Check_Your_Premises

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Posts by Check_Your_Premises

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  17

  How long do they tolerate you being "spiritually weak" in the beginning...

  by Check_Your_Premises in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...before they give up on you and just label you as a theocratic slacker/outcast?.

  i have picked up that many in our congregation are considered weak or irregular.

  it appears that they are "encouraged" but eventually they are given up on and considered a "bad association".. my wife, even when she is at her most dubbed out, only makes field service twice a week, and she can only keep that up for a couple weeks.

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  Check_Your_Premises

  I am hoping they will get to a point where my wife is considered weak, and no longer worth their time.

  I am encouraged in a way by the hard fight the nutjob pioneer lady keeps up. She and I are in the midst of a proxy war, whereby we both understand the real motivations for all we do. She understands my efforts in keeping her spare time filled with other activities. I understand her constant mothering and snooping. All the while my wife seems to be oblivious... wanting to only see the best in me and the society.

  This psycho-pioneer lady, who after decades of dubness knows all to well what to look for in a person who won't "stay in the truth", is fighting so desperately to keep my wife. Maybe her concern bodes well for my wife's eventual exit?

  We all have to look for signs of hope I suppose.
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  17

  How long do they tolerate you being "spiritually weak" in the beginning...

  by Check_Your_Premises in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...before they give up on you and just label you as a theocratic slacker/outcast?.

  i have picked up that many in our congregation are considered weak or irregular.

  it appears that they are "encouraged" but eventually they are given up on and considered a "bad association".. my wife, even when she is at her most dubbed out, only makes field service twice a week, and she can only keep that up for a couple weeks.

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  Check_Your_Premises

  ...before they give up on you and just label you as a theocratic slacker/outcast?

  I have picked up that many in our congregation are considered weak or irregular. It appears that they are "encouraged" but eventually they are given up on and considered a "bad association".

  My wife, even when she is at her most dubbed out, only makes field service twice a week, and she can only keep that up for a couple weeks. She averages one morning a week in service, about 60% attendance at book study, and about 75% at TMS and sunday meetings.

  She is considered a "project" by a whack-job super pioneer type who still talks to her like a "study". It is clear that she is considered to be "spiritually vulnerable", if not weak.

  So how long in general before the cackling hens give up on such a person, even if they are really personable and they are showered with sympathy for having a husband who is a dirty rotten unbelieving mate?

  I suppose more than anything it is a matter of having other prospects around that are more interesting.

  CYP
• 
  54

  How many ex-jws move out of town to start over?

  by rebel8 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was wondering how common it is for ex-jws to relocate after leaving the borg in order to escape the bad memories of being in a cult, or to break contact with cult members.. i have wanted to move far away for as long as i can remember--even as a kid--for this purpose.

  various life circumstances have delayed that--long story--but mr. rebel8 and i are thinking of moving within the next few years.

  i am the one who's most interested in moving to a completely different type of place--different culture, different climate, different everything!

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  Check_Your_Premises

  I know one. She is a PO's daughter with a hard core pioneer mother. She had a bad marriage and a bad body of elders that just made a botch of the whole thing. She moved to a completely different state to get away from everyone!

  She now is married to a real nice worldy and has a baby. No df, no da, no local body of elders coming around to pester her.
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  32

  When trying to talk to a JW what is the best method?

  by omerp in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if there is someone whom is a long time jw, how do you bring him back into reality or is that possible?

  how do you make them reflect that it is possible that they are wrong about the bible track society?

  anything you say they alway twist it around anyways with their prepared answers.

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  Check_Your_Premises

  It is a cult and mind control problem.... it is not a matter of what they believe, rather how they behave.

  Learn about cults, then learn about the wt.

  Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steven Hassan is the best book I have read on the subject.

  Best of luck!

  CYP
• 
  10

  Analysis of Cult Recruitment Techniques (Essay)

  by Scully in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  pdf essay on cult recruitment techniques on the www (jws receive mention).

  the essay is written from the point of view of social psychology research, and looks at various methods and known social influence principles used by "new religious movements" (or nrms) in recruitment practices.. four basic principles of social influence that are described in this essay include:.

  liking: if the subject "likes" the people who are presenting the information to them, they are more apt to be influenced toward accepting the group the recruiters represent.

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  Check_Your_Premises

  A really good book outlines how these principles are applied by compliance professionals; Influence: The Principles of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini.

  Excellent book!

  In addition to these there are the principles of consistency and social proof.

