I feel ya FMF, my intent wasn't to get anyone bent out of shape. It pissed me off too. But beyond my reaction was just how mind blowing it is the free pass that they give the FDS for any and everything they do when even the scriptures that they use as a basis for the FDS are not conclusive that they would indeed be doing right by the work they had to do. It wasn't a given, but JW's set them on high in a way that resembles any cult out there.
dubstepped
JoinedPosts by dubstepped
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12
The Power Of "IF"
by dubstepped inso, the whole may money grab episode of jwtv really looks bad to me and many others, obviously many here.
i was looking on another website dedicated to active jw's and if you'll notice on post number 109 a little ways down (<click there to read) a person named luca dares to express some concerns over the latest episode.
the following pages do contain one more person that has some issue with how things were presented.
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12
The Power Of "IF"
by dubstepped inso, the whole may money grab episode of jwtv really looks bad to me and many others, obviously many here.
i was looking on another website dedicated to active jw's and if you'll notice on post number 109 a little ways down (<click there to read) a person named luca dares to express some concerns over the latest episode.
the following pages do contain one more person that has some issue with how things were presented.
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dubstepped
So, the whole May Money Grab episode of JWTV really looks bad to me and many others, obviously many here. I was looking on another website dedicated to active JW's and if you'll notice on post number 109 a little ways down (<click there to read) a person named Luca dares to express some concerns over the latest episode. The following pages do contain one more person that has some issue with how things were presented. However, what is of interest to me is to watch the mental gymnastics required by the other brothers and sisters to make the doubters feel bad, and themselves feel better. The misapplication of scriptures, the things the FDS has said like that there would be some times where people would be asked to do something that they didn't understand, but to do it anyway like it was some test from Jehovah. Apparently it isn't that the organization has bitten off more than it can chew, it is that they were biting off an appropriate amount but then the brothers and sisters are at fault because they shrunk back in their donations.
So it is clear from the attitudes of those in the organization as a majority that the FDS can do no wrong. They are directly inspired by Jehovah, and whatever they do is indeed the hand of God reaching down and making them do it. It is laughable that even in the Bible Jehovah allowed himself to be questioned, but not these men. If nothing else, as one member there shows, to question openly in anything seen in public could be discouraging to others, and as we all know, they are ALL about appearances. As long as the cup looks clean on the outside, who cares what's in it.
Now, here comes the "IF" that JW's seem to completely ignore. The scriptures in Matthew 24 near the end talk about the FDS. Verse 45 mentions the FDS that would be appointed over the domestics, to give them food at the proper time. However, the very next verse that nobody seems to mention says "Happy is that slave IF his master on coming finds him doing so!" IF.......if.........if. Not WHEN, as if it was a foregone conclusion, but if, indicating that there would be doubt.
Now, I'm not going to sit here and condemn anyone. I do believe that lots of spiritual food has been dispensed. It isn't like there isn't zeal for doing so. However, is it possible even one bit that maybe they're overzealous? Could they be running ahead of Jehovah and trying to force projects and such when it isn't clear that Jehovah is blessing it, as they don't have the funds for the plans they're making? A person that is overzealous often cares and out of that care they are unbalanced and become manipulative and controlling. It is just as bad as a person without any zeal. They end up hurting lots of people in the process, whichever way they go.
Why does nobody mention the IF? Why do so many JW's see them as infallible when they have actually admitted to being fallible? Heck, they've even said themselves that they are the FDS, now with more discreet, as they were apparently lacking discretion at times but things have been progressively revealed. But the rank and file have put them up on such a pedestal that they are almost seen as God himself.
