Stilla:
You are right about the comparison of the printing press and the RC church and the internet and JWs.
Back then, I am sure the church decried the printing press and made remarks about it. Even with the printing press, the ownership of books was still mainly limited to the rich or upper classes. But, in time, the influence of the church over ignorant and superstitious people grew less and less because the people grew less ignorant and superstitious. Knowledge was religion's enemy.
So, ignorance and superstition (or fear) are the two things that a religion needs to instill in people in order to have a strangle-hold on them.
LHG
LongHairGal
JoinedPosts by LongHairGal
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Is the Internet An Answer to the JW Cliche Lament - "Where Else Can We Go?"
by Seeker4 inin his article at freeminds on when prophecies fail, about the witnesses and cognitive dissonance, randy watters wrote the following, including an insightful quote from barbara harrison grazzutti.
it may seem incomprehensible how the witnesses could ignore the implications of each disconfirmation.
outsiders view the witnesses as lacking common sense for not leaving the organization after numerous failures.
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LongHairGal
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Highly acclaimed video causing a flood of hate mail
by What-A-Coincidence inpersonally: i agree 100%.
http://www.mercola.com/townofallopath/index.htm.
wac
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LongHairGal
Drew S:
If the baby boomers aren't going to fare well in old age, then there is even less hope for those that follow.
After all, they have been exposed to MORE pollutants, drugs and whathaveyou.
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COLLEGE!
by RichieRich inoh, so in the midst of everything else, college is goin well.. about 30 % of my high school graduating class came here, so its really just like high school part2.
i have 2 morning classes, and 2 night classes, so that way the majority of my schooling gets done on 2 days of the week instead of 4. last night was my first night in my english 111 class.
i already knew thaqt there was one witness in there, but its someone who i've kept up with, and someone who is cool with me, as i am.
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LongHairGal
Richie:
I am glad you are going to college!
As far as the girl dub is concerned, she will have to realize that everywhere she goes is not the Hall and people do not accept the dubs stupid assertion of authority. They don't realize their so-called "authority" disappears once they step outside the boundaries of the Hall or some stupid car group.
She is on somebody ELSE's premises (in this case a college). What if it were an office somewhere? She would HAVE to talk to you because her job requires her to communicate with other people there.
She's going to have to save her stupid shunning routine for the shopping mall or the grocery store.
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LongHairGal
Yes they did. Maybe not physically but morally.
Back then they were subjugated by the Roman empire and thus could NOT carry out capital punishment themselves. So they had the Romans do it for them.
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The irritating slant to almost everything negative I have seen on Witnesses
by free2beme inwhen i left the witnesses, a person from work gave me a video about the witnesses that his church uses.
i thought it would be interesting, so i set down and watched it.
what i found was another example of one church taking about another, to then counter with points that support their way of thinking.
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LongHairGal
Justin:
The most objective views of the JW religion I ever read were clinical observations from secular sources (I can't quite remember what). I know what you mean about nothing being totally objective.
You simply can't compare a view of an ex-JW to somebody who never was. Some ex-JWs need to "justify" why they left maybe because they are not quite sure if they did the right thing but after enough time passes, even they won't care because they will be so relieved.
Others just want to expose everything and let the whole world know what is really going on there. The more secretive the religion, the more it DESERVES for the world to know what it is all about, IMO.
I guess it is a cathartic experience. People need to talk.
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Is this another made up WTBTS experience?
by Gill inis this one of the wtbts notorious made up stories?
it's an article in the october 2006 awake ' protect yourself from carjacking'.. it gives the story of suszan and anika who were carjacked in south africa.
byt two men.
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LongHairGal
Gill:
I wonder if that story with the "2 men next to the sister" is a variation of another urban JW legend. When I was new, I was told a similar story but the variation was that it was of a man and he was going down the block where a bully always came after him but the bully saw him with the "2 men" and left him alone, etc.
I guess these "2 men" are supposed to be angels. Do you think they help non-JWs and ex-JWs??
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Am I angry? Hell, yes!
by Fatfreek inwhy are departing jw's bitter?
i say the bitterness is directly proportional to the amount of emotional committment we made to their teachings.
if we accepted them wholeheartedly, the bitterness was immense as we discovered the lies and coverups, while getting the blame on the missed date predictions, and seeing the ever-increasing legalistic structure of the society, not to even mention the shunning by loved ones who still remain.
