Most people neither know nor care what JWs believe.
They find their door to door witnessing annoying.
But they aren't interesting in persecuting Jehovah's Witnesses.
They just wish they could find a way to avoid them.
i came across a thread on a site for neighbours, which includes quite a wide area really, many square miles containing a lot of villages, and a couple of towns.
it is so we can swap unwanted goods, inform each other of local crimes and scams etc, and we can vent.. there was a post that said the lady did not want this crap coming through her door, a letter and a tract from a j.w.
i won't post the thread here , as at least one xjw is on there, but all the comments below her post were anti-jw !
Most people neither know nor care what JWs believe.
They find their door to door witnessing annoying.
But they aren't interesting in persecuting Jehovah's Witnesses.
They just wish they could find a way to avoid them.
wt 2021 october p.20 "in contrast, true worshippers of jehovah have no clergy.
although we respect those who are taking the lead, we accept jesus’ clear teaching: “all of you are brothers.”".
ijbq article 92 point 6: in contrast, true worshippers of jehovah have no clergy.
They would probably say, "Theologically we have no clergy class, but the governing authority only sees things in Christendom's terms, so be their definition--not ours--we do..."
Translation: The lawyers came up with this.
do you remember the jw.org book of revelation and how many times we had to study it?
in retrospect, all those hours turned out to be for nothing, the explanation of the prophecies is now completely outdated..
It's ridiculous when they try to make Revelation fit their (whitewashed) history.
Cedar Point, Ohio, anyone?
a "waking up", but still a member, jehovah's witness acquaintance of mine from eastern europe wrote the following lines:.
"i count among the main sins of the watchtower society:.
1. concealment.
The first couple of weeks when I was studying with JWs, they let me ask questions.
They put most of them off with the promise that they would be answered later in the "Bible study."
Within a month, I wasn't asking any questions.
I was just giving the Watchtower's answers to the Watchtower's questions.
How did I not realize that was brainwashing?
a "waking up", but still a member, jehovah's witness acquaintance of mine from eastern europe wrote the following lines:.
"i count among the main sins of the watchtower society:.
1. concealment.
"Why is it forbidden nowadays to question certain dogmas? Because they are the mature and anointed teachers, and I am the ignorant riffraff who would get lost without adequate help?"
I think that about covers their attitude.
But it's nothing new.
Russell said if you just read his writings and not the Bible you'd be fine, but if you just read the Bible without his publications, within 2 years you'd go into darkness.
"the governing body of jehovah’s witnesses are like the pope is to the catholic church.
they too claim to be god’s mouthpiece or the voice of jesus.
they also demand unquestioning obedience for their members salvation.
I wonder what percentages of JWs/Catholics actually believe all the things their organization teaches and what percentage are in it for other reasons.
Impossible to know for sure, of course.
i am relating this happening.
i shared some thoughts from the 1989 question from readers concerning christ being mediator between god and man ( the wt spinning that he isn't ) and also the paragraph in that same article that plainly says: clearly, then the new covenant is not a loose arrangement open to all mankind.
it is a carefully arranged legal provision involving god and anointed christians.
How do they know apostates aren't slipping lies into the publications today?
And isn't there a WT somewhere that says we can trust what the Watchtower says because the GB checks everything before it's published?
Or did apostates slip that in too?
the advice to reduce work and earn less to spend more time preaching has not aged well.. the cost of living crisis means many have more going out on necessities than they have coming in.. so many asked their employer to reduce their hours and refused promotion only to see their colleagues go up the ladder when they stayed lowly position with rubbish jobs thinking the end will be here soon.
next week midweek meeting is all about preparing for an economic crisis.. they say have a go bag and new advice for all jws to store food and water at home and grow a vegetable garden, i kid you not.
this is the new direction..
That part of the WT message hasn't changed.
It's always, "More, more, MORE!"
the narrator of the book of ecclesiastes had very little knowledge of many things that jesus and his apostles later preached.
the author does not make statements, but only wonders (thinks, observes, often raises questions, and leaves them open).
he looked at the world based on the law of moses and found nothing but vanity, as the earthly reward promised in the law did not always accompany good deeds and earthly punishment for evil deeds.
If you read the context of Ecclesiastes 9:5 and accept it as divine revelation (rather than as the pessimistic view of the writer who thinks this life is all there is), you'd have to conclude that the dead have no further reward and that all memory of them is forgotten.
So much for the resurrection and the paradise earth...
"the governing body is neither inspired nor infallible.
therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction".
i know this subject been talked about before.
It's kind of like saying, "I have sinned" but never admitting to anything specific.