Posts by ScenicViewer

103

New here and just sick!

by msconcerned in

jw
friends

hello, i am new and i feel soooo wrong about being here.

anyway i am an m.s and have been disillusioned ever since the new understanding that came out in october.

i have read many things on this board that i have and also have not thought about.

ScenicViewer

Msconcerned,

I am NOT an apostate….i have not turned my back on Jehovah.

There are a lot of people here that are not apostate, even though we sometimes say we are in a tongue-in-cheek way; certainly the Society would say that anyone here is apostate simply because we recognize problems with the Organization, and we're never supposed to question God's Organization.

Some here absolutely believe in God and Jesus, while others are agnostic or athiest, and still others haven't clearly decided what to believe.

I have personally come to value the diversity of thought and opinion that is found here because it opens you up to concepts not considered before. I hope you come to apprecdiate it too.

BTW, the resources that can be found here regarding Wathtower teachings are amazing!

94

14 months after printing the "Steve and Selma" article, guess what the Society's latest Awake is about...

by cedars in

you guessed it.... .

http://www.jw.org/download/?fileformat=pdf&issue=201304&output=html&pub=g&langwritten=e&option=trgchlzrqvnyvrxf&txtcmslang=e.

cedars.

ScenicViewer

Splash, thanks for the reply and the idea of posting on another thread. I'll be watching for it!

94

14 months after printing the "Steve and Selma" article, guess what the Society's latest Awake is about...

by cedars in

you guessed it.... .

http://www.jw.org/download/?fileformat=pdf&issue=201304&output=html&pub=g&langwritten=e&option=trgchlzrqvnyvrxf&txtcmslang=e.

cedars.

ScenicViewer

Splash: I've got 26 pages of these flip flops.

I would love to have a look at those! Are they available online, or can you post them here on JWN?

70

A Message to Active Elders Lurking on JWN

by 00DAD in

there are really only a couple of reasons an active elder would be lurking here on jwn.. .

[if !supportlists]i. your ever growing doubts about the organization have led you here, or.

[if !supportlists]ii.

ScenicViewer

That OP was a joy to read.

Beautifully said 00DAD!

25

1975 AWAKE!!! Predictions

by iamwhoiam in

over at the archives..enjoy!.

http://archive.org/details/1975predictionsinawakemagazinebyjehovahswitnesses.

*click on pdf at the left side of the page.

ScenicViewer

Iamwhoiam, thanks for that link.

Those are some pretty amazing forecasts for 1975. I have never seen all of the late 1960's Awake references, and it's an eye-openeer.

I was struck by the quotes that Watchtower used from 'worldly' sources; they were the most dire of doomsday predictions, and the predicted date of 1975 fit in perfectly with the Society's own time calculations.

A sample from Awake! 10-8-1968, page 15,

"One of the greatest problems, beyond man's solving, is the coming food shortage due to the population explosion. In the book Famine-1975! food experts W. and P. Paddock state:

"By 1975 a disaster of unprecedented magnitude will face the world. Famines, greater than any in history, will ravage the undeveloped nations.”

"I forecast a specific date, 1975, when the new crisis will be upon us in all its awesome importance."

"By 1975 civil disorder, anarchy, military dictatorships, runaway inflation, transportation breakdowns and chaotic unrest will be the order of the day in many of the hungry nations.""

Naturally defenders of Watchtower will say 'It wasn't the Organization that said it, it was worldly people.' Yes, but Watchtower jumped on it and quoted it to further it's own ends, since 1975 was the also Socitey's prediction for the end of 6,000 years of human existance.

Looking back on it, I can't believe I fell for this.

It's no wonder the Awake! reprints only go back to 1970!

51

Did we ever fulfill Mathew 24:14?

by raymond frantz in

i know ... many mistakes and a nasty leadership ,but did jehovah's witnesses fulfill even partially matthew 24:14 :"the good news will be preached in all the inhabited earth and then the end will come "are we to expect a final or a completely different fulfilment of this verse ?

.

ScenicViewer

I remember a CO attempting to explain this prior to 1975.

He said there are 3 basic national groups, referring to the descendants of Noah's sons, Ham, Shem, Japheth. His point was that Mt 24:14 had been fulfilled because these 3 goups of people had been witnessed to.

I was new in the Organization then, but I thought...

'What does that prove? Isn't it the people that matter? Much of mankind will be killed at Armageddon, even though they have never heard the msg of JWs, just because someone else of their race has?'

That was one of the early signals to me that JWs can rationalize anything. I should have taken it more seriously and made an exit sooner than I did.

15

Sometimes sorry isn't enough...

by cedars in

i thought you might like to see a rare example of the society saying the actual word "sorry" in the literature.. in 1992 someone wrote in to the awake!

and their comment was published in the july 8th edition in the "from our readers" section, page 30.. their comment read as follows.... "your suggestion that sex education be considered a 'family secret' could accidentally result in great difficulty for some of your readers.

social workers, teachers, nurses, and other professionals are now trained to watch for signs of child abuse.

ScenicViewer

Caliber makes an very good point.

Rather than admitting what it did, and making a straight forward apology, the Society is being hedgy by saying "...we are sorry if we caused any alarm...".

A person before a judicial committee giving such a half-hearted apology for a wrong committed would likely not be seen as contrite and probably would be DF'd.

From Watchtower though, it's the closest thing to a real apology we will get.

52

Expectation is not a false prohecy, Is the Watchtower Society in the clear ?

by wasblind in

because there is a difference.

to expect somethin' doesn't mean it will happen.

for years the wts made a direct prophecy and have claimed to meet the qualifications.

ScenicViewer

There are a couple more interesting points from Jeremiah 28 that Wasblind referred to in his excellent post.

(verse 15)
And Jeremiah the prophet went on to say to Hananiah the prophet: “Listen, please, O Hananiah! Jehovah has not sent you, but you yourself have caused this people to trust in a falsehood.

How many times has Watchtower done that? 1914, 1925, 1975, the 'generation', there are only a 'few remaining months til armageddon' etc. All of these are now known to be "falsehoods" that all of Jehovah's Witnesses trusted in.

(verse 9)
As regards the prophet that prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes true the prophet whom Jehovah has sent in truth will become known.

Watchtower claims to be God's true prophet* today, but no prophet can be a true prophet until his words come true. A long list of Watchtower's predictions have already failed. None have come true. There is no way the Organization can be taken as a true prophet.

*The Society claims to be a true prophet
(W 4-1-72, p197)
“So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come?

“These questions can be answered in the affirmative.

“This prophet was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. They are still proclaiming a warning, and have been joined and assisted in their commissioned work by hundreds of thousands of persons who have listened to their message with belief."

67

elders wife swapping question

by unstopableravens in

i hear of these stories of elders swapping wives, i remember when i was young hearing of three elders in florida doing this and getting dfed.

my question is this how is it possible to bring this up in conversation?

it seems impossible, how can there be multi elders that know each other willing and the wives?

ScenicViewer

kurtbethel said ,

Call me cynical, but it is just as likely the Society made this claim as a recruiting pitch.

Now that's an angle I hadn't thought of. Very funny!

67

elders wife swapping question

by unstopableravens in

i hear of these stories of elders swapping wives, i remember when i was young hearing of three elders in florida doing this and getting dfed.

my question is this how is it possible to bring this up in conversation?

it seems impossible, how can there be multi elders that know each other willing and the wives?

ScenicViewer

In the 1980s the Society made the admission that such things do happen.

(W 1-1-1986 p13, par12)

12 Shocking as it is, even some who have been prominent in Jehovah’s organization have succumbed to immoral practices, including homosexuality, wife swapping, and child molesting.