DannyBloem

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Posts by DannyBloem

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  24

  Jehovah Witnesses are not brainwashed...

  by thecarpenter in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am currently reading steve hassan's book on combating cult mind control and i came across a very interesting point about the difference between brainwashing and mind control.

  brainwashing is a coercive type of control in which a idea is forced on you with little choice.

  people who are brainwashed know they are being indoctrinated; their freedom is cut off.

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  DannyBloem

  That piece about the differnt forms of control is very interesting....
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  4

  Is the story of Mrs Potiphar and Joseph part of the original account?

  by hamsterbait in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i ask this because pharoah at first is not called by this title.. 39:20 - potiphar " gave [joseph] over to ... the place where the prisoners of the king were kept.".

  40:1 - " ...the cupbearer of the king of egypt and the baker sinned against their lord the king of egypt.".

  only at 40:2 does the copyist start using the term pharoah.. i also note that joseph refers to his home as "the land of the hebrews".i wonder if the original omitted 39:7 - 20 and continues at 39:21, as this portion at v23 chimes with 39:6.. if potiphar, the chief officer of the bodyguard was also in charge of the prison, (and 40:3 says so) it may back up my question.. i also think 40:1 is added from another source.

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  DannyBloem

  was there an original account, or where they many stories which we combined as a whole story?
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  149

  Does the Policy of the Watchtower Create a Safe Haven for Child Molesters?

  by listen in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  not a society apologist!!

  just wanting to know what you all think.

  does this "sound" fair & balanced, you decide.

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  DannyBloem

  Does the Policy of the Watchtower Create a Safe Haven for Child Molesters?

  This is such a difficult subject, to be objective about.
  As for me, since I have never had any experience related to this, I would say "no" to the question above.

  Not that everything is alright, but IMHO is the level of child molestation in the WTS not much higher then other churches or groups. By creating a more or less absolute authority they do create the possibility of miss-use of that authority, which will cause higher number of these crimes. Same is true in any place with that kind of authorities. (for example you can find it in non religious militairy groups).

  In the past there was not much done about it, and some rules are in favour of the child molesters. The two witness rules.
  On the other hand, I do know of a case where someone was wrongly accused of molestation (because of jealousy) It would be very wrong to just believe anything without any investigation. Which should be done by authorities which are knowledgable.

  I know from the letters from the society that we recieved, that the society takes these metetrs seriously, and is trying to do a lot to change the situation. Of course they are as unhappy as we with the negative publicity, and do not want to have child molesters in their midst too.

  Danny
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  57

  BE AFRAID OF THE ELDERS!!!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the elders now have the right to be involved in every facet of a witnesses' life!

  they want your phone numbers, cell numbers, they are to be inquired of if you want to take a sh*t. these "good" men will turn into power hungry masters, if they are not already.

  the society is taking control over every jw!

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  DannyBloem

  I pay 30 cents a minute for my cell phone calls, so if they knew my cell number and if they called me, I'd tell them to pay that for each minute they pest me.

  you have to pay to receive calls? Is this something new?
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  120

  September KM - 70 alterations in Revelation Climax Book

  by dozy in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i can't find a thread on this subject yet - if there is one , please delete this one.. the september kingdom ministry has a 4 page insert detailing the 70 alterations in the revelation climax book which is due to be studied at the book study shortly.

  i'll provide scans if anyone is interested.. i will leave it up to more experienced analysts to examine the reasons for specific changes , but just a few brief observations for now:.

  p32 box - "they were completely exonerated" changed to "charges against them were dropped" - interesting change of terminology for the 1918 watchtower eight.

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  DannyBloem

  P277 (18) "Remaining anointed ones" changed to "if any anointed ones still survive" - change of thought?

  hmm, I thought that this was something from the bible (or their interpretation of it) That some would not die but asscent in a blink of the eye or something?

  anyway, another boundary for the length of the time of the end removed
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  18

  Is This Discrimination ?

  by Bstndance in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yesterday, i received a notice of an arts grant available for people in urban areas.

  in reading the materials it stated (and i'm going to bold the same words the application did): must be a person of color from african, asian, or hispanic heritage.

  i was quite offended by this.

