Posts by OneEyedJoe

9

memorial talk, the Sunday before the memorial

by nonjwspouse in

my husband just realized that our trip out of town to see lots of extended family members is over the saturday of the memorial.

he looked all disappointed.

(in light of his recent behaviors this kind of surprised me).

OneEyedJoe

Oh, pre-memorial talk on sunday, I misunderstood. I'm not sure what it's about this year, but generally it goes something like this: State some problem that exists in the world, then assert that only god can fix it and you can feel better about everything if you become a JW, talk to anyone in the congregation about studying. Mix in some guilt, lots of fear mongering and overwhelming statements and that's about it. Then super boring watchtower study afterwards where they read a paragraph and people take turns reading bits of the paragraph back. Occasionally a nutter in the congregation will give a rambling off-topic tirade about their life.

9

memorial talk, the Sunday before the memorial

by nonjwspouse in

my husband just realized that our trip out of town to see lots of extended family members is over the saturday of the memorial.

he looked all disappointed.

(in light of his recent behaviors this kind of surprised me).

OneEyedJoe

Don't get too down in the dumps about him not being far along enough to miss the memorial...that's the biggest thing for all JWs. In hindsight I'm not exactly sure why, but it definitely gets everyone coming out of the woodwork.

Memorial is a boring hour long talk with light refreshments that no one is allowed to eat/drink. Typical JW guilt and sales pitch. As far as interruptions to your plans, it's probably the best you could hope for because due to the scheduling they often shuttle people in and out pretty quickly and have to keep it relatively short.

9

NaijaNews Article: Here Are Seven Beliefs That Make Jehovah Witness Different From Other Christians

by AndersonsInfo in

[the link states "six beliefs" but the title mentions "seven beliefs.

" looks like someone goofed!

here are seven beliefs that make jehovah witness different from other christians.

OneEyedJoe

Is it just me or is this a terribly written article? I don't think articles like this really do anything to dissuade anyone from being/joining the JWs...The things they list hardly make them unique and the article at times almost seems to be in support of the religion - mention of the deaths due to the blood ban is conspicuous by it's absence, they just provide scriptures that seem to support JWs. The writing is absolutely abhorrent and they even forgot they were doing a numbered list by point 3.

The terrible writing will probably keep anyone from ever actually getting to the last three points (the last two of which are essentially the same) which are the only ones that are really likely to raise alarms for most people.

131

Do Jehovah's Witnesses Accept Evolution?

by jukief in

by evolution or by creation?

"the bible is a myth" and "evolution is true".

OneEyedJoe

Darwin's, now infamous, "absurd in the highest degree" quote was the one that did it for me. The creation book used that quote (where he was using a rhetorical device to set up his explanation of how the eye could have evolved) to claim that Darwin acknowledged that the eye couldn't have been formed by an evolutionary process, but what did it for me was their statement right after the misquote - they asked "Has this problem been solved today?" and provided the unqualified answer "No." It was literally solved in the paragraph immediately following their out-of-context quote, by Darwin himself. Up to that point I was aware of a lot of things (like the 607 issue) that I could at least see their side of it being maybe sorta plausible - maybe satan had some grand conspiracy to falsify evidence or something - but in this case it was just blatant dishonesty that could not possibly be forgiven as a mistake. Once I knew that they were willing to lie in their literature, I knew they had done it time and again.

131

Do Jehovah's Witnesses Accept Evolution?

by jukief in

by evolution or by creation?

"the bible is a myth" and "evolution is true".

OneEyedJoe

Thanks, this made me happy. Given that it was the indefensible misquotes and associated outright lies in the creation book that finally broke the cult spell for me, I rather enjoyed this.

27

Satan is "bullying" you through family

by neat blue dog in

just thought i'd share this ridiculous picture from a recent watchtower.

in recent years, the word bullying has been thrown around a lot, and often misused by instigators and subtle bullies themselves.

in this picture we learn that your loving family who wants to continue sharing a family tradition with you, who hands you a beautifully wrapped present with a smile on their face, is in fact bullying you.

