The process is engineered to make it seem meaningful, to load it with consequences and obligations. It gives what they do the veneer of a religious rationale. It's still a load of hooey though when you take a step back from it all. Did you really sign a contract with invisible bearded guy in the sky? Really, really sign one? You didn't even sign one with the WBTS that has any meaning outside of JWland. No-one gets to dictate your life to you on that level unless you decide you want them to. Or you live in a repressive totalitarian dictatorship. That's the decision which is hidden behind it all and which they desperately mask behind words. It's always 'Jehovah' and 'the bible', never 'us guys in Brooklyn had a vote and 4 of us decided that...'.
Mephis
JoinedPosts by Mephis
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40
WT Study 1/10/16 Encouraging Child Baptism And More Nonsense
by JW_Rogue ini've noticed that each wt lesson really only has one or two points they want remembered.
normally they build up to these by about the third subheading.
this week's lesson though was different, the main point was insidiously made through an experience in the first paragraph:.
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Are G.B. Members Too Scared to Visit the U.K. ?
by The Searcher in... in case the u.k. charities commission summons them - like the australian royal commission snared mr. jackson?
why else would they be sending two of their personal boot-lickers?.
credit to wifibandit for this post.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5658621048258560/boe-2016-01-13-britain-branch-visit-2016-01-18-correct-use-jw-org-inboxes.
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Mephis
I've received a letter from them confirming that they will be looking at all (bolded and underlined) religions before they're done. The survivors who wish to contact them and put their stories on record won't be ignored.
There's been nothing on any of the Charity Commission investigations since last year's (failed) attempt by the WBTS to prevent the Moston and WBTS ones going ahead. Currently still listed as live investigations.
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Is there evidence for networks of abuse?
by slimboyfat ini tend to avoid the subject because it's too depressing, so i've probably missed lots of discussion about this issue.
but i read a comment on youtube yesterday that shocked me and made me wonder.
the person claimed that many years ago abusers in society generally identified jws as a safe haven for abusers and joined en masse order to exploit the situation.
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Mephis
There has been no evidence of this in any case I can recall. One doesn't really need networks of abusers to join up to have the JW problem. They have a culture and set of policies which allow abusers to go unchecked for years unless a survivor (or responsible adult) is able to report what happens as soon as it does. Which is often not something which will happen. I'd be really wary of a narrative of 'evil worldly men taking advantage of God's loving organisation'. Because that's JW buckpassing on a serious issue again. There may be abusers doing that, there may not be. But JW policies, procedures and internal culture enable abusers regardless. A perfect storm for abuse as I think counsel for ARC put it. -
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Are G.B. Members Too Scared to Visit the U.K. ?
by The Searcher in... in case the u.k. charities commission summons them - like the australian royal commission snared mr. jackson?
why else would they be sending two of their personal boot-lickers?.
credit to wifibandit for this post.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5658621048258560/boe-2016-01-13-britain-branch-visit-2016-01-18-correct-use-jw-org-inboxes.
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Mephis
The 12 investigations announced are the first twelve to be worked on. The inquiry will look at any and all abuse involving children over any time period Justice Goddard and her team decide is needed.
edit: "These 12 investigations constitute the first phase of the Inquiry’s work and further investigations will be announced as the Inquiry progresses."
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/investigations
There is also a charity commission investigation into JWs as a whole in Britain, as well as two into specific congregations.
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Fiery Furnace: A symbol or a literal?
by MercyBrew inmatt.
13: 24 - 30 contains a parable spoken by the lord jesus himself.
in it jesus spoke of a symbolic sower who sowed symbolic seeds in a symbolic field.
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Mephis
They're not alone in their view of it being a metaphorical fiery furnace. The problem is that they also reject the idea of it being a reference to hellfire/eternal damnation etc etc. It's not the only reference in Matthew to the whole thing either - Matthew 8:12 gives a similar sort of place.
Not a believer in the slightest, but I can't think of way to get Matthew 13:42 to fit JW doctrine without excessive use of derp. But then JW doctrine does this sort of thing a lot. It's doctrine by selective, context free, quotation.There's no internally consistent way in which they use canon scripture. Everything is literal until it's too inconvenient, and then those bits need interpretation back to what the writer really meant which miraculously always turns out to fit JW doctrine. Praise Jehovah. That approach is even set out as one of the things they did for the recent NWT revisions.
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Any William Miller Scholars out there?
by neverendingjourney infor those who may not be aware, the 1914 date was arrived at by russell by using the same framework of the failed prophetic interpretations of the adventist preacher william miller.
see this chart:.
if you look at the top right of the chart, he uses the same 7-times reasoning to arrive at the 2,520 years (7 times=7 multiplied by 360-day years=2,520 years).
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Mephis
@neverendingjourney. For sure. That's something Dowling picks up in his argument against Miller with the 2300 days prophecy in Daniel 8:14. Where do you start it from? You can pick any date which you fancy up to 70 AD I guess. -
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Any William Miller Scholars out there?
by neverendingjourney infor those who may not be aware, the 1914 date was arrived at by russell by using the same framework of the failed prophetic interpretations of the adventist preacher william miller.
see this chart:.
if you look at the top right of the chart, he uses the same 7-times reasoning to arrive at the 2,520 years (7 times=7 multiplied by 360-day years=2,520 years).
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Mephis
Miller dated the invasion of Israel and capture of Manasseh to 677 bc.. That was when he reckoned Israel no longer was a nation. So that was why he started from there.
edit: incidentally, even at the time he was being criticised for trying to work the date backwards to Manasseh.
eg Dowling's Reply to Miller: https://archive.org/details/expositionofprop00dowl
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New WT pdf tells children to report. Irony?
by wifibandit inpdf.
why won't watchtower tell abusers "i'm going to tell on you!
" and follow through with the proper authorities?
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Mephis
Bottom line for me is that they should have policies in place to protect children, and vulnerable adults too. They know how to contact experts in child protection policy, they showed that by getting one to do a survey of their literature for court cases, so really they be looking to have a review of the policies. ARC has pointed out the huge problems they have beyond it being a case of telling kids to say 'no'. To do otherwise is willfully negligent. I won't damn them for trying to figure out how to do it, but that pdf isn't addressing the institutional (and cultural) problem they have - any more than telling people 'pedophilia is bad' from the platform does. -
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Mephis
If I'm looking for a decent translation of a verse, I tend to look to NIV first. -
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Massive Plunge in Number of New JW Congregations from 1990 to 2014
by steve2 inin a separate thread on the very latest figures for the current world wide annual report of jws, discussion turned to how "we'll know decline has really set in.
one of the posters said: .
the figure that interests me most is the number of congregations.
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Mephis
One of the latest watchtowers has a study article on why people shouldn't be skipping meetings. That's usually a sign that they've noticed a decline in attendances.