Posts by pronomono

30

Symptoms of Spiritual Weakness - Elder's Manual

by cappytan in

lack of self-control in eating, drinking, and pursuit of pleasure;.

so, let me get this straight.

enjoying a fancy meal, appreciating the finer qualities of libations and deciding to enjoy life by pursuing pleasures (bike riding, hiking, camping, fishing, reading, movies, golfing, etc.

pronomono

a complacent spirit;
When you look up complacent in the thesaurus, there are some negative synonyms associated with it such as egotistic, self-righteous and smug. Putting aside for a moment the fact that most elders are themselves egotistic, self-righteous and smug, lets look at the other synonyms. Confident, happy, pleased, satisfied. So, being confident, happy, pleased and satisfied with life is considered a spiritual weakness? Here are some antonyms (opposites) the thesaurus gives for complacent: unhappy, discontent, concerned. So, if we're not supposed to be complacent, we're supposed to feel unhappy, discontented and concerned in order to be spiritually strong?

Thanks for this, cappytan. Turns out my whole life, I've had the wrong idea about what complacency is. Why? Because the Watchtower seems to use this out of context.... a lot. From reading in context from Watchtower articles, I generally get the idea that a complacent person is someone who is lazy or careless, especially in regard to spiritual matters. From the real definition, this isn't the case at all.

5

When I'm Feeling Godless

by freemindfade in

my few of my favorite anti-god, anti-religion, anti-jw vibe music.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtgkrcxybsm.

...you're such an inspiration for the ways .

that i'll never ever choose to be .

pronomono

Two of my favorite bands.

For me its anything Breaking Benjamin or Stone Sour (although it's not anti-JW/religion, but it sure does lift my spirits)

87

Why people don't believe in God

by pressman in

do you want to know why i think people don't believe in god?

well i believe people don't want to believe in god because they are scared.

they know that if they finally do gorge the confidence to believe in him, he might discipline them for their skepticism.

pronomono

Billy, that pic struck a coulrophobic/leporiphobic nerve. Lol. Scary!

26

Reports of lower memorial attendance

by thedepressedsoul in

i have heard a lot of reports from kingdom halls in the area that there was less than last year, for both time slots.. we had the first time slot and we were down 50+/- compared to last year.

last year we had the lobby full of people standing and this year we had empty seats and no one standing.

we ran out of parking last year and this year we made it.. like i said i am hearing quite a few reports of this from halls in our area.however, somehow the number seem to inch up every year.

pronomono

My first year not placing a single Memorial tract..... Also the first year we've had record attendance. It was odd.

39

Re: Shepherding Textbook in Digital Format

by suavojr in

jw
friends

after years of leaked info, the gb has finally decided to publish their own shepherding textbook in epub format.. dear brothers:.

we are pleased to inform you that the shepherding textbook is now available in epub,.

mobi, and pdf format.

pronomono

ASL people formulate thoughts differently than those of us who speak english. For example, we would say "Do you like studying ASL?" An ASL person would say(sign) "ASL, you like study?". This comes from a very, very basic understanding overhearing some things that my mom discussed when she first started learning. I can't confirm, but I would think that if they were to make an ASL version of the Shepherding book, they would write in English the way an ASL person would think (ASL grammar) instead of the way we would think. I've never seen an ASL book like this, though. It would be interesting.

19

Watchtower June 15 2015, Misleading Reference to Past Statement...

by BluesBrother in

if this has been posted up before, then i missed it...... they call this organization "the truth" so we might expect it to be accurate .

they themselves they have previously championed honesty :.

live with jehovahs day in mind (2006) p115 par 9.

pronomono

Excellent quotes, BluesBro. The first quote was new to me.

35

Memorial attendance up or down on last year?

by freddo in

jw
friends

as per the title.

and was the one you attended at an early or late time of the evening.. any partakers?.

pronomono

Attendance was up for us. We had quite a few people standing around the walls. People were still showing up 45 minutes in, right before the closing prayer. We played musical chairs every time someone new came in that the attendants deemed more worthy for a seat (older ones and people with young kids).

I was kind of shocked at all the new people. I wanted to scream "Run! And never look back!" But that's a sure-fire way to out myself. lol

59

Worst Memorial Talk Ever!

by The Searcher in

i honestly have never heard such claptrap being delivered in a memorial talk.. the speaker repeatedly put down the way other religions administered the bread & wine, and claimed that witnesses do it exactly as the bible describes.

oh yeah????.

he forgot to mention - when reading aloud 1 corinthians 11:25 - that after passing the bread, a full meal was to be shared, before the wine was passed around!

pronomono

I echo all your sentiments. The biggest thing that stood out to me was all the forced parallels to a real wedding. I almost laughed when they mentioned the bride of Christ and how we wouldn't just jump up and say "I want to be the bride!", and that we can't request to be born again just like we didn't request to be born when our parents conceived us.

Sad thing is, at our hall we were packed. Standing room only. It seemed that there were more people at ours this year than ever. We kept playing musical chairs every time someone new came in to let elderly and those with kids sit. They were still arriving 45 minutes in when the closing prayer was about to be said.

54

It's time to say goodbye to JWD - I sold it !

by Simon in

a week or so ago i posted that the forum was 15 years old (15 years of jehovahs-witness.com) and hinted that there may be some news to announce about the site:.

i also may have some other news to share soon about the future of the site so stay posted.

well, now i can announce it - i sold it !.

pronomono

You had me until Watchtower, lol.

First thought was that you sold the old .net domain name. Then it clicked.

10

The stars will fall from the sky... but maybe they are better where they are?

by M*A*S*H in

as an atheist interested in debate i have often accused religious folk of suffering cognitive dissonance on many issues.

i stupidly thought i might be immune to such dissonance.

however now i find myself in a battle for my own mind with no obvious end in sight.. i remember being taught as a young jw that the following passage in mark "the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

pronomono

@Vanderhoven7
I always feel the JW's have to walk a fine line... they desperately want some of their prophesies to come true, but of course once they have judged a particular prophesy 'to have occurred', they have now used it up (if you know what I mean). Potentially they then run the risk of having to back down and admit what they thought occurred was wrong too. I suppose that is a good reason to pluck out somewhat dubious prophesies and fear monger with them!

I know exactly what you mean. Sad thing is that they've done just that, and with no mass fall out. This is part of the reason many of us are here today. Think Christ's enthronement and presence, 1914, who really are the faithful and discreet slave, new light, and many more. These are all instances where they used up one prophesy only to have an "Oh, shit!" moment, and then they changed it with new light to suit their purposes. With their power, they were able to present the history of the doctrine in a favorable light due to indoctrination so that nobody noticed (or those who did weren't affected enough to realize the true impact of the change). The more time that passes between these types of things, the easier it is to play it off. But now with the internet, this is becoming more difficult to hide.