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  DannyBloem

  Sounds like discrimination, but they call it positive distrimination here.

  If you are originally non european you have more change in working for the police and some other government positions.
  Same as you are a woman.

  Also it is spoken about a law that large companies should have workers that refelct the society. So same percentage od woman, homosexuals, non europeans, disabled persons etc.

  It is good in many ways, but still discrimination
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  13

  The meaning of the word "version"

  by elatwra in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i have a question.

  i was recently talking to some jw acquaintances and was told that the king james version, niv all the other translations i was mentioning are just "versions " of the bible whereas the nwt is a translation.

  i was stunned and could not come back with an inteligent and scholarly reply(well aint that the pot calling the kettle black did not sound neither inteligent nor scholarly).

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  DannyBloem

  
  Did you already have the lastest version?

  Holy bible version 5.1

  see for changes the bug fix list

  bug fix list: - polytheism is not good. Where there is polytheism, it now reads one God. (notice the new caption for God)
  - human sacrifice is no longer viewed as a devine action. It is removed or replaces by animal sacrifice
  - some books excluded, because no one believed them anyway - many minor changes
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  113

  if an atheist does something good...

  by DannyBloem in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  .

  if an atheist leads good life with high moral standards, because he choice to do so and thinks for logic it is a good thing, does it not mean much more then when a theist does the same, because his gods tells him to do it?

  what's your thoughs on this?

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  DannyBloem

  Hi Simon, welcome to this board!

  Where does morality come from?

  Morality is complex and but can be explained by evolution and the influence of the society we grow up in.

  What is that voice in our head?

  hmm, I do not seem to be botehred by voices in my head, so I do not know

  Where does that come from?

  Why do we balk at doing a bad think a hurtful thing?

  That is not genetics!

  You are talking about concience.

  It is only partly genetics, the other is influence from the things that we hear, see and experience. Out parents and society in which we grow up are important factors in this.

  It is very logical that having a concience enabled a species for better survival.
  How that concience is exactly filled in, depends on the culture. Things that are very normal in some cultures are very against the concience of people in other cultures. This shows that the our concience is not something fixed, a gift from God or so.

  Know one knows our private personal thoughts!

  This is uniques to an individual!

  This is not generic!

  This is one of the many proofs of God!

  Our thoughs are not generic or general they are specific for the individual indeed. I fail to see how this proves that there is a god.

  If there would be one moral standard in religion you could have a point. But the fact is thst the moral standards of religion are changing and far from the same. This can only lead to the opposite conclusion that the lack of standard morality is a effidence in favor of the atheistic point of view.

  Danny
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  22

  Core Beliefs...

  by mrsjones5 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what exactly are the "core beliefs" of the wtbs?

  i was raised in it and don't even know what "they" are.

  is it me or has these core beliefs been extremely fluid?

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  DannyBloem

  jehovah is the name of our god, and he selected the slave, which should be followed in everything they say.

  basically the two baptism questions
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  37

  Will they Eliminate the District Convention?

  by kid-A in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, i am now guilty of feeding into the "big announcement" frenzy on the board!

  another poster made an interesting suggestion that the "hypothetical" big announcement may be the elimination of the d.c.. i think this is a real possibility.

  its been cut down to 3 days from an original 8 days over the years.

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  DannyBloem

  It is an interesting thought. Big meetings (also the 2 circuits) are cut back time and again.

  But I think it is too important for the JW's. It is something they look forward too, only some feel it as a burden. Most do certainly not. They are so exited about it.

  For the dubs to get a day off can not be any problem. Most dubs have simple jobs, with at least 5 to 10 work-shortening-time-days, at least 25 days of a year, and whatever for other days.

  I know that their income in "volutairy"gifts is better ten at the circuit meetings, but it is not a big cash-cow here. But it certainly helps. And also the control-mechanism needs a time where there are lots of people together, to show they are many and all united. They can't do without that.