In the cases I've known of it's usually some major life event that triggers it - the two most common that I've seen seem to be death of a loved one or a growing family. Either they want to see someone again in paradise, or they feel that their kids need some sort of "spiritual" guidance and the cult is the only place they've ever looked for that so they go back.
OneEyedJoe
JoinedPosts by OneEyedJoe
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27
Why do people "come back"?
by kairos ini know of several examples of ones that "left the truth" for up to 20 years, only to suffer through the reinstatement process and feel like they are finally back on track.. how does this happen?.
i personally know of one example where a father of three, leaves jws, abandons wife and family, lives as a gay man then comes back 20 years later as a partaking member of the anointed..
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15
Pathetic manipulation at the Zone Visit to the Mexico Branch (Central America)
by avaddohn94 ingb helper robert luccioni paid a visit to the branch that oversees mexico and central america and, you can probably imagine all the "excitement" among the witnesses who were tied in via internet.. this time they really emphasized that none of the information that was shared during such a "magnificent" event was to be posted on social media.
the fact that they are becoming more secretive should alert anyone about the dangers posed by cult-like religions but, truth be told, that is a very difficult thing to understand from within.. still, this picture might be of help!
in the end, luccioni's objective as representative of the governing body was very clear: money!
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OneEyedJoe
They're either really desperate, or really stupid, to beg money from poverty-stricken Central Americans.
Hum. Maybe it's "both"
I would posit that a lot of it comes from an incredible sense of entitlement as well. They're god's mouthpiece, so of course these people should be sending money!
I guess if you think about the tale of the widow giving two coins of little value, it makes sense. She gave out of her need - so of course they're going to beg for money from the people with more need to give out of.
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Pathetic manipulation at the Zone Visit to the Mexico Branch (Central America)
by avaddohn94 ingb helper robert luccioni paid a visit to the branch that oversees mexico and central america and, you can probably imagine all the "excitement" among the witnesses who were tied in via internet.. this time they really emphasized that none of the information that was shared during such a "magnificent" event was to be posted on social media.
the fact that they are becoming more secretive should alert anyone about the dangers posed by cult-like religions but, truth be told, that is a very difficult thing to understand from within.. still, this picture might be of help!
in the end, luccioni's objective as representative of the governing body was very clear: money!
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OneEyedJoe
I don't think they've uploaded any of the other zone visits, so they probably won't share this one.
I sure hope the cult is hurting for cash as much as it seems. I guess considering that most of the growth these days is in less developed countries, they're having to find new tactics to get blood from a stone. Not long ago, our CO gave a super guilt-trip talk about donating more. He basically said that in a lot of poor places, they end up donating more than they need to cover the cost of the magazines that they use, but in some congregations in the US, they don't even cover the costs. "How bad would you feel if you found out that these brothers living in poverty were subsidizing your literature?" he says.
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Is disfellowshipping as popular as it was years ago?
by minimus ini seldom hear of people getting df'd anymore.
years ago it seemed there were a few per year in a congregation.
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OneEyedJoe
Still pretty common, but maybe a little less. I agree that it's probably because there are fewer young unmarried folks. When I was a kid it seemed like it was 1-2 per year, but now it's maybe half that. Used to be all kids getting the boot for sex, but these days it seems to be 50/50 extra-marital affairs and alcoholism. -
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Is there a Child Molester on the Governing Body?
by TTATTelder ingreat report by abc on the abuses in jw-dot-org land.... i hope it opens a "floodgate" of future news reports and exposes.
if you ask yourself, "why hasn't the watchtower leadership changed their policy on the 2 witness rule?
if one or more persons on the gb has victims out there that can't come forward because of the 2 witness rule, then that would explain the permanent road block to policy change that is obviously in place.
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OneEyedJoe
I admit that the subject is an emotional one when you think of heartless men forcing themselves on innocent children. If these emotions have clouded my judgement, and I have under-appreciated the power of Greed as a lone explanation for these policies, then for that I apologize.
I think it gets super easy to be so mad at this cult when you see it destroying lives by the thousands that it becomes impossible to see how anyone could see the same thing and be detached. But I think that's what's happening - they don't see things in terms of lives destroyed, they're detached and are simply doing what they think is best for their cult (and by extension, their meal ticket). They're just running a business, and they've gotten used to people getting caught under the wheels and they're shielded from facing the actual results of their actions head on and therefore don't have to come to terms with it the way we do.
