Posts by OneEyedJoe

21

Quick and vague Memorial invitations

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

this morning my doorbell rang.

i opened the door thinking it was a package delivery person or local politicians thanking my community for voting in yesterday's election.

there was a middle aged man standing by himself.

OneEyedJoe

I doubt they were sent specifically to you.- starting about 6 years ago they were encouraging really short presentations for invitations, at least in my neighborhood. It may just be that the territory was too big for them to cover with the invitations otherwise. Locally they'd often go alone to doors (especially the men) and give very short "presentations" and just shove the invitation into the person's hands.

39

Sincere question to those who no longer believe in God

by nowwhat? in

i get it, not a fan of yahweh the desert god.

but what about jesus?

anything wrong with his teachings like the sermon on the mount and the example he set.

OneEyedJoe

I think too many folks here are letting Jesus off the hook too easily just by attacking his association with the Israelite god of war. He had tons of terrible teachings, even in the sermon on the mount. I find far greater fault in his actual teachings than his attempt to parlay the existing believe in yahweh into a basis for common ground for the beginning of his new religion. You'll have to forgive me as I can't be bothered to look up scriptural citations, but some issues with Jesus off the top of my head are:

Golden rule - it assumes that everyone is the same and fails to encourage putting yourself in the other person's shoes. Instead of doing to others as you'd have them do to you, treat others how they want to be treated. A fundamentalist christian might think "If I were so delusional as to think I'm gay, I'd want people to shout me down and send me to conversion therapy, etc" but I suspect most gay people don't actually want to be treated that way. You could argue that most people would want others to consider how they want to be treated, and through that extra step you can get to the better rule, but if Jesus meant that, he should've said it. Not saying it confuses the matter if that's what the true ideal is.

Those who lose brother or sister or mother or father for my name will gain those back a thousand fold. (again, I forget the exact words, but you get the gist) and I think there's one where he says if you love your family more than him you're not worthy of him...Sounds like a cult leader to me - preaching the doctrine of separating families.

Don't store up treasures on earth - store them up in heaven. The idea that life doesn't really start until the afterlife is one of the most pernicious religious doctrines that there are. It doesn't take much imagination these days to see how that teaching could go wrong.

Turn the other cheek - I wonder how many victims of domestic abuse went on living in terror due to this teaching.

He taught that the only unforgivable sin was blasphemy against the holy spirit. Really, dude? That's the one you pick to be unforgivable? I guess when you teach that this life is temporary and unimportant compared to the afterlife (see above) it doesn't really matter if people go around killing - that can be forgiven. But don't you dare think about talking shit about something that doesn't exist.

Conspicuous by it's absence in Jesus' teachings is any condemnation of slavery. While I don't think it's generally ok to condemn someone for everything they didn't say, this would've been an easy moral victory for him. He would've had plenty of exposure to slavery and it's obvious result in human suffering, but he was too much of a coward to condemn it.

But, by far, the worst thing that Jesus taught was absolutism. Anyone that didn't believe that Jesus was the shit was to be condemned. Anyone who thought that maybe his way wasn't perfect was not worthy and to be ignored and cast out. You're either with him, or against him. Black and white. Again, so many times, he sounds like a cult leader. He never acknowledged moral nuance and grey areas, he discouraged independent thought, or any attempts to develop an even better moral code than what he offered. This sort of absolutism has lead to religiously motivated genocide for most of human history. It leads to closed minds and tribalism. It leads to being stuck at a sub-optimal moral code when we have the means to develop a far better one.

16

Obituary column was only one of the methods!

by Atlantis in

getting names and addresses from obituary columns was only one of themethods suggested by watchtower literature.methods used:get the names and addresses of people in the hospital.get names and addresses from obituary columns.get the names and addresses of new mothers.get the names and addresses of couples who have just gotten engaged.get the names and mailbox numbers from locations where jehovah'switnesses are not allowed to preach.

give that information to theelderly brothers and sisters to write their letters to.get the names and addresses from the phone book.. .

get names and addresses of business people you meet.. other sources.1956 watchtower/11/15/pg.688at one of the society’s bethel homes a brother, close to eighty yearsold, unable to climb stairs because of heart trouble, sends letters ofcomfort together with literature to those whose addresses appear inthe obituary column because of having lost a loved one.look for green underlining.https://www.docdroid.net/s6xkbfr/1956-the-watchtower-688.pdf------------------------------------------------------------------------------------watchtower 1967/6/1/pg.345the minister soon found that, since she had made the original call, hehad received a letter from a witness who obtained his name and addressfrom the obituary column in the newspaper.

OneEyedJoe

Yep, it's always best to pick 'em off when they're entering a new phase (maybe overwhelmed) or are otherwise emotionally vulnerable (death or serious illness). You'd think since they have "the truth" (barf) they'd manage to convince someone that wasn't somehow compromised...but no, they always have to prey on the weak.

48

Cousin's Runaway Girlfriend Living with us

by RunAwayDaughter in

jw
friends

my cousin's girlfriend moved from another state and is now living in our home.

they said she lived in a bad situation, but i don't believe them.

my cousin lies.

