I, for one, think that it hurts because it's supposed to hurt. If they didn't have control over all your friends, they wouldn't really have any control over you. Shunning is their trump card - it trumps logic with emotional manipulation. It ensures loyalty to the group. If it didn't hurt, they wouldn't bother.
osmosis
JoinedPosts by osmosis
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25
The fallout and the pain
by lola28 ini got an email back from an elder this morning and it looks like the boe is going to treat my email as a letter of disassociation.
he said he was sad but would forward my email to the congregation that currently has my publishers card.
this wonderful elder also took the liberty of calling a brother that im really close to and told him about my email, he also sent him a copy (this brother is not an elder!).
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For jw .... if you don't mind my asking, how long have you been a jw?
by jgnat inhow long did you study before you got baptized?.
were there any long standing habits you had to get rid of before you got baptized?.
do you bring your children to the meetings?.
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osmosis
This thread is MUCH more constructive than many of the comments and attacks I see directed towards the few active and loyal JWs that lurk around here.
Typically what I see people saying is "you're not supposed to be here". That is technically true, the WTS has forbidden them to visit apostate sites and the like, and has also forbidden them to pay any attention to any non-JW arguments, ideas or forms of reasoning.
This attitude is highly counter-productive to anyone who actually wants to do something positive in this world. In my opinion, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and likewise you will open more minds by welcoming people and having open discussion, than you will by telling them to get lost because their evil masters have forbidden them to associate with people like us.
That's THEIR rule, it doesn't have to be ours.
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I got shunned today...
by lucifer inactually i get shunned just about every day at work.
there are at least three or four witnesses that work with me and know me, but they shun me everyday( one of them saw me on this site lol) well i am sick of it, so starting today i am going to speak very loudly to them in front of people.
i wonder what they'll do....any suggestions of what to say, just quick lines because they tend to walk away as quickly as possible
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osmosis
The way I see it, you have two viable options:
1) don't play their game
2) play their game and play it better than they can
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28
Have you ever had a premonition ?
by troubled mind ini think i have a few times in my life, but the one i had most recently really shook me up.
it was really a re-occuring thought and feeling more than anything else .i preceived it as something happening to me when in reality it happened to some one close to me.
it sounds stupid , doesn't it ?
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osmosis
LOL
LOL Kate I think we already have names for it.
LOL
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What if . . .
by Justin inthe wts had continued to keep older publications (russell, rutherford, etc.
) in print for those who wanted to do historical research?
it seems that people are now learning about "old light" and doctrinal changes when they begin to become disillusioned, but if they knew about these matters when they were still zealous jws, perhaps they wouldn't be so shocked later.
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osmosis
I don't think that would work. Active JWs have a serious denial problem, I doubt their minds would really process the information at the time. If they started to have doubts and/or left the bOrg, THEN it would finally hit them, as though they hadn't learned it until that point.
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28
Have you ever had a premonition ?
by troubled mind ini think i have a few times in my life, but the one i had most recently really shook me up.
it was really a re-occuring thought and feeling more than anything else .i preceived it as something happening to me when in reality it happened to some one close to me.
it sounds stupid , doesn't it ?
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osmosis
One thing I might add, anyone who claims knowledge of future events, as such, is necessarily implying the condition of fate. knowledge of future events = no free will.
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Have you ever had a premonition ?
by troubled mind ini think i have a few times in my life, but the one i had most recently really shook me up.
it was really a re-occuring thought and feeling more than anything else .i preceived it as something happening to me when in reality it happened to some one close to me.
it sounds stupid , doesn't it ?
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osmosis
You want my theory?
My theory doesn't exist. I don't believe that the future has happened yet, therefore it cannot be known.
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New WT publication encourages "questioning"
by Smiles inmany here have been reproved or disfellowshiped for asking questions about the bible and the jw interpretation of it.. after encouraging the asking of questions, one of the newest wt publications states: "others worry that asking questions could lead to shame or embarrassment.
and some decide that such questions are best left to religious leaders and teachers.
that quote is found in the first chapter of the new publication that all congregations will begin studying each week at their congregation book study.
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osmosis
Typical, it's the exact, diametric opposite of reality.
Interesting, though, I wonder if the fact that so much of this stuff is the opposite of truth, does that mean the writers know the real truth and deliberately say the opposite for appearance's sake, or are they in a powerful collective denial themselves, actually believing what amounts to the farthest from the truth.
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Brain teaser
by osmosis inhere is a question that actually makes my jw aunt feel uncomfortable.. er, rather, she admits that this question makes her uncomfortable.. a very prevalent argument for the existence of god is the apparent complexity of the known universe.
this complexity, believers say, is proof positive that the universe was created.
we couldn't just appear out of nowhere, the big bang can't actually explain things.
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osmosis
Here is a question that actually makes my JW aunt feel uncomfortable.. er, rather, she admits that this question makes her uncomfortable.
A very prevalent argument for the existence of god is the apparent complexity of the known universe. This complexity, believers say, is proof positive that the universe was created. They ask, where did we come from? We couldn't just appear out of nowhere, the big bang can't actually explain things. Things can't spontaneously increase in complexity, everything has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere has to be at least as complex as the known universe.
I say, then, if "everything has to come from somewhere", where did god come from? In arguing that angle, you have implicitly presupposed a "creator of creators" and also a "creator of creator of creators" and so on, each preexisting and more complex than the one after it.
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Have you ever had a premonition ?
by troubled mind ini think i have a few times in my life, but the one i had most recently really shook me up.
it was really a re-occuring thought and feeling more than anything else .i preceived it as something happening to me when in reality it happened to some one close to me.
it sounds stupid , doesn't it ?
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osmosis
Just wondering if you folks have any theories regarding how information about the unknown future gets into your brains as electrical stimulus..?