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Furuli's new e-book: "My Beloved Religion - And The Governing Body"


Ann O'Maly

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Quote @Anna Going back to the fear of apostates, it makes me wonder why they (the GB) are so afraid, to the point of putting the fear of God in you if you so much as glance at something apostate related. That has always bothered me a bit. Are they afraid that their influence be undermined? That people will lose trust in them? If that is so, where then does the trust in Jehovah figure? Are we not supposed to trust Jehovah more than any man? 

It is nice to see Anna ask these questions. It shows she has balance.  But :-

Firstly we have to ask. Who is it that decides who is Apostate ?  And then what exactly are they supposed to be Apostate to ?  Some on here now use the word Opposers.  But the question still remains, Who are these ones Opposing ? 

This is where the GB's fear starts.  Note Anna's words above.  Also note the last sentance.

The GB are frightened that congregants will become Apostates of the GB.  

Now, to pretend that they have more information and to pretend they are guided by God the GB do this :-   Once again I quote Anna. 

However, those who follow the developments in the world and read the guidelines as proposed by human agencies (as you mentioned) will know this pandemic is by no means over, and may last a very long time. We don't need the GB telling us what we already know. However, we do appreciate their reminders and concern. But to cloak this in a way that insinuates they have more knowledge, when all they do is follow the same developments that are accessible for anyone else to read and study, is....well, funny

@JW Insider Tries his best to justify it all. But it can be clearly  seen that the GB are using the Covid-19 situation to try to show themselves as above others and as having 'special' information. 

Is Anna the only JW on here that notices these things OR is she the only one acting honestly in this case ?

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I brought it up because it's one of several places where Furuli's book provides the exact type of anecdote I am familiar with. These types of interactions were evidently memorable and important to Fur

In this world nothing is perfect because humans tend to overstep boundaries - even Moses did so. But if we are really prepared to give our life for another (spirit of christ), then reading our bi

If it was JWI, you’d still be reading it.  Because that “merely” is a pretty big merely.  What if my roof caves in tomorrow and I decide it’s God’s fault? What if I park on the Kingdom H

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13 hours ago, JW Insider said:

So he probably only commuted to a small town community college in Hebron.

I’ve heard of that school. “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” He should have been more cautious.

Ben Franklin once remarked of the parents of their graduates:

“I reflected in my Mind on the extream Folly of those Parents, who, blind to their Childrens Dulness, and insensible of the Solidity of their Skulls, because they think their Purses can afford it, will needs send them to the Temple of Learning, where, for want of a suitable Genius, they learn little more than how to carry themselves handsomely, and enter a Room genteely, (which might as well be acquir'd at a Dancing-School,) and from whence they return, after Abundance of Trouble and Charge, as great Blockheads as ever, only more proud and self-conceited.”

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8 hours ago, Anna said:

I understood that bit, lol. It's this bit I wasn't sure about and how it related to the first part: 

Got it. So it was this part below:

14 hours ago, JW Insider said:

and then they searched high and low for a Witness or two who had been "living in a cave."

And I hope that their cave does not get the Internet, because I'd hate to have just insulted someone who is also on this forum. (See how easy it is to contradict oneself?)

If you recall from the Covid video during the meeting, there was especially one sister mentioned who had thought that there was no need for caution because the virus had barely touched their country yet. That person came to realize the wisdom of the GB counsel to be cautious because the virus soon hit their country, too.

So what I said above was a reflection of your own statement that a person would have to be living in a cave to think that there was no need for caution with the virus spreading all around the world. And to get that particular experience on JW Broadcasting I joked that they might have to search around the world for such a person so that they could relate this modern-day parable of the uncautious sister.

Obviously, that sister was not really living in a cave; lots of people question the need for so much caution. So my last paragraph just tries to highlight the irony of claiming that such a person must be living in a cave, when it's even possible that this sister has the Internet and might even find herself being talked about right here in this very forum.

Caves and Internets don't usually go together. Thus, the reference to how badly I had just contradicted myself. (This was said in response to the fact that you said the GB had effectively contradicted themselves.)

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23 hours ago, Anna said:

Wow Tom, that was a long reply! At first I thought it was JWI 😂.

If it was JWI, you’d still be reading it. 

