Posts by GromitSK

25

Confused by answers given by friend

by ArchDemon in

hello,im not sure this is the right place to post,anyway ive never been a jw but i have a very good friend that is,lately her mother has been telling me to go to the meetings and i went only once because after that ive been to research alot about them and i didnt like what i saw at all.. anyway the thing is that i asked my friend is the following.

"can you disfellowship jw with no problem?

"she said "yes,you just need to inform them".. i already knew the answer should be no cause they are shunned and this couldnt possibly be,.

GromitSK

I may have missed the point here so forgive me but I am curious as to what the original poster is trying to achieve. One may wish to question a JW to show them the error of their ways, or a friend or family member to help them to see the true situation. I am certainly no fan of WTS but if a person wishes to maintain their religious belief, why not let them if it is clear they do not want to have these beliefs challenged?

How close a friend is this person? It might be very difficult to develop a friendship with a truly committed JW. As a non-JW you will always be regarded as different and once she sees that you are not a good prospect for assimilation you may find it hard to have much in common.

49

Avoiding the snare of masturbation

by rebel8 in

jw
friends

http://cultprevention.blogspot.com/2010/01/avoiding-snare-of-masturbation-spoof.html.

.

GromitSK

I remember my first visit to the TMS. The person speaking mixed masturbation and mastication up. Unfortunately he was talking about eating spiritual food at the time so I did wonder what was going on for a short while. As it happens he did in fact turn out to be a tosser.

58

If the Watchtower truly collapsed, how would you deal with your JW relatives?

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

imagine the best case scenario.

the watchtower society implodes from within even making final printed admissions that it is voluntarily dismantling it's mission and legally dissolving the corporations.

oh happy day!

GromitSK

I don't think religions often simply disappear do they? It may crumble and lose support but I suspect it will do what it is doing now - metamorphose into something more palatable. The past will be forgotten or rationalised away by existing members and new ones will not be aware of it and may not do the necessary research. I suspect it will become less severe, in time, to make it easier for members to stay and will appear more mainstream. I do not think dreams of complete destruction will be realised. There are many other religions out there which have caused harm to their own members and others over many centuries, some of them going strong. Most of them have moderated and adapted to the times although it has sometimes been a slow process. Offering spiritual certainty is a powerful message to many people and probably always will be.

I suspect that the work required to actually make an informed decision is unpalatable to many, particularly to those brought up in a religious atmosphere. I suspect there will be an endless (though diminishing) supply of new grist for the WTS mill for a good many decades.

20

E-Watchman says you apostates will soon do an "evil work"

by yadda yadda 2 in

jw
friends

http://e-watchman.com/.

"at this late hour millions of jehovahs witnesses have already been stumbled, including people once associated with jehovahs witnesses such as family or relatives of jehovahs witnesses, and there are those many millions who have partaken of a bible study with jehovahs witnesses but who did not commit to become jehovahs witnesses, who are now increasingly, often rabidly, hostile to the watchtower organization.

those legions of stumbled individuals, united through dozens of internet discussion boards and so-called "recovery" groups, are now unwittingly primed to do an evil work during the hour of darkness soon to engulf this wicked world.

GromitSK

So, in other words, the JW Apostate Alert Level has been raised to 4. ORANGE - "Heightened Apostate Activity".

Maybe is should be raised to condition 3. BANANAS

30

That doesn't sound cultish at all...

by Mickey mouse in

jw
friends

.... "this is an unofficial group for fans of the watchtower.

keep all comments upbuilding and encouraging please.

no debates or questionings or criticisms are allowed.

GromitSK

Maybe they are another class?

Governing Body
Annointed
Elders
Other Sheep
Fans of Jehovah's Witnesses

who knows what may follow.. "pets of fans' of Jehovah's Witnesses"?

