OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  36

  2017 Memorial Partakers

  by NashvilleTele in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when does the number of memorial partakers get released for 2017. i was wondering if the number will surpass 20k.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Sometimes they announce memorial stats at the annual meeting, so we may find out next weekend. I doubt they're particularly proud of this one, though, so probably not. Reasonable chance we'll find out the total number that attended.
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  12

  A "Three-fold cord"?

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we all know of the well used scripture that speaks of "a three-fold cord" in marriage.. sure, it is meant to indicate that any marriage that has "god" in it as the foundation of the couple's life will be successful.

  but how often have we noticed that what it really means for witnesses is that the society, or the gb has the right to be an unwelcome and nosey intruder in the lives of couples.

  every decision that family unit makes is influenced by the organisation.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Sure, it is meant to indicate that any marriage that has "God" in it as the foundation of the couple's life will be successful.
  

  Is it? The context gives no indication that the scripture is talking about marriage at all. It seems to be talking mostly about cooperation and building relationships (though not specifically marriage) that make your life meaningful. There's also no indication that the third cord of the threefold cord is meant to indicate god. The context is entirely about people helping one another so there's no reason to believe that the third cord would be anything other than another person. Actually, there's really nothing to indicate any intrinsic significance to the use of the number three for the cords - a twisted rope made of two strands doesn't stay together as well as a braided rope of three, so it may simply be a relic of the fact that a threefold cord would be much more common and the author was just pointing out that there's strength in numbers, which, again, is supported by the context.
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  22

  Parents who try to make you feel guilty.

  by NJ501 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  when parents say all the things we've done for you and your not doing anything for us in return like going to meetings, witnessing, answering up etc... how do you respond to parents?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  The key, at least for me, is to build up your own self-confidence and objectivity. You know it's a cult. You know to participate in its activities makes you complicit in fraud, abuse and even (via the blood policy and HLC manipulation) murder. Why would you ever feel guilty for failure to participate? You ought to be proud that you've taken a stand against the evils of the cult at great cost to you.

  What worked for me while I had lingering feelings of guilt/doubt was to mentally walk myself down the path that I'd taken that led me to leaving. Walk back past all the deaths the cult has caused (blood ban, malawi, organ transplant ban, etc etc) and all the money it's taken and all the child victims of pedophiles it's turned it's back on and all the lies it's told you. If you do this enough times when you start to feel doubt/guilt, it becomes second nature and you know the path so well that you skip over the guilt altogether.

  Now that's probably not an effective response to your parents, but it's the first part of having one - it will help you to be unaffected by their appeals which will be instrumental in stopping them doing it. My response to attempts to make me feel guilty by pointing out the fact of my lack of participation in cult activities is simply to acknowledge the facts, then offer to give them my reasons if they'd like to hear it. Getting emotional (any emotion, as it turns out) will only validate their preconceived notions. If you respond with guilt, they'll see it as "you know it's the truth." Anger makes you a bitter apostate. Exasperation at their ignorance means you're condescending and puffed up with pride. In my experience, dispassionate fact-based discourse quickly shuts down the conversation because it dispels any notion that they might have of manipulating you, and they certainly can't suffer facts long as they quickly being to cast the cult in a bad light. They know this on some level and therefore avoid the conversation altogether.
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  114

  JW Stumper Questions - List You Best Here

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi guys.

  sooner or later we're going to get a jw knocking on our door.

  just like when we were jw's doing the knocking, it's good to have a question prepared to get them thinking about their own beliefs.

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  OneEyedJoe

  You claim that Jesus has returned and that armageddon is near. Bearing that in mind, why would I join you in defiance of Luke 21:8 -

  Look out that you are not misled, for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time is near.’ Do not go after them.
  