23 hours ago, Anna said:

(in fact as we know, the writing department does all this, the GB merely proofread and put their stamp of approval on it). So how can it be said that God is communicating through the GB, 

Because that “merely” is a pretty big merely. 

23 hours ago, Anna said:

which you could do as well. 

What if my roof caves in tomorrow and I decide it’s God’s fault? What if I park on the Kingdom Hall lawn, the elders tell me not to, and I say, “Oh yeah?! Well I show you right here on my blog!!!!” If I do it at Bethel, the GB will “merely” decline to put their stamp of approval on my rant—they will put me on potato-peeling detail in the kitchen instead, and call up someone from the bullpen who has his head screwed on straight. But if I am a loose cannon with my own blog—there is nothing anyone can do when I go haywire. That’s why I don’t ever expect to be acknowledged for my self-appointed role as an apologist, much less commended for it. Even the real apologists of the early centuries have not fared will at the hands of the writing committee, that tends to focus on things they got wrong.

No, the “merely” is a big deal. It makes for constancy and consistency. Call it a “think tank” at Bethel if you will. It is a concentration of gray hairs and experience, of meeting trials, of knowing they are to be judged for their actions (or inaction), of following up on having brought understanding of the sacred writings to begin with. 

I can just shoot my mouth off here, say whatever pops into my head, insult 4Jah whenever he deserves it (which is almost always), praise the Benoit Blanc movie even though there is crude language—and perhaps I have never faced a care in the world. But they can’t. 

What are my morals? I could (to paraphrase Bob Dylan) “be respectably married—or running a whorehouse in Buenos Aries.” Nobody knows. But the Bethel writers are vetted, not just for being good writers, but for being good Christians. They take it for granted that if your conduct is sullied, somehow that will come out in your guidance, even if it doesn’t seem to at first glance.

I had a friend that, eccentric though he was, had a gift of making complex things simple—even oversimplifying to drive the point home.  I can still hear him recounting to someone just how it works in Jehovah’s organization: “At Bethel, the Governing Body study their Bibles. An idea will occur to one of them. They will discuss it among themselves and when they all come to agreement, it will appear in print.”

“Now, the thing is,” he continued, “you also study your Bible. The same idea might have occurred to you, maybe even before it occurred to them. ‘And if this were Christendom, you’d run out and start your own religion over it.’  But because you know it is not a free-for-all, and you know that Jehovah is a God of order, you wait for material to come through the appointed channel.”

So if they have called themselves “Jehovah’s  mouthpiece” in the past, I can live with that. They have the greatest think tank collection of gray hairs that per the scriptures denotes wisdom, of experience in Christian works, in safeguarding and extending the king’s belongings, in knowing the will be held accountable before God. They have the  greatest sense of direction and following up on momentum. No, I will not do a Miriam and say—“does not Jehovah speak through all of us?” I am happy to have a thought that makes sense—I don’t go thinking I am God’s gift to the brotherhood for it.

The trouble is that there are so many literalists who see the expression “crocodile tears” and take it as proof that the one shedding them is a crocodile. There are so many literalists who do not strive to think of how phrases like “Jehovah’s mouthpiece” might apply, but they strive to think of how they don’t. It is the same with “being led by spirit.” It is almost too explosive a phrase to use because of the literalists—if you go to the bathroom—well—how can you be guided by spirit? since holy spirit would never do THAT!

It’s the same with elders and servants being “appointed by holy spirit.” How do you know they are? To my mind it is because the qualifications are in the Book inspired by holy spirit and the judgment as to how they measure up is made by a (small) “think tank” of holy spirit, and seconded by a traveling minister patterned after scripture—another repository of holy spirit. It works for me. But there will be some who think that if an appointee ever goes bad afterwards it must be that they were not appointed by holy spirit. I think not. Any of these terms must necessarily be “watered down” some when put in the context of humans, “in whose heart the inclination to do bad” is ingrained from youth up.

I think of certain brother appointed upon the recommendation of the BOE. The circuit overseer, an older and very experienced man, okayed the recommendation, with the observation: “He’s not the most humble brother in the world.” He didn’t have to be. All he had to do was to meet each of the qualifications to an acceptable degree. Alas, the CO should have listened to his gut, for the man in time went apostate. He was the one who was a history buff and used to impress the householder by answering, “Because I’m an historian,” when asked how he knew this or that about the past. Once I said to him, “Will you knock it off?! You are a history buff. An historian is when other people acknowledge you, not just you yourself!”

