Posts by neverendingjourney

91

NEW BOE LETTER - It just got exponentially harder to "fade"

by sir82 in

jw
friends

here is the text of the letter:.

february 2, 2014. .

your brothers,.

neverendingjourney

I was very fortunate in that the PO of my congregation took the view that elders were not authorized or encouraged to act like private detectives. The guy was the most powerful elder in the whole area (a large percentage of elders were people he mentored), so that attitude was pretty prevalent.

After I stopped going to meetings and moved out of town, he gave me one phone call and said he hoped I was doing well. When I started to give him my excuse, he interrupted me and said he wasn't calling to interrogate me. He was just calling to check in and make sure I was fine.

Because I knew him so well, I know that he mentally checked a box and for him the matter had been concluded. His view (and I know this because when I was a pioneer we discussed this issue specifically) was that the role for elders didn't begin anew until the inactive witness returned to the meetings, asked for help, or was otherwise in a position to affect the flock. Since I moved away, I've never even gotten one request for a shepherding call.

Since I fell off the grid, cut almost all ties with all JWs except my immediate family, I've never been bothered by them. I was doubly lucky because my immediate family has never confronted me or even asked about my going inactive.

Unfortunately, I think my case is quite rare. I know an elder from a hall not too far from where I grew up that would behave exactly like a private detective, going so far as to conduct "stake out" operations...follow suspsected evil-doers around to gather evidence against them.

As to the specific point in the letter, I concur with all the comments saying that it's unlikely to change behavior given how overburdened the vast majority of elders currently are.

8

Ray Franz Books

by Bangalore in

jw
friends

now that cynthia franz is no more,what will happen to the production of ray's books?

will someone take over the publishing of the books or will the books go out of print?

those books are too important and need to be published for the next generation.. .

neverendingjourney

From the Commentary Press (Ray's old publishing company) website:

the present copyright owner ofCrisis of Conscious and In Search of Christian Freedom is committed to further distribution of these publications. More details will be forthcoming.

I wish I knew the inside story better. After Ray's passing, the impression given on the site was that the books would continue to be published through commentary press, but that didn't really ever fully materialize.

34

How do Jehovah's Witnesses get from 1914 to 1919?

by God_Delusion in

hi guys and gals,.

i have written an article that explains how the watchtower society gets from 607 bce to 1914 (http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/faqs/why-is-1914-important/) but i need some input so that i can write an article on how they get from 1914 to (via 1918) 1919.. are we talking about ezra, 1:2-4 when the persian king cyrus allows the israelites to go and rebuild the temple 3 and a half years after exiling them?

if so, how has the watchtower used this passage to get to 1919??.

neverendingjourney

Evidently the Gentile Times and the seven times of Revelation are the same thing

Evidently Matthew 24 has a second fulfillment

Evidently the Gentile Times aka the seven times begin when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians

Evidently Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 BC despite what the history textbooks say

Evidently the seven times are composed of seven 360-day years

Evidently the total number of days, 2,520 (360 X 7), are actually years, not day

Evidently we begin counting 2,520 days from 607 BC, when evidently Jerusalem was destroyed, which leads us to 1914

Evidently Satan was ousted from heaven and the end times began in 1914

Evidently there is a parallel between the 3 1/2 years between when Jesus threw out the money changers from the temple and Jesus' appointing of the WT as his special group of followers

Evidently those 3 1/2 years are actual years and not prophetic years composed of days that are actually years

You get the picture...

50

OMFG Dinosaurs and Noah

by konceptual99 in

jw
friends

just fell off my chair whilst listening to the bible "highlights".

someone has actually just said that the flood account actually helps inform scientists on matters that perplex them.

for example for decades they have wondered how the dinosaurs all disappeared but if they looked at the account of the flood then they would see the answer.

neverendingjourney

Neverending--then how do any sea creatures remain? Noah didnt have a goldfish bowl in his arc did he?

He did have a goldfish bowl. In fact, Jehovah temporarily made all sea life microspic and placed into Noahs's special bowl until the ark made landfall. The water in the bowl was then sprinkled with fairy dust and the sea creatures all returned to their normal size and rushed back to their natural habitats. Except for dinosaur sea life. Dinosaurs were too stupid to find their way back, so they died on shore and their remains were instantly fossilized. Their remains also serve as the source of all crude oil in our modern age. Little known fact.

50

OMFG Dinosaurs and Noah

by konceptual99 in

jw
friends

just fell off my chair whilst listening to the bible "highlights".

someone has actually just said that the flood account actually helps inform scientists on matters that perplex them.

for example for decades they have wondered how the dinosaurs all disappeared but if they looked at the account of the flood then they would see the answer.

neverendingjourney

Remember sharks werent destroyed in flood....all sea life survived right? So what happened to the sea beasts from the dinosaur age?

