Posts by slimboyfat

24

Been witnessing today - first time in over 2 years!!

by The Searcher in

and it felt wonderful!!.

i went into the city to where i knew there was a "cosmopolitan witnessing" trolley, because i wanted to ask a simple bible-based question.

the trolley was attended by an elder and a sister who was another elder's wife.

slimboyfat

I can see the argument for planting seeds of doubt. Because although I don't think rational arguments often persuade JWs to leave the religion, little seeds of doubt can be stored at the back of the mind, ready to be deployed whenever a JW reconsiders his membership, usually initially for personal reasons. I think many former JWs have the experience of suppressing doubts and putting them aside, only to revisit them later when leaving the religion. So it's good to have these sorts of things in the mind for when they may be useful.

I always remember an apostate sign that simply read:

Matt 8:11 - proof the Watchtower is lying to you!

24

Been witnessing today - first time in over 2 years!!

by The Searcher in

and it felt wonderful!!.

i went into the city to where i knew there was a "cosmopolitan witnessing" trolley, because i wanted to ask a simple bible-based question.

the trolley was attended by an elder and a sister who was another elder's wife.

slimboyfat

That's an interesting point about there being badness during the thousand years on the basis of John 5:29. They don't show that in the pictures.

Are you a Bible believing Christian still? I'm not sure I'd want to use the Bible in a discussion in a way that indicated I believe it has authority. But I see the angle of defending the Watchtower position against the JW, and the irony of him taking the wrong side.

I mostly pass JWs at carts by these days. I am at a loss to know what I can tell them that would do any good. JWs who are full in are apt to turn any sort of conversation you have with them into evidence that their religion is true.

If you present as a member of the public with a question it confirms their identity as a person who answers the truth from the Bible.

If you catch them out in some way then you may be labelled an opposer or apostate, in which case this is further proof that they gave the true religion because, persecution!

JWs have been so well prepared mentally to fit any sort of interaction with anyone into a narrative that confirms that they have the truth that it's virtually impregnable.

I am convinced that JWs rarely if ever are dissuaded from believing the religion on the basis of rational argument.

41

what are your thoughts on this quote from the elders book?

by aboveusonlysky in

'in order to extend mercy, the committee must be convinced that the wrongdoer has a changed heart condition and that he has a zeal to right the wrong and is absolutely determined to avoid it in the future.'.

shepherd the flock page 91. i remember this is one of the first things that concerned me as an elder because it seemed to sound like a person is guilty until proven innocent rather than 'love believes all things', especially given the word 'convinced' appears in bold.. then in a training video one elder said something like 'unless we are convinced of repentance the shepherd the flock book says we must disfellowship'.

that was the begining of the end for me as i thought surely true christians would reason the other way round and show mercy wherever possible.. any thoughts?.

slimboyfat

Very good point. The unavoidable implication seems to be that what matters is how convincing the person is rather than how sorry they are. And elders are considered to be the perfect judge.

Plus it's clear from the "err on the side of DFing" tone of the comments that they would consider it a greater tragedy for someone who wasn't really repentant to be spared than for someone who was was really rentant to be DFed.

31

JW Carts Cause Thousands to Start Studying!!!

by Drifting Away in

jw
friends

i would love to know the stats of how many hours were spent, standing by a cart, or sitting at a local town fair with jw table tent set up, compared to the number of bible studies started that led to baptism since the inception of the carts.

anyone have any idea?

if i had to guess i would say thousands of hours pent standing by a cart, and maybe less then 5 that actually got baptized.

slimboyfat

jwleaks it seems that's the training JWs a.ready get for how to behave at carts anyway, they don't need any apostates to tell them that's how to do it.

31

JW Carts Cause Thousands to Start Studying!!!

by Drifting Away in

jw
friends

i would love to know the stats of how many hours were spent, standing by a cart, or sitting at a local town fair with jw table tent set up, compared to the number of bible studies started that led to baptism since the inception of the carts.

anyone have any idea?

if i had to guess i would say thousands of hours pent standing by a cart, and maybe less then 5 that actually got baptized.

slimboyfat

JW Witness carts cause thousands to start studying... their shoe laces until they've walked right past the religious fanatics without making eye contact.

37

Why are there still so many of humanity that are immersed onto the lies, ignorance and delusions of religion ?

by Finkelstein in

all religions under critical examination has been recognized inherently as formative lies devised to appeal to human emotions and as a means to cultivate power and control for a select propagating few.

knowledge acquired through scientific inquiry and evaluation has proven that all religious adherence was mostly drawn out human ignorance targeted toward the emotions and consciousness of people.

here we are in the 21 century and people like the jws are still adhering to the lies of christianity and how this religion developed over time.

slimboyfat

I meant to simply summarise the first post.

But before Viv tells me, I've completely misrepresented the post, because I'm a total liar and I don't know the definition of twenty different words, including the word "the", can I just say, at this point, from him, it's taken as read. So he needn't bother.

97

BIG news Trump...His lewd conversation leaks.

by James Mixon in

jw
friends

if he get pass this, america deserve him...... conversation 10 years ago..

slimboyfat

I actually found it quite shocking to see excerpts from this debate. What is happening to America? How can you let this happen? And to see some Republicans including women defending Trump in the last few days. There is something deeply wrong.

The worst part was where Trump said he'd put Clinton in jail if he won. Is this how America does its politics now?

I think Clinton might have been better off not turning up to this so-called debate.

16

The Org is Growing???? Really???????

by The Searcher in

watchtower january 2017 - par.

15 - "we live in exciting times.

the earthly part of jehovah’s organization is growing in many ways, but growth necessitates change.".

slimboyfat

It's a bit premature to call decline yet.

As far as I'm aware the latest figures still show increases in publishers, pioneers, congregations, and probably some other figures.

Where they have stalled is memorial attendance in recent years, and branch numbers are in decline.

Maybe publisher numbers will start decreasing in the next couple of years. That would be real decline. But then they might not publish the numbers if that happens.

37

Why are there still so many of humanity that are immersed onto the lies, ignorance and delusions of religion ?

by Finkelstein in

all religions under critical examination has been recognized inherently as formative lies devised to appeal to human emotions and as a means to cultivate power and control for a select propagating few.

knowledge acquired through scientific inquiry and evaluation has proven that all religious adherence was mostly drawn out human ignorance targeted toward the emotions and consciousness of people.

here we are in the 21 century and people like the jws are still adhering to the lies of christianity and how this religion developed over time.

slimboyfat

Religious beliefs of billions over thousands of years have been nothing but lies.

It's all control and manipulation.

Science has disproved religious claims.

Good grief, do you really believe all this?

You have more faith than I do!

27

Which Org 'directives' did you blatantly ignore

by Tallon in

i remember that we were always encouraged to let everyone at work know that you were one of jw's and therefore would not participate in any of their functions, parties etc.. this i outrightly refused to do.

my reasoning was that i was employed and paid to do a job and therefore my religious beliefs were a personal matter and therefore had nothing to do with my work.

secondly i had to work with these people.

slimboyfat

I didn't mange to read the Bible every day.

Which reminds be of a joke,

A successful comedian says younger comedians on their way up approach him and ask his secret of success. He tells them it's two hours of Bible reading every day. He explains that it doesn't stop them completely but it slows them down.