Crisis of Conscience. It's a favorite of many because it was written by former a Governing Body member, Ray Franz, who had inside information not available anywhere else. I've not read it myself, but I have heard you just gobble it up when you start it. I'm looking forward to it.
ScenicViewer
JoinedPosts by ScenicViewer
-
18
What is the best book about JWs (written by non JWs, of course), in your opinion?
by Chemical Emotions ini've never read any, so i'd like to know everyone's opinion..
-
-
-
38
Victoria, Australia: WTBTS and GB of JWs have shown themselves to be "GUILTY" respecting previous noncompliance with Working With Children Laws
by AndersonsInfo inthe watch tower society, the christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses, the faithful and discreet slave, and the governing body of jehovah's witnesses, last week issued a "special" letter to all bodies of elders in the state of victoria instructing them to immediately apply for their working with children licenses and to comply with child protection laws.
the letter includes instructions that the contents are not to be made public or shared with members of the congregation.. .
this means an investigation authorized by the governing body of jehovah's witnesses and initiated by lawyers representing the watch tower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, inc. have concluded that the victorian working with children act 2005 and the associated child protection laws do indeed apply to all elders serving in congregations throughout the state of victoria both in the public ministry and in their internal ministry, which includes the theocratic ministry school.. .
-
-
ScenicViewer
A question for Barbara or others.
I'm probably being a little dense but there is something here that I haven't yet heard of.
If I'm following this correctly, the 35 charges result from five Watchtower entities (4 corporations + the Faithful and Discreet Slave) being charged with 7 counts each.
Then it says,
"All charges are in relation to allegations of unlawful activities carried out within the Tarragon Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses by the entire Body of Tarragon Congregation Elders. In addition, there are approximately between 100-150 other sets of charges pending in relation to every single congregation in the State of Victoria."
My Q is, what does one single congregation, Tarragon, and it's body of elders, have to do with this? Since this is a state wide issue in all of Victoria, why are all the charges related to that KH/Congrregation/BOE? Were there other "unlawful activities" besides failing to comply with the WWCA2005 law that involved only that congretation?
(I hope I'm making the question clear)
Regardless of my confusion on that point, this is GREAT news. I was afraid the Society would find some way to skirt the law, but this is satisfying. Thumbs up to Steven Unthank! And many thanks to Barbara Anderson and her contacts for all the updates.
-
38
Victoria, Australia: WTBTS and GB of JWs have shown themselves to be "GUILTY" respecting previous noncompliance with Working With Children Laws
by AndersonsInfo inthe watch tower society, the christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses, the faithful and discreet slave, and the governing body of jehovah's witnesses, last week issued a "special" letter to all bodies of elders in the state of victoria instructing them to immediately apply for their working with children licenses and to comply with child protection laws.
the letter includes instructions that the contents are not to be made public or shared with members of the congregation.. .
this means an investigation authorized by the governing body of jehovah's witnesses and initiated by lawyers representing the watch tower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, inc. have concluded that the victorian working with children act 2005 and the associated child protection laws do indeed apply to all elders serving in congregations throughout the state of victoria both in the public ministry and in their internal ministry, which includes the theocratic ministry school.. .
-
-
ScenicViewer
I second MeanMrMustard's notion of posting the letter. Would love to read that one.
-
4
city overseer? Does anyone have a list of all jw positions and titles?
by average joe ini never heard of a jw city overseer and that makes me wonder about what else i haven't heard of.
i would like to know more about other positions titles etc such as what their titles are and what they do for the wtbs.
please and thanks.
-
-
ScenicViewer
There were also 'zone overseers.' Do they still exist?
-
11
Blog - Jehovah's Witnesses and (Academic) Dialogue with Non-Members at the Society of Biblical Literature?
by Mickey mouse inhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-gilmour/jehovahs-witnesses-and-ac_b_987545.html.
excerpt (bold added):.
intrigued by this gap in the scholarly conversation about contemporary uses of the bible, i recently proposed an sbl session examining the watch tower bible and tract society's use of scripture.
-
-
ScenicViewer
djeggnog is quite the scholarfly type, and posts here from time to time. His posts are long winded, but he's pretty good at presenting the Watchtower point of view. Would be very interesting to see him and the scholars exchange ideas.
-
-
-
ScenicViewer
*Still Wondering*, you have written a tremendous essay. The points you made about the Society's ever changing policies on the blood issue while claiming to have been consistent, reminded me of a remark an elder made from the platform a short time before I decided to stop attending meetings. He said...
"The Society's position on blood has never changed."
And he said it in the most innocent and sweetest sounding voice you can imagine. At the time I heard it, I thought it wasn't quite right, but as I have learned more about the blood issue, and the dozens of changes that have taken place, I now realize it was an outright lie, and that the Society is extremely dishonest about it's history on blood.
