i hear people saying it is not the same religion that I knew. What is the major difference?
I Would Like To Know Exactly What JWs Believe Or Not Believe In
by minimus 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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alanv
The religion has gone a lot more mainstream now. The acceptance of the interenet and encouragement to use it, is a big step forward for them. I know they only have accepted it to promote their religion more, but still a big change and one that helps witnesses find other sites that are not so favourable to the organistion.
They seem to have realized that door to door work is not at all successful these days in the developed countries so they now have trollies with literature on at street corners, although they still do door to door work as well. Literature is mainly free to the public and witnesses are expected to pay for it instead.
They have recently done away with loans for new Kingdom Halls. Instead they expect the local publishers to pay the equivelent of the monthly loan cost for the future and not just the time it would take to pay back a loan.
Hours required for pioneers is much lower these days than it was 20 years ago. Meetings too are much shorter now, and take only two visits to the Kingdom Hall with no seperate visit to a private home for book study.
Every year the figure for those partaking of the emblems goes up, when years ago it was stated that they would continue going down and that was one of the proofs we are in the last days.
I'm sure there are plenty more things, but that should set the ball rolling.
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punkofnice
I hear people saying it is not the same religion that I knew.
The only comments I hear is that it's changed because it's 'progressive(tm)'. This is an excuse for the flip flops and lies they keep being told.
What is the major difference?
They have online TV now. It's still just as whacky as far as doctrine is concerned. It's till just a big business out to make money.
I Would Like To Know Exactly What JWs Believe Or Not Believe In
So would they.
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Fernando
JWs will believe anything the GB (Sanhedrin) tell them.
Of course only until the penny drops that these "fine upstanding" persons are nothing of the sort, but instead malicious purveyors of apostate clericalism and magisterium.
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donny
They also do not seem to hound those who no longer attend meetings or have changed religions like they did when I was in (1982-1992). My son is now an elder, but my two daughters have nothing to do with the religion.
One of them has been married twice and is currently "shacking" up and she has not received one visit from any elders.
My other daughter told my ex-wife than she "no longer believes that crap" and she too has never been approached.
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darth frosty
Someone on here once said:
Never has a religion asked for so much and given so little in return!
Thinking back I came out of HS pioneering getting 90 hrs a month. I remember my mother and other's who pioneered in the 50's and 60's saying I remember when we had to get 120 hrs a month.
You see the 'progression' in some sense you can argue that they are making it easier, but for someone who spent a great portion of their life trying to pioneer and slaving (and I do mean slaving) to get 90 hrs a month, now in these last days to see that requirement become a laughing stock...thats got to hurt.
To have struggled to get young kids ready for 3 different meetings thruout the week plus to lug kids door to door and now see some bullshit stand with JW . org that has to be frustrating, especially when you remember all the talks about how we are not spose to just stand there like sign boards and now the 'ministry' is to stand next to a sign board...THAT IS PISSING OLDTIMERS THE FUCK OFF!!!
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caroline77
I Would Like To Know Exactly What JWs Believe Or Not Believe In
So would I. It seems to keep changing.
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Phizzy
It is only really sensible and reasonable to ask "I Would Like To Know Exactly What JWs Believe Or Not Believe In......This Week".
And as well you would have to stipulate, do you mean official beliefs and teachings, or those that individual JW's really Hold ? The two are not the same thing, despite the leaderships claim of "unity".
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Magnum
It's not all about just what they believe. It's the whole big picture. I believe it truly is a different religion now. The material is dumbed down and the JWs themselves are of lower intellignece, knowledge, and ability. That's because a lot ot the old-time higher caliber JWs have died and have not been replaced by people of the same caliber. They have not been replaced by equivalents because the dumbed down material is not attractive to such ones and can be outright insulting. Also, it used to be easier to defend JW doctrine in the days before the internet and before the expiration date passed on JW prophecy, so it was easier to bring such ones into the org.
One of the main things that convinced me to become a JW was the quality of the individual JWs I was exposed to in the 70's & 80's. There were many intelligent, well-read, normal JWs in my area. They are almost all dead now and I have seen almost zero new recruits of their caliber. Another thing that convinced me was the apparent depth of the JW publications and the seeming scholarship. Both apparent depth and seeming scholarship are gone. JWdom would not be attractive to me today. The quality of JWs today is such that I can think of very few (one or two) who would stand a chance even getting a hearing ear from me if they knocked on my door and I had never been a JW and knew little about them.
In JWdom, doctrine, deep Bible analysis, etc. are no longer emphasized. It's now all about practical stuff - pop psychology and sociology, etc. It's becoming all warm and fuzzy. The bold, confident, fearless, JW warriors of the past have died or left JWdom. In the past it was said that the JW message was to turn hard toward to the end; however, the opposite has occurred. The message has become soft and fuzzy and less clear. What do they even preach now? What is the message?
The JWdom that I joined failed. JWs were supposed to be on down the road in their new world now. I got on the boat in the F Franz era - when he was the oracle/guru. Now, he and his ideas are being swept under the carpet. Think of the books that were studied at book studies in the seventies vs those studied today - no comparison.
JWdom was forced to rebrand; there was no choice. The situation in JWdom has become like the type that I used to ridicule as a hard-core JW. JWdom sold out. I was working with a brother and his wife in service one time. He knocked on a door and two surfer dudes came to the door. The brother went way overboard trying to speak surfer talk and to appeal to them. His wife told him that he "sold out" - that is, he hid what he really was and tried to act like one of them to appeal to them. That's JWdom did or is doing. It is giving up its old hard-core image and becoming more mainstream. It has gone from a more serious, sort of ascetic, separatist mentality to a more mainstream, go-with-the-flow, happy-clappy mindset. Dignity has given way to buffoonery.
There is no more (or very little) real excitement about the end coming any time soon (or at all), so JWdom is trying to generate excitement with shallow marketing, PR, propaganda tricks. JWdom used to be (or at least appear to be) constructed of metal, concrete, old-growth wood, leather, etc.; it is now made of low-grade plastic.
I could go on and on about this because it's something I think about every day. Every day my wife and I say something like "what the hell happened?"