Posts by OneEyedJoe

33

Inactive ones are not JWs

by gone for good in

years ago, the insinuation was often presented, that those who were inactive were actually not witnesses at all.

the point being made was that ''...winesses is a verb, not a noun...''.

i know there were published assertions to this end in the older books and magazines, with possibly even quotes from the likes of rutherford or knorr ,.

Doesn't really help you, but I distinctly remember my congregations COBE saying the bit you mentioned about "wittness" being a verb not a noun. He also added, that that's why we don't inflate our numbers by including everyone who's a baptized JW in our counts - only those who have an active share in the preaching work are considered JWs. He said there's 8 million JWs today, but there could well be 20 million people out there who have studied with us and even been baptized, but if they don't preach regularly then they're not considered JWs.

Like I said, doesn't help you a ton, but this guy isn't the type (and I doubt he has the faculties) to come up with stuff on his own, I'm sure there's been something printed about this at some point. He's an old guy, though, so it might've been 50 years back.

32

Do JW Children Still Call Adults "Aunt" and "Uncle"?

by cofty in

when i was young we were taught to refer to other adult jws as aunt or uncle.. was this also the case in other countries and does it still happen?.

was it just a custom or has the literature ever commented on it?.

thanks.

OneEyedJoe

The only place I've ever heard of this was here. Growing up there was only one person (a close friend of my mothers) that I called aunt, other than my actual aunts and uncles.

15

Pathetic manipulation at the Zone Visit to the Mexico Branch (Central America)

by avaddohn94 in

jw
friends

gb 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!

OneEyedJoe

they didn't mention that the sister walked 20 miles through the jungle and crossed a crocodile infested river to be at the meeting to donate?

Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure something like that was worked in. Also, I'm sure there was a mention of the kingdom halls that they use, which are often either a hut with a leaky roof or just a canopy with no walls.

27

Why do people "come back"?

by kairos in

jw
friends

i 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..

OneEyedJoe

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.

15

Pathetic manipulation at the Zone Visit to the Mexico Branch (Central America)

by avaddohn94 in

jw
friends

gb 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!

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.

15

Pathetic manipulation at the Zone Visit to the Mexico Branch (Central America)

by avaddohn94 in

jw
friends

gb 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!

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.

46

Is disfellowshipping as popular as it was years ago?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i seldom hear of people getting df'd anymore.

years ago it seemed there were a few per year in a congregation.

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.

29

Is there a Child Molester on the Governing Body?

by TTATTelder in

great 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.

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.

14

Disfellowshipped for Tattoos??

by Lynnie in

are 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?

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.

14

Disfellowshipped for Tattoos??

by Lynnie in

are 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?

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.