Stuckinarut2 - I would rather hang out with the pretty lady in colour that is walking out of the door, than the shadowy pencil drawn "lovefest" people in the hall!
Quite Freudian, isn't it?
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done4good
JoinedPosts by done4good
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30
Nothing Says, "I Love You!" Like Institutionalized Shunning!
by Oubliette inwhy disfellowshipping is a loving provision.
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may 15, 2105 watchtower, pp.
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done4good
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Anti-JW billboard going up in Texas
by sunny23 inthe first ever billboard has been crowd funded on reddit and will be going up.
i'm curious to know if it will cause a spark in any jw's who already have questions or doubts and lead them to research into the child abuse cases and lead them to the thought that the wt and gb are not inspired or gods mouthpiece.
at the very least it will provide people a topic of conversation and questions to the jw's who knock on their door: "so whats this whole sex abuse in kingdom halls thing about i saw on the billboard down the road?
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done4good
I think this is actually a good idea, if not the best implementation of it. Details do matter, and they have not been worked out. Someone will run with this concept to improve it.
It will get people talking, (or at least thinking). No, it will not make someone "wake up" immediately for most. That is doing little more than pointing out the obvious. However since this type of campaign has really not been tried before, it will tend to stand out in people's minds, and that is what matters.
Sure, they may claim "persecution", but that is a short-term response. If we look at this on a long-term macro level, this will force a few WTF moments for some, in time. Most of us never would have imagined this being done 5 years ago.
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Would you give your life for those that shun you?
by Esse quam videri in'no one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.'.
many have been hurt by the practice of shunning.
family members, [former?
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done4good
The Searcher - Most J.W.s - not all - are just people who are doing what many of us here used to do.
Having the scales removed from the eyes should make us far better human beings.
It depends on who, but for someone I care about, yes. What The Searcher states above is reality, and I am not into being a hypocrite.
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Old Memories Revisited - or - How to Stop Worrying and Love WT Indoctrination
by undercover ini remember when i was a kid, how the importance of meeting attendance was continually drummed into our heads.
through the magazines, meetings, and especially traveling overseers, it was stressed that missing just one meeting was akin to allowing satan into our lives and would jeopardize our everlasting life in paradise earth.. one particular bit of 'advice' stood out, even to a small child: even if out of town relatives showed up on meeting day, you shouldn't let that cause you to miss a meeting.
i remember trying to play that out in mind... 'welcome, grandpa!
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done4good
I have noticed they tend to respond that way more often when they are fighting their own cognitive dissonance, especially if they thought you and your wife would likely not go to the hall with them. If it were something else they wanted to do, (without you being there), they may not even think twice about missing the meeting. Based on the context here, its sounds like it was implied going to the hall was not on the agenda, so you received their self-inflicted guilt trip response.
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done4good
In the org? Almost never, even when I went...I guess I was voting with my pocketbook without realizing it.
Now?
ASPCA - Monthly
National Center for Science Education - Monthly
Public Broadcasting - Monthly
Various clothing and food drives, etc.
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Coping With Atheism (Long-ish Post...sorry!)
by humblepotato inlong time lurker (2009-ish), first time poster.
first of all, i want to say thank you everyone who contributes to these boards and provokes stimulating conversations and thought processes.
all the opinions and different perspectives are very enlightening.
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done4good
Good post, DJS. Always liked that movie.
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Coping With Atheism (Long-ish Post...sorry!)
by humblepotato inlong time lurker (2009-ish), first time poster.
first of all, i want to say thank you everyone who contributes to these boards and provokes stimulating conversations and thought processes.
all the opinions and different perspectives are very enlightening.
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done4good
Welcome, humblepotato and good post.
If there is one piece of information I would offer, it us that you should not feel pressured into coming to conclusions too soon. It is quite enough in the beginning to unlearn the lies you were taught by the WTS. This in of itself will help you develop the proper lines of reasoning needed to ask questions as you experience life, since now you are able to think for yourself. Btw, I am an atheist today. I just did not come to this conclusion overnight.
Like yourself, I read Ehrman, Dawkins, both of Ray's books, lots of religious history, lots of history, biology, etc. In fact, most of that I read within the first two years of leaving. I was still an agnostic at best. If anything, I would say learning physics played the biggest part for me in allowing myself to accept atheism. This was in 2011, a whole 5 1/2 years after I left.
My point is, I probably had enough information long before I understood anything about relativity or quantum mechanics to become an atheist. For me, being a big picture thinker, I could not commit until then. I believed there were still too many unanswered questions. My simple point in all of this is, you will know when your questions are answered to satisfaction, and that is when your existentialism will ease. This process is automatic if you just let it happen.
So keep questioning, and keep an open mind.
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"Normal family affections and dealings" continue - If only?!?
by LHS123 ini am new to this forum - it is only a couple of weeks since i have allowed myself to acknowledge and research my doubts.
i am trying to be fair by reading both sides of the story and considering jw official explanation of confusing matters.
one of the issues i have been looking at is shunning - and i was shocked to see the misleading information about shunning on the jw.org website: .
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done4good
freemindfade - During this time I heard it said to me or my spouse "using the word shunned is an apostate word"... while there it is in print. I was also told by someone I have been so close to for 35 years "I am not shunning you, I just won't do anything with you socially, I wont follow you on social media, etc, but I AM NOT SHUNNING YOU, we just wont do anything together again"...
Unfortunately, this type of anti-logic is almost impossible to reason with. You need to get them to understand logical fallacies first. You likely will not be able to have the ability to get that far in conversation.
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"Normal family affections and dealings" continue - If only?!?
by LHS123 ini am new to this forum - it is only a couple of weeks since i have allowed myself to acknowledge and research my doubts.
i am trying to be fair by reading both sides of the story and considering jw official explanation of confusing matters.
one of the issues i have been looking at is shunning - and i was shocked to see the misleading information about shunning on the jw.org website: .
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done4good
FMF: I was also told by someone I have been so close to for 35 years "I am not shunning you, I just won't do anything with you socially, I wont follow you on social media, etc, but I AM NOT SHUNNING YOU, we just wont do anything together again"...
JW's lie to everyone, including themselves. They are completely dishonest about who they are and what they believe, even to themselves.
Just one minor point of clarification. They lie to themselves first, which is precisely why they can lie to everyone else and not even know it.
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How Come the Watchtower does not admit "We Don't Know Anything About Bible Prophecy" and come clean?
by PokerPlayerPhil inso many of us have been caught up in the negative effects this religion placed over our lives and those who we love very much.
i am the first one to tell my kids "i don't know s&^^ about this or that subject", if the watchtower is truly our brother or spiritual mother why don't they tell us the following questions we all have asked them?.
1. we screwed up about 1914 and "life is short, go live your life to the fullest while maintaining justice and morality, don't hurt your fellow man by making his life screwed up!.
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done4good
The answer is simple. They would cease to exist.
Think about it for just a minute. If they told they don't know the answers, people would look elsewhere. They would lose members, (almost overnight), then...
Survival drives many instincts, both consciously and subconsciously, for both organisms and organizations alike.
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