Posts by The Mayor of Turiwhate

38

Was Rutherford Mentally Ill?

by VM44 in

in the golden age goodies thread leolaia has posted two letters that were printed in the magazine written by rutherford, one in 1928 and the other in 1938. in both letters rutherford states either that radio "was created by god" or "no man invented radio".. rutherford also goes into his conspiratorial ideas of how the roman catholic church was working with the nazis to overthrow the governments of england and of the usa to bring in a totalitarian fascist government to both countries.. these remarks sound like the ravings of someone who is not mentally all there.. so the question that naturally arises is this: was rutherford mentally ill?.

i believe that he was.. --vm44

The Mayor of Turiwhate

Stephanus,

Although your remarks were totally off the subject (i.e. Was Rutherford all there or not?) - good to hear them anyway:

- a refreshing change from those on this board who lambast those that dare critisise the environmental laws (like government can do no wrong)!

In answer to your question, no one around Turiwhate will ever get fined for felling a tree. Greenies, though, had better duck for cover -along the lines of "better be able to cross the paddock in nine seconds, because the bull can manage it in ten."

The Mayor.

38

Was Rutherford Mentally Ill?

by VM44 in

in the golden age goodies thread leolaia has posted two letters that were printed in the magazine written by rutherford, one in 1928 and the other in 1938. in both letters rutherford states either that radio "was created by god" or "no man invented radio".. rutherford also goes into his conspiratorial ideas of how the roman catholic church was working with the nazis to overthrow the governments of england and of the usa to bring in a totalitarian fascist government to both countries.. these remarks sound like the ravings of someone who is not mentally all there.. so the question that naturally arises is this: was rutherford mentally ill?.

i believe that he was.. --vm44

The Mayor of Turiwhate

He may not necessarily have been mentally ill.

J.F. Rutherford was an alcoholic, and could well have been under the influence - rather than mentally ill - when he made a lot of his utterances .

I would agree with you that something definitely wasn't right much of the time:

- going by what he said and wrote!

The Mayor.

260

Intolerance - a new breed of ex-JW

by LittleToe in

jw
friends

.

i cant help but think of the analogy of pendulum swings when i think about how vitriolic some are towards religion (of any description), the bible (and other scripture), and christianity (generally, regardless of there being a wide range of denominational flavours) in particular.. it seems to me, from my perspective of sitting here on a remote scottish island, that there are a fair number of folks who may have left an intolerant and generalising religion but forgot to leave those attitudes with it.. just my 2p, coz to be frank i'm getting sick of it.. by all means enjoy some self-expression, it's a relatively free planet, but have a heart....

The Mayor of Turiwhate

There were numerous JWs that I knew who were actually attracted to "the truth" because they were disgusted with religion. These ones did think they saw in the JWs something that was "different". (Of course the dubs are different, all-right ; just not in the way many would have imagined!) Involvement with the borg is hardly going to endear a person to religion, if they were already disgusted with it. How much of the hard core anti-religious sentiment expressed on this discussion board has its origins in such previously held feelings? Whatever,all of us whoview this discussion board must expect to hear points of view expressed that we may not agree with. That's life! My own feelings on the matter are: - too many people died in two World Wars to secure such rights as Freedom of Worship. Given that,I would not want to interfere with any such hard-won right. The Mayor.

82

When will people "stop" relying on "churches and religions" for happiness?

by booker-t in

jw
friends

it just breaks my heart when i read some of the posts on this websites and hear all of the horror stories about people and families suffering because of what the church or religion did to them.

not just jw's or mormons, but catholics, born-agains are also included in this group.

i bet you could find just as many disgruntle ex-catholics and ex-born-agains out in the world who have been severly hurt by their church.

The Mayor of Turiwhate

JWD is a forum where all points of view are expressed. (Long may it stay that way, too! We had enough of censorship / gagging while we were in the borg.)

Given that, a person can expect to hear a full range of opinions:

- From those you agree with, to those that are 180 degrees apart from that. (Even hear others challenge things that you might have determined were solid facts).

If there is even only one such thing as a fact, it would have to be this:

- no matter what your point of view is on a given matter, for whatever reasons - not everyone is going to agree with it.

That is life (for better or far worse) - and anyone viewing this discussion board had better be prepared for this.

33

The Single Most Dangerous JW Meeting....in my opinion!

by enlightenedcynic in

the way i see it, pretty much everyone here knows that the 5 weekly meetings, the memorial, the dc's and ca's are all a bunch of rubbish and jibber jabber.

there is still one other meeting, not as frequently held as the others, that jw's use very effectively to control existing members and bring in new converts and this meeting sadly plays apon the emotions of all in attendance.. what meeting is this?.

a kh funeral!!!.

The Mayor of Turiwhate

Both Funerals and Weddings are seen by the JWs as a way of getting non-JWs "into the Kingdom Hall"

- as if that is going to somehow make a tremendous difference in their perception of things!

