Posts by DisconnectingDrone

16

Book study change and Satan/ sorry about the format

by sspo in

this email is circulating among the witnesses....... book study change

this was forward by friends at the guam branch -- ---------------------- from a sister in colombia : i want to share with you important points from our co's visit about the changes that will take effect next year about our book study.

there are four main points about the book study change, i thought were very interesting:

DisconnectingDrone

Well since Satan took almost everything from Job except for his life. Let's hope he soon convinces Jehovah into cancelling the Thursday meeting and the Sunday meeting too. Cancelling the assemblies and field service reports would also be a good test too.
In fact; why not liquidate the WTS and see how everyone does on their own?

14

New technique to increase your ministry hours without doing any ministry.

by DisconnectingDrone in

jw
friends

ok, this idea came to me the other day, technically it is totally by the book.

1) ask the map servant for a territory map near your home.

2) go out at midnight down the said street; and everyone will be in bed-or at least have some curtains closed.

DisconnectingDrone

For those still in: OK, this idea came to me the other day, technically it is totally by the book.
1) Ask the map servant for a territory map near your home.
2) Go out at midnight down the said street; and everyone will be in bed-or at least have some curtains closed.
3) Write the numbers down as NH (or remember the sequence and write them down later).
4) Get back home and place your magazines/tracts with Mr Shredder.
5) Give the NH slip back in, and you have done "your time" but not actually spoken to anyone.
The idea came to me because this is basically what happens when you go out on Saturday morning, everyone's in bed! Been out for the last 7/8 weeks on a Saturday morning and spoken to no more than 2 or 3 people each morning. So calling at a time when 100% of people are in bed is not much worse than going when 99% of people are in bed in my opinion.

45

Pro's and Con's of DAing myself.

by lancelink in

i have been wrestling with the idea of da'ing myself for close to a year now.

but there is a small area in my subconscious that whispers "this is not a good idea.

i haven't been to a meeting in over six months, no service in seven years.

DisconnectingDrone

woah, this line hit me like a ton of bricks:
being chased by 2 vehicles, nearly causing an accident when they boxed her into a construction zone. Turns out it was elders following my truck thinking I was driving. They aborted the chase when the saw the driver was my spouse.
When I was DF'd I experienced car chases from a particular elder who was on the JC, chasing me at speeds over 100mph and cutting me up on other occasions (once he did this on the way to the KH!), etc. I thought it was a one-off incident but am now wondering if this is something deeper.
I am now back-in as I could not handle being DF'd and not talking to my family-I had overwhelming suicidal thoughts that I wanted to stop so decided to come back. Now back in, but just going through the motions.
To this day I have not told anyone about his behaviour as I honestly don't expect to be believed, a publisher doing next to nothing or a elder who is the congregation secretary?

17

Something that always puzzled me...

by DisconnectingDrone in

assume that the first 11 chapters of the bible (i.e.

gen 1-11) are correct.

if the understanding is correct that satan raised issues in the garden of eden, and one of these issues was that man can rule on his own without jehovah interfering.

DisconnectingDrone

Thinking about this today, there is something else strange. Why did Jehovah feel the need to stop the building project?
I think it stinks, firstly an all powerful God would know that they would not be able to build a tower upto heaven. In all likelyhood, if the building was allowed to continue, it would probably have been a city for a while, then people would have dispersed.
Reading between the lines it seems the people were saying "we will build a tower that reaches into the heavens" and Jehovah was not concerned with this, but more irritated that they were working and living and getting along with each other.
Also why has Jehovah tolerated the building of skyscrapers in this age and not created more languages?
So on the flip side, say if the new paradise world comes and we are all speaking Hebrew as JW are taught, then isn't this self condemning? By reverting everyone back to one language it will be like saying yes multiple languages causes problems-but Jehovah created the multiple languages to begin with.
Am I on my own here, or has anyone else thought this account is contradictory?

17

Something that always puzzled me...

by DisconnectingDrone in

assume that the first 11 chapters of the bible (i.e.

gen 1-11) are correct.

if the understanding is correct that satan raised issues in the garden of eden, and one of these issues was that man can rule on his own without jehovah interfering.

DisconnectingDrone

Assume that the first 11 chapters of the Bible (i.e. Gen 1-11) are correct.
If the understanding is correct that Satan raised issues in the Garden of Eden, and one of these issues was that man can rule on his own without Jehovah interfering.
OK, so things went a bit freaky with angels having hybrid offspring, but the flood dealt with that-this was not the end of the issue.
Chapter 11, Nimrod organizes the building of a tower. Verses 5-9 are very condeming:

5 And Jehovah proceeded to go down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. 6 After that Jehovah said: “Look! They are one people and there is one language for them all, and this is what they start to do. Why, now there is nothing that they may have in mind to do that will be unattainable for them. 7 Come now! Let us go down and there confuse their language that they may not listen to one another’s language.” 8 Accordingly Jehovah scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth, and they gradually left off building the city. 9 That is why its name was called Ba'bel, because there Jehovah had confused the language of all the earth, and Jehovah had scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth.