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Disfellowshipped for Tattoos??
by Lynnie inare getting tattoos a disfellowshipping offense?
i know several jw's that have them but i always thought they were totally taboo.
what do you guys know about this?
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OneEyedJoe
very easy:
No for tattoo = Yes for beard
One thing is the same in their reasoning: someone, somewhere might look down upon people with tattoos or people with beards, so no JW is allowed to have either.
They don't seem to worry about people who look down upon religions that put forth pharisiacal rules, though, and my guess is that those people outnumber the few that would reject the ultimate religious truth just because it was brought to them by a bearded man.
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Disfellowshipped for Tattoos??
by Lynnie inare getting tattoos a disfellowshipping offense?
i know several jw's that have them but i always thought they were totally taboo.
what do you guys know about this?
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OneEyedJoe
You can get DF'd for anything 3 elders agree on. That said, I've never heard of anyone getting the boot for a tattoo, but usually it's one of those things that people do while they're inactive and if they come back the elders don't push the matter.
If someone were to be going to meetings regularly and one day showed up with a very obvious tattoo, I suspect they'd get a good talking to, but it depends on the congregation and their response whether it would become a judicial issue.
The majority, by far, of JWs that I've know to have tattoos were converts and had them before they got ensnared by the cult. In that case, no one cares.
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Is there a Child Molester on the Governing Body?
by TTATTelder ingreat report by abc on the abuses in jw-dot-org land.... i hope it opens a "floodgate" of future news reports and exposes.
if you ask yourself, "why hasn't the watchtower leadership changed their policy on the 2 witness rule?
if one or more persons on the gb has victims out there that can't come forward because of the 2 witness rule, then that would explain the permanent road block to policy change that is obviously in place.
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OneEyedJoe
The two witness rule for child molestation just seems like a "hide-behind-scripture" rule to protect pedophiles. So it invites speculation as to why anybody would protect pedophiles ever...
I'll continue my skepticism - looking at JW doctrine and judicial procedures, I think it's impossible in most cases to work out which ones came from misapplication of scripture and which ones came out of someone's ass and they then proceeded to misapply scripture to support it.
They're making stuff up as they go along, and it's difficult to tell if they get stuff wrong because it suits them, or if they're just getting stuff wrong because they're stupid. Sometimes it's obvious when they're shaping doctrine to suit their selfish goals, but in this case I don't think we have enough information. Furthermore, the policies that endanger children today were instituted before any of the current GB members were in power, so if this all came about because of a molester, they're dead now. It seems most likely to me that the current GB just doesn't want to be seen as capitulating to their critics.
Thanks for your well-wishes.
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Is there a Child Molester on the Governing Body?
by TTATTelder ingreat report by abc on the abuses in jw-dot-org land.... i hope it opens a "floodgate" of future news reports and exposes.
if you ask yourself, "why hasn't the watchtower leadership changed their policy on the 2 witness rule?
if one or more persons on the gb has victims out there that can't come forward because of the 2 witness rule, then that would explain the permanent road block to policy change that is obviously in place.
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OneEyedJoe
Personally, I think it's probably something not worth speculating on unless there's some evidence. This is almost like accusing the pope of child abuse because of the issues with the CC. Not sure if it gets anyone anywhere.
Authoritarian organizations seem to frequently have problems with child abuse scandal, but I think it might be pushing it to say it always comes from the top. Suggesting that the GB has one or more molesters on it is a bit sensationalist for me, and without evidence beyond the cult's myopic strategy to protect itself, I fear that a bunch of speculation does nothing for us, and could potentially turn away people who are looking for answers to their doubts about the cult.
Sorry. I don't mean to rant. I'm having a weird day.
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Growing number of memorial partakers explained(?) by local elder
by stillin ini brought this up in a conversation after today's meeting.
the elder knowingly acknowledged the growing number and pointed out that of course, now we understand why this is so.
i gave my best blank stare and said "we do?
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OneEyedJoe
In any case, from now on I'd quote this brother whenever the subject of memorial partakers comes up: "Br. So-and-so said that the growing number of anointed partakers at the memorial is because of the overlapping generations." Then watch and see how others react.
Something tells me the reaction would be "that makes sense!" Doubts are too costly to these people, so they'll latch on to any half-baked explanation for something that would otherwise cause doubt.