done4good

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Posts by done4good

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  45

  in retrospect: RBCs vs LDCs / the hype about a lot of new construction and subsequent abrupt halt to construction

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  so, now that some time has passed, i’d like some input/thoughts/analysis/etc.

  on the jw construction situation in the last few years.. first, why did they discontinue the rbc arrangement and institute the ldc arrangement?

  was it for more and/or better control?

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  done4good

  _Morpheus

  Appreciate the story. It really helps people understand the impact of the WTS shamelessly taking properties that never belonged to them in the first place. This in of itself, is very telling.
  

  As for the OP, while this construction stoppage and money grab took place years after I left, I would agree it is one of more significant happenings to the WTS, (in a decade with many changes that already make the religion look unrecognizable to me).

  When I first learned of the new hall design (there are almost none being built); the money grab (happened at about the same time); and the RBC disband, the pattern I immediately saw from afar was this was all related. There were money problems, no growth, and the organization needed to obfuscate those facts. The new design, the "apprenticeship" plans (remember those?), and the LDC were all a smokescreen for bigger problems afoot.
  

  Since then, many congregations (including the one I was a member of from the late '70s through mid '90s) have dissolved, meetings are barely attended, (according to a close friend I have that still attends for family reasons), and the JWs I know (I have one on my staff) could pretty much care less about JW stuff and are just biding their time.
  

  d4g
  
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  33

  What Simple Pleasures Do You Enjoy Since Leaving Watchtower?

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  what simple pleasures do you enjoy since leaving watchtower?

  here's some of mine, in no particular order:.

  a cigar: i dont smoke cigarettes at all, but i do enjoy a good cigar from time to time.

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  done4good

  1. Thinking for myself

  2. Getting an advanced degree

  3. Excelling at career without guilt or needing to hide it

  4. Sex

  5. Whatever music I want to listen to

  6. Whatever books or other reading material I want to read

  7. Marijuana

  8. Wine

  9. Travel

  10. Thinking for myself
  
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  20

  North Korean Gift to "American Bastards" for Independence Day

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. current

  nk has taken another important step towards having a viable nuclear arsenal with the successful trial of an icbm.. kim jong-un says new missile is 'gift' to 'american bastards' from north korea on independence day.. one major hurdle left for kim jong-un is working out how to make his nuclear bombs small enough to be delivered by the missile.

  that is not an insurmountable obstacle.. the us sate department have issued a statement stating that it "will never accept a nuclear-armed north korea".

  how exactly to prevent this outcome is not clear.

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  done4good

  SK does not have the same type of halo type system as Israel. Basically, they have to depend on THAAD, which works well for singular missile attacks, but not so much for a barrage of artillery. NK would for a certainty unload on Seoul if we made a preemptive attack.

  The options are not good and our "leadership" is useless, to put it mildly.

  Also, China will be of no help. The Chinese use NK as a buffer to limit US influence in the region, despite what they officially state. That will not change. They are the ultimate pragmatists, and see this crisis to their advantage, long-term.
  
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  60

  Who Do You Think Is HOTTTT?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what attracts you in a male or female?

  give me an example or better yet a pic to tell me what you like.😈.

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  done4good

  Sexiest woman alive for sure for all kinds of reasons...
  

  
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  59

  Evolutionist on their deathbed.

  by Nimble duck in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would really like to read the thoughts of an evolutionist as they lie on their deathbed.

  their "honest to nogod" thoughts.

  their terrors.

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  done4good

  Well, I had a heart attack last year that had a 98% chance of killing me, (100% blockage of the LAD artery).

  Lying naked on the operating table during the angioplasty, I was watching a big 100" screen on the wall with my heart monitor on it. The heart surgeon performing the procedure said, "Oh shit..." then I watched the monitor stop. Fortunately, I lived to survive it.

  I had no moment when I rethought belief in a sky daddy. I had to accept it might be over. We learn to accept death when we have no choice.
  

  "No atheists in foxholes" is a myth...Just another of the many myths propagated by those not grounded in fact and reason.
  

  d4g
  
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  23

  Can halluciengins reveal what has been hidden from us and bring more answers?

  by Bad_Wolf in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  halluciengins, and several recent studies pointed out how we us only certain sections of our brain depending what is happening.

  but some of them, like acid, make your entire brain turn on.

  heightened senses.

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  done4good

  Psychedelics, (hallucinogens), and all psychoactives, (even THC), tend to clear filters in the neuropathways that allow subconscious thoughts to be processed consciously. This sometimes leads to the "bad trip" (or paranoia in the case of the milder psychoactives). On the other hand, if a person is acclimated to the effects, (much easier to do with LSD or psylocibin than THC, provided the drug itself is not "bad"), the effects are generally a deeper understanding and perception on many matters.