Your observations about wrongful disfellowshippings, then those who were disfellowshipped never being apologized to or invited back, are very powerful. To me this shows that the true nature of the Society is to be heavy-handed, legalistic, controlling, manipulative. It sets itself up to be worshipped and obeyed regardless of the outcome to innocent followers. The Watchtower attitude is completely contrary to that of Jesus Christ, who showed love, mercy, tenderness, and a caring attitued toward people.
The cover on the 5-22-94 Awake magazine that you referenced, which was comprised of photographs of young people who had died over the blood issue, amounts to the Society proudly advertising the death of it's own people, including children, over it's man made rules on blood. While blood itself becomes idolized as the symbol of life when these artificial rules are followed, as you so carefully pointed out, the thing that really becomes the object of worship, and idolized in a big way, is the Society itself. It has elevated itself to the position of a false god, and it dictates life and death in areas where no humans should ever go.
It's sad that your sister has been lost. You can be assured that the words you posted here, making complete sense and exposing the Society's contradictory thinking on this issue, will have the positive effect of saving lives in the future. People will read this post, and be educated and enlightened by it.
I offer you a heart felt 'Thank You' for what you have written, and I hope you realize that the loss of your sister, while tragic and hurtful, will have a positive outcome for others. Best wishes to you, and you have my deepest sympathies.
-
11
Why have there been changes over the years in the teachings of Jehovahs Witnesses?
by mankkeli inthe bible shows that jehovah enables his servants to understand his purpose in a progressive manner.
(prov.
4:18; john 16:12) thus, the prophets who were divinely inspired to write portions of the bible did not understand the meaning of everything that they wrote.
-
-
ScenicViewer
The way the 'light' of new understanding works today among JWs makes little sense, and has really become a loaded expression. The explanation of 'new light' from decades ago was more logical.
The Watchtower once explained by an illustration that it was like lighting up a building, that if there were 7 lights that it took to light a building, when the first light came on you could see so much of the bldg. When the second light came on, you could see more, and so on until all 7 lights lit the entire bldg.
The point was that 'new light' should always add to the light you had before, not abolish it. If you turned on a new light, but turned off a previous light at the same time, what have you gained? You still have the same amount of light as before, and have simply changed your beliefs.
Today we can see many beliefs that have been abandoned by the Watchtower in the name of gaining 'new light'. A good example is the ever-changing explanation of the 'generation that will not pass away.' Each new explanation effectively abolishes the previous one, rather than adding to it.
(Interesting, even the explanation of how 'new light' works has been changed. In todays Watchtower, claiming 'new light' is simply a way to avoid saying, 'We were wrong before.' It's loaded, loaded, loaded.)
-
40
It's official, the internet IS the Watchtower's nemesis!
by cedars ini have been inspired recently by some of the comments on this forum regarding the society having reached a "tipping point".
it's been observed that, despite the overwhelming weight of evidence that the society is nothing more than a damaging cult, the number of witnesses continues to increase, albeit gradually.
the latest figures i have available are those in the 2011 yearbook, showing a global 2.5% increase between 2009 and 2010.. as we all know, the internet is steadily rising in accessibility (or "penetration") around the world, and it provides a wonderful resource for those who are curious about joining the faith, helping such ones to quickly identify precisely how warped the teachings of the watch tower society really are.
-
-
ScenicViewer
It appears that the countries yielding the greatest growth, and who have the least internet access, are primarily poor countries. This will have a negative effect on contributions to the Society, since poor people are not able to contribute much.
Could this be one of the reasons the Society is selling the Brooklyn properties (which will add hundreds of millions of dollars to WTS bank accounts), and is pushing the credit card machines at assembly sites?
As internet access becomes cheaper and more widespread, what will be the situation in 20 years? 50 years? It seems it can only get worse for the Society.
An organization that was once so successful at controlling information is now fighting an information giant, and as the true history of the organization, the contradictions in it's beliefs, the extent of it's dishonesty, and other issues become more widely known, where will the increase come from?
I think the organization will have a rocky road ahead. Thank goodness for the internet!
-
16
what do jws have to say when getting baptised ? do they dedicate to god and jesus or the watchtower ?
by looloo in -
-
ScenicViewer
Why aren't they baptising in the 'name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit'?
The Holy Spirit is reduced to nothing more than an adjective describing the organization (God's spirit-directed organization), according to Cedars post from Organized to do Jehovah's Will, but are 'the name of Jehovah' and the 'name of Jesus Christ' not even mentioned in the formal baptism wording?
-
35
The Walrus Was Paul
by MoneurMallard inmany new testament biblical students today of both messianic jewish and christian backgrounds, are finding out that paul of tarsus simply doesn't fit with the remainder of new testament theology.
there is an article i've recently read, from the judaism vs. christianity dot com website that deals explicitly with this topic.... well, now i cannot seem to access it, but here is the link:.
http://www.judaismvschristianity.com/paulthe.htm.
-
-
ScenicViewer
Paul was the walrus? John was the walrus? And Tarsus....weren't they from Liverpool?
Now I don't know what to believe!
Sigh. Religion is hard.