I know that many just see everything they do as tainted and manipulative garbage. I know that many too don't see them as representative of God because God isn't real. But whatever the case, if you look at it even with eyes of a JW with any thinking ability whatsoever, it is just appalling how much power they give the organization and in particular the FDS in their lives. One person is apparently cashing out life insurance policies and others applaud them in doing so because one person even said that they would literally give everything they had to the organization if they could. That just wreaks of really unstable people and mental disease so severe that is is really sad. I know what it was like to not think for myself. It wasn't that long ago. Actually, I always could, and I questioned things that didn't make sense since I was a kid, but it wasn't until recently that I could get past all of the stops that the FDS put in my head that made me unable to walk away. You know, fear of eternal death. Not keeping up with the chariot, which is how they can justify anything. The catch phrases are too many to go over, but it took a while for me to get over those hurdles. The manipulation and mind control makes me very sad.
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Why I remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses
by Brother Jeramy inallow me to begin with a clarification: when i say i am one of jehovah's witnesses, i don't mean that i am an advocate of the watchtower society or a devotee of some of its more controversial false teachings.
i mean that i am a christian, a disciple of jesus christ dedicated to jehovah god, and who remains in union with my brothers and sisters who make up the family of faith that globally refers to itself as jehovah's witnesses.
some totally understand the distinction between the family of brothers and sisters and the corporate organization known as the watchtower society (wts).
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dubstepped
The OP lost me as soon as I saw that he couldn't spell "Jeremy".
Honestly though, I have no major issues with his post. Many in the organization want to label it 100% truth, and many out of it want to label it 100% false, so at least he seemed to realize that there are issues. I'm fading happily and although I see a lot of things that make me mad, I can see some teachings that I do respect and lessons that were good in my life. I also want to scream if I attend a meeting and listen to people spout off the latest buzzwords of the organization and repeat falsehoods and hyperbole, so I can't go. It is the yin and the yang, the good and bad, and the organization seems more and more to be going down the path of ridiculous group dynamics whereby the people get sucked in more and the leaders gain more influence. It happens all of the time in human groups. I just can't be there while it goes down. If the emperor has no clothes and people don't want to see it, I can't live in that kind of denial while others may be able to. At this point in life the organization only takes from me. I get nothing out of the meetings or anything else. You can only treat people like objects instead of human beings for so long before they decide not to take it any longer. I know that for others, their mileage varies greatly. A lot has to do with the congregational attitude in your locale, the mental and emotional makeup of the individual, etc.
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How Do You Feel About All The Time You Wasted Being. A Jehovah's Witness?
by minimus inall that i can say is....what a shame!
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dubstepped
No regrets here. Few things are all good or all bad. There were positives in with the negatives, though at this point the negatives win out. It isn't like if I had been doing something else life would have been sunshine and rainbows and unicorn farts. Everybody has good and bad in their lives no matter what they do. I don't really believe that things would have been all that different in the ratio of good to bad. Sure, I missed out on some time with people that I could have had better relationships with, but thosr also could have been destructive relationships that I avoided. I was both denied experiences and protected from experiences that could have been devastating. -
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Icons, venerated symbols, and organizations
by CloseTheDoor ina recently published article called "a feast to jehovah" at http://meletivivlon.com/2015/05/12/a-feast-to-jehovah/ discusses the use of icons, venerated symbols and organizations, the jw.org logo, and more being used in the org.some of you might find it interesting as some of the comments on the site (and in other article) which are often from current (but thinking) jws.
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dubstepped
Thanks for the links. I stumbled upon that site once and never bookmarked it and certainly couldn't remember the name or url. I've got it now and really enjoy the site. Started poking around there last night. I like the commentary without the harsh attitude that some have. -
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On the subject of Child Baptism - Video
by cappytan inso, the latest "kids" kingdom melody video is out.. here are some screenshots:.
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yep, that's right, they showed a kid with a teddy bear getting baptized.. here's the video in full for documentation, if you can stomach it.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ellrtyj_maq.
