OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  45

  Lying about Shunning! jw.org conceals the "truth"

  by Skinnedsheep in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/shunning/ .

  "those who were baptized as jehovahs witnesses but no longer preach to others, perhaps even drifting away from association with fellow believers, are not shunned.

  in fact, we reach out to them and try to rekindle their spiritual interest.".

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  OneEyedJoe

  They're being very decietful in the first paragraph, but the second paragraph does contain outright lies:

  We do not automatically disfellowship someone who commits a serious sin. If, however, a baptized Witness makes a practice of breaking the Bible’s moral code and does not repent, he or she will be shunned or disfellowshipped. The Bible clearly states: “ Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. ”

  Where in the "Bible's moral code" does it say that one must believe that the GB of Jehovah's Witnesses is the modern day FDS? Nowhere. But if you say that openly, you'll be DF'd. Smoking? DF'd.

  The funny part is, that the sentence actually contains two lies. The most obvious being that you can get DF'd without breaking the bible's moral code, but the less obvious lie is in the way that it states, in no uncertain terms, that unrepentant sinners "will be shunned." While I feel pretty certain that child molestation is against the bible's moral code (certainly more so than smoking) there've been countless cases in which the perpetrator wasn't shunned/DF'd. What's more is that in some cases, the victim is shunned. This lie is possibly more insidious than the first, because it creates a false sense of security within the organization.

  There's also more deciet in there, in that they strongly imply that you will not be DF'd if you're repentant. I know of a few cases personally, and read of a number on this forum that demonstrate that this, too, is not the case at all.
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  15

  Are study WTs unavailable in your KH?

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was lent a wt yesterday and asked where i could get my own copy.

  i learned that you print your own or get a tablet.. i couldn't determine if the congregation actually receives hardcopies anymore.. what's a poor brother to do?

  ink's expensive and tablets .

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  OneEyedJoe

  I think about half of our hall uses the hard copies still. There's usually a couple spares on the literature counter on sundays as well.
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  12

  When someone hands you a flyer it is like saying ...

  by jwfacts in

  1. social
  2. humour

  i saw this on pinterest, and it made me think about the great global preaching campaign of august 2014. this is what i think whenever i absentmindedly take a flyer from someone.. .

  when someone hands you a flyer it's like they're saying "here you throw this away.

  " mitch hedberg.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Ahh, Mitch. I loved his standup. RIP.

  I take quite a bit of comfort in knowing that 99% of the leaflets/tracts/magazines/whatever that I handed out over the years ended up uncerimoniously thrown away.
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  30

  Well, IT HAS BEGUN. See the future of the WTBTS in print.

  by DATA-DOG in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i hate to read the wt, but i skimmed the july 15 study edition.

  i found many examples of propaganda, of course, but a couple things really stood out.

  1) the future of the preaching work.

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  OneEyedJoe

  MASH - lol

  God- "dammit, do I really have to send holy spirit just to debug this guys crappy SQL? Jesus Christ, are you sure about this appointment you made in 1919? These guys can't even get a basic join right."
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  10

  My Husband Confesses His Sole Regret for My Exit....

  by humbled in

  1. social
  2. humour

  ( important note: my husband hated that i became a jw.

  hated everything about it.).

  he is the one who every morning makes our coffee in his beat-up metal perculator.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Several years ago our CO was talking about how important it is to really talk to people on your magazine route. He told a story about a sister who'd been leaving magazines with a man for years and one day she asked him what he thought of the magazines and he says, "they're great! They fit the bottom of my bird cage perfectly!"
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  34

  Are Jehovah's Witnesses THAT Bad?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm not fond of any religious fanatic.

  islamic fundies can be downright crazy.

  mormonism seems silly to me.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Is the WTS really all that bad? Ask these kids:

  

  Oh, wait, you cant.
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  6

  Were we drug addicts?

  by new hope and happiness in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i imagine drug addicts have a similar adiction.

  you can not imagine life without a fix.

  or was it we had addictive personalities?

