Posts by Londo111

45

Jehovahs (Hidden) Message Revealed (Why no TV ministry?) Terry Walstrom

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

jehovahs (hidden) message revealed

by terry

walstrom

hello all.... i am new here so i figured i'd make a quick post introducing myself and giving a brief intro as to who i am and what i'm here for... as well as to hopefully meet others.. so, i made a profile and in it i gave a pretty detailed explanation as to my intent here and exactly why i decided to participate in the boards.

in case you don't read it, i'll give a brief summary.

the name is robert.

Londo111

Robert,

In any endeavor in life, whether buying a car or finding a spiritual path, one needs to look at all sides. For a religion or church, you need to hear from members and former members.

If you were buying a used car, wouldn’t you want to hear if there were a high rate of dissatisfied customers? Why are they dissatisfied? Would you only listen to the car salesman and their brochures?

I would definitely balance what you are reading on the official website with: jwfacts.com

For the record, the Jehovah’s Witness religion does teach that it is the one and only restoration of first century Christianity. In fact, the current teaching is that in the year 1919, Christ chose the leaders (the Governing Body, who lead Jehovah’s Witnesses) as “the faithful and discreet slave”, the sole channel God is using to communicate with mankind. This is the core JW teaching around which everything else revolves. Their literature says: “Our spiritual health and our relationship with God depend on this channel."

Do you believe that your relationship with God depends on recognizing seven men in New York as “the faithful and discreet slave?” Do you believe that Jesus appointed the governing body in 1919 as God’s sole channel? If you are a JW and say no, then you are subsequently expelled and shunned. You are labeled an “apostate”.

Your friend’s mother took a blood transfusion and was excommunicated and shunned. By your own admission, the family was torn apart. This is par for the course. It has been estimated that 50000 people have died because the JW leadership not only bans blood transfusions, it enforces this ban with expulsion and shunning. Some elders are part of Hospital Liaison Committees who are there to help ensure JWs comply when they are in the hospital. BTW…blood transfusions and donating blood are banned, but blood fractions are allowed as of 2000.

Tens of thousands of people a year are disfellowshipped and subsequently shunned by their friends and family. This has resulted in countless suicides. The pain is very real, especially since JWs are taught only to make friends with other JWs. Overnight, a person can lose their whole support system and social network.

What can you be disfellowshipped for? Celebrating any holiday, like Christmas or a birthday. Not agreeing with Watchtower teachings (like Jesus invisible presence began in 1914, the ban on blood transfusion, ect…), associating with a disfellowshiped person….and countless other rules. A JW can be taken into the 'back room' of the Kingdom Hall and interrogated by a “judicial committee”, a panel of 3 elders who act as judge, jury, and executioner. No recordings are allowed. No observers are allowed. There are no defense or character witnesses.

The reason for this forum is because of this pain and because folks within the organization cannot speak freely or question anything…not without consequences. Some here do not believe in the religion, but still attend and go door to door, because if they choose to do otherwise, they will lose their family.

A recent Pew poll found that two thirds of those who were raised as a JW no longer were. That is a lot of dissatisfied customers! In the Pew poll of religions, JWs come in dead last when it comes to a retention rate, in higher education, and in income.

The official website is geared toward outsiders. It is worded in such a way to appear reasonable. However, a little digging can reveal how deceptive the official website is.

Did not Jesus warn to beware of false prophets who come as wolves in sheep’s clothing? Did he not say, “by their fruits you will know them”?

JWs set another record on setting of dates when it comes to when Armageddon would happen. To name a few: 1914, 1925, 1975. In 1918, they taught, “Millions now living will never die!” Until 1995, they said it was the Creator’s promise that the generation that saw 1914 would not pass away—now it is taught that the generation is two overlapping groups (one that sees 1914, the other that sees the End).

