detective

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Posts by detective

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  8

  Will JW's Emulate Catholics?

  by Kenneson in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  news article in today's paper is entitled "credit catholics for cleaning house" by stanley crouch (new york daily news).

  "somehow in our nation we are almost always called upon to lead the way when it comes to things of human concern.. "that is why, after all these years of the catholic church's hiding behind cathedral doors, miters and robes, we should be glad that boston's cardinal bernard law has ignored the dictates of rome and called on his clergy to report to the police all the charges of sexual abuse of children by priests..............."

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  detective

  All I can say is that here in Boston the press coverage for the Catholic pedophilia issue is stunning. It's all over every channel and gets story after story after story in the papers. It's about time they start handling this issue, it's long over due. One would think that this might act as a reminder to other groups to really question whether or not they have effective policies in place for dealing with this issue but as we know, many groups are hesitant to go public with the problem to spare their reputations. It's pretty sick. But, perhaps the tides will turn a bit and people will start cracking down on this in their religious groups. Hopefully.

  As for Catholicism being like a cult- I see a few major differences that should be considered. For example:

  *you can leave Catholicism at any time without group punishment (I suppose your Grandma could stop talking to you but other than that there isn't a particular group stigma attached to leaving).
  *You can come and go freely without social ostracization.
  *You actions are not monitored or reported on by rank and file members
  *Reporting your own "sins" is not forced out of you
  *Reporting the sins of others is not forced out of you
  *You can openly voice your opinions regardless of whether or not it is in line with the churches opinion

  While some of these things may be recent developments (confession not required- I don't know how long that's been in effect or if it was always optional), I know some of these things MAY occur on occasion in isolated cases but are not the rule. (ie. I know there are probably people who try to tell on you!)
  Essentially, the difference isn't in the totalitarian structure, it's in how it's enforced. I base my personal assessment of cult vs. non-cult on some simple facts. High control? Can I leave whenever I like with recourse? If so, then it's a big no to being a cult, in my opinion.

  By the way, the Catholic church doesn't have any official "writings" that I know of, indireneed. I don't know what you meant by this? Maybe I'm just drawing a blank? It has been a long day!
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  20

  What is going on?

  by gilwarrior in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  the following was a letter that i wrote to myself several weeks ago.

  i'm not sure what to make of this.

  ok, tonight i went to my dance class.

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  detective

  Hey Gil,
  I have a weird, though not life-altering insight that I can provide but I'd rather you email me if you are interested in hearing it. My email is open.
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  10

  Wrath Of God Bible Quiz (part 2)

  by sf in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  not sure where part one is.... < http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0102/wrathofgodquiz.html.

  the wrath of god bible quiz - part 2. objective: determine the number of living things killed by or in the name of god in each of the following circumstances.

  after taking the quiz, you can find explanations of the correct answers by clicking here.. 1. how many men did god kill because someone decided to peek into the ark of the lord?

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  detective

  Wow! That website is too funny!

  "I've got a heart on for Jesus!"
  (shaking my head and cracking up...too good!)
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  19

  "I read only non-fiction..."

  by patio34 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  hi all you wonderful folks!.

  i know a couple of people who made the above statement recently and got to thinking about it.

  the way i see it a comparison could be made between fiction and non-fiction & art and photography.. both have their places, but art changes the original to match what the artist sees.

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  detective

  There is always a degree of fiction in non-fiction and vice-versa.
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  10

  Qestions too US peopel

  by happy man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when we in sweden read about so much terribel things happend in us, for exampel all this killing and massakers,.

  and scandals, as now in enron bussiness, i read that one boss killd himself, it is perhaps a new wartegate scandal.. then when i see all this movies widh a lot of killing and other terribel things, as been send all overer the word from hollywood,.

  can you not understand that some peopel see this as a poison , , if i then look what us military done, inn irak, and other places, killing innocent peopel, i think you goverment show one face at home , and other face inn for exampel the 3 word.. if i say if your presidint shows upp to bee involvd inn this mess inn enron , what do you say, as talk so much of jw as bad peopel, .

