done4good

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Posts by done4good

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  21

  Attention JW lurkers: May JW TV broadcast demonstrates the GB's utter contempt for you (and all non-elite JWs)

  by sir82 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in may's "we will never solicit for money, but now we're going to solicit you for the next hour" broadcast, we kept hearing about all the "facts" that the gb would like for us to know.. hmm...what facts did they leave out?.

  -- $millions have been spent in out-of-court settlements of child abuse cases.

  -- $untold amounts are being spent on legal defense of wt policies related to child abuse.

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  done4good

  Vidiot - It could become so vast that its sheer mass would cause the it to collapse in on itself in a singularity of stupid.

  Love the physics reference.
  
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  15

  Br. Lett's Slight of Hand

  by Hold Me-Thrill Me in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  nice try brother lett.

  you moved the cups around the table and thought we would not see the slight of hand you were handing us.

  you begged for money but you have failed to show yourself capable of handling the monies already provided .

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  done4good

  "In actuality, the sale of property in NYC is basically only financing the construction of world headquarters in Warwick"

  Do they really think people are that ignorant? Only those who know nothing of what that real estate in Brooklyn Heights is worth could possibly believe that...
  

  d4g
  
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  23

  New video telling the R&F to be generous

  by Splash in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  bro sanderson has a 7 minute video up on their streaming website called "be willing to open your hand".. in it he tells us not to be "tight fisted" or "stingy" and later "regardless of how much we have or how little we have, we'll find something within our power to be able to do".

  we have the responsibility to imitate jehovah's generosity.. there's a bit about giving to one another when we see the need, which is nice, then he drops in how 20 years ago the canada branch committee asked the bethel family for donations to the disaster relief fund, and promptly raised over $10,000.

  i think that's pretty good going for those under a vow of poverty.. "the generous person will prosper" he says, then illustrates this using a made up story.

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  done4good

  I have not watched it, (and will not unless someone posts it here...)

  Never mind just saw the link...
  
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  23

  New video telling the R&F to be generous

  by Splash in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  bro sanderson has a 7 minute video up on their streaming website called "be willing to open your hand".. in it he tells us not to be "tight fisted" or "stingy" and later "regardless of how much we have or how little we have, we'll find something within our power to be able to do".

  we have the responsibility to imitate jehovah's generosity.. there's a bit about giving to one another when we see the need, which is nice, then he drops in how 20 years ago the canada branch committee asked the bethel family for donations to the disaster relief fund, and promptly raised over $10,000.

  i think that's pretty good going for those under a vow of poverty.. "the generous person will prosper" he says, then illustrates this using a made up story.

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  done4good

  I have not watched it, (and will not unless someone posts it here..), but I sure sense typical WT passive aggressive manipulation on this one. Surely they would not be so bold as to repeat another over the top Lett style televangelist plea this soon again. Something more toned down just makes sense. I am calling bullshit.

  d4g
  
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  57

  40 years on - and still in Damage Control mode!

  by Bungi Bill in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  earlier this morning, i posted off to the the institute of engineers an application for membership as an "engineering associate":.

  - today being just over 40 years since the congregation's retards elders made me abandon my apprenticeship.. (in this part of the world, the pre-1975 hype was taken to that level.

  not being content to prevent young persons attending university, they went one step further and treated with hostility any youngster who would "tie up five years of their lives" by entering into an apprenticeship.

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  done4good

  Great to hear you are doing this later in life!

  d4g
  
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  71

  A big hello and thank you

  by iwasblind in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i just wanted to introduce myself and say a big hello to all of my mentally diseased friends.. i say friends because i have been lurking for some time so it feels like home (us lurkers are a bit scared and cautious so it takes a while).

  i won't bore you with too many details, but i am a born in, currently serving as the cobe of a congregation.

  my wife and i have pioneered for the last 10 years and were shaken awake by that ridiculous 15th july 2013 wt about the generation and 1914.. my wife who is much smarter than me has questioned for years.

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  done4good

  Welcome. Take your time, and don't feel pressured to make any uncomfortable changes too quickly.

  d4g
  
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  58

  If the Watchtower truly collapsed, how would you deal with your JW relatives?

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  imagine the best case scenario.

  the watchtower society implodes from within even making final printed admissions that it is voluntarily dismantling it's mission and legally dissolving the corporations.

  oh happy day!