OneEyedJoe

You were taught a lot of stuff by a cult. Mind your own damn business. From the sound of it, it's not your house so you don't have a say in the matter.

13

Today is the date of Albert Einstein birthday 14 / 03

by smiddy3 in

can we let this day go past without acknowledging his contributions to the betterment of human society ?.

OneEyedJoe

General relativity was initially rejected by his peers and scientists thought that photon theory, light being made up of small particles was ludicrous. Which is why people make me smile when then demand to see peer review acceptance for every new idea.

Einstein's peer's rejection of his ideas was entirely appropriate. The number of people with crackpot "theories" far outnumber those with ideas backed by actual evidence. Your example does not demonstrate that people should be more accepting of ideas without evidence, it shows that even the most hard-headed scientists will yield to the evidence. Einstein's theories of relativity did away with our intuitions about space, time, and energy - his peers were right to provide resistance. When the predictions of his theory were confirmed time and again, they eventually fell into line. This is in contrast to the far more numerous instances of people presenting absurd ideas that meet resistance and are proven wrong. So, yes, demanding peer review definitely slows down the adoption of new ideas that turn out to be correct, but I'd rather have a slow process that works than a fast one that's wrong more than it's right.

17

Today's WT Paragraph 4

by Slidin Fast in

i thought that this little gem deserved a thread of it's own.. 4. why is it important for us to be present at the memorial if at all possible?.

4 reflect on the importance of attending the memorial.

remember, congregation meetings are part of our worship.

OneEyedJoe

But why is it so important for people that won't partake to attend? It's the same talk year after year. "here's some interesting facts about the wine - it has to be an unfortified wonder with no additives" why does Jesus give a shit if everyone pops by to hear trivia on Passover bread and wine? Could it be that memorial attendance is a key stat that they use to insist that there's tremendous growth? Or maybe that people are more motivated to donate for the memorial? No, it must be that Jesus will kill you if you miss hearing a boring talk for the 28th time.

8

Memorial Invite

by littlerockguy in

jw
friends

i moved back to my hometown almost a year ago after being away for almost 20 years.

since that time it's gotten around to others in the area and my relatives how i view the organization, not to mention that my brother and sister have outed me to some people about my sexual orientation and that's all it takes.

so now i feel estranged somewhat from relatives i used to be close to even though i have not been outright shunned by them.

OneEyedJoe

Yep, happened to me last year. I was sitting on the couch and heard the screen door move a little and assumed it was the wind. When I left an hour or so later, I discovered a memorial invite had been put in it. I'm quite sure that no one in my current territory knows who I am or where I live, so it's not special treatment for apostates necessarily. I think they're generally discouraged and it makes them not want to try very hard anymore. Just gotta get in their time so they can keep their friends.

9

memorial talk, the Sunday before the memorial

by nonjwspouse in

my husband just realized that our trip out of town to see lots of extended family members is over the saturday of the memorial.

he looked all disappointed.

(in light of his recent behaviors this kind of surprised me).

OneEyedJoe

Oh, pre-memorial talk on sunday, I misunderstood. I'm not sure what it's about this year, but generally it goes something like this: State some problem that exists in the world, then assert that only god can fix it and you can feel better about everything if you become a JW, talk to anyone in the congregation about studying. Mix in some guilt, lots of fear mongering and overwhelming statements and that's about it. Then super boring watchtower study afterwards where they read a paragraph and people take turns reading bits of the paragraph back. Occasionally a nutter in the congregation will give a rambling off-topic tirade about their life.

9

memorial talk, the Sunday before the memorial

by nonjwspouse in

my husband just realized that our trip out of town to see lots of extended family members is over the saturday of the memorial.

he looked all disappointed.

(in light of his recent behaviors this kind of surprised me).

OneEyedJoe

Don't get too down in the dumps about him not being far along enough to miss the memorial...that's the biggest thing for all JWs. In hindsight I'm not exactly sure why, but it definitely gets everyone coming out of the woodwork.

Memorial is a boring hour long talk with light refreshments that no one is allowed to eat/drink. Typical JW guilt and sales pitch. As far as interruptions to your plans, it's probably the best you could hope for because due to the scheduling they often shuttle people in and out pretty quickly and have to keep it relatively short.

9

NaijaNews Article: Here Are Seven Beliefs That Make Jehovah Witness Different From Other Christians

by AndersonsInfo in

[the link states "six beliefs" but the title mentions "seven beliefs.

" looks like someone goofed!

here are seven beliefs that make jehovah witness different from other christians.

OneEyedJoe

Is it just me or is this a terribly written article? I don't think articles like this really do anything to dissuade anyone from being/joining the JWs...The things they list hardly make them unique and the article at times almost seems to be in support of the religion - mention of the deaths due to the blood ban is conspicuous by it's absence, they just provide scriptures that seem to support JWs. The writing is absolutely abhorrent and they even forgot they were doing a numbered list by point 3.

The terrible writing will probably keep anyone from ever actually getting to the last three points (the last two of which are essentially the same) which are the only ones that are really likely to raise alarms for most people.