Posts by Pete Zahut

11

Enduring watchtower study

by road to nowhere in

my studying consists of skimming the article.

this one starts with 2017 don't give up convention.

at the time i changed it to i give up.

Pete Zahut

Most inane comment: "If armageddon came 100 years ago we wouldnt be here"

Unless good intentions would have been enough for God at Armageddon, if it came 100 years ago, the JW's living then wouldn't have made it. Most all of the supposedly inspired proclamations they were making to the world, were untrue and had to be changed later. If good intentions would have been enough for God to spare JW's at Armageddon, then the rest of those who were part of what JW's deemed as "false religion", would have been spared as well.

37

Sep. 2021 Broadcast: more money

by neat blue dog in

in the latest jw broadcast, anthony morris the turd gives a talk about donations.

to camouflage this, he starts and ends the talk by saying that isn't actually what he's doing.

first he starts with the usual disclaimer, 'wt has never begged for money like christendom and we never will', you know the drill.

Pete Zahut

Wasn’t there someone on the forum that used to drop an IOU in the contribution box with a note that said something to the effect “I’ll contribute actual cash once we’re provided with a detailed report showing exactly what the society is spending our contributions on” ?

I always liked that idea.

17

Letter from Mother: "...go right ahead on death's road and take your kids with you."

by silentbuddha in

so my jw father is sick.

my mother uses the opportunity to try and preach to my 16 year old daughter.

i simply told my mother to: "please refrain from trying to lure *my daughter* in with jehovah's witness questioning.

Pete Zahut

So you go right ahead on deaths road and take your children with you. I'm thankful to Jehovah for the children & grandchildren that Jehovah has given me as He promised. They soothe my heart for the ones I've lost.

You: This is exactly the hateful imbalanced nonsense I'm trying to shield my daughter from. On one hand you try to sound like a loving Christian grandmother and then you go off on some fanatic sounding tirade about "Magic, Aaron's sons being put to death, your lost grandchildren, my supposed Apostasy, Satan's offers etc. You sound as if you've already condemned us to death for God, as if you have such a choice or authority. Thankfully for all of us, you don't, besides, isn't it a sin to Judge others , lest you be Judged likewise yourself? Did you imagine that such speech wouldl somehow draw us back to your religion? It has done the opposite.

I am going to consider your last correspondence as a one-off and although you had good intentions, you let your emotions get the best of you. Again, you are welcome to communicate with my children as long as you respect my wishes where religion is concerned. This is no different than what you would have expected from someone of another religion, when speaking to me when I was a child.

P.S. You might want to do a little research on the topic of Apostasy and the meaning of the word and how it doesn't apply to me. Also check the origin of the name Jehovah and you'll find that Jehovah isn't God's name and perhaps as the creator of the universe, he doesn't appreciate being called by his first name especially if it's being mispronounced.

11

Are you still a JW?

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

which one do you prefer?

zoom meetings or at the kingdom hall?

.

Pete Zahut

From what I gather from "IN" relatives, they like Zoom. My 39 year old SIL said, "Zoom is awesome...you watch a few videos, sing a song, have a prayer and you're done". As she said the word "done", she brushed her hands together as one does when they're done with an unpleasant task.

Others are enjoying only having to get dressed from the waist up and they don't miss the commute back and forth to the Hall. 'What a loving arrangement from the Brothers during these dangerous times.'

54

Allegheny Pyramid Desecrated

by RolRod in

sometime within the last 2 weeks, someone took a sledgehammer to the pyramid monument in allegheny.

they stole the topstone, smashed the cross and crown emblem and removed the seal.. personally i'm surprised it lasted this long untouched.

although through the years russell's grave has been vandalized, it was always repaired by the bible students..

Pete Zahut

The poster must have made a typo or misstated. Rutherford was in prison for a period, but never Russell.

Yes...thank you dropoff that is correct. WT Headquarters, which had been temporarily located in Pittsburg, was moved back to NY when Rutherford went to prison. Good catch St George, sorry for the confusion.

I located the website where I first saw this information, way back when. https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-short-history-of-united-cemeteries.html

54

Allegheny Pyramid Desecrated

by RolRod in

sometime within the last 2 weeks, someone took a sledgehammer to the pyramid monument in allegheny.

they stole the topstone, smashed the cross and crown emblem and removed the seal.. personally i'm surprised it lasted this long untouched.

although through the years russell's grave has been vandalized, it was always repaired by the bible students..

Pete Zahut

I read somewhere that the cemetery located in Pennsylvania was originally meant for Bethelites and Pioneers etc. The Cemetery and pyramid is owed by the WT Society and the Pyramid marked the section where "noteworthy" JW's were to be buried.

