OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  34

  Do you ever feel strangely drawn towards Conspiracy Theories?

  by JW_Rogue in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  after mentally awakening to the idea that jws don't have the truth i strangely found myself delving into all encompassing conspiracy theories.

  not that i believed them but something about them seemed quite fascinating.

  i was especially drawn to the idea of a new world order/one world government.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I read about a study not too long ago where participants would be asked to answer some simple math questions, then look at a screen with static for some period of time. For half the participants their answers on the math questions were immediately given feedback as being correct or incorrect at random, whereas the other half didn't have the questions graded. The group that had their questions graded randomly (i.e. they'd get the answers correct since they're simple questions, but they'd randomly be told that they were wrong) were much more likely to see patterns in the static.

  The interpretation of this is that the more out of control your life feels, the more likely you are to see patterns in random data, and that's basically what most conspiracy theories are. It makes sense, then, that those who are leaving a cult will have a little more predisposition to being drawn to them.
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  3

  WTS Does Help People

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  somewhat ironically with respect to timing, i read the post below just after reading a quite interesting documentary.http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/356320001/ran-into-some-jws-but-this-time-did-teaching-x.

  "but in anycase, i thought on it a few days and decided (haven't told her yet) that i have no interest in destroying her faith.

  her life has been a total train wreck and now she is sober(she has been in and out of that and jws my entire life), in a happy relationship and has a good job.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Yes, sometimes people quit doing drugs or otherwise "clean up their life" when they become JWs. However, there are plenty of organizations out there that could provide the same assistance without subjecting them to phobia indoctrination, separation from family and society in general, and enslaving them to work for the interests of a publishing/real-estate company.

  I can understand a hesitation to destroy someone's faith if becoming a JW has helped them in some way, but I would never recommend that anyone, no matter how dire their situation, become a JW. There's always a better alternative. In light of this, I would say that the harm they do is in no way justified by the small amount of "good" that comes from the cult.
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  43

  Change to dress and grooming rules for JWs in USA soon?

  by RayPublisher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my guy with the lurk account on jwtalk (where all the kool-aid drinking jws go to talk about how wonderful 'the twoof' is) sent me some more interesting threads, here's one:.

  spoiler: starting new the new service year september.

  "there will be new directives from the branch through the circuit overseer on dress and grooming that will disqualify one to be a congregation publisher.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Oh I so hope this is legit. The more they ramp up unscriptural control, the more will wake up.
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  36

  Small details...

  by Garrett in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a witness friend wanted to meet up recently and talk.

  since this person was a close friend and who i thought had a level head, i'd go ahead and speak with him.

  our conversation actually helped me figure a few things out not only for myself but also about the witnesses.. so we're talking and i'm telling him my experience and the doctrines that i disagreed with as well as the scandals that made me disgusted with the organization.

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  OneEyedJoe

  One last thing I finally realized is that the majority of witnesses DO NOT want to wake up. I no longer feel like the brainwashing is all that's keeping them in. I think that deep down, they understand what were telling them and they know that what we're saying is truth, but they don't want to face that reality. For them, living in their world, they are doing something that they believe has purpose. Taking that away from them is devastating and the majority is not mentally capable of allowing their mind to accept the facts that we provide them with
  

  That's part of the brainwashing, though. The idea that if the cult is not true they'll have no where to go is very purposefully implanted in their minds by the cult.

  I would've asked him to name the "core teachings." Something tells me that most of them have changed. About the only ones that I don't think have changed at some point are rejection of the trinity and hell. If that's all that's required to be true, there's lots of true religions out there.
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  12

  Two questions for all "apostates"

  by sloppyjoe2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did any of you have a family member or close friend become an apostate first and you shunned them for it only to eventually see the light?

  if so, how did your eyes become opened?

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  OneEyedJoe

  AFAIK I'm the first apostate I've ever known. I do have a couple never baptized cousins that I've shunned (and feel terrible about it still) for having a revolving door of "worldly" live-in boyfriends. I only saw the light due to my own issues with the doctrine and the passage of time.
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  19

  Jw's don't let their kids die because of blood...

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  another nauseating detail i remember from saturdays program.

  there is a video (one of so many) shaming young people for being afraid to admit they are jw's.

  one australian girl talks about how one of her teachers was saying jw's let their children die over the blood issue (fact) and she goes on to say how that is not true.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Sadly a great many jws seem to have really bought in to the propaganda. My wife actually said the other day "a blood transfusion never saved anyone." She seems to really think that bloodless medicine is always better than blood.
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  42

  Where are the Young Elders?

  by James Jack in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was appointed as an elder when i turned 30, 25 years ago.

  which was the norm back then.. now, i very rarely here of a young man becoming an elder.

  in our town we have 2 english congregations.

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  OneEyedJoe

  The only elders (2) appointed in my former congregation in the last 6 years have been in their 50s. Both born-ins. One of them had been an ms for ~20 years and admitted to me (in one of his frequent attempts to get me to "step up") that he'd been "controlling [his] service time" in order to prevent his getting appointed all those years.
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  41

  Convention Tomorrow...

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  kill me.... it's hard to put into words just how badly i do no want to sit through this 3 days of bull $hit.

  i will appreciate any and all words of condolence, humorous, serious, or otherwise.

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  OneEyedJoe

  My condolences. When I was still thinking I'd end up going this year I was 100% going to bring a flask and spend almost the whole time walking around in the halls (too hot to venture outside in a suit). I'm on call 24x7 for work, and last year I had a few "work emergencies" haha. I didn't actually play bingo, but last year I did set out to identify all the fallacies. I quickly gave up though because they'd string so many together that I couldn't keep up.

  Start complaining about the seats early, and use it as an excuse to get up and walk around. Spend more time out of the seat each day. Or you can always claim to be filling in for a friend that couldn't make his assignment, then just be hazy on who the friend is and what the assignment is.
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  10

  KH Libraries Redundant?

  by The Searcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i heard from an elder that his kh library is to be terminated when a refurbishment takes place.. is this now standard policy?

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  OneEyedJoe

  Makes sense - it's a lot easier to revise history and change embarrassing statements in the literature when the average JW will only have access to it via JW.org. Just put a cheap computer in there and you don't need all those pesky hard-copies floating around in every KH.
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  49

  this weeks bible highlights: Jehovah slaughters his own people to teach David a lesson

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  from 2 samuel 24. i am so mad at myself for not making a comment how could anyone explain this away?

  then after he slaughters 70,000 he then feels regret?

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  OneEyedJoe

  So. How do believers explain this slaughter?
  

  My wife would probably explain that it's ok to kill innocents because they have a hope of a resurrection. That's how she explained being fine with people dying because of the transplant ban and the (now repealed) ban on all blood products/fractions.

  She still hasn't been able to explain how this is different than shooting someone in the face and it being ok because they might be resurrected.