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  10

  JW All seeing eye property

  by wwjdnwt in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  https://youtu.be/t0nfxs7cans have you guys seen this?

  i googled it on my pc and pulled same thing.

  crazy stuff.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Personally, I feel like anyone who's likely to leave the cult because of something like this is also likely to just wind up in another cult of one description or another. I feel that criticism of their use of psychological tricks to manipulate and control is a far more important thing to expose and this borders on worthless. Possibly worse than worthless since it just makes exJWs look like lunatics if a JW stumbles upon this.
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  20

  Why the verb shun is missing from the JW lexicon

  by cognisonance in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so my parents when i confronted them about how unhappy i am at them shunning me, responded by saying: "you keep using the word shunning, we're not shunning you.

  "i am a bit confused how they can say that.

  i'm an ex-jw and an atheist.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Aha that's it! Highly significant that they begin to own this word, in my view

  Well, nevertheless the fact that they admit they in fact shun people as stated on the website, and they use this word, means that when someone says they don't shun people, you can just show them the website. This will shut them up
  

  I don't think it's so significant, given the context. JWs will do lots of mental gymnastics to deny what their own leadership has said when they know it's morally wrong. I once complained at how they demonized education and was told that they don't really mean that no one should go to school, it's just that there's a lot of people that go to school and get a useless degree, wasting their time and money, and they have to phrase things more harshly to get through to those ones. In the case of their use of the word shunning in an FAQ - I would fully expect any JW that denies shunning to say something like "well this is a FAQ for the public, so they're putting things into broad terms that the public will understand. It's not really shunning."

  The cult trains JWs to compartmentalize information (e.g. they'll tell you at the door that they're not looking to convert anyone, they just want to talk about the bible!) to the point that they'll see it when the cult is doing it and think that it's a valid approach to explaining things. Most JWs know (at least implicitly) that they lie to the public for their ends, so they'll have no problem claiming that they've lied to public when cornered.
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  23

  youngest baptised.

  by zeb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what is the youngest you have seen someone baptised?

  i recall seeing a 9 yo girl baptised..

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  OneEyedJoe

  I've seen a 7 year old get baptized. I recall COs giving talks in which they mentioned 5 and 6 year old children getting baptized. One CO himself was baptized at 6.
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  12

  John 1:3

  by Hi y-all in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  john 1:3 states in the nwt, "all things came into existence through him, and apart from him (the word, or jesus) not even one thing came into existence.".

  the wt states apart from him one thing came into existence, that is, jesus the first created being.. is there an explanation for this apparent contradiction?.

  thanks!.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Is there an explanation for this apparent contradiction?
  

  Yes. The bible is nonsense, rife with contradictions.
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  20

  Why the verb shun is missing from the JW lexicon

  by cognisonance in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so my parents when i confronted them about how unhappy i am at them shunning me, responded by saying: "you keep using the word shunning, we're not shunning you.

  "i am a bit confused how they can say that.

  i'm an ex-jw and an atheist.

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  OneEyedJoe

  If you refuse to name something, it becomes much more difficult to criticize. They know the practice doesn't stand up to scrutiny, so they never name so that any criticism of the practice is fraught with grey areas that the cult mind can retreat in to as a refuge.
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  27

  An honest question for those who were "born-in"

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just wanted to ask a question of those who were born in as i was.. how did you feel to have been "privileged to have been born into the only true faith - the truth"?.

  did this make you feel confident, or proud - or perhaps arrogant?.

  how did you reconcile the fact that 99% of the earth's population was not born "into the truth"?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I wasn't really aware of the coincidence of my birth until my late teens (don't get me wrong, though, I was an arrogant little cunt as a child as far as religion was concerned - so proud to "have the truth") at which point I started thinking, "If I hadn't been raised a JW, I'd definitely be an atheist." I had enough objectivity to see that JWs must look pretty wacky from the outside, but still trapped by the pressure of family (and, well, everyone I'd ever had any sort of relationship with) to not rock the boat. In retrospect, once I started letting myself think about things with any objectivity at all, my JW days were numbered.