Congratulations on your smart decision to resign your position, an essential first step to a successful fade. It worked for me.
willyloman
JoinedPosts by willyloman
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50
Resigned
by Franklin Massey ini finally resigned as an elder.
my conscience wouldn't allow me to continue.
i've battled for years trying to reconcile the fallacies of the wt society with my own personal beliefs.
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willyloman
Burnedout: I wish you all the best on this new spiritual journey that will set you free in ways you cannot imagine. Your story is my story; I was an elder for more than 20 years and was conducting the WT Study when I discovered this site and started reading. It changed my life. I walked away with no regrets and took my wife and grown children with me. We have never been happier. There is life after the Watchtower!
Take the advice you're getting here and keep reading, keep "studying" the truth about the Truth, and you'll find what you've been looking for.
"Crisis of Conscience" is an immediate must read; don't delay. It will open your eyes and confirm your suspicions and you will realize as you're reading it that the author is your brother, in the best sense of the word.
You've shown great courage. Keep moving forward!
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46
Closing a number of Branches is an EXCITING Development???
by Rank&FileGuy inthis is an exerpt from the aug. 15, 2011 wt p.18:.
why is down-sizing an "exciting development"?
amazing how they spin it..
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willyloman
Did y'all note today's news item? Camping says the end did come "invisibly" the other day and the "real" end would take place on Oct. 21. Further down in the body of the news story: Camping's church has $34 million in the bank.
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No Rapture But JW's Shown 2 B The True Idiots
by Pig inloved this article in australia.
five other end-of-world predictions: .
1. followers of william miller believed the world would end on october 22, 1844.. 2.the jehovah's witness religion has predicted the end of the world in 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994.. 3. charles wesley, founder of the methodist church, predicted the world would end in 1794.. 4. famous forecaster nostradamus predicted doomsday would happen in july 1999.. 5. english mystic joanna southcott predicted the world would end on october 19, 1814, when she gave birth to the messiah.. .
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willyloman
Which has probably a lot to do with the fact that what you see depends very much on which lens you are looking at it through!
You're right, it does. In my 30 years as a dub I noticed each congo, even each circuit, has its own personality and it's own point of view on many things. Where I was, it was the consensus that the 1975 prediction was premature (not "wrong") and that the end could not poissibly delay beyond 1994 due to the Society's constant repetion of the generation teaching (before it changed in '95). As a result, anyone payhing attention was on tiptoes from '84 on.
On reflection, you're right that no one in authority got up in front of the congo or circuit or district audience and said in so many words, "the end will come between 1984 and '94," but we were reminded constantly in speech and in print that the generation of 1914 would see the end and that a generation was 70 or 80 years by Bible definition. We could do the math. In private conversations, I heard many elders voice that opinion openly. It helped them assimilate the 1975 Great Disappointment to know they WTS was only off by a "few" years.
It's my personal opinion the Society encouraged this kind of speculation, while being careful not appear to take the lead in it, because it kept a lot of us from walking away in the late 1970's (as many did). They were certainly aware of the speculation, otherwise why bother to change the definioton of "generation" as the 1994 service year came to a close?
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47
Sunday Drama-"Young Ones-Be Discreet and Wise"
by CaptainSchmideo ini briefly touched on the drama in another post, but i felt i needed to share in greater detail this latest masterpiece.. .
this was the drama on sunday.
the story alternates between the story of joseph, son of jacob, and a witness kid (forgot his name;billy?
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willyloman
I'm sure your version would be far more entertaining than the actual drama at the convention. Maybe they should ask you to direct.
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No Rapture But JW's Shown 2 B The True Idiots
by Pig inloved this article in australia.
five other end-of-world predictions: .
1. followers of william miller believed the world would end on october 22, 1844.. 2.the jehovah's witness religion has predicted the end of the world in 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994.. 3. charles wesley, founder of the methodist church, predicted the world would end in 1794.. 4. famous forecaster nostradamus predicted doomsday would happen in july 1999.. 5. english mystic joanna southcott predicted the world would end on october 19, 1814, when she gave birth to the messiah.. .
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willyloman
A lof JWs expected something big to happen in 1994. Then a 1995 article cautioned against "calculating" when the end will come followed by an adjustment in the interpretation of a generation.
