Posts by OneEyedJoe

Good find. The hipocrisy is astounding. The fact that they're constantly criticising christendom for their hipocrisy only adds an extra level of irony.

I honestly think that this branch visit has induced in me the greatest level of absolute disgust that I've ever experienced. Disgust doesn't even seem strong enough a word right now.

36

Anthony Morris The Third

by Yondaime in

when i am3 was going to speak i was ecstatic to hear this lunatic embarass himself.

after the propaganda indoctrination session, a relative asked me what my spiritual goals were, i told em i want to become a servant before i turn 23 so i could get laid.

lmfao.

OneEyedJoe

Mark 7:13

Thus you make the word of God invalid by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”

1 John 4:8

Whoever does not love has not come to know God because God is love.

Lamentations 3:31-33

For Jehovah will not cast us off forever.
Although he has caused grief, he will also show mercy according to his abundant loyal love.
For it is not in his heart to afflict or grieve the sons of men.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

AMIII (paraphrasing from memory) after talking about inactive ones being blood guilty:

And they say "god will understand" - that's not any god that I know!

Yep, looks like the word of god is invalid in his mind.

38

US Zone visit: disappointing, depressing, discouraging

by sir82 in

jw
friends

i will have plenty of "snark" to post later on, but please indulge me while i get this out of my system..... suppose you are the leaders...yes, the leaders...there are only 7 of you...for the one true religion in all the universe.. jehovah the god of the whole universe speaks to you, you alone, out of 7 billion+ people on teh planet.. you have an opportunity, thanks to the advancements in technology, to speak to 750,000 of your followers "live", and another 750,000 or so within 24 hours.. 1.5 million people!

hanging on your every word!.

this is the first time in history you can simultaneously, or nearly simultaneously, address so many of your adherents.. what message are you going to present for this special occasion?.

OneEyedJoe

Luke 12:45,46:

But if ever that slave should say in his heart, ‘My master delays coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day that he is not expecting him and at an hour that he does not know, and he will punish him with the greatest severity and assign him a part with the unfaithful ones

What was Jesus refering to when he suggested that the slave might "beat the [...] servants" in this scripture? I think we can all agree, since he was speaking in parable, that this would be somewhat metaphorical. Would, perhaps, going on rants publicly shaming the (ostensibly) hardest working servants (bethelites) and rants designed to induce guilt and horrible mental images, and guilt about personal style decisions and guilt about entertainment with no mention of the provision of Jesus' sacrifice to wash away our sins and no mention of Jehovah's making our "scarlet" sins as "white as snow" and no mention of the god who IS love? Would that qualify as beating the servants?

I can't think of anything that the "evil slave" could have done that would more closely resemble beating god's servants without it being a literal beating.

This is the tack I think I'm going to take if I'm able to get the topic of the zone visit to come up again. Or maybe just the next time that we read the FDS scriptures in a meeting again, they love those scriptures so I'm sure it won't be a long wait.

25

Inactive ones are bloodguilty?

by dissonance_resolved in

i've been thinking about brother morris' statement at the zone meeting this past weekend that inactive ones are bloodguilty.

bloodguilt is defined as "guilty of murder or manslaughter.

" murder is #1 on the list of disfellowshipping offenses- all they would have to do is change the wording from "murder" to "bloodguilt" and suddenly there you have grounds to disfellowship anyone who's inactive.

OneEyedJoe

I doubt this statement was anything to do with trying to get the inactive back going out in serve-us. The inactive ones that attended the meetings where almost certainly only there for family and will probably be mostly unaffected by it. The impact will be upon the super-dubs who will feel that much more guilty even at the thought of skipping a saturday out. Telling them to imagine looking at their hands and seeing blood on them is a powerful image that will make a lasting impact on the minds of many, even without their realizing it.

What's more, the bloodguilty thing is going to justify those who are currently shunning inactive friends/family in spite of their not being DF'd. They'll justify the shunning because they "know" that the inactive one could do more in the ministry than they are and they therefore "know" that the inactive one is bloodguilty.

This type of thing is what keeps the system going - encourage the JWs to judge one another and guilt one another into staying with the cult.

11

HeyThere said she will upload zone visit as soon as she can

by Maralee in

be patient, she will get it done.

maralee.

.

OneEyedJoe

Also, from someone who sat through it - it's too late for me, save yourselves! I can't imagine why anyone would want a recording...

