Inappropriate - Sick - WT & Awake articles over the years.

by Essan 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Heartofaboy

  I remember thinking as a child I could never endure the horrendous brutality described in the WT literature.

  They mentioned an experience in one article that after the first vicious blows were dealt to a Malawian brother he miraculously didn't feel the rest of the beating.

  The WT logic being, because the brother had proven himself faithful to the Watchtower God, God thought 'I'll numb his body to the rest of the beating'.

  You see rather than use his great power to prevent the beating take place God let the brother continue to be beaten to a pulp, but numbed him.

  I continue to 'wonder' at God's 'awsome' logic.

  Hoab
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  WTWizard

  I saw my share of experiences in the yearbooks that were not suitable for children. They described tortures that witlesses received, including getting pails of excrement dumped on them. Some of them were repeated in the washtowel rags as well.
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  Darth plaugeis

  How could anything not be INAPPROPRIATE... The Youth Book... at FAMILY STUDY TIME.

  And yes those stories of rape and Cannibalism almost describing Dante's Vision! Were very sick!! Some of the most inappropriate things I ever heard from the Stage was during the DC's. How Graphic can they get???

  WOW
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  JWoods

  Of course, the most inappropriate of all (to me) was the famous Awake with the pictures of children who died from not having taken a blood transfusion on the cover. They were proud that they caused the actual deaths of these kids.

  Did it ever occur to anybody at Brooklyn HQ that all these kids were just as dead as the obviously fabricated story of the "demonized girl with a lion face?"
• 

  Essan

  Ah, well it's good to know it wasn't just me being overly sensitive as a child!

  Yes, I also remember all the graphic descriptions of torture etc. and the implication that this could happen to you too, in "The Tribulation", and the insistence that these victims were "examples for us to follow" and would we have the strength to face it when it comes.

  Not at all suitable themes to imprint on impressionable and vulnerable young minds.

  This Org was/is pretty sick.

  Do you also remember being told how vitally important the book study group was, because when the "Tribulation" came and the Witnesses were being persecuted and so couldn't meet at the hall, they would have to meet at homes and if you weren't at every group, you might not know where the next secret meeting was to be held, and so lose touch with the brothers, and be vulnerable and alone!

  Haven't they ditched the group study?

  What, isn't it "vital" now? I suppose the Society feels a bit safer since having bent over for the 'Wild Beast' UN. Maybe it thinks the "Tribulation" won't be so bad now?
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  Mary

  It described JW's in Africa, in Witch-doctor infested territory, and JW's supposed battles with 'demons'. On, as I recall, described them dealing with a 'possessed' girl, they said when they saw her, her face contorted and kind of transfigured into the face of a lion. The JW's went into another room to talk with the father, and they heard a scream from the room where the girl was, alone. They burst in and found her head twisted right round the wrong way, her neck broken, I presume, killed by the demons.

  I vaguely remember that one. But there were so many friggin demon experiences that came out of Africa it was hard to keep them all straight. There was another one I remember about some guy who had been very involved with the spirit world and Satan empowered him with all sorts of gifts that the average joe never had, like casting spells on people who pissed you off and other weird stuff. Anyway, this guy starts studying with the Dubs which of course, pissed Beelzebub off royally so the demons started tormenting the guy both physically, mentally and emotionally. He said he prayed to Jehovah to keep them out of his room and that is what (supposedly) happened. I remember the article said that he could hear the demons banging violently on the walls and doors of his bedroom, trying to get in so they could kill him.

  As a kid, it was terrifying to read shit like that.
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  Mickey mouse

  September 1st 1987 WT:

  Asamaja Amelia, a middle-aged woman in Suriname, was 17 years old when she first became involved in divination, a form of spiritism. Since her predictions came true and inquirers benefited from her advice, she was highly esteemed in her community. (Compare Acts 16:16.) But one thing troubled her.
  “The spirits that spoke through me were kind to those who sought their help,” she says, “but at the same time they made my life miserable. After each sitting, I felt beaten up and could hardly move. When night fell, I hoped for some rest, but the spirits did not leave me alone. They kept disturbing me, talking to me and keeping me awake. And the things they said!” She sighs and looks down, shaking her head in aversion. “They loved to talk about sex and insisted on having relations with me. It was shocking. I was married. I did not want to be unfaithful and told them so. It did not help. Once an invisible force overpowered me, touched and squeezed my body, and even bit me. I felt wretched.”
  ‘Spirits encouraging sexual immorality? That is farfetched!’ you may exclaim. Are those spirits really that debased?
  “It’s even worse!” says Izaak, mentioned earlier. “One night we were called to help a sick woman troubled by a spirit. The leader of the group—the medium of a stronger spirit—tried to chase the spirit away. For a whole day we pleaded for his spirit’s help. We danced and played the drums, and gradually the woman improved. He ordered her spirit out, and this worked. ‘We gained the victory,’ beamed the leader. Then we sat down and relaxed.”
  Izaak’s gesticulating arms rest for a moment while he pauses meaningfully. Then he continues: “For a while all looked well, but then a scream broke the silence. We rushed to the house where it came from and saw the leader’s wife. She was crying hysterically. Inside the house, we found her little daughter—her head facing backward! Some force had wrung and broken her neck, killing her like a chicken—apparently, the revenge of that ousted spirit. Sickening! Those spirits are sadistic murderers.”
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  Mickey mouse

  I was a child in the 1970's, during the persecution in Malawi. I remember sitting under the chair at the Kingdom Hall and hearing the following being discussed. If you are of a sensitive nature, please don't read this quote from the April 1 1970 WT:

  16 When a Christian witness of Jehovah of Ntifinyire Village was beaten for refusing to purchase a political card, Banda’s youths took a knife and made cuts encircling his arms and then his legs and inflicted many cuts on his head. Other Witnesses had six-inch nails driven into their feet, bicycle spokes were forced through their legs and then these Christians were told to run. Still others were tortured with a burning stick placed against their arms, legs, head and entire body. Still these Witnesses refused to compromise their religious beliefs or deny their God Jehovah under such barbaric torture. Do you have the quality of Christian endurance in you to stand such tests? You may be called upon someday to prove your faith. How will your faith stand up?

  I was terrified and had nightmares about it. It pisses me off that they think it's appropriate to discuss anything and everything in front of children but then get sniffy at the "disgraceful" standards of worldly entertainment.
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  JWoods

  Asamaja Amelia, a middle-aged woman in Suriname, was 17 years old when she first became involved in divination, a form of spiritism. Since her predictions came true and inquirers benefited from her advice, she was highly esteemed in her community.

  Rather ironic that her predictions actually came true, huh? Maybe the GB should have asked her to validate all the prophetic ideas they had...like, for instance all the ones that did not come true, and did not benefit anybody.
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  keyser soze

  I remember thinking as a child I could never endure the horrendous brutality described in the WT literature.

  I felt the same way. It always troubled me when I heard that we would have to endure similar things, or worse, to survive to the end. It always made me feel worthless, because I knew I could never do it.