Posts by Hopscotch

29

The revolving door and the hardcore ones

by dgp in

jw
friends

i understand that the number of people who join the wt is roughly equal to the number of people who leave.

there's a small difference, overall, but in some countries the number of those leaving might even be slightly above the number of those joining.

and this has been a problem for ever.. i would like some insight into the minds of those who stay in, not because of family reasons, not because of fear, old age, parental control, but because they really believe the scam.

Hopscotch

dgp - I feel that like blondie it is the live forever thing that does it. Not wanting to ever die/fear of death would be a huge factor in many staying. And the 'where else would we go' thing as well.

Hiding Questioner - it's possible tht the stuff appears before your post because you cut and pasted or copied your reponse from a word document. If you do that you will get all that code stuff show up (just quickly go straight back to your reply and click on the edit pencil and delete it). If you use the copy/paste thing in the blue block above the white space where you type your reply (it is a little icon of a clipboard with a W icon in front of it) then you won't get all that code stuff.

Hopscotch

30

Were you suprised at how little the "world" knows about JW's

by donny in

i was a jehovah's witness for 10 long years and during that time i developed the opinion that most of the world knew what we believed, but chose to ignore it and go about doing their own thing.

then in the almost 18 years i have been out, i have come to understand that the outside world knows very little about jw's.

other than they don't take blood transfusions and do not celebrate holidays, most people have no idea what we believe and only think of them as another offbeat religion among many.. did anyone else think that the jw religion was more known than it actually is?.

Hopscotch

donny I too was surprised how little people I now talk to know about JWs. After being one for over 40 years since young childhood I assumed that most people knew quite a bit about JWs.

But in the last couple of years since fading I have had the opportunity to talk to quite a few people about JWs and apart from knowing that JWs go door to door and the no blood transfusion thing most were shocked to find out the rest, such as the no holiday celebration (a couple knew about xmas but not the rest of the holidays), no voting, no to higher education etc. And all were disgusted to hear about the shunning policy, even of family members such as myself who are not df'd or da'd.

Hopscotch

7

I need your help for a text

by Motema Bolingo in

i try to find the magazine (probably a wt) where it is clearly written that jehovah's witnesses have to believe the bible as understood by the organization (or something similar).. i am french speaking, but with the english reference, i will be able to find the magazine in my own langage.. thank you in advance for your help.

jacques.

Hopscotch

And another

"All who want to understand the Bible should appreciate that the "greatly diversified wisdom of God" can become known only through Jehovah's channel of communication, the faithful and discreet slave" Watchtower 1994 October 1 p.8

Hopscotch

Ps - I think these quotes were in an article on the JWfacts website on the Faithful and Discreet Slave - it was one I saved a while ago so I'm not 100% sure.

7

I need your help for a text

by Motema Bolingo in

i try to find the magazine (probably a wt) where it is clearly written that jehovah's witnesses have to believe the bible as understood by the organization (or something similar).. i am french speaking, but with the english reference, i will be able to find the magazine in my own langage.. thank you in advance for your help.

jacques.

Hopscotch

I just found this other one.

"We have the opportunity to show love for our brothers who take the lead in the congregation or in connection with Jehovah's visible organization worldwide. This includes being loyal to "the faithful and discreet slave." (Matthew 24:45-47) Let us face the fact that no matter how much Bible reading we have done, we would never have learned the truth on our own. We would not have discovered the truth regarding Jehovah, his purposes and attributes, the meaning and importance of his name, the Kingdom, Jesus' ransom, the difference between God's organization and Satan's, nor why God has permitted wickedness." Watchtower 1990 December 1 p.19

Hopscotch

7

I need your help for a text

by Motema Bolingo in

i try to find the magazine (probably a wt) where it is clearly written that jehovah's witnesses have to believe the bible as understood by the organization (or something similar).. i am french speaking, but with the english reference, i will be able to find the magazine in my own langage.. thank you in advance for your help.

jacques.

Hopscotch

Motema

I found this one quote that might be of help - not sure if it is the one you are looking for.

"Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible organization in mind." Watchtower 1967 October 1 p.587

I'll see if I can find any others for you.

All the best

Hopscotch

24

Loving your beutiful children

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

i had little or no problems with my beliefs as an 18 year old convert to the jehovah's witness religion.

fair enough, there were a few things that i found a bit wacky & odd, but i was on the road to life.

i couldn't give a rats arse about many things.

Hopscotch

zoiks - Thank you. Just when I think I am dealing with the loss of my entire family due to shunning, some little thing will bring the grief and pain to the surface again.

jambon1 - I can't agree more with you that JWs destroy families and lives with this evil shunning policy. This is the issue with the WTS that is so close to my heart and the one I speak out about to non JWs as often as I can.

Thanks again for this thread.

Hopscotch

24

Loving your beutiful children

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

i had little or no problems with my beliefs as an 18 year old convert to the jehovah's witness religion.

fair enough, there were a few things that i found a bit wacky & odd, but i was on the road to life.

i couldn't give a rats arse about many things.

Hopscotch

Thank you for this wonderful post jambon1.

Reading through it while still dealing with the incredible pain of being totally shunned by my father and brother and sister for the last 18 months made it even more meaningful for me.

I am so glad for you that you left when you did and that your children will grow up with your unconditional love always.

All the best

Hopscotch

21

Is the Watchtower an Apocalyptic or doomsday religion?

by jwfacts in

imo the watchtower has a strong emphasis on eschatology and is one of the most prominent of the modern apocalyptic religions.

so i found it surprising to see the watchtower never uses the word eschatology applied to itself and claims not to be an apocalyptic religion.

startfragment.

Hopscotch

In answer to your question about JWs:

Is it accurate to claim they are apocalyptic or doomsday focused?

A religion that has as it's core belief the teaching that 99.9% of this worlds population are doomed to an apocalyptic destruction and that only 0.1% of the population will be saved is in my books an apocalyptic or doomsday cult/sect/religion.

And they try to hide this belief behind the live forever in paradise belief. A bit like trying to hide an elephant behind a flea.

Hopscotch

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