this from one of 1,367 similar stories that grabbed google's new headlines: "last week at least 16 people in afghanistan were killed in violent clashes sparked by the report.
", all thanks to the recent newsweek reporting blunder.
those of us who love freedom of the press, and i'm included, have to question -- what line was crossed between responsible reporting and that which incites other people toward hate -- hatred enough to kill 16 people?
The reporter stills maintains that he got the story from a reliable military source and was reviewed by a separate high level defense official.
"But Newsweek said the source later told the magazine he could not be certain he had seen the account in the military report and that it might have been in other investigative documents."
USA Today, 5/16/2005, 9:03pm
so the story did not incite the killing,Oops, my error.
i touch on this subject in another post but i felt the need to take it further...back in the day jw's went out in fs but i don't know about today.... i live in a big city....the territory my congregation has is small because there are so many cong.
here.. our bookstudy only had maybe four blocks at the most to work.
my ex husband and i would go to the meetings and hear talk about fs and all the wonderful and experiences and the joy oh joy in being out in the ministry.
I had a regular RV tell me off in good fashion
Hey, Sweet Tee. What's an RV?
this from one of 1,367 similar stories that grabbed google's new headlines: "last week at least 16 people in afghanistan were killed in violent clashes sparked by the report.
", all thanks to the recent newsweek reporting blunder.
those of us who love freedom of the press, and i'm included, have to question -- what line was crossed between responsible reporting and that which incites other people toward hate -- hatred enough to kill 16 people?
This from one of 1,367 similar stories that grabbed Google's new headlines: "Last week at least 16 people in Afghanistan were killed in violent clashes sparked by the report.", all thanks to the recent Newsweek reporting blunder.
Those of us who love freedom of the press, and I'm included, have to question -- what line was crossed between responsible reporting and that which incites other people toward hate -- hatred enough to kill 16 people?
Would it have been any different if the Newsweek story were true? That is, suppose a copy of the Koran was truly flushed down some toilet in that Guantanamo detention center? I think the result would've been the same because the perception of extreme insult would've been identical.
The sobering fact is that the printed page can incite extremely negative consequences. We, as mostly ex-witnesses, can testify thousands of times over to the deleterious effects the Watchtower has induced because of their shunning orders after one of its members is disfellowshipped or disassociated. Suicides, broken homes, mental breakdowns, and yes -- even homicides. All this, in a relatively free society here in the U.S.
Some 60,000 Witnesses become ex-Witnesses each year. How many of them become such casualties as a result of the Watchtower's legally induced hatred that oozes from their printed pages? I also wonder how this number compares to that 16 in Afghanistan?
I certainly don't pretend to have answers for a solution. Do you?
Oh, by the way -- Newsweek apologized.
let's suppose that a large number of ex jws decided to get together and set up a new religious entity to provide any spiritual benefits, that were provided by the wts but as we all know in an exploitative and destructive way.
in a devious way much bitterness was added to whatever benefit they gave.
what would your suggestions be in the way of forming such an entity?
I suspect most charismatic folks, CT Russell included, began with similar intentions. Then, human nature takes over . Charisma (see also Jim Jones) breeds subsequent power, then adulation of the leader(s) from the close and priviledged associates, finally from the masses. We can all follow the evolutionary trail by reading snippets from the WT publications over the last 125 years. As for myself, I want no part of it.
i touch on this subject in another post but i felt the need to take it further...back in the day jw's went out in fs but i don't know about today.... i live in a big city....the territory my congregation has is small because there are so many cong.
here.. our bookstudy only had maybe four blocks at the most to work.
my ex husband and i would go to the meetings and hear talk about fs and all the wonderful and experiences and the joy oh joy in being out in the ministry.
Apocalypse, I was laughing so loud when I read your experiences that my wife poked her head around the doorway to ask what was so funny. Great stuff!
it was the mid 70's and my wife and i were concerned about the new rotating elder arrangement.
"do you really think melvin is qualified?
", she would question privately?
It was the mid 70's and my wife and I were concerned about the new rotating elder arrangement. "Do you really think Melvin is qualified?", she would question privately? We'd heard Melvin many times from the podium during the Ministry School training talks. You could sense that was the last place he wanted to be as he stumbled through his manuscript.
I, too, had my doubts. But, newly-appointed Melvin had a good heart, a devoted wife with a couple of fine kids. To most worldlies he was crazy for giving up his military career as a cook with only six months left till his twenty-year retirement mark. Many Witnesses said the same -- under their breath. However, he was a hard worker at his factory stockroom job, was diligent around the Kingdom Hall, and would be there if you needed him.
He simply wasn't a teacher and we cringed when his name finally appeared on the public talk schedule.
We were in the audience that Sunday afternoon and Melvin's discourse covered many of the tragedies that happened along mankind's history. Our ears perked up when he got to those plagues of the Middle Ages, "The Blue Bonnet Plagues", Melvin sputtered. Actually, that malapropism sounded humorous in a way when it left Melvin's lips. I asked myself if he was trying to inject a little comic relief into a somber topic. No, that simply didn't fit the situation.
It wasn't long, however, before the fractured expression came out of his mouth a second time. By now it was apparent that poor Melvin didn't have a clue as to what he had uttered -- a clue as to what he was even talking about. All in the audience, it seemed, were spinning their heads to catch other puzzled peeks.
