Dr Phil is certainly a hard-hitting psychologist. He speaks very clearly, but sometimes I think he hectors people too much. He will be excellent for publicising the plight of people caught up in cults, but I suspect that he will also spend a lot of time insisting that cult members or ex-cult members take more responsibility for their lives. On reflection, though, that may not be such a bad thing.
Posts by steve2
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64Dr. Phil wants to talk CULTS
by ChakkaConned indr. phil is looking to talk to people who feel a family member may be involved with a cult.
check it out if you'd like on his website (drphil.com) under "be on the show".
chakka
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23
25-year-old elders and 18-year-old ministerial servants
by Gopher inat some point in the 1980's, a good number of younger men were appointed to the position of servants and elders in congregations, at least here in the midwestern usa.
before the 1980's, the required age for elders seemed to be 30, and for ministerial servants 20 (except in rare cases).
perhaps due to a lack of men who were "reaching out", the organization needed to "reach down" and pick out younger men to populate their hierarchy.
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steve2
I remember how much fun the JWs in my country made of Mormon men in their twenties who had the titles of "elder". Seems it's okay if it's the young ones in your own group doing it, though.
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Why 5 meetings a week?
by G Money ini was recently being ragged on my a jw friend and he was raggin on me for not goin to the meetings.
he said i am foresaking the gathering of ourselves.
i then said where in the bible does it say i must attend 5 meetings a week spread over 3 days?
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steve2
I remember the huge fuss that occurred locally when discussion arose over the suggestion that the Sunday night public talk/Watchtower study be changed to Sunday morning, to accommodate the then growing number of JWs with very young children. At a special meeting before the decision was finally made, one of the more aggressive elders who was opposed to the whole idea of the change marched up to the platform and spluttered into the microphone with his beautiful Russian accent:
"The brothers and sisters who are pushing for the meetings to the moved to the morning are trying to get out of field service!"
It was a rare moment of blunt opinion giving. The meetings still changed to Sunday morning, and as intemperate as I think the elder was, I think he was right. But then, what normal minded person would choose to go door-knocking Sunday morning - or any time of the day, for that matter? As boring as the meetings were, they were far preferable to the door-knocking.
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Why 5 meetings a week?
by G Money ini was recently being ragged on my a jw friend and he was raggin on me for not goin to the meetings.
he said i am foresaking the gathering of ourselves.
i then said where in the bible does it say i must attend 5 meetings a week spread over 3 days?
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steve2
I always thought there were five meetings a week because when this teaching first came "in", the GB brothers literally believed there were only five days in a week. After the teaching was implemented, some eager-beaver Witness asked, "why aren't there 7 meetings a week, after all there are 7 nights?" The GB suddenly realised there was a weekend as well. Too late!! But they got their own back by insisting that the brothers and sisters go door knocking in the weekend. That way, there literally was no weekend.
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JW MEMORIAL ATTENDANCE FIGURES FOR 2005
by steve2 in.
has the watchtower mentioned these yet or am i too early?
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steve2
I think I now understand why, despite so many early converts to Christianity in the first few centuries (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and so many of the "anointed in the last few centuries (19th, 20th and 21st), that there are only 144,000 spaces for ex-humans in heaven: It's simple: There's such a huge dropout rate, as demonstrated among the JWs, anyway. It takes so very many attempts for Jehovah to get the numbers of loyal ones up to 144,000 requirement, what with so many falling by the wayside when they prefer to watch Special Victims Unit rather than trudge out in the cold to the Book Study. At this rate, the end won't occur for another few centuries. Sigh!
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JW MEMORIAL ATTENDANCE FIGURES FOR 2005
by steve2 in.
has the watchtower mentioned these yet or am i too early?
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steve2
Many thanks for the responses. I know the official results come out at year's end, but in earlier years, didn't the Kingdom Ministry give the figures shortly after the memorial?
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Dr. Phil's show on Cults....
by Will Power in.
this is due to air on tuesday.
did any one write in?.
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steve2
Dr Phil's one hard-hitting guy. I wouldn't be surprised if, in addition to providing helpful information on breaking free of cult-mind control, he has some pretty tough things to say to people who tend to blame every bad personal experience on the cult.
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Drawing unfair comparisions-Convention talk on Tues night
by Jez intuesdays meeting had a part about the upcoming summer convention.
alot of q n a about how to dress, to wear your lapel at all times, to be clean, to not eat out bec the worldly vendors would be upset that they are not allowed to sell food inside the arena, to watch your language, conduct at the motels, to walk quietly, to not be in the halls during the sessions, informal witness at every opportunity etc.
then this man comments and says, "what other religion would clean up the arena before and after a convention?
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steve2
Let's give the JWs their dues: While their "inner" lives are often stressed to the max and their minds weighed down and messed up with anxieties about impresion management, at least there's not a shred of litter on the floor...and that's the main thing: A lovely clean auditorium in which to soothe the jagged, chaotic stressed out mind. Ah, it's so wonderful to have one's priorities right!
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Did you know of any JWs fighting in the Kingdom Hall or arguing in the KH?
by booker-t inthis might sound funny but i have heard many stories of jw's fighting in the kh bathroom or arguing.
i remember an elder's wife who was having alot of medical problems cursed out another sister in the bathroom.
she called her everything but the kitchen sink i was told by another sister that was in the bathroom when this altercation took place.
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steve2
I can take the big JW people fighting each other, aggressivley or passive-aggresively (good point, Blondie!), but the violence I never ever got used to was the parade of big angry parents regularly thumping shit out of their "naughty" little children who could not sit still for 2 or more hours. As noisy and demonstrative as it was, that adult-to-child violence was strangely "invisible" and, whilst happening on a fairly routine basis, was largely ignored - unless the kid's crying started to irritate the glazed-eyed elders.
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A challege for Bible scholars
by jaffacake incan anyone find any scriptures in either old or new testaments which contain the following phrases, or word combinations?
i will accept any bible versions:
new light
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steve2
When you "have" the truth and are "in" it, there is less of a need to see the words you use also used in Scripture.
By the way, isn't apostate just a modern word for the old English "heretic"?