Posts by twain30

6

A Frightening Picture p/29

by twain30 in

jw
friends

to me the picture on page 29 of the model family in the 8/1/06 watchtower is frightening.

it says several things:.

*the father's entire look and posture conforms to that of long time bethelites.

twain30

To me the picture on page 29 of the model family in the 8/1/06 Watchtower is Frightening. It says several things:

*The father's entire look and posture conforms to that of long time Bethelites. The son's appearance is an exact clone of the fathers-Absolutely no allotment here for individuality or variety. The mother maintains the accepted conservative look mandated for witness women and obviously walks 10 steps behind her owner.

*The look says that we are Zealots, we are 100% convinced; there is no possibilility our organization is wrong about anything or ever was wrong. In fact even when we are wrong, were still right! Notice the glazed over look in their eyes.

*The boy is obviously brainwashed, no need for him to know anything other than what's presented as present truth, anything else is completely irrelevant!

27

WTBS Special Campaign -October 2006.

by architect in

jw
friends

not sure if this was posted already:.

starting oct 16- nov 12 there will be a special distribution of kingdom news #37 "the end of false religion is near".

don't understand the dates of this distribution.

twain30

In our congregation and all surrounding congs. the last two or three of these campaigns were failures. Few if any studies were started and very telling was the fact that over half of the Kingdom News tracts remained on the shelf. Its like they're trying to clash the cymbal and beat the drum. The response is that the majority obediently yet apathetically go through the motions.

My thought is that when we're guilty of falsely prophesying, going beyond the things written, rewriting history according to a convenient "Present Truth" philosophy, many financial improprieties, and most of all haughtily neglecting to apologize for blatant mistakes, then people aren't going to take you very seriously when you accuse others.

9

Essay on why the Watchtower Dislikes Higher Education

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

this essay was written by an unknown author.

http://e-jehovahs-witnesses.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1791.

here is an essay by a person who feels the watchtower's policy regarding higher education is flawed.

twain30

What's so deceptive is how they can maintain this view, making the young people who pursue a college education feel guilty and unacceptable, while at the same time featuring 4 or 5 college educated witnesses as authorities in the latest Awake, complete with their pictures!

They're not to be taken seriously.

4

Creative Days, Creation Awake

by twain30 in

jw
friends

something interesting in the september, 2006 awake was the article's references to the creative days and how ridiculos fundamentalists are for saying that they are each literal 24 hour periods.

according to the jaunuary 1st, 1987 watchtower on page 30, jehovah's witnesses maintain that each creative day was 7,000 years long, totalling 49,000 years.. in the face of overwhelming paleantological evidnce to the contrary; dinosaur fossils, living sea creatures that predated them, single cell life that predated the sea creatures, etc.

i submit that this view is equally ridiculous.. the society cannot abandon this view because to do so would call into question the 6,000 years of man's existence having ended in 1975. this would call into question the validity of the 6th creative day ending, now entering into god's rest...things would begin to unravel.

twain30

Something interesting in the September, 2006 Awake was the article's references to The Creative Days and how ridiculos Fundamentalists are for saying that they are each literal 24 hour periods.

According to the Jaunuary 1st, 1987 Watchtower on page 30, Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that each Creative Day was 7,000 years long, totalling 49,000 years.

In the face of overwhelming paleantological evidnce to the contrary; dinosaur fossils, living sea creatures that predated them, single cell life that predated the sea creatures, etc. I submit that this view is equally ridiculous.

The Society cannot abandon this view because to do so would call into question the 6,000 years of man's existence having ended in 1975. This would call into question the validity of the 6th Creative Day ending, now entering into God's rest...Things would begin to unravel.

6

Did any of you ever try to "un-do" a potential conversion?

by whyizit in

jw
friends

i can see from this forum that many jws took quite awhile to decide that the wts was not the "truth" after all.

some stayed in, even after making that decision, for various reasons.

did any of you ever come to the conclusion that some of the things you were teaching to others were not biblical, and then try to dissuade prospective converts to discontinue their study?

twain30

Very good post. I usually find myself conducting at least one Bible study. In a way that isn't self-incriminating, I will show the student tidbits from old Awakes, The original copy of The Finished Mystery, printed statements about dates, etc. Or I'll present a perplexing question about the witnesses to them; after going back and forth for awhile, we'll arrive at the conclusion that we'll just have to leave it in Jehovah's hands.

One of my favorite things is to quickly trivialize and gloss over complete garbaqe and concentrate on one or two things that they can use. The message is, believe in the Bible and its clear promises but don't worry about nonsense like reaching out for a position or fretting over what the Christian Cong. says or doesn't say. Its amazing how well they catch on. Those baptized are a new breed.

8

Do you sense change within the Watchtower?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

i have had the feeling this year that change is underway in brooklyn, but not change that would benefit the membership or lighten their load.. this is change in response to a) economics and b) readily available information on the internet.

there was a recent post about a speaker at the dc in norway who said that as soon as some bad press about jw's goes online, it flashes up on apostate screens all around the world.. consider the cano incident and then lisa's interview with jr brown.

how many people have since listened to that information?.

twain30

Any army having recruitment as well as internal difficulty screams discipline. This is what the WBTS is trying to do. Its no longer enough to go a convention, now your required wear your badge 24/7. Where you go- eat, sleep etc. on your freee time is metered and measured. If your an elder its even more controlling, you now have reams of paper work to fill out, "just so." If some higher up doesn't like you then it goes something like this, "Brother so and so you did good on these things but you neglected to accurately fill out the holy lipshitz document therefore we no longer think your faithful." Even shepherding calls have now been transformed into a formalistic ritual.

