what were some of yours?
the big one in our hall was no frontal hugs!
these were generally thought of as inappropriate, only side hugs should be given between sisters and brothers.
At one time men were not allowed to give parts unless they wore a white dress shirt. I was told there were congregations that had spare white dress shirts just in case a brother with a part showed up with a colored shirt on.
You have to wear a suit to deliver the public talk. A sports coat and slacks was not allowed.
she was very active in the 1970's then kind of faded away.
i remember her mostly as "weezy" on 'the jeffersons' but she also played the mother 'mrs.
evans' on 'good times'.
I believe she wrote and performed the opening theme song for the Jeffersons..
two facts to consider: 1) most baptisms take place during assemblies and conventions; 2) the theocratic year goes from september to august.
my theory: the borg changed the calendar of conventions and assemblies so to concentrate the baptisms in a single theocratic year.
if some conventions used to take place in july/august, for the 2018 series they moved them to september.
Just wait until the Watchtower starts having infant baptisms at the Kingdom Hall.
let me start with: this is not a discussion of the validity of the bible or whether it is inspired of god.. my question is why do you think they don't use grace in their teachings when this is such paramount teaching in the rest of the christian world.
and why do they not reference the hebrew word for helper in genesis 'ezer'.
this word as applied to a woman seems more dignified as it carries the connotation of strength where the man is weak.
Cofty summed it up well.
Grace is a Biblical/New Testament concept. Jesus died to cover the sins of mankind. According to the Watchtower, this is not so.
ok, you'll have to bear with me with this one.. i want to talk about toasters.
a) a toaster you can buy today, any brand.
b) a toaster invented in 1948. for a bonus, how long do you think a toaster purchased today will keep working?
Why pay $100.00 for a Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster when you can purchase a plastic toaster made in a Chinese sweatshop that will last 12 months for $15.00 at Wal-Mart? Ooooooh....
don't start fighting, darlings.
i am genuinely curious.
after all i was a jobo 50 years and thought the wbt$ was 100% correct.. i ask this because i see that, for example, christian denominations (or whatever), likely have differing interpretations of the same writing.
Why just one book? I have started reading several religious texts. The Holy Bible. Buddhist texts. Hindu texts. Daoist texts. At some point I'll crack open the Koran and give it a read over.
I find certain common threads that run through the all. Those are the teachings that lead to true happiness, joy, and peace. Religion is a belief. Spiritualism is having faith. Belief clings to an opinion and denies anything contrary to it. Faith is letting go and accepting the truth of reality.
as human beings we are capable of experiencing around 750 emotions.
parents use fear, guilt and shame to control their children to behave and do as they wish.
the jw's are masters at using the same 3 emotions to keep their members in check.
The brain is an organ of the body. Like any other organ, its purpose is to keep the body alive. One way it does this is it constantly goes over painful events of the past and it causes anxiety over the future. It does this to force us to analyze these things to prevent future pain. The problem is that we neither live in the past of the future. We only live in the present.
By living in the present we come to the reality that there is real happiness, joy, and peace to be had right now.
editor's note: found this on reddit...thought the meat of the post would be a good post for discussion here as well.. consider the three choices god forced upon david for taking a census.
these three choices were forced on king david, not for murdering people, not for raping women, not for lying, stealing, or any crime we can think of in our modern world that is repugnant, but simply for taking a census or in other words, counting people.. for counting people, jehovah forced a decision on david that involved the lives of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.. the choices all dealt with the “way” jehovah would kill thousands of unsuspecting loyal worshipers.. 1 chronicles 21.
“these are the choices the lord has given you.
Just throwing something out there under this scenario -
1. This never happened. There was no "king David". There is no YHWH. Therefor, YHWH never made David play the ultimate game of "Would you rather...?"
2. This did happen. There is a YHWH. Insert implications including "who are we as mere mortals to tell the Almighty what is good and what is bad?"
3. Neither 1 or 2.
and do you think he has a chance to win it all?
?.
Pete Buttigieg and Michael Bloomberg are the only hope the DNC has to take the White House. If either of those 2 get the official spot on the November ballot I would vote for either. If neither get the nod from the DNC, I will vote third party again.
myself being a born in and completely out for more than 30 years i see more of the damage of what this religious cult causes people .. part of myself leaving had to do with the psychological harm it was causing people back in the 1970's, one guy my age at the time hung himself out anxiety and depression.. the numerous suicides that have occurred in numbers is shocking to say the least.. then there is the many families breaking up.. marriages breaking apart because one member decides to leave the jws.. the deaths of members or their children from refusing a blood transfusion.. this hit me personally when my mother refused a bt when she was ill in the hospital and died.. over the years and observing all of these things reminds me how glad and fortunate i left when i did but i do find it responsible to others to expose this religious cult to what can happen to people who get involved with it and that's what i've been doing on this forum and elsewhere.
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Shortly after the change in the generation doctrine back in the 1990s, there was a local newspaper article about a woman who would protest in our town. She would wear a mask, stand by the side of a busy road, and hold up a sign that read "Watchtower breaks up families." The article relayed how after the doctrine change the woman left the Watchtower and as a result her family shunned her.
I am not really sure how I felt. In retrospect I can empathize with the woman. I left about 10 years ago. It was about a year before that when I stopped being active, but that was due to my work schedule. When I stopped being active I learned fast who my friends are. Recently I told my father I was never going to come back. I haven't heard from him since.
I think I do have a responsibility to educate people on the true nature of the Watchtower. I understand the idea of "get on with your life and stop obsessing about this cult." I don't obsess. I have move forward with my life. I'm no Lloyd Evans, but I do try to stay up to date with what is going on and share when I have something to add to the conversation.
