the reason i ask is that i have a coupe of cousins who are still jws who have gone gambling in casinos with us.
i have a brother-in-law who openly brags about his "perfect" blackjack strategy he employs in vegas when he's in town.. i know that growing up as a jw, gambling of any kind was a dfing offense.. is my jw family simply more liberal than most, or has there been a subtle shift in this area since i've been out?.
After checking the Flock book, you guys were right, there is the loophole of allowing "petty gambling solely for entertainment." Wow! Of course, the gray area here can be interpreted widely, so I'm guessing casino-going JWs would have to hope for a liberal elder body in their congregation. Not my problem anymore, but interesting stuff. That is definitely a change from my growing up as a JW.
Great. Gambling down, 156 changes to go until they become a mainstream religion!
the reason i ask is that i have a coupe of cousins who are still jws who have gone gambling in casinos with us.
i have a brother-in-law who openly brags about his "perfect" blackjack strategy he employs in vegas when he's in town.. i know that growing up as a jw, gambling of any kind was a dfing offense.. is my jw family simply more liberal than most, or has there been a subtle shift in this area since i've been out?.
I just checked the 2010 Elder's Manual Shepherd the Flock of God. It states on page 72: " Christians should avoid gambling in all its various forms, including lotteries. ([sa. 65:11; g02 7/22 pp. 4-8; w89 7/15 p. 30; g82 7/8 pp. 25-27; g81 11 p. If a person makes a practice of gambling and after repeated counsel unrepentantly pursues a course of greediness, judicial action would be appropriate."
Again, I see no room for allowing even small-stakes gambling among JWs. Can anyone cite a reference or is it merely an unwritten "understanding" among this generation of JWs?
the reason i ask is that i have a coupe of cousins who are still jws who have gone gambling in casinos with us.
i have a brother-in-law who openly brags about his "perfect" blackjack strategy he employs in vegas when he's in town.. i know that growing up as a jw, gambling of any kind was a dfing offense.. is my jw family simply more liberal than most, or has there been a subtle shift in this area since i've been out?.
The reason I ask is that I have a coupe of cousins who are still JWs who have gone gambling in casinos with us. I have a brother-in-law who openly brags about his "perfect" Blackjack strategy he employs in Vegas when he's in town.
I know that growing up as a JW, gambling of any kind was a DFing offense.
Is my JW family simply more liberal than most, or has there been a subtle shift in this area since I've been out?
TrueOne and LonghairGal, those are excellent points. I have always (at least since I left the WT) said that questions and discussion are Kryptonite to JWs. Their house of cards simply can't withstand the heft of truth and openness that intelligent debate brings forth.
On a side note, one of my JW brothers is showing signs of openmindedness when it comes to various double-standard issues. My fingers are crossed that he will eventually see the light!
Love that point, Nugget. I couldn't agree more. The list of ironies related to how the WT positions itself in opposition to every other sect of Christianity is astounding. Sadly, in my case, it has only been from the outside looking in that the heft of that list of ironies really hits home.
Now if only I could get my JW family to see these things that are right in front of them...
this is what is called bump in forum speak.
this means the survey at bottom of page 958 is getting buried and i want some action, please.
thank you.
Sorry, pal. You may be well-intentioned but when I see money and religion in the same sentence, my eyes blur.
AnneB, great stuff. If anything, the GB are kings of false dichotomies. And I would go with the latter, they flat don't care.
ziddina, I hope you get that opportunity to have a little fun. Those poor people deserve to know what they're involved in.
Just to demonstrate the level of hypocracy we're dealing with, on the following page (p. 9) the magazine states: "The Bible — the Scriptures Jesus read and taught — is God’s means of providing answers to the questions that sincere people ask."
And yet, as a JW, if you were to meet with other JWs and discuss this "inspired" book without their blessing, you would risk disfellowship or at the very least severe marking and subsequent shunning.
I know this is not a new point being made here, but surely the GB sees how they have jumped the proverbial shark on this one, right?
Let me try this again.
In the Article "They tried to keep God's Word from the masses", the WT (as usual) dogs the Catholic Church for their position on Catholics reading the Bible without their permission. Page 8 states: "The Catholic hierarchy certainly knew that many of its teachings were based, not on the Bible, but on church tradition. Doubtless, this is one of the reasons for their reluctance to allow their faithful to have access to the Bible. By reading it, people would become aware of the incompatibility between their church doctrine and Scripture . . . Any who wanted to read the Bible were told to obtain written permis sion from bishops or inquis itors. "
This is interesting, because as the now-infamous September 2007 KM clearly stated: "Does "the faithful and discreet slave" endorse independent groups of Witnesses who meet together to engage in Scriptural research or debate? No, it does not. And yet, in various parts of the world, a few associates of our organization have formed groups to do independent research on Bible-related subjects. Some have pursued an independent group study of Biblical Hebrew and Greek so as to analyze the accuracy of the New World Translation. Others explore scientific subjects related to the Bible . . . For those who wish to do extra Bible study and research, we recommend that they explore Insight on the Scriptures, All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial, and our other publications, such as those that discuss the prophecies found in the Bible books of Daniel, Isaiah, and Revelation. "
How can the Governing Body continue printing such blantly contradictive statements, ragging on other religions while they enforce similar policies in their own religion? How long until the majority of JWs see their leadership for what it is?
