Posts by OneEyedJoe

93

Pshycos! - 2016 "Remain Loyal to Jehovah" Regional Convention Program

by thedepressedsoul in

wow this is interesting!

i think how much emphasis this puts on "loyalty" shows their is an issue.

they're trying to plug the wholes as much and quickly as possible.

OneEyedJoe

OK, I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking they've really turned a corner here. They always stick to a theme pretty hard, but I don't think I've ever seen it like this. This is insane. Is the word "loyal" going to be the new "truth" that JWs will find a way to work into every sentence? My mother-in-law actually started talking about loyalty a couple years ago when there was a CO talk on it, so maybe that's where they're headed. Someone said repeating the word causes it to loose meaning, but that's actually not completely right - it looses some of the meaning consciously, but subconsciously it becomes a powerful thought-stopper...that's what the cult loaded language is all about. I wonder if that's where this is headed.

The talk on shunning followed by a talk on forgiveness actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it. The theme isn't really about their behavior, it's about obedience. The talks are essentially - shun who we tell you to shun and be subservient to those we tell you to follow (even though they've wronged you). If you think it doesn't make sense to talk about shunning and forgiveness in one breath, it's because you're taking it at face value - it's really about control. They want you to obey no matter what, so they give you examples on opposite ends of the spectrum and the only common thread (and therefore the conclusion those listening will come to, whether consciously or otherwise) is that you must do whatever you're told by the cult leadership.

I'm in awe of this. This seems like they've gone into cult overload, and I really don't think it only seems that way because I'm sorta freshly out. In the 2 years I've been awake, I don't think I've seen anything like this.

13

"M" is for "Memorial"

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

many weeks ago, i apparently put "m" on today's date- wednesday, march 23rd, in my google calendar.

it was supposed to remind me that the memorial that jehovah's witnesses observe would be held today.

i was flipping through my calendar this past weekend and asked my wife "what in the world is 'm' for (that day)?

OneEyedJoe

This will be my first time not attending. Got the ol' 2-elder visit and they practically begged me to come (lots of "I'd really love to see you there" sort of thing, I mostly just replied "ok" in a way that said "that doesn't change anything") but I told them I wasn't planning on attending.

Don't have anything planned for the evening. Will probably just treat it like another day, only the wife won't be home for part of it.

26

Am l the only one.?The older l become the more hostile l become towards god.

by atomant in

they say you mellow out with age.maybe so but not in my case.l feel its an insult and degrading to us humans to have to live the way we do if there is a god.deep down l guess l do believe theres a god but lm having great difficulty trying to understand why things are the way they are.l dont need a bible bashing from anyone l just feel frustrated and helpless.l just battle on like everyone else but l get the feeling theres a whole lot more to our existence.

OneEyedJoe

As others have said, I try not to get hostile towards imaginary beings. I do, however, only seem to grow more hostile towards those that presume to speak for said imaginary beings as I age.

21

Why dont you go to the memorial?

by atomant in

l guess we all have our own reasons and thought it would give insight to others considering going to reconsider and not go.

OneEyedJoe

I don't go to memorial for the same reason I don't fast during ramadan. It's not my religion.

95

Evolution is a Fact #31 - Ten Questions for Creationists

by cofty in

i thought this would be a good time to pose some questions based on the series so far.. if creationism is true these should be easy.

answers that don't involve copy-paste would be really interesting to read.. ... .

1. since some proteins can be assembled in more ways than there are atoms in the universe why do the sequences of amino acids and bases vary between species in exactly the way evolution predicts?

OneEyedJoe

I always get the typical answer of "because jehovah made it that way" so much bullshit

Easy rrebuttal: the bible says god cannot lie - wouldn't creating fossils, genetic evidence, vestigial features, and all the other evidence that fits EXACTLY as evolution predicts be considered lying if evolution did not in fact take place?

48

God said be fruitful and multiply,fill the earth and govern it.

by atomant in

l have a problem with this.lf adam and eve didnt sin the earth would eventually have been full to the brim with perfect human beings.then what every man gets the chop or no more sex?then on the other hand we have the jw's sayingresurrected ones will not be allowed to marry in the earthly new system.. married survivors of armageddon will remain married.

single survivors of armageddon may or may not be allowed to marry.so it seems that people reborn into new system wont be able to procreate.

and married survivors will stay married so l assume that means they can still hanky panky and have babys thats a bit unfair..the earth can only accommodate a maximum number of humans then what for the married couples.