OneEyedJoe

It's all very orweilian. Every word is redefined to be it's opposite:

The masters are the "slave" (FDS)

Being "spiritual" means giving materially and with physical acts of devotion.

Kicking someone out on the street and thinking of them as if they have been killed by god is a "loving arrangement"

"The truth" is all lies

"The truth will set you free" - it frees you from being able to do whatever you want and live with the consequences...

It's not brainwashing, it's having your mind cleansed of impure thought

And now, it's not a genuine desire to share happy family traditions and give generously, it's bullying.

27

Solicitors Appontment Tomorrow - Advice Appreciated

by pale.emperor in

following up on this thread: https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5012900121935872/am-overreacting-here?page=3#!#5179106934128640.

im seeing my solicitor tomorrow to see about getting an order in place making sure any contact my daughter has with my jw family goes through me and not my ex-wife.. explained the situation briefly to the lawyer, she was asking more and more about why should i be concerned if a jw had access to my child.. i mentioned the blood issue, the shunning, the inappropriate pictures of armageddon in books/mags etc.

do you think i should bring in watchtower literature to show them what i mean?

OneEyedJoe

Along with the negative material meant directly for child consumption, I'd bring the bit where it says apostates are "mentally diseased" and anything you can find where it suggests that apostates are evil, influenced by satan, etc. I think the likelihood that they will interfere with your child and try to poison her attitudes against you with religious dogma would make your concerns extremely relatable.

42

I HATE JW funerals

by jws in

jw
friends

jw funeral last night.

it was about half an hour from start to finish.

they opened with basic facts about the person.

OneEyedJoe

Yeah...it's the issues you mention that makes me pretty sure I'll never go to a JW funeral service. It's not about the deceased, and it's not about those who are mourning them.

You also correctly point out that the JW system puts zero focus on actually comforting mourners or helping them to grieve in a healthy way. It's my theory that this is also effectively helps the cult by keeping people perpetually in a state of having not really dealt with the loss of loved ones that have passed. They are continually held in the state of thinking they may see these people "the day after tomorrow" when armageddon comes (they even had videos at the convention in 2014 that reinforced the idea that these folks would be back almost suddenly) so they never come to terms with the loss. The loss becomes part of the emotional framework of the cult - it's another link in the chains that keep them locked in the cul.

9

New Life Story From Active JW On AvoidJW

by AverageJoe1 in

just came across this a few minutes ago:.

http://avoidjw.org/en/true-stories/pimo/.

it’s just been posted and is quite lengthy but it makes a change to read something from a reasonable jw!

OneEyedJoe

I can relate a lot to his thinking when I look back to myself when I was in. Just give him a few years pretending (and maybe the end of an otherwise happy marriage) and he'll probably have a slight change in opinion about some apostates' use of vulgarity when expressing displeasure with the cult....

11

Since the Borg is so interested in money why not do the following to keep and gain new members:

by Sour Grapes in

make the taking of blood transfusion a conscience matter since the bible forbids just the eating of blood.. have youth programs for the congregations like basketball teams, baseball teams, etc.. still not allow the celebration of christmas and easter because of the pagan origins, but allow birthdays, mother and father day celebrations.

the cart people currently love baby showers to celebrate the birth of a baby but then they can't celebrate the birth date of the same baby one year later.. only have the best speakers give the talks on sundays.

too many monotone, just read the outline speakers now.. drop the members giving talks during the clam meetings.. allow the jdubs to count time to visit the sick, help the elderly with chores, to visit members in nursing homes.. not have meetings for service on saturday mornings.

OneEyedJoe

My suggestions would increase membership and donations

Would they? I can see your train of thought, but the reality is that people switch religions more or less at random. If they leave the religion they were raised in, they typically end up in a new one by convenience or based on the community that happens to have formed around that religion in their locality. The only exception to this is those that shed their religion altogether, which makes up a disproportionately large destination for people that are changing religion from how they were raised.

At best these changes would make an impact over a very long term basis, but in the short term they'd lose much of what helps them retain membership, and that could potentially kill them off before they had a chance to reap rewards from the changed policies.