Exactly. In the aftermath of 1975 the WTS was slow to acknowledge their mistaken timetable. They blamed it on the rank and file for "running ahead" and "over emphasizing" the date - when if fact it was the Society itself and its appointed spokesmen who kept the date alive in dub minds ("Stay Alive 'til '75!").
It was five long years before they finally published a watered-down "apology" for any role they "might" have played in leading folks on. At the same time, however, they insisted over and over again that while the date might not have meant all they had hoped, the end was still very, very near. Afterwards, the Society was extremely careful not to set any specific dates, at least not in print. But they did beat the "generation is 70 or 80 years" drum and tie those generational years to their pivotal date of 1914. It did not take a JW rocket scientist to figure out they were hinting that the end must come sometime between 1984 (70 years after 1914) and 1994 (80 years). In fact, this "quiet" teaching settled down the restless dubs and probably prevented more publisher losses during those years.
From then on, that time period became significant in dub minds. Those of us who were dubs then recall the collective sense that the end would be here prior to 1994. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the Iron Curtain fell and "freedom" broke out in Eastern Europe, dubs were in a frenzy over the huge increase in literature placements and bible studies in this new virgin territory. Surely this was a sign that the end was just around the corner. How loving of Jehovah to put off the end until all our formerly enslaved brothers could have an opportunity to hear the life-saving message!
Remember?
When it got to be 1994, it felt like 1974 all over again. We were down to the final year. A lot still had to happen in a short period of time. From the platform you heard speakers say that 1994 could stretch into early fall of '95 because that was the length of the "service year."
Then, miraculously and right on time, in the fall of 1995, the WT published its infamous "generation" re-teaching. This was previewed for the careful listener in a talk in the summer district conventions, which alluded to the change. Then later it was elaborated on in print and studied by each congo. Suddenly, the "generation" didn't mean what it used to mean. The 70 or 80 years was a non-starter. And 1984-94 was toast as an end-time prediction.
If the WTS did not beat the drums in favor of the 1984-94 time frame, why did they feel the need in 1995 to explain to explain what happened, or didn't happen?
Subtle. That 's how they roll.
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Closing a number of Branches is an EXCITING Development???
by Rank&FileGuy inthis is an exerpt from the aug. 15, 2011 wt p.18:.
why is down-sizing an "exciting development"?
amazing how they spin it..
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willyloman
Outlaw: Good point about Camping's end of the world prediction and the world wide media attention it's gotten. The dub GB must be pissed.
p.s Ever notice whenever there is a story about end-times in any major news publication, JWs are almost never mentioned?
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Are YOU Totally Out Of The JW Mindset?
by minimus indo you no longer think and react like a jw?.
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willyloman
Yes, and it's liberating.
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Gems from the August 15, 2011 WT
by Ultimate Reality inpdfs can be obtained at jw.org.... spiritual gem #1. perhaps witnesses should apply the standard the wt recommends for gathering information on the internet to wt publications; from page 4:.
(1) who published this.
material?
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willyloman
A number of factors—including past religious beliefs or even mental or emotional imbalance—might cause some to assume mistakenly that they have the heavenly calling.
I could be wrong, but when I first read this I thought, "that sounds familiar." I no longer have the WT resources I once had so I can't look it up but I believe they issued a similar statement decades ago, in answer to a question about a small increase in partakers in a then-recent year. Any scholars out there who could look this up?
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Of All of The Automobils You Have Ever Owned Which One Was Your Favorite?
by Was New Boy inthey say the average person will own about 25 cars in their life time.. from 1982 to 1988 i owned a 1971 dodge challenger convertible.
it had a 340 with a 4 speed stick.
i loved that car.. i didnt cry when my wife left me....i did cry when that car drove out of my life!.
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willyloman
I've owned a lot of cars; my favorites:
1937 Ford Panel Truck (a stripped fixer, primered, wrecked before I could restore)
1951 Austin
1959 MGA
1955 Pontiac coupe
1966 VW bug
1973 VW Super Beetle
1974 MBZ 240D
1983 VW GTI
1989 Toyota Camry
1990 Acura Legend
2002 Audi A4
2006 BMW 330iSome were new, some were used. Loved them all. Most favorite? The current one. Cars just keep getting better and better.