In comparison to all this, whether God is one person or three distinct persons with one divine essence seems a non-issue. There are other churches who espouse Arianism. Most churches, people are allowed to be guided by their own conscience and reading of Scripture as to what they personally believe. Even those with an official Trinitarian creed, most would not expel or shun an individual for having another view.

6

25% of US JW's born outside US

by darkspilver in

jw
friends

hey look!!

new topic due to new topic direction - immigration rather than economic - of course they might be related.... you often hear that in the us the jw growth is in the foreign language congregations.

which is interesting because..... 25% of jw's are first generation immigrants (ie born abroad).

Londo111

Thanks for posting this.

47

Does becoming (or remaining) one of Jehovah's Witnesses result in Poverty? Pew Research results differ from Watchtower claims.

by Balaamsass2 in

"raised in the truth" during the 50s, 60s,and 70s i repeatedly read and heard from the platform how reading the magazines weekly "was the equivalent of a college education" and how many had turned their family economic situation around by being "trustworthy" and giving up expensive bad habits most "worldly people" had.

sounded good.. what is the reality?

how does avoiding higher education, and then spending up to 20 hours a week getting ready for, commuting, and then participating in meetings and field service affect family finances?.

Londo111

It's bad news for Watchtower...there's little "silver and gold" to be had.

1

Reviews Of Some Of The UK's Best And Worst Religious Flyers

by Bangalore in

jw
friends

reviews of some of the uk's best and worst religious flyers.. http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/review-religious-flyers-charlie-bowden.

Londo111

"One hostile encounter was with two young Jehovah's Witnesses, I asked if they had any flyers and they were pretty suspicious and not very nice. That said, the best experience was also with Jehovah's Witnesses. Two followers knocked at my door; I had some free time so was happy to chat. We spoke for about an hour, they left me with reading materials and stuff, and I thought that was it. However, the following week I was out and they came back to my house and actually asked for me by name. I loved the fact that I made enough of an impression on them that they wanted to come back."

They probably thought he was an "opposer" or "apostate". And by taking the literature and talking to them an hour, he doesn't realize he became a return visit.

24

Hello - New Member

by NotAnointed in

jw
friends

i just wanted to intoroduce myself.

i have been lurking for some time and finally decided to register and hopefully contribute to this great forum.. i am in my mid 30s and have never been in the truth.

my wife became a jw several years ago and since she is a (mostly) stay at home mom my two boys are also jws.

Londo111

Welcome to the forum!

20

Brother with a beard on jw.org!

by neat blue dog in

ok, slight exaggeration: specifically, an official recording of the july 25th, 2016 midweek meeting in german sign language downloaded from stream.jw.org, (log-in required), includes a brother with a beard giving one of the talks:.

.

Londo111

I'm stunned.

How will they distinguish "worldly" men in the publications if JWs have a beard?

47

CO visit... Circuit is not growing at all, he said during midweek meeting

by StarTrekAngel in

so that was a "shocker".

i was not able to attend the meeting.

i had a more important one with my other apostate friends in the area.

Londo111

I forgot whether it used to be Tuesday or Thursday that the CO would address the problems he was seeing over the last visit. Now there is only one midweek CO meeting...

I guess that makes the CO visit like Festivus, having the "airing of grievances".

36

“Sing Out Joyfully” to Jehovah

by wifibandit in

borg link warning: “sing out joyfully” to jehovah.

non-borg pdf mirror: “sing out joyfully” to jehovah.

.

Londo111

Since there were not two witnesses to the molestation of bees, they had to take that out the song book.

46

Anionted mom says Jehovah may ask her to kill all her family!!

by Witness 007 in

yes my holy anionted mom who has cancer is concerned that the loving god jehovah may ask her in heaven to destroy here non believer family including her 5 year old grandchild during armagedon....how messed up are these crazy people!!?

?.

Londo111

If what the Watchtower taught was true, it would be a legit concern for the "anointed". I'm sure she's distressed over the prospect, but I don't blame her. It's the apocalyptic cult leaders.