Posts by slimboyfat

24

the GB's coup of the FDS

by Magnum in

i believe the gb's takeover of the fds was an illegal coup - not illegal relative to the laws of land, but illegal according to jw "laws" or doctrine.. according to jw doctrine, the fds is god's channel of communication between heaven and earth.

before the coup, the fds was defined to be all the anointed on earth, and the gb was part of that group and merely the spokesman for the group - individual gb members having no more authority than non-gb members of the fds.. however, a few years ago, the gb, independently of the other members of the fds, decided that it alone was the fds.

that, to me, was an illegal overthrow of the body (fds); it was a coup.. suppose the u.s. president decided that he has all power, and that he removed the powers of the u.s. congress.

slimboyfat

In some ways it was an odd thing to change.

In theory all anointed were part of the faithful slave. But in practice only the GB had the authority of the faithful slave. Everyone kind of realised that anyway.

But to actually change the doctrine in order to make that explicit. It just seems heavy handed and so unnecessary. Plus it raises really awkward questions about who was the slave earlier in JW history and whether you can have a slave that doesn't realise it's a slave and others who think they're a slave who are not. It's just a mess.

17

"Jehovah's Witnesses' withheld info will cost them..."

by Nicholaus Kopernicus in

latest perspective of the san diego reader on wts loosing its $4000 per day sanction appeal.... https://m.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/nov/10/ticker-jehovahs-witnesses-withheld-info-4000-day/?templates=mobile.

slimboyfat

It looks like they're in a lot of trouble.

15

Could the Watchtower lose tax exemption in US?

by Outahere in

jw
friends

looks like trump wants to take out the scientologists.. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-scientology-tax-exemption_us_5a04dd35e4b05673aa584cab?vpo .

as a cult, could the watchtower be close behind?.

slimboyfat

JWs are nothing like Scientology. I don't like equating the two.

And JW attendance at the Memorial at well over 2 million is just under 1% of the US population. I wouldn't call them a "nobody".

34

"we would never deliberately distort a quotation"

by ttdtt in

omg my head exploded!in this months broadcast - splian goes off on how much care the wt in making sure its facts are correct, and how they make sure their quotes are not taking from people who have a bad reputation or have an agenda.

and that the make sure its always in context!.

they are such liars!.

slimboyfat

To be fair, maybe they realise WT publications had a problem with misquotations in the past and they intend to do better in future.

Frankly they produce so little serious literature these days that it may be much less of an issue than it once was.

83

True or False did the Watchtower Corporation create false doctrines intentionally to enhance the proliferation of their own publications ?

by Finkelstein in

much as been revealed over the years to the date setting doctrines made by the wts.

such as ( 1874, 1914, 1925 , 1975 this generation, the last days, the end times etc.... which were not created by other christian based faiths.. as to critically examine why might reveal a hidden agenda to all these date setting proclamations.. the point in question is did the wts and its leaders intentionally manipulate or exploit the preaching of the gospel to enhance the proliferation of their own printed publications ?.

i would say convincingly yes, no question.

slimboyfat

Generally I thought Edmond Gruss was a good writer. Mostly his books consist of extensive quotations from a vast collection of Watchtower literature. Lots of them very illuminating. I would be interested to know where he goes wrong.

Incidentally Gruss also had a JW parent but chose never to get baptised himself and studied JWs academically instead. So in some ways a similar background?

83

True or False did the Watchtower Corporation create false doctrines intentionally to enhance the proliferation of their own publications ?

by Finkelstein in

much as been revealed over the years to the date setting doctrines made by the wts.

such as ( 1874, 1914, 1925 , 1975 this generation, the last days, the end times etc.... which were not created by other christian based faiths.. as to critically examine why might reveal a hidden agenda to all these date setting proclamations.. the point in question is did the wts and its leaders intentionally manipulate or exploit the preaching of the gospel to enhance the proliferation of their own printed publications ?.

i would say convincingly yes, no question.

slimboyfat

Thanks for the further explanation of background. I appreciate you never chose to be a JW yourself, nevertheless interaction with JWs may be fairly described as more than academic.

I can’t show it written down anywhere, but I can certainly say that my experience is that giving to charity was frowned upon. The basic attitude was that money donated to charity could be better spent on the “world wide work”. Because what charity could be more important than the good news? If you really believe the JW worldview then they would have a point.

This was not a hard rule. Some openly donated and even volunteered for charities. But those doing this seemed to need to “justify” their actions to others.

83

True or False did the Watchtower Corporation create false doctrines intentionally to enhance the proliferation of their own publications ?

by Finkelstein in

much as been revealed over the years to the date setting doctrines made by the wts.

such as ( 1874, 1914, 1925 , 1975 this generation, the last days, the end times etc.... which were not created by other christian based faiths.. as to critically examine why might reveal a hidden agenda to all these date setting proclamations.. the point in question is did the wts and its leaders intentionally manipulate or exploit the preaching of the gospel to enhance the proliferation of their own printed publications ?.

i would say convincingly yes, no question.

slimboyfat

Was I ever a Witness? No. I only have an academic interest.

Did I mix you up with another poster? I thought you said your mother became a JW late in your childhood and you are glad it didn't prevent you from college education, but that it prevented your younger sibling(s). And that Jack Barr visited your congregation decades ago, and you discussed issues with him and found him to be a kind individual but it didn't resolve your issues. So at some point you stopped attending.

If I remember the post accurately, I think many people would fairly describe interest as more than academic.

34

Is There a TV Show or Movie That You Just NeverGet Sick Of?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i love the rifleman!

i’ve seen it a million times and still will watch it !

and goodfellas, the movie as well as the sopranos.

slimboyfat

Breaking Bad

Distant Drums

25

Can you be disfellowshiped for reading other religious materials?

by paradisebeauty in

i am having a conversation with a jw and they say you can not be disfellowshiped for this.

is this true?

i thought you can be disfellowshiped for this.

slimboyfat

I remember overhearing a weird conversation in another congregation years ago.

Sister 1: I've got a talk with you next week.

Sister 2: okay let's meet up to practise, what's it about?

Sister 1: it's something about apostates.

Sister 2: okay that's fine, I've read that book by Raymond Franz the big apostate, so I know all about that.

Sister 1: okay where will we meet up.

24

When did "The Last Days" of JW Organization Begin? Will This Generation See It End?

by steve2 in

a growing discourse on this forum has been around what "the end" means.

as jws, many here spent varying proportions of our lives waiting for the end when an unsettling realization was that the end that approaches is more likely to be from old age than the world's end.

through the centuries, group after group, has claimed it has "inside" information on the end of the world, drawing in the desperate-for-comfort like moths to flames.

slimboyfat

1990

And yes.