  LSD and psylocibin have been used from about 1950-1970 for treating addictions, OCD, etc, and have proven very effective. The Nixonian Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 made such substances schedule 1, (the most "dangerous", according to this draconian law) illegal, and treatments using them all but ceased, until recently. That law was mostly an anti-liberal attack on those opposing the Vietnam war. It made it easy to imprison those opposed to the US government's actions. Don't get me started...

  To answer Smiddy's question with all due respect, Steve Jobs, (and likely a good number of Silicon Valley), have used such substances to their creative merit. They are good way to bridge left/right brain thinking actually.

  I will neither confirm or deny any personal use, of course...;-)
  
  
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  67

  Recent mistakes of the Governing Body contributing to the decline of JWs

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  they have made so many strategical mistakes it's hard to keep track.

  some changes within the last decade or so that are contributing to declining numbers of jws:.

  1. elimination of book study groups, the most informal, enjoyable and sociable of the jw meetings, contributed to loss of sense of community among jws.. 2. policy of consolidating kingdom halls.

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  done4good

  Due to the effects of Moore's Law and broader social evolutionary factors, all religion is in decline.

  Ideology by its very nature is not based on fact and reason. When an ideology is challenged by facts that demonstrate its dogma to be false, ideologues typically dig their heels in deeper. GB are ideologues. They are responding to the onslaught of information that exposes their ideology as false with tighter controls, emotional manipulation, and a dumbing down of information presented. All of these things work against them, and actually exacerbate the problem in the long-run.

  JW are not alone in this respect. We see the same thing happening to all ideological groups that doggedly refuse to accept facts and the effects of social evolution. The Republican party, all other authoritarian religious systems, etc., all are experiencing the same pressure to conform to accepted facts and social change, and all of them are trying their best to not cooperate. The response is one of ignorant refusal. The good news is, facts catch up sooner or later, and will force change whether these groups accept it or not. They can either evolve or die out. The same will be true of the WT.

  For those of you that think the WT will be around forever, keep in mind that social evolution follows a pattern very similar to biological evolution, just with a much shorter timescale. Small incremental changes in society eventually result in a larger paradigm shifts, (think of the state of the GOP before it indirectly produced a Donald Trump). The societal changes affecting WT, along with their own stubborn refusal to accept facts, will eventually produce a situation they cannot control, and that will force their demise, or at least force them to take on a likeness that no one would recognize as JW.

  d4g
  
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  41

  One Thing I Don't Get About Brexit

  by JW_Rogue in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  how did such a weighty decision get put directly in the hands on the average citizen?

  and with only a simple majority required?

  in the usa the biggest thing that people vote on directly is city building projects or infrastructure.

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  done4good

  bohm - Boris Johnson still appears to be selling the idea that the UK can get a much better (in his view) agreement with the EU than Norway, meanwhile I have not seen a single person outside the leave-campaign who even suggests such a thing.

  

  

  Similar in more ways than one, so it seems...

  d4g
  
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  41

  One Thing I Don't Get About Brexit

  by JW_Rogue in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  how did such a weighty decision get put directly in the hands on the average citizen?

  and with only a simple majority required?

  in the usa the biggest thing that people vote on directly is city building projects or infrastructure.

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  done4good

  The fact that the Brits are Googling what the EU is, after the fact, is all you need to know.

  
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/06/24/the-british-are-frantically-googling-what-the-eu-is-hours-after-voting-to-leave-it/

  Emotional decisions almost always end badly.
  

  d4g
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  96

  New Shunning Video - RC 2016

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g20rww_-7ua.

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  done4good

  When I left 10+ years ago I would have used the following adjectives and descriptive phrases to describe the WT:

  - Delusional

  - Out of touch

  - Idealist

  - Naive

  - A few others that fit this pattern

  Today, I would use the following to describe them:

  - Sick

  - Manipulative

  - Hateful

  - Heartless
  

  - Evil

  Somehow, I knew better than to watch this video, however since I could intuitively see it was affecting some posters that are typically quite sanguine to become much less so, I thought it might be important to see how far off the mark the WTS might be with this one. I figured at ~3 minutes or so I could get through it.

  I was terribly mistaken. At ~1:30 I threw my headset off and closed the browser session in disgust.

  Truly the sickest single piece of propaganda I have seen the WTS, (or any religious organization for that matter), ever produce.

  d4g