15

& They Say Privileges In The Congregation Isnt a Status

by thedepressedsoul in

im sure you all have heard at one point or read that being an elder or ms isnt a position higher up but rather that you work under the congregation.. anthony morris just threw that out the window!

i have privileges in the congregation and even i was offended and felt bad for anyone who was 23 or older and not a ms!.

he goes on to tell this story of how a sister wanted to marry a brother and that anthony morris discouraged it because he was 23 and not an ms yet.

OneEyedJoe

I don't have to imagine - I'm 30 and never was an ms. My wife jokingly said that she shouldn't have married me because I wasn't an ms.

5

Religious leaders buried Gods Law under a mass of man-made rules and regulations

by thedepressedsoul in

above is a quote from the close to jehovah book.. well, after last nights branch visit we can now add colorful socks, tight dress pants for men, yoga pants (he got the word very wrong), not being an ms by age 23, not working 8-5 fully at bethel etc.... that was just from two talks last night alone!

.

OneEyedJoe

Don't forget that he went from saying we should decide for ourselves on what movies are appropriate to setting a bunch of rules about what movies are wrong - no twilight movies for the kids!

If your kids leave the cult, its probably because you let them watch twilight.

15

"Between the Lines" of the Branch Visit

by TTATTelder in

i am starting this thread to discuss the financial points i picked up during the branch visit.. firstly - as an elder we were told that all donations from the event - local and worldwide work were to be sent to the branch.

first of all - could the money-grab be any more obvious given these instructions?

is it even legal to take funds a person gave to a non-profit for one specific purpose (pay the light bill) to allocate them for another (www slush fund)?

OneEyedJoe

Truthseeker - they need money just to keep things going. The GB have a cushy life and want to sustain it (lord knows "cult leader" wouldn't look good on a resume if they had to look for a different gig)

We've also seen that some of the "translation offices" are beautiful, well-appointed homes that I'm sure the GB use when they travel. They've got it good and want to keep it.

443

Zone Visit: An Announcement That Will "Test Your Faith"

by breakfast of champions in

this is the scuttlebutt in one of the "bethel congregations" by us.. no details as to exactly what this "faith-testing" announcement might be.. anyone else hear any of this pre-zone visit hype?.

.

OneEyedJoe

Had some family over afterwards and most of the talk was either mocking morris for being a tactless bitter old man or genuine criticism of his harsh tone and clear lack of love. Still, most will forget it, as its too uncomfortable to continue to call it to mind.

On the other end of the spectrum my elder father-in-law was waffling between criticising the hypocrisy of morris for saying about movies that they don't make rules for people, but that they should have bible trained consciences to decode for themselves - then he proceeded to make a bunch of rules (no vampires, etc). Then he'd jump back to piling on the homophobia. He was clearly trying to iron out cognitive dissonance the whole night, though. Still, once he's slept it'll be gone from his conscious mind and it'll be back to the daily routine.

What will remain, once the dust settles, are the two most clearly manipulative statements of the day. The first has been touched on here - the mental image of having blood on one's hands for skipping serve-us one morning. That part was clearly designed to bypass the conscious and critical mind to implant a phobia directly into the subconscious. Because if you can't motivate the flock to preach because of their jesus-like love of neighbor, you need to invoke the OT god and implant a little fear and guilt to keep 'em going. The second, contrasting manipulation was during the WT summary (I think) when we were told to imagine (again, if the audience complies, they are allowing their critical thinking to be bypassed, and even if they don't like what they're told to imagine or don't believe it's realistic, the image will nonetheless be implanted in their minds) themselves having a conversation in the new system. There were also a couple times that we were essentially told that we are going to live forever, and the way it was done implied that our current life would never end (I.e. it was a more subtle "millions now living..." type statement) not just that we'd be ressurected.

For all those thinking that this will help wake some folks up, don't get complacent. The indoctrination is powerful and subtle. If your loved one was made uncomfortable by something said, don't let them forget it. Ask questions that they won't be able to answer (can you imagine if Jesus had talked like that? Would Christianity exist if Jesus had been so harsh to his followers?) And make sure the uncomfortable part is called to mind. Every JW that has 2 brain cells to rub together will have been uncomfortable about something in that talk, but it's too costly to dwell on so they'll push it out of their mind and only the phobia indoctrination will remain. If you let that happen, then this wasn't a milestone in waking up your loved one, it was a step backwards.

Sorry to be a negative Nancy - but this is the time to be vigilant, not assuming they've done the work for you. Capitalize on the look behind the curtain before the oppurtunity is lost.