Posts by Dia

11

A QUESTION FOR JW'S

by Dia in

apparently, 'causing divisions' is a disfellowshipping offense for jehovah's witnesses.. now, i have a question for you: .

when someone in the congregation is 'causing divisions' by pointing out the injurious criminal behavior of someone else in the congregation, who is responsible for 'causing divisions'?.

who is 'causing divisions'?.

Dia

Apparently, 'causing divisions' is a disfellowshipping offense for Jehovah's Witnesses.

Now, I have a question for you:

When someone in the Congregation is 'causing divisions' by pointing out the injurious criminal behavior of someone else in the Congregation, WHO is responsible for 'causing divisions'?

WHO is 'causing divisions'?

Is it the person who is engaged in dangerous criminal behavior - TOWARD FELLOW MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATION and others? Or is it the person who is reporting the person who is engaged in this injurious criminal behavior?

11

VIDEO - READ CAREFULLY

by Dia in

here is a written 'view' of the video - if you listen carefully, you will hear all the holes in it.. fyi - rodney starks few comments are in caps.

my comments are in [brackets].

(wts) 'dfing is a procedure which is laid down in the bible, whereby a person who sins very seriously against god and against the congregation and who refuses to repent, refuses to change, abandon the wrong way is informed that they're no longer a part of the christian congregation'.. (stark) "i don't know the last methodist who was disfellowshipped.

Dia

Here is a written 'view' of the video - If you listen carefully, you will hear all the holes in it.

FYI - Rodney Starks few comments are in CAPS. My comments are in [brackets]

****

(WTS) 'DFing is a procedure which is laid down in the Bible, whereby a person who sins very seriously against God and against the Congregation and who refuses to repent, refuses to change, abandon the wrong way is informed that they're no longer a part of the Christian Congregation'.

(STARK) "I DON'T KNOW THE LAST METHODIST WHO WAS DISFELLOWSHIPPED. I CERTAINLY HAVE MET DISFELLOWSHIPPED WITNESSES. AND DISFELLOWSHIPPED MORMONS AND.....AND......LOTS OF PEOPLE"

(WTS) 'DFing is a perocedure which benefits the congregation. It serves as a protection to the congregation....

'When Paul was dealing with the notorious case in Corinth, he said here [reading from his Bible], 'Do you not know that a little leven ferments the whole lump?' So, he said, 'Clear away the old leven'.

'So if wrong practices are allowed to remain in the congregation, that could affect the spirituality of the whole congregation.

[reading again] 'Remove the evil man from among yourselves'. That is DFing.'

(STARK) "PEOPLE WHO'VE GOT MORAL CODES THAT THEY ADHERE TO, CHECK PEOPLE OUT WHO DON'T! [he chuckles] IT'S REALLY PRETTY SIMPLE. I MEAN, YOU SAY, 'IT'S NOT HARD TO GET IN TROUBLE IN A GROUP LIKE THAT.' ACTUALLY IT IS, KINDA' HARD. BUT SOME PEOPLE CAN MAKE THE EFFORT. [he chuckles again]

(WTS) 'When a person is DF'd, those who are still there in the congregation do avoid contact with them.

'The apostle John, in his second letter said, 'Never receive him into your homes or say a greeting to him....For he who says a greeting to him is a sharer in his wicked works.'

'This was a young girl who was disfellowshipped then got reinstated...'What may seem harsh to outsiders is both necessary and really a loving thing to do. I am grateful that our heavenly Father is a loving and forgiving God.'

'Now, she wrote that after she was reinstated but she did say, 'Thank you'.

A supposed video creation of Robert Pevy, of the "Jehovah's Witness Writing Staff" and Rodney Stark, "Sociologist"

*****

To be edited. You can see how snippets of Stark's interview were used to 'spin' a PR creation for the WTS.

The man's voice is so SMOOTH....this would not be nice or fair, but I can almost hear that same smooth, detached, manipulative tone emulating from the UK guy who abused his daughter and then praised her for her 'obedience'.

Your comments, as always....

15

Rodney Stark's paper on JW growth

by VM44 in

jw
friends

rodney stark was featured briefly in the short watchtower video exposing the benificial nature of "disfellowshipping" (which is a made up word that does not appear in the bible!).

i found a 1997 paper that he wrote with larry iannaccone entitled, "why the jehovah's witnesses grow so rapidly.

a theoretical application" and which was published in the journal of contemporary religion.

Dia

Don't be so quick to throw the baby out with the bathwater! You know it is just like Witnesses to use and manipulate someone for their own self-promotion.

They are counting on the fact that Rodney Stark is too busy and too lofty to reply to we, the lowly. I don't think that will be true.

Let him know we have the BBC and NBC's DATELINE behind us!

He's not an idiot.

I'm certain he was 'kindly coerced' into giving a benign, academic interview on a simple topic - disfellowshipping.

I'm also confident he had and has no idea how small clips of that interview, 'spun together' along with his resume are being used to promote and hide a very evil policy of publicly blacklisting someone for refusing to ignore their revolvting and criminal behavior.

Stay at it! He's a good guy.