I could be wrong, but I bet the GB has learned to be very leery of such phrases and terms as “mouthpiece” and “inspired” and “spirit-directed”—not just for all the literalists, but for all the critics (who are often the same).  Some things if they say just once, it is magnified 100 times. Other things they say 100 times, only to find it ignored. “Don’t save seats for everyone you know,” they would say about the Regionals, “think of the elderly.” Finally, they gave up, and said to let the elderly in early, and everyone else only after the oldsters were seated. Innumerable directives went unheeded. Yet if they speak just once about “forums,” theIr words are enshrined for all time. I alluded to this in Tom Irregardless and Me. The organization would say that the Governing Body does not endorse such and such, and the friends would accordingly have a helpful sense of priority and focus. And then Oscar or someone would be found doing it, and Tom Pearlandswine would descend to tell him that the Governing Body DOES NOT ENDORSE!!! such and such. You never know what quote will be magnified and what will be forgotten, but I bet they are advancing on the learning curve.

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'Untrue Tom Harley' just repeats himself time and time again. He must be trying so hard to convince himself of the things he repeats. Yes I read through all his rubbish time and time again just to see if there is any sign of life in it. But no it's as dead as ever.  I've noticed he's stopped advertising his books. 

The Writing dept' and the GB. The blind leading the blind, whichever one is in the lead. 

Quote TTH " I could be wrong, but I bet the GB has learned to be very leery of such phrases and terms as “mouthpiece” and “inspired” and “spirit-directed” "

But they still call themselves ' the faithful and discreet slave '. Which is even worse as the title was never theirs to use. Wicked slave that they can be seen to be, beating up their fellow slaves. 

Quote "“At Bethel, the Governing Body study their Bibles. An idea will occur to one of them. They will discuss it among themselves and when they all come to agreement, it will appear in print.” 

THAT IS EXACTLY THE POINT. Those 8 men decide what appears in print BUT they are not guided by Holy Spirit. It is just the ideas of 8 men and maybe some of the Writing Dept. 

And there is one more thing which hasn't been mentioned about those 8 men. @JW Insider and others find it ok to mention GB members or 'Board' members from past times, but no one tells us who is 'in charge' right now. It seems that in the past there was always a 'ring leader' or a 'boss' but no one says that about the GB now. The point being that if there is a bully or one that is determined to get his way, then his ideas will make it to the printing press. So just the ideas and traditions of men.   @Anna seems to have noticed it and I think JTR Jr  noticed it too. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, 4Jah2me said:

I've noticed he's stopped advertising his books. 

Obtain your copy now at the link below while the supply lasts:

‘Tom Irregardless and Me’—Starting with Prince, a fierce and frolicking defense of Jehovah’s Witnesses. A riotous romp through their way of life. “We have become a theatrical spectacle to the world, and to angels and to men,” the Bible verse says. That being the case, let’s show some theater! Let’s skewer the liars who slander the Christ! Let’s pull down the house on the axis lords! Let the seed-pickers unite!

All persons with names like ‘Irregardless’ are real though generally composite. You can meet them in my circuit or even yours. Events related are faithfully depicted except for a few that I’ve made up. Persons with names recognizable from history or current events – you’re nuts! – it’s not those people at all!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/686882

Puts Rolf’s book to shame!”.....Oscar Oxgoad

”A highly entertaining author—especially if you’re not fussy”.....Tom Brexit

Acceptable after a fashion. But his grasp of science and is weak, and his critical thinking abominable.”....Bernard Strawman

A pack of lies! I hate it!”.....Vic Vomodog

His chapter on blood transfusion taught me some valuable lessons.”....Dr Max ‘Ace’ Inhibitor

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On 6/26/2020 at 6:56 AM, Anna said:

Continued....

So going back to the brother who asked the question; "how we would feel if suddenly Jehovah stopped existing". I wonder how we would feel if suddenly if the GB stopped existing? Would we fall apart?

Yes, well said. 

Yes. And funny you mentioned too many chiefs and not enough Indians, I was going to mention that very phrase, lol. Actually, I was going to say you can't have more chiefs than Indians. Same thing.