We soon learned that the third time is indeed a charm. Yes, it was all most could do just to keep from roaring when Melvin, unaware of the hilarious moment he had created, once more spouted his "Blue Bonnet Plague" masterpiece.
i touch on this subject in another post but i felt the need to take it further...back in the day jw's went out in fs but i don't know about today.... i live in a big city....the territory my congregation has is small because there are so many cong.
here.. our bookstudy only had maybe four blocks at the most to work.
my ex husband and i would go to the meetings and hear talk about fs and all the wonderful and experiences and the joy oh joy in being out in the ministry.
By the time I bowed out of the Witney picture I could see how the work had deteriorated. Coffee breaks were introduced and from the time they left the field for the cafe till the time they got back to the field, sometimes 45 minutes had passed.
Oh, and they loved to work the poorer neighborhoods. If any were receptive, those folks seemed the most, many of them for their perception that they may get some material assistance. The high price territory homes were skipped regularly. Those folks seemed more inclined to give you a piece of their mind, and it wasn't a kind piece.
And they loved to worked the country. Why, five folks in one car and you may get to knock on one door (or fake knocking) because of the great distance between houses. Then there was the unassigned territory where it took some 45 minutes to get there (and get back). Yes, they were told that they could count time only one way -- but that was easy to get around. One of the carload would have a return visit on the way back so time could continue.
Oh, yes, those favorite return visits, the time sponges some called them. Those people had been called on for years, seemed to listen intently but didn't have faintest idea what was being talked about and certainly had no intention of ever changing. In hindsight, perhaps the smart ones. Who knows that their church didn't encourage them to do that sort of thing in order to tie up the Witney from dragging the more vulnerable ones into the lair. That could easily eat up 30 to 45 minutes of the Witness's time, not counting the ones waiting in the car.
I suspect that today the GB is finding more and more abuses. How about the ones posting here or other forums and counting their time to do that? A great way to cut down on the face-to-face confrontations.
What became of the street work that we were encouraged to do at least so many times a year? What ever became of the wearing of placards and parading in front of churches with loudspeakers, yelling nasty slogans?
How about celebrities? Do you truly believe they go door to door as much as the regular suckers? Prince, the Williams sisters, etc.
Have most of existing crop succumbed to that human nature thing called cowardice? Has that quality crept into the hearts of even the most zealous of them?
i did not realize that in my post above about brothers reuniting after 26 years that i failed to mention that it is because of this site that it all happened.. i am scott's wife and i met darrin's common law wife on this board.
neither of us even knew each other existed.
i was talking about dan f and she was here trying to learn more about jw's because of what her man went through as a child.
Would that be you, Mouthy? If so, I give you the utmost accolades a week before your 77th. And a Happy birthday, as well.
bear with me.
over the years jw have always strived after/prophesied (even though they deny this) a carrot ''date''.
as dates come and go, we hear about ''new light'', but according to the wt :-a new view of truth never can contradict a former truth.
"...Just think what that meant for those then living! Only 120 years more and Jehovah would bring "the deluge of waters...Noah received the warning of the upcoming catastrophe decades in advance, and he wisely used the time to prepare for survival. "After being given divine warning of things not yet beheld," says the apostle Paul, "[Noah] showed godly fear and constructed an ark for the saving of his household." (Hebrews 11:7) What about us? Some 90 years have passed since the last days of this system of things began in 1914. We are certainly in "the time of the end."Watchtower 2003, December 15, pp.14-19, Our Watchfulness Takes On Greater Urgency
I can just hear them in that back room now, "Hey, this is the perfect carrot that'll keep 'em coming for another 40. After 2034 we can always blame it on them. We can even revive and rework this statement, one that worked on the 1925 debacle":
?Some anticipated that the work would end in
19252034, but the Lord did not state so. The difficulty was that the friends inflated their imaginations beyond reason; and that when their imaginations burst asunder, they were inclined to throw away everything.? WT19262035, p. 232.
"about the higher powers of romans 13, jehovah's witnesses taught until 1929 that the superior authorities (new world translation) were the earthly rulers to whom the christian paid taxes, etc.
(c. t. russell, studies in the scriptures, i, p.
) then, from 1929 to 1962, the watchtower society explained the superior authorities as the most high god jehovah and his exalted son jesus christ (this means everlasting life, p.
It's tacky, I know, but at least once in their publications they've used the navigator's expression "tacking" to rationalize their changes. Check it out:
However, it may have seemed to some as though that path has not always gone straight forward. At times explanations given by Jehovah's visible organization have shown adjustments, seemingly to previous points of view. But this has not actually been the case. This might be compared to what is known in navigational circles as "tacking." By maneuvering the sails the sailors can cause a ship to go from right to left, back and forth, but all the time making progress toward their destination in spite of contrary winds.
Watchtower 1981, December 1 p.27, The Path of the Righteous Does Keep Getting Brighter
I can just imagine a person giving testimony in a court of law and saying, "Oh, but that was yesterday, your honor, when I said THAT. Today, I'm seeing things in a slightly different light. I call it "tacking" and I learned that enlightening principle from this magazine. Can I share a copy with you?"
