Posts by OneEyedJoe

40

So I'm going through a really difficult time right now.

by scaredtospeak in

i was publicly reproved last year and the elders have taken their sweet time in reinstating my "privileges".

it's been six months and i can't answer at the meetings or participate in the theocratic ministry school.

in all honesty- i don't care about the privileges.

OneEyedJoe

Remember that you're not alone. There are thousands out there going though the exact same struggle that you are. That's always a comforting thought.

Also, I consider you to be quite lucky. You've got things figured out at such a young age that it will be much easier for you to break free of the cult and start a life than it has been for many here. I'm not so bad off myself, but I would give anything to have known TTATT when I was your age. I know "it could be worse" is never that comforting, but better to deal with a few agonizing years now than have to deal with agonizing decades due to a spouse and children keeping you stuck in the cult.

When dealing with your parents and the elders, always remain calm. If you get angry, they've won (at least in their minds). When they come at you in defense of the cult, try to take pity on them because they don't know the truth and you do. They're even more backed into a corner than you are. You have an objective mind, and that's a threat to their world view so they'll come after you, but you can use your objectivity to beat them. You have a way out (even if it's a few years off) while they may be mentally imprisoned in the cult for the rest of their lives.

Stay strong, it'll get better. We're all rooting for you!

3

Worldwide Internet usage & WT hopes

by Syme in

jw
friends

OneEyedJoe

I think the whole web pressence is mainly to get the 1st world members to think that the "whole inhabitted earth" prophecy has been fullfilled and armageddon must be imminent. Just this sunday one of the old-timers in my congregation made some comment about the website helping to fullfill that prophecy.

If they get a few new members in the process, they'll take it. by and large, though, non-jws will ignore the website just like non-mormons and non-scientologists ignore their websites.

25

Has anyone else heard this about the GB??

by FeelingFree in

ok so me and my husband were talking to his mum again about why we are no longer going to meetings and got into another pointless discussion where she feels he needs to talk to an elder about his issue's blah, blah, blah... round and round it went...... the thing i wanted to ask was if anybody had heard that there wont be any gb after these one's die??

this is something she mentioned today and we have never heard of this ever.

so it means no more will be appointed and they will just die off!

OneEyedJoe

Maybe she's missunderstanding the overlapping generations BS (who can blame her?)

The GB isn't going anywhere unless there's another rutherford-esque coup.

68

New December KM with changes all over

by pixel in

is not on the public website yet, but here it is, full more changes:.

to the 2015 school:.

bible highlights: brothers as- signed this part will have two min- utes to consider one interesting and practical scriptural point from the weekly bible reading.

OneEyedJoe

How revolutionary of JWs to stress the value of reading to their children. The rest of the world should seek to emulate them in the education of the young.

Just so long as the education stops once they can read the watchtower (i.e. 5th grade level)

35

Is This ALL the Society Meant By Big Stuff Coming?

by millie210 in

ok, internet tv, some new songs and updates on a couple obscure prophecies no one cares about.... .

i for one was so disappointed at the smallness of it.

i guess i bought the hype that when they said "big", they meant it.. .

OneEyedJoe

This won't be the end of the changes. The WTS has created a culture in which change is the only thing that keeps the R/F going. It's the only thing that causes any excitement. They have to keep finding random shit to change, because that's what the religion is about, now more than ever.

68

New December KM with changes all over

by pixel in

is not on the public website yet, but here it is, full more changes:.

to the 2015 school:.

bible highlights: brothers as- signed this part will have two min- utes to consider one interesting and practical scriptural point from the weekly bible reading.

OneEyedJoe

This business with the song book seems like it may be a test to see if they can get the flock to either use a tablet for all literature, or print thier own literature. When they do release the song book, they'll encourage people not to get one if they have other means of accessing the songs. If they don't sell very many song books, they'll know they've been successful. The next step will be to do the same thing with new releases that aren't intended for use in service (i.e. the god's kingdom rules book, or the next book about some OT prophet) - release online only for 6-12 months, then make the book available to the congregations just before it is to be studied. All this will allow them to reduce costs tremendously.

