Posts by stapler99

25

Stumbled across a recurring theme in WT: teach 'the organization' to your kids

by sd-7 in

jw
friends

yesterday afternoon, right before i was about to take my wife to the kingdom hall (no, i'm not attending, haven't been in 9 months, strangely enough am still thinking of returning if it would help my marriage, but it won't), i happened to notice her opened october 15th, 2010 watchtower.

around page 25 or so, there was an article that caught my eye.

it instructed parents to teach their children to 'not act independently of the organization, even in small matters'.

stapler99

The funny thing is that they used a parallel with times in the Bible when the Israelites would "recall times of old" or something like that. If Armageddon has been imminent since 1914, that says that 1914-2010 is a short length of time. But if the 1920's etc. are times of old, then surely they are a long time away.

26

Things we never told the public.....

by drewcoul in

i thought it would be interesting to discuss the things we believed as jw's, but were kind of embarassed about and didn't tell the public about, since it would make us look ridiculous.......... one thing i can think of is the idea that only jw's will make it through armageddon.

everyone else would be destroyed.

i would never tell anyone that even though we all believed it.

stapler99

The other thing I remember now is whether you are allowed to marry out of the religion. I told people that it was allowed but you were advised not to because it wasn't a good idea.

26

Things we never told the public.....

by drewcoul in

i thought it would be interesting to discuss the things we believed as jw's, but were kind of embarassed about and didn't tell the public about, since it would make us look ridiculous.......... one thing i can think of is the idea that only jw's will make it through armageddon.

everyone else would be destroyed.

i would never tell anyone that even though we all believed it.

stapler99

Yeah, field service was stupid. Go to someone's door and don't even explain who you are or what you are talking about. Just come out with something like "Good morning ma'am, we are in the neighbourhood today sharing a thought from the Bible" or offering the magazines with irrelevant subjects.

I too did not admit to others that I thought that they would die in Armageddon. "It is not us who decides, it is Jehovah who decides" seems to be a standard answer. (I interpreted this as meaning that all non-JW's would die and a good proportion of JW's too, who weren't pious enough.) On the other hand, it is still admitting that you think that God is going to kill loads of people really soon, which should tip people off that there is something not quite right.

42

Did your parents make you tell people (at xmas time) that you got gifts throughout the year

by myusername in

i see people saying this online.

my parents made us tell people tha we got gifts throughout the year and that we probably got more presents than kids get on birthdays and christmas.

however, it was a complete lie.

stapler99

I wasn't made to tell people that. It was an excuse I could use when discussing it with friends at school. It wasn't really true. I can remember specific gifts I got as a child, but only a handful.

Another thing that comes into play - or it did for me - is that as someone raised without ever getting presents, it was not part of my personality to 'give' gifts either as a parent.

Me neither, not as a parent, but in general.

57

December 15th WT gives example of sister who quit her job so she could go to an convention.

by life is to short in

i was beyond mad when i heard this.

it is on page 30 of the wt.. it says "a pioneer named roxana is one who has seen how jehovah provides for his people.

when she asked her employer for permission to take some days off to attend one of our conventions, he angrily retorted that if she went, he would fire her.

stapler99

For every BS story like this that you hear there's probably a thousand that you don't hear of about sacrifice for the WTS and GB that land families bankrupt because they're waiting on jah to provide. Although the rare few that you do hear about they always progress to become elders and CO's and DO's. Funny how jehovah works...

Absolutely right. This applies to all their experiences. You hear of the elderly peope who "spent their life in Jehovah's service and had no regrets." You don't hear of all the people who DO have regrets. That would be listening to apostates, and Satan the Devil who wanders about like "a roaring lion seeking to devour."

4

JW's - an international organization?

by Listener in

i always thought the jws were an internation organization but it appears they don't consider themselves to be that.. this was in a letter found on google was written by wt loyd vice president of the wtbs australia, it was a submission to be treated as a charity.. http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:qahsgte4vysj:www.cdi.gov.au/submissions/357-watchtowerbibleandtractsocietyofaustralia.doc+watchtower+bible+and+tract+society+of+australia+financial+report&hl=en&gl=au&pid=bl&srcid=adgeeshqa1b_fsujltkvmgfjcx1_ba5vup35fhuri35cmc4ndprw6ny-rofdcp8lbyzwio5ou--0bwurdjivxt_5m8fnmy9vdr0qeue-e2pxt2k6jpvzcy2ja4d7njakxcaqlujyxjkf&sig=ahietbrtufqf8i7kxtys0qlvyejniqq5ww.

issues regarding definitions used in australia compared to other countries.

the society is not an international organization having branches in other countries.. however, jehovahs witnesses are worldwide, and a different not-for-profit organization.

stapler99

This could mean that if a national branch seceded, there would be no way to get control of it. Of course this is unlikely to happen.

55

Worldwide Service Report for 2010 / Yearbook 2011

by Designer Stubble in

wonder if anyone had a scan available of the 2010 annual report, which can normally be found in the 2011 yearbook.. .

thanks in advance!.

stapler99

The analysis on http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php is informative.

I would add one point - the percentage of those baptised who leave is slightly overstated because some publishers never get baptised in the first place.

13

JWs, Faith in Action, Part 1: Out of Darkness transcript

by cabasilas in

don't know if this has been posted here.

it's making the rounds on some jw sites.

this is a transcript of the new dvd: jehovah's witnesses, faith in action, part 1: out of darkness:.

stapler99

Copy and paste what you want to quote into the reply box.

Highlight the quote.

Click the arrow by STYLES and select "quote".

It puts it into a box.

Thanks!

13

JWs, Faith in Action, Part 1: Out of Darkness transcript

by cabasilas in

don't know if this has been posted here.

it's making the rounds on some jw sites.

this is a transcript of the new dvd: jehovah's witnesses, faith in action, part 1: out of darkness:.

stapler99

Thanks Cabasilas

—Narrator—
Rather than giving in to disappointment over what did not happen in 1914, the Bible Students kept their minds open to the significance of what had taken place. The world war and its aftermath had become the world-shaking events proclaimed by Russell almost 40 years earlier. The Bible Students were coming to the realization that Christ's presence began in 1914, and that the world's last days were underway! Two months after Russell's death, Joseph Rutherford was appointed to oversee the work.

Three lies right there!

What a joke that DVD is, a real piece of work, rewriting their own history.

3Mozzies

[/quote]

I saw this video but didn't notice this at the time. You're right, these are three blatant lies!

Russell did not predict a world war - he predicted the overthrow of the world's governments and a universal anarchy.
They long believed that Christ's presence had begun in 1874 - after the date it was reinterpreted as an "invisible presence" - sound familiar?
It wasn't a peaceful transition of control to Rutherford. On the contrary many members of the board of the Watchtower Society resigned.

(Can someone tell me how to quote posts correctly - this has been bugging for a while now!)

55

Worldwide Service Report for 2010 / Yearbook 2011

by Designer Stubble in

wonder if anyone had a scan available of the 2010 annual report, which can normally be found in the 2011 yearbook.. .

thanks in advance!.

stapler99

Any chance of any scans?

In the UK, at least, any percentage growth is explainable by immigration. (This would explain the decrease in Poland as well!)

Do we know what the world population growth is? Even if the proportion of world population increases, the consititution of it will become more and more Third World.