Joe Grundy

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Posts by Joe Grundy

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  11

  Report: Texas Executed Innocent Man

  by Bangalore in

  1. social
  2. current

  report: texas executed innocent man.. http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/05/15/carlos_deluna_columbia_law_professor_james_liebman_details_wrongful_execution_.html?wpisrc=obinsite.

  bangalore.

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  Joe Grundy

  This is news??

  Only in the same sense that 'dog bites man' is 'news'.
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  28

  Is your 3-day Watchtower Emergency Kit all ready?

  by FatFreek 2005 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  have i missed something by not browsing each and every posting here?.

  up till very recently, my two sons (one a jw and one, a non-jw) lived in the same community.

  the never-baptized son decided to move to a different u.s. state and within a few miles of my home i'm a df'd person as of 33 years ago.

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  Joe Grundy

  No offence is intended here, but am I the only one who notices a correlation between 'Doomsday/Armageddon' cults and a more general propensity amongst US residents to prepare for catastrophic events? I appreciate that the US is more prone to natural disasters than the UK, but I can't help noticing that in general terms there seems to a much greater interest in the US in 'survivalist' issues.

  Maybe it's a throwback to the 'pioneer' mindset (in the worldly not JW sense) enhanced by TV/movies, the existence of isolationist 'militias' ever on the keen look-out for those famous 'black helicopters' sent to enforce the 'new world order', or whatever, but I can't help wondering whether there is a partly-ingrained 'circle the wagons' or 'Remember the Alamo' mentality (real or perceived) that fueled the instigation of 'Doomsday' cults and keeps them going.

  (I post as someone in the UK who wryly observes the queues in 24 hour supermarkets on Christmas Eve. One would think that the end of the world had been announced rather than just the mundane fact that some (not all) shops will be closed the next day!).
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  11

  Awake 7/2012: YPA – Are we just friends — or more? pt.2 (with running snarkiness)

  by corpusdei in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  original article here.

  more snark here.

  young people ask - are we just friendsor more?

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  Joe Grundy

  I never was a JW, I am a worldly atheist. Very much enjoyed the humour of the OP - but there is a sad message underlying it. Is it any wonder that there are so many dysfunctional relationships (as evidenced by so many posts here) when this is the sort of 'advice' being given. It is pure, controlling, crap.

  When my daughter was 17, she discussed with her mother that the time had come in her relationship that she wanted to sleep with her boyfriend (she was living at home at the time). Her mum and I went out for dinner and stayed at a hotel so she ccould have the house to herself so that what is an intense experience in any girl's life could be as good as possible (rather than fiddling around in the back of a car or whatever).

  No, her relationship did not last - but there were no regrets, just good memories.
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  47

  How Will They Keep JW Youths In?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is it possible for today's youths to remain in the religion?.

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  Joe Grundy

  I'm not, and never have been, a dub - but I was brought up in a fundie sect/denomination (PB) and they had the same problem.

  One of the things that worries sects most (IME) is the 'danger' (as they perceive it) that there are not enough potential mates (or partners, call it what you will) within the sect ('Organisation' I suppose in JW speak) and youngsters/teens/young adults will follow their hormones out of the religion. IME when I was a post-pubescent male teenager a pretty girl with the promise or possibility of carnal knowledge to whatever extent won out over theology or the fear of eternal damnation any day. And I wasn't alone - I remember one young lady telling me that her greatest fear was being 'sent back unopened'. I don't think that those basic feelings have changed much.

  It has been said many times but I think it's worth repeating. The greatest influence that pulls people (not just teens) away from WTBTS and other controlling cults is access to the internet, social media, FB, Twitter, etc. One doesn't even need a computer now - a (free) mobile phone on a £15/month contract gives all the access needed.

  I suspect that it won't be long before the only 'JW Youths' (isn't 'youths' such a clumsy and pejorative term?!) still 'in' will be the socially or otherwise challenged.

  No offence intended.
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  46

  How Did/Has the WTBTS Affected Your Social Skills?

  by ABibleStudent in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  good or bad?

  how did/has the wtbts affected your social skills, social development, and/or how you interact with other people?

  i have many questions about different social skills that i will ask either after other people post to this thread or to keep this thread active.

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  Joe Grundy

  I'm not and never have been a dub. I hope that my views won't cause offence - none is intended - and they probably apply equally to most 'committed' fundies.

  I have experienced many times conversations with JWs where initially they come across as confident, informed and knowledgeable conversationalists. But inevitably at some point one can almost see the eyes glaze over and they go into 'robot' mode when rational discussion (and the ability to reason and accept, or at least consider, alternative points of view or be open-minded as to evidence) ceases.

