OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  17

  Today's Text - Fear Mongering, Great Tribulation, & New Light!

  by Divergent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a stupid text which raises many questions -.

  sunday, june 26. there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.—matt.

  24:21.. the earthly part of jehovah’s organization is moving ahead in various ways.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Most of us will agree [...]

  Classic use of social pressure. Humans are social animals and statements like this makes us instinctively want to conform to the majority. For example, some cities have started including statements like "9 out of 10 people pay on time" when sending notice of due taxes and this significantly increases rates of payment. So even though it is NOT easy to set aside a couple hours a week for family study, and another couple hours to read cult literature, all on top of the hours and hours of time spent at meetings and out recruiting - despite all that people will want to conform. They'll try to follow along and feel inadequate (and even more in need of the cults help to find redemption) when they fail. Classic cult technique - create the problem, then present yourself as the solution.
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  221

  Judge sanctions WTS - $4k per day penalty for not producing sex abuse documents

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.

  imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.

  by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I, for one, am happy that they're starting with lower penalties. The last time the judge jumped to summary judgement, it got thrown out on appeal. This way they'll be given chances to comply (and we know they probably won't, arrogantly thinking Jehovah will swoop in and save them) with escalating sanctions until they get to summary judgement. This will cost them more in the long run and there will be less of a chance for them to appeal. Slow and steady wins the race.
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  6

  ran accross this news this morning "apostates" will Wachtower like this idea?

  by gda in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://unitycoalitionforisrael.org/?p=18553.

  'according to the muslim faith, if someone tries to apostate, he or she could be killed' .

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  OneEyedJoe

  From the 1952 Nov. 15 WT:

  Being limited by the laws of the worldly nation in which we live and also by the laws of God through Jesus Christ, we can take action against apostates only to a certain extent, that is, consistent with both sets of laws. The law of the land and God's law through Christ forbid us to kill apostates, even though they be members of our own flesh-and-blood family relationship.
  

  That certainly reads like they wish they could kill apostates. Yes, you have to go a ways back to get that quote but their frequent use of the example of Aaron being forbidden to mourn his sons' being killed by god shows that they still think this way.
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  19

  Being Bad in the Kingdom Hall

  by Funchback in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  what things did (do) you or someone you know do in the kingdom hall that was a no-no?.

  i remember in the 80s when, during the meeting, three friends and i were breakdancing in the foyer.

  3 out of 4 us are happily out of that organization.. as i was trudging through my fade and attending meetings, i sometimes dwelled on how much time and money i wasted during my years as a jw.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I have a bad knee so sitting for long periods in the meetings didn't work so well so I often would go stand by the literature counter in the back. Once I woke up, I did this a lot more often so I could play on my phone or browse the forums. After a while of staring at all those magazines just sitting there, the temptation got to me and I started taking magazines and throwing them away in the bathroom or tearing them up and flushing them. At my peak I think I trashed about 60-100 magazines in a month.
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  18

  What to say? I Don't want to go to meetings anymore?

  by Drifting Away in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so it has been a couple of months since me and my family have attended a meeting.

  we have received a few calls and visits.

  but what do you say when people ask "where have you been"?

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  OneEyedJoe

  I've said this a few times here, but my favorite response (though it takes a little luck for them to phrase the question just right to set you up) is the line from office space. I did this once and it caught the elder so off guard that he just scowled and walked away.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E2w4sTLKtA
  
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  13

  Being a Socially Inept ex-JW

  by LaurenM in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i'm absolutely clueless concerning relationships.

  i had barely any friends at all growing up a jw kid & absolutely no interaction with "worldly" people or any guys whatsoever.

  i have had a relationship of sorts with a guy for 4.5 months now, but i'm so clueless!

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  OneEyedJoe

  Yup. I'm right there with ya. I recently realized that I've literally never made an effort to make friends, and am now in a position where I really need to. I'm sure the relationship issues will be there when I get to that point, too
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  89

  Need advice

  by Drwho in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  i'm a middle aged man.

  i dated a jw lady for 3 months ., we never had sex, just made out , half naked , well everything except underwear .

  she has been a jw for 40 years ., was married to a jw but he committed adultery 13 years ago so they divorced .

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  OneEyedJoe

  Yeah it's definitely a difficult decision to make. On the one hand, no one deserves to be subjected to the torture of living in a cult, least of all children that are raised in it. On the other hand, I know personally of the heartache and abuse that you have to be prepared to subject yourself to in order to try and wake someone up from this cult. Some are able to wake up their wives, others (like me) fail miserably. I've read many accounts and tried to help some who were in a similar situation to yours, and it often ends badly. I'm sure the failures are disproportionately represented in the posts here due to the fact that in the case of success people don't have as much to talk about, but even so the cost can be very high.