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dubstepped
Hey, I see no reason that a person that can grasp the depths of productions like Disney movies (without magic, of course) can't devote the rest of their lives to an organization at that same age. Sure, some kids make pacts to be "best friends forever" (which we know always lasts) around the same time as their baptism, and some of them are afraid of the dark, some haven't a clue as to what the anatomy of the opposite sex might look like, but these kids are ready for big decisions. They'd eat cake and ice cream for dinner if their parents weren't around (okay maybe nothing wrong with that), and they may not be able to hold a job yet, but they can feed at Jehovah's table and work for his organization through a lifelong dedication. And if they don't live up to the hype, we'll just cast them aside and find another. No biggie. Their loss, not ours. -
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On the subject of Child Baptism - Video
by cappytan inso, the latest "kids" kingdom melody video is out.. here are some screenshots:.
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yep, that's right, they showed a kid with a teddy bear getting baptized.. here's the video in full for documentation, if you can stomach it.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ellrtyj_maq.
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dubstepped
Wait, the video suggests it's wrong to build a snowman??? Still can't stomach it so you will have to tell me
At 1:15 you see two kids building a snowman while a kid holds his dad's hand out in service. He looks longingly or shocked at them building it (not sure which) and then smiles because he knows he's doing the better and right thing by being out with his dad in the ministry. Maybe the message isn't that snowmen are bad. Maybe just having fun is, or just having fun when you could be in the ministry, or maybe it is the snowman, but regardless that little kid knows he's better than those other kids who aren't doing what he is.
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On the subject of Child Baptism - Video
by cappytan inso, the latest "kids" kingdom melody video is out.. here are some screenshots:.
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yep, that's right, they showed a kid with a teddy bear getting baptized.. here's the video in full for documentation, if you can stomach it.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ellrtyj_maq.
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dubstepped
Beyond my snowman remark, as I find their judgementalism to be ridiculous, I have a major issue with young people getting baptized. I remember articles back when I was younger deriding child baptisms, and how young people would just get baptized in their parent's religion and how they never really made decisions as it was a default for them to follow in their family's footsteps. What the eff do you think that Witness kids do? They have to follow in their parent's footsteps. If you aren't baptized by the time you're a young adult (let's say 16) people start asking about you. Assumptions are made as to your character. Some dads have elder's roles to fulfill, and part of that is having good young women and men that are baptized (nobody really cares about the whole dedication thing, it's all about the outward symbol, because as we all know it is how you appear that matters most). I hate the way kids are pushed into getting baptized. I knew that I needed to, and I did genuinely want to, but only because I wanted to do what was right, not because I had any relationship with God. I was just a smart kid that could answer questions. Heck, a trained monkey could answer many questions. I'll never forget one particular elder that went over my questions with me. I would phrase the answers in my own words because I knew that was the best way to show sincerity, as the WT magazines told me so, so I would give well thought out answers. The elder would sit across from me and kind of tell me that what I had was a night thought, but that the answer was "insert word for word answer here from a publication". He was too dumb to get what I was saying because as a kid I could talk over his head. I thought I had "failed", but they managed to put me through. Either he understood more than he let on or the other two elders knew that he was a knucklehead. Regardless, these kids can't get married, or often drive a car, or make decisions at to what time to go to bed, but they can engage in a lifelong dedication to a God that is the only one they've ever known or really even heard of, dedicated to an organization that is the only one they've ever known and that is controlling their feelings and thoughts from a young age. That is utter and complete crap.
If you only have one choice in a matter, did you really make a decision?
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On the subject of Child Baptism - Video
by cappytan inso, the latest "kids" kingdom melody video is out.. here are some screenshots:.
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yep, that's right, they showed a kid with a teddy bear getting baptized.. here's the video in full for documentation, if you can stomach it.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ellrtyj_maq.
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dubstepped
What's wrong with building a snowman? -
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Ties at the Kingdom Hall
by CloseTheDoor incouple of weeks ago an elder took a young man aside and crawled all over him after the tms for wearing a "skinny" tie.
it was one of those 2 inch wide ties.
nothing bright or scandalous about.
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dubstepped
From my experience, not all about me:
Hair too long
Suit too gold, wrong color, style issue
Buttons/broaches too shiny
Hair wrong color
Didn't shave before meeting
Must wear suit jacket even in 100 degree weather out in service
