yeah, I get your point. However, this was a really good guy. At one point, he even said something to me about resigning as an elder, but he said it would shock his family. I don't know for sure whether his issue was with the organization as a whole or just the situation in my area. In my area, almost all elders were lacking in knowledge, were bad teachers, etc.

This was about seven years ago... maybe more than that. I have thought about this guy a lot and wondered what he's doing now.

slimboyfat, dang, you seem to be really well-read. I am curious about your reading habits. Might have to start a new topic one day and ask you about them. I'm fascinated by the fact that a 22-year-old would be interested in and even aware of such.