Posts by MrMonroe

41

The Huffington Post has picked up the mentally diseased story!!!!

by discreetslave in

just posted by vampire665 on facebook.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/28/jehovahs-witness-magazine_n_985479.html.

MrMonroe

I wouldn't overstate the effect of these stories. To us on this forum, the JW leaders are a tyrannical bunch of liars who ruined our lives. To the media, and most newspaper readers/TV viewers the JWs are a very small and mildly irritating religion.

The stories may help to shake out some Witnesses who may already harbour doubts about the rationality of their leaders, and make them feel uncomfortable about remaining closely aligned with them. They may also make some people who atre contemplating baptism or home bible study to walk away from it. The key message in these stories needs to be that once you join, they will do everything they can to make it hard to leave, including name calling and organised shunning.

The stories help to chip away their support and keep the idea of "cult control" in the minds of casual readers. But the reality is the publicity isn't going to bring this religion to its knees.

27

City Overseers discontinued immediately 9/16/11

by Gayle in

letter dated 09/16/11 to all boes about city overseers being discontinued effective immediately.. this is from a very reliable jw anonymous source.. .

MrMonroe

Designs, that's really funny. I'd forgotten abut that: in both New Zealand and here in Australia the circuit assemblies always did an announcement about how much i debt they were, and (in the early days at least) I'd feel guilty and put another lot of money in the box. You're saying they had distinct accounting methods to always ensure the circuit assembly fund was always in debt? Amazing.

5

Elders as volunteers/ Shunning instructions

by Gladring in

jw
friends

was just checking the jw-media.org website and found this:.

http://www.jw-media.org/aboutjw/article41.htm.

how we are organizedfollowing the model of first-century christianity, jehovahs witnesses have no clergy-laity division.

MrMonroe

We recognise their right to leave. Then we will shun them and call them mentally diseased.

78

Do you sense that the Watchtower will implode?

by AK - Jeff in

since leaving the organization 8 years ago, there have been more significant changes in the actual, physical activities of the organization than occurred in all the 40 plus years i was 'in'.

bethel closings.

bethel layoffs.

MrMonroe

Their control over elders and publishers is too strong to allow a splintering to occur. For any significant splinter group to form would require a freedom for members to express what they feel and gain the sense that there are others who share their view.

The threat of disfellowshipping for any who step out of line and challenge the authority and teaching of the GB is far too strong to allow any more than a handful to leave with the intention of starting something new. I just don't see it as feasible that people would be prepared to accept disfellowshipping, with all the shame and humiliation that entails, to join others, particularly when the level of rhetoric from the WTS against the "rebels" would skyrocket.

Could it implode? I just can't see it. The movement has a momentum all its own, fuelled by the myth of divine authority and the fear of expulsion and eternal damnation. It also has its own centre of gravity that keeps pulling members (and recruiits) towards it. Few of those ever stop to examine the logic and teachings of the organisation, and because they're not allowed to read or hear criticism, they have no yardstick by which to judge it.

The internet and media exposure will cause some to drift towards the edge and leave, but the machine will keep rolling on.

47

Which songs/Albums were considered "Demonic" in your Congregation...did you toss some?

by Witness 007 in

"hotel california" was considered a major demonic song.

ac/dc stood for anti-christ devils children....{not according to the band} kiss stood for knight s in satans service {not according to the band} anyone else have to toss albums?.

MrMonroe

Hotel California and Stairway to Heaven for sure. I had a JW in the back of my car once who asked me take out a cassette that was playing a Smiths song, "This Charming Man," it may have been, which included the line "the devil finds work for idle hands." I told him even Kingdom Songs mention the devil.

I chose to stop playing "Blasphemous Rumours" by Depeche Mode; a wonderful song, but it contained what I thought was pretty horrible statements about God. I suppose I still feel a bit uneasy about it, though I play it now.

4

Brooklyn residents not sad to see the back of JWs

by Mickey mouse in

jw
friends

http://www.observer.com/2011/09/all-along-the-watchtower/.

all along, the watchtower: can i get a jehovahs witness?

in brooklyn heights, probably not .

MrMonroe

One more prick to the bubble of their fantasy that people just looooove Jehovah's Witnesses in their neighbourhood because they're so law-abiding and upstanding. Collectively, they are self-centered, self-obsessed people who give very little to any community they're a part of ... because they insist theyre not really part of a community.

JWs never volunteer for community, school, or public duties. They won't take part in union activities or community protests. They give nothing because (a) they are taught to hold "the world" in contempt, (b) they are kept so busy with the demands of their own religion, which makes huge demands on their tie and (c) they worry that they'll be criticised from within their cult if they do interact too much with the "world".

