Posts by slimboyfat

31

There will be a Funeral service for Prince in the Kingdom Hall this sunday

by Farai in

about 30-50 high profile guests are expected among 300 other guests.

the kingdom hall has requested for support from the police for crowd/traffic control .

http://kstp.com/news/email-details-prince-funeral-minnetonka-jehovahs-witness-kindom-hall-police-traffic-crowd-control/4136002/http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/05/13/prince-memorial-scheduled/.

slimboyfat

If the GB are there make sure to ask them to autograph your Bibles for the occasion.

150

I'm getting baptized

by BlackWolf in

jw
friends

i know i've started similar topics before but this time i'm serious.

my parents have been constantly pressuring me and after yesterday's watchtower study they asked me if i was going to be baptized this summer... and i said yes.

i probably should have thought about it more before making a final decision, but they're pretty much forcing me to do it anyway.

slimboyfat

There is a slim chance your dad might research these topics and agree with your doubts, but it's slim.

I wouldn't have advised talking about specific doubts. JWs just can't tolerate people expressing doubts. It's painful to their psyche. They speedily categorise everyone with doubts into either the "genuine doubter" who can be helped, and "apostate trouble maker" who is beyond help. When you're put in the latter category it's hard to ever climb out again. You know you are being given this label when they start firing questions like, "where did you get this information from?" and "do you trust the faithful slave?"

Rather than talking about doubts I'd recommend simply getting on with life. Make friends in school, study hard, develop hobbies, travel, gets jobs. Let all these things "interfere" with meetings and simply drift away. Less confrontation, less drama than the big "doubts" showdown. More beneficial for your overall wellbeing too, whichever way your parents choose to react.

17

Type / Antitype article discredits many JW teachings

by Sanchy in

i was going over the type / antitype articles that were released in last year's watchtower articles and i've just realized how ironic it is those very articles can serve to demolish some of the most fundamental jw teachings.. take for instance the "questions from readers" section of the march 15, 2015 magazine.

after mentioning some "far-fetched" interpretations that others have applied to bible events, they go on to say:.

if such interpretations seem far-fetched, you can understand the dilemma.

slimboyfat

In connection with this, it just occurred to me that they changed the words of "Stay Awake, Stand Firm, Grow Mighty" from "under Christ the greater Gideon" to "under him we firmly take our stand". I wonder if they were preparing to abolish superfluous typologies already in 2009, when the new song book came out. Is Gideon a Bible based typology? Maybe it's in Hebrews (the main source of typologies) I can't remember. I wonder if other typologies were abolished or survived into the new song book.

17

Type / Antitype article discredits many JW teachings

by Sanchy in

i was going over the type / antitype articles that were released in last year's watchtower articles and i've just realized how ironic it is those very articles can serve to demolish some of the most fundamental jw teachings.. take for instance the "questions from readers" section of the march 15, 2015 magazine.

after mentioning some "far-fetched" interpretations that others have applied to bible events, they go on to say:.

if such interpretations seem far-fetched, you can understand the dilemma.

slimboyfat

Remember the the Survival book? That was types and anti-types on steroids.

17

Type / Antitype article discredits many JW teachings

by Sanchy in

i was going over the type / antitype articles that were released in last year's watchtower articles and i've just realized how ironic it is those very articles can serve to demolish some of the most fundamental jw teachings.. take for instance the "questions from readers" section of the march 15, 2015 magazine.

after mentioning some "far-fetched" interpretations that others have applied to bible events, they go on to say:.

if such interpretations seem far-fetched, you can understand the dilemma.

slimboyfat

Washtowel Tractazine - ha! I actually laughed at that one!

Yeah their downer on anti-types totally undermines their Babylon 7 times chronology, 1914, and thereby undercuts their own authority. Oops. But probably few JWs notice or care.

8

This is how to motivate inactive ones!

by stuckinarut2 in

interesting take on how to motivate inactive ones.... https://www.lds.org/youth/video/reaching-out-through-love?lang=eng.

it is interesting to compare and contrast witnesses and mormans....!.

slimboyfat

That is some slick propaganda right there. JW.org eat your heart out.

174

Awake #4/2016: Homosexuality

by Designer Stubble in

the new awake is up on jw.orgwith the legalization of gay marriage in many countries, they decided it was time to show: "what does thebible say about homosexuality?

"does the bible promote prejudice?still, some people would say that the bible promotes prejudice against homosexuals and that those who adhere to itsmoral code are intolerant.