  Take solace in the fact that, according to a Pew survey on religion, fully 2/3rds of born-in JWs eventually leave the cult. Her children, being raised by a single mother from the sound of it, stand an especially good chance of making it out because she will be unable to put the same level of pressure on them as a pair of JW parents can do. They've also seen first hand that JW life isn't all perfect families and happy marriages as the JWs like to claim.

  You've done her a great kindness already, and I suspect that even if you move on you'll be willing to provide her with the start of a support system out of the cult if she ever does decide to leave. That's a huge huge thing that you've already done. In my book you can move on not only with a clean conscience but knowing that you've done more than most would, and you've respected yourself in the process.
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  11

  Today's Text - Shun Your Disfellowshipped Family Members & Friends!

  by Divergent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yet another sickening reminder for jw's to use emotional blackmail!.

  wednesday, june 22. stop keeping company with anyone called a brother who is sexually immoral.—1 cor.

  5:11.. a heartrending experience for aaron’s family is recorded at leviticus 10:1-11. they must have been devastated when fire from heaven consumed aaron’s sons nadab and abihu at the tabernacle.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Tor - I just followed the link at the bottom of the original post:

  http://m.wol.jw.org/en/wol/pc/r1/lp-e/1102016275/25/0

  In that article after they say that there are scriptural principles involved there's a footnote that links to the QFR:

  http://m.wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2002366#h=1:0-9:0
  
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  89

  Need advice

  by Drwho in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  i'm a middle aged man.

  i dated a jw lady for 3 months ., we never had sex, just made out , half naked , well everything except underwear .

  she has been a jw for 40 years ., was married to a jw but he committed adultery 13 years ago so they divorced .

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  OneEyedJoe

  There's not a ton you can do when someone wants to stay in the cult. You can't force someone to leave (unless you're their legal guardian) and in some cases they're just not going to leave. You've made a good effort at waking her up, and maybe one day a seed you planted will grow. That said, it's not your responsibility to get her out of the cult. My best advice to you would be to just tell her that if she ever wants to talk or needs support from someone that won't shun her for changing her mind, you'll be there. Then honor her wishes to end the relationship and move on with your life.

  It's happened too many times - people think they can help and they keep hanging on trying to save someone and the only result is more heartache for the person trying to help. Move on and build relationships with people that don't use sex/love as bait to get you to join a destructive cult. She's treated you horribly (admittedly while under undue influence of a cult, but just the same) and you've got to have enough respect for yourself to see it for what it is, know you deserve better, and go out and get what you deserve.

  I wish you the absolute best of luck in what ever path you take.
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  11

  Today's Text - Shun Your Disfellowshipped Family Members & Friends!

  by Divergent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yet another sickening reminder for jw's to use emotional blackmail!.

  wednesday, june 22. stop keeping company with anyone called a brother who is sexually immoral.—1 cor.

  5:11.. a heartrending experience for aaron’s family is recorded at leviticus 10:1-11. they must have been devastated when fire from heaven consumed aaron’s sons nadab and abihu at the tabernacle.

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  OneEyedJoe

  There's no explicit scriptural reason not to attend a wedding in a church, so why are they bringing this up? They claim scriptural principles apply, but provide none. If you go to the referenced watchtower article it links to a QFR from way back and the only apparent scriptural principles are:

  • "do not become unevenly yolked with unbelievers" - How does this apply? If they're saying that you shouldn't go to a wedding in a church because there will be unbelievers there, wouldn't that also apply to any wedding of an unbelieving family member, even if it was held at the courthouse or in someone's home? This "principle" does nothing to make their point that you shouldn't go to a wedding in a church.
  • "Get out of her my people" - I think we can all agree that this was not intended to literally mean to get out of a physical church building. Paul went to pagan temples to preach, so this scripture would condemn him as well if that were the case. There is no prohibition here on respectfully observing a wedding in a church. You're not joining up or donating money to false religion or providing any support or adherence simply by walking in the doors of the church building.

  I have a scriptural principle for them. Do not go beyond the things written.

  Edit: I guess I went off on a tangent a bit there, but this sort of thing shows them trying to go beyond even shunning DFed family to include breaking ties with family members that never converted. They influence the R/F JW to basically be a dick to anyone who's not a JW in hopes that any connections to normal people will at least die of attrition. So even if there's not explicit command to shun people that were never a JW (though lumping these things together will almost certainly result in some JWs interpreting it that way, and they know it) they are happy to try to get JWs to behave in a way that will result in their family cutting ties with them or otherwise "persecuting" them in order to keep the JW in the cult and "prove" that non-JWs are evil, selfish, and a bad influence.