Posts by jabberwock

4

Discussion with my family.

by ColdRedRain in

jw
friends

it was a cold night and my girlfriend needed to make a pitstop at my grandmother's house.

of course, no good jw would give up an opportunity to witness to people.

and my family are no exceptions.. anyway, my grandfather was asking my girlfriend why i don't attend the cult meetings anymore.

jabberwock

At first, I didn't want to overwhelm them with the dirty laundry of their faith, so I attributed mistakes in their theology to other religions. Of course, they laughed. They honestly believe that the scientologists believe that organ transplants were akin to cannibalism and how they predicted the end of the world to be in 1874 and they had a good time laughing at that cult.

This is brilliant! What an excellent way to criticize Witness beliefs without them immediately ending the discussion. It reminds me of the prophet Nathan telling King David the story about the poor family's little lamb that was taken and slaughtered by the rich man.

Did you ever reveal to them that these were Witness beliefs? How did they react?

21

Enjoy it.........Daniel Sydlik telling us to get back at "Jehovah's table"

by sspo in

but it's a new king in israel.

"and david proceeded to say is there anyone left over from the house of saul that i may exercise loving kindness to him for the sake of jonathan?

>>>david said: that's the man that i am looking for.

jabberwock

From what I have heard Daniel Sydlik was one of the more decent members of the governing body and someone who cared a lot more about people than many of the others. However, this talk is disgusting.

Then the next person comes in. It's a cripple! IN WALKS A CRIPPLE! With all of this beauty at the table, in walks a cripple!!! He told us we are all crippled brothers. Adam and Eve dropped every one of us... we are all crippled......... We are all messed up.

How very cruel to talk about a paralyzed person using such a demeaning word. I don't look down on those with physical handicaps and I certainly don't think that they should be considered of less value than other people.

David, and by extension Jehovah, is made to seem especially magnanimous for not discriminating against someone with a debilitating condition that is completely out of their control. But, isn't this the very least a decent person can do? This seems to me to be like praising someone for not being racist or sexist.

The Bible says she was so good looking that her own brother raped her...

What?!?! Amnon raped his sister simply because she was so beautiful? So, it wasn't his fault, she was just too beautiful not to be raped. What an outrageous and revolting thing to say!

2

Why wait for a confession?

by jabberwock in

the recent post about a co urging confession of secret sins to the elders brought up an interesting question:.

why doesn't god or the holy spirit reveal the secret sins of the congregation to the elders?.

there are many scriptural examples of this kind of thing happening.. adam and eve, cain, achan, david, judas, ananias, and sapphira all did not confess their sins at least until their sins were exposed.. i think the most appropriate example is that of ananias and sapphira who were exposed as exaggerating the amount of a donation.

jabberwock

The recent post about a CO urging confession of secret sins to the elders brought up an interesting question:

Why doesn't God or the Holy Spirit reveal the secret sins of the congregation to the elders?

There are many scriptural examples of this kind of thing happening.

Adam and Eve, Cain, Achan, David, Judas, Ananias, and Sapphira all did not confess their sins at least until their sins were exposed.

I think the most appropriate example is that of Ananias and Sapphira who were exposed as exaggerating the amount of a donation. Perhaps their example will be of particular use when individual Witnesses are asked to "pledge" to donate a certain amount.

At the very least, we might expect terrible disasters in congregations where serious sins are being kept secret.

22

Letter to all congregations in Canada 2010

by bobld in

jw
friends

pledge forms will be issued to all brothers & sisters requesting for donations for k.h.,assembly halls,reno of k.h.etc.they did give some poor excuse as why this was necessary.my guess is that the brothers who made interest free loans to the wbts are asking for these loans back because of all the layoffs and the down turn in the economy.. bob.

jabberwock

I believe the same letter was sent to all congregations in the United States.

10

Lest we forget -- WTsaid this exactly 100 years ago

by Fatfreek in

if you were a jw 100 years ago what would you have been reading?

here are a few snippets.

highlighting is mine.. .

jabberwock

Which scriptural prophecies were thought to point to the Federation of Protestant Churches/ Evangelical Alliance?

36

Circuit Overseer said from platform ,if you have ever done something and not confessed to Elders...going to die!!

by Lady Liberty in

just had lunch with a inactive jw friend of mine who is well on her way out.

she said that when the she went to the kingdom hall the week of the circuit overseers visit, he said from the platform, that if anyone had done any wrong doing in the past, no matter how long ago, and had never come forward to tell the elders, then they would not make it into the new system, but would rather die at armegedon!!.

i guess after that talk the elders were inindated and they began privately, and publically reproving, and removing ones!!

jabberwock

I'm not surprised.

Sounds rather like another religion, one that the WTS has condemned time and again, oh, yeah, the Catholic Church, with their need to have a priest intercede for forgiveness.

Yes! The elders say that only Jehovah can forgive sins and only then if you are repentant. Of course, the investigations and judicial committees are needed to see if you are repentant and determine whether or not Jehovah has forgiven you. This hardly seems like much of a difference to me.

18

Is 'truth' a red herring?

by bulgogiboy in

this is a question for all, but especially ex-jws who may have transferred their piety over to another religion, and come to believe in another faith:.

is 'truth' regarding the meaning of life something that can ever realistically be obtained by human beings?

what is your idea of what 'truth' is?

jabberwock

"What is truth"

It bothered me when Watchtower publications would criticize Pontius Pilate for being cynical and insincere in asking this question. I remember that even when I was very young I thought it was a good question. I was disappointed that they would always dismiss it rather than take it seriously and try to give an answer.

15

The "move away" Fade

by jacquicortez in

looking back there were quite a few families that did the "oh we're moving" fade.

they would move to a rural area.

or a state or two away.

jabberwock

I've been thinking of doing this myself. Any suggestions?

32

Will the Society Ever Print Another Evolution Verse Creation Book?

by frankiespeakin in

i think if they do they will have to make many revisions now that information is so prevalent on the internet.

and with all that is known about dna and how it proves darwin was right i don't see how they could.

but i guess you can never put nothing past the wt and it's crack smoking writers to dig up something ridiculous to blur the lines of reality for the friends, for sure its got to be way harder to write such a book today and keep a straight face..

jabberwock

Probably not a full book that discusses evolution in detail.

For awhile now they have been focusing less on evolution and more on the wonders of creation. This is especially evident in the Was It Designed series of articles and the new DVD The Wonders of Creation Reveal God's Glory. These simply discuss a complex organism or biological mechanism and then say, or strongly imply, that there is no way these things could have come about without an intelligent designer.

10

How to Keep Nosy JW Relatives at Bay

by Open mind in

jw
friends

my family is in the process of reaching out to establish friendships outside the jw religion.

at some point we will likely be ready to fade into total jw inactivity.

when we do that there will inevitably be numerous well-intentioned attempts to snatch us from the jaws of satan.

jabberwock

Yes! I just watched a couple of seasons of "The Wire" and I think I have several phrases or sentences that would be effective. PM me for details. Better yet, just rent a few episodes, it's great family viewing ;)

Phrases from the Wire? Please don't keep these just between the two of you. If you really don't feel comfortable posting them then please send me a PM.