done4good

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Posts by done4good

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  9

  Interesting RC Experience

  by Blackfalcon98 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i recently attended the rc for my area.

  while there, i encountered a old family "friend" who recently lost her jw husband.

  as the interaction proceeds she relates that her grand daughter, who's around my age (early twenties) has "left jehovah".

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  done4good

  Many who leave, don't get an adequate education on not only in WT history/policy but other topics (e.g. science, critical thinking).

  While very much a topic in of itself, learning critical thinking is really about learning a process. Once mastered, all other topics/subjects become much easier to think clearly through. One can fill their head with all of the science they want, but if they did not learn to critically analyze the information first, what is learned can be easily forgotten, and/or replaced with something far less logical. Many well educated people, (at least in the past), still became converts because they never really learned critical thinking to begin with.

  Thankfully, most universities today teach classes in logic and critical thinking, and many majors require it as core classwork.

  Edit: Many anti-science groups, (not just the JWs), are aware of the above and pushing very hard to remove critical thinking from core curriculums at both the high school and university level. I wonder why???
  

  d4g
  
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  47

  Songs celebrating leaving the faith? Not being a puppet, mind controlled, living life, etc etc

  by aley63 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i am looking for some songs that are in ref to celebrating leaving, seeing the light, realizing what you were told wasnt right, being happy w your life, etc etc.

  all those emotions about being controlled and repressed, being told what you can feel or think or how to live, blindly following the "brotherhood ".

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  done4good

  Vienna - Billy Joel

  The entire American Idiot album by Green Day, (BIG one being played very loudly and often when I left in late 2005).

  God - John Lennon

  Imagine - John Lennon

  Dear God - XTC

  One of Us - Joan Osborne

  Trespass, (the entire album) - Genesis, (early Gabriel era, 1970).

  Jesus, etc. - Wilco

  Drink of Water - Ambrosia

  The Soft Parade - Doors

  In the Light - Led Zeppelin
  

  If I think of more, I will post later.

  d4g
  
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  109

  The Confederate Flag

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  the latest controversy over the confederate flag just sums up to me the state of dysfunction that exists in american society.. in summary: a white supremacist nutter shoots 9 black people dead in a church.

  he's clearly inspired by the messages of others which the confederate flag is often a symbol of.. it seems like a no-brainer to remove it.

  not only isn't it removed, it isn't even lowered at all as a mark of respect.. and of course now there are the people who want to defend their right to have it.

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  done4good

  But on what lines? Is it race? Political/religious ideals? Support for gun control?

  Political leanings that may affect one's views on race, gun control, etc.

  At the core, it probably has more to do with personality types, (in the scientific sense), that are being amplified and extrapolated by the dynamics of our politics in context.

  Ok, I really need to get back to work.
  

  d4g
  
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  14

  Normalcy bias keeps JWs from leaving

  by zimunzucz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been frustrated by the inability of most jws to escape their bondage to the kh, despite repeated exposure to negative information about their religion and belief system.

  perhaps it's due in part to something called normalcy bias- a definition i have found is:.

  normalcy bias is part of human nature and, to some extent, we are all guilty of participating in it.

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  done4good

  JWs, IMO need to somehow drop their no-blood transfusion dogma and the direct shunning of former members- that has to stop. No more breaking up families and killing their kids from lack of blood transfusions.

  Yep, and if they do that, they will effectively no longer be the authoritarian organization that they currently are. So far, nothing they have done indicates they will let go of these draconian practices.

  They are not evolving socially, just trying to survive by making changes to their outward appearance, (i.e. adaptation of internet, cartoons, music videos, "parties" in the KH, etc.). If they keep this up, and refuse to change anything of substance, they will go extinct in time. Even the Catholic Church is getting the message and relaxing its position on long held draconian concepts, since society will not tolerate otherwise. I don't see this happening in WT land at all.

  d4g
  
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  43

  Change to dress and grooming rules for JWs in USA soon?

  by RayPublisher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my guy with the lurk account on jwtalk (where all the kool-aid drinking jws go to talk about how wonderful 'the twoof' is) sent me some more interesting threads, here's one:.

  spoiler: starting new the new service year september.

  "there will be new directives from the branch through the circuit overseer on dress and grooming that will disqualify one to be a congregation publisher.

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  done4good

  No chance this is anything but rumor.

  Although if true, this would make for a believable scene..

  Yeah, I can imagine some poor guy getting called out on his skinny pants and the congregation erupting into a chorus of "take it off..." well the sisters anyway.

