Posts by Onager

37

What Happens If the JW Beard Policy Stumbles a Person

by Cold Steel in

some of the videos on youtube really make the beard policy look ridiculous.

i wondered what would happen if the jw beard policy caused someone to stumble?

jesus most likely wore a beard, and charles taze russell had a beard.

Onager

@Drearyweather

Corporations with dress codes don't claim that everything they do is based on the bible though. JW's do.

You also say that there is no such thing as a beard policy but that religious organisations have complete authority to make rules(policy). Cake and eat it much?

The fact is that having a beard causes issues for a JW without there being any official policy or any scriptural backing. It's a cultural "law" within the JW community passed down by Rutherford, if I remember correctly. It goes against their stated aim of basing everything on scripture and it's a clear example of the man-made origins of the cult.

32

DA myself to relieve great pressure?

by Isambard Crater in

jw
friends

my lifelong mental illnesses, fuelled significantly by the borg, are very bad at the moment and result in me missing lots of midweek meetings, but i haven't missed a sunday in years except the occasional vacation.. the nature of my mental and emotional illnesses mean that i, as a physically in and mentally out pimo, take to heart very painfully admonishment from the platform to never miss meetings, preach all i can, and so on.. okay, i report 3 hours each month on average and no elder has ever said anything, but when they make comments on the platform, i feel such great guilt and shame, but also anger, as they do not understand my illnesses and when i do mention my situation to elders, they kind of minimise and joke about it.. some other sisters in my congregation started "officially" not attending midweek meetings a few year's ago because of their own health circumstances, but i know for a fact that some elders look down on them for this reason, not showing real understanding deep down even if they do on the surface.. i have reached the point where i want to hand in a da letter as a cry for help, or more like a clear indicator to them that when i say i'm not well enough to attend midweek, i really mean it and it's not just an excuse.

sure, i'm only 42, but i can still be too fragile to go out at night with a 30 minute drive both ways..

Onager

Pbrow pretty much nailed it, but I just want to add that if you think that you can send a letter of disassociation and then continue to go to the meetings and it will take the pressure off then you are very much mistaken!

If you DA then the eyes will be on you 10 times more. The elders will only want to talk about you returning. Every time you turn up to a meeting will give everyone else a chance to show how holy they are by ignoring you. In short, it's only going to increase the pressure.

One last point: A letter of DA is still playing by their rules. What's the only way to win at Tic-Tac-Toe? The only way to win is not to play*. If you do want to stop associating with them then... just stop! You don't owe the organisation a single thing. You're not bound by their rules and you don't have to play their games.

*(with thanks to the film Wargames for the illustration)

22

Do You Have Any Indoctrinated Guilt Left Over?

by pale.emperor in

i voted this morning for the first time.

at 32yo i wondered in a church of england parish hall with no idea what i was doing.

everyone else knew how to do it.

Onager

I still get micro-flashes of guilt now and then. The programming was deeply embedded and it's going to take a long time to iron out all the wrinkles. They're over quickly though and leave no lasting damage.

3

Watchtower in Australia - Number of Corporations

by Onager in

can anyone link me the thread where the number of watchtower companies in australia was compared to other religions?

my search-fu is weak this morning.

cheers!.

Onager

Hi,

Can anyone link me the thread where the number of Watchtower companies in Australia was compared to other religions? My search-fu is weak this morning. :(

Cheers!

51

To those taking a stand and not attending the Memorial tonight

by doubtfull1799 in

i salute you.

many of you, like me, are probably under enormous emotional pressure, whether from a lingering false sense of guilt from your indoctrination, whether from "invitations," and assumptions that you'll naturally be coming, or whether from outright emotional blackmail, even begging and pleading.

i am thinking of you whoever you are, all of you, even though i don't know you in person.

Onager

I'm confused. Isn't the memorial tonight? The Tue 11th? If it was last night, Monday, then why the frick did I have a JW knock on my door at about 2pm with a flyer? Did they honestly expect me to get ready and go to an event that same evening?

I've got my wedding anniversary coming up and I've given my extended family a months advance notice to make sure they turn up!

60

Marc & Cora on YouTube causing unnecessary divisions

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

what is it with this pair?

why do they have to constantly have a bitch about guys like john cedars?

a very recent video of them shows them calling him a 'village idiot' and making other disparaging claims.

Onager

Humans being humans. :(

17

My Current Views About God, Relgion, JWs and Life In General

by pale.emperor in

this past year has been the most life changing year anyone could ever go through.

waking up, leaving the cult, separating from my wife, research, research, research, reading, pondering etc.

and i've found myself having to re-learn and re-evaluate everything i thought i knew.

Onager

1. What about a hateful god that enjoys misery? Zero God or Loving God aren't the only options...

2. Humans create gods. So humans create gods which have worse morals than themselves. What's that all about?!

3. I think that living responsibly makes a human being good.

4. I never thought of it quite that way, but you're absolutely right. Jesus is an apostate!

5. Paul was a dick.

6. I struggled with this for a long time. I called the Watchtower society a High Control Religion for ages. But gradually it has become inescapable that it is a cult.

43

Atheism would not appeared if …

by venus in

· if religions were immune to division.

· if scriptures were immune to scientific errors.

· if religious leaders were immune to hypocrisy.

Onager

Hi David Jay,

My question was for you particularly and anyone else generally.

" I don't subscribe to the concept of debating about concepts which have no practical application."

So... You're Anti-semantic? :)

"I was not whatever you said before, and thus am not anything (having to do with that subject) now."

That's the whole of my point, You're not atheist before you are aware of the concept of god, you're only atheist once you are aware and make a decision that the concept is false.

This might be hair splitting semantics, but it's where I disagree with Richard Dawkins. I don't believe children are born atheist. I believe they are born innocent.

(and fwiw, I've loved Jewish people ever since I toured Israel. I just don't like the Israeli government.)

43

Atheism would not appeared if …

by venus in

· if religions were immune to division.

· if scriptures were immune to scientific errors.

· if religious leaders were immune to hypocrisy.

Onager

"Her family is entirely composed of atheists. Like the Cambridge Study, none of them, including my wife, became atheists due to religion. They never belonged to one. Their parents never did either."

Sorry David Jay, that's how I interpreted this comment of yours.

So, as this thread is about the origins of atheism, having read the sentence in my previous email:

You are aboqticist now, but what were you before you read my post?

Or did you wig out as soon as you read "David_Jay says"?

43

Atheism would not appeared if …

by venus in

· if religions were immune to division.

· if scriptures were immune to scientific errors.

· if religious leaders were immune to hypocrisy.

Onager

"Onager,

If belief in God were creating good citizens, everyone would have accepted God even if he were not real. Everyone accepted electricity without even labeling it American electricity, UK electricity, Russian electricity …etc. because electricity is good.

If belief in God were not creating good citizens, some would doubt the existence of God which means atheism would only appear after decay of theism.

4 hours ago venus"

Venus,

Er, You know that the UK has different electricity to the USA don't you?

The gods are humans attempts at explaining the world around us. At the moment that one person ascribed a supernatural cause to a natural phenomenon and someone else didn't believe him, atheism was born.

David_Jay says that the state of everyone before this was also atheism but I think it is something purer than that. Proto-atheism maybe. What is it called if you don't have a belief in gods but you also don't even have a concept of gods to not have a belief in?

For example read this sentence:

There is an alien race called the Boqtic. They are like insects in appearance and are very good mechanics.

Now, having read that sentence you (I hope!) do not believe that the Boqtic exist. You are Aboqticist.

But what was your belief before you read that sentence.?