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LongHairGal
Fatfreak:
I am angry too. But I am one who was never entirely committed to the religion or ideology. I couldn't see why we had to constantly drill all this stuff into our heads. I could see considering a scripture daily but I never accepted the constant studying. It didn't seem natural, so I never did it. I probably could count on my hands the amount of times over the years I really prepared for the Sunday WT study. I felt it was enough that I straightened out my life and "believed" the hope for the future, etc., etc. Everything else was just tedium. Now, I realize why they did this. It was just cult brainwashing and it had to be constantly kept up or else the "sheep" would forget and get on with real life. Can't let that happen! They always had to keep you worrying that you could never do enough. I had visions of Jesus's agony in the garden where he was sweating blood and I thought: "that's what they want us to do." Yes, have anxiety heaped on us over their endless crap and always be in fear. Talk about a heavy yoke. Sorry, but I'll have none of it anymore.
Even though I was a marginal witness, I am most angry about the waste of time that can never be gotten back and also because of the trouble they caused people who were stupid enough to not to get an education or a good job.
dvw:
I totally agree with all your post but especially the part about the sisters. There are very attractive women who are alone who shouldn't be. -
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Is this another made up WTBTS experience?
by Gill inis this one of the wtbts notorious made up stories?
it's an article in the october 2006 awake ' protect yourself from carjacking'.. it gives the story of suszan and anika who were carjacked in south africa.
byt two men.
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LongHairGal
Gill:
I agree with you that they don't exactly discourage people from putting themselves in dangerous circumstances. They feel you should witness and disregard the danger. There are two schools of thought. Some seem to feel the angels are protecting them. Others feel, if you die so what? There is the resurrection [rolls eyeballs]. They have little regard for the welfare of their adherents.
What about the JWs who got beheaded overseas (Philippines??) a few years ago? And the ones who disappeared in Mexico some years back? What about the young pregnant JW who got murdered several years back by a neighborhood freak who lured her to her house and shot her and cut the baby from her stomach? In the last instance, I would not be surprised if her witnessing in the neighborhood made her an easy mark. Why didn't the angels protect these people??? Any witnessing they did obviously had no effect. There is a scripture that says ."..not to cast our pearls before swine...."
I was never big on field service, but I always felt that witnessing to people who were not interested and who were dangerous was casting pearls before swine, in my opinion.
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Why Doesn't Watchtower Promote Veganism?
by jayhawk1 inwhy doesn't watchtower promote veganism?
when i think about all the pictures showing a picnic table in the "new system" it always has a giant basket full of vegetables.
you are always certain to see somebody in a vineyard picking grapes and some guy on a plowshares in the wheat field.
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LongHairGal
Because of the scripture that says...."when your soul craves it...." regarding eating meat.
They taught that after the flood things changed (maybe certain plants were gone that contained necessary nutrients) so therefore it was okay to eat meat sometimes.
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The dubs may not be dishonest but is the WTS?
by ozziepost inthe recently distributed tract "you are cordially invited to attend the 'deliverance at hand!
' dc of jws" invited people to mail in a coupon requesting the publication "what does the bible really teach?
the coupon had two check boxes:without obligation, i request a copy of the book what does the bible really teach?please contact me concerning a free home bible study.. given that the coupons would be mailed to local congregations with a covering letter from the branch requesting that the householder be visited with the book and the offer of a home bible study, was there really any difference between the two question?
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LongHairGal
Done4good:
Your post explains it best. I early on saw the skewed definition of honesty but it was presented in a conversation about persecution where it was said that you didn't owe an honest answer to somebody who was going to do harm to the "brothers".
They tried to back it up with some bible accounts like Rahab who hid the men on the roof, etc. So that didn't seem so bad to me. But in time I came to see how they apply this trickiness anywhere they saw fit as you mentioned in how dubs have excuses for almost anything they do. They think, in their heart of hearts, that their ministry is a whitewash for any bad. It also explains the unaccountability that is present throughout the whole organization.
The biggest deception, I think, is how they have too many people believing they are somehow "inspired" in some way and are too high to be criticized.
LHG