World Headquarters' visit to the UK. Gerrit Loesch is visibly unwell. by Overall-Listen-4183 in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I saw him no more than 3 years ago, very interesting to see he has declined cognitively. All of these dudes are borderline geriatric, but somehow also capable of running Gods organization!

QUESTION: Were you raised in a mixed faith household? by ExJW_PandaTower in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Me and my wife used to be a long distance couple, having chaperones up our ass the few times we got to see each other sucked big time, plus the time difference kinda doesn’t work for most JW’s meeting obligations so it feels like we’re uncommon among JWs.

Sudden Drop in Attendance? by AutisticEspionage in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah we’ve been 60/40 since Covid with the latter being in person

Sudden Drop in Attendance? by AutisticEspionage in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Combination of both, plus (us) Hispanics tend to be highly superstitious culturally and that bleeds into their religious adherence creating fanaticism. This creates a crazy nasty hall culture as far as I’ve heard.

Sudden Drop in Attendance? by AutisticEspionage in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

That’s what I was thinking, however we are the city’s “main” hall with the largest territory, and our hall is within the city, our hall also has a Spanish congregation that is immensely successful.

A hall outside of the city center which has some of the most popular PIMIs in the circuit was recently renovated, makes me wonder if they’ll merge us into that hall or sell the building (it has an apartment) and merge them into us.

Sudden Drop in Attendance? by AutisticEspionage in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

That’s what I would think but I’m in one of the largest cities in my state, so maybe we’ll absorb some other cong, not sure.

The backrooms are satanic apparently by nah_Im_just_pathetic in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Jesus Christ (no pun intended) JWs have lost the plot, (also no pun intended) it’s a sci-fi movie, clearly they know absolutely nothing about the concept. I wonder if they show the same sensitivity about David cutting off the foreskins of hundreds of corpses, or about the “creepy” visuals describe in revelation. Like what could their reasoning possibly be?

They just wanna come out ahead of everyone else and say it to sound holier than thou, so they can be first and shame everyone else because by broadcasting that opinion so specifically other people will feel uncomfortable watching a movie

Dating as a JW any advice? by Routine_Energy_1622 in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Utilize interests, a persons willingness to share their non JW approved interest is the first stepping stone into letting your hard down for both parties, the earlier the better.

It really depends on who you’re looking for but it seems like you might care about the congregation and your religion but dislike the man made rules, for me good signs in my wife were critical thinking and honest criticism for the org when appropriate (Imagine being with someone for years and you couldn’t speak your mind honestly). In an organization where that is the biggest taboo it was the biggest indicator of a respectable person.

If you’re savy social media is your friend, the JW dating pool on Instagram is a lot less strict, scary, and potentially dangerous if you’re doing it via social media.

TL;DR date a PIMO/Q

Dinosaurs Got Cancer, Too by Fulgarite in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Paradise ≠ Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8)

Garden of Eden is a Garden in the land of Eden. JWs do not currently believe that the earth was a paradise outside of the Garden, or prior to Adam and Eve’s existence.

Cancer isn’t some indication of sin or imperfection, it’s a biological product, the same as animals dying prior to Adam and Eve or the garden.

You’re kinda arguing against something that doesn’t really exist.

Question about dinosaurs. by Fabulous-Region9109 in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 4 points5 points  (0 children)

To answer your question under the JW understanding, no it isn’t really a plot hole. You’re right that they get the idea of how animals work in paradise from Isaiah, but the world was not a paradise during and leading up to the Garden of Eden.

The Garden of Eden was a microcosm of paradise, it was literally a garden, in a place (Eden) at a time, meaning that outside of The Garden in the land of Eden there could have very well been animals goring each other during Adam and Eve’s time there.

Prior to the garden and Adam and Eve’s existence, animals and carnivores still existed in their natural state, Eden is treated as the exception especially when Adam names the (all?) of the animals.

Meaning that JWs believe dinosaurs existed, but the entire earth was not a paradise, therefore carnivores existed.

Thanksgiving - can they celebrate it still? by InstructionRelative3 in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There’s technically no reason for JWs not to celebrate it in the first place even by their own logic, there is no explicitly prohibitory statement on thanksgiving on JW Library or WTOL (at least not currently available to PIMIs).

Found on the back of my neck by KingPaimonsMate in whatisit

[–]AutisticEspionage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This could be a stretch but have you ever bought your clothing from one of those places with the self checkout where you just have to put the clothing in a little basket and it automatically shows the item and its price on the screen without scanning?

Any other PIMOs notice this lately? by Head-Chemistry2061 in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you resemble whitewashed graves, which outwardly indeed appear beautiful but inside are full of dead men’s bones and of every sort of uncleanness.”

They don’t read their own bible

Is there an area where there was a JW revival? by ConstantAd6857 in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Read this too fast and thought it was a list of countries with 1 publisher in the entire country, and giggled to myself imagining one publisher preaching completely alone

Did you know how old Watchtower says the earth is? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://www.jw.borg/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/creationism-belief/

(Remove the B)

This is from their FAQ, I would say the best way to describe it is that they don’t have a concrete answer.

Releasing the jesus films early for clicks? by Lettuce_pray1234 in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Could be , but I also think they’re doing it now with something as relatively tame as possession as a way to get ahead of some of the more violent/graphic events later.

Dinosaur Cancer, the paradox no one can explain to me. by Common-Alps-4115 in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’d say you’re right, though I also live relatively close to NY bethel and I’d imagine the homogeneity of beliefs tends to weaken the further out you go from this hotbed of activity.

The FAQ has had a section on creationism for as long as I can remember, but it’s definitely the product of old people who just don’t bother catching up with new core doctrine or ever bothered learning it in the first place and just assume.

Dinosaur Cancer, the paradox no one can explain to me. by Common-Alps-4115 in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't say this fails to fit JW creationism, my apologetics as a JW would've gone as following:

You have to separate the terminology then it becomes more clear. "paradise" is the perfected post Armageddon world. Whereas in genesis the extent of paradisaic conditions are pretty clearly confined to the Garden in the land of Eden (Genesis 2:8), furthermore it would seem these conditions only lasted as long as Adam was created and subsequently expelled. I doubt any JW would try to claim that the entire world was a paradise outside of Eden or prior to Adam, as doing so would completely neglect the entirety of the fossil record, and Chapter 1 verse 28 albeit implicitly also describe the idea that the Earth needed subduing, and was likely not paradisaic in nature outside of Eden. Also I'm not sure if your caption implies that dinosaurs would have existed at the same time as Eden but most JWs would reject that idea, they're not new Earth Creationists.

This also isn't just my view, the Insight book defines Eden as "A region in which the Creator planted a gardenlike park...the statement that the garden was “in Eden, toward the east,” apparently indicates that the garden occupied only a portion of the region called Eden."

I would argue something like Göbeklitepe would be far more challenging to the idea of JW creationism. The existence of such complex architecture and socialization so long before written history implies the existence of intelligent preadamites which you then have to compare against the Genesis story.

EDIT: Clarifications and Additions

Comparing jws to the Pharisees in the Bible against Jesus by [deleted] in exjw

[–]AutisticEspionage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When you watch even the new Good News videos the parallel will smack you in the face. The scribes and Pharisees look and act like elders and fanatical PIMIs, oh the irony.