21

i don't like to dig deep into the bible... am i bad?

by ?me? in

jw
friends

i totally appreciate the posters who have a ton of bible knowledge and love research, but me being a witness for a few decades find myself not really interested in many of the discussions here and at the meeting.

the current "grace/undeserved kindness" post by sir82 is a prime example.. first off i do know that my personality is to be sceptical about most things, and i usually focus on things that i can see or are more simple, especially if it is a topic i am less interested in.. but am i bad because i don't really care if jesus died on a cross of stake?

or i am not interested in trying to figure out when (and if ) jehovah is going to take care of wicked people or resurrect dead people........ i kind of figure we will find out when it happens.. sometimes if feel stupid about bible things, but i take pride in trying to live by the basic bible principles and laws (about stealing, adultery, bad language, etc), although i do have a good deal of general knowledge about the bible, i could care less about breaking down the different "loves" in the hebrew language or greek language, or whatever..... i guess i have a similar knowledge of the scriptures as the "christians" before the wts "helped us figure it out" starting around 1900. .

GromitSK

Not as bad as digging the Bible in somewhere nice and deep.

16

Richard Dawkins forum

by zoiks in

jw
friends

are there any posters here who also read and/or post on the forums at richard-dawkins.net?

it seems as though a large number of xjws post there.

there are some really good and thought provoking points made, from a slightly different perspective.. just wondering!.

GromitSK

I found the God Delusion strong on bashing organised religion (which gets my vote) but weak on the evidence for or against the existence of some kind of God. I think sometimes people confuse Atheism with the rejection of organised religion which of course isn't necessarily the same thing at all. I couldn't see much in Dawkins' book that hadn't been said a thousand times before.

As an aside - someone above said "everything in science is a theory" - no it isn't science relies on observation, replication and investigation. There certainly are many things that scientists seek to explain by theories but there are also many aspects of science where the mechanisms are pure fact and not subject to theory. Also 'Science' (whatever one means by that) may accept that it doesn't know everything however individual scientists have vested interests in their own areas of expertise and sometimes do not accept new information readily - one method they use to reject it is ridicule.

Planck's second law: (science progresses one funeral at a time).

25

Do JW's Put More Faith in the Watchtower or in the Bible?

by Sour Grapes in

it just drives me crazy when the brothers giving the public.

talk on sunday morning will say "the june 1, 1984 watchtower.

on page 10 paragraph 6 says........" the witnesses, in my.

GromitSK

To be honest I find the scriptural exchanges like watching two bald men argue over a comb. To me they are far more boring than political and global warming discussions.

25

Do JW's Put More Faith in the Watchtower or in the Bible?

by Sour Grapes in

it just drives me crazy when the brothers giving the public.

talk on sunday morning will say "the june 1, 1984 watchtower.

on page 10 paragraph 6 says........" the witnesses, in my.

GromitSK

JesusisYHWH

I don't know whether or not you have been a JW but you will find that WTS will find scriptures to support all of their positions including disciplining JWs for participating in what they see as pagan celebrations. Although many do it, I cannot understand why folks bother swapping scriptures with each other to argue these points as they lead to an endless and incredibly boring series of unproductive exchanges.

25

Do JW's Put More Faith in the Watchtower or in the Bible?

by Sour Grapes in

it just drives me crazy when the brothers giving the public.

talk on sunday morning will say "the june 1, 1984 watchtower.

on page 10 paragraph 6 says........" the witnesses, in my.

GromitSK

Farkel

That's a good point. Why on Earth would you try to stop people understanding the true meaning of anything unless you were afraid they might reach a different conclusion based on the same information and that, having done so, you would be unable to persuade them away from that conclusion?

Perhaps the WTS think its followers are so dumb that even the holy spirit (if such existed) would not be able to keep them from error or maybe it is because they know that what they teach is flimsy and will not stand up to proper scrutiny. I wish I'd had access to the information available now when I was a naiive trusting 18 year old back in 1982, though whether I would have done the research properly without anyone to encourage me I am not so sure.

Paul