ive decided to post something i have been thinking about for quite some time now.
to keep things short and sweet: i predict revolutionary changes in jw policy regarding door-to-door activity and the means of spreading their memeplex (belief system.
here is a list of the changes i feel most confident about:
The biggest reason why JWs will not do the internet thing is because of money. The organization gets money from JWs for the literature. It is hard to do that over the net. Basically, they have a pyramid scheme in a sense with all of the money for literature going to the Society. People sitting around chatting on the internet are probably not going to be placing literature all the often.
Jeff S.
Wasn't there a guy named Abbie Normal in some Movie? I would guess he was a normal.
Jeff S.
it's a simple fact.
jw's cannot freely express themselves.
they can't freely tell another about a doubt or a question that they might have for fear they could be exposed to the elders.
"Scholar":
Having read Carl Jonsson's book I never recall him stating that his work was infallible. However, I do think that the evidence he gives in his book supporting his views is pretty overwhelming.
Secondly, if Mr. Furuli really believes as you say that all chronological schemes should be viewed as tentative, how can he support a religious organization that shuns individuals for not completely accepting their chronological scheme as “the truth revealed on high from God”? It would seem to me that Mr. Furuli even if he agrees with the WT chronology should be critical of them for behaving in this way.
Jeff S.
it's a simple fact.
jw's cannot freely express themselves.
they can't freely tell another about a doubt or a question that they might have for fear they could be exposed to the elders.
The reason why JWs cannot freely express themselves is because of all of the don't talk rules in the JW culture. JWs live inside a totalitarian regime. If anyone wants to discuss problems, they become the problem for discussing it. In addition, the JWs know how to stifle meaningful dialogue by using their famous thought terminating cliches such as "wait on Jehovah", etc.
If you ever get a chance read the book entitled "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse". It describes the spiritually abusive JW culture very well.
Jeff S.
this weekend is the annual greek food festival, sponsored by our local greek orthodox church, and for the first time i'm going!!!
mom, who is greek, and dad never let me go because to participate would be giving money to bad old babylon the great, and i followed that stupid rule after i got married too.
well, no more -- we're going to the food festival!.
Have you ever been to a Greek Orthodox Mass? It is a full sensory experience between the music, incense and the beautiful icons. If you get a chance to go to one, I would go to one. The one I went to was awesome.
Jeff S.
dear stacy, i had heard of this accusation against jehovah's witnesses before and i asked one of our elders to explain this again.
about 20 - 25 years ago, the watch tower society obtained access to u.n. information by obtaining permission.
this was non-governmental thus non-political and non compromising.
"If I left an organization, I wouldn't spend my free time transposing negative information. I used to attend the Methodist church in which I was confirmed as a member. I never really learned anything substantial from the Bible and actually saw allot of hypocrisy. Rather than spend my time blasting the Methodist religion, I have learned to examine what the Bible says verses false religious teachings. I can see that the doctrines that many so-called Christian religions teach are not from the Bible but are man made doctrine."
Hmmmmmm. If what this JW says above is true, how does he explain all of the vitriolic comments the JWs have made about all of "Christendom" in their literature? The fact of the matter is that this JW is right he does not only bash the Methodists he bashes every other religion except his own.
Secondly, most of the time a person who is wholly devoted to the cult will only accept the cult's explanation on controversial matters pretty much no matter what you say to them. This person will not believe what you say until he/she sees deception in the cult leaders for himself. I remember when I used to show things to my JW mother when I was first leaving. The mental gymnastics that they would go through to defend the cult was amazing. Of course, my mother was just not ready for the info and nothing I said or showed her would change her mind.
Thirdly, this person wants to discuss only the Bible with you. That can be a way to break the mind control. You might ask this person why they accept the Bible as God's Word. Ask this individual if they are aware of who compiled the books of the New Testament (it was the Roman Catholic Church around 400 years after Christ). This actually puts the JWs in some what of a bind that a bunch of apostate bishops decided what books were inspired by God.
In any case, it is always interesting to discuss these issues with the JWs.
Jeff S.
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that believe women have nothing of "real value" to teach them about life in general or even about spirituality.. is this "belief" bible based or is it a personal belief?
just wondering.
You have got be kidding right?
My wife is my best teacher. I have learned so much from her. She taught me out to feel and how to love. I experience life more fully because of her. She has and will always complete me.
Jeff S.
surely some of the prophesies came true, my old mom tells me that they all have bless her heart she is 84 and its all she knows.
but i guess if you line up all of them the ones that did not far out number the ones that did.
what do you say to someone who says god directed the witness's in bible prophesies?
"My dad is pretty well read and he says none have come true. The last one I remember was the change in generation which appeared in that Awake. The article went on to say that the end was certainly to come before the end of the century. Oops" When I left Bethel back in 1988 there was an article that said that the preaching work would be completed in the 20th century. Of course, all JWs know that that statement strongly implies that the end was going to come before the end of the 20th century. This article had come out about the time I had just returned from Bethel. A JW friend of mine invited me over to his house and began asking me all kinds of questions about this article and that comment about the work being completed in the 20th century. That article created quite a stir in my congregation. I told my friend that I had no idea how or why they wrote that. (I was on my way out of the JWs at the time so I had to be careful what I said.) In any case, that is one prophecy that never came true and if you go back and look at the Watchtower CD ROM version of this article you will notice that they take the comment about the preaching work being completed in the 20th century out of the article. In any case here is a scan of the paper version of the article: http://www.jwfiles.com/scans/WT1-1-89p12.htm Jeff S.
thousand of witnesses do it every year and for what they believe are good reasons.
i did it because i was pressured by elders.
its interesting to note how elders can target young people into committing their life to something they really know nothing about.
Hi:
Sometimes I do because since I left the JWs my relationships with my JW relatives have been strained. But in a sense they would probably have been strained anyway even if I had never been baptized. In a sense getting baptized allowed me the opportunity to serve at Bethel and that was really the catalyst that helped me to leave the JWs. I should really send Bethel a thank you card for their assistance helping me leave the JWs. ;)
Jeff S.
P.S. Congratulations on having the foresight to get that PT degree.
my friend sent me this today...*lol*.
sincerely,.
district overbeer
I am sort of partial to the bumper sticker that says:
"JESUS IS COMING! QUICK, LOOK BUSY!"
I always tell friends of mine that I am a "recovering millennialist."
Jeff S.
