Posts by dubstepped

35

More money-grubbing: Give us your money even if you can't afford food

by bohm in

jw
friends

the message would appear to be that jehovah needs money more than that old lady needs food:.

.

dubstepped

Splash15 hours agoThe WT completely miss the point of this account.
Both versions of the needy widow in Lu 21 and Ma 12 start with Jesus giving a warning to his disciples who are about to witness the widow making herself destitute. Jesus says "Beware of the scribes... they devour the houses of the widows".
Continuing, he sits his disciples down near the treasury chests to demonstrate what he means.
The poor widow comes by and puts in everything she has - "she, out of her want, put in everything she had, all she had to live on".
How can this be commendable?
She is the centre of Jesus lesson on how not to be like the scribes who demand too much, even from those who can least afford it. We know how Jesus felt about the self-important, self serving scribes and pharisees. The GB are just the modern day equivalent, equal in their delusion and cruelty.

WTF?! Where did this explanation come from? Why have I never noticed those preceding verses? Does any religion point that out? Or were we just snowed as JWs by the latter part of that? It blew my mind when I saw your explanation. Of course that's what he was doing. It's no coincidence that he mentions widows and then points out a widow that donated all she had to those religious leaders. Wow, mind blown.

I always took issue with the explanation from the JWs. I always wondered how it was commendable to be so unreasonable as to literally give everything you had with nothing left. I thought we weren't supposed to put God to the test, and it sounds like that's what she was doing. It never made sense to me. I get that being charitable is a good thing, but what she did always sounded like lunacy to me. No wonder. It wasn't the point in the first place. Damn. I don't believe in the BIble or any of that anymore, but it still blows my mind to see how the wool was pulled over my eyes since I was a kid.

33

"You Can Do Just Enough Ministry To Dislike It"

by pale.emperor in

when you were "in" did you ever actually enjoy the ministry?

and i made no secret about it.

instead i would joke about me feather knocking, and made sure i had my bible in hand so as they come to the door they know what im about so they can shut me down before i even start.. i always wondered how or why there were people who enjoyed it.

dubstepped

I liked working with certain people and getting to know them, or with friends. I liked knowing the area I lived in so well. I liked going to work unassigned territory because people were more receptive and all it was about was placing literature as you didn't have to ever go back. Plus the local congregation was happy to see you. Some had big picnics afterward that could be fun.

I really didn't like it in general. Knocking on doors where nobody cared was a waste of time. I was never comfortable talking to people like that and had a lot of anxiety about it. Often we rode in hot cars with no fresh air and walked away a little car sick. It was largely busy work. I hate when people show up to my door unannounced and hated doing that to others. Field service was the first thing to go for us. We just couldn't sell a product that we had doubts about. Probably six years or more later we were officially out.

31

At A Loss

by azor in

jw
friends

my wife is in the hospital.

complications of a ruptured appendix.

she had it removed around 1am friday morning.

dubstepped

I'm so sorry Azor. I know it's cliche, but just focus on the now. One day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute if you need to. In the end the only thing that matters is your wife's health. Just focus on being supportive for her and helping her through a tough time. The rest is all noise. Family crap, JW crap, whatever else in life you have, it will all be there later so there's no use wasting time on it now, and honestly none of it matters that much. Your wife does, so give her that emotional energy and be there for her. You can do this, and she can too, and kids are resilient and will be fine without 100% of your attention while you two deal with this. I can't offer prayers anymore but I can be here, like others, to let you vent, to give you a pep talk, to help you stay centered. Focus, stay strong, and let the rest go.

26

"Why Did JWs Ignore Princes Drug Additctions?" by Barbara Anderson

by AndersonsInfo in

over a month ago, the associated press in minneapolis reported that counterfeit pills were found at prince’s home.

some contained powerful opioid fentanyl, a synthetic drug 50 times stronger than heroin found in dozens of pills.

these and other mislabeled drugs were found in luggage belonging to the late music star.

dubstepped

Lots of people abuse prescription drugs under the excuse of "pain". Someone locally revealed to us that a bunch of dubs living in an area were all addicts and nobody would do anything. Proving that those meds aren't needed or getting into the personal private medical records of individuals is near impossible. I don't think that Prince was special in this way. It's a hard to regulate area.