‘the bible was written at a time when people were narrow-minded,’ they claim.

slimboyfat

Yes it's definitely bound up with secularisation, which is now rapidly underway in the United States.

Homophobia looks set to become a socially unacceptable view (like racism) rather than simply an eccentric minority view (like belief in Bigfoot for example).

That's not to say there won't always be a minority who cling to their homophobia, despite the change in society, just as there are still racists who express racist views in private and sometimes in public.

The point is that such views will no longer be accepted as legitimate discourse in the public sphere, at which point JWs and others will need to face a hard choice, just as the Mormon church did with their racism in the 1970s.

174

Awake #4/2016: Homosexuality

by Designer Stubble in

the new awake is up on jw.orgwith the legalization of gay marriage in many countries, they decided it was time to show: "what does thebible say about homosexuality?

"does the bible promote prejudice?still, some people would say that the bible promotes prejudice against homosexuals and that those who adhere to itsmoral code are intolerant.

‘the bible was written at a time when people were narrow-minded,’ they claim.

slimboyfat

At the moment it would cause more problems than it would solve. But if trends continue, and say 90% plus of the general population support gay marriage, and around half of JWs, will that calculation change?

Between 2007 and 2015 alone, support for gay marriage rose from 46% to 60% in the general population, and acceptance of homosexuality among JWs rose from 12% to 16% between 2007 and 2014. Support for gay marriage stood at 14% among JWs in 2014. They have a way to go but the trend is in motion. That's not to say trends are inevitable, but at this point this trend appears likely to continue.

174

Awake #4/2016: Homosexuality

by Designer Stubble in

the new awake is up on jw.orgwith the legalization of gay marriage in many countries, they decided it was time to show: "what does thebible say about homosexuality?

"does the bible promote prejudice?still, some people would say that the bible promotes prejudice against homosexuals and that those who adhere to itsmoral code are intolerant.

‘the bible was written at a time when people were narrow-minded,’ they claim.

slimboyfat

Either way JWs face real problems. The trends are clear that gay marriage is increasingly accepted by all sections of society. It has followed a similar trajectory to views on mixed race marriages, which very few now oppose and opposition is socially unacceptable.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-whites.aspx

http://www.gallup.com/poll/117328/marriage.aspx

If current trends continue - and the overwhelming support for gay marriage among you people suggests that it will - then JWs will soon be very isolated. A very similar position to the one the Mormon church found itself in regarding race equality in the 1970s.

Evangelicals are already rapidly accepting gay marriage. In some ways they'll have an easier time of it than JWs. Evangelicals are very interested in politics, and as it becomes politically untenable to oppose gay marriage that will be a big incentive for them to change. Another thing is that power is more evenly distributed among the Evangelical community, so there is scope for pastors and individuals to draw their own conclusions and change at their own pace. JWs on the other hand need to wait for the GB to change any policy, and there is a strong incentive for GB members to stick by their previous statements on the issue as long as they are alive.

There are ways to interpret the NT that allow for gay relationships. Many Protestants already do this. JWs already interpret away many many scriptures. For example the scripture that says a sinner must present himself to the congregation. JWs, with no shame whatsoever, say this verse means the sinner must go to the elders, not the congregation. That is as flat a contradiction of the plain sense of scripture as you could hope for. They are more than capable of explaining away and adapting verses on homosexuality if they so wish.

Will they adapt or won't they? Who knows, really? But there are no easy choices for them either way.

I would argue that if attitudinal trends continue, then not adapting will become simply too difficult to maintain, as it did for the Mormon church refusing to admit black people into the priesthood. However painful the climb down may be.

174

Awake #4/2016: Homosexuality

by Designer Stubble in

the new awake is up on jw.orgwith the legalization of gay marriage in many countries, they decided it was time to show: "what does thebible say about homosexuality?

"does the bible promote prejudice?still, some people would say that the bible promotes prejudice against homosexuals and that those who adhere to itsmoral code are intolerant.

‘the bible was written at a time when people were narrow-minded,’ they claim.

slimboyfat

Similar to JWs in the US at 76%. (I wonder what the equivalent JW and Evangelicla figures for those countries are, which would be a fair comparison)

Comparing like with like, only 47% of Muslims in the US say homosexuality should be rejected, lower than JWs (76%)' Evangelicals (55%) or Mormons (57%).