So is this saying, that Jehovah knew he had lost the issue of if man could rule on their own and hence threw a spanner in the works?
The other question is, JW's and their literature often say that Satan has used nationalism as a tool to divide the world-it doesn't look that way to me. It seems that Satan was happy for everyone to speak the same language and this enabled big projects to be underway. Forcing people to speak new languages and nt understand one another seems to show that Jehovah created nationalism, not Satan.

of course, it could all be a fairy tale...

23

New meeting arrangement - just over 5 months to go

by passwordprotected in

at the recent dc the new meeting arrangement was mentioned just once, but not to give us further details on how the new meeting will be structured or how the r&f will be cared for.. .

instead the audience was urged not the second guess the gb, being advised to look at how well the spirit has directed the org up until now, so therefore it will do so into the future.. .

but the reality is the congregations are only just over 5 months away from this new meeting arrangement, yet they know little about how it'll actually affect them.. .

DisconnectingDrone

We should hear something soon, they normally include the schedules in the October KM edition, which is normally distributed end august early sept-so must be in the process of going to print. If it isn't in October's KM then there is something strange blowing. Feels like were in a plane and the pilot & co-pilot have both died in their sealed cockpit...

5

Fate & Bible Prophecies-what do you think?

by DisconnectingDrone in

jw's are taught that there is no fate-if fate existed no one would be responsible for what they did?

however, i always thought their explanation of jehovah selectively looking into the future was fuzzy.

take the prophecy of cyrus conquering babylon and freeing the israelites back home.

DisconnectingDrone

JW's are taught that there is no fate-if fate existed no one would be responsible for what they did?

However, I always thought their explanation of Jehovah selectively looking into the future was fuzzy. Take the prophecy of Cyrus conquering Babylon and freeing the Israelites back home. If you look into the future and predict it-then it means that certain things must happen-in this case there must be someone called Cyrus, Babylon would still be around, the Israelites would still be captives and Cyrus' campaign was a guaranteed success.

Then there is Alexander the Great and his 4 Generals. I mean your not talking about looking at minor things in the future, your looking at some of the pivotal moments in man's history.

I'd like to read your thoughts on fate and prophecies.

28

Best JW tall story/variations of it?

by KW13 in

jw
friends

dont just list one, list them all so we can laugh because in all honesty i can't believe we believed some of them.

for example, i was told annie lennox stopped a concert to ask if there was any jw's in the audience, and if there was could they leave as they were stopping the demons getting through...is this even remotely true?

did annie lennox ask the jw's in the audience to move because they were stopping the snack lady getting through...and it got twisted through chinese whispers.... the other day (i felt sick) one witness was banging on about how amazing it was that the watchtower society's building was the only one standing still...wtf...my stepdad responded with a 'wow thats amazing' and the first brother was like 'yeah i know'...grrrrrrrrr aaaaaaaah screaaaaaaaaam .

DisconnectingDrone

Some of the tall stories, I have heard:

I heard that it was Chris Rea who asked if there were any JW's in the audience, and for them to leave...

I also heard that in Sri Lanka no JW's were killed in the Tsunami as they were all at the special assembly day. Which was used as an excuse to say "that's why you should always be at all the meetings".

Two missionary brothers in the Australian outback hit a kangaroo in their 4x4, and stopped, nursed it back to health and put a WT in the kangaroos pouch. 6 months later the same 2 brothers found an aborigine tribe that had that WT and had set up a religion around the things in the WT.

A brother was preaching on the London Underground and another passenger took his book off him and through it out the window. Another traveler picked up the book and came in the truth.

A brother in America turned down a 6-figure a week!! (that's at least $100,000 per week) job to join Brooklyn Bethel.

London Bethel have a special operations unit and they were sent on an operation to recover a laptop from the closed down French Bethel-without this laptop they would not have been able to print any more French literature for at least 12 months.

A man with OCD was so depressed he tried to kill himself by putting a shotgun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. The man survived and cured his OCD. Used as an example to say "just coz so-and-so tried this or that, doesn't mean everyone should". Have they seen what damage a shotgun at point blank range does to someone.

During WWII an airraid siren started up during an assembly-but no one left. When the assembly ended the brothers left and all the buildings in that block had been demolished, but no damage was done to the assembly hall. Years later, a brother told a German brother this experience and he was a German bomber pilot in the war on this mission-his squadron had been given orders to bomb the assembly hall from Hitler personally-he knew the witnesses were meeting there, but each time they dropped the bombs a mysterious gust of wind blew them onto the other buildings. He ran out of bombs and returned home.

