Posts by Pete Zahut

10

My son's observation: Mom wants to believe, But really doesn't that's why she can't defend her religion

by goingthruthemotions in

my wife has been off the rails lately.

she is not really a loving mom or wife.

she is upset that me and the boys don't believe the same crap as her.

Pete Zahut

I think she wants to believe it's true and that;s why she can't defend her beliefs

Who wants to be on the defensive in their own home? That can't be much fun....I'm sure she probably feels outnumbered. Why not casually ask her simple questions once in awhile as if you simply want to understand things better rather than change her mind. Simply ask casual questions and accept whatever her answer is without comment.

Example:

You: "I've forgotten the Bible reasoning behind "headship". I remember that for some reason women are supposed to be in subjection to men and yet they can be part of the144,000 and will rule with Jesus and Judge mankind once they get to heaven but they can't even run the microphones at the Kingdom Hall here on earth."

Her: "The Bible says at Ephesians 5 that Women are to be in subjection to their husbands."

You: "Ok...so they're to be in subjection to their husbands but I was never clear on how that plays into having responsibilities at the Kingdom Hall. It's probably not all that important, I was just thinking about it. Anyway...pass the potatoes please."

Often, in the process of answering a question, they can see the flaws in the JW reasoning on their own without having their noses rubbed in it. That way get can get comfortable questioning their understandings and can do so without feeling they need to defend them. That's what I did and it worked immediately.

19

Zoom Memorial

by gabcol in

well i did it.. i attended the zoom memorial ( in respect for my mum).

it was very strange to say the least.

everyone had bread and wine at their houses.

Pete Zahut

When it comes to the Memorial, among other things, I was always puzzled by how fussy they were about the type of wine, the bread recipe and the day and the hour it was held. They wanted everything to be exactly like it was at the original event, yet weeks beforehand, they'd go around the community inviting complete strangers to the Memorial even though there was no indication that anyone but Jesus current associates were in attendance back in the day. There is no indication in the Bible that the Apostles went around inviting anyone else to attend the Last Supper.

In terms of accuracy, the original meal was held in an upper room and they were all physically together in it. How true to the original can they be in this regard when everyone is attending via Zoom.

25

Just invited to a zoom memorial.

by Overrated in

jw
friends

walked away from the trooth years ago(over 20) my older sister sends me an invite to the memorial via zoom.

i have no interest in jwism at all.

should i ignore or respond?.

Pete Zahut

Send a Text reply saying “What’s a Memorial ?”

34

Do You Think “Normal” Is Ever Going To Happen Again?

by minimus in

jw
friends

since covid, our lives have all been affected.

do you think people will ever get back to normal, pre-covid?

are masks, vaccinations and social distancing the “new normal “?.

Pete Zahut

My guess is that since mask wearing is now common, people may feel comfortable enough to carry on wearing them in certain situations such as flying.

A lot of folks will continue on working from home and having groceries and restaurant food delivered more than they previously used to.

I’m hoping that more and more people will grow tired of the bias in the media and stop watching the news altogether.

12

Does the Earth (as a planet) deserve to be colonised by humans?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

do humans have the right to live on this planet?

we have, in much less than a century, managed to fill the earth with so much plastic waste that tiny fragments of plastic have been found on the highest mountains and the deepest ocean depths.

not satisfied with doing that, we stupidly continue to do it.

Pete Zahut

It’s difficult to apply the word “deserve” to a planet since being deserving involves actions that earn deservedness.

Perhaps the question should be “ do humans deserve to colonize the earth”. To which I’d say, some do and some don’t but either way we were given no choice in the matter. We all showed up here one by one and through no fault of our own, are victims of whatever circumstances came before us.

43

When You Were A Witness Did You Believe Everything Taught?

by minimus in

jw
friends

obviously at some point you stopped believing the witnesses had the truth or else you wouldn’t be here.

.

but for the most part, were you a true believer or were you typically a rebel or a doubter?

