Use your God-given thinking abilities and power of reason to make the truth your own
This means "immerse yourself in WT teaching so deeply and repeat it so often that you are no longer able to consider any alternative possibility."
Winning The Battle For Your Mind Watchtower 7/15/2017
by Brokeback Watchtower 17 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Ding
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Diogenesister
Cha Ching The more I read their words, the longer I am out, I see the WT becoming a darker and darker evil.
They know what they are doing to people's brains, and are very, very good at it.
Its damned hard not to read this incredible stuff and not think they are taunting us...the exjws who Consistently say these very things. Damned hard not to believe they know exactly what they are doing to the dubs.
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cha ching
Diogenesister.... I just heard my dad (not a JW) was taken to the hospital Friday night.... I did not hear about it until Saturday night.... My JW sister "Well, we thought we would just get him checked out and come home, no problem" Me: "What if I just wanted to visit him? Maybe he would die? What would I want to do?"
Her: "Well... ummmm.... " Me: "Well what is family for? this is just strange to me, wouldn't family call family?" Silence...
I am not DF'd but they know I do not believe, and haven't gone in 5 years, my whole family-husband, two sons & wife & I left same time. PLUS I have been the one (with my DF'd husband and other ex jw sister) cleaning up the hoarders mess with rat poop and squalor for 7 months. They needed me then. The JWs were hard to find then, but they are better than us. They don't need to call us when dad slips, falls, loses consciousness and goes to the hospital.
The thing about this article is I just want to SCREAM "Look what this religion is doing to YOU!!!" I could feel the fire wanting to come out of my eyes when talking to her, but I did good... I held back, I did not hit her with both barrels.... I played the "I don't understand" card.
I knew, and know, that if I play the direct "it's your religion" card, I will lose. Because of this article, and ones like it that say "They are like a soldier leaving the army, they will try to tear down your allegiance, your hope in your leaders, that is what Satan does" and crap like that I cannot even speak freely, I will be the propagandist.
WT can cut anyone down, call any religion evil, "Babylon the Great, the Whore", but don't even try saying their leaders are "misleading you".
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cha ching
I hear the same phrases come out of so many JWs all the time, like a printing press/ copy machine, the words roll off their tongue: "nobody's perfect, we know our leaders are not perfect"
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stuckinarut2
Yes, the irony is disturbing!
They are guilty of that VERY thing!
The hypocrisy is so infuriating!
As has already been quoted, the Society themselves published a famous quote:
"Education teaches one HOW to think, Propaganda TELLS one WHAT to think"
If only JWs were smart enough to see how manipulated they have been. They feel that the society is the only required source of information....so they deny themselves the opportunity to REALLY think.
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ttdtt
The irony of that article is mind-blowing!
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Brokeback Watchtower
Get a load of Anthony Morris recent Trinidad Talk. He covers a wide range of fanatical religious/corporation dos and don'ts but at minute 25 he talks about the Watchtower corporation being a cult. Enjoy/throw up.
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Blade R
That article contains a misrepresented quote that I criticized in this post, I'm sorry but it's in Spanish. You can use a browser translator to read.
https://vidamasallajw.blogspot.com.es/2017/06/ganar-la-batalla-por-su-mente.html
Win the battle for your mind (James Bann)
In the Study Watchtower of July 2017 an article entitled: "Protect your mind and win the battle". It is designed as a warning against falling prey to propaganda. On page 28 we find this statement:
Keep in mind that Satan does not want us to think clearly and analyze things. Why? Because, according to a certain work of reference, propaganda is usually more effective when people do not stop to think (Media and Society in the Twentieth Century).
The quote is from a book entitled: "Media and Society in the Twentieth Century: A Historical Introduction by Lyn Gorman, David McLean."
I searched this book online and found it on Amazon.com. Book
On page 78 of the book, the complete quote is: (Speaking of propaganda)
"Therefore, it is likely to be more effective if people do not have access to multiple sources of information and are discouraged from thinking critically"
This is very different from how the Watchtower quotes from the book, omitting a fundamental detail that seems not to be of its convenience, "having access to multiple sources of information" is vital to avoid falling victim to propaganda.