When Russell went to prison for a time, the headquarters were moved to New York and because of shipping costs, they began burying deceased Bethelites there.

in the 1940's local Pennsylvania JW's were given the opportunity to purchase a grave site at this cemetery. The former Bible Students used to hold the memorial there. They even though the ancient bible noteworthiness may visit the site one day and view it as reverent ground

Many/most of the graves were never used. I believe there were about 115 unused grave sites. and the pyramid covers 4 more. I'm wondering if they're moving the pyramid because they're going to sell off the whole cemetery, much the way they're selling off many of their properties. Given that cemetery plots can go for around 3 to 5 thousand and up to 35 thousand depending on the location, this might be an opportunity to get rid of an embarrassment and make a few $$

41

Is the door to door preaching work not the primary focus anymore?

by pistolpete in

a few months back, one of my uncles who was an elder, asked the co, why jehovah would allow the door to door preaching work, to come to an abrupt end.

this was when my uncle was starting to have serious doubts about the organization.. the co told him to be patient, and hang in there, because the governing body was on top of things and in time would explain what is happening regarding the preaching work.. my uncle asked; “what do you mean?”.

co said; “focus on the wt study articles in the coming months” .

Pete Zahut

There were quiet (albeit rare) rumblings that the Org wanted to dial back the D2D work for a while now, for a handful of reasons.

Like a lot of what goes on in the JW world without it's members being aware of, I'm guessing there have been many scary or even deadly encounters that have occurred in the door to door activity, especially for the sisters.

41

Is the door to door preaching work not the primary focus anymore?

by pistolpete in

a few months back, one of my uncles who was an elder, asked the co, why jehovah would allow the door to door preaching work, to come to an abrupt end.

this was when my uncle was starting to have serious doubts about the organization.. the co told him to be patient, and hang in there, because the governing body was on top of things and in time would explain what is happening regarding the preaching work.. my uncle asked; “what do you mean?”.

co said; “focus on the wt study articles in the coming months” .

Pete Zahut

I remember back in the early 70's when they introduced the "tract" work. The "end" was so imminent that we were instructed to get these important "tracts" distributed immediately. We were to get in and get out. No presentation, no conversations, just leave the tracts at each door and scurry to the next. Everyone was so enthused...this was finally it and it was so easy.

Tract #1 came and went as did Tract #2 .

When Tract #3 came along they told us that this third tract would be like Joshua's "trumpets" when his army circled Jerico for the third time and they blew their trumpets to bring the walls of the city, down. Such would be the case with our "tracts" and this system of things. The world would not be alerted of this cataclysmic event quickly within a few hours via a worldwide media campaign but instead, they would rely on hand delivered tracts delivered to every door on the planet. Makes sense right?

4 decades later looking back, I realize that no one has ever been concerned about the end coming in someone else's lifetime, only their own. Every Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses that has come and gone has always indicated that the currently living JW's would witness the end of the "system of things" in their lifetime.

As far as I can see, every few decades, they need to create something that seems ominous and exciting and is so far fetched that it has to be true. This has always been an effective way to keep the Troops enthused and interested enough until enough time passes and anyone who might remember the nonsense from the past, is long gone or too old and irrelevant or too entrenched, to care.

17

What JWs don't know they believe

by StephaneLaliberte in

in a post this morning, i suggested that a way to wake up fellow congregants is to plainly comment or make talks on teachings and rules the jws don't really know too well.

the idea is that you can say these things, other jws will be bothered by the comments, but will not be able to do anything about it as this is the official teaching or stand on this or that.

the key here is that when troubling rules and teachings are thought in the watchtower, they generally use wording that makes them go down easy.

Pete Zahut

I think the current JW's only have a basic overview of their religion. They know the big chunks about Armageddon, Paradise and living forever. They're convinced that all non-JW's are wicked and everyone else's religion is false and dismiss any proof to the contrary.

I've had them call at my door and tell me :

"Oh, we don't claim that only those who become JW's will be saved at Armageddon...that's up to Jehovah to decide".

I ask them if that's the case, why do they claim that their message is "urgent" and "life saving"?

Why do JW's claim that other religions are part of "Babylon the Great" and anyone who belongs to them will go down with her at Armageddon?

Why do your tell us former JW's that we need to "return to Jehovah" before it's too late?

Their usual response is "Oh...we don't say that either"

My reply is "Do you even read your own literature" ?

(crickets)

9

9 Year Old Used Basic Logic And Came To An "Apostate" Conclusion

by pistolpete in

related experience;.

basically what happened is my mom was studying with my 9 year old sibling and they were talking about the paradise.

my sibling then proceeded to ask, in a clearly joking way, "what if jehovah was tricking us and we don't go to paradise?

Pete Zahut

I think t’s a healthy sign that your sibling feels free enough to to joke about such things out loud rather than needing to repress his/her thoughts.

Even so… I’m pretty certain he or she will be going straight to ~~Hell~~ …er-um Gehenna, for entertaining such notions. 😜