OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  6

  Why are the Scientologists Getting All of the Attention?

  by Wild_Thing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there are more jws than scientologists.

  jws shun their ex-members, too, and have beliefs just as weird.

  we also have had our celebrities .... michael jackson, prince.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I think a big part of it is that JWs appear to be Christian on the surface and, especially in the US, being seen as attacking a Christian group is a big risk to take. Because of the large Christian population, Scientologists are seen as being obviously wrong in their beliefs. In essence, the Scientologists' bible was written recently and that makes it less mysterious and people are less inclined to see it as divine.

  They also have more (and less insane) celebrities, and celebrities that are leaving and speaking out.  It's a smaller group, which also makes criticising it less risky, but they have just as much public awareness as JWs so doing a piece on them is still worthwhile from a viewership standpoint. 
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  5

  Fair punishmnet for a "sin"?

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3k0rgmr4zk

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  OneEyedJoe

  To be honest, I struggle with this too. It doesn't seem fair that there is a complete slaughter of people for just taking a census.
  

  Even disregarding that death isn't a fair punishment for a census, it's insane to think that the death of anyone other than the person committing the crime is even remotely close to a fair punishment. So what if David was in the wrong? If so, he should have died, not the innocent. It's plain and simple. The fact that anyone can try to justify that account is abhorrent to me.
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  72

  Waking up - introduction

  by Dreamerdude in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am a male, born into the jw cult(ure), baptized as a teen, now mid fifties.

  most of my life i dreamed of hugging pandas and lions, punctuated at times by nightmares of armageddon or jw drama and politics.

  still going through the motions for still-in wife.

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  OneEyedJoe

  You're on the right track... You're not alone. You may never wake up your wife (sorry for the pessimism) but I certainly hope you do.

  My advice is to remember to take care of yourself. If things start to get too hard to fake it, just get out. Lead by example and hopefully your wife will follow. But don't sacrifice your health (physical or mental) because you think it might give you a slight edge in waking up your wife. In my case I think I would've had a better chance if I'd been up front when I first woke up. It's a crapshoot, so all you can do is try your best and make sure you take care of your needs.

  Again, welcome. I wish you the best of luck in your journey!
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  3

  Why is it downplayed that a woman was the first to seek wisdom?

  by Watchtower-Free in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

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  OneEyedJoe

  It isn't, it's just reframed as the woman being responsible for all the evil in the world, and an example you mustn't follow. Kills two birds with one stone: discourage "independent thinking" while pushing a deeply misogynistic value system.
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  15

  Higher Education - is it really the end of the WT?

  by OutsiderLookingIn in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  as a non-jw, before i started looking into things, i must say i only encountered intelligent jws.

  so i was quite surprised to read here and in the pew report about their low overall educational achievement.

  granted, my exposure was limited (less than a handful of people over a lifetime) but i met two of them in post-college education (graduate school) at a very good school.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Cults rely on immersion. That's why the word cult often evokes an image of an isolated commune wherein members only leave to recruit or sell fruit or whatever to fund the cult. In reality, cults needn't be quite so completely immersive, but they still rely on heavy involvement of the members so that they don't have time to explore other ideas or ask questions. When completely immersed in the cult, it is also more threatening to question it. When it's your entire life, you're less likely to explore the possibility that it's false. If it's only a small piece of your life, you may be willing to examine it. College can give a fulfillment that has nothing to do with the cult and therefore lessens it's importance. It also teaches critical thinking, and exposes you to other cultures and ways of thinking. All this can lead to more introspection, which can lead to awakening.

  It's a numbers game, though. You've met 2 JWs that have extended education yet remain JWs. That's called anecdotal evidence. The fact of the matter is that the more education someone has, the less religious they're likely to be. It won't destroy the faith of every one that goes to college, but a healthy percentage will leave. So regardless of the 2 examples you gave, the more JWs that get an education the fewer will remain JW.
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  34

  Hello

  by WITNESS-FOR-WATCHTOWER-REFORM in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just to say a big hello.

  i have been reading this site for some time now and have been very unhappy with some of the things emanating from watchtower head quarters in new york.

  the final straw for me is the upcoming watchtower study this weekend encouraging us to shun our own family members (our own mothers if need be) if they are disfellowshipped....a step too far for my liking.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Welcome. I wish you the best of luck with your letter writing, but I suspect the best case result is that nothing happens. The WT corporation requires that you provide your name and congregation in any correspondence, otherwise that won't respond and, I suspect, won't bother reading it. This means that any sustained letter writing in which you are unrelentingly critical of any of their policies or doctrine is almost certainly going to result in your being disfellowshipped for apostasy.

  I hope you win, and wish you the best of luck, but I fear this is too risky for you than it's worth.
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  17

  Watchtower myth: God’s will discerned through committees, not individual leaders

  by Londo111 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  be it the governing body, or the a judicial committee of the local elder body, when a two-thirds majority vote is reached, it is viewed as god’s will, as the action of holy spirit, of jesus nudging the stars in his right hand.

  [and if i’m not mistaken, the minority is encouraged to change their vote, so that is “unanimous”.

  anthony morris alluded to this when he unsuccessfully tried to explain why the governing body is not dogmatic.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I wonder about the psychological dynamics of committee leadership from whence this feeling of awe is derived.
  

  My guess is that it's similar to an ouija board in which no individual feels in any way responsible for the outcome, but all have a part in making it happen.

  I never really understood how making decision by consensus was somehow proof of divine backing. Decisions are made by consensus in governments all the time, but the WT would always say that those are just men making the decisions. What's the difference?
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  28

  NEW PEW Research data on Jehovah's Witnesses just released

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was expecting people who "identified" as jws to follow watchtower beliefs more closely than these pollsters report.. .

  http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/26/a-closer-look-at-jehovahs-witnesses-living-in-the-u-s/.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Steve, I totally get the numbers in a census will show more JWs than the cult's official numbers do. My point was that the survey seems to imply that there are more active members than the cult's numbers do, and by a wide margin. Either their's some inaccuracy in the sampling or people were lying when they said they regularly attend meetings. I don't see another option.
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  28

  NEW PEW Research data on Jehovah's Witnesses just released

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was expecting people who "identified" as jws to follow watchtower beliefs more closely than these pollsters report.. .

  http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/26/a-closer-look-at-jehovahs-witnesses-living-in-the-u-s/.

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  OneEyedJoe

  These numbers don't add up...maybe someone can help me with this -

  it says 0.8% of the US population is JW. That puts JWs at roughly 2.5 million members. Even if you assume that children are represented in disproportionately low numbers compared to the overall population (I'm assuming the survey was done of adults 18 and over, but I see no indication of this for sure) you still have 1.6 million adult JWs. If weekly meeting attendance is at 85%, you'd have to have 2.1 million JWs attending meetings weekly and 1.4 million adult JWs attending meetings weekly. Those numbers seem way too high considering the cult's official numbers are at 1.18 million publishers and I can't remember the last time I heard of a congregation having anything close to 100% attendance, let alone average attendance of 115-178% which is what would be necessary for these numbers to make sense.

  My guess is that this survey isn't very accurate due to the small sample size. Either that or they got a good number of inactive JWs who were lying due to guilt over their poor meeting attendance.
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  11

  Adam buried at the foot of Christ's cross. Are you kidding me.

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i heard this on "the story of god".

  his blood trickle down through the rocks into adam giving.

  him life.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Theists say the darnedest things.