enough rhetoric for now, here is my promised first part to my series.. for the benefit of lurkers, i'm using mainly wt publications as my research to show this information isn't 'apostate'.
part 1: association with russell and the bible students.
i want to ask an honest question.
The link below is to an article from the 1918 Brooklyn Daily Eagle that some might find interesting. It paints a much different picture of the early years of the movement, than what we were presented with.
You have to scroll forward to follow the article as it continues on other pages through the newspaper.
Sorry...don't see anything "creepy" at all about the photo. In fact it seems kind of nice really.
There's lots to complain about when it comes to JW teachings but that doesn't mean there's fault to be found, in everything they do or say.
i have written some time ago, about how the religion i grew up in no longer exists.
i was an 80’s jw kid who became a pioneer then a bethelite.
they have new meetings, new elder roles, new acronyms, new core teachings, new songs and even a new bible.
What would Russell or Rutherford think of this Religion now I wonder?
They'd immediately be disfellowshipped for Apostasy and no one would care what they thought about anything.
oh i have waited for this for many years.
it used to really irritate me when i looked out my office window at long island college hospital.
dang the witnesses presence in brooklyn even out lasted a117 year old hospital.. https://nypost.com/2017/12/06/iconic-brooklyn-sign-taken-down-after-70-years/.
I also wondered all those years ago, why they didn't put the name JEHOVAH in lights since it was his name we were trying to vindicate / proclaim / spread throughout the world. Instead, they went with 15' letters spelling out the name of the magazine they were trying to sell.
faithful and discreet slave parable.
matthew 24:45-47 "who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time?
happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so.
They are of no use in the congregations. They don't help any member in any way. If they were really ''appointed over his domestics,'' they would have real functions in field service, assemblies, and heading the congregation
Many JW women are recognized as "of the anointed" yet according to JW's they have no authority to be in charge of anything in the congregation, because of their gender. So it seems to me, they are rendered doubly "useless" not only because of their gender but also because they aren't (and will never be allowed to be) members of the governing body.
i think we are going to be seeing lots more of this stuff.
.
http://www.capjournal.com/news/pierre-jehovah-s-witnesses-put-up-smaller-kingdom-hall-to/article_e05d9c36-d8b9-11e7-acb3-9f63fb65c896.html.
It seems odd that a religious group who goes around recruiting new members with the intent to grow the congregation, bring in new members and supposedly save lives, would tear down a relatively new and larger building to install what looks to be a double wide mobile home, in disguise.
It's almost as if they've resigned themselves that there's no hope for growth. Perhaps, the building they had, needed repairs or renovations and the cost of doing so was more than Warwick would allow them to reinvest and the mobile home was the only option they had to avoid having to drive to another town for their meetings.
At least this new building can be moved if things get worse and they eventually get merged into another congregation.
first post here and looking for advice and help.
sorry in advance for it being so long :(.
i'm a happily married woman (no kids) who is a non-jw, presbyterian to be precise.
JW's insist/demand that their religious rights are upheld in the workplace and in public. When these matters go to court, they are treated fairly and their rights are usually upheld, even though JW's themselves have high disdain for the authorities of this world.
Ironically, in their personal lives when dealing with non JW's , they expect others, even spouses and other family members, to alter their religious beliefs and their lives around their JW beliefs. For instance, non JW relatives would expected to attend the Kingdom Hall weddings and funerals of their JW family members (most have no problem doing so) yet the JW family members would never set foot in a Church under any circumstance, even for a wedding or funeral of a close relative.
All I can say is when it comes to religion and just about everything else, get used to being the odd man out, in your own home. Your husbands family may seem as if they have accepted you but you will always be looked upon as a unenlightened unbeliever who is part of Satan's wicked system of things AKA "Babylon the Great". They believe anyone who is part of "Babylon the Great" will soon be destroyed by God and that means you. If they are making an effort to cover up their attitude and are being decent to you, it is because they view you as a possible convert and are hoping to win you over with their good example.
this is how the conversation went.
decide for your selves.. dad : joe if ever i need an operation i've told them i don't want blood.
not a drop.. joe : well what about blood fractions.
Joe : well what about blood fractions. Where they extract a component out of blood cell.
Dad : Well it's still blood isn't it so the answer would still be no.
Joe : Oh really
Dad : well its not such a problem now as a lot of the vaccines are made artifical now. So no need to worry.
I don't follow how the conversation went from talking about blood transfusions and blood fractions to talking about vaccines.
here's a hypothetical: you find your elderly jw father - a lifelong witness, unconscious in his home - you are alone with him.
you ring an ambulance.
at the hospital the doc says they need to give him a blood transfusion straight away or he'll die.
My non JW Dad (studying) died a horrible death by not taking blood at the advice of JW's. Then they wouldn't let us have his memorial at the Hall because he wasn't baptized.
Knowing what I now know about the history of the JW blood doctrine and the changes that have been made to it over the years (fractions) and having lived through that experience with my Dad, I would say nothing about blood unless the Doctor specifically asked me about it.
Typically the question or whether or not to use blood, only arises if the patient is a JW and he or a relative brings it up, or a blood card is found on their person in the case of an accident. My understanding is that a blood transfusion is given as a matter of routine procedure.
If I could do it over again, I'd beg my father not to sign the blood paperwork and fill him in on the background of the doctrine and I'd give him as much of my blood as he needed. He'd still be alive today and would have gotten to know my Sons and his new great granddaughter.
He's far to well educated.
