Posts by OneEyedJoe

25

We're not trying to convert you

by jws in

jw
friends

recently i saw a link to an article from the st. petersburg times (one of these links on the side of this forum to sometimes old articles).

it was an article about jws and their preaching work.

imo, middle to favorable.. but the one thing was from a door where the jws are saying they're not here to convert anyone, they just want to share a scripture.. what sort of bs is this?

OneEyedJoe

I heard it said regularly by other jws to householders while I was in, and it bothered me every time. I also never understood the explanation given - usually one of the following:

"I just like talking to people and if they happen to want to become JWs then all the better"

"We don't convert anyone, we just try to teach those that are interested - they have to convert themselves.". A variation of this one is that it's Jehovah that does the covering, with a reference to the "god keeps making it grow" scripture.

I think there was one other that I'm forgetting but the point is that they're all deliberately deceptive. JWs love to change the definition of words and then claim they don't apply to them. Same strategy that they use in claiming they're not a cult.

The dishonesty of it lead me to always just excuse myself and leave the door if it was my turn to talk and someone said they were happy with their religion.

24

Jehovah's Witnesses - People of Integrity

by Saved_JW in

when i think of integrity, a lot of positive connotations come to mind.

i think of individuals grounded in principles, who do not operate on opinions that change based on the breeze of political or social change.

a life that is directed by a code of morality, not on capricious emotions.

OneEyedJoe

Thinking about your father's comment about then having your best interests at heart, I was reminded of something another poster here said when talking about JWs trusting the org. They believe that the org is truthful because they are truthful and they assume that the org that (they think) taught them to be truthful would be. That goes for this too, I think. Your father cares about people and he's bought into the indoctrination that all his good personality traits are because of the org so he assumes the thing that taught him to care must also care about him.

33

A new member

by Kurteousmaximus in

hi... i am new and after nearly 20 years after being disassociated at 15 i would like to make contact with others who have similar difficulties.

my mother was disfellowshipped shortly after my rebellion and had all ties with both her mother and brother cut and that remains the case.. just really hacked off with not being able to put things in the proper place in my life after all these years.

for the record i don't know if i believe in god but am searching for some peace as i seem to self destruct on a regular basis.. any ideas anyone?.

OneEyedJoe

Welcome! I hope this forum can be as much help for you as it's been for me. You'll quickly learn that the love of the greater number has certainly not cooled off.

You're far from alone in this. So much of the cult is designed to cause people to self destruct after they leave. They strip you of normal coping mechanisms and fill your head with self-fulfilling prophecy of failure if you leave. It can take a lot of concerted effort to really rid yourself of it all, but it's worth it.

If your job has an employee assistance program (EAP) you might look into using that to get some time with a therapist. Or perhaps insurance or just paying out of pocket if you can afford it - it would probably be worthwhile. I know it's helped me in dealing with my exit. Someone with cult experience is probably good but not totally necessary.

Or hell, if you ever just want to talk to someone who can relate to the cult background, feel free to PM me on here. And remember - living well is the best revenge! Take care of yourself and enjoy life. Figuring out god and religion and all that stuff can be taken slowly...no need to rush into anything.

80

THE WATCHTOWER (STUDY EDITION) JANUARY 2016

by wifibandit in

pdf .

this issue contains the study articles for february 29 to april 3, 2016.. what about the number of those partaking at the memorial?12, 13. why should we not worry about the number of those who eat the bread and drink the wine at the memorial?12 in recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of those partaking at the memorial of christs death.

that trend contrasts with the decrease in the number of partakers that we saw for many decades.

OneEyedJoe

I wonder if they're going to just be done with it and realign the FDS with the anointed, but by saying only the GB are anointed today. That'd put them ahead of the R/F in every way possible, which I'm sure they'd enjoy.

7

NO.1 2016 Watchtower - up online

by Gayle in

jw
friends

why be honest?.

OneEyedJoe

Cover: Why Be Honest?

1st page: Seriously, does anyone know? We sure can't think of a good reason.

20

Do you have J-dar?

by JWdaughter in

today at work i had an interesting set of co workers.

one was telling us about her side job selling sex toys(also a l&d nurse).

the other one, very beautiful, intelligent woman told us of her 2 kids.

OneEyedJoe

It makes sense that they'd be easy to spot. That's somewhat by design. The cult trains people to be clones, using the same speech patterns and talking about similar shallow things. They spend so much time listening to the WT literature being read that their speech begins to mimic the phrasing used therein. Plus there's always their casual use of the WT loaded language. They dress a certain way and their makeup/hair is rather plain. Any one thing by itself would be dismissed but when you see it all together its unmistakable, especially to someone who's been around it for so much of their life.