68

New December KM with changes all over

by pixel in

is not on the public website yet, but here it is, full more changes:.

to the 2015 school:.

bible highlights: brothers as- signed this part will have two min- utes to consider one interesting and practical scriptural point from the weekly bible reading.

OneEyedJoe

So, you get a 3-minute bible reading assignment, and the school overseer has to spend 2 minutes talking about it? That makes sense.

That #3 sounds like a good excuse to finally remove myself from the school. I wasn't in drama in school for a reason, I'm sure as hell not doing it in a cult.

20

grazy link on JW.ORG

by fastJehu in

OneEyedJoe

Bottom line, you cannot prove it....

Neither can you.

If you're willing to test your gut feeling that the JW's have the truth, I'd recomend you check out this video series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrZkzLANdJU

This was created by a former mormon who left in part due to comparisons he drew between mormonism and JWims. The stuff about JWs in there isn't what I'm trying to point you to, though. In one of the videos he talks about the mormon testimony, in which they believe that they've recieved a direct revelation from god that mormonism is the correct way to worship. The problem, though, is that many religions (cults especially) rely on the exact same phenomena to keep a hold on members. If a bunch of people pray to god for a sign and they all recieve one, you'd expect them all to point in the same direction. Instead, the sign recieved invariably points in the direction of the religion with which they have the most emotional investment. An emotional or "gut" feeling about the cult is no reason to remain mentally captivated, especially when you're currently subject to shunning. That's a terrible place to be that no one deserves.

39

Implications of Dropping "Types/Anti-Types"

by Antioch in

i've seen this part of the agm folded in with other topics and poked around, but no really critical discussion of the implications.. .

the hermenuetics of the type/anti-type practice was a big deal to me in realizing the tatt.

i searched high and low for a rational basis for concluding that god was communicating in a type/anti-type format that wasn't special pleading and circular.

OneEyedJoe

Thinking on this a little further, I suspect another reason that they're dropping the "deep truths" one after another is that they're probably going to try to emulate the mormons in yet another way - the "testimony." As I understand it, the end of the book of mormon basically says to pray to god for confirmation that the things in the book are true. This essentially plays into an aspect of the human psyche, in which you don't want to believe that you've just wasted all that time reading a stupid worthless book, so your mind plays a trick on you and you become convinced that you've recieved a direct message from god that the book of mormon is the true word of god. A similar tactic was used in the heaven's gate recruitment videos - he told people to go into a closet and pray for a revelation to determine if what he said was true.

I think this is the direction they're heading. They'll put something in the end of the books that are to be studied with people (and in bookstudy) that says that we should all pray to god and ask him if the religion is true (probably with some out-of-context scriptural citation that no one will read). It will work for essentially 100% of JWs, because even if they don't feel that they've recieved the personal testimony from god, they'll have to say that they did. If they say it enough, they'll start to believe it.

This will be a much more powerful hold on the members. Currently, there are still many members (mostly older ones) that feel that the "truth" can be proven. This is dangerous because it gives an opening for the truth to be disproven to them, which is easier now than it's ever been, thanks to the internet. Once they go the personal testimony route of the mormons, no one will ever be able to disprove it. Any attack on the cult will be an attack on a personal religious experience.

11

If Extraterrestrials are found existing, will people abandon the Bible?

by Kalos in

i have heard people say: if space exploration proves extraterrestrials do exist, that would be the end of the bible (which teaches earth is the only place there is life).. i feel this will not happen, because already science proved certain views reflected in the bible are wrong:.

1) joshua stopped the sun to win the war (joshua 10:3).

2) satanthinking earth is flattook jesus to the top of the mountain so that all kingdoms of the earth could be visible to the eyes (to person like jesus, just saying is enoughwhy need a vision of all kingdoms of the earth.

OneEyedJoe

Christians have never been ones to let facts get between them and their religion. There's plenty of evidence right here on this planet that the bible is a man-made book with no divine inspiration, and that hasn't stopped billions of people from sticking with their faith.