  Based on last summer's KH "parties" for the international delegates, (specifically the one in Texas where sisters were cat calling the goofy dancing brothers on stage),you might not be too far off the mark there, Sparrow.
  

  d4g
  
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  14

  Normalcy bias keeps JWs from leaving

  by zimunzucz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been frustrated by the inability of most jws to escape their bondage to the kh, despite repeated exposure to negative information about their religion and belief system.

  perhaps it's due in part to something called normalcy bias- a definition i have found is:.

  normalcy bias is part of human nature and, to some extent, we are all guilty of participating in it.

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  done4good

  Normalcy bias, confirmation bias, etc. are all products of cognitive dissonance. Start there to better understand why JWs act the way they do, to dis-confirming evidence of their belief system.
  

  WT will sink its own ship due to inabilities to effectively adapt to social evolutionary pressures. Nothing we do will speed up the process directly. We are mostly here assist those who are beginning to see for themselves the WT's lies.
  

  d4g
  
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  109

  The Confederate Flag

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  the latest controversy over the confederate flag just sums up to me the state of dysfunction that exists in american society.. in summary: a white supremacist nutter shoots 9 black people dead in a church.

  he's clearly inspired by the messages of others which the confederate flag is often a symbol of.. it seems like a no-brainer to remove it.

  not only isn't it removed, it isn't even lowered at all as a mark of respect.. and of course now there are the people who want to defend their right to have it.

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  done4good

  I agree, especially since calling people who like to fly the confederate flag a bunch of racist bigots is the "in" thing to do right now.

  We know most who like to fly this flag are not racist bigots. Insensitive and self centered? To some degree, probably. Undereducated? Most likely. Silly? Absolutely.

  Another point for those that yammer on about states' rights...

  States rights only became an issue in the south because the south wanted to preserve slavery. The divide over this issue really goes back to the time of Jamestown/Plymouth where the more southern of the two settlements was based in trade and wanted every advantage possible, (hence why indentured servitude devolved in outright slavery). Plymouth had its own issues, (including that of religious intolerance), however since it was not a settlement based in trade, both it and the northern culture that grew from it, had little need to care about profit potential being adversely affected by labor.
  

  No one in the north really cared about this issue of states rights because they had no dog in the fight. Slavery was the dog.

  So much for us anti-confederate flag types being PC, huh?

  d4g
  
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  9

  2 Little Gems

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  owing to the bbc news iro loughborough, i know of a jw couple that were horrified.

  they exclaimed things along the lines of, "how could they let this happen?

  " "that's terrible of the elders in that congregation.. i guess they think it's just a one off.

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  done4good

  " Karma would be nice.....sad it doesn't exist."

  In the supernatural sense, of course not.

  OTOH, there is something to the physics of it. Enough bad or good done to others, tends to return itself. Much like that of any other physical action.

  WT has 140 years of bad deeds just beginning to bite them in the ass.
  

  d4g
  
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  10

  How long will it take?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  at some point in the future, it has to finally dawn on people that something is seriously flawed about the idea of jesus coming in the clouds to save everyone who believes- and kill everyone who doesnt..

  will people still believe in jesus in another 1000 years?

  will people still be saying in the year 5015;.

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  done4good

  I totally hope that "Cognitive Dissonance" has its limits. I really, really, really do. And, I hope that there are large numbers of JWs who have limits and will wake up.

  It does, but the nature of CD is that people typically double-down on the dissonant behavior before they begin to reason properly. Unfortunately, some never get past this. As John Aquila points out, usually a person needs to be affected personally, before they can shed the CD. Fear is almost always at the root of the problem, and they need to overcome that first.

  d4g
  
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  14

  No no No No NO! Jehovah's Witnesses are NOT COOL NOW!

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  they obviously know it.. in the last few years, a more modern, hip, and cool image for their brand has been foisted on the public at large.. jw.org.

  (sidebar: a group of us witnesses, when i was a teen, were sternly lectured by a circuit servant about how wrong it was to refer to ourselves as jw's.want to know why?

  he said, "reducing jehovah's name to mere letters of an alphabet is blasphemy!

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  done4good

  They are too far deep into it now, to turn around. Two years ago the current appearance of the organization would have been unthinkable to any who were there for any time in years past. They sold their soul to the golden calf of JW.org and whatever comes with it.
  

  Only the most indoctrinated drone would actually think what WTS is doing is "cool". All this is doing is polarizing the membership further. Those that refuse to think will buy into the "cooler" message, while those that have more than two functioning brain cells will be further repelled by it.

  WT will sink itself.

  d4g