  Consistency is the idea that when a person does or says something, they have a natural tendency to have all future behaviour be consistent with the original act. The effects of consistency are greatly enhanced if the original act is really difficult or painful. Think of the gambler who loses a lot of money, and then goes on to lose his whole paycheck trying to get it back. The effects are also greatly enhanced if they are public, since we have a need to be seen as credible and consistent by others. Both of these aspects of consistency are employed in particular in field service, public talks, and commenting.

  Social proof is the fact that we look to those around us to validate and verify our sense of reality. This is why the JW put so much emphasis on being at all the meetings, and avoiding "bad associations". I theorize that the main motivation for trying to ban all holidays is to keep jw's from spending any time with non-jw relatives.

  CYP
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  15

  Question regarding service time, irregular status, and inactive status...

  by Check_Your_Premises in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so let me see if i got this straight.... to be a publisher you have to have 10 hours a month.

  if you miss that target you are "irregular".

  if you miss that target for six consecutive months you are "inactive".. what if you get your time in but miss all the meetings?

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  Check_Your_Premises

  The 10 hours is an quota--goal to shoot for officially upt till the 1970's and unofficially now

  So if someone is missing that quota, they will likely be counseled? I wonder if my wife has been counseled yet? I know she gets hassled alot by this pioneer lady... you know, always swinging by because she thinks she need encouragement.

  CYP
• 
  35

  About half the DF's go back? Really?

  by AuldSoul in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  j.r. brown said about half the df's go back.

  i know some who went back and promptly faded, some who went back and were "bt" jws (barely there), a few who went back and quickly got df'd again usually before they even got privileges back.. but the one that takes the cake (in my opinion) is the former po of my parent's congregation who had been giving dc parts for years getting disfellowshipped a couple of months after giving the rousing talk, "abhor what is wicked, cling to what is good.

  " only after his reinstatement did i discover that was his third df.

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  Check_Your_Premises

  I wonder how we can get that information.

  I have thought alot about JW data. Really there is no way for us to know what Brooklyn knows without someone outing the information, and then it will only be a snapshot, or data up until that moment. It still will provide us with no continuous data on trends.

  I have considered, in my more ambitious moments, of setting up a database of jw's. Basically we would rely on folks here to provide as much information as possible on as many dubs as we can think of. The key would be what information would we like to track.

  Then we would take that data and we could extrapolate to the larger group and get a pretty good idea just what sort of real things take place within the org.

  It is one of those things that sounds real interesting, but I am not sure it would be real popular. Who wants to go to some website and fill out a bunch of paperwork?

  CYP
• 
  15

  Question regarding service time, irregular status, and inactive status...

  by Check_Your_Premises in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so let me see if i got this straight.... to be a publisher you have to have 10 hours a month.

  if you miss that target you are "irregular".

  if you miss that target for six consecutive months you are "inactive".. what if you get your time in but miss all the meetings?

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  Check_Your_Premises

  So let me see if I got this straight...

  To be a publisher you have to have 10 hours a month. If you miss that target you are "irregular". If you miss that target for six consecutive months you are "inactive".

  What if you get your time in but miss ALL the meetings? Would they still call you "irregular"? What if you miss your 10 hours for five months and then every sixth, you get your time in? Is the status of "irregular" a formal declaration? Once you are "irregular", how long do you have to be "regular" before you are declared "regular" again. How bout for "inactive"?

  What if you are ill or temporarily incapacitated? Does that factor into the decision to declare you "inactive" or "irregular"?

  Help me fill in the blanks. I am realizing that service time is a big bugaboo for my wife. I am trying to get an idea of how much heat they are putting on her.

  CYP
• 
  37

  What is the most objectionable thing you have heard off the platform?

  by restrangled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know many have quoted ridiculous statements from the assemblies etc., i just wonder what irked you most off of the platform in your own kh.. the one that sticks out in my mind was when we had a guest speaker on a sunday for the public talk.

  i don't remember the theme but his main point was the starving people in africa did not need food.

  he stated they needed spiritual food and would opt for that over a meal because they realize they could eat in the new order and there was no need to send any donations directly.

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  Check_Your_Premises

  WHen they said my kids needed a "spiritual" father because I don't put my faith in a publishing company... and my wife agreed with the speaker.
• 
  8

  Who is Jehovah in the view of orthodox theology?

  by Check_Your_Premises in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i always figured jehovah was the father, jesus was the son, and we don't know what to call the holy spirit.

  is this the orthodox view?.

  but if god is triune in nature and all that, is jehovah the name for all 3 dudes lumped together, or is it just the name for the father?.

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  Check_Your_Premises

  Thanks all!!!