71

Overlapping generation segment on the new Circuit Assembly program

by traveb in

jw
friends

so there i was at the circuit assembly sunday morning with my eyes glazed over as usual when all of a sudden, bam!

a demo with two brothers talking about the new overlapping generation teaching.

the reason it took me by surprise was because it occured during the second talk of the sunday morning symposium, "sanctify god's name by your speech".

MrMonroe

@Drewcoul, yeah, I love that closing comment ... "It makes it more clear, but I need to do more research." Uh, so is it clear or not? Did that discussion of Fred Franz living nearly 100 years actually explain it or not? And where will you do your research? Admit it, mate, it just can't be understood. And why?

2:01 on the audio: "We have to readjust our understanding of what a generation is." And why do they have to readjust? Simple: because the previous "understanding" meant that those who had formed that generation were now at least 107 years old, and so the doctrine was therefore proved WRONG.

The "old understanding" was actually pretty clear, and it made sense in a Watchtower way. "The generation that saw the events of 1914 will not pass away before Armageddon comes." That's clear enough. But when the passing of time makes it clear that the doctrine was WRONG, they need to face facts and say, "Hey, we goofed. If Jesus was talking about a generation alive at the time of Armageddon, then tying it in with the 1914 date was clearly WRONG. If we got that WRONG then we probably got a lot of other stuff WRONG."

But they're too proud to admit they're WRONG. Instead of dismantling their doctrine, they have decided to redefine a fairly basic English word and then force that to fit their doctrine. They can talk all they like at conventions about the lives of old anointed men overlapping the lives of young anointed men. But sorry, that doesn't make them one generation, and anyone with half a brain knows that. I am not the same generation as my grandfather even though were were both alive together for all of the 1960s.

That presentation had excellent actors, but I doubt even they believe it.

1

JWTalk forum

by MrMonroe in

i can't get into that last thread about what's happening on jwtalk.net.

and you obviously need a password to get into their forum.. what's the general tenor of the discussion?.

i'm interested in another thread there as well, in which someone has asked about the reliability of jw articles on wikipedia.

MrMonroe

I can't get into that last thread about what's happening on JWtalk.net. And you obviously need a password to get into their forum.

What's the general tenor of the discussion?

I'm interested in another thread there as well, in which someone has asked about the reliability of JW articles on Wikipedia. Damned right the main ones are treliable. They contain info you'll never find in a WTS publication.

71

Overlapping generation segment on the new Circuit Assembly program

by traveb in

jw
friends

so there i was at the circuit assembly sunday morning with my eyes glazed over as usual when all of a sudden, bam!

a demo with two brothers talking about the new overlapping generation teaching.

the reason it took me by surprise was because it occured during the second talk of the sunday morning symposium, "sanctify god's name by your speech".

MrMonroe

Yeah, kind of funny. The drones are sitting there in their seats thinking, "Yeah, it's crystal clear." Up on stage they run through it again, and the drones are nodding, "uh-huh .... uh-huh ... uh-huh..."

But ultimately it's "Huh?" On the way home if they start discussing it, they'll be just a lost trying to explain a teaching that simply makes no sense and is twisting a fairly simple Bible statement into all sorts of weird shapes to fit a pre-determined outcome.

44

Max Larson died today at 96 yrs...Watchtower President since 2000

by williamhconley in

jw
friends

watchtower society of new york president max larson died today at the age of 96.. served in bethel since 1938 (73 yrs at bethel) long before geoffrey jackson & anthony morris of the gb were even born.. http://www.jw-archive.org/2011/09/bro-max-larson-died-today.html.

MrMonroe

See Wikipedia article: Corporations of Jehovah's Witnesses.

It's a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania corporation.

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. is a corporation used by Jehovah's Witnesses, which is responsible for administrative matters, such as real estate, especially within the United States. This corporation is typically cited as the publisher of Jehovah's Witnesses publications, though other publishers are sometimes cited. The corporation's stated purposes are: “Charitable, benevolent, scientific, historical, literary and religious purposes; the moral and mental improvement of men and women, the dissemination of Bible truths in various languages by means of the publication of tracts, pamphlets, papers and other religious documents, and for religious missionary work.” [ 9 ]

Originally known as the Peoples Pulpit Association, the organization was incorporated in 1909 when the Society's principal offices moved to Brooklyn, New York. In 1939, it was renamed Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc., and in 1956 the name was changed to Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. [ 10 ] Until 2000, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses was president of both the Watch Tower (Pennsylvania) and Watchtower (New York) corporations, as well as Britain's International Bible Students Association corporation; in 2001, it was decided that the corporations' directors need not be members of the Governing Body. [ 3 ] In 2001 the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York was listed among the top forty revenue-generating companies in New York City, reporting an annual revenue of about 951 million US dollars. [ 11 ]