Posts by NeonMadman

45

Religion vs the gospel

by Fernando in

our family's journey out of the watchtower has led us to see the gospel as the antithesis or exact opposite of religion.. for us religion is men telling us what to believe and do (to control us).. for us the gospel is god telling us what he has done (to liberate us from such men).. how have you come to see the relationship between religion and the gospel?.

NeonMadman

LOL, what Jesus taught while he was alive- what actually attracted people to him- has nothing to do with the religion that was created after his death. Obviously, Jesus didn't say 'follow me because after I'm dead it will all make sense', but he had his own teaching- which has been obscured by the writers of the Gospels after Jesus died. So you can't follow Jesus- you're 2,000 years too late.

How could anyone possibly know that? If what Jesus taught was distorted by the Gospel writers, what other source do you have to assert that he originally taught something else?

28

My First "Publication Free" Study...

by HeyThere in

was not so publication free.

do witnesses not know how to talk about the bible without a wt pub to guide them?.

fist, she tried to get me to start once again in the bible teach book as if i had never said i didnt want to study from the pubs, so i reminded her.

NeonMadman

Was not so publication free. do witnesses not know how to talk about the bible without a wt pub to guide them?

No, most don't. They have no idea about using the text with proper regard to context, or getting the message of the entire chapter or book as part of the study. For most JWs, the Bible is like a dictionary that they can use to look up the isolated proof texts that the publications direct them to. They know lots of individual verses, but not very much about the Bible.

119

Get well Grace (Mouthy)

by label licker in

jw
friends

a loud get well grace from all of us to you.

everyone, grace has been in and out of the hospital and i'm sure she would love to read your get wells.

we miss you grace:) wish i could post pictures.

NeonMadman

Feel better, Grace!!

62

End shunning or lose tax free status

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

which would the watchtower choose if it came down to this in the united states or europe?

losing tax free status would mean losing millions of dollars.

ending shunning means people would leave by the boatloads.

NeonMadman

Obviously the Watchtower could end their shunning policies if they wished, just by issuing some "new light." From a legal standpoint, however, I'm not quite sure how you would be able to enforce any action against shunning. Would you require that individual Witnesses now spend time with people who have left the organization, whether they want to or not? How could you ever enforce such a requirement? What if they simply don't like the person, apart from any religious considerations?

Would you require that the Watchtower issue a statement repudiating the doctrine? What if they did? Couldn't shunning still be carried out as a "private conscience matter" (as, in fact, they would like you to think it is done now)? Wouldn't this set a dangerous precedent of government dictating what doctrines a religious group may and may not teach? Actually, I can see where interference by government of that sort could easily be a back door to the establishment of a state church.

The topic of government agencies somehow pressuring or forcing the Watchtower to "end shunning" comes up fairly often, but I can't imagine how the logistics of such a move would work, apart from some serious erosions of religious freedom that would negatively affect people of all religions.

17

Letters to the Body of Elders (BOE) - Change in Letterhead

by Oubliette in

within the last few hours, two separate posters, watchtower87 and pixel, independently posted news of a april 22nd, 2014 letter to the boe regarding a change in how elders are to be appointed and deleted:.

boe - pdf - confidential 2014-04-22 adjustment in process for appointing elders and minisletter to boe: adjustment in process for appointing elders and ministerial servantswhat i found very interesting is the letterhead and the signature.

they are both from "the governing body of jehovah's witnesses" and not from "the christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses.".

NeonMadman

My guess would be that the letter is from the Governing Body rather than the CCJW because the GB up to now has been the agency that appointed elders and MS. Therefore, the change should come from them and not from the legal corporation. Elders and MS, after all, are spiritual positions in their view, not corporate positions.

40

What happens to marriages upon the arrival of Armageddon?

by insearchoftruth in

a couple of paradise earth questions: .

1) if you are a married, baptized witness couple (both people being baptized) and armageddon arrives, will the couple still be married on paradise earthtm?

2) if you are married to an unbelieving mate (ubm) and armageddon arrives, will the witness be free to remarry on paradise earth?.

NeonMadman

My understanding was that if a couple was married and survived Armageddon, they would potentially remain married forever, though childbearing would be stopped at some point. This, of course, was why JW girls were so doggone fussy about who they dated. If they married him, they could be stuck with him forever (you know, because Armageddon was so close), so he'd better be a real catch. Anyone who died and was resurrected would never again be able to marry. Single persons who survived Armageddon could probably still marry, but nobody seemed completely sure about that.

10

Brooklyn Bethel in the 1940 census

by dissonance_resolved in

jw
friends

prompted by another post, i looked up 124 columbia heights in the 1940 census.

a few interesting things: all occupants are listed as having the profession of "sell- religious books," except rutherford who is listed as an "editor.

" odd that they aren't listed as ministers.. also, all the educational levels of the occupants were provided- many had not even graduated high school and some not even grammar school.

NeonMadman

At the end of page 27, it lists Rutherford as "Head". His age as 70. M for married... "Judge" Rutherford's schooling is listed as C3. (3 years of College) At the end of his line it says "Institution". So he was Head, and Editor of an Institution.

Gotta wonder how he became a lawyer with only 3 years of college.

30

what is the answer to the old question about the immovable object and the irresistible force?

by Hortensia in

i know isaac asimov's answer, which makes sense to me.

anyone else have any answer to the question about what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?.

NeonMadman

It's always seemed to me that the question is not meaningful. If a force comes against an object, one of two things happens:

1. The object moves.

2. The object does not move.

I can't think of any alternatives to these two options.

If (1) is true, then the object was never immovable.

If (2) is true, then the force was never irresistable.

Therefore, the posited interaction could never happen. You could not have both an immovable object AND an irresistable force, even in theory. One or the other, maybe (in theory), but not both.

By the way, several here have indicated that a force will cause any object to move, even if so slightly as to be undetectable. Maybe so, but I don't see that as being relevant. Either the object moves or not. The degree of movement makes no difference.

21

Do you believe there will be "Mass Suicides" within the BAC/JW community?

by booker-t in

jw
friends

as a "therapist trainee"(still have to take my license test) i worry about all of the religious people out there who might commit suicide if the rapture/armaggeddon does not materialize.

what if the bible is proven to be "a big fairy tale" will born again christians(bac) and jws kill themself?

i worry about some of my older jw relatives that have waited for armaggeddon for 50 years and are still waiting.

NeonMadman

They new cult compound in Warwick does give me concern for those working at HQ. I think they will become more and more detached from reality.

Why would that be any more true in Warwick than in Brooklyn? I think they are pretty detached from reality as it is.

58

2014-03-29 BOE CONFIDENTIALS PDF Adjustment to financing Kingdom Hall and Assembly Hall construction worldwide

by WatchTower87 in

2014-03-29 adjustment to financing kingdom hall and assembly hall construction worldwide.

pdf version: http://adf.ly/juxnc.

instruction: press the 'skip ad' button top right, you should then see the download screen more easily.

NeonMadman

Stupid question: Why do they tell the elders to destroy the letter that was sent in 2009?

Orwell: Who controls the present controls the past. Who controls the past controls the future.