Posts by OneEyedJoe

64

Were you beaten as a child?

by purrpurr in

i've been confronting my mother with her dubious parenting skills (abuse) of me as a child.

particularly the beatings i would get with the wooden spoon.

not a light smack but hitting me as hard as she could for as long as she could.

My mother used a wooden spoon as well. Never broke it on me, but she did break it on my brother once when he tried to block the hit and the spoon connected with one of his knuckles. Spoon was normally on the butt. Sometimes she'd slap us across the face and leave a hand print.

Father's tool of choice was a 2" wide heavy leather belt. He'd whip us one hit per word while explaining what it was that we'd done wrong.

I'm not sure I hold it against them. They'd been indoctrinated to believe this was the best thing for us, and society at the time was pretty much in agreement. So while it's not something that I think is right to do, I can let it go. I'm hesitant to try to connect it to any lasting effect into adulthood too. Maybe it has had an effect on me, but I suspect that the effect is much smaller than having been raised in a cult overall. That's something I do sort of resent my parents for on some level.

12

Science disproves JW claims

by elbib in

according to quantum theory and non-locality, two particles, can act in unity.

for example, take a and b (photons or electrons for example).

pair them, then separate them, and put them on either side of the planet.

OneEyedJoe

You don't have to run all the way to quantum non-locality to disprove the JWs (and indeed most of the bible's claims). Geology, biology, archaeology and astronomy all do that pretty handily and are much more easily understandable by the lay-person than quantum entanglement is. Also i'm really not sure how quantum entanglement actually disproves JW claims from your post.

Hell, as far as JWs are concerned, basic arithmetic disproves them. 1 (generation) != 2 (generations).

4

Interesting observation: As time goes on......it seems the jehovah witness will be shortened to JW

by goingthruthemotions in

maybe it's just me, but i do believe that the jehovah witness brand as we know it will be solely jw or jw .

org eventually.. the reason being is because if you do a search on google or youtube for jehovah witness.

so much bad publicity.

OneEyedJoe

I suspect they'll maintain the Jehovah's Witnesses moniker internally, but it's definitely par for the course for cults to use false names or multiple different names for the purposes of recruiting. JWs have always done this - I can't imagine they'd get as many members in the ministry if they'd gone door to door claiming to represent the watchtower bible and tract society. Instead, they hide their affiliation with the corporation until the new recruit is thoroughly indoctrinated. With the JW short-hand name they're just doing more of the same.

6

All lies are untruth. But not all untruths are lies.

by aintenoughwiskey in

if you speak an untruth that you believe to be true, is it a lie?

does it become a lie when you discover and then fail to admit, or obscure the untruth?

i would like to be a fly on the wall when the gb makes new doctrine.

OneEyedJoe

What if you speak a truth that you believe to be false? Is that a lie?

23

Today's Text - Jehovah Is SPEEDING Up The Work!

by Divergent in

jw
friends

today's text:.

saturday, april 30. the little one will become a thousand and the small one a mighty nation.

i myself, jehovah, will speed it up in its own time.—isa.

OneEyedJoe

Trust us, there's remarkable growth! There's definitely no need to go plotting a graph or comparing current and past growth rates!

6

Why are the Scientologists Getting All of the Attention?

by Wild_Thing in

jw
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.

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.

5

Fair punishmnet for a "sin"?

by stuckinarut2 in

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

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.

72

Waking up - introduction

by Dreamerdude in

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.

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!

3

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

by Watchtower-Free in

.

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.

15

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

by OutsiderLookingIn in

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.

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.