Going back to the fear of apostates, it makes me wonder why they (the GB) are so afraid, to the point of putting the fear of God in you if you so much as glance at something apostate related. That has always bothered me a bit. Are they afraid that their influence be undermined? That people will lose trust in them? If that is so, where then does the trust in Jehovah figure? Are we not supposed to trust Jehovah more than any man? Does it not reveal that our trust may lie more in the GB than Jehovah? Recently, in one of the study articles it was mentioned that idolizing someone (the reference was to the GB) could become a stumbling block if that someone falls away. Is it then not better to see the "contrasting view" because that might help us be more realistically grounded. And as JWI alluded (I think it was JWI) why try and "hide" something unless we are ashamed of it (meaning the GB) and why not be candid and transparent? Why have all this "secret" stuff for the apostates to dig up and wave around? Stuff that the GB does not want us to read? Do they think our faith in Jehovah is so fragile?

When you believe in God, then this inevitably leads to questions about his purpose for us and the meaning of life. This in turn leads to an analysis of writings which claim to explain that. This leads to admitting that the Bible has the most intelligent explanation, and that Jehovah's Witnesses are the only ones who adhere to all of it despite some personal sacrifice on their part.
When you do not accept there is a God, like Amber, all that is no longer relevant.
Of course those who no longer believe there is a God fall back on so called "scientific proof" . And yes. There are things that don't quite add up about the timeline of the flood, the fossil record, and the age of man, etc. but despite that, even JTR, who believes in evolution (with a helping hand from Jehovah) is still with us.

For any intelligent person there is more proof of the existence of God than there isn't. Those who deny the existence of God do it more for personal reasons than because of science. When it comes down to the crunch, in the end, things are always personal, even if people try to imply some other noble cause or scientific enlightenment, or apostate reasoning. So what are the GB so afraid of?

 

I think two reasons...one for protection of the sheep...and one for their own protection.

True apostates are devious and incredibly selfish...con men and women who speak artfully contrived things and aid in scattering the sheep who are already beaten down and wounded,....Apostates were stumbled..and need to have ones think like them to justify their stumbling.

Keep in mind many who are branded Apostates are not True apostates...I’m talking about True Apostates here,

Secondly  
They truly have been used by Jehovah in advancing Gods work and knowledge of his Great Plan....BUT....pride and humility And abuse of such a position may also prove to be their stumbling stone...

 

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On 6/28/2020 at 3:33 AM, Thinking said:

Keep in mind many who are branded Apostates are not True apostates...I’m talking about True Apostates here,

It seems how this have to be integrated in new revised edition of "Shepherd book". That will be helpful for elders and Judicial Commissions in making decisions what sort of "apostate" have to be dfd but what not to :))) 

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42 minutes ago, Srecko Sostar said:

It seems how this have to be integrated in new revised edition of "Shepherd book". That will be helpful for elders and Judicial Commissions in making decisions what sort of "apostate" have to be dfd but what not to :))) 

If the Elders don't shoot you for one thing, they will hang you for something else. Once they don't like a person then they mark them. Then it's only a matter of time before d/fed.

 

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On 6/28/2020 at 5:33 AM, Thinking said:

Going back to the fear of apostates, it makes me wonder why they (the GB) are so afraid, to the point of putting the fear of God

I have an apostate in my family. The OCD symptoms of hate is the same in all hardened apostates.  He left the truth after only 2 years when he read Dakins's book.  He was inquisitive in all the wrong ways and too smart for his own boots. I can pick these OCD hate-mongers out just by listening to them.  They are dangerous to your personal spirituality because of the deceit and hate.

They will take a half-truth and embroider it so it sounds plausible and true.  I associated with my brother (saw him a few times) because I was helping him financially but then cut off the relationship (I still sent the money) because I loved him so much. 

He was manipulating my love for him to try to get me to talk against  jehovah.......every time I was in his presence the OCD started......That is when I realized the bible is right and the GB interpretation of " not to greet them" is absolutely for your own protection tion........ not because of fear.  It is about obedience to jehovah for your own protection.

His conscience did not bother him to use my love for him because he became an opposer of jehovah. 

  

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41 minutes ago, Arauna said:

He was manipulating my love for him

 

42 minutes ago, Arauna said:

He was inquisitive in all the wrong ways and too smart for his own boots.

Did he, Is he such person because he "became apostate" or because he is such personality/character from the beginning, from very time ago?  

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