Posts by fiddler

34

Pick your belief system

by Giordano in

i think we've all noticed a ton of newbe's these past months.

one part of escaping or thinking about escaping the jw's is coming to terms with what you believe now and/or what direction you are leaning towards.. here is a site that has a quick quiz that may be of some worth or just for fun.

i took it when i first signed on here and the results surprised me because it was pretty accurate.. you don't have to sign up for anything and when you finish you will get a percentage answer on 20 major belief systems.

fiddler

100% Taoism

0% JW

27

Letter From My Elder Uncle

by freemindfade in

ok guys, this is long, so i am sorry, but i think it is important to publish.

this is a glimpse into a 4 page letter (love that song) from my uber elder uncle.

as some of you may know i got tired of being in an email chain and finally lost it and lashed out.

fiddler

Wow...and yes, I've heard quite a few of those same arguments from my own dad (when he was alive). What I hear at the root of it all is fear of ones own mortality. All the words are just fluff hiding their fear. The words in the song 'The Rose' come to mind..

"It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance. It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance. It's the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give

And the soul afraid of dying who never learns to live"

poor sorry souls....

30

Introducing myself

by maksutov in

my name is russ, i'm 40 years old, from the uk, and i left the jws nearly 5 years ago.

i've been a member of the yuku board throughout that time, so there are probably some on here who know me already.

there seems to be more activity over here at the moment, so i thought i'd pop in and say hi.i was raised as a jw, started questioning it when i was 16, but there was no internet back then (well, no www anyway) so i got sucked right in and got baptized when i was 18. auxiliary pioneered on and off for a couple of years, then became a ministerial servant.

fiddler

Hey Russ (waves wildly) nice to see you over here! I visit here and other places as well.

You must share some of your music...classical guitar...beautiful stuff!

21

How Honest is the Official Watchtower PR Department?..Check out this You Tube Video..

by OUTLAW in

most of us know the watchtower "isn`t" known for it`s honesty... what happens when a person calls watchtower headquarters... with questions the the watchtower "doesn`t" want to answer?!...

your about to find out in this youtube video... phone call to bethel ny jehovah's watchtower productions caleb sophia video series underlying themes.

by inform ant .

fiddler

Wow! I think she handled the call very well and made it very clear that JW.(b)org is only about telling people what to do and not about giving rational explanations about why. The points made right at the beginning about how the JW content has to be reposted on other formats JUST so that a discussion can be had is spot on. The average JW may be OK with checking their brains at the door of the KH and accepting without question what is ladeled out to them but on the Internet 'interested' people want to be able to ask questions AND make comments.

Welcome to reality governing body! welcome to the Internet!!

17

An anthropologist visits a JW community in Santa María Zapotitlán, Mexico

by OrphanCrow in

dr. jena barchas-lichtenstein is an anthropologist who received her doctorate through ucla.. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jena-barchas-lichtenstein/43/427/702.

in 2013, barchas-lichtenstein submitted the paper "when the dead are resurrected, how are we going to speak to them?

": jehovah's witnesses and the use of indigenous languages in the globalizing textual community as a partial submission for her doctoral dissertation..

fiddler

Revitalizing cultures through indigenous language is a noble thing but what Watchtower is doing is every bit as destructive as the colonial version. The paper by Jena is very good although a pretty deep read. She got it! If Watchtower is being funded in any way to carry out their deceptive agenda I hope it stops when revelations like this come out.

50

Look at this fear mongering graphic from latest WT

by cappytan in

.

fiddler

They just sound to me like the rantings of your average conspiracy theorist. You can't argue or reason with them when they're in that mindset (always in that mindset) Only time is on the side of reason. We just have to wait it out and maybe a few more will wake up.

Dog of Madog d-rules!

17

Will there ever be another campaign like the 2006 one with kn37 ("The End of False Religion Is Near!")?

by Magnum in

remember the 2006 tract campaign with kingdom news 37 - the end of false relgion is near!?

it seems to me that jwdom has changed to the point that there will not be anymore such campaigns.

it seems that the new rebranded jwdom is too soft for such a campaign; it's too feel-good, happy-clappy, and mainstream.. i just can't imagine a tract campaign like that coming from the new jwdom.

fiddler

2006? I remember being all pumped up about the destruction of Babylon the great back in 1974 with the kingdom news tracts that were compared to Joshua's army marching around Jericho before the walls fell down...yeah right.

And that was what, 40 years ago. Armegeddon was Soooo imminent back then. I was barely supposed to graduate high school.

11

The Cruelty of JW's

by Blackfalcon98 in

jw
friends

so i was scrolling my social media account and i saw this from a dub: .