  In RL, IME people can have an open discussion however different their views and however heated it may get, at the conclusion they can agree to differ and may even concede that the other may have raised some points worthy of consideration. Without exception, my conversations with dubs have concluded with them (metaphorically) putting their fingers in their ears and singing 'la la la la, can't hear you' which is the equivalent of 'if I close my eyes you can't see me'.

  I appreciate that this is only one area of 'social skills'. My take on the question posed in OP is that while WTBTS training MAY enhance a dub's capability to make an initial approach for conversation the actual 'social skills' to continue to a 'normal' conversation are severely limited by the 'programming' inherent in that same WTBTS training.

  No offence intended.
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  6

  Worth Watching - And a JW Twist!

  by Joe Grundy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  about the only (uk) tv show i find worth watching is 'new tricks' - a drama series about three retired detectives re-employed to work on old cold-cases.

  (it probably resonates with me because i am an old retired detective and can identify with each of the three in different ways).. .

  i have just watched an episode with a jw twist and i can thoroughly recommend it.. .

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  Joe Grundy

  This was broadcast some time ago. BBC iplayer is only available for 7 days after broadcast and (I understand) is only available via UK based ISPs for copyright reasons. This is why, I suspect, it's on Youtube under n.t.e. for 'fan purposes only'.

  Catch it while you can.
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  6

  Worth Watching - And a JW Twist!

  by Joe Grundy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  about the only (uk) tv show i find worth watching is 'new tricks' - a drama series about three retired detectives re-employed to work on old cold-cases.

  (it probably resonates with me because i am an old retired detective and can identify with each of the three in different ways).. .

  i have just watched an episode with a jw twist and i can thoroughly recommend it.. .

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  Joe Grundy

  Hi Rob, and greetings from a wet West Wales.

  This epi was particulalry interesting to me as I thought I recognised a (mock-up) WT mag early on! Won't give away more as don't want to spoil it. IMHE, of all the 'police' drama stuff this one gets closer to reality than most.

  Cheers.
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  6

  Worth Watching - And a JW Twist!

  by Joe Grundy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  about the only (uk) tv show i find worth watching is 'new tricks' - a drama series about three retired detectives re-employed to work on old cold-cases.

  (it probably resonates with me because i am an old retired detective and can identify with each of the three in different ways).. .

  i have just watched an episode with a jw twist and i can thoroughly recommend it.. .

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  Joe Grundy

  About the only (UK) TV show I find worth watching is 'New Tricks' - a drama series about three retired detectives re-employed to work on old cold-cases. (It probably resonates with me because I am an old retired detective and can identify with each of the three in different ways).

  I have just watched an episode with a JW twist and I can thoroughly recommend it.

  I can't do links, but you need to go to Youtube, search 'n.t.e.38 part 1'. It's in six parts (total nearly an hour).

  Hope you enjoy.
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  16

  Is the average Jehovah`s Witness judgemental ?You tow the line you get blessed ,if you dont get blessed you must be doing something wrong.

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it was another thread that prompted me to start this one , not appropiate for the former thread.

  and it`s because the wt often promotes that jehovah/jesus protects and looks after his loyal followers ,that when something adverse occurs , the suspicion/judgement is "oh they must have been doing something wrong that nobody knew about, but you cant hide it from jehovah."mentality.

  i`m sure you have.. smiddy.

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  Joe Grundy

  This is not a JW story, it was Plymouth Brethren (but the mindset is/was not so different).

  About 50 years ago I was told by my grandmother of a woman who had died suddenly and quite young. Her arms dropped off because she was knitting on a Sunday.

  True? No, of course not, but my grandmother believed it - or at least would not question it (she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer). My mother would probably not have believed it - IF she ever allowed herself to think about it rationally. Such is the power of indoctrination by fundamentalism/cults.

  In the PB 'Gospel Hall' I attended/was dragged to as a very young child was a painted banner across the wall 'God is Love'. Well, the one preached there wasn't and the over-riding feeling was of a malevolent super-being who watched everything (a la Orwell's '1984' Big Brother) who was ready to strike with plague, afflictions or death without prior notice or without necessarily explaining which particular regulation might have been transgressed.

  Back to the point of the thread - toe the line you survive and may get benefits (a space in a parking lot?!), break a rule you may have been unaware of and you get to suffer. JWs and other fundies are not so different in that way.
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  6

  Hardcopy Help! Where can I find some?

  by okage in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i've got pdf's of certain watchtower publications, but i need the hardcopies to back up my argument.

  it's annoying when you show a witness the jw.org website, download the pdf of the watchtower study issue in front of them, and they argue that you have no point because apostates tampered with the file.

  mind you, it's on a wt/ccjw server, so i don't fathom how any apostate can tamper with it.

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  Joe Grundy

  Just popping in to say that initially I misread the 'Hardcopy' in the thread title as 'Hardcore' and was about to suggest some relevant sites.

  Luckily, I realised my mistake in time. Apologies. Carry on. As you were.