Posts by OneEyedJoe

33

Inactive ones are not JWs

by gone for good in

years ago, the insinuation was often presented, that those who were inactive were actually not witnesses at all.

the point being made was that ''...winesses is a verb, not a noun...''.

i know there were published assertions to this end in the older books and magazines, with possibly even quotes from the likes of rutherford or knorr ,.

OneEyedJoe

gone for good...the WTS plays both sides. I found the quote above when an elder said I wasn't one of jws....and I'll try and look for one of those "not one of Jehovah's witnesses" is what I'm going to search the CD by.
As to labeling jws inactive and treating them like df'd officially, I don't see that happening soon. Every jw has a member of their family that would qualify

Yep, they play both sides - if they're trying to guilt people into not pressuring inactive ones back in then inactive folks are still part of the fold and need encouragement. If they're trying to guilt people into staying in and doing more, then inactive ones are as good as dead.

As far as them changing the policy, I can see it happening for precisely the reason you gave. Forcing a little bit more of a commitment from everyone (since they're probably already slightly shunning their inactive relatives) is a great tool to get them to show increased loyalty. The more they sacrifice for the cult, the more loyal they'll be.

21

Drugs and Alcohol Ruin Your Life

by campaign of hate in

this point was raised in another thread vaguely, and wanted to try and expand on it.. the wt has said (and rightly so in my opinion) "that excessive use of drugs and alcohol can ruin your life".

in my eyes this is a fact.. this is where it starts to get a little suspicious, as they also say (or subtly hint at) "that if you leave the wt you will becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol and will ruin your life".. its almost like a self fulfilling prophecy.

as there are a lot who leave the borg and they do start drinking heavy or smoking, or taking drugs...or whatever.. the wt capitalizes on the fact that people want more freedom, and they subtly ingrain the thought that.

OneEyedJoe

To use an illustration that I've heard about a thousand times in KHs on the topic of raising a child:

Think of it like holding a spring between your fingers, if you hold it tightly then release it all at once, it's going to fly off and you'll never find it. If you release it slowly, you'll be able to hang on to it.

The application is to slowly give your kids more freedom so that they don't fly off the handle when they turn 18 and leave the house. It applies just as well (if not better) to the WT's system of control - keep people so completely repressed and make sure to fill their lives with lies so that if/when they can't stand the control or become aware of the lies they're going to throw away all the good things they've learned and fly completely off the handle.

Add in the constant indoctrination that you can't trust yourself, and that you're not good enough no matter how much you're doing and it's a recipe for someone to wind up completely lost, depressed, and without direction - which can often lead to substance abuse if someone doesn't have proper coping mechanisms. Of course JWs are also prevented from developing coping mechanisms because the answer to every problem is "the new system" or "wait on Jehovah" or similar.

The result is someone with a deep longing to control their life, but doesn't trust themselves to do it. They feel like everything in the cult was a lie, so they throw the good out with the bad. This leaves them with no direction, and no trust in themselves to provide their own direction, and no coping mechanisms for the stress this causes (not to mention the stress of losing their family and support system). If you put someone in a place like that, it's no surprise if they end up turning to drugs to cope.

33

Inactive ones are not JWs

by gone for good in

years ago, the insinuation was often presented, that those who were inactive were actually not witnesses at all.

the point being made was that ''...winesses is a verb, not a noun...''.

i know there were published assertions to this end in the older books and magazines, with possibly even quotes from the likes of rutherford or knorr ,.

OneEyedJoe

Doesn't really help you, but I distinctly remember my congregations COBE saying the bit you mentioned about "wittness" being a verb not a noun. He also added, that that's why we don't inflate our numbers by including everyone who's a baptized JW in our counts - only those who have an active share in the preaching work are considered JWs. He said there's 8 million JWs today, but there could well be 20 million people out there who have studied with us and even been baptized, but if they don't preach regularly then they're not considered JWs.

Like I said, doesn't help you a ton, but this guy isn't the type (and I doubt he has the faculties) to come up with stuff on his own, I'm sure there's been something printed about this at some point. He's an old guy, though, so it might've been 50 years back.

32

Do JW Children Still Call Adults "Aunt" and "Uncle"?

by cofty in

when i was young we were taught to refer to other adult jws as aunt or uncle.. was this also the case in other countries and does it still happen?.

was it just a custom or has the literature ever commented on it?.

thanks.

OneEyedJoe

The only place I've ever heard of this was here. Growing up there was only one person (a close friend of my mothers) that I called aunt, other than my actual aunts and uncles.

15

Pathetic manipulation at the Zone Visit to the Mexico Branch (Central America)

by avaddohn94 in

jw
friends

gb helper robert luccioni paid a visit to the branch that oversees mexico and central america and, you can probably imagine all the "excitement" among the witnesses who were tied in via internet.. this time they really emphasized that none of the information that was shared during such a "magnificent" event was to be posted on social media.

the fact that they are becoming more secretive should alert anyone about the dangers posed by cult-like religions but, truth be told, that is a very difficult thing to understand from within.. still, this picture might be of help!

in the end, luccioni's objective as representative of the governing body was very clear: money!

