Posts by OneEyedJoe

6

Why being disfellowshipped from the Jehovah's Witnesses cult is a good thing

by Finkelstein in

one of the many reasons are people are free to enhance their intellectual growth through pursuing education, something the wts demeaned for very much of its existence.

education is a good thing for humanity for knowledge can and does help resolving some of the problems mankind has to endure.

new discoveries in health and medicine.

OneEyedJoe

To be fair you can do all that without being DFed if you're careful (and maybe a bit lucky).

The only reasons for being DFed that I can think of would be to separate yourself completely from association with a morally bankrupt organization, for a sense of closure and to eliminate pesky guilt-tripping and manipulative contact from cultists.

The reasons to leave in general, on the other hand, are vast and innumerable. You can live a life of integrity, intellectual honesty, and freedom. You can give and receive true unconditional love. You can have open discussions about religion and philosophy without being careful not to step across some doctrinal line. You can live on your own terms and learn to be happy (whatever that means for you) without unnecessary feelings of guilt, fear and obligation being constantly pushed upon you.

31

MORE PROPAGANDA FROM THE CO!!

by DATA-DOG in

well, once again my "friend" has shared their notes with me from the latest co visit.

besides the usual 1914 assertions/ world getting worse all the time/ our day is the worst of all time nonsense, the co mentioned some interesting things.

number one won't surprise you.

OneEyedJoe

Perhaps in the future, CO visits will be broadcast from Cult Headquarters. Any problems any in the cong have, you have 5 mins in the second school to skype Cult Headquaters.

For some reason "Cult Headquarters" is cracking me up.

I think the more likely approach will be that any problems in the congregation will simply be met with instructions to suck it up and wait on the desert god to (never) fix it.

25

All quiet on the western front

by campaign of hate in

recently it seems very quiet in jw land.. jw broadcasting has been in full swing for months now, nobody bats an eye lid at that anymore.. so the question is, what is next?

the next organisation change, the next doctrine change.

it seems like this is the quiet before the storm.. the way things are going, it's almost like they try and one up their last change, things in jw land get that bit more crazy every year.. i'm hedging my bets toward a monthly public talk broadcast straight from new york.

OneEyedJoe

There's definitely been new light at the conventions - last year Losch even used the term "new light" when giving the bit about third heaven, then he sorta stumbled to correct himself saying "new understanding." But I guess it's always been trivial stuff intended to make people feel like there's progress being made and to have something to talk about and act all holier than thou. Like I said, not really what we're talking about here.

I definitely expect that we'll see some sort of monthly broadcast public talk...they've been making such a fuss about getting monitors and projectors into all the KHs that it seems unlikely that it's just for a yearly dog and pony show.

12

There is no God.

by nicolaou in

it had been raining and i could smell the pine trees nearby.

god wasn't necessary.

the clouds cleared and the sunlight blazing from above paid out a bonus in the puddles at my feet.

OneEyedJoe

Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by one of my favorite authors - Douglas Adams

Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?

25

All quiet on the western front

by campaign of hate in

recently it seems very quiet in jw land.. jw broadcasting has been in full swing for months now, nobody bats an eye lid at that anymore.. so the question is, what is next?

the next organisation change, the next doctrine change.

it seems like this is the quiet before the storm.. the way things are going, it's almost like they try and one up their last change, things in jw land get that bit more crazy every year.. i'm hedging my bets toward a monthly public talk broadcast straight from new york.

OneEyedJoe

I still expect a "you must tithe, although we won't actually call it tithing, if you want privileges in the congregation" article some time fairly soon.

That's a tough call...I don't think they could do it. They're already having enough trouble getting men to "reach out" as it is, and I suspect that there would be at least a few that would step down if they did this. They're already milking the R/F dry, I don't think there's a whole lot more mileage there - I think their only option to increase margins is to cull the flock of the deadwood and consolidate.

Isn't there always some noo-lite at the convention? What was it this year? Though I guess saying that the number of toes on a statue isn't important or coming up with some BS new explanation for what third heaven is probably doesn't qualify for what we're looking for in this thread.

