Posts by Half banana

18

Basic JW Doctrine

by crolson in

jw
friends

hi, i am not a jw, but i am a student studying the jehovah's witnesses.

i was wondering if a jw could answer a few questions for me about your doctrine?.

where does your teaching come from (which writings)?.

Welcome Crolson, I think you can see from the replies especially from those who were JWs, that they are indeed are hurt by their experience.Perhaps the 'beliefs' are not the reason for this because they are simply a variation on ordinary evangelist dogma.

JW teaching is essentially derived from 19th century Adventism and modified by CT Russell in the 1870s who started the Watchtower magazine to proclaim his personal and futile viewpoint on a second coming of Christ.

Through unsavoury power struggles at the top, the leadership has been trying ever since to give some credence to Russell's adventism (though they never use that word). The second coming ideas have been shuffled forward after each time the expectation of advent arrives and fails. It is only held together by threats of punishment namely death at Armageddon and shunning and by appeal to strict loyalty from the individuals to "God's organisation"... in reality to the governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses. The incentive propagandised by them is for the purpose of receiving God's blessing in paradise alongside the unending claim (one hundred and thirty six years of it so far!) that Armageddon is just around the corner.

What has made the difference to us ex-JWs here is the realisation of having been grossly misled under the oppressive mind control of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It conforms to every description of what a cult is... which means that it is a cult, a shabby doomsday cult.

74

A call from family - Armageddon this month!

by kaik in

i very seldom receive a call from my jw siblings, i mean seldom.

i can count them on my hand in past 10 years.

while we talk about mom a lot and i am in touch with her, i was very surprised when i received this call.

Half banana

An alarm bell which has been ringing for two thousand years is worse than useless.

74

A call from family - Armageddon this month!

by kaik in

i very seldom receive a call from my jw siblings, i mean seldom.

i can count them on my hand in past 10 years.

while we talk about mom a lot and i am in touch with her, i was very surprised when i received this call.

Half banana

I think JWs are mistaking the imminence of Big A for the private Armageddon which will soon be visiting the WTBTS.

447

Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

by LaurenM in

do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

Half banana

Stuffwot: I was careful to be specific in saying that my belief in Rodney was no different from a psychosis and not that all religion is a mental illness.

73

This weeks service meeting! More craziness.....

by stuckinarut2 in

so this weeks service meeting is so full of "crazy".

a whole 15 min part devoted to trying to indoctrinate everyone on how to "explain our beliefs on 1914".

then another 15 min part called "a tool to help us explain our beliefs about 1914".

Half banana

When will the WTBTS realise that these tired old methods of "repeating lies frequently enough" will no longer wash with the internet generation?

22

Overlapping generation pushed me to the brink

by Anator in

jw
friends

hello, i haven't posted for a number of years.

i've been struggling for years of wrestling in my mind regarding the organization.

i guess the big thing for me to push me over the edge is the generation overlapping thingy.

Half banana

Anator, I would preface any answer to a question about the teachings of the Watchtower with the understanding that everything they have predicted and most things they've said has proved to be completely worthless.

About the only thing they have taught that is spot on is that religion is a snare and a racket...and they should know!

I'd say the reason they need to dance around the subject of 1914 is as you have already hinted at; it is a diversion. It is to direct minds away from a disastrous eighty years of false prophecy that the generation who saw 1914 would see the end of the "old system of things." The enormity of this delusion is hard to digest. It is a total damning of their ability to claim that they are the exclusive agents of God.

"Overlapping" is a truly pathetic piece of first aid, like putting a sticking plaster on after a decapitation.

Wakey wakey Jehovah's Witnesses!

312

Mass disassociation pact...

by freemindfade in

any takers?

we can pick a date and pull the plug?

lol .

Half banana

Once a good scheme is devised, it might be a good thing to let all anglophone ex JW sites know and welcome as many as possible to join in together. Including contacting those who are SANS in the congos but don't come on the sites. Further than that, how about going to foreign language ex JW groups as well and make it world-wide?

Assuming the press will be informed of the protest, I do like the idea of stressing the human rights angle to them so that the unchristian and hurtful shunning can be exposed to the public

16

Japan closed 638 Congregations lost 6,000 Publishers in 10 years!!! WHY?

by Witness 007 in

japan had a massive increase in publishers from 1950-1998. then in 1998 something happened and jehovah's blessing switched off!!!.

1998 -222,912 publishers 3,802 congregations.

2006 -217,519 publishers 3,164 congregations.

Half banana

Fewer Jdubs in many fewer K halls. Amalgamation of congs will make it appear like there is only a small reduction in numbers present. Since the org owns all the property now, perhaps they will welcome, even encourage a reduction so they can make a profit from the sales of the excess halls. Perhaps this will be the pattern for the future as it winds down?

I would call this living off your own body fat...

16

Japan closed 638 Congregations lost 6,000 Publishers in 10 years!!! WHY?

by Witness 007 in

japan had a massive increase in publishers from 1950-1998. then in 1998 something happened and jehovah's blessing switched off!!!.

1998 -222,912 publishers 3,802 congregations.

2006 -217,519 publishers 3,164 congregations.

Half banana

The democratic access to information on the internet uncovered the cultic and secretive nature of the Watchtower organisation... which is no longer in step with the needs of a more educated population...

20

In view of the dire straits of the JW org, what now?

by Half banana in

to use a metaphor; any tower built on insufficient foundations will sooner or later fall..

the origin of the watchtower organisation was in the announcement of ct russells pet theory, formed from adventism that christ had arrived in the heavens in 1874. within a biblical forty years i.e.1914, gods enemies he said, would be destroyed and peace would pervade the earth.

he was completely wrong.. the watchtower magazine however by this time had a large readership and trundled on after it was commandeered by rutherford who nourished its doomsday scam.

Half banana

Amen to your hope "that one day the Borg wakes up to realise the harm they are doing". And yes they could change their name again. In the rebranding of the cult, it has already demoted that ugly old image of a watchtower and replaced it with a racy new JW logo. I think however that the very name "Jehovah" is an instant turn-off for most people, a toxic smell to be avoided!

They want to survive because it is an evolutionary desire for all organisms to survive, even the ugly ones and I think that from a humanitarian perspective, the JW org is repulsive... but wants to live...mainly because of its very large membership base to whom they supply a hope (although a false one) and the leaders of the cult, like all unchallenged despots, want to maintain power.

Once they wake up, they could ask forgiveness from all the millions they have misled and hurt ...and revert (as you suggest Heaven) to the less toxic name of International Bible Students.

But I would rather they pack their bags forever.