Posts by Doubting Bro

68

Outrageous propaganda. "Treat your disfellowshipped loved ones like they're dead, but without mourning them." NOV 2014 study Watchtower

by Watchtower-Free in

.

Doubting Bro

Just a point of clarification about what was said at this year's RC/DC/IC/whatever the hell they want to call it! I was specifically listening for that part and what was said was that you should deal discreetly with unbelieving relatives and the speaker added NOT disfellowshipped. And by discreetly he meant to try not to act too much like you're in a cult but seem reasonable. Then they had a skit where a JW son who lived with his mother handled a request that would have involved him missing a meeting both the "right" way (arrange for another time to take his mom where she needed to go) or the "wrong" way (launching into a cult like speech about not forsaking the gathering together which of course promoted an argument).

They in no way (at least at the Landover cultfest) say that you could associated with DF/DA relatives. Several times they mentioned things along the lines of what the newest WT said.

26

E-Watchman? Thoughts?

by thedepressedsoul in

i stumbled upon the website e-watchman today and while i didn't have time to read over everything i found this thoughts so far quite interesting.

recently when reading matthew i can't help but feel that jesus warnings about the pharisees also applied to the gb and elders.

actually everytime jesus brought them up i realized how similar they are.

Doubting Bro

He's flat out insane

55

More JW bragging about the Landover, MD. convention. Please have barf bag at the ready before reading

by AndDontCallMeShirley in

the following e-mail is circulating among jws about the international convention at fedex stadium in landover, md.

note the all-too-familiar jw claims: everything they do (including the simple act of parking cars) is proof of jehovah'stm blessing, and everything wt did at the convention was the fastest, greatest, best ever.

oh, and the never-fails-to-get-mentioned alleged 'persecution'/resistance from some unnamed authority who tried to get in watchtower's way and hamper the effort...but jws prevailed anyway (as always):.

Doubting Bro

20yearfader -

Doubting brother how is it that you find time after a redskin game to tailgate i thought redskin fans would be looking for the nearest watering hole or a gun to put themselves out of misery

Ha - after their lousy performance I need to have a few beers in the parking lot to forget (as long as I'm not driving). This year will be different (LOL)

HTTR

55

More JW bragging about the Landover, MD. convention. Please have barf bag at the ready before reading

by AndDontCallMeShirley in

the following e-mail is circulating among jws about the international convention at fedex stadium in landover, md.

note the all-too-familiar jw claims: everything they do (including the simple act of parking cars) is proof of jehovah'stm blessing, and everything wt did at the convention was the fastest, greatest, best ever.

oh, and the never-fails-to-get-mentioned alleged 'persecution'/resistance from some unnamed authority who tried to get in watchtower's way and hamper the effort...but jws prevailed anyway (as always):.

Doubting Bro

OMG this pisses me off. I was at Landover all 3 awful days. AND I'm a Redskin fan that goes to at least one game a year. So, I know how parking goes at Fed EX

Parking Friday was an unmitigated disaster. Very unorganized both coming in the morning and leaving at night. Sat was not quite as bad in the morning and not bad for me getting out (took maybe 20 min which is fine). Sunday was again very tough in the morning and I sat there for around 45 min. I have NEVER waited that long to actually park at any Redskin game or any other event at a large venue (and I've been to plenty). They had a entire parking lot closed and it took them about a half an hour to actually open it up. It's a parking lot, why do you have to open it? Because "God's Organization" is a bureaucratic nightmare and you have to get approval from the higher ups to do something that a regular employee would actually do.

Also, I saw on at least 2 occasions, the police officers who finally stepped in to oversee things yelling at the volunteers because they were doing stupid things. A direct quote " How many times do I have to say this? Are you deaf or just stupid?" LOL - uh my vote is stupid!

Fastest ingress and egress in Fex Ex history???? LOL - first of all how would they know? secondly - no it wasn't. After Redskin games, we fire up the grill for a little post game tailgating. After about an hour, we pack up and then drive straight out with NO traffic. Yet, Friday it took 2 hours to get out. Ingress on game day? Maybe 15 minutes at most. Usually faster. Ingress on convention day? The best day was 25 min, the worst over an hour.

In the parking guys defense (and I know several), the crowds are terrible. I had at least 2 individuals who worked in parking confess to me that they would never do it again and that the "friends" either can't follow simple instructions or simply won't. I followed the instructions just like I would if I were going to a Redskins game. The parking attendant asked me to go one way and park in a particular space and that's what I did. Because I understand that you need to have organization when you're parking a good number of cars.

As to the claim they had more cars and buses than in anytime in Fed Ex history, that's simply not true. I saw open parking spaces. Maybe they had more buses than usual, but who cares? As was mentioned, the stadium now holds I think 88k for football and there were only 60k at the highest session.

