The "Verboten" Principle: Ignored By Watchtower Leaders

metatron

I once read an observation as a teenager that I never forgot. I called it the "verboten" principle.

In Nazi Germany, as with other totalitarian systems, there is a tendency to vastly multiply signs that read "Verboten!" (Forbidden!). The problem with this is that, eventually, it appears that most everything is forbidden. In addition, if the punishment for everything is death, eventually people may think themselves so doomed by any violation that they simply give up.

And what about life in the Watchtower cult? What is forbidden? Or just 'strongly discouraged' (i.e. forbidden).

Vampire fiction

Facebook

College

My Space

The Internet, Generally

Porn

R rated movies

2 door cars ( bad for field service)

Blouses that show too much cleavage

Skirts too short or slit

Mustaches and beards?

Asking too many questions

Hobbies ( why aren't you out in field service?)

And these idiots hope to live forever? Doing what, exactly? It's no wonder they need so many anti-depressants!

metatron

Knowsnothing

They've been here for over 100 years..... what's gonna stop them now?

Wait, I think I have the biblical answer.

Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled the WT.

BCK

Be reasonable. Some things ARE bad, such as porn. Do you want your adolescent child or your teenager watching it? I hope not. The problem is that the WT is a "judgemental" organization, and has become a nitpicky group, like the Pharisees. They strain out the gnat and gulp down the camel. What would happen if they applied the same thinking about other religions to themselves? They have bad men in positions of responsibility. Doesn't a little leaven spoil the whole lump? Aren't there those who have a form of godly devotion but prove false to it's power? What would happen to their preaching if they eliminated the unscriptural practice of counting time? How many elders and ms would fail to put in the standard 10 hours of driving around in their cars trying to avoid getting out and talking to people? The list could go on and on.

But to be fair, where else have you ever heard about God's Kingdom? What other hope is there? Do you think human governments will ever solve our problems?

What I see here is an example of mindless Watchtower bashing. Be fair, everything the Watchtower warns against isn't without basis.

Botzwana

My wife and I watch porn together and we have a great time. No, I don´t feel as if is destructive.

pirata

BCK, welcome to the forum!

ranmac

Be fair, everything the Watchtower warns against isn't without basis.

BCK,

does this include their paranoia about facial hair?

Mad Sweeney

But to be fair, where else have you ever heard about God's Kingdom?

You are doing the same thing the JWs do with John 6:68. It isn't "where else" to go, it is "to whom." The Christian concept of God's Kingdom originates from the Bible, not from The Watchtower corporation, and its King is Jesus Christ, not seven unemployed bishops in Brooklyn, NY.

What other hope is there?

The hope born of liberty and the gift of God that is the human spirit. True Christianity is about freedom, not conformity and organization.

Do you think human governments will ever solve our problems?

Yes, most of them. There will always be problems of one sort or another and human society will work to solve them. Imagining otherwise is a childish pipe dream.

What I see here is an example of mindless Watchtower bashing. Be fair, everything the Watchtower warns against isn't without basis.

The thing is, they don't warn against things for the good of their members. They warn against things to protect the authority of the organization over the members' lives. Maybe some of the advice is good and maybe some of the other advice isn't. Each one can be discussed on its own merits in another thread (pornography, for instance, as one you bring up). But discussing them in a thread that is about the totalitarian rule of the Borganization is merely a distraction. The Watchtower deserves whatever bashing it gets, not necessarily because all its rules are bad, but because they have no authority to make such rules; they mentally and emotionally enslave individuals who should be free people. It is a violation of the most basic human right, the freedom of mind.

metatron

When I was 'loyal', I couldn't stop thinking about porn. Now, I find it boring.

And why was the forbidden fruit so desirable? Because it was forbidden!

Forbid and forbid and forbid and then wonder why Witnesses are going nuts. Listen, you fools on the Governing Body! You can't stop technology - and that means you will be forced to depend on conscience of the individual and NOT enforcement or endlessly nagging.

metatron

Band on the Run

I am reminded of the monkey story from elementary school. An African little boy visits another village. He tells people they can earn great money if they stir a pot of stew without thinking about a monkey. They have to put money in which he will get if they think about a monkey. villager after villager tries but all they can think about is monkey.

Many laws are unenforced, not repealed.

There is an attraction to distraction and to quiet.

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that God's existence can be reasoned by universal moral laws. It is against every culture to commit murder; to rape; to burglar; to rob; to embezzle,etc. Cultures with no contact with each other still follow these rules.

The issue is not Witness doctrine for me but the authoritarian nature of the organization. 98% of what it preaches is not in the Bible. I am a great proponent of reading the Bible consecutively. They jump around all over the place. A vodoo priestess can do the same with the same result. Any moron can make "sense" out of a compilation of books so large, contradictory and over a vast time period.

Before I could analyze the Bible, though, I had a gut revulsion to the Bible. Let me remind you HItler taught these same virtues. Murder was illegal in Germany. Pornography was prob. officially banned. I am a lawyer. When I started law school, I was eager to learn the substance of the law. Somehow during my first year we were diverted by due process. Now I know from much experience that the process of something can be more important the substance. Justice cannot exist without due process.

I am now a Christian. It is actually fun.

The "Verboten" Principle: Ignored By Watchtower Leaders

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