Gone are the days when Witnesses were urged to prove what's believed and what isn't with their own Bibles. Gone are the days when caring for the friends and consideration for the unoticed humble ones in the cong. trumped documentation.

The philosophy is that you can slowly weed out anyone who doesn't march in lock-step by using this method. The trouble is that for many, this is an easy game to play, its a nice little charade that some of us are forced into. Sorry- militaristic discipline makes for a very weak religious belief system.

5

Those Who Hide What They Are

by twain30 in

jw
friends

i found the watchtower study comment concerning associating with those on the internet who, "hide what they are"-ps.26:4, very disturbing and completely taken out of context.

i've watched the wbts carefully cover over important facts about the dates 1919, 1925, and 1975; shifting the blame and diverting the attention of the publishers.. having called the service dept.

on many occasions, not once have i ever received the name of the brother i was speaking with.

twain30

I found the Watchtower Study comment concerning associating with those on the Internet who, "Hide what they are"-Ps.26:4, very disturbing and completely taken out of context. I've watched the WBTS carefully cover over important facts about the dates 1919, 1925, and 1975; shifting the blame and diverting the attention of the Publishers.

Having called the Service Dept. on many occasions, not once have I ever received the name of the brother I was speaking with. The UN Scandal should also be brought up, among other things.

Didn't Abraham on one occasion hide the facts as to who he was? Didn't David disguise himself as someone demented to fool the Phillistines? I guess it all depends on circumstances and your view of Theocratic War Strategy.

13

Zombie Training: Eye Contact in Preaching ( Ap KM)

by metatron in

jw
friends

the latest kingdom ministry ( april) has a front page article called "show personal interest - by good eye contact".

here's some gems:.

under "sincerity and conviction".

twain30

Dear Metatron: Though not having posted for awhile I find many of your comments interesting. Regarding the trained zombie like stare, I've seen that look in the eyes of so many Bethelites, Gilead Grads, and MTS Grads that I've known, programed, robotical. What's fascinating to me is that I've seen this exact same look in the eyes of young Islamists in Ontario, Mormon missionaries that I've been acquainted with, students at Christian Colleges, and students at Catholic Seminaries. I guess its all about building a wave of emotion in people and surfing it. In fact, walking through their buildings it felt as if I was back in the 124 building! Why is that?

11

Blood issu

by happy man in

jw
friends

this blood issu is not so easy, we have our meeting last week about this, i ask the elder why he dont tell about his major components, and that we can take evry singel compponent how is taken out from this 4 major ones,he say this was so complicated, and think peopel have to read themselfs in wt 2000. .

i can say this, i think it is good that gb done this to a thing between you and the lord, perhaps evrything about the blood should be a conciens matter between us and the lord.

on the other hand, i saw on sweed television yesterday abuot this hepatit c, thing several peopel are going to sue, the state, beaucause they have this decis from bloodtransfusions, and now are waiting to die, they say that a lot of times hospital use this things unessesary, and they have never noen that they hade blood, 900 people only in sweden have hepatit c, i think that if we count how many how are dead in this using or not using blood, we have a much higer accont hwo is dead beaucause they have blood, aids , hepatit c and other, it i sems it is very dangerus to have blood today, and why did we never read about that peopel dying beacause of this, but if one die when they not have blood it is a lot of noice, in sweden i think perhaps we have 2 or 3 how die , when they not have blood, but compare this widh hundreds how die or hade bad things like aids, hepatitc beaucause they have blood ,somthing to think about.

twain30

The two Service Meeting parts on blood carefully skirted the issue of blood fractions, fractions of fractions, etc. Alot of pressure was put on the publishers to fill out the Durable Power of Attorney Form, the elders were to make sure that all filled out this form. The video, "No Blood-Medicine Meets The Challenge" which we were asked to view prior to this meeting in a sense accredited Jehovah's Witnesses with the necessity for the medical community to develop blood re-circulation equipment, fibrin glue, cell salvage, hormone stimulants, and other methods to reduce blood loss. The disguised point being that instead of not caring about life and blood Jehovahs Witnesses have because of their stand helped thousands to obtain neater, more efficient surgeries with minimal blood loss. Intersetingly toward the end of this video the point was made that in 5-10 yrs. bloodless surgery was going to become the standard due to all the advancements being made and that all of this was going to become a mute point.

58

Can You Discern What The Society Is Really Saying?

by minimus in

jw
friends

so much of the watchtower is written in "code".

so much of the circuit and district overseers comments are spoken in "code".

for example, you are not told directly that you shouldn't read any other publication but the society's, but you are asked, "how could anyone spiritual ever have the time to keep up with their bible-based reading of all the spiritual food that we must take in, and still have time to read "worldly" books?

twain30

Dear Amnesian: The explanations you gave as to Privileges of Service, Serving, and Being Used are very appropriate. JW men will jump through alot of hoops and sacrifice alot of self-respect in order to receive a "Privilege." A good example of this is the competition among elders to sequester the favor of Circuit Overseers so as to get a talk on the assembly program. For a JW male to be accepted in his society he is made to feel like he HAS to have a title to be accepted. The more prominent the title, the more you are accepted and given reverence. How contrary to what the Apostle Paul said concerning, "IF any man is reaching out to be an overseer he is desirous of a fine work." He certainly didn't say that you had to be an Overseer to be respected.

To me this is a sad political heirarchy which is far from what was laid out in the Greek Scriptures.