i used to try really hard to fit in when i was an active, true blue jw.
somehow it hardly ever paid off.
time after time i attempted to mingle and make jw friends.
I can relate. Especially as a teen, I felt left out, and was very lonely.
What made it worse is the cognitive dissonance...after all I was I in the "truth", a "spiritual paradise an among the "most loving people on earth". Had I know ttatt back then, I could've taken it in stride.
sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of jws was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual jws we knew personally.
i was wondering if others experienced this among jws:.
a few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them.
Well there's also that Mormons don't believe the Big A will bring the genocide of seven billion non-Mormons...
sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of jws was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual jws we knew personally.
i was wondering if others experienced this among jws:.
a few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them.
I've heard this as well. This seems to be part of the the rank and file JW culture, the unofficial folklore as it were.
When I was in, it made no sense to me. There seemed to me to be no guarantees what structure if any would survive Armageddon intact. Of course, the idea of seven billion everlastingly killed horrified me as well. It is something I struggled with as a JW.
I believe in being respectful toward the people themselves and tactful in approach. it's the best way of winning hearts and minds in order for such a person to adapt a healthier viewpoint.
something struck me the other day.. elders are told to maintain confidentiality with regard to the details of judicial cases or congregation "discipline" in an attempt to dignify individuals etc.. this is even the case for known child abusers!.
yet, if they suspect someone of being an "apostate", for instance being a member on this forum, they will spread such information far and wide, through the witness "grape vine" to congregations miles away (or even in other countries).
so, does that mean they place more importance on "apostasy" rather than child abuse?.
There is nothing truly confidential in this organization.
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/218612/how-judicial-committees-violate-individual-privacy
lowell menorca says he fears persecution from the iglesia ni cristo.
they say his claims are 'fabrications''.
by eric rankin, gavin fisher, cbc news posted: jun 14, 2016 2:00 am pt last updated: jun 14, 2016 10:52 am pt.
In reading about this group on Wikipedia they are very similar. They've "Bible students" who have to go through a 6 month study using a publication. If they are living by the cult's rules and can answer all the questions, they can get baptized.
i've been thinking: what with all the bunker videos at the rc, instilling fear and paranoia and excitement among the masses, what could the gb do as a follow-up?
how do they feed the flame?.
how about identifying the "king of the north"?.
They could easily shift the timeline around, especially trotting out 1 Peter 4:17:
"For it is the appointed time for the judgment to start with the house of God. Now if it starts first with us, what will the outcome be for those who are not obedient to the good news of God."
If the Governing Body says judgement has started with JWs, then it's time to close ranks, circle the wagons, close the ark door, change the tone of the message...and expect the attack on "false religion" next.
The cry of "Peace and Security" could be viewed as having already occurred...
robert ciranko has been a "helper" of the governing body in the writing department.. don adams (born 1925, presumably 91 years old now) has been president of the wtbts since 2000. .
however, in recent official posts (april 2016), robert ciranko is identified as "president of the watch tower".
does anybody know what happened and if this is an official change?.
He sounds like what Ray Franz would call a "captive of the concept."
by reliable sources, bethel us has recorded in 3 years:.
- 80 "out of the closet" confirmed.
- 200 departures requested by bethelites, where same reason is suspected.. - 20 censured ones "returning to the flock".
Of course, this has some historical precedence. This occurred in the last 60's or early 70's didn't it?
i've been thinking: what with all the bunker videos at the rc, instilling fear and paranoia and excitement among the masses, what could the gb do as a follow-up?
how do they feed the flame?.
how about identifying the "king of the north"?.
I agree.
As a JW, raised in the years when the "Soviet Bloc of nations" was the King of the North, I assumed that Russia was still somehow the King of the North.
An email my father sent me last year pretty much shows older JWs still have this mindset.
I'm guessing the only reason that the Watchtower became vague in this teaching in the Daniel book is because JWs became legal in Russia. They didn't want to poke the bear.