OneEyedJoe

Sometimes I wonder if god telling Adam and Eve to "go forth and multiply" was a generous translation. Maybe he was tired of dealing with them and what he really said was "fuck off."

19

Never Allowed to be Myself

by NeverAllowestobeMyself in

so my handle has a typo, it is supposed to be never allowed to be myself but i'm okay with that because it is kind of symbolic of my situation.

as a born-in i have always had expectations forced on me, this is what you are to think, feel and do as a jehovah's witness.

my earliest memories involve being upset that i would die at armageddon because i was bad.

OneEyedJoe

As a child I learned quickly how to tell my parents, my friends parents, my friends, the elders, other members of the congregation, my teachers and eventually as an adult my co-workers, friends, children and spouse what they want to hear. It has become so ingrained in my personality that I do it subconsciously. So basically no one on this planet really knows who I am, what I think and how I truly feel about things.

Very well said. I'm sure many here can relate to this, I know I can. I'm starting to learn the joy that comes from being your genuine self and finding people that accept and appreciate you for it. It's so much better than any "friendship" I've ever had with JWs... If I'm honest it's brought me to tears a few times.

Wishing you the best of luck on your journey! You'll never look back!

43

The Modern Exodus: Perception or Reality?

by Hadriel in

i'm completely new at this however just in my joining this forum and of course interacting with others i can't help but notice what appears to be a significant exodus from the organization.. for those of you that have long been in this game have you seen this before?

i'm really curious and we should refrain from the sensational, but is what we're seeing different than in years past?.

it sure seems like so so many are waking and leaving.

OneEyedJoe

I felt the same way when I first joined the forum. I don't think what's happening could be accurately described as an exodus, more like a steady stream.

What I do think is significant, though, is the reasons people have been giving for showing up here in the past year or so. A lot of the folks that left a long time ago cite a lack of love or bully elders, etc as their reason for leaving. Before the only big doctrinal issues that seem to have woken up a good number were 607 and blood. There seems to have been a shift of late, though. People joining often cite a few common, org-wide, reasons for being here. It's the broadcasts and zone visits giving them a look at the true GB, it's overlapping generations, and ARC. These are no longer local issues waking people up, they're systemic. I think that will add up to a more consistent stream out of the org, and I think the people leaving for these reasons are more likely to research and wake up vs those that leave because a few elders wronged them and might be convinced to return.

16

The Watchtower Corporation gets to legally keep all the money and property assets, even if it does fail or reduce in numbers

by Finkelstein in

i think its vitally important to realized that the wts now has as of this year probably close to 2 billion in overall assets worldwide that it can live off for a very long time.

i get this gut feeling that the wts heads are positioning themselves and the organization in tentative survival mode for the long run.. so many cut backs, the selling off of many branches, the down sizing of much of its operations, are all tell tale hints that even the heads of this organization are preparing for the eventful devolving of this organization.

the wts gb leaders say that jah's chariot is moving along at a faster pace but in reflection of how this organization been conducting itself as of late, that wouldn't necessarily be the real truth of the matter.

OneEyedJoe

I'd be fine with it if they take the money and run. Above my desire to see these frauds thrown out on the street is my desire to see the end of the victimization of millions of people.

36

Estimating future growth or decline of Watchtower

by shepherdless in

i have seen a few posts here, in various guises, in relation to whether watchtower is in decline.

plenty of people respond, but it is all fairly anecdotal, or "gut feel".

some of it has been wishful thinking.. as of late 2015, watchtower's numbers suggest it is still growing marginally, but there are various anecdotes on this site of publishers typically being older, and younger ones disappearing.

OneEyedJoe

I haven't been in about a year, so I may be a little off, but I'd estimate the median age of my former congregation to be about 45. That may be a little conservative, though - it may be closer to 50. I think there's roughly 90-100 publishers assigned to the congregation with an average sunday attendance around 50-70. This is in the southern US.

I like this approach to estimating the decline. It will at least give us a reasonable estimate on the upper limit of how things will trend for the cult. I definitely agree that it will be a mostly slow decline with no mass exodus (unless something really big happens) and the decline will be mostly driven by the old ones dying off over the next decade or two. The problem, though, is that JWs aren't even keeping up with population growth rates so the decline will be more than what you'd estimate using normal models. To get more accurate you'd have to adjust the life expectancy figure to account for the young ones that leave, but that would be a tough thing to estimate.