Posts by Pete Zahut

13

Did you ever thought this?

by Theonlyoneleft in

so.. you are a jw or studying, living your life and doing your bit, feverish of spreading the good news to everyone that will listen!.

you prep yourself for meetings, doing your ministry and applying all that there is into your daily life.. so....i have a question... you know... my clogs.

when you where completely in the religion, did you ever think about the impact of your way of life and religion towards others, specially those that lived around you such as good friends or family members that didn’t studied?

Pete Zahut

Pete you’re always welcome in London!!!.....I hope you’ll get to visit the Westminster Abbey one day, it’s a place filled with historical facts ☺️.

Well thank you!!

When I was a kid living in the U.S, we were able to travel quite a bit. One time, after much discussion, I was really upset when I found out that we weren't going to see Westminster Abbey. To this day, the British and Irish side of the family still call me "Mr Abbey" because apparently I said "Why can't we go and see Mr. Abbey??". They all thought that was hilarious and it broke up some of the tension in the room and they still recount the story.

Since then I'm happy to say, I've been able to visit Westminster Abbey and other historical religious sites in Europe.

13

Did you ever thought this?

by Theonlyoneleft in

so.. you are a jw or studying, living your life and doing your bit, feverish of spreading the good news to everyone that will listen!.

you prep yourself for meetings, doing your ministry and applying all that there is into your daily life.. so....i have a question... you know... my clogs.

when you where completely in the religion, did you ever think about the impact of your way of life and religion towards others, specially those that lived around you such as good friends or family members that didn’t studied?

Pete Zahut

Until we found out later that the Governing Body members etc visited famous historical churches and "holy places" in their many travels, we used to avoid them because we viewed them as part of Babylon the Great (touch not the unclean thing).

I remember my Mother being apprehensive about visiting West Minster Abbey for example, when we were visiting non JW family in London even though she had invited and fully expected them to come to the meetings with us at the local Kingdom Hall while we were there (which they did, out of politeness).

How narcissistic and arrogant to think that our visiting the historical church that was the flagship of their religion would be offensive to God and them not attending our meetings would be a considered a rejection of the "Truth" and another nail hammered into their collective coffins.

11

How a young Jehovah's Witness found an escape and a Teacher suddenly appeared.

by Terry in

jw
friends

how a young jehovah's witness found an escape and a teacher suddenly appeared._____________.

1974____i escaped texas in my mid-20’s -- a fugitive of my own life--fleeing westward into california with a dream of- i know not what.i knew nothing useful - it was only bible knowledge.what i did know, i was full of in the same way foie gras is made.

(in france, ducks are force-fed until their liver bursts.

Pete Zahut

Thanks for sharing this experience from your past and for the foresight to write down or at least pay close enough attention to Myoshi's words so as to remember them, even if you didn't get the full impact of them until later.

I could almost picture him, hear his voice and see his wry smile as I read your story. He must have seen something in you that prompted him to share his insights on life and the details of the loss of his family. I'd say his words were not wasted for they are still having an impact on others, decades after he first spoke them to you.

40

How did Adam and Eve survive when kicked out of the Garden of Eden?

by I believe in overlapping in

it’s funny how a simple question like this is something that the dubs never even consider.

my dad asked this question to a couple of witnesses and they wondered for a minute and said; .

“i never thought about it, i’ll have to ask the elders”.

Pete Zahut

As a JW, it was my understanding that animals and vegetation were created and existed on the entire earth not just solely in the garden. The creation that took place, took place over the entire earth. Fish were in the seas, lakes and rivers, birds flew in the skies and animals roved the earth. That being the case, there would be all the vegetables, roots, nuts and berries that exist today, available for them to eat and Adam and Eve could do so as well once the we’re put out of Eden.

If the story is true, the earth today is still under the same curse, yet vegetation still grows despite the thorns and weeds. There was no indication in the Bible that Adam and Eve (if they existed)had to start from scratch. It only said that their work to grow things from that point forward would be more difficult than it was before. Not impossible.

It seems to me that anyone who believes this story is literal would have been able to easily answer this simple question before the went out publicly offering to study the Bible with people.

15

Blew it this morning with 4 JWs

by Vanderhoven7 in

so i decided to go hunting for jws this morning.

walked to the end of my driveway and who should be approaching...but 2 ladies, one old (dianne) and one younger both with watchtower mags in hand.

dianne shared how the world was under the control of satan etc.

Pete Zahut

Next time you should wear this T-shirt

10

Convention canceled in Queensland

by Festus in

apparently a big regional convention in australia has been cancelled.

instead there will be 14 conventions at the local convention hall.. does anyone from downunder have any idea about the reason?.

Pete Zahut

I suggested in a previous thread that more and more secular venues might be percieving the JWs as "toxic clients" due to all the bad (albeit deserved) CSA-related publicity...

