what would happen if all of the governing body members died at the same time-
Suddenly there would be marvelous "New Light" about "The Rapture" and JW's worldwide would immediately adopt it enthusiastically and wholeheartedly.
i don't suppose anyone knows for sure, but do we have any kind of hint of what would happen if all of the governing body members died at the same time- such that nobody was left to appoint successors?
in lieu of any solid evidence, i'd also be interested in hearing some speculation based on what we already know about the organizational structure.. it would certainly throw a wrench in either the teaching that the faithful and discreet slave will survive into the great tribulation and/or the implied doctrine that the the gb succession arrangement is justifiable biblically.
let me firmly disclaim any implication that i am encouraging violence or wishing death on the governing body.
what would happen if all of the governing body members died at the same time-
Suddenly there would be marvelous "New Light" about "The Rapture" and JW's worldwide would immediately adopt it enthusiastically and wholeheartedly.
08:30 - 15:30 = school.
08:30 - 15:30 = school.
08:30 - 15:30 = school.
19:00 - 22:00 = Eat lukewarm pizza and play video games with the witnessed that lived across the street.
Whaaat ??? You were allowed to play video games?? Your family must have been spiritually weak...possibly demonized LOL!
Seriously though...sorry about your friend. The only thing I can personally add too your sad and pathetic list, from my own is:
Saturday : 6 AM - 9 AM get up and drive 35 miles with a group of JW youth who were old enough to drive into the city to do "street witnessing" before regular "field service".
9 AM -10 AM Drive back to the suburbs to our Kingdom Hall to meet for regular Saturday "Field Service".
10 AM - 12 AM Engage in "Field Service" walking around in a suit and tie in neighborhoods filled with kids from my school and pray they didn't see me. Then do return visits on people who were only taking the magazines from me because they were too kind to say no.
Sunday: Go to morning meeting and Watchtower Study. Come home and change into work clothes to do Janitorial work cleaning toilets and emptying garbage cans with a brother in Congregation who paid me $5 for 4 hours of work.
Monday: Meet with other JW youth to study the Watchtower for Sunday. (this involved studying in advance so that you'd be prepared to answer at the Monday study...for the real Sunday study. The elders put an end to this eventually because they thought it was a ruse for us teens to get together.)
Wednesday: Family study with my Mom and siblings. Dad wasn't a JW so mom had to wear a dish towel on her head while discussing the upcoming "great tribulation" to show subjection to my Father who didn't know what to do about this crazy religion, so he just handed over our entire upbringing to her.
P.S. We lived in mobile home in a crummy mobile home park across from the Kingdom Hall where many other JW families lived. Mom convinced Dad to sell our nice house so we could be debt free when the "tribulation" hit. Our family along with the rest of the JW's were all hunkering down waiting for the tribulation which never materialized.
Then came the Bethel years....
there always seems to be someone offended by something.
in today’s world if you don’t see eye to eye with someone they claim to be offended.
if you don’t support a cause that someone deems important, they get offended.
i know there's a name for this technique but i need a name, nonetheless.. if i say to my audience: apostates are horrible, satanic, dirty, sinners, mentally diseased etc ... all hateful traits.
and then i say: person a is an apostate.
then my audience will associate all the traits previously associated with "apostate" with person a. but i can say: i never said person a was horrible, satanic, dirty, mentally diseased etc.
I know there's a name for this technique but I need a name, nonetheless.
I think this might fall under "Begging the Question Fallacy" "or "Circular Reasoning" which is where a claim is made and accepted to be true but one must already accept the premise to be true for the claim to be true. JW's already accept the existence of Satan and that anyone who leaves their organization is an Apostate and is being manipulated by him and is mentally diseased etc. Therefore, anyone who is identified as an apostate, automatically possesses those traits, even though there is no proof of a mental disorder or that Satan even exists.
dr. leanna wen is currently spreading the fallacy that unvaccinated persons should have vaccines mandated because they are like drunk drivers… they have the right to be drunk at home she says, but wanting to be part of society at large without being vaccinated is like driving drunk and putting others at risk.
besides ignoring the science proving that persons who have had sars cov-2 have natural immunity that equals or exceeds anything that could be imparted from the mrna shot, without the side effects or need for boosters, ( sorry big pharma, you’ll be losing $$$ ) this illustration just smacks of illogical reasoning.
it reminds me of the borg comparing getting baptized to getting your driver’s license.
Dr. Leanna Wen is currently spreading the fallacy that unvaccinated persons should have vaccines mandated because they are like drunk drivers… They have the right to be drunk at home she says, but wanting to be part of society at large without being vaccinated is like driving drunk and putting others at risk.