18

Tell me if I'm right or wrong

by Chook in

jws say they can go anywhere in the world and they " know" that they would be shown hospitality from their fellow brothers.

of all my years as a jw i found this wasn't the case.

i honestly believe that if i turned up at any of my fellow apostates on here house and said hi i'm chook can we have a coffee, the response would be how many sugars..

dubstepped

Yeah, your estimation of apostates is too high, as was the claim made by JWs.

21

Is remaining ignorant a choice?

by stuckinarut2 in

is remaining ignorant about the society a choice?.

surely every witness has a moment in time when "something just doesn't seem right"?

perhaps a teaching, doctrine, an article, a talk, a news report about child abuse handling, or a jwdubdotorg broadcast, a video, a cartoon for the kids....you know....?.

dubstepped

If it is a choice, why do psychological sales tactics need to be used on people? To me that shows that the goal is to override the ability to make autonomous choices. Drug addicts have choice overridden until and unless they get the tools to take choice back from chemistry in their brain. Everything being a matter of choice is a JW teaching that moralizes all activity. Psychology itself shows how easily manipulated we all are. We can do things and be made to think it was our choice when in fact someone manipulated us.

21

Is remaining ignorant a choice?

by stuckinarut2 in

is remaining ignorant about the society a choice?.

surely every witness has a moment in time when "something just doesn't seem right"?

perhaps a teaching, doctrine, an article, a talk, a news report about child abuse handling, or a jwdubdotorg broadcast, a video, a cartoon for the kids....you know....?.

dubstepped

I don't think it's a conscious choice, but more a byproduct of conditioning. Fear, obligation, and guilt are used to get the emotions to override the intellect. The choice isn't to remain ignorant, but rather to "be loyal" or "avoid apostate lies" or whatever. Ignorance may end up being a result of those choices by default, but it's not the known intent on their part. I think what they lack most of all is the emotional toolset to overcome the cognitive dissonance.

26

The bOrg Cult Tactics

by pale.emperor in

i'm wondering if the borg actually studied mind control and coercion tactics deliberately or wether they just evolved over time through trial and error.

from reading steve hassans books, studying hypnosis and methods psychopaths use it all seems very complex.

like it would never occur to me to do a, b and c in the right order at the right time in order to get control of someone or control their lives.. for example, repetition of words (the word "loyalty" was a big one in the last convention), using loaded language, encouraging people not to trust their own thoughts, restricting their information, demonising those who leave etc.

dubstepped

I think Scratchme nailed it. They don't sit down one day and decide to go full cult. I think that what starts as good motives starts leaning toward control, and as that intensifies over the years as the leaders take more power and subordinates willingly give it up there's just a natural progression that results in common characteristics seen across multiple groups. Those in charge start controlling more with the reasoning that it's for the good of the people. It's a progression, borne of control with good intent, that simply gets out of control and more extreme over time.

33

RIP dad, who introduced me to this fairytail of everlastin life and paradise :(

by Frezia in

jw
friends

less than 5 hours ago my great dad fell asleep the last time :( still in a bit of a shock and sad that i will not see him again...i promised myself that once he is here no more, i will somehow make my move out of this organisation who kept us all captive believing in a fantasy of an everlasting life :( i am in a tricky situation, since raised as jw, still in, married to an active jw, and pretty sure that all in my social and family circle will turn their backs on me if i finally say goodbye to a fairytail ;(.

dubstepped

I'm so sorry for your loss. I lost my dad in April, though honestly I lost him in September of 2015 when I disassociated. Yet another thing that happened in this system of things that wasn't supposed to. Congrats on waking up from the fairytale. I'm also sorry you had to.

3

Perfectionism

by lriddle80 in

do any of you suffer from perfectionism?

i do and it may be the message that jw's put out there.

growing up in that religion, it's all about doing more, field service, meeting attendance, study, conventions, etc.

dubstepped

Oh yeah, I'm a recovering perfectionist and just like an alcoholic I'll always be in recovery. It's too easy to slip back into old patterns. Black and white thinking is a cognitive distortion that is a hallmark of perfectionism, and not much is more black and white than JWs.

I highly recommend the book "Happier" by Tal-Ben Shahar. That book really saved me from a lot of my perfectionism and helped me change my perception. I read a few others on the subject, but that one always stood out to me.

You, as you are right now, are enough. JWs teach you that you're never enough. I personally think that the whole concept of God and the Bible was created to control humans, something that perfectionism is all about (control), and since shedding perfectionism I've also shed the JW cult and the need for the Bible/God too.