Fernando, your list makes me feel better about my list. Its really amazing how much you can be willing to overlook while under the undue influence of a cult.
OneEyedJoe
JoinedPosts by OneEyedJoe
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63
Your "Things That Make You Go Hmmm?" List
by FlyingHighNow ini'll wager that the number is close to 100 percent.
what number?
the number of jws who have lists--lists of things that make them go hmmm or even wha'???
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63
Your "Things That Make You Go Hmmm?" List
by FlyingHighNow ini'll wager that the number is close to 100 percent.
what number?
the number of jws who have lists--lists of things that make them go hmmm or even wha'???
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OneEyedJoe
The change to the study watchtower was a big one for me too, I can't believe I left that of my list.
I remember thinking about a year prior to their fling the public vs private WT that the study articles often contained stuff that would be offensive to non-jws that we should probably not be giving that stuff to people the first time we meet them. I mean how should we expect people to react if we give then a magazine that contains specific condemnation of their religion? Then not long after that I read an article that analyzed the Catholic church through the lends of it being a religion of secrets, where theres layers of of doctrine that only get revealed as you get deeper in. A comparison was made to Scientology wherein people start out thinking it's just some sorta spiritual thing, but once they're sucked in they're told of aliens and furnished souls possessing humans etc. At first, I read the article as confirmation that Catholics didn't know anything about the Bible and it was all about tradition, but then I started to see the parallels. When they started the study/public WT thing, it became a lot stronger.
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63
Your "Things That Make You Go Hmmm?" List
by FlyingHighNow ini'll wager that the number is close to 100 percent.
what number?
the number of jws who have lists--lists of things that make them go hmmm or even wha'???
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OneEyedJoe
This is timely for me, I was thinking of making the very same thread a couple hours ago.
My list in no particular order:
Stance on higher education
WWI starting early (I.e. before the last days were supposed to start in Oct.)
The switch from 1914=Armageddon to 1914=last days made after nothing happened.
What's all this I hear in hushed tones about 1975?
If we're supposed to be gathering together "all the more so as [we] behold the day drawing near" why are meetings/conventions/assemblies being shortened or eliminated?
Similar confusion on the reduction in the requirement for pioneers
They'd talk about how Satan can influence us through the lyrics of worldly songs one week, then go on and on about how important it is to sing along at the meetings the next.
Apostate paranoia (surely if they deal in half truths and lies, they could easily be shown to be wrong)
DFing (my hard to silence doubt was "that seems like something a cult would do... But I guess it's scriptural so it must be for a good reason")
The whole system of rules around dating always seemed designed to lead to kids getting married before they're really ready, and that certainly seemed to be the end result.
While I accepted the blood ban the exceptions (vaccines and later fractions) never made sense. That being so, I was still glad to take advantage of the exceptions if needed.
The fact that I'd practically have to be lobotomized to enjoy paradise, as essentially all of my hobbies and interests rely on stuff that's never been depicted in the pictures of it. Not to mention the whole being vegan thing...
When they added credit/debit machines at the assemblies and conventions after my entire youth was spent listening to them rail against churches in Christendom for having ATMs in the lobby.
The "running of the bulls" and many other arrangements around the conventions and assemblies seemed to lack the love that was supposed to be characteristic of true Christians.
Counting and printing service time and announcing pioneers seemed to go against the counsel to not let your left hand know what the right is doing
The impossibility of the Noah's ark story
Evidence that humans didn't originate 6000 years ago in the area they identified as the garden of Eden
There never seemed to be any prophesies that were fully understood before their fulfillment
The violence in the OT never sat well
I think I could keep going, but the longer this list gets the more embarrassing it is that it took me so long to wake up.
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11-15 WT- Drinking before meetings
by Absalom into be holy, we must weigh the scriptures carefully and do what god asks of us.
consider aarons sons nadab and abihu, who were executed for offering unauthorized fire, perhaps while inebriated.
(lev.
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OneEyedJoe
You and me both, DD
There needs to be a scotch emoticon.
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Fresh Newcomer
by Yondaime inhi guys, my name is yondaime,.
my will to remain in this relgious sect is fading, i'm about to be a freshman(just turned 18) in college.
, i have seen so many terrible things happen to good people in this cult and i'm sick of it!
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OneEyedJoe
Welcome! You're very lucky to be learning TTATT at a relatively young age. You've got your whole life ahead of you! Go, learn, and come up with your own meaning in life. You don't need 7 geezers in NY to tell you what the purpose of your life should be.
I wish you nothing but the best in your journey!
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Are we nitpicking???
by jam injw's walk like this, they eat this way, they look like this,.
they have sex this way (lol), they talk this way and etc.. are we excessively concerned with or critical of inconsequential.
details??.
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OneEyedJoe
It definitely plays into the WTS description of an apostate being obsessed with debates about words (formerly mentally diseased) but I think it's just that we've bottled up all of our tiny complaints for so long that once the floodgates open, everything flows fourth.
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Why the Nov. 2014 Study WT could be a good thing
by Apognophos inhey guys.
i am seeing a lot of flak on the forum over this study wt, and rightly so, as it's rather creepy.
but i'd like to suggest an alternate way of looking at this upcoming series of articles -- as an opportunity.
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OneEyedJoe
Yeah...I'm trying to think of what to say about these articles. I think I've given up on trying to get my wife to wake up before I begin my fade, but I'd like to be able to provide my wife with articulable reasons for my leaving and this would be a good opportunity.
I'm open to suggestions from the vastly more clever folks here.
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Outrageous propaganda. "Treat your disfellowshipped loved ones like they're dead, but without mourning them." NOV 2014 study Watchtower
by Watchtower-Free in.
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OneEyedJoe
DB - That's odd, I'm pretty sure that I remember him saying that you could associate with DFd family discretely, but my recolection might have been influenced by this forum, since I'd already read someone else say that before I heard it.
Either way, they're certainly not writing a WT article based on that outline.
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Is the Watchtower Intentionally Trying to Force People to Leave the Organization?
by kneehighmiah inthe leaks from the new november watchtower are alarming.
they will disturb even longtime jws who haven't surrendered all rational thought.
it's become so cult like its scary.
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OneEyedJoe
I haven't been mentally out long enough to tell how much of my shock at the latest developments is simply due to my being fully awake to TTATT now, but it definitely seems as though they're trying to push the fence-sitters out.
If they are, it makes sense to get rid of the dead weight folks who probably don't contribute, and just take up space and waste literature (that they're trying to phase out anyway). The fence-sitters cost them money since they have to build KHs to house them and get nothing back. If they get rid of all the fence sitters, they stand to make billions from selling off KHs and they probably won't lose much in the way of contributions.
Hopefully some folks who've been observing objectively for longer than my few months will chime in and give their thoughts as to whether the current propaganda represents a bigger than usual push or just the latest peak in cyclic activity.
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Nov 2014 WT, much about nothing, or is it?
by Quarterback inthe article "why we must be holy" ties in obedience as being holy.
there is a subheading in this article that states " prove yourselves holy by being obedient".
par 9 quotes three brothers who had some conflicts, but they went along with the org.
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OneEyedJoe
l_q - I think the KM refers to part 2 of the public WT's "conversation with a neighbor" article, not this study WT. Looks like that one's not out yet, though so I can't confirm it...