Number of baptisms is quite low. I'm interested to see how that goes this year - I'm predicting a pretty big drop off after last year between the disappointment of 2014 coming and going and I suspect we'll be correcting for a slight increase in baptisms from the international conventions last year. I'm sure there are many that would've otherwise waited to get baptized but only did it because it was such a big event.
OneEyedJoe
JoinedPosts by OneEyedJoe
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26
RC musings - my impressions
by Doubting Bro inso i went to the rc this past weekend and have a few observations:.
1 - use of videos - most parts had some sort of video prop.
they ranged from awkward (an example was on friday where they showed scenes of nature without a real purpose other than god made this) to very well done.
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How to question
by Diogenesister inhi sorry but could anyone tell me how to highlight parts of an op when posting it within my reply please?
thank you
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OneEyedJoe
Hi sorry but could anyone tell me how to highlight parts of an OP when posting it within my reply please? Thank you
If you're trying to do what I just did, you have to copy/paste the reply, and highlight and click the " button on the toolbar.
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Governing Body TV
by punkofnice inso, the holy, holy, holy governing body(tm) are on tv and very much to be worshipped (like rock stars).. do you think there will come a time when the jws won't have public talks (as an example), and rely totally on the tele evengelism from the gb?
i say this because a public speaker used to be offered travelling expenses when visiting a different kingdom hell.
either the popes will stop this, it already has been stopped.
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OneEyedJoe
It's widely expected both on here and by jws I've heard discuss it that it's only a matter of time before one public talk a month will be agb member on TV. -
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Manicheism of the WTBTS
by coalize ini think one of the more evil trick of the wtbts is their manicheism!.
on a large bunch of subjects, they wants the fellow followers to believe that in a given situation, it is only possible to take two choice, of course, diametrically opposite.
and of course, you have the good choice and the bad choice.. of course, nothing is more wrong than that!
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OneEyedJoe
It's commonly called black-and-white thinking and is a facet of every cult. Either you're with us or you're against us. -
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Do you ever feel strangely drawn towards Conspiracy Theories?
by JW_Rogue inafter 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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WTS Does Help People
by berrygerry insomewhat 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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Change to dress and grooming rules for JWs in USA soon?
by RayPublisher inmy 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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Small details...
by Garrett ina 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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Two questions for all "apostates"
by sloppyjoe2 indid 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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Jw's don't let their kids die because of blood...
by freemindfade inanother 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.