"i think the bible account of jael is probably my favorite.

she was very courageous when she drove that pin into sisera's head....while he was asleep!

fiddler

Bloodthirsty tribalism of the OT alive and well established in the reality of ISIL.

Example of unevolved humanity stuck in the barbarity of bronze age tribalism...or califism...whatever.

yes, most JW's haven't got a clue about what they are really wishing for.

careful what you wish for as the old adage goes.

27

Christian bakery ordered to pay $150 000 to gay couple

by cofty in

an oregon bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage has lost its appeal..... the judge has ordered 'sweet cakes by melissa' to pay $150 000 damages to rachel and laurel bowman-cryer.. discrimination is illegal, and religious superstition is not an excuse.

how long before jws land in court under similar circumstances?.

fiddler

Then there's the thing in Colorado...

This is from a Channel 9 News report from Jan. 20

DENVER - Azucar Bakery on South Broadway is under investigation for religious discrimination by the Civil Rights division of the Department of Regulatory Agencies stemming from a March 2014 incident.

WHAT HAPPENED

A customer came into the store and requested a couple of cakes in the shape of Bibles, according to the owner Marjorie Silva.

Silva says the man pulled out a piece of paper with hateful phrases like "God hates gays" and requested her to write them on his cakes. He wouldn't let employees make a copy of the paper and would not read the words out loud, Silva claims. The bakery owner also says the customer wanted an image of two men holding hands with an "X" on top.

"After I read it, I was like 'No way,'" Silva said. "'We're not doing this. This is just very discriminatory and hateful.'"

Silva then received a complaint from DORA for religious discrimination.

"It's unfair that he's accusing me of discriminating when I think he was the one that is discriminating," Silva said.

DORA's consumer protection role allows the ability for consumers to file complaints against businesses for alleged discrimination. The Civil Rights division reviews and investigates the claims, and if the agency feels discriminatory acts were committed, the case moves forward to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

THE OTHER SIDE

9NEWS has learned Bill Jack, from Castle Rock, was the customer accusing Azucar Bakery of discrimination.

Jack is a founder of Worldview Academy, which is a "non-denominational organization dedicated to helping Christians think and live in accord with a Biblical worldview," according to the organization's website.

Jack's biography on the website says he is currently an educator who used to teach in public schools in the past, adding that he has appeared on numerous national radio and TV programs.

9NEWS asked why he requested a cake at Azucar Bakery and what he asked to have written on it.

He declined to answer but gave 9NEWS this statement:

"I believe I was discriminated against by the bakery based on my creed. As a result, I filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights division. Out of respect for the process, I will wait for the director to release his findings before making further comments."

Nancy Leong, a University of Denver law professor, has been looking into this case and doesn't believe Silva violated any laws.

"This is not a situation where a business owner denied service to somebody," Leong said. "She offered to accommodate him to the extent that she could. In fact, requiring her to write that message would infringe on her own free speech rights."

WHAT'S NEXT

DORA will rule whether Jack was discriminated against, but a decision is not expected for at least a couple of months, since the agency requested an extension.

Based on the agency's findings, the case could reach the Civil Rights commission.

I don't what's been done on this one but it sounds like the religious people trying to make their own statement. The thing is, THEY are the ones still discriminating!

48

Essay by Barbara Anderson: "What's in a Name?"

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

whats in a name?

posted on april 15, 2014 by barbara anderson http://watchtowerdocuments.org/whats-in-a-name/ .entry-meta-icons .entry-meta .

.entry-header one morning at bethel in 1989, after the usual text discussion before breakfast, there was an announcement to the staff about the legalization of jehovahs witnesses in poland.

fiddler

Enjoy your writings always Barbara!

I used to try to keep up to date on the many names or ways to refer to the JW religion. Now, not so much...I call them 'the society', JW's but also by the most accurate name 'destructive cult' and can't leave out 'the Borg'! This rebranding just seems ridiculous to me but as one of your other essays on the history of JW's makes clear...it's nothing really new to them. Their name changes with their updating of outdated info.

Anyway, I also wanted to relate a little story about my introduction to YOU. Although I didn't know at the time it was you being spoken of I'm pretty certain now that it was. It was shortly before I left the religion for good in 1999 and two sisters were discussing 'That Woman' in rather snarling tones. I was giving a violin lesson to the daughter of one of the sisters and so only got bits of the conversation but I always was curious as to who 'That Woman' was. I got the impression she was placed pretty high up in the organization (high for a woman anyway) and that she was some kind of super traitor.

LOL! Like I said, I figured out a few years later that it was probably you. As I said, I love your writings and I now know that you, like Ray Franz, were not a traitor but a whistle blower. Thank you so much for all your very important work!