done4good

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Posts by done4good

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  129

  Silent And Sweet Rebellion Going On Within JW Organization!

  by lsw1961 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after 1975, the vast majority remained as though nothing has happened.

  but some left the organization.

  however, there arose a third category who did not leave the organization, but brought a new view into their heart: jws are right in their core cause (gods kingdom as the solution to mankinds problems) but may or may not be right in their supplementary teachings, hence are not bothered about changes happening in this unimportant area..

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  done4good

  lsw1961 :
  Peace is our nature, hence we do not want to disturb the peace of the organization, hence we stick to the org--supporting all its goods, and ignoring all its evils.

  So you would ignore Christendom's evils as well?

  d4g
  
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  24

  Humans are not wired to want the truth

  by rebel8 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  that's what i suspect.. perhaps some of us retrained our brains to not surrender to a natural urge to believe the simplest, most drama-laden spins on facts.. examples (at least i think this is the truth!):.

  the clock.

  the son of muslim activists makes a device that, on purpose, looks like a bomb.

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  done4good

  Great post, rebel8. Absolutely. I would only refine it just a bit and state that the degree to which someone is not accepting of truth, is the degree to which they are committed to a particular belief. The question really becomes why are they committed as such? I certainly have my own theories on that, but it goes off-topic.

  Overall that hardwired nature of acceptance of things that are untrue has much to do with survival, even if to modern humans and society as a whole, it does far more harm than good. The broader concepts of dissonance theory have quite a bit to say about this, from an evolutionary perspective, both biologically and socially. For example, an animal in the woods that hears what it believes to be a predator, decides to run for cover. That animal does not reason that the potential predator may be nothing more than than the wind ruffling some branches. It makes a decision and commits itself, (even if it means running into a real predator in its efforts to escape).

  Humans inherited this fight or flight mentality from our ancestors, and do not always reason when making commitments. If someone commits themselves to a particular belief, the degree to which they have a vested interest in that commitment, is the degree to which they will not accept reasoned discourse with respect to what is real. Their delusion, be it fear driven or otherwise, becomes very real to them, just as that animal trying to escape from what it perceived to be a dangerous threat. Reason does not always prevail, and evolution to a degree, has almost ensured it will not.

  d4g
  
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  54

  Does the W.T have financial problems are are they just rebranding?

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is evident that the w.t has recently re-branded itself, and has become fairly modern in its marketing techniques.

  so the organisation is in that respect forward thinking, and the former way of doing things has past.. .

  but this rebranding has been done by marketing experts, who maybe realise progress is progress, and that with modernisation many bethelites " even as free volunteers" are possibly no longer required.

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  done4good

  OrphanCrow - The WTS will do whatever is necessary in order to hold onto their precious tax exempt status.

  Probably closest to the truth. Losing that status would not be sustainable for their business model, (they didn't go to a "donation" arrangement willingly in 1990 either. They had to). Any reinvestment profits for capital use, or even having enough cash flow to cover operating expenses would be erased by taxation. It's simple math. Most non/not for profits, (if all is good), run somewhere in the 2-6% reinvestment profit range. Capital gains all by itself at 15%, (in the US), would kill them off. Add real estate taxes, personal property taxes, etc., and they would would go out of business overnight.
  

  Religion is a business, make no mistake. That business only works when tax-free.

  d4g
  
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  54

  Does the W.T have financial problems are are they just rebranding?

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is evident that the w.t has recently re-branded itself, and has become fairly modern in its marketing techniques.

  so the organisation is in that respect forward thinking, and the former way of doing things has past.. .

  but this rebranding has been done by marketing experts, who maybe realise progress is progress, and that with modernisation many bethelites " even as free volunteers" are possibly no longer required.

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  done4good

  It is difficult to say to what degree, (since they are not obligated to open their books in most countries), but they are having troubles for sure. Authoritarian organizations like the WT do not willingly expose their weaknesses, unless they are in a desperate situation. Either they are in immediate financial trouble, or are anticipating imminent trouble.

  Something is very, very broken in WT land. I would love to know what it is.
  

  d4g
  
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  41

  You contemptible worms aren't giving us enough! GIVE US MORE! Service meeting part December 21, 2015

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  from the october 19 letter to the body of elders:.

  to all bodies of eldersre: service meeting part for week of december 21, 2015dear brothers:the service meeting for the week of december 21, 2015, includes a ten-minute part entitledshow appreciation for jehovahs generosity.

  this is to be a talk based on the november15, 2015, watchtower, pages 14-15. sometime during this part, the video a gift in hand to jehovahshould be played for the congregation.

