I posted something similar on this thread:
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5636310582689792/_post/6198967404593152
this idea was inspired by another post i saw (but forget who or where) referencing the mootness of delaying armageddon now that the 1914 generation is gone.
(i just skimmed over the post and thread, and didn't give it much thought until later).
wt doctrine basically says that jehovah, through his undeserved love, allows wickedness so that people can hear, and accept, the 'truth', thus being saved from the destruction of armageddon.
I posted something similar on this thread:
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5636310582689792/_post/6198967404593152
ok so this week's wt study article is entitled "why must we keep on the watch?"..
it is filled with statements on the importance of "being watchful" for the beginning of the "great tribulation".
paragraph 2: “keep looking, keep awake, for you do not know when the appointed time is.”after that, jesus admonished them repeatedly: “keep on the watch.”.
In Genesis God announced that the flood would come in 120 years; but the WTS reasons that he did not tell Noah until 50 years before that, adequate time to preach?
Right, that's the direct analogy in the Bible according to the JWs, yet Noah didn't preach to multiple generations. The flood came within a few decades.
ok so this week's wt study article is entitled "why must we keep on the watch?"..
it is filled with statements on the importance of "being watchful" for the beginning of the "great tribulation".
paragraph 2: “keep looking, keep awake, for you do not know when the appointed time is.”after that, jesus admonished them repeatedly: “keep on the watch.”.
The thing that bothers me the most concerning this topic is the following:
What's the point in having a 102 year warning period? All the people who were reached by the Bible Students during the 1910s are now dead. That's especially true for the people who read the Watchtower back in the 1880s.
It seems to me that on its face the reasoning behind the 102 year gap logically falls apart. There is no reason for having a century long warning period.
Couldn't God have found a way to warn mankind, say in 10-15 years? Wasn't the early preaching work a waste of time given the fact that those people died before Armageddon? Isn't that like warning your next door neighbors that their house will burn down 100 years from now? Who cares?
it appears that watchtower is distancing itself from the blood fractions.
the new "blood card" doesn't mention them and any mention of blood in the watchtower ignores fractions.
i wander if they are going back to their hard stance.
My mother was having surgery performed a few years ago and my idiot brother who was an elder at the time filled out her blood card and checked "no" for every elective blood fraction treatment because "Jehovah doesn't like blood."
The type of surgery she was having bore a very, very low risk of complication, so I decided not to blow up my relationship with my family over it, but I was incensed.
My brother had no idea what kind of danger he was unnecessarily placing my mother in just because he was too stupid and lazy to even comprehend his own religion's teaching on the subject.
the wt’s teaching that humans will live forever on a paradise earth will necessitate that given that there will be no more death, then immortal humans will have to be relocated to other planets in order to prevent the earth from becoming overpopulated.. so how many habitable, earth-like planets are there?more and more habitable, earth-like planets would have to become available on a continuous, never-ending basis ad infinitum as mankind’s population grows given that there will be no more death.. the longevity/sustainability of life on these planets will be limited by the fact that the sun serving these planets will eventually die:https://shar.es/1cko6n.
http://www.space.com/22437-main-sequence-stars.html#sthash.ejbt1xrz.dpuf.
so immortal humans will have to keep moving from planet to planet.
The waters are muddied somewhat by the "new thought" that perhaps even miscarriages and stillborn babies will be resurrected.
Jesus, I must have missed this! What an utterly absurd thought!
Roughly half of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, most before the woman even realizes she's pregnant. That means half or more of all people receiving resurrections would be setting foot on the planet for the first time.
so even though i don't drive much because public transit is so good where i live (and parking is a living nightmare), i always had a paper taped onto my glove box that said "no blood transfusions - jehovahs witness.
see legal documentation in wallet.
going through this "wake up" process as been a very crazy, emotional experience.
I think it took me a solid year or two after waking up before I got rid of the blood card. The symbolic gesture of it was powerful.
I saw it as a point of no return moment and was very hesitant to pull the trigger. Congrats on moving forward.
where, exactly, does the bible say that government(s) will turn on religion?
i mean, other than interpreting some crazy visions/dreams from revelation as such?.
with one megalomaniac leading the gop race for nomination to vie for president of the usa, i've noticed that paranoia has ratcheted up a notch or three.
I remember threads like these back in 2008 when Obama was elected. Obama's election would somehow herald the coming of Armageddon, so the JWs were saying. The financial crisis...Armageddon. The Iraq War...Armageddon. The terrorist attacks of 9/11...Armageddon.
One of the earliest memories I have of knowing I had woken up and would never be able to go back to the "good ol' days" of blind belief was a conversation I had with a JW at an assembly about the 2004 tsunami. He was sure the end HAD to be right around the corner and he'd be able to see his recently-deceased mother again.
My blood started boiling at how he was trivializing the death of hundreds of thousands of people. That didn't matter. What mattered was that their deaths meant he'd be able to see his mother again soon. It wasn't about the people who died in the catastrophe. It was about him and his desire to see his mother again. A conversation like that would have previously gone unnoticed but it took every ounce of self-restraint I possessed not to dress him down publicly for his stupidity.
after the worst introduction i could ever make on the forum i would like to reintroduce myself and make a fresh start on the forum and hopefully over time i will be able to redeem myself.
i have changed my user name which was over dramatic and ridiculous in the cold light of day but for transparency and to show i am not trying to hide anything i have adapted the original name and it now has a more positive feel.
after reading a lot of posts on this forum i am feeling more optimistic about my future.
When I woke up 10 years ago, I didn't want to live any more. It took me a few years, but now being a JW is just another part of my past that informs who I am today.
I know it can be unbearable at times, but there's light at the end of the tunnel. Hang in there.
i sometimes was redirected to this page from reddit or another ex-jw site but never bothered to sign up.
i wanted to stay off the radar but since i'm getting dis-fellowshipped anyways and have no plans to come back what the hell.
been 22 years in the truth........... ahhhh i hate to use that expression...... bad habit but you know what i mean.
I did believe it because it seemed like every week I was saying "the truth makes so much sense!" Well of course it made sense when the information you are using (Watchtower publications) is all cut and trimmed to fit their agenda
Yup. If all I ever was exposed to was Nazi propaganda, I'd be a good little National Socialist.
I compare it to one of those courtroom drama shows. After the prosecution puts on its case, everyone at home is ready to get the pitchforks out and hang the bastard. Until the defense starts to go through their evidence and all of a sudden you realize there's more to the matter than meets the eye. When you're a JW you only get halfway through the trial. You never get to hear the other side of it because, well, that would be apostasy.
what is the point of supporting a belief which began as a bronze age ox-headed idol called yahweh... in a religion designed for illiterate peasants now appropriated by a money-driven cult with a one hundred and forty six year unbroken record of total failure of its bible based predictions?.
.
Some people just don't care if their religion is true or stupid, or if their policies are right or wrong, or even if their policies are just plain cruel. They just don't care if their religion's policies cause suffering and death. They just don't care if their religious leaders lie or what they do with donated money. They don't care if abuse victims are treated like sinners and abusers are protected by the silence of the elders. They just don't care. They're happy, so that makes it all ok.
I couldn't have said it better myself, honestly. You've distilled it down to its very essence in a few short sentences. Bravo.