my sister texted me last night with an invitation to watch our dad give his first ever public talk.
i don't live particularly near to my family, but i'm not too far from them to make the journey, and i am on good terms with them, having never been baptised and so not disfellowshipped; they don't shun me and likely wouldn't even if i were disfellowshipped, it's not in their character.. i haven't been inside a kingdom hall since 2006, and i would like to keep it that way; i only intend to step inside one again in the event of a family wedding or funeral service.
i don't want to be rude to my sister, ignoring the text isn't an option, so i need a diplomatic way of declining her invitation.. i've considered saying that i'm busy, but this leaves things open for her to ask again in the future, and i'd rather she got the message that i'm not interested, without me having to say so in an explicit way.. any suggestions from those who have been in a similar situation?.
Is it a thing now to ask inactive people to someone's first talk because that's about the third time in as many months I've heard reports of it. Not just here either, someone who hasn't been to meetings for...like.. ever asked to witness the joy and miracle that is a first talk???
Wow it's not an inauguration...or is it... anyway sounds more like an attempt to woo you and for them to brag about how they got you there so you must really know deep down it the twooof!
there is more “ yellow journalism “ than ever before!
newscasters and writers that you thought were trustworthy often miss the mark.. do you generally accept the “news” as being honest?.
The news does not report events in a professional unbiased way anymore (did it ever tho?).
The news readers themselves sound like gossip columnists the tone of their voice that emotes a tisk tisk or a "what a terrible man" inflection at the end of every sentence, combined with the same stock footage and phrases played on a loop and the highly charged emotional words used to desribe events are all signals to let you how you are supposed to react.
First outrage then the sadness, and a fluff human interest piece to end with.
News now tells us what to think and feel and believe, and the adverts and promos for it run like an on going "reality" show. (Oh and shhh "reality" shows are not real shhh don't tell anyone.)
Oh I forgot to say - in my opinion.
ectopic pregnancies, when detected, are usually treated by surgically removing them.
i always understood that this procedure was ok for jehovah's witnesses.
but the subject came up during pioneer school.
Anybody taking the advice of a CO or the charlatans that employ him is an idiot.
BTW pioneer "school" isn't really a school and elders are not teachers or doctors.
there was this really lovely old geezer in a congregation i was in here in the uk.. he was an old bloke and very frit of giving talks and that.
when he was on the platform he'd be bleedin' scared...like an elephant near a bloody mouse.. so, 'ere's my question, right?
blimey.
I witnessed some serious talk/FS induced panic attacks over the years.
Seemed cruel to put that much pressure on old people, young people and introverts.
Apostate chic rocks?
Oh, I knows it!
this article won’t change your mind - the facts on why facts alone can’t fight false beliefs.
brilliant article in the atlantic by julie beck discussing the phenomena of cognitive dissonance and how it affects religious and political beliefs.
it includes some interesting thoughts on how social media has magnified the problem.. spoiler - she is not optimistic about the possibility of successfully reasoning with members of religious cults.. the article also has a link to the 45 minute audio version.. link....
I remember watching a documentary on the latest neuroscience a few years ago that whennit comes to making decisions facts are important but it's our emotions that will sway us. Particularly when we have facts that cancel each other out, but even if the face of a mountain of evidence we will often go with the response what we are emotionally attached to, it was really interesting.
That's why I think a social trauma will often be the catalyst for researching facts or vice versa but they work in tandem.
one argument against beards i've heard multiple times, both from individual jws and from the platform is roughly:.
'timothy got circumcised so as not to stumble others!
shouldn't you be thankful you don't have to do that?
Everytime I see the title of this thread my mind sees "breads and circumspection..." although I know what it actually says.
I suppose you could apply the alternative title interchangeably, particularly memorial breads and the not-annointed are a def no-no and we all know how they hate circumspection.
since the jws love to control the sex lives of its followers, it seems reasonable that they would be freaking out about same-sex sex as it becomes more open in the current culture (thus videos like that horrible cartoon).
are they going to start not allowing "girlfriends" to have slumber parties or require they are chaperoned by a "mature" elder or older sister?
Hi SGH.
Yes I always thought it a strange oversight on WT's part that they didn't pay any attention to the fact that same sex attraction occurs or is even experimented with and yet they were hypervigilant, paranoid even, about hetero sex acts occurring at mere sight of an un stockinged ankle or just being in the vicinity of a member of fhe opposite sex.
Maybe they will start to highlight this now, good point SGH.
how does the watchtower dispose of kingdom halls no longer usable because of poor attendance and or merging with another kingdom hall.the rank and file contributed lots of money to keep it active.. then they tell us their not using it anymore.where does the money for that hall go.
and what they do with the money they get for the sale of that property.
they certainly don't give the rank and file anything.. and what use will the new owners use it for.
Seems WT are now in the business of disposable real estate.
this is a really long article about the film apostasy and interview with the director about his story and how he came to make the film.
apostasy director: ‘it was liberating to leave the jehovah’s witnesses’.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jul/15/apostasy-director-daniel-kokotajlo-liberating-to-leave-jehovahs-witnesses-interview?cmp=share_androidapp_copy_to_clipboard.
I find the constant pedantic nit-picking frustrating as well. It's a sign of either a lack of ability or an unwillingness because of bias, to think and sort through concepts and ideas on their own merit and just put aside the ones we don't agree with into either a pending or a discard file in order to grasp the big picture of what is being said.
In the real world no one person, book, movie, video, course etc has all the answers to everything at all times so if you go around dismissing every person or book or movie because their was an error or you didn't like the colour of his jumper or the way he said it your mind will stay permanently closed!
It is possible to get the gist of what someone is saying in its entirety or to understand the message without accepting all of it or the messenger. If we can learn this there isn't anything or anyone we can't learn something from.