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  detective

  Wonderful points, HS.
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  22

  Are you really ready for big moral issues?

  by Mindchild in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  while reading the abortion thread on this site today, i was reminded of a college class i took on dealing with ethical and moral issues.

  i learned something interesting in this class and it was that just because we have strong beliefs about something, it doesn't give us any rights to impose our beliefs on others.. this is of course the "christian" way...to demand that their beliefs should be the standard by which we all live our lives.

  this intolerance, or in milder cases disgust for nonconformers, is in itself one of the huge moral issues we face.. essentially, regardless of things being right or wrong, our world defines societal norms by community standards.

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  detective

  Well, as you splash around in the water while the full raft slips away, you just keep yelling at those snug in the raft that it was supposed to be YOUR decision who lives or dies.
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  4

  Getting Someone Out (Part 2)

  by Mindchild in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  getting someone out (part 2).

  in the previous thread of this series:.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=20047&site=3.

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  detective

  There is also the use of repetition which serves several purposes. The constant re-reading of materials and ideas assists in the indoctrination process. Heck, this is how many of us learned our multiplication tables. It helps deeply ingrain the ideas into our consciousness/sub-consciousness. While repetition can be excrutiatingly dull, I noticed that Steve Hassan in Combatting Mind Control: Empowering People to Think for themselves, also suggested it might evoke a trance-like state in people (zoning out, glassy eyed, awake but dream-like behaviors). After years of hearing the same things over and over again, I could see how this could be a possibility.
  I thought it was worthy of mention as heavy repetition can further solidify behaviors that one might otherwise question.
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  13

  MORE News Articles On Rodriguez v. WTS Lawsuit

  by MadApostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  jehovah's witnesses congregation in othello sued in sex abuse case.

  this story was published 1/23/2002.

  by shirley wentworth.

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  detective

  Nothing about it here on the east coast yet. We've got the major scandal with the Catholic church covering up pedophilia all over the papers here in Boston. I tried to get an email address of a reporter at the Herald who has been going to town on the Catholics. I didn't have any luck finding a specific email address for her. The ongoing Archdioese scandal could either be very beneficial or completely undermine efforts to get press on that topic in this area. I don't know, it could go either way.

  Maybe Later I'll look into forwarding Bill's release to the same addresses I sent the UN scandal to. Okay, didn't get any bites from them, but who knows. It's worth a try.
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  5

  JWs Attracting Child Molestors??? .. News Article.

  by MadApostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  january 21, 2002. judge has little faith in suspect's argument of religious privilege.

  by lisa bose mcdermott of the gazette staff.

  a federal judge has ordered the collection of blood from a man who said he is jehovah's witness and it would violate the tenets of his religion.. brian brown, 31, of holton, kan., is accused of kidnapping and raping a 10-year-old girl from hutchison, kan., taking her to texas with him as part of his trucking route.

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  detective

  Disgusting.
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  24

  How Do You Get Someone Out? (Part 1)

  by Mindchild in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  part 1. i thought it might be advantageous to discuss effective ways of getting someone out of the borg and to dispel some myths we might be entertaining about beliefs and changing them.

  in this thread i was hoping to start a discussion about the sociology of the witness belief system and how this can be used to help people escape from the mental trap they have found themselves in.

  the first outside book i ever read about jws was in the late 1970s by james beckford.

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  detective

  My impression was that this was more about a one-on-one type of interaction as opposed creating a mass exodus from the group. I think it could be useful to consider in personal interactions.

  I didn't get the impression that mindchild was suggesting this is the cure-all that will magically liberate six million people. Instead, it seems like Mindchild is suggesting some ways people might be able to better communicate with their loved ones (with the goal of possibly getting them out or at least thinking independently enough so that they can weigh their involvement not by ignorance, but by knowledge).