I can see why you'd say that but when you think about it, they have no trouble renting these facilities for concerts and the musicians who sometimes go out of their way to makes sure everyone knows of their bad reputations, not to mention the unruly crowds they tend to draw.

I'm guessing it's more about projected costs and concern over having them covered, due to the dwindling contributions coming in.

236

Do You Think Trump Bares Any Responsibility For The Mass Shootings Occuring?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when any mass shooting happens is it the president’s fault?

i’m talking over the last few decades..

Pete Zahut

I agree with Pete Zahut. If all media outlets voluntarily agreed to never mention the name of a gunman it would reduce the frequency of mass shootings.

Yes and simply report once or twice in a 24 hour period that it happened and stick to the basic facts (time place number of casualties) and refrain from showing video and playing up the emotional reaction of those who witnessed the event.

As it is, they are constantly bringing us instant up dates by the hour and reporting (with video) on every salacious tidbit of information they can possibly find.

21

International convention Utrecht this weekend

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

friends,.

in an earlier posting gorby wrote about attending the international convention in utrecht this weekend, to keep the family happy and make some observations.. guests were gb member jackson and his assistent van der zande, a dutch helper of the gb.. 42.000+ attenders and +/- 250 baptisers.. the convention theme about "love" was not bad at all, from a christian viewpoint.. jackson and van der zande made a good presentation with humor.. the colorfull witness from arround the word were nice and nice to see.. typical witness doctrine about 1914, king of the north, being obient when your kingdom hall will be sold etcetera were hard to listen to.. but the love theme was not bad, and sometimes oké.. i see a transformation to an evangelical kind of tv church.. ifthe typical jw doctrine about years, endtime, education, blood and armageddon would be downplayed, gorby could see some positive side of jw-ism.. mainpoint is that jw try to show love but on a forced base, because they are told to do so.. but, not a bad convention, and a good, humble part of jackson and van der zande, did not expect this.. i write some positive because it is, what it is.. see your opinion.. gorby.

Pete Zahut

If the typical JW doctrine about years, endtime, education, blood and Armageddon would be downplayed, Gorby could see some positive side of JW-ism.

There is usually some beneficial aspect to following a plan or set of well defined guidelines and being answerable to others, whether it's in a religion or a social group of some kind.

I've often said that rather than intervening in peoples personal relationship with God and Policing the congregation members, those who are taking the lead in the JW organization should stick to saying what they have to say from the platform, teaching their understanding of the Bible and God's will, advising people who ask for advice and simply let people apply what they are learning, in their own lives as they see fit.

Any number of injustices and serious consequences can and do take place when unlettered and ordinary men start dishing out discipline and dealing with matters that even highly trained professionals have difficulty with.

236

Do You Think Trump Bares Any Responsibility For The Mass Shootings Occuring?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when any mass shooting happens is it the president’s fault?

i’m talking over the last few decades..

Pete Zahut

Humans tend to "mirror" one another's behavior. Remember the old adage "Bad association spoils useful habits".

When we see someone yawn...we tend to yawn. When we hear a lame joke we tend to laugh when we see that others are laughing at it. This is why they play a laugh track after punchline during TV sitcoms.

When we're around negative people we tend to get more negative ourselves.

There is evidence that the more educated one is, the less they mirror others.

No one should shoot at other people no matter what the President says or does or what is shown in the Media but the actions on the part of the President and the way in which it is highlighted the media can play a part in the overall "mood" of the country. There is evidence that mentally imbalanced and poorly educated individuals are affected more by this and can sometimes be prompted to mirror or imitate these shocking occurrences once they become aware of them or when they've been exposed to them enough.

For this reason, some say that when these things happen, it would be better not to cover them in the media. They blame the media for sensationalizing everything or focusing on behaviors that draw in viewers. This may be an oversimplification of a complex issue, but it seems to me that the availability of weapons coupled with the fact that these events keep people tuned in to their televisions and advertising dollars are involved, we will likely see more of this until something changes.

21

JW Malaise

by Half banana in

malaise according to the cambridge dictionary:.

a general feeling of being ill or having no energy, or an uncomfortable feeling that something is wrong, especially with society, and that you cannot change the situation.

where the dictionary says society, read "the society"........... is there a malaise in the jw world?

Pete Zahut

I'd say that for many JW's it's more a case of rampant Weltschmerz [velt-shmerts]

A German Noun that is used to describe the depression or weariness that arises from comparing the word as it is, to a hypothetical and idealized world.

When physical realities can't match the demands of the mind.

Constant postponement of their unrealistic expectations, has reduced many JW's to the level of highly functioning zombies who don't really know what to think anymore.

Ever visited Bethel?? Lots of that going on there.