I could see them announcing inactive ones as no longer a JW, but to be honest I don't think that'll happen. If they had to go back through their records and announce all the inactive ones at once it would create quite a stir...though I guess they could just do it going forward or only for cases when they hear of an inactive person that's still associating with JWs.

69

Thinking of Going Full Disclosure With Wife. Sorta

by freemindfade in

jw
friends

soliciting any and all opinions.

as some of you may know, wife is full in pioneer.

my fade has gone from us fighting.

OneEyedJoe

If you're the social one, you have a huge advantage. Just start making non-cult friends. It'll show your wife how wrong the cult is about worldly people and help her see a way out if there's already a social group outside of the cult waiting for her. Obviously it's not just that easy, but you're going to need non-cult friendships sooner or later no matter what happens.

69

The 1995 Generation Change

by sloppyjoe2 in

jw
friends

i was just a teenager and have a vivid memory of sitting in a chair doing a microphone for the sunday meeting.

everyone was commenting that it didn't mean the end was far off, and it didn't change the condition of the dead, or the 144,000, or the trinity so we should still remain faithful.

this is my first memory as a kid being just a teen that i ever had a single doubt.

OneEyedJoe

I was 9 when it was changed, I think, so I didn't notice it at the time...but the strange thing is that even well after that, in my area the generation of 1914 was still often talked about as if they never changed the 1995 teaching. I think this happened from the platform, but it definitely happened in comments (i.e. "those born in 1914 are really old now...") without being corrected from the platform. I guess a lot of people either missed it altogether or just couldn't accept it. They definitely didn't do nearly as much to push that change as they have the overlapping generation nonsense.

10

How to get JWs to talk about disfellowship?

by datto in

i have heard a lot about disfellowship from forums, blogs & youtube clips.

and all of them are real experiences from ex-jw.

however i have never physically met an ex-jw before.

OneEyedJoe

I also strongly suggest that you look into Steven Hassan's books on cult mind control. This will help you avoid some of the common mistakes that people make when a loved one is first entering a cult. The first thing cultists typically do is prime the potential recruit to expect family members to object and/or call it a cult because Satan is using them to test their faith. If you do that, you'll only drive them further in. It looks like you've done a good job thus far, but it would probably help to understand fully the psychological mechanisms at play here.

Good luck, sir.

10

How to get JWs to talk about disfellowship?

by datto in

i have heard a lot about disfellowship from forums, blogs & youtube clips.

and all of them are real experiences from ex-jw.

however i have never physically met an ex-jw before.

OneEyedJoe

You might get a little better help if you relate some of your situation and what you're after. If you ask why people are disfellowshipped you'll probably get "unrepentant sin" as the answer, or sometimes a more specific answer being something to do with fornication, since the cult does a lot to sell this as the default reason for being DFed.

It also depends on who you ask and how much they know and how honest they are with themselves and with you. Most elders are probably aware on some level that being DFed isn't exclusively about unrepentant sin, and unrepentant sin doesn't always result in being DFed. But they're not likely to tell you that.

As for where to start, that really depends on where you want to end up. Like I said, if you're comfortable giving more information, you'll likely get more useful advice.

69

Thinking of Going Full Disclosure With Wife. Sorta

by freemindfade in

jw
friends

soliciting any and all opinions.

as some of you may know, wife is full in pioneer.

my fade has gone from us fighting.

OneEyedJoe

It seems to be a common flaw in JWs that they can't separate arguing against how a point is made and what point is made. I have the same problem when I question the use of misquotes and lies in their argument against evolution. Although I agree with evolution, that has no bearing on my problem with their use of deliberate deception to argue against it. When I've brought this up with my wife and father in law, they both automatically assume that I'm arguing for the fact of evolution. They just cant separate it in their minds - though to be fair once you weed out all the deceptive arguments against evolution, it does become the clear winner in the debate.

Because of that, pointing out the failed logic and deceptive statements from the WT puts you at an immediate disadvantage. I think the only topic I've discovered that I can attack this way is on their ban of higher education, since there's nothing morally wrong about going to college and no doctrine hangs on the ban. Everything else puts you on the side of immoral or godless people in their minds and immediately poisons anything you might say.