OneEyedJoe

they didn't mention that the sister walked 20 miles through the jungle and crossed a crocodile infested river to be at the meeting to donate?

Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure something like that was worked in. Also, I'm sure there was a mention of the kingdom halls that they use, which are often either a hut with a leaky roof or just a canopy with no walls.

27

Why do people "come back"?

by kairos in

jw
friends

i know of several examples of ones that "left the truth" for up to 20 years, only to suffer through the reinstatement process and feel like they are finally back on track.. how does this happen?.

i personally know of one example where a father of three, leaves jws, abandons wife and family, lives as a gay man then comes back 20 years later as a partaking member of the anointed..

OneEyedJoe

In the cases I've known of it's usually some major life event that triggers it - the two most common that I've seen seem to be death of a loved one or a growing family. Either they want to see someone again in paradise, or they feel that their kids need some sort of "spiritual" guidance and the cult is the only place they've ever looked for that so they go back.

15

Pathetic manipulation at the Zone Visit to the Mexico Branch (Central America)

by avaddohn94 in

jw
friends

gb helper robert luccioni paid a visit to the branch that oversees mexico and central america and, you can probably imagine all the "excitement" among the witnesses who were tied in via internet.. this time they really emphasized that none of the information that was shared during such a "magnificent" event was to be posted on social media.

the fact that they are becoming more secretive should alert anyone about the dangers posed by cult-like religions but, truth be told, that is a very difficult thing to understand from within.. still, this picture might be of help!

in the end, luccioni's objective as representative of the governing body was very clear: money!

OneEyedJoe

They're either really desperate, or really stupid, to beg money from poverty-stricken Central Americans.
Hum. Maybe it's "both"

I would posit that a lot of it comes from an incredible sense of entitlement as well. They're god's mouthpiece, so of course these people should be sending money!

I guess if you think about the tale of the widow giving two coins of little value, it makes sense. She gave out of her need - so of course they're going to beg for money from the people with more need to give out of.

15

Pathetic manipulation at the Zone Visit to the Mexico Branch (Central America)

by avaddohn94 in

jw
friends

gb helper robert luccioni paid a visit to the branch that oversees mexico and central america and, you can probably imagine all the "excitement" among the witnesses who were tied in via internet.. this time they really emphasized that none of the information that was shared during such a "magnificent" event was to be posted on social media.

the fact that they are becoming more secretive should alert anyone about the dangers posed by cult-like religions but, truth be told, that is a very difficult thing to understand from within.. still, this picture might be of help!

in the end, luccioni's objective as representative of the governing body was very clear: money!

OneEyedJoe

I don't think they've uploaded any of the other zone visits, so they probably won't share this one.

I sure hope the cult is hurting for cash as much as it seems. I guess considering that most of the growth these days is in less developed countries, they're having to find new tactics to get blood from a stone. Not long ago, our CO gave a super guilt-trip talk about donating more. He basically said that in a lot of poor places, they end up donating more than they need to cover the cost of the magazines that they use, but in some congregations in the US, they don't even cover the costs. "How bad would you feel if you found out that these brothers living in poverty were subsidizing your literature?" he says.

46

Is disfellowshipping as popular as it was years ago?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i seldom hear of people getting df'd anymore.

years ago it seemed there were a few per year in a congregation.

OneEyedJoe

Still pretty common, but maybe a little less. I agree that it's probably because there are fewer young unmarried folks. When I was a kid it seemed like it was 1-2 per year, but now it's maybe half that. Used to be all kids getting the boot for sex, but these days it seems to be 50/50 extra-marital affairs and alcoholism.

29

Is there a Child Molester on the Governing Body?

by TTATTelder in

great report by abc on the abuses in jw-dot-org land.... i hope it opens a "floodgate" of future news reports and exposes.

if you ask yourself, "why hasn't the watchtower leadership changed their policy on the 2 witness rule?

if one or more persons on the gb has victims out there that can't come forward because of the 2 witness rule, then that would explain the permanent road block to policy change that is obviously in place.

OneEyedJoe

I admit that the subject is an emotional one when you think of heartless men forcing themselves on innocent children. If these emotions have clouded my judgement, and I have under-appreciated the power of Greed as a lone explanation for these policies, then for that I apologize.

I think it gets super easy to be so mad at this cult when you see it destroying lives by the thousands that it becomes impossible to see how anyone could see the same thing and be detached. But I think that's what's happening - they don't see things in terms of lives destroyed, they're detached and are simply doing what they think is best for their cult (and by extension, their meal ticket). They're just running a business, and they've gotten used to people getting caught under the wheels and they're shielded from facing the actual results of their actions head on and therefore don't have to come to terms with it the way we do.