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  OneEyedJoe

  I don't think you were necessarily being overly dramatic. I'm certain that the experience is very much like a drug to many people, but as a born-in that had reservations about the cult since my early teens it was never like that for me. I will admin when I was 11 or 12, it was GREAT "knowing" that I at that age knew more about the bible than any worldly person. I can see how someone might get addicted to that feeling, especially if they're unsuccessful or powerless in other areas of their life (not saying this applies to you, but it definitely applies to most of the super-zealous dubs that I know). I suspect that if I hadn't had such success in school, and found a career that I'm good at and enjoy, I might never have had the stability elsewhere in my life to let go of the false superiority that the cult can give people.

  My theory has always been that most people are just striving for some sort of significance in the world. Some find that through direct violence, others through being charitable, some through hard work in a carreer to make something. For someone who doesn't have the confidence that they can be significant elsewhere in life, a cult that tells you that you're one of 0.1% of the world that's found the right religion can be that significance. Of course, it helps that the cult systematically tries to remove any self confidence from you and forces you to believe that the only way you can be significant is through the cult. So for someone trapped in and fully indoctrinated, I have no doubt that the experience can be very much like that of a drug.

  I think I was just "lucky" that I'm completely socially inept, and can only rarely pick up on normal social cues. I think that's what kept me from becoming fully indoctrinated so I never really invested in the "everything you achieve is really because of Jehovah's blessing" mantra. I knew I'd achieved everything with no supernatural assistance, and I deserved success. After I realized that, every push to conform just pushed me a little further away. I found significance outside the cult, so I never needed it...I was just trapped.

  So to sum up a much longer post than I expected (sorry) I think your observation is absolutely valid, I was just describing my experience which was quite different.
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  6

  Were we drug addicts?

  by new hope and happiness in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i imagine drug addicts have a similar adiction.

  you can not imagine life without a fix.

  or was it we had addictive personalities?

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  OneEyedJoe

  I'm not sure I'd describe it as an addiction, since it never caused the slightest bit of dopamine release (unless you count when I left the KH after the meetings, now that was always a relief) it was more of an imprisonment. I couldn't shake the indoctrination from birth and trust myself to realize that it was all made up BS. Just before my baptism I was so close to escaping, but my father put just the right amount of pressure on just the right emotional spot that I got pulled back under, but I was never unable to imagine life without it. I would frequently wish for a life without it. I would think to myself "I wish it wasn't the truth." Then once I freed myself enough look at appostate websites, I got that wish.
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  16

  Any recent wack-a-doodle elder comments in your congo lately?

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  our go-to wack-a-doodle elder moved to a new congregation a few years back.

  the position has been vacant since then.. we had an elder move in a few months back.

  he appears to be angling for the position of resident wack-a-doodle.. at last night's service meeting, he said (paraphrased): "as a congregation, we've been busier than ever before with our special campaign.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Not sure of he's still around...I was visiting a different congregation and haven't been back. He definitely didn't seem to be "all there" so to speak, so I bet he'd fit right in to most any BOE
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  7

  Cognitive Dissonance - Best of

  by Dagney in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been explaining "cognitive dissonance" to a person (that i hope finds this site and thread) who is going though it right now.

  i sent the description to them with a link to additional information.. however, from a jw/exjw perspective, i would like your assistance to build a list of the various conficting thoughts perpetuated by the wtbs that creates this condition.

  for instance, i gave them:.

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  OneEyedJoe

  A big one for me was the belief that humans have only existed for 6000 years vs all the archeological evidence to the contrary. Same story for evolution.

  Another form of CD also occurs when people participate in ritual behavior with a group. For example, you go to the KH and you have some reservations - maybe someone told you is a cult or you're just not very religious. Out of respect and the social pressure to conform, you bow your head during the prayer and say amen. Because your behavior (participation) just conflicted your belief (these people might be cultists) you will subconsciously change your belief (since it's to late to change your behavior) to minimize the dissonance. The simple act of bowing your head during prayer makes you more inclined to believe what comes next. Same goes for the song. (Went do you think it's often stressed that you need to be on time for the song and stay through the closing prayer?)

  A similar effect happens when you conform in other ways. The analysis of the sparlock video on YouTube (by user askreality) explains this effect quite effectively, I thought.