15

Rodney Stark's paper on JW growth

by VM44 in

jw
friends

rodney stark was featured briefly in the short watchtower video exposing the benificial nature of "disfellowshipping" (which is a made up word that does not appear in the bible!).

i found a 1997 paper that he wrote with larry iannaccone entitled, "why the jehovah's witnesses grow so rapidly.

a theoretical application" and which was published in the journal of contemporary religion.

Dia

Can anyone figure out how to get access to the story mentioned (without pdf).

Who is the Larry Iannaccone guy?

It is not possible to copyright Mr. Stark's resume! (snicker, snicker at the WTS) They only did that to pad their nest with his credentials.

I think he would be appauled at the way they are using his clip to defend their religious 'right' to keep their organization 'clean' by kicking out people who are exposing the criminal activity within.

Shame, shame, shame.

By the way, true Christians would learn a lot from Stark's book, "The Growth of Christianity". It was nominated for

15

Rodney Stark's paper on JW growth

by VM44 in

jw
friends

rodney stark was featured briefly in the short watchtower video exposing the benificial nature of "disfellowshipping" (which is a made up word that does not appear in the bible!).

i found a 1997 paper that he wrote with larry iannaccone entitled, "why the jehovah's witnesses grow so rapidly.

a theoretical application" and which was published in the journal of contemporary religion.

Dia

Greetings,

I can't open a pdf file. I'd LOVE to read it if you can find another way to post it.

Rodney Stark is, in my opinion, a brilliant sociologist and scholar. I have read much of his work and I think very highly of him.

I CAN'T BELIEVE that the WTS is using snippets of some video of him for their own self-promotional purposes and I wonder if he is aware that they are doing this.

To my knowledge, he is currently teaching (probably Sociology) at Washington University at Seattle.

Please try to let him know what's going on. I can't believe he would approve of it.

93

Don't buy into Ray Franz's stumbling block.

by Bleep in

ray franz wrote, "i was baptized a jehovah's witness in 1972 (three years before armageddon came) and served as an elder for a good number of years.

all i can say is put franz book to the test for yourself.

1)he is making money off a dumb idea.. 2)he was expecting 1975 to be armageddon.

Dia

Bleep,

Take 1 minute and try to imagine that God and the WTS are two different things.

9

'Harboring a criminal'

by Dia in

do they not meet the definition?

it is a crime in itself.

what is the punishment?.

Dia

What about it? Do they not meet the definition?

It is a crime in itself. What is the punishment?

How much responsibility then falls to the individual JWs for supporting them and covering up for them in this activity?

6

GET MAD & STAY MAD!!!

by abbagail in

finally got away from jw-com to visit silent lambs and just saw this below post.

it's stories like this that will keep us all fired up to write those letters!!!

the dim-wittedness of this jw woman with the pedophile husband is enough to make you get mad & stay mad!!!

Dia

Thank you, thank you!

I'm so happy to hear that her kids were taken away from her. Absolutely, the kids should be removed from households where a parent just stands by and lets it happen (at the behest of the WTS or not) - on the basis that those parents are 'mentally incompetent'.

I hope things go well for those children. At the very least, they will know that society does NOT approve of their treatment and will do whatever it can to remedy it.

Sometimes even that much can do a lot to carve a clear path into the confusion that the WTS loves to create.

I'm starting to get replies from the media people I've contacted. Feels great.

34

LETTERS OF OUTRAGE TO GOVERNING BODY

by orangefatcat in

jw
friends

why don't we show our support and our outrage at the same time to the governing body for their actions towards bill bowan, barb, and all the silentlambs and see how many we can flood into the wtbs headquarters.

what do you think??

edited by - orangefatcat on 26 july 2002 9:48:39edited by - orangefatcat on 26 july 2002 9:49:37.

Dia

Regarding 'individual witnesses in our towns' - we could leaflet their windshields in the JW parking lots at meeting times. Or leaflet other public places in the town - laundromats, grocery stores, libraries - it will all get back to them eventually. And behind closed doors....you know they will sneak a peek.....

Edited by - Dia on 26 July 2002 23:32:3

12

Why I find Jehovah's Witnesses Despicable

by Mindchild in

jw
friends

wednesday morning, the doorbell rings right in the middle of my cooking breakfast.

i open the door to find two gray-haired men wearing white shirts and ties, trying to hand me the latest copies of the watchtower and awake magazines.. this is the actual conversation that followed:.

witness one: good morning, we have stopped by your house today to share some good news with you and.

Dia

Thanks for sharing that Skipper.

I fully intend to share in your very vocal response to JWs who come to my door.

It has occured to me to create a stack of anti-JW 'leaflets' for myself. And when they visit, I will let them know how happy I am that they caught me at home, because I fully intend to follow them.

And now that they have made it legal for ANYONE to go door-to-door, I have every right to do so, leaving my free leaflets at every single place they visit.

Like I've said, EVERY JW that I encounter will know that I believe every one of them to be either stupid, or a criminal. And they will know that I will NOT support them in ANY fashion as they self-righteously harbor and embrace criminals in their midst - and then have the nerve to send them to my house, too!!!