I get what she's saying but her logic has holes in it.
It seems to me that her analogy would only be true, if drunk drivers only hit other drunk drivers. Unfortunately, drunk drivers can hit anyone at any time and other than staying home, there is very little the public can do to protect themselves from drunk drivers. With Covid, there is a vaccine available to the public and those who choose not to get it are at risk of contracting it themselves and infecting others who have also chosen not to get vaccinated.
most churches are back to in-person worship.
not jehovah's witnesses.
is watchtower still managing to fleece the flocks as the sheeple no longer get literature, no longer go to the kh, no longer walk past the donation box?
No meetings but the other day while driving by the Kingdom Hall I attended for over 25 years, I noticed they are all out tending to the grounds as a group. (no masks)
i see posts that evans does not seem to like being removed.
i guess he is not a lot different than the control cult he left.
his rebuttal to the zoom assembly he said that dawkins made some silly comments about gender.
I see posts that Evans does not seem to like being removed. I guess he is not a lot different than the control cult he left.
When it comes to his broadcasts etc, it's his perogative to administer them as he sees fit. Unlike the JW's, he does not punish, shun or ruin lives or condemn to death anyone who does not agree with him.
He whines that JWs do not think for them self and they don't for the most part but when someone does not agree with him he acts just like Tony Tight pants.
Unlike Tony, he does not claim to be one of God's anointed spokesman. He does not claim that his broadcasts are being directed by the "creator of the universe". He is simply a former JW who based on his life's experience, has certain opinions and chooses to air them publicly in his own way, to those who choose to listen to him. He does not go out banging on people's doors demanding that they heed his message. Anyone who chooses to listen to him has not been told that they are evil and that God will kill them if they don't do as he says. They are free to "think for themselves" and tune him out and go on about their lives... no harm, no foul.
back in the day, tons of witnesses were brought in the “back room “ to be counseled by elders because of their dress and grooming.
some elders frowned on mustaches or hair that went past a certain point on a male.
women were regularly harassed because their skirt was too long or too short or had a slit on the side.
When we were High School we were good kids and we really tried to be good JW's but somehow our hair and or sideburns were always too long, 2 door cars were inappropriate for service, clothes too trendy etc etc, One evening my friend and I were sitting together during the meeting and the Presiding Overseer was sitting behind us. He leaned forward and whispered into my friends ear, "Get a hair cut or I'll pull your publishers card". My friend who had had about enough of the whole thing, whispered back "Pffft....go for it !"
Another time we had a 50's party and some guys dressed as "greasers" and some girls dressed as "bobby soxers", somebody was Elvis and someone else was Marylin Monroe and another was Groucho Marx etc. The Circuit Overseer heard about it and when he visited the Congregation the following week, said that instead of imitating worldly people and sex goddesses from the 1950's, it would have been more proper for us to have dressed like JW's engaged in the ministry in the 1950's. (there was a lot of eye rolling and suppressed guffaws)
Years later, when the Musician Prince passed away from a drug overdose, that same Circuit Overseer was was quoted in the media as having said that Prince was an approved Jehovah's Witness in good standing. Apparently a JW man prancing around on stage in androgynous dress and make-up singing sexually charged songs is ok but don't dress like a greaser at a 50's party.
i know this happened several years ago but.... holy christ!
they beat the poor girl 160 times with a 3/4 inch cable!
"in a slow, steady voice, assistant state's atty.
Not a big shock seeing as how they are still taking these ancient texts literally (when it suits them) and there are often mixed messages. Women at ties must wear head coverings around men and boys if they're baptized jw's, blood is sacred until it's separated into fractions and children are beaten, lovingly.
Proverbs 23:14
Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 14 Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.
Proverbs 13:24
He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
watching in on my wife's zoom meeting last night, there was an item about discipline is love.
they played a 'caleb' animated cartoon and then the instructions were 'if possible, ask selected young children' several questions.. it seems however, that there are no children in my wife's current congregation so the questions were all answered by retired brothers and sisters.
the congregation mainly consists of elderly people (like us) and the few of childbearing age seem not interested in having children.
I remember being amused when once there was an embarrassing topic that touched on immortality. A kid about twelve had his hand up to give an answer. NO adult commented 🤣.
Reminds me of a Sunday Watchtower study where a little girl was called on to answer the question was "What is the difference between literal Circumcision and Circumcision of the heart?" She went on to describe and compare each of these things. It seemed very inappropriate and I wondered what any non JW visitor might be thinking.