Oh, I loved the fact that at least a few thousand decided to bolt early at least on Sat & Sun! I'm talking an hour maybe an hour and a half early. We were standing out in the concourse to get out of the sun and saw a steady stream of folks leaving. My only regret is that I wasn't one of them.

It's the absolute LIES that drive me nuts. Call a spade a spade. But to do that, you are viewed as "negative". How about realistic? No, that only applies if something goes right.

Let's not talk about the sound. Echos all over the place. During concerts and football games, NO echos.

I actually stopped looking at Instagram for about a week because it was nothing but dubs posting pictures about how wonderful everything was there. Yet, in person and with just the two of us, all they did was complain. I just don't get it.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - there I feel better now!

60

Goodbye JW net

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

forgive me for indulging in a goodbye but it would feel wrong not to,.

i hope the discussions and atmosphere here do not change for it is a bubbling brew of doubt, bravery and sincere hunger for answers.

these are healthy ingrediants for humans and especially for a jehovah's witness.. this forum offers not just the ability to ask without consequence, but it also offers the means to be real.

Doubting Bro

Dr. S&R - AWESOME!!! Good luck although I'm sure you won't need it!

36

Local Kingdom Hall Speakers To Be Replaced By Governing Body Video Feeds.

by donuthole in

jw
friends

so we've seen as the current gb is getting more facetime in an effort to reach the hearts and minds of the rank and file.

this took a leap with video feeds at an open annual meeting.

the international conventions are taking this a step farther.. do you think that local speakers at kingdom halls could ever be replaced by headquarter approved video feeds?.

Doubting Bro

Certainly at CA & RCs. Maybe "special" meetings like the AGM.

Note, the KH I go to just installed high speed internet access per instructions that were posted here a few months ago. I most certainly think they will want to broadcast occasionally but I doubt the regular snoore fests will be replaced anytime soon.

37

MINISTERIAL TRAINING SCHOOL, full course leaked!

by hildebrando in

all classes, all questions, all anwers, all 9 subject!

all leaked for do in spanish!.

http://www.hildeydesa.blogspot.com/2014/06/escuela-de-entrenamiento-ministerial.html.

Doubting Bro

I think people are excited because 1) it was leaked by a DO which is much different than a run of the mill elder and 2) its kept from most folks and it may be interesting reading and 3) it pisses off Bethel that one of their higher level managers leaked a document they don't want published.

41

Critique of new JW DVD: These Words Must be on Your Heart.

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

http://youtu.be/dhn2to663cu.

im really channeling my inner blondie with my observation and critiques of these new watchtower videos.

something about them really turns my stomach.

Doubting Bro

Great critique!!! I wasn't really going to watch it anyway but now I know what it's about.

25

JW.ORG to be the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14

by donuthole in

jw
friends

the organization is shifting away from printed literature in favor of their new jw.org website.

the website contains content that is not printed in literature.

kiosks, trolleys, and storefronts are being used to showcase the website.

Doubting Bro

I"m sure they'd love to be able to do that but what busy work will they use to keep the drones immersed. I think the goal of the preaching work at least in the developed world is less to do with recruiting and more of an activity to bond the group. Also, you need something to measure spirituality and to base appointments on.

Not saying they wouldn't do something like what you describe but you have to remember the real motivation behind the preaching work.

101

org is dying

by lambsbottom in

i don't understand why so many ex jws and faders think that the jws will continue to grow and thrive as a religion.

i still attend a meeting once a week and you can smell the death of the religion creeping up when you hear the talks, read the study wts and hear the letters from the gb.

the way the organization has changed is a sign that it reached its peak (in "healthy" membership) long ago.

Doubting Bro

Actually I think both steve & DD are right.

To Steve's point, I'm very much of the belief that the WTs main threat to existence is apathy of members. You already see it and it seems to be getting worse. They can't figure out what to do about it and I think they are hoping these ICs will give a boost at least here in the US. Just like opening the GAM last Oct. However, as big of a morale boost that was it quickly faded. The same with everything they've come up with recently. It's the weekly grind, the boring meetings where the speakers don't even seem to care, the FS on the same houses with the same people who aren't interested in their message. That's why you see (again in the US) people wanting to go to other language groups to break the boredom.

To datadog's point, the public,especially in 3rd world countries where there is actual growth coming from the door to door work (NOT the case in the developed countries where the only folks with no affiliation that come in are quite frankly trainwrecks), could be told in a logical reasonable way what the issues are. How many householders accept a copy of the WT and Awake only to google JWs? That's what I would do. And once you do that, you quickly see what a mess they are and would stay away.

Overall, if you aren't growing you are shrinking. They've clearly hit their peak growth but I really think the lifecycles for religions span hundred of years barring some sort of black swan. Even the Bible Students are still around!! My prediction is that JWs will start experiencing negative growth in the next 10 years and will slowly shrink to a small group over the course of the next 50. But, they will exist when I die barring some sort of major unexpected event.