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  done4good

  I am not so sure an organizational "collapse" will equal JW's beliefs automatically evaporating. The behaviors, (such as shunning), are likely to endure for some time, as these are not only deeply ingrained, but also a product of the cognitive dissonance they experience. While the failure of the religion itself under a purely rational analysis, should make someone rethink their actions and behaviors, human nature simply does not work that way. They were JWs for a reason, and that underlying reasoning, (no matter how flawed), does not necessarily need an organization to exist. That said, I think those already "on the fence", will likely fall on the right side of it.
  

  Those that I care about, (so not everyone), that fall on the "right" side, will find me waiting for them. The others are mere former acquaintances.
  

  d4g
  
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  75

  Rumor about the Imitate Jesus Convention

  by FusionTheism in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i saw a rumor a few weeks ago on reddit that the new imitate jesus convention is supposed to present new light and clarified understandings on the disfellowshipping/disassociation practices.. supposedly, if this rumor has any truth to it, there will be a talk given at the convention about how we should not be strict like the pharisees in how we shun people, loosening up some of the jw rules about this practice.. has anyone here heard anything about this or have more info on it?.

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  done4good

  I am not going to speculate on this. Rather, am going to provide the hard facts of reality regarding authoritarian organizations like the WT. There are basically four areas that are focused on, that provide the cornerstones of the foundation an authoritarian organization exists upon. Remove any one of them, and the whole superstructure falls apart. These are:

  1. DF/Shunning of dissident members. This in effect, "kills" them.

  2. Information control. This includes several levels of content manipulation, from how the organization disseminates its own information, to the higher education ban, etc.

  3. Busy work. This includes the field service, preparing and giving meeting parts, etc.

  4. Social separation: This includes holiday/birthday bans, discouragement from attending "worldly" events, etc.

  The organization will not be able to remove any one of these supporting areas, unless it is willing to remove all of them. If it were to succeed at that effort, the organization would no longer be authoritarian, hence no longer JW. However, it would be extremely difficult for the organization to even attempt such a sweeping change of policy, without implosion.This is yet another reason why no change, such as the one suggested by the OP is going to happen.
  

  They are playing a dangerous game, trying to fight the pressures of social evolution. This should no surprise coming from an authoritarian organization that rejects the principles of evolution to begin with. Both social and biological evolution follow the same principle of meme/gene mutation and replication. Society is evolving around them, and the organization is becoming increasingly out of touch with society in general. What will eventually happen is they will have to succumb to those evolutionary pressures, and this will mean either they fade away from existence or make sweeping changes to the four areas above. The latter is very unlikely, IMO.

  d4g
  
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  19

  Why would you want to wake up before the 90s?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if you were a jw in the late 70s into the late 80s you might have been one of those brothers or sisters that just happened to be in the right kingdom hall and with the right people.

  during that time being a jw wasnt too bad if you were able to establish the right connections.

  a person could pioneer for a while and be appointed as a ministerial servant in a year or two and within 5 years you could be an elder in your twentys.

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  done4good

  I agree, the organization changed considerably after 1994.

  I started college, in 1991 when it was still considered taboo, (yes, I started before the new light of 1992). Apart from a couple of close friends that encouraged me to go, (and even helped), most people, (sometimes even myself), thought why bother, we are only two or three years from the "generation" being 80 years on. While I am extremely appreciative for that assistance today, I think some of those that lived through the 1975 fiasco already had different ideas by then, and were hedging their bets. My close friends that helped me get my education, I believe were of that mindset.

  After 1994, that mindset became the norm for those that remained. Unfortunately, what I see is that many of those folks are quite comfortable today as JWs, and as a result sense no need to make any changes in their lives. Many have good careers, take nice vacations, have nice homes, etc. They see this as god is blessing them in some manner, rather than their success being the exact product of their disregard for the organization's rule making. This always bothered me, even as I was once one of them.

  The recent changes however, are beginning to really make the organization look foolish, and my hope is that some of these folks will finally see it and walk away. Too many of them are just too intelligent and educated not to. I don't even recognize the organization I left 10 years ago.

  d4g
  
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  69

  Average Age of this Forum?

  by Garrett in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  heyo!.

  i'm quite interested in knowing the average age of those of us who use this forum.

  i made a quick strawpoll that you can find at the following link: http://strawpoll.me/4340636 just pick an age and click "vote" if you wish to participate.. admins: if this breaks any rules, i apologize in advance..

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  done4good

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