Posts by OneEyedJoe

70

DINOSAURS - What do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe?

by Bloody Hotdogs! in

as part of my deconversion catharsis, i have been building a(nother) website to highlight some of the more ridiculous jw beliefs.

im a looong way from done, but i wanted some early feedback on one article: dinosaurs.

http://www.jwbeliefs.com/dinosaurs/.

OneEyedJoe

I just skimmed your page, but I think you may have a little "old light" in there. The JWs have essentially stopped pushing the 7000 year "days" of creation and gone to a more traditional old-earth creationist teaching wherein each day could be any number of years and merely represents a time period in which god's activity was focused on a certain thing.

Not long ago there was a CO that talked about the fact that the universe was 13.8 Billion years old. I think most of the CO talks are pretty rigid, now, and the 13.8 billion years old bit was a fair portion of the point of the talk, so I think this is being officially acknowledged.

Another fun teaching that I don't think they've ever officially backed away from (though it hasn't been mentioned in a very long time) is that the obviously carnivorous dinosaurs that have been found had large teeth, not for chewing meat, but for ripping the tough bark off of trees. Because we all know how much nutrition there is in bark, it seems perfectly feasible that a t-rex could've sustained itself by eating bark when it seems to have been perfectly suited to eating other dinosaurs.

15

A Religious Quest

by ReligiousQuest in

jw
friends

my name is louie and i'm seeking some help regarding a paper i need to write for a class.

it is meant to be an individual study project regarding a faith that is different from your own and intrigues you.

what i am asking is for someone who is willing to answer 10-15 questions regarding their faith.

OneEyedJoe

In regards to it being "villainized," many people I grew up argued that your faith ruined marriages and families among other things.

404 unjust criticism not found. They do indeed break up families, ruin marriages and even murder (some might prefer the word "sacrafice") their children due to the non-biblical blood ban.

I'm no longer a believer in the JW faith, but I'd be happy to put my JW hat back on to explain their beliefs if you'd like. I would also be happy to answer questions regarding criticism of the religion as well.

As it so happens, you've come upon a forum that consists mostly of ex-JWs, so while you're likely to recieve much information on the group here, it won't necessarily all reflect the oppinions/thoughts that you'd get from a JW that's still firmly in the religion.

10

My views.

by ivanatahan in

jw
friends

this is more of an introductory post discussing my views and background than anything else, really.. i was, unfortunately, born into this religion.

my mom was, and still is, a pioneer (or as some call it: "piousneer"), and my father is an elder.

admittedly, up until a few months up to a year back, i was indeed a zealous "servant of jehovah".

OneEyedJoe

Welcome aboard! Your post echoes many of my own feelings on the org.

If you're interested in the topic ( which it seems that you are) you should do some more research on cosmology, astrophysics, and evolution. You'll find that not only is the improbability of something insufficient to prove it didn't/couldn't happen, but the universe's existence in its present state is not nearly as unlikely as the creationists would have you believe.

As for your bulleted points, there is definitely some level of monetary scam to the org, and the GB and others definitely benefit from the many scams that they're running. They benefit materially, they get to travel the world and have their healthcare provided for them. They have absolutely no concern for their future as they will have their every need taken care of until the day that they die. This is a level of security and stability that the rest of us could only dream of, and is certainly undeserved by these men who create nothing of value for society - indeed they do little more than destroy lives.

Is the money the reason the cult came into existence? Probably not. Pastor Russell did fall into temptation pretty early on selling his miracle wheat and other scams - so there was definitely a monetary motivation for him. Rutherford continued this and lived quite extravagantly, he seems to me to have known exactly what he was doing. After Rutherford, the WTS had so much momentum and was run by men who themselves were indoctrinated into the cult so at this point it exists merely to continue its existence.

100% agree - the Bible is not from any supreme being.

As for your assertion that anyone who believes 100% is mentally deficient - I would suggest that you educate yourself on cult mind control and undue influence. Very smart people can become indoctrinated into a cult very easy when they're vulnerable. There are many here who are quite intelligent but were, at one time, 100% believers.

I hope you stick around, you'll likely find lots of useful information and great folks to help you in your journey. There are a few nutjobs here too, so take opinions with a gain of salt. I suspect you'll do fine. Best of luck to you in your journey!

19

JW's hit with another lawsuit alleging child sexual abuse

by yalbmert99 in

http://www.christianpost.com/news/jehovahs-witnesses-hit-with-another-lawsuit-alleging-child-sexual-abuse-organization-has-paid-over-13-million-in-damages-130490/.

OneEyedJoe

Nice, and it's Zalkin leading the charge, again. I wonder if they'll stick with the strategy of trying to depose Loesch.

12

Wasn't a letter about the NGO situation read at the Hall?

by Apognophos in

okay, so i've been seeing the occasional comment here and there on the forum that some jws, even elders, do not seem to have heard about the society ever being an ngo.

am i not remembering accurately?

back when this scandal happened (2001?