And how did both fresh and salt water fish survive if the flood waters covered the tallest mountains? The water would have mixed destroying the suitable habitat for countless number of species.

50

OMFG Dinosaurs and Noah

by konceptual99 in

jw
friends

just fell off my chair whilst listening to the bible "highlights".

someone has actually just said that the flood account actually helps inform scientists on matters that perplex them.

for example for decades they have wondered how the dinosaurs all disappeared but if they looked at the account of the flood then they would see the answer.

neverendingjourney

the mere fact a Witness of 50 years can still think it's OK to say such a thing says loads about the way the WTS "teaches"

If you were to give my mother a quiz about elementary WT doctrines, I doubt she'd get half of the answers right. In fact, I'm quite certain she would have no idea whether according to WT doctrine the dinosaurs were wiped out by the flood or died off many years before. She simply doesn't care about that kind of thing. She's been a baptized Witness for something like 30 years. I have no idea how she "passed" the question sessions she had with the elders before her baptism.

What's worse, my dad to this day says he expected to see the holy spirit or a vision after being dunked. It's a crazy world. All my mom cared about were that the children were well dressed and well behaved and she wanted to raise her own kids in that environment. My dad was excited that he finally had access to the Bible (he was Catholic) and could now argue with his siblings and "prove" them wrong using the Bible. That was a huge deal. When he was growing up only priests dared attempt to understand the Bible.

9

Why is it so hard to speak about Jehovah's Witnesses in neutral terms?

by neverendingjourney in

catholicism.

islam.

buddhism.

neverendingjourney

know freddy franz made it a hard rule. Maybe I am wrong on it being in the earlier literature, but i was sure I had seen it. I will check that out, sorry if I was wrong.

No need to apologize. Nobody should expect you to be a human encyclopedia. I know I'm not.

JW Facts, as is to be expected, has a great analysis of the doctrine's development. Rutherford banned the eating of animal blood, but

The Watchtower 1945 Jul 1, pp.199-200 contained the first discussion that God's prohibition also applying to human blood. It included mention of blood transfusions, though not directly forbidding them.

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/blood-transfusions.php

27

Cold Fusion Moves Into Mainstream

by metatron in

jw
friends

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-01/15/cold-fusion-moves-into-mainstream.

you shills aren't doing your job.

you need to provide more ridicule to stop this movement from saving the human race and changing the world.. hey, i'm just sayin'.

neverendingjourney

I'm currently reading a book called Physics of the Future by a physicist and science popularizer named Michio Kaku. You might have seen him on TV if you're into science documentaries.

Anyhow, there are a lot of technologies currently being developed that fill one with a sense of awe and wonder. There's no need, in my opinion, to seek out technologies of dubious credibility. Exciting, verifiable technologies are being currently developed.

22

Do you think that the WT has gotten stranger as time goes by or is it that with distance comes perspective?

by 4thgen in

the preaching the jw.org thing is so strange.

the two generations "new light" is crazy.

but then again i look back at some of the things i believed and taught wonder 'what was i thinking'?

neverendingjourney

It's all about perspective. Objectively, the WT has gotten more conventional in their beliefs with the passage of time. Gone are the days of pyramid inches, a resurrection of "princes" of the old testament preceding armageddon, ban on organ transplants, and the list goes on and on.

Even with respect to the cultish aspects of the religion, it can't be any worse today than in the aftermath of the Ray Franz expulsion when rules were being invented on the fly to eliminate any possible influence from high-ranking members who were eschewing orthodoxy. In fact, even unbaptized publishers could be shunned. You didn't even have to be baptized. As recently as 7 or 8 years ago parents interacting with disfellowshipped children was tolerated whereas I knew of several elderly people who hadn't spoken to disfellowshipped children in decades because it was absoultely prohibited during their time.

We see things more clearly now that we are out, but I don't think it's really any worse that what's come before.

14

How much more strange can this get ?

by man in black in

ladt night i was talking to a coworker who's sister is a witness in my old hall, and i needed some asprin after listening to this.. how can this be tolerated by people who believe that they alone speak the truth ?.

a young couple ( early 30's) had two children, and they adopted another boy from the inner city, so they have three boys under the age of 13.. the father is a construction worker, and mom works pt doing various jobs.. as a babysitter they use the respected teenaged son of a very prominent elder.

well, the parents breakup.

neverendingjourney

Sitting bac and looking at the whole situation, it is just so mentally insane to me seeing how three families were torn apart, and by playing the system with appearances and sympathy, now everyone is back.

One of the big eye-openers for me was realizing that the people I was meeting outside of the religion were on average better people than the brothers in the hall.

At least now I can choose to not let crazy people into my life. I didn't have that luxury when I was a JW since they were my "brothers."

neverendingjourney

Posts by neverendingjourney

the present copyright owner ofCrisis of Conscious and In Search of Christian Freedom is committed to further distribution of these publications. More details will be forthcoming.