One of the things that our brain is best at is recognizing patterns and matching them to previous experience. You've had a lot of experience developing a template of what a JW is in your head and you've still got that there. It doesn't take long for your brain to match someone to that template.

The ease with which JWs are able to identify one another creates a virtual cult compound wall keeping members in because it works both ways. JWs instantly recognize one another, but that also means that when they're talking to a non-JW they're acutely aware of it and it makes them feel separate and out of place. This mechanism operates subconsciously and helps to keep them from forming strong bonds with non-JWs.

94

What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?

by John Aquila in

its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.

in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.

carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .

OneEyedJoe

Doesn't matter what they "cost" nowadays because the don't announce the costs or donations for the 3 day RCs anymore. At least, they haven't at any of the ones I've been to in the last 2-3 years. They simply make an announcement that you can donate if you appreciate the convention.

I was joking about it costing more, you're right that they don't do an accounts report at the conventions. When they went from 2 day assemblies to 1 day, it did end up "costing" more for the first 1 day assembly, though.

While we're on the topic, though, I wouldn't be surprised if they started announcing at the meetings (or passing one of those "unanimous" resolutions) that there was a deficit at a recent convention and that they needed to send some amount of money to the branch to help "offset the cost." This will then be broken down to a per-publisher figure and suggested that they donate to offset the money that they're already sending to the branch.

Since they invite the public to conventions, though, they can't do the accounts report there.

94

What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?

by John Aquila in

its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.

in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.

carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .

OneEyedJoe

I believe someone posted some information as to what goes on behind the curtain during assemblies. Ever wondered where the "cost" of an assembly comes from? Someone claims that there is a per publisher cost to be included in the "deficit" report that is read out in assemblies. It is not always met but is counted as deficit for the next assembly and any other money that comes into the circuit account ( I am sure) has to be used to cover that first. I could be wrong, but I've always wondered, especially after we got our own AH in TX, why did the assemblies all of a sudden got so much more expensive. They used to be cost around $2,500 for a one day assembly, renting a school gym for example. As soon as we moved into our AH, the last one day assembly had a reported cost of $8,300. The last 3 day assembly, $13,000

The "per publisher" cost is definitely real. The last assembly that I went to, they gave the accounts report to an idiot (or maybe he's a genius if he's awake....but he definitely seems like an idiot) from my former congregation. He literally got up there, announced the cost and then explained that the reason it was higher was because the branch had increased the per-publisher cost for our assembly. This was his first (and probably last) time doing the accounts report at an assembly and I think what happened was that he didn't realize how the cost was done and he asked and got this answer and thought it was some interesting trivia to pass on to everyone.

Instead of the Awake going away, I think the public watchtower will go away and only the Awake will be used. It makes more sense for them to do this because there's so much more baggage associated with the WT name.

Conventions will go to 2 days but will somehow cost more. The trend of more and more videos will continue and I expect that soon the public talk will be a talk from a GB member or helper that will be played on Sunday (probably starting with a few "special" occasions and then going to once a month)

I agree that the stats report will probably change like what they did in the KM. Before it was all the statistics for the previous month (publishers, pioneers, studies, placements, etc) and now it's just one or two highlights so that they can cherry pick the good stats and ignore all the stats that demonstrate their decline.

225

Cult or Religion

by Richard C B in

what is a cult and what is a religion?

its open to debate.

who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?

OneEyedJoe

you guys think im defending them because im not attacking them. I refuse to attack them and I refuse to attack you also. I want to see both sides of things then i can conclude myself what I belive. I respect all your viewpoints.

No, we see you as defending them because you've only issued counterpoints and never given a single piece of evidence that they are a cult. Now, there's a difference between defending a thought and accepting it, so I can't say what exactly it is you believe and it's understandable that for the purposes of debate you would defend since basically everyone here is going to be on the opposite side. Make no mistake, though, you are defending them.

225

Cult or Religion

by Richard C B in

what is a cult and what is a religion?

its open to debate.

who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?

OneEyedJoe

If you can find one cult that advertises on their website that they're a cult, then maybe the jw.org entry would have some validity to this discussion. Cults don't like to be called cults. They redefine the word so that it doesn't fit them or they'll lie (we don't look to a human leader!) to obfuscate the truth. It's telling that they use what "some think" as their definition of a cult, not what cult experts think.

You've got some reading to do if you really want to educate yourself on why JWs are a cult. Combatting cult mind control is a good book, as is when prophecies fail, and Robert Jay Lifton's books (especially thought reform and the psychology of totalism).

Assuming you are or were a JW, I think it could profoundly benefit you to really fully understand how you've been manipulated. It certainly has been enlightening and useful in my experience.