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  done4good

  I will go out on a limb here and say this will be WTS undoing. I am not talking about a complete collapse, but the beginning of a tipping point for sure.

  People respond when it hits their wallet. Money has a very sobering reality quality to it.

  d4g
  
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  29

  What actually DID you learn?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my jw friends that still speak to me, tell me that they love the meetings because of the things they learn.. i wonder what they think they're learning?

  it an avenue that always perplexes me because their replies are just so wishy washy or i get a blank stare when i ask.. what's you r experience?.

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  done4good

  Diogenesister - I learnt about the nasty side of human nature from some particularly unpleasant bible characters.

  Any other subjects they touched on where at such a superficial level I have forgotten it all.

  Well put.

  d4g
  
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  38

  Reason of financial problems WTS

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a non-witness insider told me this week that the wts has financial problems.

  that lead to halting down their building plans and lay off the special pioneers and.

  bethelites.. the reason of the financial stagnation is beside some bad investments,.

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  done4good

  Crazyguy, before you call people "dumb as rocks", let me fix this for you...

  I think people are just broke most of the growth in the past decade has been from poor immigrants. Most jws no nothing of the law suits their dumb as rocks. Those that can donate if thier not, it's because of apathy do to the never ending proclamation the end is near. The slow down stoppage could also be staged to go to a tything program. The Borg put tything in their new Bible. This could be their master plan.

  I think people are just broke. Most of the growth in the past decade has been from poor immigrants. Most JWs know nothing of the lawsuits. They are dumb as rocks. Those that can donate, if they are not, it's because of apathy due to the never ending proclamation the end is near. The slow down stoppage could also be staged to go to a tithing program. The Borg put tithing in their new Bible. This could be their master plan.

  We "apostates" certainly do not make a good case when we insult JWs, especially when the point we are trying to make is obfuscated by our own ironic ignorance.

  d4g
  
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  34

  Caleb and Sofia used to brainwash children

  by shattered_origins in

  1. social
  2. family

  okay, i need to vent.

  as a newly awoken individual, i have yet to "come out" to my hard core jdub parents.

  my plan was to lay low and use my unbelieving husband and baby as an excuse for my "inactivity", it has worked for the last few months.

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  done4good

  What sparrowdown said. Be firm about it, too.
  

  d4g
  
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  44

  We talk a lot about conditional friends on here

  by cappytan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so, when people post about being shunned by their friends, i've heard several posters say things like, "their friendship is conditional.

  real friendships aren't conditional.".

  i'm sorry, but that just isn't really true.. if you and i were friends, there are conditions.

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  done4good

  Yep, "conditional" vs. unconditional friendships is yet another one of those "let's put things into neat little boxes" oversimplifications.

  Here is what I state regarding JW friends:

  I had many associates, some were OK, most I could live without. It would not matter if any of these folks learned the TTATT. They would not necessarily be a better "friend" because of it.
  

  I had 4 true JW friends. I do not consider any of these "unconditional" or "conditional". The degree of conditional response is the degree to which they are "mind controlled", which really translates into the level of cognitive dissonance they experience ultimately. The greater the CD at a given moment, the more likely they are to respond with a controlled response, since doing anything else would betray their belief system. They cannot help it. If/when they learn TTATT, and are ready to accept it, our relationship will pick up where it left off.

  And of course, there is a threshold for what will be tolerated in any relationship. A friend doing your wife obviously crosses that line for both relationships. That is not the same thing as being shunned by JW friends, (although I am not excusing that behavior at all).
  

  d4g
  
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  45

  It's official - JWs have least common sense of any religious group in US

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some fascinating results in the latest pew research.

  (how did i miss this before?

  ) including that jws rely on their religion the most of any group to tell right from wrong and rely on common sense the least.

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  done4good

  Splash - Interestingly there continues to be an equal split between JW's who believe the Bible should be taken literally, and JW's who believe that not everything in the Bible should be taken literally. If JW's can't even agree on this basic thing then the GB have failed entirely in their role of 'steward'.

  The reason for this has to do with how they interpret the question. JWs often do not process these types of questions according to the same context as joe/jane public.

  In this case, JWs were taught to believe that they are not "fundamentalists", even though everyone else knows they are just precisely that. The only difference between JWs and other fundies in this manner is what they chose to take literally, not if they do take things literally. It is a matter of confusing their JW vocabulary and semantics with the question as posed.

  d4g