Certainly in the case of weddings and funerals in my family, this idea backfired beautifully everytime:

- before I actually started ~~studying~~ becoming indoctrinated by the dubs, I can recall a family member's comments after having attended a Witless Wedding. She was very impressed all-right - utterly disgusted by the amount of boozing that she saw going on at the reception.

- at my own wedding, I don't every recall anyone coming away that impressed "with how the Witnesses do things" - to quote one of the elders who gave a speech there.

- the last funeral that I attended was for my own son. They did at least allow me into the Kingdom Hall, but I was not exactly welcome, to put things diplomatically! Also, afterwards, at a gathering at the family home, I was practically chucked out. Needless to say, that went down like a lead balloon with all non-JWs who were present!

The dubs have this idea that they are different from all other religions. IF they are different at all, it would be because they are a little more fanatical than most when it comes to putting the boot in.

7

Are regular publishers more genuine in their dealings with others?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

having been in a few congregations, i have observed that those with nothing to prove are often the most genuine people.

that is, brothers who aren't apointed seem to have more to say and are more interesting to talk to.. those who have position seem to have little to say other than repeat wt mantra.. with regular publishers, particualrly those who didn't reach out, i often found that they were just themselves, with no pretences.. is this something you have noticed?.

my friend asked me last week, do weal publishers attract weak publishers?

The Mayor of Turiwhate

Those that are "reaching out" seldom have time to be considerate. After all, time taken up with such activities as showing consideration to others cannot ( should not?) be entered onto a person's Monthly Field Service Report!

For those that are "reaching out", there is seldom much time or energy left over from working at:

(i) Accumulating an impressive total in the "Hours" Column.

And / or (ii) Otherwise trying to impress the elders and / or the Circuit Overseer.

- Definitely little left over for anyone who cannot further ones quest for position.

When I was a young fella, such types were known as "Posers" - and yeah, they never did come over as exactly genuine!

15

Watchtower Does Not Consist Of Mens Opinions???

by Lady Liberty in

i have been trying reading crisis of conscience and i found a very interesting point that i thought i would share with you.

on page 234 of the book it is talking about the after effects of 1925 coming and going with the failed prediction that the faithful men of old would be resurected that year and they would be princes of the earth.

of course in the watchtowers famous "way" they put all the blame on the readers instead of on those who wrote the material.

The Mayor of Turiwhate

It would seem that the WT never expresses opinions - until after it all turns to custard.

Then - and only then - it suddenly was "merely an opinion"; and the R&F were at fault for reading more into it than was meant!

I believe that this is called "CYA" - which means "Covering Your Backside."

It reminds me of what I have read about the Dervishes of the 19th Century Sudan:

- Their leader, The Mahdi, assured them that "their faith would render them bulletproof".

- However, if they did get themselves shot, it was all their fault - and theirs alone - for not having sufficient faith!

(I bet he stood well back from the front line once the battle started!)

Does anyone else here get the feeling that ALL of them are like the religious leaders of Christ's time i.e. making burdens for others that they are not prepared to carry themselves?

16

Strange paradox - the ' weakest' J Dubs were in a way the most hardcore.

by Gregor in

jw
friends

i knew many of them.

some in my own family.

they were the ones considered spiritually weak because they:

The Mayor of Turiwhate

Looking at this matter from the other way around:

- during my time in the borg, I more than once heard it observed that "It was always the 'zealous' ones who seemed to get disfellowshipped."

Of course, in the JW world, the sole criterion for whether you are "strong / zealous" or "weak" is that column on the Monthly Report Form that bears the title "HOURS".

Given that, the terms"Strong Publisher" and weak publisher" surely do not mean too much!

42

Loss of Elders

by metatron in

jw
friends

large numbers of jw congregations are going to be trouble long before they lose their last elder to death or resignation.. most congregations i know have at least one - and often several - elders who can barely function at all, due to illness, old age.

or just plain inability to accomplish anything.

the society seems loathe to remove these men, despite their 'elder in name only'.

The Mayor of Turiwhate

How things must have changed! The congregations that I was with 20 - 25 years ago were spilling over with Elders and Ministerial Servants. That was not the end of it, either: - those who weren't Servants or Elders were climbing over each other to get there! There used to be a surfiet of Elders and Servants - plus a huge pool of Wanabees. Now, it seems like the prevailing attitude now is NAFI i.e. "No Ambition, and ##ck All Interest" How sad! (like hell) Jack

7

Re: NWT

by A Paduan in

.

if the nwt was produced by people who can't read and write the translated languages - can it really be a translation ?

or, is it a transliteration - have they used other bibles (of english) to produce the work - altering the words as they go ?

The Mayor of Turiwhate

Reefton Jack,

That's me all-right.

I reckon that I know you, too:

- There were only about three days of the year when you weren't wearing that NZ Railways issue Swandri!

The Mayor.