respectful_observer
JoinedPosts by respectful_observer
-
-
-
-
6
Hope I planted a seed to my kid why it's not the Truth..
by marriedtoajw inmy wife took my kids to a special talk last night and i had no clue.
i came home from work at 9pm and no one was home.
i misplaced my house key so luckily they pulled in the drive way only minutes after me.
-
-
respectful_observer
If you encourage him to go to college, he'll learn/sharpen valuable critical thinking skills that will serve him well in ALL of life's important decisions...including which faith he should follow.
Sorry, I don't know your background. Are/Were you ever a J-dub? The only other observation I would make is that if he gets baptised BEFORE going to college, any future decision not to follow the J-dub faith will have a much bigger impact on his life and the relationship with his J-dub family.
-
76
Whacky comments! What the craziest comment you've ever heard?
by toweragent inlast week a sister in my new hall made the following comment,.
"a brother once told me that it is better to be wrong with the organization, than to be right and be on your own without the organization.".
wow.
-
-
respectful_observer
There was a brother who, during his #4 talk, outright blamed the suicide of a young man in the hall on the elders. His arguement was that the elders didn't pay close enough attention to his needs. You could hear a pin drop as he walked off the stage. They didn't even wait until the end of the meeting before dragging him back to the library.
There's a District Overseer that brings up "Higher Education" at every opportunity. To illustrate the "dangers" of it, he always relates the same story of two young sisters from the same hall who decided to go to college together and be roommates in the dorm. What happened? They became LESBIANS!
-
77
Distrust and paranoia among faders
by cedars inhi guys.
i'm interested in knowing whether any other faders out there ever find themselves feeling a little paranoid about establishing contact with other faders or former jws, just in case the unthinkable happens and things turn sour.. personally, i'm now fairly comfortable with the idea that i will be disfellowshipped or disassociated within the next year or so.
i see it as inevitable, and an essential transition in order to do what i want to do with my life.
-
-
respectful_observer
I'm not technically a fader, so I'm especially wary of disclosing my real name or even details in my life/events/meetings that might let someone put the pieces together.
I've seen others make these recommendations, which I may or may not follow:
- Change the "names". Was it your brother-in-low who brought up seeming inconsistancies with the blood issue, or could it have been a pioneer sister you were going door-to-door with? Whose to say. Or do you remember that bizarre comment made from the stage last night? That brother sister always says such crazy stuff when he she has a talk.
- Change the place. Were you talking with someone about the latest "Generation" change at the hall, while watching a football game, at a Quick Build TM ? Hard to tell, my memory isn't quite what it was.
- Change the date. So you just got back from the CA/SAD/DC and are all riled up over that symposium bashing higher education. You want to post your thoughts right away, but then realize that everyone will know your congregation had the CA/SAD/DC that weekend, and that may give someone one more piece to your real identity. Good thing it still qualifies as a "recent" assembly that may or may not have happened "a few months/weeks ago.
Lastly, before I click "Submit" on any post, I think "If someone did manage to figure out R_O might be me, printed out all my posts and handed them to the elders, is there anything I've written that actually qualifies as 'apostate thinking?'" I tend to qualify a lot of my statements. (e.g. "Some might think", not "I think.)
-
27
Stay Alive Til 2020
by FrankWTower ini've been playing around with wt statistics recently, helped by the great data available on jwfacts.com.
i wanted to share somehting with the community, maybe you've seen something like this before.. continuing the trend of decline seen during the last 30 years, i was able to extrapolate the year when wt growth might finally end.
if trends continue, we may only have to wait about 8 more years, 9 years to see it reported if the wt decides to report it at all, to see publisher growth end and possibly reverse.. the graph shows the annual growth rate of average publishers during the last 31 years.
-
-
respectful_observer
The historic growth numbers have often been propped up by concentrated rates of high growth (e.g. Eastern Bloc countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union).