Why was this phrase omitted? Was this perhaps for the purpose of saving space on the Watchtower page?
Consider the following phrase in the book that is also not included in the Watchtower article and judge for yourself:
"Michael Balfour has suggested that the" best touchstone to distinguish the propaganda of science is whether a plurality of sources of information and interpretations are being discouraged ... ".
And then The Watchtower ruffling the loop, happens precisely to do that, discourage the plurality of sources of information and recommend to the reader "One source" ... the Bible.
Note how this is done on page 28 in the following paragraph:
"So the soldier needs a reliable source of information so they do not fool him. We need the same to protect ourselves from our enemy.
Jehovah gives us this source of reliable information; It is the Bible. In it we find everything necessary to combat satanic propaganda
(2 Tim 3:16, 17). "
It goes without saying, it is striking that they quote from a prominent and renowned intellectual like Noam Chomsky when writing:
"Think about what Professor Noam Chomsky said:" No one is going to get the truth into our brains. We must find it ourselves. "
So find the truth for yourself by examining "carefully the scriptures daily" (Acts 17:11).
Two little things about it.
First, the recommendation not to be victims of propaganda is, Bible and more Bible, that is, a single source of information.
And the second is blatantly cynical, nobody in the organization is allowed to find the truth "by itself", on the contrary, the organization discourages personal investigation, what they call truth, have told us again and again that only the faithful and discreet slave through his publications, speeches, meetings and assemblies.
And woe to him who dares question or contradict something that comes from that "faithful slave", since we all know the disastrous consequences that entails!
However, the authors present themselves blatantly as if they were in favor of critical thinking. Yes, I criticize everything else, but never with what comes from the "mother organization".
Then, in an ironic twist disturbing, the article goes on to use the same methods of propaganda that warned, showing well what is their real concern: The growing distrust of those who lead, especially the Governing Body, by the obvious exposure of all his unfortunate shady maneuvers and his obvious mistakes.
So showing a face like flint, to use a biblical expression, harangue the troops to loyally stick to the organization and its "men", whatever falls, whatever they do, unconditionally.
Read the next two paragraphs on p. 29-30, they have no waste:
THAT NOTHING NOR ANYBODY MAKES YOU DISCONTINUED
If a soldier begins to distrust his commander, he will not fight well. That is why the propagandists try to weaken the loyalty of the soldiers. They spread messages like the following: "Your leaders do not deserve your trust" or "They are leading you to disaster!".
And they seize with cunning any mistake they make so that their propaganda seems true. Satan does the same. He is always trying to weaken the trust we have in the men Jehovah uses to lead his people.
How can you protect yourself? Be determined to be loyal to Jehovah's organization and to support those he has appointed to lead it, even if they are not perfect (1 Thess 5:12, 13). Do not be confused by the apostates or other enemies that attack the organization, no matter how true their accusations may seem (2 Thess 2: 2, Titus 1:10). Follow the advice given to the youngTimothy: Adhere to the truth that was taught to him and do not forget where he learned it (2 Tim 3:14, 15). Do not you think there is enough evidence that you can trust the faithful slave, whom Jehovah has used for the past hundred years to teach us the truth? (Mat.24: 45-47; Heb 13: 7, 17). "
I think the last question, by virtue of its history of doctrinal changes, new lights and flashes of light, and new and old understandings, types and antitypes that are no longer typical, etc. they answer it, NO, there is no evidence to trust, in any case what there is is an endless record of errors that prove the opposite.
It is quite obvious that they could not make these statements if they had included the complete original quotation about having access to multiple sources of information, and for that reason they hid it from the candid reader who, for the most part, Jehovah's Witnesses, would not even think of checking the source, as did the Christians of Beréa, "to see if these things were like that"
It is difficult for me to describe how disconcerting it is to see an organization in which I put full trust for more than 40 years of my life to employ such abusive and despicable tactics of manipulation.