Joel Wideman

Joined

• started 5 topics
• posted 283 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Joel Wideman

• 
  29

  Where Are All The "Happy" Witnesses????????? :(

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  all the jws that i know of look miserable.

  they look burdened, tired and hopeless.

  do you see any happy witnesses?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  They aren't doing enough. They need to do more. :D
• 
  8

  I'm addicted to these, I can't stop!!

  by damselfly in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you prefer to keep your bath to yourself and wouldn't dream of allowing anyone else anywhere near the bathroom when you're in there naked, please don't allow the following suggestion to detract from your enjoyment of a bubbly, mauve bathos bath.

  if you prefer to share your bath for reasons of ecological soundness or just plain fun, then bathos is absolutely ideal!

  we make it with some of most sensual, relaxing essential oils on the planet, including lots of violet leaf which is reputed to help people remember why they got together in the first place.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  Bathos? What, you add one to your nice relaxing bath and it instantly turns into toxic slime?
• 
  12

  E-Watchman is revealed???

  by PurePeople in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  does anyone know about this???

  .

  http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.cfm?id=311102&categoryid=2967&startcat=1&threadid=1800647

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  tyrone, nobody wants to accept that they are in a cult, at least until they begin to wonder if they are. It's an emotionally charged word, along with brainwashing, that brings up images of Jonestown and other atrocities. Maybe you would prefer the terms "high control group" and "thought reform"? There is a checklist, provided by Dr. Michael Langone, for such things. While not evidence, it is thought provoking.
  The group is focused on a leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment. Typically, the leader is alive, but in some cases may be deceased, but his or her “message” (belief system, ideology, touted practices) is still upheld as the Truth, as law.
  Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
  Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, and debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).
  The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (for example, members must get permission to date, change jobs, marry; leaders prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, whether or not to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth).
  The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (for example, the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar; the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity).
  The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society.
  The leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders, and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).
  The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify the means (what members are expected to do). This may result in members participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example, lying to family or friends, collecting money for bogus charities).
  The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in members in order to influence and control them. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.
  Subservience to the leader/group results in members cutting ties with family, friends, and radically altering personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group.
  The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
  The group is preoccupied with making money.
  Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.
  Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.
  The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group, believing there is no other way to be, and often fearing reprisals to self or others if they leave or even consider leaving the group.
  I could go through the list and demonstrate how the WTS fits every single one of these, but that defeats the purpose. These are things that you should investigate yourself, not blindly accept the answers.
• 
  83

  Do You Know Your Blood Type?

  by RAYZORBLADE in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  with all the information we have nowadays, out of sheer curiousity, do any of you know your blood type?

  for some, i know the blood-issue is a touchy subject, but it's interesting to know it.

  you'd be surprised especially when the case of an rh-negative mother may give birth to an rh-positive child.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  I'm AB something. Negative, I think.
• 
  2

  It' been five months since I "left" my job...

  by TresHappy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  and my voice is still on the voice mail in my former supervisor's office.

  i am also getting invitations to various employee functions and the employee newspaper.

  my name is still on the website!

  1. 
  2. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  Ever see the movie "Office Space"? :D
• 
  28

  Please welcome my former JW "friend" Rachael to the board

  by unbeliever in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been open with some ex jw friends of mine that i post on this board and have sent several the link.

  one has even posted.

  well i sent the link to someone who was leaving the org.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  Welcome, Rachael. May your stay here be enlightening.
• 
  50

  CHEATING ON FIELD SERVICE

  by chuckyy in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  towards the end of my time as a jw, i must confess to cheating whilst out on field service.. 1. i would turn up at the field service arrangement with my wife, and we would say that we were working together that day to do return visits.

  as everyone went out, we would simply get into our car and drive home.

  (hypocritical i know).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  I stopped going out around the time I was shown by a pioneer how to "maximize" my time.
• 
  7

  JW files

  by lime05 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what do you think of this site.

  do you think the research is accurate.

  http://www.jwfiles.com

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  I haven't found anything there that wasn't supported.
• 
  7

  Internet Advice

  by the_classicist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, so i'm asking y'all for some computer advice as i am partly computer illiterate.. first of all, my internet connect is painfully slow.

  i'm currently using shaw cable internet and i'm getting download speeds of around 3000-4000kbps.

  i'm thinking of moving to telus adsl, though, because of a free digital camera offer.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  I'm surprised noone has mentioned the inherent problem with cable - your bandwidth is shared. Many people have reported being the first in their neighborhood to get it and enjoying the amazing speed, only to have it slow to a crawl as all their neighbors jumped on the bandwagon.
• 
  31

  Greetings

  by Severus in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just a brief introduction to get me started.

  i am still one of jehovah's witnesses although delicately extricating myself from this complicated situation.

  i have family to be concerned about, and this still binds me to the religion like a fragile cobweb.. i wonder that the jw paranoia of harry potter was what initially piqued my interest?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Joel Wideman

  Welcome! Harry Potter is by no means the first - and won't be the last - victim of the JW paranoia.