What we can't predict is how these numbers will be affected by "the preaching work opening up" in countries where it is under ban today. If China were to lift the ban in, let's say 5 years, the growth numbers will jump up (and stay up) for a while. Putting arguements of China being a non-Christian culture aside, there's the potential of another 1 million new J-dubs over in China.
-
17
New Light From Governing Body About Faithful Slave Greeted Rapturous Applause From All In Attendance Indicate Jehovah's Approval And That They Final Got It Right
by frankiespeakin inof course this was ment to be a sort of satirical joke in the coverage of a special annual business meeting :.
"all those in attendance rose from thier seats with rapturous applaus as they were delighted to find out that they were now part of the domestics and would be gladly serving with prominant annointed who make up the governing body(surveilllance camera shots showing all applauding).".
"this certainly was a milestone in the glorious history of the organization, and proper appreciation was shown by all even prominant governing body member anthony morris said:"i like the idea" with a broad shit eating grin.
-
-
respectful_observer
Wait, wait. Is anybody else wondering where all the grotesquely obese people were in that video? You know the ones I'm talking about. They're so disgusting, they can only wear mumus and have to sit on the area floor in the "Disabled" section because they're so big. And where did all the weirdo go who walk into the assembly hall with their ugly polyester suits and 20-year old hairstyles?
They must have made all those people watch from a remote location!!
-
19
Fake money in contribution boxes
by enigma1863 insomeone posted a great idea i felt should have its own discussion thread.
i think it would be really cool if we could get people around the country or world to donate fake money in the contribution boxes that have thought provoking messages.
kinda like money tracts.
-
-
respectful_observer
I see that the Chuck Bucks have "ZERO DOLLARS" written on them. Does that mean that if there were coins, they'd have an image of some other Org heavyweight along with the words "ZERO SENSE"....oh, wait, I meant "ZERO CENTS".
-
20
where will you go away to? versus whom shall we go away to?
by soft+gentle inthis thread was sparked by punkofnice's thread and started a lively "discussion" in my mind about patriarchal power.
so i didn't want to derail punkofnice's thread or tec's subsequent one, but am interested in a discussion.. punkofnice's thread.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/245335/1/the-gb-are-gods-mouthpiece-rebuttal-to-elders .
-
-
respectful_observer
In my mind, highlighting the semantic distinction to a J-dub:
1. provides the person with a gentle reminder that J-dubs do not have a monopoly on offering a path to Jesus' teachings.
2. reminds them that plenty of people leave the WTS, not because of some sinful practice, but because they truly feel in their heart that "the Truth" (The Narrow Road) to Jesus can be better found outside of the WTS.
-
41
My wife is feeling uncomfortable about the NEW LIGHT
by sosoconfused inso my wife is aware that i am totally disillusioned and i am having problems with lots of things.
one day she can see the crap(such as this past watchtower question from readers about ivf... what a pile of insanity.
if someone carries me and my wifes baby i have committed porneia rofl!!!
-
-
respectful_observer
(Lev. 18:20, 29; Prov. 6:29)
D'oh!!! I forgot we're still subject to the subtleties of the Mosaic Law! Wait, if that's the case, isn't there someone who needs to be stoned?
-
20
where will you go away to? versus whom shall we go away to?
by soft+gentle inthis thread was sparked by punkofnice's thread and started a lively "discussion" in my mind about patriarchal power.
so i didn't want to derail punkofnice's thread or tec's subsequent one, but am interested in a discussion.. punkofnice's thread.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/245335/1/the-gb-are-gods-mouthpiece-rebuttal-to-elders .
-
-
respectful_observer
Haha...this "where/who" issue always makes me laugh.
A few of us were sitting around recently and the subject of a DF-ed friend who "has doubts" came up. A Bethelite chimed in with the "where will you go away to?" I looked at them with a perplexed look on my face and said "Don't you mean "Who?"
"Huh?"
"You said 'Where will you go', but the verse says 'who will you go away to', as in following someone else instead of Jesus. As far as I know, Mr. DFed isn't Shinto or anything, is he? I just wanted to make sure you weren't implying he had converted to Islam, or Shinto or something."