OneEyedJoe

They might've (I don't recall ever hearing it) but even if they did I wouldn't expect anyone to know about it. Of the 60% of JWs that would have been at the meeting where the announcment was read, only 20% at best would be paying good enough attention by the half way mark for it to affect them, and half of those wouldn't think twice about it. So by my math, you wind up with about 6% of JWs that might actually have remembered it the day after the announcement, and surely many of those have forgotten it by now.

This doesn't help you much, though - I have no idea if an announcement was even made. I suspect, if it was, it was only made in the UK or areas where the gaurdian was widely circulated.

12

Taking the Bible "too" literally

by Coded Logic in

i once heard it said that the only people who care about what the bible says are the village priest and the village atheist.

it seems to me most believers only care about "god's word" in very general terms and think it's all up to interpitation (religion a la carte ).. it the watchtower especially good at making agnostics and atheists because of their fundamentalism or is this true of many ex-religious groups?.

.

OneEyedJoe

I think it was the pew survey that showed that JWs are most likely to produce atheists (about half that leave remain christian and the other half atheist/agnostic). I also beleive I've read that, of those that leave their religion, where they end up is pretty much a random distribution based on what they're exposed to in their geographic area with the exception that atheism is about twice as likely to be their destination than any religion.

As for why JWs produce so many atheists - i'd say it has something to do with the constant bashing of all other belief systems in meetings. They try so hard to make sure members have no answer to the "where else would I go" question that when they finally do leave they indeed go nowhere. There's also the fact that the JWs train you to spot inconsistencies in other religions, but once you start using that skill on your own beliefs, it's difficult to stop.

14

Double-life, sounds like a prison sentence....or maybe not?

by sparrowdown in

jw
friends

question: do you think the "double-lifers" have the best of both worlds?.

just asking, because i have wondered, if i had an outlet to express my utter.

disgust and general dissatisfaction with wt teachings and cong-life while i. was still in, ie on forums etc, maybe i would never have left.. just a thought, anyone else have any?.

OneEyedJoe

"The best of both worlds" only applies when there is good to be had in both "worlds."

Giving voice to my frustrations may let me manage in the mean time, but it also solidifies in my mind that this destructive cult deserves no support from me, including the impression on others that I support it by my mere presence at meetings. I get nothing whatsoever from this cult, once I've managed to play my cards such that I won't lose my wife in my exit, I'll never return.

9

11/30/2014 WT Study - take care of those who are all used up.

by OneEyedJoe in

was bored during today's indoctrination lesson, and you guys weren't generating enough content to keep me entertained, so i looked agreed at next week's a bit.

basically the point of the hour lesson is that once the society has completely used someone up, they're to be dumped on next of kin (or anyone who'll take 'em) to take care of 'em.

obviously the wts can't dip into any of the millions/billions that they're sitting on to pay for the support of ailing missionaries - they've got that money earmarked for new cult compounds and paying off victims of the pedophiles that they've protected over the years.. just another in a recent string of articles paying lip service to taking care of those that have given their life to the cult while they do absolutely nothing from their ivory towers.

OneEyedJoe

Bumping for today's indoctrination session.

Even before getting to the but where they pass on the used up pioneers to their children or congregation, they jump right in by basically saying that if you're not traveling all over to preach, you need to pay for the one that do. Of course most of the money is in the developed countries, while most of the missionaries go elsewhere. His can we support them then? The only logical conclusion is to donate to the WWW slush fund.

Also, this article clearly debunks their"no paid clergy" claims. Sure, they're poorly paid until they get to the to of the pyramid, but paid nonetheless.

33

Higher Education... Some ideas for those that think it is too late

by adjusted knowledge in

jw
friends

so many witnesses lost the opportunity to pursue higher education in their youths.

perhaps it took decades for many here to leave and now feel it is too late.

degree you will also earn multiple certifications from other agencies:.

OneEyedJoe

I firmly believe that you're never too old for an education. My mother (I guess she's more practical than dedicated to the cult) got a masters on her late 40s.

Even if you're 60 - get that degree in a field you're interested in. It'll expand who you are and help you meet new people. Never to late to expand your horizons and grow as a person.

37

How did you feel when you got baptised? Seriously....

by stuckinarut2 in

so recently, several over-righteous ones in the cong were discussing "how amazing it felt when they got baptised".

statements like "how awesome did it feel as you got raised back out of the water?!".

or the classic "i felt so close to jehovah as i came out of the pool"!.

OneEyedJoe

I think on some level I knew it was the wrong thing to do... The guy who gave the talk didn't say Amen at the end of his prayer so I was immediately joking that it was invalid.

Those sorts of leading questions are a pretty powerful way for the cult to reinforce the indoctrination - humans have been designed by evolution to succumb to social pressure, so when a leading question is asked moist will say what is expected of them, especially if others have just answered the same question "correctly" for themselves. After a while we convince ourselves that the lies we tell to fit in are really true.