A brother went to the same Catholic school as Pope John Paul and shared a room with him. One went to become the pope, another went on to leave the Catholics and become a JW. The JW wrote a letter to the Pope explaining the truth. The Pope wrote back saying he knew the Catholics were wrong and the JW's were right but had to teach what the people wanted to hear.

Jimi Hendrix's guitar played on it's own. (i.e. demons)

I could probably go on, but my mind has now gone blank.

45

Do You Believe It's Possible We Might Be In "The Time Of The End"?

by minimus in

jw
friends

many religions other than jws believe we are at the "end times".

some individuals believe the earth will really be destroyed either by means of god or man in this century.. what's your take?.

DisconnectingDrone

I remember when in 1986 the UN announced 1986 would be the year of "International Peace & Security". This was fulfillment of Bible prophecy. I would not have to go to senior school-Armageddon would be here.
I remember when the Soviet Union fell in 1989 and the announcements about decommissioning nuclear weapons was made. I would not have to worry about choosing my exams to take-Armageddon would be here.
I remember the first Gulf war in 1990. I had to worry about being thrown into prison when I left school and tortured, but be happy that I would pass through to the paradise.
I remember 9/11 in 2001. More proof that this was it-this was the end.However, I began questioning the crap-I did say to some JW's I can see this system going on for another 10 or 20 years-which turned their faces white.
I remember 7/7 in 2005. Another "Armageddon is imminent". Then an elderly sister made the point that she lived during the blitz in WWII and the war on terrorism is nothing compared to what she lived through 60+ years ago.
Cost of living goes up were near the end (didn't it go up much worse in Germany in the 20's?) Not much of an end.
It's a win-win situation. War breaks out-were near the end. Peace treaties are signed-were near the end. Half the prophecies say the time of the end will be full of wars, others talk about peace. Talk about covering your butt. I'll go out on a limb and say tommorrow will be wet&dry and warm&cold-I guarantee I'll be right!
The UN have just shown that they haven't got the balls to do anything about a weakling like Mugabe. The British & US forces tip toe round mosques in Iraq and Afghanistan. No-one is in a position to "ban religion".
If we are in the time of the end and the JW's are God's chosen org then who wants to live forever in a pedophile paradise, run from a zillion miles away by all the dead governing bodies snooping in on our lives. No wonder they look forward to their heavenly reward-a chance to peek into the homes of every human on the planet and zap anyone-even a married couple who decide to be a little advanterous between the sheets.

138

Why I will NEVER be an elder again

by stillajwexelder in

so the po confirmed what many on this board already know.

at latest round of co to elders meeting, the co quoted from the society outline.

any elder or ms who encourages college for his kids or others or who allows his children to go to college will no longer qualify.. he then asked if i was going to take the cos encouragement and reach out again to be an elder and get my hours on the ministry up.. i replied "i will never be an elder again - i strongly approve of further education and college and have been through college myself.

DisconnectingDrone

I think this will eventually be the undoing, they are already tightening the purse strings (see my earlier post about the magazine change). This will only speed things up:
1. Those without further education tend to earn less than those with degrees and college education, so less money going in the box, especially as the economy is going through a squeeze. Most people without extra skills are only paid the minimum wage in the UK (think it's about £6 p/h, that's £240 for a 40 hour week and probably about £200 after taxes). £800 a month pay out your mortgage or rent, council tax, fuel bills and petrol and food and their is not going to be much left for the box.
2. Those without further education tend to be employed in retail and this is now meaning more and more evening and weekend work-this will mean more meetings missed and more loss of control. Nearly most of those that window cleaned in the UK have jacked it in and gone for regular employment.
3. Any society or group of people needs a balanced mix of people skills, imagine if their were no street cleaners or bin men or shelf stacker's, if everyone was a doctor or lawyer. Now imagine the reverse...
4. Most democratic governments will become more anti-witness if they learn that they are actively discouraging further education.
5. Highly likely to cause dissension amongst the body of elders. People have different abilities, some people are academically inclined while others are practical. I consider myself an academic and I'm grateful for those with practical skills such as mechanics, gardeners, builders etc.
6. If little Zedekiah decides to go for a job at his local factory instead of going to college so his daddy can stay in the old boys club will still be associating with worldly people who may lead him astray.
7. Any elder worth his salt will but his kids life and future over his elder duties and some may consider it an ideal opportunity to offload their eldership without looking to bad, it wouldn't create too much of a fuss if an elder came off due to his kid going to college.
I have a feeling that next they will encourage home schooling for all...