Pete Zahut

I didn’t necessarily believe everything they said but I believed I SHOULD believe everything they said and if I didn’t, my faith was somehow deficient . My faith should be strong enough to spread the misinformation far and wide and until there was “ new light” on a matter, the problem lay with me.

47

What is the most insensitive thing an Overseer or Elder has ever said and done to you?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

what is the most insensitive thing an overseer or elder has ever said and done to you?

i have had many insensitive things said to me by some elders, but for some reason one self-righteous elder was always on my case.

he didn't like the fact that i missed meetings, didn't like that i never went out in field service, that i didn't answer at the weekly meetings and he didn't like that i carried my books and magazines in my hands and not a service/book bag.

Pete Zahut

Pete. Awful.🌹

Thanks....yes and the worst thing of all was that a few months later, they came out with the new light on blood fractions. Knowing my Father, he surely would have seen how ridiculous this was and would have re-thougt the whole JW blood policy. At the very least, the blood fractions would have expand his blood enough to allow the surgeon to go back in an correct the problem rather than waiting for his body to regenerate enough blood to do so.

47

What is the most insensitive thing an Overseer or Elder has ever said and done to you?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

what is the most insensitive thing an overseer or elder has ever said and done to you?

i have had many insensitive things said to me by some elders, but for some reason one self-righteous elder was always on my case.

he didn't like the fact that i missed meetings, didn't like that i never went out in field service, that i didn't answer at the weekly meetings and he didn't like that i carried my books and magazines in my hands and not a service/book bag.

Pete Zahut

My kind generous Father studied with the JWs and everything he knew about the Bible and blood transfusions came from that study. He wasn't baptized yet but died because he needed blood during a surgery and was admonished to sigh the no blood paperwork beforehand.

The elders assured us that we would see him again soon and that he would be in the new system because he died upholding Jehovah's laws, nevertheless, they wouldn't allow us to have his memorial service at the Kingdom Hall because he wasn't baptized.

After suffering this unnecessary loss because of the JW's blood policy, this was the cruelest blow of all, to his family.

29

Newly discovered Dead Sea Scrolls with the tetragrammaton within the Greek text

by dropoffyourkeylee in

big news from israel, some previously undiscovered dead sea scrolls have been found with portions of the ot in greek.

it says the name of god is included in hebrew letters within the greek text.. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/world/middleeast/dead-sea-scrolls.html.

"the new fragments contain verses from zechariah 8:16-17, including part of the name of god written in ancient hebrew, and verses from nahum 1:5-6, both from the biblical book of the twelve minor prophets.".

Pete Zahut

The fact that the tetragrammaton was included in the Greek text of the OT is a strong basis to accept that the New Testament writers did it as well, especially when quoting from the OT. None of the extant mss/papyri of the NT are earlier than the second/third century CE by which time the tradition of using the nomina sacra had developed.

This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the JW's and the Jews are the one true religions.

66

Watchtower fined in Belgium

by Vanderhoven7 in

jehovah's witnesses in belgium have to pay €12k fine for shunning policy.

news.

you have probably heard of the trial going on in belgium about the shunning policy of jws.

Pete Zahut

Do I want to be forced to speak to a disfellowshiped pedophile because a judge says I must? No. Not now. Not ever. One's choice of associates, no matter what drives it, should be beyond a judge's purview.

Talk about coming to the opposite conclusion .

JW's don't force anyone to speak to someone if they don't want to, but they do however attempt to prevent and even punish individuals for speaking to someone (including their family members) by disfellowshipping them. That was the point of the Judges ruling. He said that the JW disfellowshipping policy was promoting something that is a violation of ones basic human rights. He wasn't talking about forcing anyone to talk to someone if they chose not to, he was talking about your right to choose for yourself who you talk to and the rights of the disfellowshipped person to being treated justly and within the laws of the land rather than by additional laws made up by a religious organization.