Posts by tim hooper

48

The Apostasy Within

by Ultimate Axiom in

in the latest watchtower (july 15, 2014, page 14, paragraph 10) it says; today, jehovahs people are not often confronted with apostasy within the congregation.

still, when exposed to unscriptural teachings, regardless of the source, we must decisively reject them.. so, not often, but occasionally jws are exposed to apostasy within the congregation, and they are instructed to decisively reject it.

as we all know, the vast majority of the apostasy they are exposed to comes from the governing body.. i am meeting up soon with an old friend from the 1970s who i havent seen for decades, who is still an active jw, and who would really like to hear what i think about things.

tim hooper

The teaching that springs to mind for me is the reinstatement process. This is close to my heart and helped me learn TTATT. This unscriptural teaching causes much harm, pain and even suicide to many JWs that have beed DF'd.

The recommendations in the elders "Flock book" are a direct contradiction of what Jesus taught at Luke 15: 11-24 about the Prodigal Son.

Kate xx

Kate is 100% correct. The prodigal son was welcomed home immediately. The WT's references are twisted and garbled just to suit their own purposes. Just look at this from the 1963 WT:

Watchtower 8-1-63:

>>>"If these necessary evidences of sorrow and change are present, then his reinstatement could be considered by the congregation committee after sufficient time had elapsed, which in most cases IS AT LEAST A YEAR."<<<

A year!!!

Did the prodigal son have to wait for a year before his father welcomed him home???

65

Same sex marriage legalised in the UK at midnight tonight!!!

by DuvanMuvan in

title pretty much explains it all.

lots of people are getting married at midnight tonight.. what do you guys think?

maybe if anyone gets called on by a jw this weekend you can ask them what they think about it.. im just glad because it shows that religion doesn't define our conscience, that basic human decency can prevail over time and hopefully, these types of gradual but big changes will be present in the wts too in the future .

tim hooper

Gay couples get a fairer deal in the UK than they do in the US. The UK Civil Partnership act has been in place for around the last 10 years. This ensures that same-sex couples have had equal rights, particularly when it comes to financial affairs. The need for actual marriage in the UK is not nearly as great as it is in the US, because of the availability of the Civil Partnership act. Consequently when same-sex marriage was announced as an option, lots of people, gays included, were asking why. The issue is much different here than it is across the pond.

Originally intended as a vote winner for the Conservative party, Prime Minister David Cameron was unable to get a yes vote from his own party on same-sex marriage, so he turned to the Labour and Liberal party to secure a majority in the House of Commons. This in itself has alienated him from his own Conservative party somewhat.

Same-sex marriage has now become legally obtainable. A Civil Partnership is also obtainable but is only available to same-sex couples.

The downside to all this is that the country has become polarised on the matter. Religious people are appalled and call hell-fire and damnation on gays just like they always do, the more passionate supporters of same sex marriage cry "bigot" to anyone who isn't 100% behind them, while the vast majority of the population who were once quite happy to accept the gay lifestyle with a live-and-let-live attitude are now feeling intimidated by the militance of some of the pro same-sex marriage groups.

Tolerance seems to have gone right out of the window.

35

Critical Differences: JW's Today Vs The Past

by metatron in

jw
friends

jehovah's witnesses have always been a fringe, anti-intellectual movement, almost by definition.

there is nothing new about faddish health concerns, attitudes that ignore history and science or even beliefs that defy common sense ( false prophecy for what, 130+ years?).

however, there are two differences with jw's of the past that will prove critical for the survival of the organization today.. 1) poor financial conditions - in the past, it was possible to hold all sorts of nonsensical beliefs and still be a functional member of the human race, generally.

tim hooper

The WT were always guaranteed the widow's mite.

Now it seems that the widows might not.

1

Looking for Ray Hemming or AJWRB member near London

by Lee Elder in

i am trying to reach ray hemming (jw disfellowshipped over the blood policy) or another ajwrb.

member near london england/u.k.

please email me at : [email protected] as soon.

tim hooper

Last I heard Ray was living in Shropshire but that was some years ago.

175

Where Do You Think That Plane Is?

by minimus in

jw
friends

what do you think happened?

?.

tim hooper

Catastrophic mid-air de-pressurisation. Whatever the precipitating factor, that's what happened. 35000 feet -boom! Little bits everywhere raining into the empty sea. No radar footprint - radar is old technology anyway.

36

Has anyone accidentally stumbled across someone they knew on here?

by SecretHeart11 in

jw
friends

i keep hoping and doing searches on the site for people in my area.

so far no one i recognize.

i have a few df'd friends that i lost touch with long before they were out (two who were elders actually when they got the boot) and would love to find out they were on here, but don't know if they plan on coming back.

tim hooper

My brother!

11

Who will win the premier league (footy or 'soccer') mine is liverpool fc

by Jon Preston in

what a year it had been!!!

liverpool fc (forgive me for this losts one-sidedness) have gone leaps and bounds and luck to reach secknd spot but without games in hand to man city....i must say an air or cl against ac milan is in the air.

and lfc have a real shot at winning.

tim hooper

I'm not saying who I support but I did see them win 2 semi-finals at Wembley....

11

Who will win the premier league (footy or 'soccer') mine is liverpool fc

by Jon Preston in

what a year it had been!!!

liverpool fc (forgive me for this losts one-sidedness) have gone leaps and bounds and luck to reach secknd spot but without games in hand to man city....i must say an air or cl against ac milan is in the air.

and lfc have a real shot at winning.

tim hooper

I don't even eat bacon cos it's got red and white stripes...

35

What was the "logical straw" that broke your camel's back?

by Pacopoolio in

jw
friends

i had a bunch of tiny little nags that always bothered me about the bible/god/etc.

that eventually led to me drifting away, but this was my personal, singular issue that no one could address.

i think i mentioned it before here, but, for summation again:.

tim hooper

Even as a JW kid I felt the women in subjection thing to be wrong.

I always felt that disfellowshipping was wrong.

Finally, at a group meeting of all things, we were studying some book that dealt with the prophesies of Ezekiel. Wheels with eyes in the rims? At that point I suddenly saw how ludicrous the whole thing was. What did some old guy's ramblings have to do with me? I immediately ceased attending meetings and despite much pressure from family, never went back.

149

Watchtower Observer site goes down

by Norm in

jw
friends

hey folks,.

an era in the ex-jw history is over.

kent steinhaug's site http://watchtower.observer.org is being shut down.. it was the first of it's kind, and to this day probably still the largest anti wt site on the net.

tim hooper

Kent's last apostafest held in Norway. Some famous names too.

That's him 40 seconds in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7pEVwNNjW8